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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Undergraduate Course: Modern Persian Literature and 'Modern' Iran (IMES10061)
School School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures College College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Summary This option introduces students to 20th century Persian-language literary texts available in translation as a means of understanding the efforts of an ever-expanding Iranian intellectual class to address issues surrounding the rise of the modern nation-state in the Middle East generally and Iran in particular over this period via use of both the short story and the novel.
The course can intersect with other departmental courses on modern Middle Eastern Studies, allowing students to explore their particular interests generally. But, it will also intersect in particular with a course in modern Persian history which will consider the political and socio-economic history of Iran since the 16th century.
The course IMES10009, Modern Persian Literature, is a version of this course studying the texts in Persian.
The course IMES11070, Modern Persian Literature and Modern Iran, is a version of this course studying the texts in English translation for Postgraduate students.
Course description This option introduces students to 20th century Persian-language literary texts available in translation as a means of understanding the efforts of an ever-expanding Iranian intellectual class to address issues surrounding the rise of the modern nation-state in the Middle East generally and Iran in particular over this period via use of both the short story and the novel.
This course will add to options in Middle Eastern literature and cultural studies by exposing students to a range of important literary works translated from Persian while also requiring them to consider these works from the perspectives both of development/modernisation theory, Orientalism and postcolonial, the role of the intellectual in society generally and modern Iran in particular as well as gender studies and modern Middle Eastern history.
The course thus assists students in their engagement with those aspects of Middle East studies that are associated with modern Middle Eastern cultural, political and socio-economic. The course adds to those of our longer-standing and recently introduced offerings that broaden our focus on modern Middle Eastern cultural and political developments.
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements Before enrolling students on this course, you are asked to contact the IMES Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 504182, e-mail imes@ed.ac.uk).
Pre-requisites Visiting students should have at least 3 courses in a suitable subject area at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses.
Gain an overview of the history and development of modern Persian literature.
Develop an understanding of the social and historical developments within modern Iran.
Evaluate primary and secondary materials relating to the study of Persian literature.
Engage with modern Persian text in its primary source.
Engage critically with modern Persian literature and conduct independent research related to the topics and themes of this module.
1. Likely Required Readings (all works to be made available via WebCT except as noted)
a) Works of Sadeq Hedayat (d. 1951)
'Dash Akol'
'Laleh'
'The Dead End'
'Three Drops of Blood'
'The Stray Dog'
'The Woman Who Lost Her Man'
Novel:
The Blind Owl
b) Works of Samad-e Behrangi (d. 1968)
'The Bald Pigeon Keeper'
'The Old Woman and Her Golden Chicken'
'The Little Sugar-Beet Vemdor'
'24 Restless Hours'
'The Little Black Fish'
c) Works of Jalal Al-e Ahmad (d. 1969)
'The Unwanted Woman'
'Seh Tar'
The School Principal
Nun and the Pen
Autobiographical Wortk:
Lost in a Crowd
Social Criticism:
Westoxication
d) Works of Simin Daneshvar
Jalal's SunsetAuthor(s): Simin Daneshvar, Farzaneh Milani, Jo-Anne HartSource: Iranian Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Winter, 1986), pp. 47-63.
Daneshvar's playhouse : a collection of stories (Washington, D.C : Mage Publishers, 1989) ML
A Persian requiem : a novel (London : Peter Halban, 1991) ML
Or, Savushun : a novel about modern Iran (Washington, D.C : Mage Publishers, c1990) ML
Sutra & other stories (Washington, D.C. : Mage Publishers, 1994) ML
2. Supplemental Bibliography
M. Boroujerdi, Iranian Intellectuals and the West, the Tormented Triumph of Nativism (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996). ML
D. P. Brookshaw, 'Revivification of an Ossified Genre? Simin Behbahani and the Persian Ghazal', Iranian Studies,41/1 (2002) ,75 - 90.
M. Cisco, 'Eternal Recurrence in The Blind Owl', Iranian Studies, 43/4(2010) 471 - 488 .
J. Clinton, 'A Bibliography of Modern Persian Literature in English Translation', Iranian Studies, 19/3-4 (1986), 327-346.
H. Dabashi, Theology of discontent : the ideological foundations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (New York: New York University Press, 1993), Chapter 1 on Al-e Ahmad.
M. R. Ghanoonparvar, In a Persian mirror : images of the West and Westerners in Iranian fiction (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1993). ML
M. R. Ghanoonparvar, Prophets of doom : literature as a socio-political phenomenon in modern Iran (Lanham, MD : University Press of America, c1984). ML
M. R. Ghanoonparvar, Reading Chubak (Costa Mesa: Mazda, 2005). ML
M. R. Ghanoonparvar,'The Storyteller's Canvas: The Life and Fiction of Simin Behbahani', Iranian Studies, 41/1 (2008), 37-45
B. Hanson, 'The "Westoxication" of Iran: Depictions and Reactions of Behrangi, Al-e Ahmad and Shariati', International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 15/1 (1983), 1-23. (Web CT)
M. Hillmann, ed., Hedayat's 'The Blind Owl' Forty Years After (Austin: University of Texas, 1978). ML
M. Hillmann, 'The Modernist Trend in Persian Literature and Its Social Impact'
Iranian Studies, 15/1 (1982), pp. 7-29.
M. Kamrava, Iran's Intellectual Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. ML
H. Kamshad, Modern Persian Prose Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966). ML
M.M. Khorrami, ed., and transl., Another sea, another shore : Persian stories of migration (Northampton, Mass. : Interlink, 2004). ML
M.M. Khorrami, ed., and transl., A world between : poems, short stories, and essays by Iranian-Americans (New York : George Braziller, 1999). ML
M.M. Khorrami, et al., eds and transl., A feast in the mirror : stories by contemporary Iranian women (Boulder, Colo: Lynne Reinner, 2000). ML
M.M. Khorrami, Modern reflections of classical traditions in Persian fiction (Lewiston, Lampeter : Edwin Mellen Press, 2003). ML
F. Lewis, et al., ed and transl., In a voice of their own : a collection of stories by Iranian women written since the Revolution of 1979 (Costa Mesa: Mazda, 1996). ML
H. Moayyad, ed., Stories from Iran, a Chicago Anthology, 1921-1991 (Washington DC: Mage Publishers, 1991) ML
F. Milani, 'Power, Prudence and Print: Censorship and Simin Danashvar', Iranian Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2/4, Sociology of the Iranian Writer (Spring - Autumn, 1985), pp. 325-347
A. Pistor-Hatam, 'Writing Back? Jalal Al-e Ahmad's (1923-69) Reflections on Selected Periods of Iranian History', Iranian Studies, 40/5 (2007), 559 - 578. (Web CT)
T. Ricks, ed., Critical perspectives on modern Persian literature, (Washington, D.C. : Three Continents Press, c1984). ML
M. Southgate, tr., Modern Persian Short Stories (Washington, DC: Three Continents Press, 1980). ML
K. Talattof, 'Iranian Women's Literature: From Pre-Revolutionary Social Discourse to Post-Revolutionary Feminism', IJMES, 29/4 (1997), 531-558.
K. Talatoof, 'I Will Rebuild You, Oh My Homeland': Simin Behbahani's Work and Sociopolitical Discourse', Iranian Studies, 41/I (2008), 19-36.
Special Issues of Iranian Studies:
Vol. 18, No. 2/4, Sociology of the Iranian Writer (Spring - Autumn, 1985)
Vol. 30, No. 3/4, Selections from the Literature of Iran, 1977-1997 (Summer - Autumn, 1997),
Students are expected to conduct their own research and develop reading lists for seminar discussion and the paper, seeking additional sources independently especially, for example, in the references and bibliographies given in the articles and books cited herein and in consultation with the course organiser, and to become acquainted with key bibliographical materials in the field.
The best of these include Index Islamicus, in which one can find references to articles and books on all aspects of Middle Eastern history and culture. Devoted solely to Iranian history and culture is Abstracta Iranica (Paris). Both are available in the Main Library and Index Islamicus is available on-line in electronic form via the 'databases' section on the Resources pages of the Main Library's website.
There are two multi-volume encyclopedias which are also useful. The Encyclopedia of Islam, second edition (EI2) has many useful entries on things Iranian; the transliteration system is a bear, however. Encyclopedia Iranica (New York) is devoted entirely to Iranian history and culture. Referred to as EIr, there is as yet no index to its entries and - of course - its transliteration differs to that of EI2. Both are in the Main Library: the former is also available via the Library's electronic resources pages while EIr is also available for free on-line.
The multi-volume Cambridge History of Iran contains chapters on Iran for the historical time-period covered in each of the volumes. Chapters in these volumes cover the basic political and socio-economic history, art and architecture, literature, philosophical inquiry, etc. of the periods concerned.
On Iranian studies generally, there is the US-based journal Iranian Studies. The ML has an incomplete run of this journal. The UK-based journal Iran is useful as is the US-based International Journal of Middle East Studies. Middle East Studies and The British Journal of Middle East Studies (BRISMES) also cover contemporary Iran. Abstracta Iranica (available on line) will index articles under relevant subject headings.
Graduate Attributes and Skills The course aims also to develop further students' abilities to do secondary-source research and to present oral and written work clearly and effectively while also honing their analytical skills analytical skills and improving their interactive capacities.
Keywords IMES MPL trans
Course organiser Prof Andrew Newman
Email: Andrew.J.Newman@ed.ac.uk Course secretary Ms Monique Brough
Email: Monique.Brough@ed.ac.uk


