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It's Time to Celebrate...Like it's 1989!
Go back to 1989 and join the CCA for its 30th Anniversary Celebration Weekend, August 24 - 25
Chandler Center for the Arts: This is who we are
Celebrating 30 years this year, Chandler Center for the Arts is embracing its past and its future as an engaging, welcoming, innovative space that serves a diverse and growing community. Located in the center of vibrant and thriving Downtown Chandler, the Center uses creativity and inspiration to bring people together through performances and exhibitions. This is who we are. And, it is all because of our community.
Chandler Center for the Arts Unveils New Visual Brand Identity
A new contemporary mark reflects the next stage of programs and performances at the Center, while honoring the timeless appeal of an iconic venue and its 30-year history
Chandler Center for the Arts 30th Anniversary Season
The Center hosts a broad variety of events and performances throughout the year, including Broadway and theater, comedy, dance, music, family-oriented and seasonal events. The Center's Pick 5 Series subscriptions are available to the general public, saving $6 per ticket when a patron curates his or her own season of five or more shows.
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We have an amazing season of performances for every taste!
Become a Member and Help us Celebrate 30 Years!
The 2019/2020 promises to be one of the best seasons ever at the CCA as we celebrate 30 years in the community. Be part of the celebration by becoming a member today — get access to create your Pick 5 Series Subscription before the general public and get some of the best seats available!
Chandler Center for the Arts Awarded Thunderbird Charities Grant
Thunderbird Charities Grant provides funds to support arts programs for youth
New State-of-the-Art Sound System Installed at Chandler Center for the Arts
The CCA is the first performance venue in the United States to have the AiRAY system from CODA Audio.
Funky Divas: En Vogue returns to the Chandler Center to serve 'Electric Café'
Recognized as one of the top-five, highest-selling American female music groups in history, En Vogue, currently consisting of Herron-Braggs, Terry Ellis and Rhona Bennett, has sold over 20 million
Here's where to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Phoenix - 3/17: Skerryvore
Head to the Chandler Center for the Arts in downtown Chandler for a free concert with the Scottish band Skerryvore.
Scottish Band Playing Free St. Patrick's Day Show in Chandler
Recognized twice as Scotland's "Live Act of the Year," Skerryvore is a seven-piece band creating a fusion of folk, rock, traditional Scottish music and Americana that represents all of the eight in
'Dixie's Tupperware Party' uses sass to sell
With Dixie reacting her way through each show with her seemingly effortless sass and style, no two performances of the Dixie's Tupperware Party will ever be the same – other than her speech getting
Family Affair: The 5 Browns make classical music on 5 pianos
The 5 Browns have changed the genre of classical music while they play it on five pianos.
Nellie McKay - Sister Orchid
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Reprinted from Nativetimes.com. I will reprint both parts when both are available.
David, who is half Creek and half Hopi, came back from the clinic with bad news, his blood sugar level was over 200, more than what it should be. David was told he was a Type II Diabetic and needed to follow the American Diabetes Association's recommended diet for Diabetes. He went to the classes at his local clinic and followed their diet to a "T". But what happened next shocked David and greatly concerned his doctor. His blood sugar level shot up to 445.
David was becoming another American Indian statistic for Diabetes.
The doctor accused him of not following the ADA guidelines for his diet and told him to prepare for insulin therapy. But David knew he followed the diet correctly and began to think it was hopeless, that Diabetes was inevitable because of his Indian heritage.
This story is all too common in Indian country. American Indians have the highest percentage of diabetes than any race in America and the Pima Indians of Arizona are at the top with an astonishing 50% of adults having the disease.
But what if David could make a 180 degree turn for the better without Insulin? What if it was his diet under the ADA guidelines that contributed to his high sugar levels?
David decided to change his food choices once again and followed a different theory. His blood sugar dropped to under 200 and is now at a constant 145-150, which is close to normal. Furthermore, David does not need insulin therapy.
With a little amount of basic scientific knowledge, anyone can determine which foods contain "hidden sugars". Carbohydrates are "energy" which the body uses to fuel itself. Athletes know this and have used this concept to prepare for sports events by eating plenty of rice, pasta, potatoes and "simple carbohydrates" such as fruits. Carbohydrates are chains of sugar molecules. They are either simple or complex. Simple carbohydrates are defined as one to two connected sugar molecules. Complex carbohydrates are three or more connected sugar molecules.
Carbohydrates are found in whole grains, fruits, starchy vegetables, some milk products, breads and cereals, pasta and, of course, sweets. No matter what form they come in, the body breaks it down to the same thing: one-sugar molecules called glucose (sugar in the blood). And if your body doesn't use this Energy, it is turned to fat. This is why we fatten our livestock with corn, wheat, oats, etc.
Counting the Energy levels in foods by measuring its "Calories" is not as accurate as counting carbohydrates, but because the mainstream media and food production companies use it on their labels, it is the most popular.
But the "burning calories" theory is flawed.
Because the calorie measure took place in a test tube, scientists concluded that fat is twice as fattening as proteins and carbohydrates. But, unlike with carbohydrates, the body does not break down meat and fat for energy production. Therefore the "calorie" measurement does not compare to what the body actually does with sugar. It uses proteins and fats as building materials (without completely breaking them down as if "burning") to use to build cells, enzymes, hormones, etc., leaving very little to be stored as fat.
Numerous studies throughout the scientific community have repeatedly supported the theory that lowering carbohydrates and raising protein intake lowers blood sugar. One of the studies is even on the ADA website, titled "Does diet Play a Role in Etiology of Type 2 Diabetes? Fats verses Carbohydrates": www.diabetes.org/am2000/cmes/diet.asp It references a study which proves certain fats in the diet reduces the risk of diabetes and insulin insensitivity. In the study, the type of fat consumed is likely more important than the amount consumed. A study by Salmeron, et al. looked at polyunsaturated fat intake as a predictor of diabetes. Those with an intake of 4.8% of calories from polyunsaturated fat had a risk reduction of 25% compared with those with an intake of 2.9%. The article also refers to a recent multi-center study headed by Riccardi showed that with a diet high in monounsaturated fat, insulin sensitivity improved; high saturated fat, insulin sensitivity decreased.
Although the ADA has a disclaimer stating they are not engaged in rendering medical advice or recommendations but rather are there for "education and entertaining purposes", they are looked to for advice by many physicians, as well as, health service providers across the country as the leading source for diabetes awareness and its care. Not only are they the largest non-profit organization for Diabetes awareness, they are the largest of all non-profit organizations in America.
David's physician followed the ADA guidelines and told him to eat a high-carbohydrate, low fat diet. It was suggested he eat less meat, and more starches and more vegetables. ADA's current Pyramid of Food suggests diabetics eat 6 or more servings a day of grains, beans and "plenty of starchy vegetables" which is the largest food group in the pyramid.
David followed this guideline and soon his blood-sugar levels went through the roof.
Throughout America are a few physicians who are seeking answers to better ways of helping diabetics control their blood sugar level. Some are experimenting on their own for better ways to help their patients. Dr. Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., author of the book The Schwarzbein Principle is one of them.
In her medical training, she was taught this same theory. "I believed what my professors said," she noted. In 1990, after finishing nine years of medical training at the University of Southern California in endocrinology and metabolism, she accepted a position at a prestigious medical clinic in Santa Barbara, California. All her new patients were type II diabetics. "I heard many stories of patients going for yearly physical exams and being diagnosed with diabetes incidentally," said Schwarzbein. "These newly diagnosed diabetics were put on the American Diabetes Association diet… only to see their conditions worsen."
Mark Overbay, a representative from the American Diabetes Association told Native Times that the ADA guidelines are based on the most recent scientific studies and are designed to be, what they consider, the safest diet for diabetics.
Schwarzbein came to the same conclusion that Diabetes was a genetic problem. "It was thought that once a person developed diabetes, it could not be reversed. Part of the 'standard of care' was to keep diabetics' blood sugar under control to enable them to live relatively normal lives." she added. She observed her patients begin a "vicious cycle" of high blood-sugar, insulin injections, weight gain, and their cholesterol levels getting more unhealthy. "After listening to their stories I thought, My God, we are making diabetics worse!"
Schwarzbein, and her patients did their own study. She soon realized it was the "cheaters" who were more healthy. Those who ate real mayonnaise, real cheese, real eggs and steak. Those who "cheated" the most were those who had the biggest improvements.
What causes diabetes is simple, too much sugar is in the blood-stream because the body has lost its ability to convert excess sugar in to fat. The Insulin's job is to get the sugar out of the blood-stream and put it in to cells by storing it as fat. Some people who eat too much sugar loose this ability and the excess sugar piles up in the blood-stream, causing Type II Diabetes.
There are no long term studies showing that low-fat diets are healthy, said Schwarzbein. But numerous studies conclude that certain fats are necessary to maintain good health. And the real culprit to many diseases is high insulin levels. "There are studies spanning three decades relating high insulin levels and heart disease, high insulin levels and hypertension, high insulin levels and excessive body-fat gain and other problems."
Udo Erasmus, author of the book Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill agrees. "The fact is that some fats are absolutely required for health, while others are detrimental," said Erasmus. "When the lacking nutrients are returned, deficiency symptoms are reversed and the deficiency disease [including diabetes] is cured."
Erasmus has credentials which include graduate studies in genetics and biochemistry and a PhD in Nutrition. After being poisoned by the careless industrial application of pesticides on a job he held for three years, and knowing the poisons were carcinogenic and that cancer often involves fats, he dedicated his life "literally" to the study of fats and oils.
According to Erasmus, this lack of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) is, in part, what causes diabetes. "EFAs given to diabetics have an insulin-sparing effect, indicting that the effectiveness of insulin depends on them," Erasmus told Native Times. "In fact, dietary Omega 3 fatty acids decrease the amount of insulin needed by diabetics." He explains in his book that Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are required for insulin function. These fatty acids improve insulin sensitivity and work against insulin resistance.
NOTE: to avoid low blood sugar, insulin requirement should be monitored closely and injections decreased as Omega 3 supplementation decreases the need for injected insulin.
Omega 3's are found in flax, canola, soy bean, walnut, and dark-green leaves. Flax seed is the richest source containing about 50% of its fatty acids as LNA (alpha-linolenic acid). Omega 6 comes from sunflower and sesame seeds.
Erasmus created a fresh oil combination which contains all the essential fatty acids necessary for good health. Information on this oil, Udo's Choice, can be found on the internet at: www.fatsthatheal.com For those who are unable to obtain his refrigerated oil blend from health-food stores, he recommends a combination of 3 tablespoons of Flax oil and 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil a day to be used in salads, poured over vegetables, mixed in juice, or eaten with bread, but not overheated in cooking processes. These oils can be purchased at most health food stores. EFA's are required for insulin function and work well against insulin resistance but only if there is not an overload of carbohydrates in the diet.
Unfortunately, cooking oils for sale on grocery store shelves have been stripped of those EFA nutrients. Manufacturers choose to strip the oils to lengthen shelf life and the only oil with its "good fats" left intact for sale in the common grocery store is Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Obtaining oils in their natural state can be obtained by eating raw nuts and seeds, such as almonds, grape seeds, hickory nuts, peanuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, soybeans, walnuts and wheat germ. Omega 3's are also found in cold water fish like salmon, trout, mackerel, and sardines.
Although America has been taught to fear high cholesterol numbers, studies, including one at the University of Illinois show that eating more protein lowers overall triglycerides (fat in the blood) and slightly raises HDL (which a good fat).
"We may have fewer people dying from heart disease, but that's only because our medical recovery is better," said Donald Layman, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Illinois. "We are also looking at an approaching onslaught of Type 2 diabetes. I think we have a very good reason to re-evaluate where we are at nutritionally."
Statistically, there are just as many people having and dying of heart attacks with cholesterol levels below 200 as there are with total cholesterol above 200, says Schwarzbein. The problem with cholesterol counting is that it groups the bad cholesterol with the good.
Schwarzbein's book, The Schwarzbein Principle, gives five components to a healthy life which includes lowering stress, healthy eating, hormonal therapy if needed, exercise and tapering off chemicals.
David is currently following the low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet by eating plenty of green vegetables but staying away from starches such as potatoes. He eats eggs, hard cheeses, all meats that are not fried, cold-water fish, low-carb salad dressings and mayonnaise, raw nuts such as walnuts, almonds and pecans. He also avoids too much cold cereals, breads, and pastas. David says he "feels great", his sugar levels are normal, and he's lost 18 pounds. David currently works at the Native American Times newspaper as a sales-representative.
If so many studies, including long term ones, have flooded the medical world proving low-carb, high protein diets help diabetics, questions arise as to why the ADA is not making changes to follow these extraordinary success rates.
Dr.Udo Erasmas has a belief that is shocking. "It's a business." said Erasmus. "Following this diet, and eating healthy fats would cause them to lose many clients. This 'low-fat' craze is also good for cereal companies."
Dr. Elizabeth Jane Harris, president of LowCarbmall.com agrees. "I personally feel that it is a matter of politics and corporate America," said Harris. "Pharmaceutical insulin has its place for the Type I Diabetic. Type II, usually adult-onset, is now seen in children. Using a carbohydrate restricted diet, many physicians are able to work with patients and either eliminate or substantially reduce with amount of insulin necessary for both types of diabetics. Therefore, why would the major pharmaceutical companies have any reason for exploration of reducing the amount of insulin, that in a disease, is one of the fastest growing epidemics?"
In 1999, the market for diabetes drugs and devices totaled $4.3 billion, having increased at a compound annual rate of 16.9% from 1995's $2.3 billion. Sales of diabetes drugs totaled $2.9 billion and accounted for 66.4% of the industry in 1999. Device sales totaled $1.5 billion in 1999, up from $1.1 billion in 1995.
Among financial supporters for studies on diabetes are, surprisingly enough, food producers. Especially those who produce cereals.
A conference in Canada was held last March covering the topics of diabetics and obesity with 150 researchers present. According to Erasmus, when they talked among each other they admitted that starches and sweets are the problem, but not one would say it in the talks they gave because half of their grants come from one of the largest cereal producers in the world. "They can't tell the truth because their grants will dry up," said Erasmus.
Large, multinational companies dominate the diabetes drug industry. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are the two major competitors in the U.S. insulin market. Bristol-Myers Squibb dominates the oral antidiabetic market. In February 2000, Warner-Lambert accepted a buyout offer from Pfizer. In the same year, Bayer and Aventis both had single-digit shares of the market. A few companies dominate the diabetes monitoring device industry, with Becton Dickinson, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, and Roche holding the largest shares of the industry. LifeScan, a division of Johnson & Johnson, dominates the diabetes meter market and blood glucose test strip markets. Bayer is the key supplier in the glucose and urine test strip market.
All of these companies are top-level corporate sponsors for the American Diabetes Association. Also included as sponsors are food producers such as General Mills, Kraft Foods and Proctor and Gamble.
Senator John McCain, (R.) AZ who is the leading advocate for Campaign Finance Reform, states that until we get financial influence away from political decisions, this country will never be able to address the needs of the people. The same may be true for the healthcare industry. Maybe Congress should also consider taking the politics out of disease management [medical] industry and keep it from influencing scientific studies. By doing this, America may be more aware of what the true culprits are in causing today's diseases.
And those people such as David, and the millions that are like him, can literally turn the tables toward a healthier tomorrow.
Copyright, 2001, Native American Times, www.nativetimes.com.
2.) Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, Udo Erasmus(pp.32, 342).
6.) " Diabetes and the 'thrifty genotype': Commentary." Bulletin of the World Health Organization, August 1999 v77 i8 p692.
7.) "Nutrient intake of Pima Indian women: relationships to diabetes mellitus and gallbladder disease" The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 24: October 1971, pp.1281-1289.