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Getting the Dirt on Triclosan & Phthalates
Triclosan was commonly used as antimicrobial agents in many hand sanitizers, soaps, and detergents.
It was first introduced to the market in the 1970s as a antimicrobial agent primarily used in hospital surgical wards. By the ends of the 1990s household 'antibacterial' soaps and cleaners were widespread in the United States.
Initially, companies used triclosan for health purposes, it wasn't out of nefarious intent. It was added to a host of consumer products to kill bacteria and fungus and odor. At the time, there hadn't been a lot of toxicology studies done to test for safety or even efficacy of the ingredient. Over the last few decades, the population has been so exposed to triclosan that it has shown up in urine tests worldwide.
Widespread use of triclosan prior to 2013 had very little regulation by the FDA. The FDA stated in 2013 that "there were unresolved safety considerations regarding daily long-term use," mainly because there hadn't been human health studies completed. The agency left it to companies to provide evidence to support the use of triclosan. Gradually over the past five years companies have slowly faded out their use of triclosan.
The use of triclosan is concerning because it is believed that it is an endocrine disruptor, can bioaccumulate, and create the emergence of bacteria resistance to antibodies and antibacterial products. Although many companies have discontinued its use and it is disappearing from the market place, Health Canada deems triclosan safe for human use. They allow it in some cosmetic products if the concentration is below a certain level.
Research is still being conducted to study the effects the ingredient has on the human body. Some studies have found that triclosan can affect human mast cells, which is an important part of the immune system. Triclosan inhibits the mast cell from functioning properly at amounts that are comparable to what people would use in hand sanitizer or toothpaste. It has also been found that it can affect the mitochondria of human skin cells. Disfiguration of these energy powerhouse cells has been seen in real time under a microscope.
*Although the use of triclosan has been greatly diminished in the past few years it is still a good idea to check the ingredient label.*
Phthalates (Dibutyl phtalate) is a synthetically produced chemical used in fragrances. It is also used as a plasticizer and a solvent. It is oily, odorless, and colorless. Its used to make plastics more flexible as well as to add more desirable qualities to insect repellant, hair sprays, and nail polish. It is a common ingredients found in products like hair spray, insect repellant, nail polish, household cleaners, plastics, glues, and paints.
It can be listed under a number of different names such as 1,2 benzenedicarboxylic acid, dbp (ester), dibutyl ester, butyl phthalate, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylate, DBP, dibutyl ester 1,2-benzendicarboxylic acid, dibutyl phthalates, benzene-o-dicarboxylic acid di-n-butyl ester, celluflex dpb, di-n-butylphthalate, dibutyl. Because it is also used as a fragrance ingredient it can be difficult to know what product it is in because companies are protected under the 'trade secret' loophole of not having to disclose their fragrance combination.
The European Commission banned the use of dibutyl phthalate in personal care products and cosmetics. The state of California has classified it as a developmental and reproductive toxin. Some of the possible health effects from fetal exposure are infertility, cryptorchidism, sperm development issues, effects similar to human testicular dysgenesis syndrome, and anatomical changes to the reproductive development of baby boys.
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Pożegnalny cyrk – album Izabeli Trojanowskiej i Tadeusza Nalepy nagrany w lipcu 1982 i wydany dopiero jedenaście lat później przez wytwórnię Intersonus Music.

Lista utworów
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 "Nie boję się nic" (muz. T. Nalepa, sł. I. Trojanowska) – 4:17
 "Dawali Ci dom" (muz. i sł. T. Nalepa) – 4:20
 "Nie narażaj się na śmiech" (muz. T. Nalepa, sł. I. Trojanowska) – 3:39
 "Pożegnalny cyrk" (muz. T. Nalepa, sł. I. Trojanowska) – 4:20
 "Jedzie chłopak, jedzie" (muz. T. Nalepa, sł. J. Siemasz) – 3:31
 "Dźwignij się Grenado" (muz. T. Nalepa, sł. J. Siemasz) – 5:11
 "Graj nie żałuj strun" (muz. i sł. T. Nalepa) – 5:02
 "To mój blues" (muz. i sł. T. Nalepa) – 4:34
 "Musisz walczyć, musisz wierzyć" (muz. i sł. T. Nalepa) – 4:59

Skład
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 Izabela Trojanowska – śpiew
 Tadeusz Nalepa – gitara, śpiew
 Bogusław Maciej Kubicki – gitara basowa
 Marek Surzyn – perkusja
 Janusz Grzywacz – fortepian
oraz
 Jacek Mastykarz – realizacja

Przypisy

Albumy Izabeli Trojanowskiej
Albumy muzyczne wydane w roku 1993

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Canisius College Contemporary Writers Series presents award-winning poet, essayist and cultural critic
wnycatholic April 4, 2022
Hanif Abdurraqib, guest speaker at Canisius College's Contemporary Writer's Series
The Canisius College Contemporary Writers Series will welcome award-winning poet, essayist and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib to campus at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26. The event will take place in the Montante Cultural Center, and is free and open to the public. A question and answer session and reception will follow the reading.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Abdurraqib is the author of two poetry collections: "The Crown Ain't Worth Much," a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and "A Fortune for Your Disaster," winner of the 2020 Lenore Marshall Prize. His first collection of essays, "They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us," was named a book of the year by Buzzfeed, Esquire, NPR, Oprah Magazine, The Los Angeles Review and The Chicago Tribune. Abdurraqib's most recent book is "A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance," a National Book Award Finalist. In 2021, Abdurraqib was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
Founded with a grant from the John R. Oishei Foundation and continued through the Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professorship Program, the Contemporary Writers Series is generously supported today by the Hassett, Scoma and Lowery Endowments and with the cooperation of The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Just Buffalo Literary Center, the Center for Urban Education and Talking Leaves Books.
For more information, contact Mick Cochrane, Ph.D., professor of English and coordinator of the Contemporary Writers Series, at 716-888-2662 or cochrane@canisius.edu.
John R. Oishei Foundation
Disarming our hearts, disarming the world
O'Hara students participate in diversity & inclusion summit
Msgr. Francis Braun 1929-2022
wnycatholic November 30, 2022
Sister Eileen Pinkel, OSF 1933 –2022
wnycatholic October 19, 2022
Canisius College opens library doors to diaconate
Patrick J. Buechi March 11, 2022
Canisius High School completes historic $22 million capital campaign
wnycatholic March 3, 2022