MMP has light shelfwear to edges. Pages tight and clean, but yellowed due to age. Spine has small creases. Back cover of this book has a 2 inch rip from bottom right corner toward top left. pages. MMP Binding. Year: 1992. ISBN: 0440208009. A perfect lady, Annabella Stewart had had every rebellious impulse carefully cultivated out of her. That is, until she met Ross Mackinnon, wild and free as the wind, blowing a warm and tempting breeze, stirring soft petals to swift desire. Betrothed against her will to a man she despised, Annabella was haunted by the hurricane force of the blue-eyed Texan with the heart-thundering grin who had come to Scotland to claim his ancestral home.


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Sunday , 16 January 2022
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA Opening On Amazon Prime 1.14.21 – Press Link Available
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Home | Tag Archives: David Cronenberg
Tag Archives: David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg to star in new season of SLASHER for Shudder
Adrian Halen 11/16/2020	0
DAVID CRONENBERG WILL STAR IN "SLASHER: FLESH & BLOOD" FOR SHUDDER New season of Hit Anthology Series Now in Production Shudder, AMC Networks' premium service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, announced today that it has teamed up with award-winning production company Shaftesbury to make a new eight-episode installment of the hugely popular horror series, Slasher. Hailed by Bloody Disgusting …
Film Review: Shivers (1975)
Nigel Honeybone 09/18/2020	0
Rate This MovieSYNOPSIS: "A scientist living in an apartment complex kills a girl and uses acid to destroy her internal organs, and then kills himself. While investigating, a doctor discovers that the scientist was doing experiments on the use of genetically engineered parasites as organ transplants. Soon, other people in the complex begin showing signs of carrying the parasites, spreading …
Film Review: The Dead Zone (1983)
Rate This MovieSYNOPSIS: "After awakening from a five-year coma – the result of a serious car accident on his way home from an outing with his girlfriend – high school teacher Johnny Smith finds that he has developed the ability to foretell events. When a nurse is bathing him, he realizes that her house is on fire, endangering her daughter. …
Film Review: VideoDrome (1983)
Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Max Renn is always searching for new bargain basement priced content and erotic movies for his TV station. After viewing a cable-TV program run by media clairvoyant Brian O'Blivion, Max begins to see his life and the future of 'media' spin out of control. In a very unusual manner he acquires a new kind of programming …
Film Review: The Brood (1979) – Review 2
Jonathan Stryker 02/07/2020	3
SYNOPSIS: A woman who is embroiled in a nasty divorce from her estranged husband channels her inner rage into giving birth to ugly, asexual children who kill the objects of her anger while under the care of a psychiatrist. REVIEW: It's finally here. David Cronenberg's 1979 film, The Brood, which opened in the United States on Friday, September 7, 1979, …
Film Review: The Fly (1986)
The Black Saint 12/10/2019	1
SYNOPSIS: A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong. REVIEW: "Be Afraid. Be very afraid" So went the tagline to director David Cronenberg's "The Fly", more a re-imagining than a remake of the original 1958 shocker. I remember seeing the posters for this film all over back …
Key Genre Films 1980s
How things have changed. In the forties, for instance, one would find it difficult to name twenty good genre films of the decade but, since the late seventies, Hollywood has learned that their baby-booming audiences could not only handle strong horror and science fiction concepts, they craved them. Filmmakers everywhere went into overdrive. Like television today, there wasn't a production …
15 Genre Films By First-Time Directors
When I asked Horror News readers and Facebook friends to tell me their favourite feature films by first-time directors, I received a fantastic response. The suggestions poured in and all kinds of weird and wonderful titles fronted up for selection. While I can't deny the quality or appeal of some nominations – Play Misty For Me (1971) by Clint Eastwood, …
Film Review: Crash (1996)
Rate This MovieSYNOPSIS: "Since a road accident left him with serious facial and bodily scarring, a former television scientist has become obsessed by the marriage of motor-car technology with what he sees as the raw sexuality of car-crash victims. The scientist, along with a crash victim he has recently befriended, sets about performing a series of sexual acts in a …
Film Review: Fast Company (1979)
Rate This MovieSYNOPSIS: "Standard 'good guys versus bad guys' drag-racing movie. Nice scene of the driver's view during a funny car run." (thanks to IMDB for that detailed synopsis) REVIEW: He might deny it on the audio commentary, but this seventies exploitation movie rates as one hell of an anomaly in the career of Canadian auteur David Cronenberg. Made after …
Film Review: The Brood (1979)
Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: An eccentric psychiatrist who practices innovative techniques to penetrate the psychological blocks in a man's wife who is under his care. The husband "Oliver Reed" tries to uncover a suspicious psychiatrist's therapy techniques being used on his institutionalized ex-wife. Through bodily manifestation the psychiatrist helps the wife to give birth to her living incarnations from the …
Film Review: Scanners (1981)
Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: "Darryl Revok is the most powerful of all the scanners, and is the head of the underground scanner movement for world domination. Scanners have great psychic power, strong enough to control minds, and can inflict enormous pain and damage on their victims. Doctor Paul Ruth finds a scanner that Revok hasn't, and converts him to their …
David Cronenberg on the cover of DELIRIUM Magazine!
David Cronenberg comes to DELIRIUM! On sale later this month: DELIRIUM Magazine #18! Photographer Ama Lea locks down "The Lord of the New Flesh" himself, David Cronenberg for an EXCLUSIVE cover and inner-gallery photo shoot. Inside you'll find tons of Cronenberg content, interviews with Debbie Harry, Oscar-nominated screenwriter and Penny Dreadful creator John Logan, actress and performer Tristan Risk, THE …
BEYOND FEST announces 'Cronenberg with Cronenberg: A Retrospective of the New Flesh' with legendary auteur DAVID CRONENBERG in attendance with special guests!
Career-spanning, 13-film retrospective includes event screenings including guests Debbie Harry, Geena Davis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Howard Shore. Beyond Fest, the highest-attended genre film festival in the U.S., is excited to announce Cronenberg with Cronenberg: A Retrospective of the New Flesh – an exhaustive,13-film celebration of the legendary autuer's career. Returning to Los Angeles for the first time in a …
Film Review: eXistenZ (1999)
Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Allegra Geller, the foremost game designer in the world, is testing her new virtual reality game named eXistenZ with a special test group. EXistenZ comes with an organic chasse and cord that resembles an umbilical cord that taps into the human mind. The game designer who created this virtual-reality game is also on hand to pre-test …

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Publications of the IAD, which provide information on the standards, skills and techniques that must be regularly applied internal auditors.
A graphical representation of how a process works, showing the sequence of those major steps within the process. It also includes the intermediate outputs of each step and the sub-steps involved.


Home Posters and Prints After a zeppelin raid in London -- "but mother had done nothing wrong, had she, Daddy?"
After a zeppelin raid in London -- "but mother had done nothing wrong, had she, Daddy?"
Title After a zeppelin raid in London -- "but mother had done nothing wrong, had she, Daddy?"
Publisher New York : Liberty Loan Committee, 1917.
Physical Description 1 print (poster) : b&w. ; 48 x 30 cm.
Summary Hospital scene with father and child at the mother's deathbed.
Notes "Prevent this in New York invest in liberty bonds."; "104."
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Category: Further Afield
The house Churchill called home
Posted on July 2, 2019 by andrew in Further Afield
FOR more than four decades Chartwell in Kent was more than just a family home for the great statesman Sir Winston Churchill.
It was his refuge from the worries of the world, a place of inspiration for his art and provided surroundings in which he could fully indulge his love of nature.
The country house near Westerham boasts stunning views over the Weald of Kent which were the deciding factor in Churchill buying the estate in 1922.
And for National Trust members in the Chilterns wanting a change of scene, Chartwell is the perfect distance for a leisurely day out.
The legendary wartime prime minister stayed there until 1964, shortly before his death, and a prominent quotation around the property is his assertion that "a day away from Chartwell is a day wasted".
It's not hard to understand why the place became such a perfect retreat for the Churchills, and the visitor's book in the hall reads like a who's who of 20th-century history.
Those keen to find out more can get a timed entry ticket to the house where Winston and Clementine brought up their young family, and it is decorated pretty much as it was in the 1930s, with the library, study, sitting room and dining room laid out very much as if the family had only just left the room.
Everywhere there are mementoes drawn from different periods in his life, and upstairs there are museum rooms filled with gifts he received from around the world, along with some of his extraordinary collection of uniforms and other memorabilia.
Churchill may have demanded absolute quiet when he was working in his study, but his biographers recount how he joined in alarmingly strenuous high jinx with his children and turned the garden into a place of enchantment with a tree-house for the older children and a little brick summer house for the youngest that continues to delight visiting children.
In its heyday, Chartwell supported a staff of indoor servants, a chauffeur, three gardeners, a groom for the polo ponies and an estate bailiff.
Here, dinner parties would be hosted for family and friends, political and business associates, and celebrities from around the world. These were the highlight of the day for a man who inspired so many people through his use of language and went on to become one of the most quoted individuals in English history.
At these dinners, biographers recount how table talk, dominated by Churchill, was as important as the meal and the drinks and cigars might extend well past midnight – even though the great man himself might well return to his study for another hour or so of work once his guests had retired.
A recent addition to the displays at Chartwell, A History of Winston Churchill in 50 Objects contains a fascinating collection of the possessions accumulated by him during his lifetime, from personal mementos to gifts he received from friends, family and political contacts from around the world.
Those intrigued by his art can also find a huge collection of his paintings in his studio in the grounds, a favourite refuge teeming with his canvasses, many unframed and in various stages of completion, his oil paints still out and a whisky and soda poured.
Although he only began to paint in his forties, it soon became an engrossing occupation that would remain with him for the rest of his active life, with subjects ranging from local landscapes to places seen on his travels, from Paris to Egypt and Marrakech.
For those visitors keen to sample a taste of the great outdoors, livelier walkers can set off for a walk in the woods or even embark on a five-mark circular ramble linking the estate with the nearby Edwardian garden at Emmetts, also owned by the Trust.
The less energetic might prefer to loiter on the terrace listening to the twitter of the swifts and house martins, or soak up the buzz of insect activity around Lady Churchill's rose garden.
The estate dates from the 14th century, but the house itself was largely rebuilt and extended by the society architect Philip Tilden in the 1920s.
In 1946, when financial pressures forced Churchill to consider selling Chartwell, it was acquired by the National Trust with funds raised by a consortium of the wartime prime minister's friends on condition that the Churchills retain a life tenancy.
After Churchill's death, Clementine surrendered her lease on the house and it was opened to the public by the Trust in 1966, becoming one of its most popular properties.
In the 50th anniversary year of its opening, more than 230,000 visitors made tracks for the Grade I listed building – and a new generation may have been inspired to find out more about the wartime leader following the release of two major films in 2017, the biopic Churchill and war drama Darkest Hour.
Today, guests can explore the house, studio and 80 acres of gardens, although check the main website for opening times and individual entry costs.
Anyone prepared to make the journey round the M25 to Kent can also visit a variety of other Trust properties nearby, including the impressive medieval moated manor house at Ightham Mote, the remains of a knight's house at Old Soar Manor and the 14th-century moated castle at Scotney.
National Trust membership ranges from £120 a year for two adults living at the same address, and £126 for families.
Another glimpse of hidden London
Posted on September 2, 2018 by andrew in Beyonder Blog, Further Afield
MANY visitors to London's Central Criminal Court never see the statue of Lady Justice straddling the distinctive dome of the Old Bailey.
Yet this is the statue used to illustrate countless news reports of the great criminal trials which have taken place here across the years.
There's been a court here since the 16th century, attached for much of its history to the adjoining Newgate prison, and it has witnessed hundreds of thousands of trials, including some of the most notorious and newsworthy.
Back in the 19th century, hangings were a public spectacle in the street outside and the condemned would be led along Dead Man's Walk between the prison and the court to be met by riotous crowds pelting them with rotten fruit and vegetables.
Those crowds have long gone, but high on the dome above the court stands that bronze statue of Lady Justice, executed by the British sculptor F W Pomeroy, erected in 1906 and holding a sword in her right hand and the scales of justice in her left.
It's an iconic image that harks back to her origins as Iustitia, the Roman goddess of justice introduced by Emperor Augustus and subsequently a figure which every Roman emperor wanted to be associated with.
Though formally called a goddess with her own temple and cult shrine in Rome, it appears she was viewed more as a symbolic personification rather than as an actual deity with religious significance.
Today, she gazes down on streets steeped in history, although so much of this part of London was destroyed in the war and buried by modern monstrosities that you have to look hard to find those hidden traces of the city's past.
One such establishment is the Viaduct Tavern, a Victorian gin palace built to celebrate the opening of the Holborn Viaduct and with numerous claims over the years that its cellars incorporate old prison cells from Newgate Prison.
The Fuller's pub is certainly in the right location for that – and it is also likely the pub stands on land which was the original site of a debtors' prison which operated until 1853.
Across the road and down a side street and you find yourself in front of Cutlers' Hall, home of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers, one of the most ancient of the City of London livery companies.
It its first Royal Charter from Henry V in 1416 and, as was the case with the other trade guilds of the day, its function was to protect the interests of its members, to attend to their welfare, and to ensure that high standards of quality were maintained.
Their business was producing and trading in knives, swords, and other implements with a cutting edge. Over time the emphasis shifted from implements of war to cutlery and other domestic wares such as razors and scissors.
A 'House of the Cutlers' mentioned in 1285 is the earliest recorded regular meeting place of the Cutlers, but the current building (the fifth such hall) dates from 1888 and survived a great fire bomb raid on December 29th 1940 which left only St Paul's Cathedral and Cutlers' Hall standing virtually unscathed amongst the devastation.
Back up Newgate Street and in the Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden you can find a much more recent tribute to the city's past, commemorating Christ's Hospital School's 350-year presence in the City of London from 1552 until 1902, when the school moved to Horsham in West Sussex.
The bronze sculpture by Andrew Brown was selected following an open competition run by The City of London Corporation.
From here, it's but a short walk to Fleet Street and the first of many hostelries to have resonated with the exchanges of generations of journalists. The Punch Tavern is a Grade II listed refurbished 19th century gin palace once known as the Crown and Sugar Loaf.
It is said to have been renamed in the 1840s in homage to the regular drinkers from the nearby Punch magazine, a weekly magazine of humour and satire which was at its most influential at that time, when it helped to coin the term 'cartoon' in its modern sense as a humorous illustration.
After the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002.
Almost next door is another Fleet Street pub with a proud history, the Old Bell Tavern. Now part of the Nicholson's chain, The Old Bell Tavern has been a licensed tavern for more than 300 years.
The claim is that it was built by Sir Christopher Wren to house his masons as they rebuilt St Bride's Church after the Great Fire of London. Certainly it is still sought out by journalists returning for services at the church, with its centuries-old connections with the printing industry.
Down in the crypt, the church chronicles 2,000 years of its history, which began with the Romans some six centuries before the name of St Bride, daughter of an Irish prince, emerged from legend to become associated forever with the site.
By the time the Great Fire of 1666 left the church in ruins, a succession of churches had existed on the site for a millennium. It took nine years for St Bride's to re-appear from the ashes under the direction of Christopher Wren, and for the next two centuries his unmistakeable wedding-cake steeple cast a long shadow over the rise of the British newspaper industry.
In 1940, St Bride's fell victim once again to flames as German incendiary bombs reduced Wren's architectural jewel to a roofless shell. This time 17 years elapsed before rebuilding was completed.
Generations of newspapermen and women have prayed here and feel a special affinity for the place. Many have been married here – while others have come to honour dead colleagues, whose pictures stand on a side altar beside flickering candles.
After exploring the long history of the "journalists' church", it's probably time for another convivial Fleet Street pint, perhaps this time in The Tipperary, which can claim to be the "original" Irish pub outside Ireland.
On a site which was once an island between the River Thames and River Fleet, a dribble of which is said to still run under the pub, The Boar's Head was built in 1605 and, being made of stone and brick rather than wood, survived the Great Fire.
In around 1700 the S G Mooney & Son Brewery chain of Dublin purchased the pub and fitted it out in traditional Irish style. It became the first outside Ireland to have bottled Guinness and later draft, and was renamed in 1918 by the printers who came back from the Great War in honour of the song "It's a long way".
Greene King bought the pub in the 1960s and refitted the interior to the style of Mooney's days, recapturing the original character of the 1700s.
Emboldened by an authentic pint of Guinness, there might just be time to pop across the road and visit another venerable Fleet Street watering hole which did not fare so well in the Great Fire.
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is one of a number of London pubs to have been rebuilt shortly after the fire, although there was a pub here from 1538 and the establishment is chiefly known for its literary associations and lack of natural lighting, which lends a gloomy charm to its many little side rooms, bars and passages.