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on August 1, 2017 at 4:18 pm
One Man's Trash:
Butch Vig Talks Garbage, Producing, Drumming, and His Scrappy Midwestern Roots
Looking back at it, Garbage seem like one of the unlikeliest success stories of the 1990s. Granted, by mid-decade drummer Butch Vig had made a solid name for himself in the music industry – but primarily as a producer of some of the hottest albums of the era, not as a musician or songwriter. On top of that, the bands he was scoring with were all ear-splitting, guitar-heavy grunge and alternative rock powerbombers like Smashing Pumpkins, L7, Sonic Youth and Nirvana, far removed from the beat-driven crossover pop of Garbage. Vig even initially intended the project to be solely a studio affair, as he felt touring would interfere with his full schedule of production jobs. His bandmates were unknowns – old Madison, Wisconsin buddies he'd played music and recorded with since the '70s. The group's name left them wide open to cheap potshots from critics ("Garbage? That's accurate!"). And even Shirley Manson was, at the time, an uncertain gamble. Although she'd had some minor success with the Scottish groups Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie and its offshoot Angelfish, how was this Edinburgh firecracker gonna mesh with three dorky ol' Wisconsin dudes? The whole thing, on paper, just seemed like folly.
Instead, Garbage were an instantaneous success, their 1995 debut album going multi-platinum around the world, spawning hit singles such as "Stupid Girl" and "Only Happy When It Rains." Released three years later, Version 2.0 was another big selling winner and perennial fan favorite. Comparatively, 2001's Beautiful Garbage and 2005's Bleed Like Me sputtered commercially, but listening back to them now they sound genuinely refreshing, full of gems. Citing burnout, they went on an extended hiatus after that, but returned in 2012 with Not Your Kind of People and followed that up with last year's Strange Little Birds. Showing no signs of slowing down, they just released a new single, "No Horses," and have been working on their seventh album, eyeing a summer 2018 release. And don't dismiss them because you're not hearing their recent songs on the radio like you did their old ones. When was the last time you heard anything good on commercial radio? Truthfully, I went to see them last year at the Tabernacle, for the first time since 1996 when they opened for the Pumpkins at the Omni, and it was one of the best shows I saw all year.
Vig wasn't even with them for the Tabernacle show – he'd dropped off the tour due to a nasty bout of sinusitis, which affects balance and ear sensitivity. Thankfully, he's back on board for this summer's run with Blondie (a perfect pairing, since Debbie Harry and co. are clearly one of Garbage's primary influences), which brings them to Chastain Park Amphitheatre on Sunday, August 6th.
Butch Vig, who turns 62 on August 2nd, has always struck me as a down-to-earth, beer-drinkin' Midwestern rock dude, albeit one who has also obviously had a phenomenal career in the music biz. The stature he attained in the '90s probably seemed pretty strange to him as well, coming from such scrappy, largely unnoticed beginnings…
Keith Moon was your inspiration as far as taking up drumming?
"That is true, and, uh, I think I was maybe 10 years old or so, I don't remember exactly. Nine years old? The Who played a performance on the Smothers Brothers show."
Sure, that's a very famous early rock TV appearance.
"I had been playing piano. My mom's a music teacher, and so I was into music, but I saw The Who play 'My Generation' and Keith Moon smashed up his drum kit, and I just thought, 'I wanna do THAT!' And my parents bought me a $50 Sears drum kit for Christmas. I started playing in the basement, and never looked back. And very shortly I started playing in bands in my neighborhood, and then in my hometown, all through high school and into college. So I've been playing music pretty much my whole adult life."
So how many kids have you smashed up?
"Haha! Not one! You know, the thing is, I love Keith Moon, but if you've ever seen me play, I'm a real straightforward, 4/4 style drummer. I realized I can't play like him. I play more like Ringo Starr or Charlie Watts, and I think that's who I emulate more, just in terms of playing. But Keith Moon is still…he was a tour de force, man, one of the best rock drummers there ever was."
Did you ever have a chance to see The Who with Keith before he died?
"I did. In fact in my home studio in Silverlake in Los Angeles, I have tons of pictures up, and there's some of The Who a friend of mine gave me several years ago. He tracked down pictures from the show I went to – it was the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin. It was probably one of Moon's last shows. And I went out at 8 a.m. that day with a bunch of my friends, and [waited outside], and we were about three rows from the front of the stage, and it was incredible! It was a mindblowing show. But Keith Moon, he was not doing good that show. I remember… they started a song, and then he sort of fell off the back of his drums. So we were like, you know, "What's going on?" And so Townshend and Daltrey were bickering back and forth. So they changed the song, and Townshend went into "Behind Blue Eyes," and right before the drums kick in, the roadies brought Moon back on, propped him back up on the drum kit, and they put this giant fan behind him, like a five-foot fan, just blowing air, and it's closed all around. But then he just played like a banshee. They must have given him a shot of something to revive him and get him through the set. But it was such an amazing live show."
Your first noteworthy band was Spooner, of which Doug ("Duke") Erikson from Garbage was also a member. Gary Klebe from The Shoes produced the first Spooner records, right?
"He did. We became friends with Shoes through Duke's cousin. He lived down the street from the guys in Shoes, so he knew them. And we were kind of in awe of them because they had done a record on their four-track in their apartment! They got signed to a label called Bomp!, and then they got picked up by Elektra Records in the '80s. Brilliant power-pop band. So we asked [Gary] if he wanted to work with us. He produced our first couple singles, and he also did the first Spooner [album]. I still keep in contact with Gary, he's great. He was very instrumental in giving me a nudge to get into the production chair, because he knew I was interested in recording and engineering. I was always asking him questions about what he was doing and why he was doing it when we were making our first Spooner record. [Shoes] were really more of a studio band. They were…very meticulous in terms of getting things right and getting the vocals and all. Of course, this was before computers. So it had to be played perfectly, as close as you could get, to get the sound you were searching for. They were a big influence on my early production and just giving me a lot of confidence going forward."
You also worked with Steve Marker – who you also formed Garbage with – really early on, on some of your first production work.
"Yeah, I met Steve in film school, at UW-Madison. He was in a band… oh, what were they called? I can't remember now, but they only played out a few times. They played parties a lot. Steve would say, 'Hey, we're having a party at this guy's apartment…' And so I'd go up there, and they'd be rocking at a third floor kegger party at some college dorm. And we hit it off. He said, 'You know, I got a four-track recorder in the basement of my apartment.' So we started going over there after going out on the town drinking beer and recording all night long. Those were the very early Smart sessions for Smart Studios [which Vig and Marker formerly established in 1983]. In fact, I'm not proud to say it, but that's where we got the name. Because Steve and I would say, 'Let's get smart.' And that meant going to the Plaza bar and drinking pitchers of beer and then going back and recording all night long in his apartment. We came up with some really crazy tunes there."
Spooner was more or less a skinny-tie power-pop sort of band. And then in the mid '80s you and Doug had the band Fire Town, and that was slightly more polished, more acoustic-based heartland rock. But the bands you started producing in the '80s were, for the most part, really loud, ugly sounding, noisy Midwestern bands like Killdozer, Laughing Hyenas and Die Kreuzen.
"I was never elitist about music. When I grew up in Viroqua, Wisconsin, my mom played everything, from Tijuana Brass to Beatles to show tunes and Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. And jazz. And then on the radio I would hear polka music and country music! My mom would always say, 'Listen to how gorgeous that melody is!' And, I'm a pop geek. I love hooks. So I think I gravitated, as a band, into sort of a new wave/power pop mode, because I just like the melodies and jangly guitars and things. But I also love noise. You know, when I went to UW-Madison, I took four years of electronic music, and there were no keyboards or instruments in there, it was just synthesizers, and all you could do is make noise – just like weird abstract art pieces. So I've always been intrigued by sound, not just melody. And I think what I heard in punk rock was sound and energy – not necessarily melodies – and I think the reason I started having success was I was able to blend those two together. Even a band like Killdozer, I was somehow able to make them hooky sounding, because it was Killdozer that Billy Corgan discovered, and that Kurt Cobain discovered, and then of course those bands were both, you know, they had a lot of raw energy but they also wrote much more melodically and sophisticated, in terms of their chord progressions. Especially the Pumpkins."
Around the late '80s, early '90s, you produced a string of noisy Australian bands – feedtime, Cosmic Psychos and King Snake Roost – and it was all in the span of around two years. Was there any particular reason that came about?
"Corey Rusk [Touch and Go Records founder] started sending me his bands [to produce]. And as underground as those records were, they got a lot of press, and that's why the Australian bands started calling, because they liked the sound of those records. So usually what they would do is they would book a US tour, and then in that tour they would book a week, or three or four days, in the studio, and we would record an album. I used to make records really fast back then. Sometimes you'd track everything in one day, overdub all the miscellaneous things like vocals and some extra guitar solos on day two, then mix the whole record on day three and you'd have an album in three days. I made hundreds of records like that."
In the early '90s when you started working with bands that had been signed to major labels –Nirvana of course, and Smashing Pumpkins, L7, Soul Asylum, whoever – and you had a bigger budget and more time , did you consciously adjust your methods to go for more of a "radio friendly" sound at that time?
"Well, I think the reason I had to do those records fast early on was just out of budget necessity. No one had any money. But I always wanted to spend more time getting the sound focused. Both sonically and arrangement-wise, and hook-wise. And as the productions sort of made more noise, the indie labels started to get a little bit bigger, and the budgets got a little bit bigger. The first record that I really freaked out over how much time we had was Gish by Smashing Pumpkins. I think we had 30 days to record and mix it. I was thinking, 'Whoa! We can make a Steely Dan record!' That's what it felt like! It was such a luxury and even though it was an incredibly long, hard record – you know, it was very meticulous to work with the Pumpkins – I was in heaven because that's really what I wanted to do. I love being in the studio and I really wanted to take time to get great sounds and to get great performances."
You came down to Atlanta in late '92, early '93 to record Siamese Dream for the Smashing Pumpkins. I'm sure you have a few stories to tell about that experience.
"Well, we wanted to sort of get off the beaten track and get a little bit more isolated. We didn't want to do the record in New York or L.A. – too many distractions. And we had done Gish at Smart Studio. So we just wanted to go somewhere else to get a different sound. And we chose Atlanta because none of us really knew anybody, and there was a great tracking studio there called Triclops with an old vintage Neve board, and it was pretty much a one-room facility, you know – just a big tracking and control room, so we'd be the only ones there. But as soon we got there, within day one, [drummer] Jimmy Chamberlain had met every drug dealer and crazy person off the street that you can imagine from Atlanta! There was just a constant parade of weird characters coming and going into the studio. It was a difficult record. The band was really dysfunctional, where they were at each other's throats. There was immense pressure on them, particularly Billy Corgan, because Gish been successful, but then Nevermind exploded, so everyone kept saying to us 'The next Pumpkins record is gonna be huge! It's gonna be huge!' And nobody wants to hear that! So the band was sort of falling apart. There were several times during the session where Jimmy didn't show up for days, and Billy threatened to fire him, and I said, 'I'll fuckin' play the drums!' There's no way I could play those drum parts, you know, but I had to threaten to do that to get [Chamberlain] to shape up. He'd been missing for three or four days. And he showed up at the studio, we were cuttin' 'Cherub Rock' that day, and he was a mess. By the time he actually started playing it was just really sloppy and terrible. And Billy and I went in the studio and read him the riot act, we said 'We're gonna send you home…You better fuckin' come in here and nail this tomorrow, or you're out of the band.' And he came in the next day, and he looked like he'd seen a ghost, but he got behind the drums and fucking killed it! He nailed it on the first take, and that's a really hard song to play. But Billy came and listened, and pulled me aside and said, 'I want him to keep playing.' So, I said – I don't really like doing this – but I said, 'Jimmy, you've gotta do another take. We've gotta top that.' So we did maybe eight more takes, 'til his hand was bleeding, he played so hard, and yet I knew we had it the first take. I felt really weird about that. But at the time both of us were so pissed at him, because he had just gone AWOL, he cost us three days of studio time. But it's one of my favorite records I've ever produced. It was incredible work. We spent five months recording, pretty much six days a week and in the last month it was seven days a week, you know, 14-hour days. Then we went to L.A. and mixed for six straight weeks with Alan Moulder. And I think there's an imprint to what we did on it that still sounds as fresh and as exciting now as when we recorded it."
You don't seem like much of a "partier" to me. Maybe you were back in the day. But many of the bands you've produced, if they weren't completely fucked up, they definitely had some fucked up members. I've heard it said from a lot of producers that at least half the job amounts to babysitting. Has that been true for you?
"I realized very quickly that half of production is being a psychiatrist or psychologist. You have to pay attention to the emotional stability of the band, and what's going on psychologically between them – how they interact, and are we getting good performances? Or, what do I need to do to push them? Sometimes you have to baby them. You have to troubleshoot a lot of things. Early on I was just concerned with how do I get a good snare drum sound good, or a good guitar sound, [but] today, still, producing is 50 percent psychological, where you really have to sort of figure out who you're working with. But trust me, I've had a lot of beers and cocktails in my life, but I never really did that in the studio. I like to be really in my full senses."
I know it's a natural thing for every musician, every rock musician at least, to want to be a rock star. Prior to the formation of Garbage did you ever long to be more recognized for being a musician rather than a producer?
"You know, I never felt like that. The reason I started Garbage came out of some burnout from doing a lot of alternative records. I just got tired of bass, drums and guitars. And by the time. Nirvana and the Pumpkins had success, I had done thousands of records like that, and it was just getting boring to me. I was listening to bands like Public Enemy [and] what they were doing in the studio with samples, so I got a sampler and started doing remixes where I would just manipulate sound and record all new beats and guitar riffs and stuff for bands like House of Pain and Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails and U2. And they started getting notice! People started telling me, 'You should start a band! This is very cool what you're doing.' So Duke and Steve and I were like, 'Maybe we should get a singer for the music we're doing. Maybe we'll get multiple singers for multiple tracks to come in.' You know, we had no intention of touring, we were only going to make a one-off record. I was going to go back to producing full time. There was no way I wanted to give up my production thing. But I was proven wrong, because once Shirley joined us, I realized how much I liked being in a band. I like the camaraderie and the chemistry of collaborating together. And it gave me a chance to write again – I was writing songs and writing music. That's always been something that I'd done. So really, Garbage became an incredible creative outlet for me. So I really jumped in, and that band took off and, oh my God, for that first record we toured for 18 months! And we were having fun! We went all over the world. Asia, Australia, South America, all these places I'd never been before. And we still continue to do it. So, it wasn't because I wanted to be known as a musician or songwriter, it's really because I was just having fun with Garbage. I liked it, and still do. It's still an incredible creative outlet for me, and I think that's one of the reasons that we're still here as a band. I love being in Garbage."
Has your enthusiasm or attitude about the band changed at all since the 1990s when you had that initial burst of success? Do you still look at the band the same way now?
"You know, after our fourth album, we hit some serious burnout. We had done four long records, four long tours, and we took a hiatus, and that ended up being seven years before Not Your Kind of People came out. But we needed that. I went back to producing full time, and all of us in the band were able to sort of catch our own lives again a little bit, and live with our families and establish our own identities. But after that, I think we realized how much, like I said earlier, that Garbage is such a great outlet for all four of us. And we're really close as a band – that's another reason that we're still here after 20-plus years, 'cause we're like three brothers and our weird kid sister. We're very, very close. So we made Strange Little Birds, and we're still totally jazzed… As long as we're still walking, we're going to keep making music. Like I said earlier, I like being in a sort of club with my bandmates.. If we didn't get along, none of these bands would have ever survived. But we all share a certain sensibility in terms of music we like, books we read, films we go to see, the food we like, our politics, just art and culture and what we like and what we share. A lot of bands are not like that. Trust me, I've worked with some bands that were incredibly dysfunctional. They hate each other's guts. And somehow they manage to survive for a while anyway, you know, because…I suppose it's because of money. But we're not doing it anymore for money or to prove to anybody that we still can be the biggest band in the world, because we realize we're never gonna be played on Top 40 anymore. We're doing it because we still love music. "
Photo by Joseph Cultice.
Alt-RockAtlantaAustraliaButch VigGarbageGrungeNirvanaPopPower PopSmashing PumpkinsThe WhoTouch and Go RecordsWisconsin
Dan Baird Hospitalized for Leukemia
August GA Film/TV Quick Cuts
Shit Gets Weird: No Pretending – L7 Lives Again L7 . . . Read More+
Matty Boy Anderson
Into It. Over It.: A Story About Matty Boy Anderson . . . Read More+
Tomorrow Forever Knows: The Future Comes to Pass for Matthew . . . Read More+
Enjoy The Company: Fourteen Years In, Priorities Have Changed For . . . Read More+


The Theatre of Early Music, Arion Baroque Orchestra, Ottawa Baroque Consort perform on Feb. 15th, 16th, and 19th.
If there are other crows out there squawking about Ottawa's non-existent early music scene, their beaks will be shut come the 15th of February. Between next Wednesday and Sunday, three concerts featuring great canadian early music ensembles will showcase the great variety of style and instrumentation to be found in baroque music.
Up first is the Theatre of Early Music's production of Dido and Aeneas at Knox Presbyterian, 120 Lisgar st., on Wednesday, the 15th at 7:30pm. A story modeled from that found in Virgil's 4th book of the Aeneid, D&A, unsurprisingly, focuses on the queen of Carthage, Dido, played by Noemi Kiss, and her interest in the Trojan hero Aeneas, played by Alexander Dobson. The short opera will be performed semi-staged, and will feature a orchestra playing on period-instruments.
A distinctly different opera stylistically from those appearing on the continent at the time, Purcell blended French and Italian operatic traditions and infused them with his thoroughly English musical style. Adding to its unique position in the history of opera, Dido was written for an all girl cast (it was first performed at the Chelsea Girls School). More bizarrely, the part of the witch (who, in this production, will be played by the Ottawa-native counter-tenor Daniel Taylor) in the original production called for a bass singer, sung by a Mr. Williamson.
Be prepared to have your heartstrings pulled in this dramatic affair!
Next, Arion Baroque Orchestra will be presenting a program titled Commedia dell'arte as part of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society's winster concert series. The concert will be held at Dominion Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper st., on Thursday, the 16th at 7:30pm. With works energized by guest-violinist Dmitry Sinkovsky and guest-conducter Jaap ter Linden, the program will feature music from the stages of the great theaters across baroque Italy with works by Vivaldi, Boccherini, Pergolesi, and others.
A great contrast with the previous evening's performance, Arion's full numbers and up-tempo selections will get your blood pumping. You're more likely to have your leg pulled than your heartstrings in this one!
Finally, the Ottawa Baroque Consort will welcome flautist Grégoire Jeay in a program featuring a variety of flute music with strings. Jeay, a virtuoso period-flute player, has performed across North America and Europe with ensembles such as Tafelmusik, La Nef, Skye Consort, La bande Montréal Baroque, Ensemble Caprice, and Masques.
Though its rather humble title may hide the fact, this most intimate performance in Baroque Week will be just as attending as the previous two. The event will be held at Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer ave., on Sunday, the 19th at 3:30pm. You might just see a baroque bassoon too!
Tickets are available at the door for $20, $10 for students.
Bourbon Baroque Drinking the Kool-Aid?