Hidden down a narrow alleyway and decorated with wood panelling from at least the 19th century, the pub boasts plaques showing famous people who were regulars, and who may have ranged from Dickens and Chesterton to Samuel Johnson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Talking of Dr Johnson, there may be time to look in on the charming nearby 300-year-old townhouse where the writer and wit lived and worked in the middle of the 18th century, compiling his great Dictionary of the English Language.
Today, the hidden gem is open to the public with a collection relating to Johnson, a research library, restored interiors and a wealth of original features. But if you are pressed for time, there's one famous local character you must look in on before saying a fond farewell to Fleet Street – Dr Johnson's beloved cat, Hodge.
Hodge is remembered by a bronze statue unveiled in Gough Square in 1997 showing the cat sitting next to a pair of empty oyster shells atop a copy of Johnson's famous dictionary.
Sculptor Jon Bickley made Hodge about shoulder height for the average adult – just about right for putting an arm around. Most of the information on Hodge comes from Boswell's account:
I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature.
I am, unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, "Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this" and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, "but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed".
Tagged architecture, heritage, history, London1 Comment
Escape from the rat race
Posted on August 30, 2018 by andrew in Further Afield, People and Places
THERE'S something immensely restful and soothing about Gregorian chant – and the same can be said of the tranquil surroundings of Douai Abbey in Berkshire.
Here, buried in the depths of the English countryside, is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery founded in Paris in 1615.
Vespers is sung prayer – in Latin. Traditionally this evening sacrifice of praise to God takes place as dusk begins to fall, giving thanks for the day just past, and although guests are welcome and some services and concerts are well attended, it's not uncommon to find the monks alone at this time.
Uprooted by the French Revolution, the monks moved initially to Douai in Flanders and settled in England in 1903, when they moved to their current base at Woolhampton.
The Order of Saint Benedict, also known as the 'Black Monks' because of the colour of their habits, is a religious order of independent monastic communities like Ampleforth, Downside, Worth and Buckfast.
They observe the Rule of St Benedict, a sixth-century Italian saint who studied in Rome and then turned his back on the world and lived in solitude before founding a monastery at Monte Cassino.
Here at Douai, under the patronage of the Edmund the Martyr (the East Anglian king who died in 869), the monks live a simple life of worship, study and work, centred around six daily services, from matins and lauds at 6.20am to compline at 8pm.
Despite their crow-like appearance when their black hoods are raised – an indication that they are in silent communion with the Lord – they are individually friendly and welcoming to guests who seek them out.
But "listening" is central to the Benedictine doctrine, so silence is an important part of their daily life – and for guests, a welcome reminder of how important it is for us all to escape the incessant hubbub of the modern world.
And so it is in preparation for the weekday service that we attend. Beforehand, individual monks sit in contemplation, both inside the abbey church and on benches around the grounds.
They then file silently to their places in the pews for a half-hour of praise and peace, the two dozen male voices echoing round the impressive arches of the abbey where we are the only other members of the congregation.
The abbey church was opened in the 1930s but not completed until 1993, and is a Grade II* listed building on the National Heritage List for England with marvellous acoustics.
Our simple evening service is without ceremony or accompanying music but is no less moving for that. The individual Latin words may be indistinct or unfamiliar, but the message of praise is clear – and the underlying sense of self-sacrifice and humility which underpins the monks' way of life shines through.
Douai monks still serve in parishes throughout England and welcome guests on retreats and courses, as well as those seeking space for quiet or study. There are facilities for conferences and for youth and chaplaincy groups and throughout the year they host a number of concerts in the abbey church.
Guests may take a peaceful walk in the nearby meadow or sit in a small wooded glade at the foot of a statue of Christ. This is a place of peace and contemplation – and a welcome escape from the unrelenting noise and activity of our everyday lives.
For more information about the work of the monks at Douai, see their website.
Tagged abbey, benedictine, douai, monksLeave a comment
Snatch a glimpse of London's past
Posted on August 27, 2018 by andrew in Beyonder Blog, Further Afield, Uncategorized
LONDON'S skyline is under attack.
Well, in truth it has been under attack for years, but it's only now that we can fully appreciate the scale of the onslaught as dozens of high-rise buildings reach completion.
When architecture critic Rowan Moore highlighted the problem back in 2014, more than 200 towers were being planned across the city, in urban and suburban locations alike.
But it's telling that today the London Town website actually says that this part of London is "aesthetically defined by its towers" and even suggests venues where high-rise visitors might want to savour a vertigo-inducing glass of bubbly and pricey meal while taking in the view of what remains of our once glorious capital.
Moore discusses the aesthetic dangers and practical drawbacks of this race to look like Dubai, Shanghai or New York, but if you haven't wandered round the backstreets of the City lately, you could be forgiven for thinking that every cobble, every tiny alleyway, is being transformed – mainly into offices or high-rise luxury penthouse blocks.
Much of that is driven by overseas investment – and a glance in the estate agent's window quickly establishes that no "normal" rent-payer would find it easy to pick up a bargain around here, even in the few bijou low-rise developments which remain.
Property agents confirmed this month that overseas investors had shrugged off Brexit worries to invest nearly £7bn in London property in 2018 – ahead of Hong Kong and Paris.
The only consolation is in tiny alleys and hidden squares there are a few remnants of the old city for the wanderer to stumble upon.
The main tourist attractions like St Paul's still provide visitors with a focal point, of course. Sadly Hitler's sustained bombing campaign during the Blitz saw swathes of central London flattened in 1940 and 1941, leaving only blue plaques to remind us of some of the buildings which had graced the historic square mile since that other great London disaster, the Great Fire of 1666.
The Museum of London is a great place to start an exploration of London's past – and when it moves to its new home beside Smithfield Market it should be an even more fascinating attraction.
But what remains of that historic capital, the Roman and medieval city largely hidden under our feet? There are still glimpses of London's history down dark alleys and quaintly named closes, although it has to be said much of it is masked by traffic fumes and the detritus of modern living.
Between the high-rise blocks, London's financial heart has become relentlessly hipster in mood and appearance, although the obsession with quality coffee is nothing new. London's coffee houses were famed across the centuries, even if Samuel Johnson declared himself 'a hardened and shameless tea drinker'.
But where to start after you emerge from the overheated hubbub of the Central Line in rush hour and step aside from the frantic City hordes to take your breath outstide St Paul's?
Down on Ludgate Hill it's reassuring to see an old Routemaster bus struggling to make any progress down towards Ludgate Circus and Fleet Street, but this throwback to the past is something of a sop to the tourists.
The vehicle itself is authentic enough, now more than 50 years old, having been originally delivered to London Transport in July 1964.
But it was withdrawn from service in the 1980s and spent time in Hampshire, Perth and Glasgow before being selected as one of a handful of buses to operate "heritage routes" through London – in this case from St Paul's down to Trafalgar Square.
More authentic, perhaps – and a lot less well known – is a small park round the corner from St Paul's which provides a welcome splash of green among the concrete.
Postman's Park has an intriguing history in its own right, occupying an amalgamation of three burial grounds and taking its name from the fact that when it opened in 1880 it became a popular haunt with postal workers from the nearby General Post Office.
Efforts to resist the attention of Victorian property developers in the 1890s ensured that the park was saved for posterity and when it reopened in 1900 it incorporated an extraordinary and moving memorial to self-sacrifice, remembering ordinary "humble heroes" who had lost their lives endeavouring to save the lives of others.
Chief proponents of the scheme to remember the extraordinary actions performed by everyday men, women and children were the artist George Frederic Watts (1817 – 1904) and his wife, Mary (1849 – 1938).
The Watts Memorial contains 54 memorial tablets commemorating 62 individuals. The earliest case featured is that of Sarah Smith, a pantomime artist who died in 1863 and the latest is Leigh Pitt who drowned in 2007.
A short walk from the park is a somewhat grimmer memorial on the outer wall of St Bartholomew Hospital in Smithfield paying tribute to Sir William Wallace, one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence – most famously portrayed by Mel Gibson in the film "Braveheart" – who was executed nearby on August 23, 1305.
Wallace was charged with treason, to which he responded that he could not be guilty, for he had never sworn fealty to Edward I. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to the traitor's death, one of the most vicious punishments devised during the medieval era.
He was taken to the Tower of London where he was stripped naked and dragged behind horses to the scaffold at Smithfield. He was first hung by the neck and then cut down while still alive. He was then eviscerated and castrated, and eventually beheaded. His body was cut into four parts, and his limbs sent to the corners of Scotland as a warning to the rebellious country. His head was set on London Bridge, where it was soon joined by other Scottish rebels.
Hidden away from the main tourist thoroughfares, Wallace's monument is a place of pilgrimage for Scottish visitors to London, while round the corner Sherlock Holmes buffs gather to see the vacant pathology block where Benedict Cumberbatch took his famed mystery plunge in the BBC series reimagining Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective novels.
This part of one of Britain's oldest hospitals is being redeveloped into a private healthcare facility. But opposite it is a reminder that this was once a rather seedy corner of medieval London where the Great Fire of London – 'occasion'd by the sin of gluttony' – finally stopped, as commemorated in a statue of the Golden Boy of Pye Corner.
The fire which broke out in in the early hours of Sunday, 2 September 1666 swept across London from the Thames to Smithfield, destroying thousands of houses and more than 80 churches over five days.
Initially blamed as part of a treasonous plot by Roman Catholics, the 18th-century monument credited an alternative culprit in the shame of the extravagant feasting of well-off 17th-century Londoners.
At this corner of Cock Lane and Giltspur Street also stood The Fortune of War pub, a rather unsavoury drinking den where in the early 1800s corpses provided by body snatchers used to be held in a backroom for surgeons at the nearby hospital to view and purchase.
The high-rise office blocks haven't quite obliterated this part of London yet, although they are certainly encroaching from all sides.
Not that anyone is suggesting that the medieval brothels of Cock Lane or nearby Victorian gin palaces provided a vision of London which tourists would enjoy today.
But between the soaring office blocks there are those glimpses of a different London skyline – like the distinctive dome of the Old Bailey, where the gleaming statue of Lady Justice, erected in October 1906, has long been used to sum up anything to do with the criminal justice system.
But that, as they say, another story…
See the Further Afield section of The Beyonder for additional snippets about London's history.
Tagged architecture, heritage, history, LondonLeave a comment
Full steam ahead at Bo'ness
Posted on August 20, 2018 by andrew in Beyonder Blog, Further Afield
IT'S HARD to think of a less likely tourist attraction that the UK's second oldest oil refinery, at Grangemouth.
But if you drive past the gas flares and cooling towers for a few minutes, the detour off the busy M9 motorway from Edinburgh to Stirling will take you to a quite extraordinary reminder of a golden age of steam.
For this is the home of the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, a five-mile working heritage railway and home to Scotland's largest railway museum.
The view from the station platform – the main station at Bo'ness was actually relocated from Wormit, at the south end of the Tay Bridge – could hardly be more authentic, although the 0-6-0 tank engine decked out in British Railways black is also "in disguise".
Despite the BR livery, this is not the former LNER Class J94 engine which once bore that number, but a lookalike – an engine once owned by the National Coal Board which was built by W G Bagnall in 1945 and acquired from the NCB's Comrie Colliery in Fife.
In its gleaming BR livery it certainly looks the part, though, and it's only one of a large selection of steam and diesel engines to be found here.
Another surprise is the surprisingly rural atmosphere of the route. Despite the proximity of heavy industry, the line takes passengers to a local nature reserve, and you can always walk back along the coast or disembark at another rural station that has been a favourite with film-makers.
The museum across the footbridge at Bo'ness is open seven days a week until October 28 from 11am-4.30pm and boasts three large buildings full of memorabilia – from full size locomotives to old-fashioned railway signs which once adorned the walls of busy railway stations across the country.
For full details of the railway, see the link above – and more information about the Scottish Railway Preservation Society can be found here.
Tagged boness, heritage, railway, steamLeave a comment
Landmark steeped in history
Posted on July 3, 2018 by andrew in Further Afield, History and Heritage
'CATHEDRAL OF THE DOWNS': St Michael & All Angels at Lambourn
THERE'S a solidity to the church at Lambourn that you might expect of a landmark that has witnessed ten centuries of history.
A stone's throw from the busy M4 motorway between Swindon and Newbury, the village provides a welcome escape from the traffic streaming west from London and the historic Grade I listed church is a cool, peaceful oasis at the heart of the village.
Nowadays Lambourn is perhaps best known as the largest centre of racehorse training in England outside Newmarket, but centuries ago it was the market town for the sheep farmers of the western Berkshire Downs – and the church of St Michael and All Angels is known as the 'Cathedral of the Downs'.
At least four Anglo-Saxon documents refer to the town and the church and since the association of King Alfred with this part of England is well known and Alfred was a devout Christian, it is perhaps reasonable to presume that he may have had something to do with the founding or improvement of St Michaels. The dedication of Michael the Archangel was certainly a popular one in Saxon times; the addition of All Angels came later
From the outside, the visitor's attention is perhaps initially focused on the distinctive lych-gate.
Nowadays we tend to have forgotten the purpose of these traditional gates but the name derives from the Old English 'lich', meaning corpse, and they were meeting places and shelters for the party bringing a corpse for burial.
Although some had been built earlier, the 1549 Prayer Book required the priest to meet the corpse at the churchyard entrance. This encouraged the provision of lych-gates to shelter the corpse and the funeral party for that purpose.
FUNERAL SHELTER: a lych-gate at Lenton in Lincolnshire [PICTURE: Bob Harvey]
Medieval lych-gates were made of timber and most have long since disappeared. However many new lych-gates were erected in Victorian times, sometimes as memorials to prominent local people or as war memorials.
Although the numerous ancient barrows in this area are proof of much earlier settlements, as are finds of Roman pottery in the vicinity, Norman invaders later made their presence felt and the grand nave of the church dates from the 12th century.
IMPOSING INTERIOR: St Michael's boasts several chantry chapels
The first written record of a church at Lambourn dates from 1032, but it seems likely there was a Saxon church here several centuries earlier and the circular shape of the churchyard suggests that the site may have been in use in Roman times.
The current church was begun in the 12th century and the core of the building dates to about 1180 and is constructed on a cruciform plan. More information about the church's history, transepts, chapels and stained glass windows can be found on a website run by the Friends of St Michael.
By the 13th century Lambourn had assumed some importance and a charter was granted by Henry VI to allow a market and two sheep fairs a year to be held. Around this time the Market Cross in the Market Square was erected.
PAST GLORIES: some stained glass dates from the 16th century
Inside the church a variety of chapels provide plenty to interest the passing visitor – from the Holy Trinity Chapel built in 1502 by John Estbury, featuring a tomb chest decorated with coats of arms and a brass effigy, to the North Chapel, added in the late Elizabethan period and heavily restored in 1849, which contains a wonderful table tomb to Sir Thomas Essex and his wife Margaret.
At Sir Thomas's head is a fiery salamander, emblem of the Essex family, while his feet rest upon a dolphin, an unusual symbol in an English church.
CHAPEL OF REST: the table tomb of Sir Thomas Essex and his wife Margaret
After exploring the historic delights of the various chapels, you don't have to go far for more earthly sustenance. The George across the road is not perhaps the most impressive looking of village hostelries from the outside, but the Arkell's inn is friendly and bustling inside and the Sunday lunch proves a unexpected delight – and excellent value for money too.
SUNDAY LUNCH: the George at Lambourn
Lambourn Church is at Parsonage Lane, RG17 8PA and The George on High Street, Lambourn, RG17 8XU.
Tagged church, heritage, history, lambourn, lych gateLeave a comment
Council hails litter 'heroes'
Posted on June 9, 2018 by andrew in Further Afield, News
VOLUNTEER litter pickers in Kidderminster have been hailed as local heroes by their district council for organising a series of litter picks around the town.
More than 300 members of the Facebook group Keeping Kidderminster and Surrounding Places Clean have been getting out and about their local streets and neighbourhoods picking up litter and disposing of it in litter bins around the district.
The idea stemmed from local teacher Michelle Medler's new year resolution to pick up a bag of litter a day while walking her dogs – and mushroomed into a community supported by hundreds of volunteers.
Michelle said: "I'm amazed at how many people care and want to make a difference, which is great to know, and the positive comments from the public make it all worthwhile."
After launching the group in January, she was surprised to see it grow into a 400-strong group after she initiated a number of communal litter picks in different parts of the town. Membership has since doubled to more than 800.
She soon won plaudits from councillors and council officers too. Youngsters and retired pensioners have been among the groups taking part – and Wyre Forest District Council, which has street cleaning reponsibilities in the area, praised Michelle and supplied volunteers with litter pickers, high visibility jackets and gloves, as well as advice about safely disposing of any dangerous items they came across.
Cabinet member for operational services Councillor Rebecca Vale said: "It is truly remarkable to hear about the positive impact these volunteers have had and I'd like to thank every one of them. We spend a lot of time, effort and money cleaning our streets – this just goes to show what a huge difference we can make to the look and feel of the district by working together."
The Kidderminster model is one The Beyonder is keen to explore further. Beyonder editor Andrew Knight said: "The Kidderminster group are doing an amazing job and seem to have a real community spirit. They can also see the impact they are having on making the town cleaner – and it's great that the district council has been so supportive."
The Beyonder is carrying out a local audit before deciding how to pursue its anti-litter campaign in the Chilterns. It is in the process of contacting local parish, district and county councils to find out more about existing waste collection activities across south Buckinghamshire from Marlow to Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross, Chalfont St Giles, Chalfont St Peter and Denham.
Tagged buckinghamshire, campaign, chilterns, facebook, litterLeave a comment
Kate goes back to the land
Posted on May 12, 2018 May 12, 2018 by andrew in Further Afield, Rearing and growing, TV
SEAWEED FEAST: filming in Cornwall [PICTURE: 7 Wonder Productions/BBC]
THERE'S a growing appetite for lovingly produced high quality food – and for rural success stories, it seems.
That was certainly the message when BBC2 placed a supersized order for Kate Humble's Back To The Land series following a three-part debut run last March.
After whetting audiences' appetites with a handful of extraordinary tales of aspiring businesses turning seaweed into food and goat's milk into probiotic drinks, the TV production company 7 Wonder got the go-ahead for a 12-part series of the 60-minute programmes after the show picked up an average audience of 2m on its first outing.
Presented by Kate Humble, the series celebrates rural Britain by championing the UK's most inspirational rural entrepreneurs and meeting them at different times of the year as they struggle to bring their business dreams to fruition.
Screened four nights a week from May 8 until May 24, the new series allows Humble to roam the country from Cornwall to Yorkshire seeking out more aspirational and innovative businesses fighting to turn their ideas into commercial successes.
The series was ordered by head of popular factual and factual entertainment David Brindley and is executive produced by Alexandra Fraser and Sarah Trigg.
Trigg was quoted in Broadcast magazine as saying: "What we all enjoy about the creative process of making it is witnessing these incredible and aspirational people doing what they love to keep the countryside alive."
RURAL RETURN: Kate Humble [PICTURE: 7 Wonder Productions/BBC]
Humble is the ideal host for this sort of show, not just because of her long-standing interest in animals but because she brings a cheery enthusiasm and empathy to the task that helps her interviewees to shine on screen as they describe their dreams and dilemmas.
The presenter was born in 1968 and grew up in rural Berkshire in a house next to a farm. She describes on her website how she enjoyed a 'proper childhood' – building camps, racing snails, and climbing trees, interspersed with trips to A&E to patch up things when they broke.
Of the first series, David Butcher wrote in Radio Times: "Some series have a cool, wholesome kind of vibe to them right from the off and this, happily, is one of them. It's warm and watchable and full of heartening tales of rural entrepreneurs who are taking gambles with their livelihoods on innovative (in some cases, slightly crazy-seeming) business ideas."
These days Humble and her husband, producer/director Ludo Graham, live on a smallholding in Wales where in 2011 they set up a rural skills school on a working farm in the Wye Valley. They live with a variety of feathered and furry livestock and three dogs.
Back To The Land may boast heartwarming tales but it's not a rose-tinted portrait of rural life. Humble isn't slow to play up the financial risks and gruelling working hours faced by the budding entrepeneurs – or the personal tragedies encountered along the way, as when in episode two, Mangalitza pig farmers Lisa and Tim in Yorkshire lose two broods of piglets.
In the first episode she meets Caro and Tim (above), who harvest seaweed by free-diving off the coast and have got big plans to cultivate their own crop by gluing seeds to ropes that are strung out next to a mussel farm. Elsewhere, we meet a mass of very sweet ducklings bred by egg-to-plate experts Tanya and Roger, and a forager who puts what he picks into craft beer.
Then she's off to Yorkshire, meeting 69-year-old ex-submariner Bob, who on retirement bought a boat and set about catching lobsters off the beautiful coastline. We also meet a sustainable game-keeper who sells what he hunts directly to the public and visit an award-winning glass-blowing business based in the heart of the Yorkshire Moors.
Critics may find the hour-long slots a little slow paced on occasion and there's always the danger of sounding too much like an advertorial when you home in on business ventures, but Humble steers a nice path through these challenges, introducing us to some intriguing and courageous individuals along the way.