Don't put the summer away just because the weather turned. This felted bison and wool headband is adorned with three embroidered roses made to chase the chill away. Lined with poly fleece it comfortably fits 20" - 22" head. If you need a larger size, we can make that happen. Just let us know in the notes on your order. Price includes USPS shipping.


text:
Expect more road repairs in 2020, lawmaker tells Lagosians
Williams Adekunle
The Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Works and Infrastructure has assured Lagosians that the state government would embark on more road rehabilitation works after the passage of 2020 budget.
Chairman of the committee, Mr Abiodun Tobun, told newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday that adequate fund had been earmarked in the 2020 budget for massive road construction across the state.
The lawmaker, representing Epe Constituency I, said the rehabilitation works would help to put some of the deplorable roads in good shape before another rainy season.
Also, New waterfront commissioner promises viability of Lagos waterways.
According to him, the state would spend N115 billion on road construction in 2020 as against the N78 billion spent in 2019.
He said the committee would continue to exercise its legislative oversight function to ensure good governance and accountability.
Tobun said the Ministry of Works had assured the legislature during its budget defence that most of the on-going projects in the state would be completed in 2020.
The state Ministry of Works has assured us that in 2020, most of the ongoing projects will be completed based on the budget presented by Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The government is ready to work on the link roads and urban regeneration. If you look at the quality of the roads, they are not the kind of roads that would wash away soon.
Therefore, there will be massive construction of roads and there would be operation banish all potholes in the state. Lagosians should expect the best from this government," he said.
Tobun said the House would slso monitor the budget performance of the executive to ensure full implementation.
The lawmaker said: "It is a periodic monitoring. We cannot be going to site on a daily basis to monitor the granite on site or what they do.
They give us reports, may be quarterly, then we will go and check what they have done. We can carry out integrity test on what they have done.
Our power is to appropriate and monitor their jobs. Once we detect anything, we will call them to explain.
For those saying we are not doing enough on our oversight function, it is because they do not understand the work of the parliament.
We don't go to site with them. We will ask them to explain what they have done. We will ask them if they have done what they ought to do.
Tobun said he could not determine when the Agege-Pen Cinema flyover bridge would be completed but assured that work had started on Agric- Ishawo Road in Ikorodu while the Marina-Okokomaiko light rail project was work in progress.
Edited by: Edwin Nwachukwu/Wale Ojetimi
Related Topics:Abiodun Tobun
Buhari congratulates Maryam Uwais at 60
SDGs: Quality, inclusive education my priority – Gov. Sule


All aboard! Children love trains, and they will go CRAZY for this fun and colorful commercial bouncer for sale by Jump With Joy. This model comes in two different sizes, both featuring a grinning inflatable face, smokestack, and train styling. The peaked roof adds valuable headroom inside the bouncer. Printed train wheels along the base of the unit complete the look. We use a rugged, colorful vinyl fabric for our industrial moonwalks for sale, and this one is graced with primary colors for great looks and years of durability. Mesh-covered window openings on all sides are perfect to keep things cool inside.