text:
// Header for CAddressTable class

#ifndef __CADDRESSTABLE__MULBERRY__
#define __CADDRESSTABLE__MULBERRY__

#include "CAddressList.h"
#include "CTableDragAndDrop.h"

// Classes
class CAdbkAddress;
class CAddressBook;
class CAddressBookView;
class CAddressTableNewAction;
class CAddressTableEditAction;
class CKeyModifiers;

class CAddressTable : public CTableDragAndDrop
{
	friend class CAddressBookView;

	DECLARE_DYNCREATE(CAddressTable)

public:
					CAddressTable();
	virtual 		~CAddressTable();

	virtual void		ScrollImageBy(SInt32 inLeftDelta, SInt32 inTopDelta, bool inRefresh);

	virtual	void		SetDirty(bool dirty);						// Set dirty flag
	virtual bool		IsDirty(void);								// Is it dirty

			void		SetAddressBook(CAddressBook* adbk);			// Set the entry list

			int			GetSortBy() const;

			void		CreateNewLetter(bool option_key);			// Create letter from selection
			void		CreateNewEntry(void);						// Create a new address
			void		DoEditEntry(void);							// Edit selected entries
			bool		EditEntry(TableIndexT row);					// Edit specified address
			void		DoDeleteEntry(void);						// Delete selected entries

			void		AddAddressesFromList(CAddressList* addrs);		// Add from list
			void		ChangeAddressesFromList(CAddressList* old_addrs, CAddressList* new_addrs);	// Change from list
			void		RemoveAddressesFromList(CAddressList* addrs);	// Delete from list

			void		AddSelectionToList(CAddressList* list);		// Add selected entries to list
			bool		CopyEntryToList(TableIndexT row,
										CAddressList* list);		// Copy cell to list
			bool		AddEntryToList(TableIndexT row,
										CAddressList* list);		// Add cell to list
			void		ResetTable(void);							// Reset the table from the mbox
			void		ClearTable();								// Reset the table from the entry list

	// Common updaters
	afx_msg void	OnUpdateEditPaste(CCmdUI* pCmdUI);

	// Command handlers
	afx_msg void	OnEditCut(void);
	afx_msg void	OnEditCopy(void);
			bool	AddAddressText(TableIndexT row, cdstring* txt);				// Add address as text
			bool	AddAdbkAddressText(TableIndexT row, cdstring* txt);			// Add address as text
	afx_msg void	OnEditPaste(void);
	afx_msg void	OnCmdActionDeleted(void);

protected:
	virtual	bool	HandleKeyDown(UINT nChar, UINT nRepCnt, UINT nFlags);		// Handle key down
	virtual void	DoKeySelection(void);										// Select from key press
	virtual void	LClickCell(const STableCell& inCell, UINT nFlags);								// Single-click
	virtual void	LDblClickCell(const STableCell& inCell, UINT nFlags);

	virtual void	DoSelectionChanged();

	void		DoSingleClick(TableIndexT row, const CKeyModifiers& mods);				// Handle click user action
	void		DoDoubleClick(TableIndexT row, const CKeyModifiers& mods);				// Handle double-click user action
	void		DoPreview();
	void		DoFullView();

	// Drag & Drop
	virtual BOOL	OnRenderGlobalData(LPFORMATETC lpFormatEtc, HGLOBAL* phGlobal);
	virtual bool	DropData(unsigned int theFlavor,
								char* drag_data,
								unsigned long data_size);				// Drop data

private:
	CAddressBookView*	mTableView;					// View that owns this
	CAddressBook*		mAdbk;						// List of sorted entries
	bool				mDirty;						// Dirty flag
	unsigned long		mLastTyping;				// Time of last typed character
	char				mLastChars[32];				// Last characters typed
	CAddressTableEditAction*	mEditAction;		// Action to store edits

	virtual void	DrawCell(CDC* pDC,
								const STableCell&	inCell,
								const CRect&		inLocalRect);				// Draw the items

	// message handlers
	afx_msg int OnCreate(LPCREATESTRUCT lpCreateStruct);

	afx_msg void 	OnNewMessage(void);
	afx_msg void 	OnNewMessageOption(void);
	afx_msg void	OnNewAddress(void);
	afx_msg void	OnEditAddress(void);
	afx_msg void	OnDeleteAddress(void);

	DECLARE_MESSAGE_MAP()
};

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home / Software / News
Broken promises: Games that never made it to SteamOS and Linux
Announced ports never arrived, without any official explanation.
World Beyond Windows
By Chris Hoffman, PCWorld	 Aug 29, 2016 3:30 am PDT
Linux gamers shouldn't buy games before they're actually released for Linux or SteamOS. Lots of games—including big-name, AAA games—have gotten a wave of good press by announcing forthcoming support for Linux and SteamOS, which then never materialized.
There are lots of great games you can play on Steam Machines and Linux. That's why it's so disappointing when developers cancel announced ports or, worse yet, go silent and stop talking about them.
These developers didn't deliver on their promises
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which Valve announced was "Coming to SteamOS" with a huge banner on the Steam store, was perhaps the biggest tease of all. That banner was taken down just a few hours later, and Valve never said anything further on the matter. CD PROJEKT RED, The Witcher 3's developer, has refused to comment on Linux and SteamOS ports. Support would've seemed natural considering The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is available for SteamOS and Linux, but it doesn't look like it's happening.
Batman: Arkham Knight was another huge AAA game promised for SteamOS and Linux. But the SteamOS, Linux, and Mac ports were officially cancelled after a botched Windows release that saw Warner Brothers hand out a lot of refunds to upset PC gamers. "We are very sorry," a Warner Brothers representative posted on the Steam forums. "If you have pre-ordered Batman: Arkham Knight for Mac or Linux, please apply for a refund via Steam." Now that's how to do a cancellation right.
Batman: Arkham Knight barely even ran on Windows when it was released.
Street Fighter V seems missing in action. The last announcement was in February 2016, when Capcom promised it was working with Valve on the SteamOS and Linux version, with an ETA in the spring, and that more news would be coming soon. It's now more than six months later, near the end of the summer, and Capcom hasn't said a thing about it since. Street Fighter V could be just another quietly cancelled port.
Multiplayer FPS Evolve also appeared on a Valve-provided list of games headed to SteamOS. But Evolve never materialized for SteamOS or Linux. Again, it's no big surprise—the game didn't seem successful and Turtle Rock Studios had to scramble to convert the game into a free-to-play game. That free-to-play game, Evolve Stage 2 , is only available for Windows and the developers haven't commented on a SteamOS or Linux version.
Perhaps Valve announced Evolve and The Witcher 3 in error. We'll never know, because nobody's talking.
Total War: Rome II was promised in Valve's list of games coming to SteamOS, but a Linux port never arrived. "I thought it came out already", said the community manager when asked on Twitter. The sequel, Total War: ATTILA, was released for Linux and SteamOS, but Rome II was not. As the community manager who thought it was already released replied: "There's no updates :/".
Gauntlet, a reimagining of the beloved old arcade game series, got good press for announcing support for SteamOS and Steam Machines at launch. Arrowhead even sold pre-orders with a Linux icon on the Steam store page. But the SteamOS and Linux version was later officially cancelled so the developer could focus on the Windows PC version. (Yet another reason why you shouldn't preorder games.)
Driving simulator Project CARS also seems to have given up on SteamOS. The frequently asked questions page on its website used to promise a SteamOS version "later in 2015," but it was never released, and any mention of SteamOS or Linux is now gone from the current FAQ.
Steam Machines haven't taken the world by storm
Many developers probably thought Steam Machines and SteamOS would be more successful when they made these promises, although some also thought their own games would be more successful, and had to scrambled when they weren't.
Still, it's a shame that developers so frequently back away on their promises. It's a lesson to gamers everywhere: Don't buy a game based on something the developer promises to release in the future, especially when it's something as easily and frequently cancelled as support for Linux and SteamOS.
Steam Machine
Chris Hoffman is a tech geek who's been writing about everything technology-related for years. When he's not writing about gadgets and software, he's probably using them in his spare time.


text:
Bios back to list
Executive Producer of "The Outpost"
Marc Roskin is an executive producer of The CW's fantasy adventure series "The Outpost."
Roskin is a founding partner of Electric Entertainment and a driving force behind the company's award-winning television and feature film production. Along with co-founder Dean Devlin, Roskin has developed and produced each of the company's features including "Flyboys" and "Cellular," "Geostorm," "Bad Samaritan," and "The Deal" as well as the critically acclaimed documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?," He also produced and directed second unit of the feature "Geostorm" starring Gerard Butler.
Roskin helped create and executive produce 2004's cable movie "The Librarians: Quest for the Spear," as well as its two sequels and the spinoff television series "The Librarians" starring Noah Wyle. He also executive produced and directed over 20 episodes of the People's Choice Award-winning series "Leverage" starring Academy Award winning actor Timothy Hutton. Additional executive producing credits include the miniseries "The Triangle" and "Blank Slate," and directed episodes of "Almost Paradise," "The Outpost," "Covert Affairs," "Burn Notice," "Common Law," "Dallas," "The Glades," "Killer Women," "Graceland," "Sleepy Hollow," "Krypton," "S.W.A.T" and "The Outpost."
Currently, Roskin is in production, directing Electric's newest series "Almost Paradise," starring Christian Kane. The series is being produced by Roskin, Dean Devlin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment along with Gary Rosen.
Prior to founding Electric Entertainment, Roskin was senior vice president at Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's production company, Centropolis Entertainment. During his tenure, Roskin was instrumental in the development and production of films such as "Godzilla," "The Patriot," "Eight Legged Freaks" and "The Thirteenth Floor."


If (like me!) you only heard of Ashley Madison when you heard the news that a database of 36 million people actively looking for "married dating and discreet encounters" had been hacked. The discreet encounters were attracting indiscreet publicity. This week sees the publication of the joint report from the Australian and Canadian Privacy (Data Protection) Commissioners on their investigation of the Ashley Madison data breach. It's a long report. Unsurprising to many, given its business model, Ashley Madison wasn't taking its data protection responsibility very seriously. It was, however, taking the marketing of its trustworthiness very seriously. Apparently, the company did understand that privacy was important to its customers and to its business. Its marketing message was one of discretion and privacy. The site had multiple trust certificates including one that was fabricated. This is a company that knew its business depended on its reputation and its reputation depended on having good data protection and data security practices across the organisation – and despite that they failed to take data protection seriously. The 40-pages of findings from Australia and Canada show that! There are important lessons in the Ashley Madison report that every company can learn from. Here are my top 10!
When Ashley Madison was attacked it didn't have a documented security policy in place. This is bad – it allows gaps in practices to occur and it makes it difficult for an organisation to respond to new threats since they don't have a baseline set of practices in place. Most importantly perhaps, a documented security policy sends a clear signal to staff about how seriously a company takes security.
To make matters worse Ashley Madison did not have a documented risk management framework in place. It had not carried out any formal risk management assessment of the data it held and therefore the security measures it put in place were not in response to identified risks. As a result, the security measures they did have were looking in the wrong place and they failed to pick up on this breach over an extended period of time. Data protection legislation requires companies to put in place "appropriate safeguards" and a risk assessment is the first step to determine what is appropriate for a particular company. A Privacy Impact Assessment(PIA) or in GDPR terminology Data Protection Impact Assessment(DPIA) is a data focussed risk assessment that helps a company to identify, assess and mitigate the risks that are relevant to their business.
There was some good practice in segregating the network, having firewalls, logging access attempts and encrypting much of the data as well as encrypting communications between Ashley Madison and its users. However, the Achilles heel was their authentication and password security practices. In particular, access to data servers via VPN was authenticated in part by use of a "shared secret" – a code phrase that was shared across a team of employees and stored on a google drive that any employee could access. While access attempts were logged they were not monitored. Two-part authentication should have been implemented as a matter of course. Data protection is not always intuitive. The fact that security was breached in itself does not necessarily mean a company is non-compliant with data protection law. Non-compliance happens when the security measures are not sufficient given the nature of the data to be protected. The tools and technology exist to do a much better job of ensuring security than Ashley Madison was doing. This was a company that was knowingly handling highly sensitive information and turning over roughly $100M annually on the basis of that sensitive data. They certainly had access to appropriate budgets to hire appropriate expertise and invest in the appropriate technology to prevent a breach of this scale.
Ashley Madison did develop a training program. But only 25% of its employees had been trained at the time of the breach. Ashley Madison claimed that staff were aware of their obligations despite the lack of formal training – but the commissioners found that this was not the case. It's not good enough to assume that employees know what to do, it has to be backed up with formal training and refresher courses when policies change or when staff move roles. To be really effective training has to be based on the policies that are put in place by the company.
The Ashley Madison case made headlines for the very dubious practice of charging users to delete their information – and then failing to delete it. Data protection law pretty much everywhere requires that data is not retained for longer than it is required. And newer legislation is giving users more power to request erasure of their personal data and putting more responsibility on data controllers to ensure it is erased everywhere it has been shared. Anyone collecting personal data needs to have a data retention policy – and then adhere to it.
#6 - And remember, you can't charge a user to delete their data!
This is very significant – Ashley Madison claimed that they implemented a "full delete" of users data due to user demand and the feature cost a lot to implement. Charging users to delete their data was an attempt to recoup that cost. Companies should consider the cost of collecting and handling data. That cost needs to be built into a company's business model. If you collect data, make sure you understand the risk and costs associated with that data and assess whether the data will provide a return on the investment you make into managing it.
#7 - You need to verify data is accurate and keep it up to date.
This is a strange and unusual one in this day and age. Ashley Madison did not attempt to verify the email address of users who signed up for its services. This was a conscious decision on their part and I think rather unusual – I haven't come across any website recently that hasn't sent me a link to click through to verify I am who I say I am. While it's unusual, it does highlight the data protection requirement to keep data accurate and up to date. Omitting basic steps like validating an email address is a big red flag to your users that you are not treating their data with respect.
Ashley Madison as a company appears to be surviving – but at a cost. It has a new CEO. It has been forced into a massive and very expensive rebranding exercise in order to distance the company from the bad publicity. Its seeking acquisition and attempting to "rebuild Praecellens Limited (Ashley Madison) as the world's most open-minded dating community". I bet it hasn't been a great year at the Toronto HQ for the 100 or so employees working there. The numbers aren't easily found (if anyone can find them please let me know, I'd love to know what they are) but I bet revenue and profit and company value is a fraction of what it was. The true cost of a data breach is the reputational damage to the company. That is sometimes recoverable, sometimes not.
Every piece of data that you collect for your business has a cost. That cost depends on the nature of the data, the scale of it, how long you retain it for and whether you share it on to 3rd parties. The cost comes in the form of developing and implementing data handling policies, physical storage and security, putting in place measures to maintain the accuracy of the data and delete it when it is no longer in use. The Ashley Madison saga is a timely reminder that data is not a free commodity. Businesses need to budget appropriately for their data handling and examining the ROI that data is providing to the business.


Semtech provides a new family LoRa with extremly high link budget and low power consumption.
For example SX1276 has a 168 dBm link budget. This is much more that CC1125 provides (145 dBm).
Difference is 23 dBm. It's approximately 16x times more range. It's possible?
Semtech presented a new type of modulation in this product family - LoRa. What can TI provide for competing with this technology?
Application requirements - 868 MHz, 4.8 kBod, output power 10-100 mW, lowest power consumption in receiving mode. SX1276 has a 9.9 mA in RX mode, TI has a maximum current 17 mA.
The 168 dBm link budget comes from the SX datasheet number of -148 dBm sensitivity. This sensitivity is at 18 bps (yes, 18 bits per second), which is not a usable rate for any application, just a showcase number for the datasheet frontpage. For a rate of 4.8 kbps, a solution based on TI Narrowband technology will give more range and a more robust link than a link using LoRa.
The modulation format in LoRa is Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS), a technology invented in the 1930's. CSS is widely used in radar and ranging applications, but not in communications systems. The main reason CSS is not used in communication systems is the very weak co-existence performance, i.e. the ability to reliably operate in presence of interference. LoRa spread the signal information over a wide bandwidth (500 kHz), but will be jammed by any other system operating in this bandwidth (check out the co-channel rejection on page 21 in the SX1276 datasheet.....). Semtech claim LoRa has great co-existence, but their own datasheet measurements show performance 50 dB worse than TI narrowband solutions.
I have no affiliation with Semtech, but the CC1125 is obsolete versus the SX1276. If you compare co-channel rejection, and sensitivity at equivalent bit-rates, the SX1276 wins, in both narrow and wide band specs, and power consumption. That being said, Semtech may be fudging their specs, who knows unless a real world comparison is done.
For their Lora receiver, they spec positive co-channel rejection numbers. This means it is pulling a signal out of the noise!!!! If you look at page 87 of the SX1276 spec, "Due to the nature of the LoRa modulation, it is possible to receive packets below the noise floor." See page 26, for an explanation, and table showing negative SNRs.
I like TI's high speed solutions, but they are behind in the sub-GHz ISM transceiver low-speed, long-distance solutions assuming Semtech's specs are true. I would also say that TI could likely implement a similar solution to Semtech's, but with better specifications. It's just a matter of taking the time to do it. The CC1310 looks more competitive since it has an integrated CPU, but it's still not available. It appears IOT support won out over making the transceiver specs better, but that's unfortunate since the power consumed by the transceiver outweighs the power consumed by the CPU. The SX1276 wins in the power consumption category vs the CC1125, but not against the pre-release specs for the CC1310. Unfortunately, the CC1310 still can't compete with the SX1276 in terms of transceiver performance, but that's more palatable given the clear power consumption savings.
I would recommend to test the CC112x and the Lora system together in parallel and to perform a range test. We have performed this test, as well as several customers and the results have been the same every time. CC112x is far superior with respect to blocking and selectivity.
With the IoT trend, blocking and selectivity are becoming more important since the number of wireless devices are increasing on a daily basis.
Perform the range test and let me know your results.
Hi Richard, thanks for the response. I don't really have time to do this test, which is why I searched online hoping your applications engineers had already done so. Until then, I will use the specifications.
If you take a look at the white paper linked below (www.ti.com/.../swry006), you will find a detailed technical explanation of difference between coded (wideband) and non-coded (narrow band) signals. You do not gain sensitivity by adding coding gain, as you use the coding gain to combat the higher noise you get from the wide channel. The practical sensitivity is a function of the datarate, lower datarate, better sensitivity, longer range, pretty straight forward.
Moreover, using wideband modulation for low rate, you are also very vulnerable to interference. We have performed apples to apples comparison of CC1120 and SX1276, using same frequency (868 MHz) and same datarate (1.2 kbps), running range test side by side. As you can see from the video below, the LoRa link totally breaks down in presence of a single interferer, even if the interferer is several 100 meters away. I expected it to be bad from the datasheet values, but I was shocked by how bad it handled a real world environment. See for yourself and judge, would you like to deploy a system with this kind of issues?
Good technical discussion, however it all depends on the application. If I have a sensor that sends small amount data every 15 mins or hour, LoRa is better solution. It has better link budget and range since I can live with < 200bps. However, CC112x supports SigFox stack, which makes it competitive to LoRa.