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Community Sponsorship Awards 2019
Tuesday 8th October, Canada House, London
I was honoured to attend the Community Sponsorship Awards on behalf of the Uplyme Community Sponsorship group this week. It felt more than slightly surreal to be hosted in the grandeur of Canada House by those working to support the resettlement of families fleeing unimaginable conditions in Syria and living in refugee camps in neighbouring countries while Extinction Rebellion was camping just outside in Trafalgar Square and elsewhere in London by choice to protest at government inaction on climate chaos and biodiversity loss.
Both places made me feel humbled by ordinary people's bravery and humanity in doing what they can to make life better for those they may never know. The Community Sponsorship Awards evening was uplifting and inspiring. Claudia Hammond from BBC Radio 4 presented the evening alongside Hani Arnaout, the father of the family resettled in Ottery St Mary by the Abide group and local community and a film was shown featuring Hani's family's experience of moving to East Devon.
There were heart-warming stories of creativity and community empowerment from around the UK; Ireland, winner of the International Award and Canada, where the community sponsorship programme began in 1979. People working together with friends, neighbours and strangers across religious, ethnic, social and political differences told powerful stories of innovative fundraising, immense but rewarding hard work and warm welcomes and continuing support for resettled families.
It is a privilege to be part of Uplyme Community Sponsorship as we continue our fundraising efforts and collate our research into a resettlement plan to be submitted to Devon or Dorset Council before Home Office approval to resettle a family from Syria in our community.
Never underestimate the difference people working together can make to help others.
Please join this remarkable global initiative by helping your local community sponsorship group.
Belinda Bawden


Wind gusts of up to 40 mph whipped along the Boardwalk in Atlantic City on Friday, leaving pedestrians with a light touch of sand on their lips as they wandered. With temperatures struggling to reach 50 degrees, a lengthy walk would have been, well, Madness.
The sports hub of Philadelphia is expanding. On Monday Comcast Spectacor and The Cordish Companies announced their plans to construct a $50 million esports and entertainment venue in the Philadelphia Sports Complex. That area already features home stadiums and arenas for the city's four professional sports teams.
When the D.C. Council was set to vote on a bill legalizing sports betting late last year, Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) added a sweetener to ensure its passage: the majority of the tax revenue taken in by the city would be evenly split between early childhood education and violence prevention programs.
Governor Ralph Northam has signed legislation that could eventually result in a casino coming to Virginia, most notably in Danville.
The latest sports betting offering in Kansas would make Kansas a "lottery state," in the general mold referenced in an Illinois sports betting bill amendment on Thursday. It would also require the purchase of official league data, does not include an "integrity fee," and while it does call for state-wide mobile wagering, there is a unique caveat that commercial stakeholders will rally against.
Iowa's sports betting debate in 2019 is reaching its later stages, as lawmakers are working on amending legislation ahead of an early May legislative deadline. In most states, sports betting isn't nearly as partisan as other issues facing state legislatures and budgets.
Less than a year after launching two retail sportsbooks, Rhode Island sports betting is ready to go mobile. Gov. Gina Raimondo signed into law S 37, a bill adding mobile RI sports betting to the state's lottery-run operation.
Steve Wynn's sudden exit a year ago from the casino company he founded was the first chapter in what turned out to be a series of shake-ups in the leadership of the Las Vegas casino industry.


text:
Reconfiguration Committee of the Archdiocese of New York Announces Preliminary Determinations of "At
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 9, 2010
RECONFIGURATION COMMITTEE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK ANNOUNCES PRELIMINARY DETERMINATIONS OF "AT-RISK" SCHOOLS
(New York, November 9, 2010) The Reconfiguration Committee, charged with evaluating the long-term viability of parish and archdiocesan schools in the Archdiocese of New York, has made its preliminary recommendations as to which Catholic schools should no longer receive significant financial subsidies from the Archdiocese. The committee was created as part of the strategies outlined in Pathways to Excellence, the strategic plan for Catholic schools that was published in October and developed to assure a vibrant future for the school system.
"Declining enrollment and rising tuition are key challenges facing those schools that have been identified as "at-risk." These under-enrolled schools require significant financial support from the archdiocese, which cannot be sustained indefinitely. We need to allocate our resources where they can do the most good, and support schools that can sustain themselves over time," said Dr. Timothy J. McNiff, Superintendent of Schools. "Maintaining access to a quality Catholic school for every family in the archdiocese is a top priority in the reconfiguration process. The archdiocese is committed to providing pastoral support and guidance to every family personally affected by the process."
The Reconfiguration Committee, composed of pastors, principals, parents and representatives of the archdiocese, considered many factors, including enrollment trends, financial subsidies, infrastructure, test scores, future demographics, and ability of students to attend a nearby school. Based on this analysis, the committee has designated 31 out of 185 parish and archdiocesan elementary schools and one secondary school as "at-risk." If, at the end of the process, this designation remains unchanged, a school would have its archdiocesan subsidy eliminated or reduced significantly.
The number of students at these elementary schools is 4,451 out of 53,281 currently enrolled in Catholic elementary schools in the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, and Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Sullivan, Orange, Dutchess and Ulster counties. These schools have seen a decline in enrollment of 34\% percent over the past five years. The number of affected secondary school students is 110, out of 26,501 currently enrolled across the archdiocese.
The plan is to stabilize and ultimately grow the archdiocesan school system and to continue to raise standards of excellence in all areas.
In the next step of this process, pastors and principals of the "at-risk" schools will be invited to meet with members of the committee to discuss the combination of factors that led the school to be included on the list. These pastors and principals will be given the opportunity to share local insights that might be relevant in the evaluation process, and be invited to present a proposal for the school's long-term sustainability. This consultation will be critical to the committee's final recommendation, so that no stone is left unturned in the collaborative evaluation process.
After proposals are submitted to the committee, it will make final recommendations to the Archbishop of New York as to the school's future viability, in light of a reduction or elimination of archdiocesan subsidies. Once the Archbishop reviews and confirms the recommendation of the committee, the Superintendent of Schools will notify the pastor, who will make the final decision in January, 2011.
Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan stated "I thank the Reconfiguration Committee for their hard work and thoughtful deliberations throughout this long process. Catholic schools are here to stay, but, it is clear that we need to take a hard look at some of our schools and our resources. The work of this committee has made it possible for us to begin to make the difficult, but necessary, decisions that will enable our school system to thrive and grow."
The schools identified as "at-risk" are:
Click here to read the full press release in Spanish.


The other day I heard someone react to being called "a mommy blog" with offense and discomfort. Yes, that's my intro. Let's dissect.
In the event of number one, it is fair to say there is a sizable sub-culture of people who hate something, become part of the thing to mock it, and then lose their way. That's understandable. Hi, I'm Mikayla and I asked someone to take a picture of me dabbing a few weekends ago.
Look, no judgement either way. But hey, a mommy blogger is not the worst thing to be.
I've felt like a mom in disguise ever since my own mother divulged to me that I have the frankly terrifying potential to be one someday. Fortunately, I am not yet qualified to be a mommy blogger, but I am more than cut out to be something very similar.
This market is wide open.
I've never heard of an auntie blog before but I'm not naive – this is 2018 and I'm streaming my dumbass thoughts directly into your head via computer pixels, so I'm sure that an auntie blog exists out there. But let's pretend the impossible has happened and I've had an original idea – I'm imagining what an auntie blog would look like and just how amazing I would be at it.
Look, If a mommy blog gets away with the occasional good-natured but dead-serious jab at her kids, how much more could an aunt do it?
Mommy blogs write for other moms with advice about how to get their alone time, how to stop tantrums, and what the best kind of snack foods are to keep the kids from getting hyperactive.
Aunts? Could not care less about any of those things.
Aunts and uncles need more media-based support! We need advice! Especially for a certain subset of us, who are required to be better aunts and uncles because we're kidless ourselves.
It's not that we singles owe any special effort to the kids or to ourselves, but we do owe a debt to someone. We owe a huge, crippling debt to the sibling that bit the bullet and gave our parents grandkids so that the pressure would be off of us.
For that gift alone, we really have to be amazing.
You know those "if you're free, thank a veteran" bumper stickers? It's like that. If you're watching episodes of the Punisher on full volume in your home that stays clean until you mess it up, thank the brother or sister who spends all their free time raising tiny human beings.
Lastly, a mother's love is great, but it's a totally different brand from an aunt's love. That's not to say it's not better, obviously (I have not ever spent 24 hours in excruciating pain in a hospital for my niblings' sake; and if I ever do, you can bet I'm going to resent them for it), but it is miles different. Kids need moms, but they need tall friends who can tell them stories about their moms too. That's what I'm here for.
It's good to have that kind of variety when it comes to affection.
Plus, there's a bonus for the parents too! Since an aunt's motherhood is vicarious, all the negative motherhood-related emotions are significantly lessened; shame from over-posting the kids on social media, disgust from cleaning up a toy that has been covered in mysterious slime, frustration from getting an angry two-year-old into bed; it all registers a different way. For us, it's novelty. But my mom?? and my big sister??? Doing what I choose do for 3 hours a week but every single day and all in a row and because they have to????
I adore my niece and nephew with all my heart. It's not always fun, but hell if it ain't good. We as aunts and uncles need to remember that any babysitting now is a direct deposit towards a future good buddy that we might not have to load up a carseat for. That's enough to keep me going.


text:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/TheUnfinishedSwan
Nightmare Fuel / The Unfinished Swan
Create New - Create New - Analysis FanficRecs FanWorks Fridge Haiku Headscratchers ImageLinks Laconic PlayingWith Quotes Recap ReferencedBy Synopsis Timeline Trivia WMG
The Unfinished Swan seems to be a cutesy little adventure/puzzle game, but there are a few moments that make many people say it's essentially a type of horror game.
The game itself, especially in the beginning. You can't see anything around you, the environment is completely white, so it lets your mind wander. There can be ANYTHING around you. Even hearing pleasant sounds like water splashing or birds is off-putting because not being able to see is so disorienting.
In the area where you come across water, there's a giant frog that appears behind you. It's unnerving if you don't expect to see it.
And then the frog enters the water and gets eaten by another large creature! Hard to say which is worse: seeing it happen or only hearing it happen if everything's still white. If you were very close to the water when it happened, it's easy to freeze and not want to move because it's hard to tell where is safe.
Monroe will walk past an aquarium, with a large sea monster swimming across. And later, he'll cross a bridge and turn around to see the sea monster swimming past the bridge.
At another point, when Monroe has some precarious bridges to cross, there are sharks swimming in the water below.
At the beginning of Part 3 in the 2nd Chapter, you'll have to open a giant door by shooting water to a red opening mechanism. Inside is pitch black and, as soon as you step foot in it, the red glowing eyes of giant spider will suddenly appear with a snarl. You surely don't expect it to be there and, when you get inside and shoot water at it, it will run away. However the area is quite narrow, so you'll begin wondering where did it go. Monroe says "Whoaa!" as if in wonder, even though it's frightening.
The Forest. The spider tease from earlier pays off. It's pitch black, except for lights that you need to activate by throwing a paintball at them, and the giant spiders that will attack you if you stay in the darkness for too long. It doesn't help that the controller vibrates and you hear screeches coming from it when they attack you. You also hear the sound of wolves howling in the distance, but luckily you never come across any.
The King also mentions seeing his own funeral in a dream, complete with the player walking up to the casket and staring at his dead body.
The Tech Demo used for the game is surprisingly unnerving. It starts off normally, demonstrating the main mechanics of the game, before coming to a part where the player paints part of the floor, and text reads out on the ground saying "Don't be afraid". Then the player walks towards a pitch black doorway, entering a black void showcasing what looks to be an urban looking city drenched in darkness, the only source of light coming from bright windows. The player's ink balls are now glowing white. And to top it all off, very odd ambient sounds play over gameplaty footage, and as the noises build up and get louder and louder...it simply ends with a shot of the player throwing a bunch of ink balls, back to normal. It almost looks as if the game was a psychological horror at one point, before it became a more lighthearted puzzle platformer.
Unforgiving – A Northern Hymn


This is the untold story of Jim Gifford. We were hired to film this back in 2004. We had 24 hours notice as he was going to be moving into long term care at the time. He attended a church in Arvada, Colorado and we had to shoot with available harsh light.


text:
// cocos2d-x/cocos/base/ccRandom.cpp

#include "utils/cocos2d_random.h"

namespace bubblefs {
namespace mycocos2d {

std::mt19937& RandomHelper::getEngine() {
    static std::random_device seed_gen;
    static std::mt19937 engine(seed_gen());
    return engine;
}

} // namespace mycocos2d
} // namespace bubblefs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


You are here: Home / Latest News & Updates / Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays to Casey, Jodi and Everyone here!
Thanks for your ongoing support & kind comments.
Happy Holidays to Team Casey!
I dont comment on here very often but I come to view what you post regularly. I wanted to again thank you and the other contributors to this page for your insightfulness and support of Casey. I have never quite seen someone so railroaded as she was and only hope that someday the truth is discovered and she is vindicated . She has suffered enough and these haters should be ashamed . I appreciate all that you do and hope 2013 is a good year for all of us, especially Casey because she certainly deserves it.
Happy Holidays to everyone and continued good health.
Hope everyone had great holidays!! Just wanted to tell everyone that the InSession on TruTV made a statement a few days ago to the media that they are not sure if they will be broadcasting the Casey Anthony appeal, which starts tomorrow at 1:30 pm EST (check local listings for InSession) or Wednesday, unknown start time. So, if you're going to check it out, just wanted you to be aware of that. Also, it has been reported that Cheney Mason and Lisabeth Fryer are going to represent Casey Anthony at the appeal, unknown state representatives. Plus, wanted to let you guys know if you are interested, there will be an episode of True Crime with Aphrodite Jones on ID on Jan. 14th, check local listings, about the Casey Anthony case. It will include interviews with Jose Baez and Judge O.H. Eaton. Check out this website for a review of sorts –> http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2013/01/casey-anthony-bella-vita-worth-a-look-thanks-to-stan-strickland.html/ I posted a comment under my other name: InjusticeForAnyoneIsAThreatToEveryone, which they probably deleted because they disagree with it.
To some extent the media has moved on from Casey. Next week is the movie and the Aphrodite Jones show and I'm sure they'll cover the civil trial, but not a lot. Unless there's some dramatic development that warrants heavy coverage, they're not that interested anymore. Even HLN, which has lost most of its audience and is desperate to recapture the magic with the Jodi Arias case. It wont work, by the way. That network is in serious trouble. I hope Casey is doing well and will someday g after her father and try to clear her name.
Harry, I agree that HLN has ratings skyrocketing in the wrong direction since Casey Anthony's trial ended. Did you know that before Time Warner re-branded TruTV, just in time for the Casey Anthony case in 2008, it had terribly low ratings? It had such low ratings that several offices were closed and even some of their big names like Vinnie Politan (who wasn't big back then) had been let go. The re-branding constituted a silent change from legitimate legal informational shows to a sensationalized coverage much akin to Nancy Grace's show (which they play like it is still the old CourtTV). HLN recently did a re-branding of their own, they attempted, during the Casey Anthony case, to force all of their shows to be like Nancy Grace's. Dr. Drew succumb to their demands, but Joy Behar did not. She all, but said she didn't want to host a lying tabloid show when she exited the network to CurrentTV, where she basically has the same show before the Nancy Grace takeover on HLN. So as you can see, Casey Anthony was and still is their whole ratings scheme. It is a gift to them that she has 3 unfounded civil suits against her, which can be broadcast over who knows how long, an appeal that they can broadcast, and a Lifetime movie, which they will no doubt endlessly discuss, among other things. The Internet of course is no different, brimming with spottings, comparisons (Jodi Arias, Mary R. Zumwalt-Jophlin, Elizabeth Johnson (they backdated her)), "fantastic" new evidence, etc. They even exploited her dying grandmother! If you watch InSession, they can't go a day without mentioning her or the jury members. Especially Vinnie Politan with his snide condescending tone. They're going to survive just like they survived between OJ and Casey, with little bumps here and there of popularity. Is Arias the smashing hit they thought it would be, no, was Conrad Murray, no, but they moved on. They've got Zimmerman coming up. Why do you think NBC really edited the 911 tape? To drum up ratings, to sensationalize, to cause an explosive outrage. An outrage, while based on a lie, still will cause a profit, just like with Casey Anthony. But you can see their attempts to connect everything to Casey Anthony, for example, on-air references to juries that can't understand evidence (referring to them as those people down in Pinellas, you never know what a jury will do!). That's what shows their desperation. It won't die down until this case becomes like OJ Simpson and Lizzie Borden, the last trial of the century. Yesterday's yellow journalism.
I do hope that one day Casey Anthony is able to tell her story, but I'm not sure people are smart enough yet to realize that what they really believe is just a media strategy to make money, not the facts of the case. I hope that the larger population that doesn't partake in the media frenzy can be more true to the idea of innocent until proven guilty and more open-minded, look past the character smearing campaign of the media and prosecution, and realize there was no evidence and give her a chance to get interviews, live a normal life, etc. whatever she wants to do. I'd certainly like to hear what she has to say, but not at the expense of exploiting her or her daughter further. Regardless of what people say, the truth is, she was found not guilty, she is Caylee's mother and she would be the #1 person who should be writing books, etc. That's her decision, which really irks Vinnie Politan, I heard him say a little while ago, he took up a whole segment on his show on InSession, that Casey Anthony should give up on making money off of getting away with it. He hasn't, so why should she? It's just outrageous, she is the only one who has an absolute right to talk about this case. It's true in other cases, this one is no different. Everyone has a story and each story is worth hearing.
HLN and TruTV both have abysmal ratings, Pretty much no one watches Vinnie Politan or Jane Velez Mitchell and even Nancy Grace is dead last in her time period. HLN is in the low 40's among ad-supported cable channels, and its audience profile means they get rock-botton prices for ads. You only have to compare the advertisers on HLN and CNN to see what a low rent channel it is. Time Warner does make money off HLN, but at some point they're going to have to clean house there to improve their bottom line. I wouldn't be surprised if that was item one or two on Jeff Zucker's agenda. And they must know the Casey story is dead, absent some dramatic developments. Civil suits won't generate high ratings, except maybe for local Florida stations. The movie will do well, and maybe the Discovery show, but after that? Jodi Arias is not "trending" as they say, and the Zimmerman case may be thrown out and if not wll end up with an outcome that will not make the media look good, just like Casey. Maybe I'm wrong, but I really believe we may see Vinnie and JVM and even possibly Nancy herself on the unemployment line.
You make excellent points Harry and let's all hope you aren't wrong about getting rid of them. I know that unemployment can be hard and I don't wish it on anyone, but let's be honest if anyone can afford a few days or years away from their job it's big moneymakers like Grace. And if you're going to exploit people for money, hey fine because that's what the media is all about, but if you're going to just flat out lie about people you kind of deserve some karma. At the very least I hope they clean up the shows if they aren't going to just replace them. Here's something to ponder, Vinnie Politan has had at least three different shows in the last year and a half on HLN. So why do they continue to give him new shows? I've got news for them it isn't the show, it's Politan that kills the ratings. And they revamped Nancy Grace a bit recently, she now has two shows, which are shown on different days in her two times slots. So you still get Nancy Grace 5 days a week times 2, but now part of the time is her talking about old cases. She was recently given a movie deal on Lifetime as well. Just to update everyone out there, CNN settled with the family of Toni Medrano, labeled as vodka mom by Nancy Grace for an disclosed amount. The movie The 11th Victim premiered in a very strong growth month for Lifetime, however, it isn't named as a top premiere, the same month was the premiere of the Drew Petersen movie which contributed so much more to the numbers. The movie isn't even going to be shown anytime in the next two months according to Lifetime and I haven't seen it replayed often, if at all. It only just premiered 3 months ago? But watch, they'll do another one of her books, she did produce the 11th Victim, so financing isn't an issue. Profits don't always matter to companies, they often cancel shows with high ratings and keep critically acclaimed shows with low ratings. It's part of their strategy.
Shhh, you can't say not guilty around the media! They are in fact considering, unlike in the Anthony case, the Zimmerman case may have a not guilty verdict. Of course they didn't start discussing that until the lie about the 911 tape came out. In my personal opinion, I don't believe the judge will dismiss the case. Not based on the merit though. She has had two other immunity hearings recently and denied both. One had a not guilty verdict later at trial and the other trial hasn't finished. She seems like one of those judges that wants cases to be decided by juries only and just sees those hearings as paper trails.
HLN was lucky…but not lucky enough!
Vinnie Politan and the others talk about the most inane crap…it's laughable.


text:
A group representation constituency (GRC) is a type of electoral division or constituency in Singapore in which teams of candidates, instead of individual candidates, compete to be elected into Parliament as the Members of Parliament (MPs) for the constituency. The Government stated that the GRC scheme was primarily implemented to enshrine minority representation in Parliament: at least one of the MPs in a GRC must be a member of the Malay, Indian or another minority community of Singapore. In addition, it was economical for town councils, which manage public housing estates, to handle larger constituencies.

The GRC scheme came into effect on 1 June 1988. Prior to that date, all constituencies were Single Member Constituencies (SMCs). Now, the Parliamentary Elections Act (Cap. 218, 2008 Rev. Ed.) ("PEA") states that there must be at least eight SMCs, and the number of MPs to be returned by all GRCs cannot be less than a quarter of the total number of MPs. Within those parameters the total number of SMCs and GRCs in Singapore and their boundaries are not fixed but are decided by the Cabinet, taking into consideration the recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee.

Per the Constitution and the PEA, there must be between three and six MPs in a GRC. The number of MPs in each GRC is declared by the President at the Cabinet's direction before a general election. For the purposes of the 2020 general election, there are 14 SMCs and 17 GRCs, each returning four or five MPs.

Critics disagree with the government's justifications for introducing the GRC scheme, noting that the proportion of minority MPs per GRC has decreased with the advent of five-member and six-member GRCs. By having teams of candidates standing for election for GRCs helmed by senior politicians, the ruling People's Action Party has also used GRCs as a means for bringing first-time candidates into Parliament. Moreover, the GRC scheme is also said to disadvantage opposition parties because it is more difficult for them to find enough candidates to contest GRCs. Furthermore, it is said that the GRC scheme means that electors have unequal voting power, weakens the relationship between electors and MPs, and entrenches racialism in Singapore politics.

Introduction of the scheme
There are two types of electoral division or constituency in Singapore: the single member constituency (SMC) and the group representation constituency (GRC). In a GRC, a number of candidates comes together to stand for elections to Parliament as a group. Each voter of a GRC casts a ballot for a team of candidates, and not for individual candidates. The GRC scheme was brought into existence on 1 June 1988 by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 1988 and the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Act 1988.

The original stated purpose of GRCs was to guarantee a minimum representation of minorities in Parliament and ensure that there would always be a multiracial Parliament instead of one made up of a single race. Speaking in Parliament during the debate on whether GRCs should be introduced, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Goh Chok Tong said he had first discussed the necessity of ensuring the multiracial nature of Parliament with Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in July 1982. Then, Lee had expressed concern about the voting patterns of younger Singaporeans, who appeared to be apathetic to the need of having a racially balanced slate of candidates. He was also worried about more Singaporeans voting along racial lines, which would lead to a lack of minority representation in Parliament.

He had also proposed to twin constituencies and have Members of Parliament (MPs) contest as a pair, one of whom had to be from a minority community. However, Malay MPs were upset that this implied they were not electable on their own merits. Feeling that the twinning of constituencies would lead to Malay MPs losing confidence and self-respect, the Government dropped the proposal.

Therefore, the Government felt that the best way to ensure minority representation in Parliament was to introduce the GRC scheme. In addition, it took the view that such a scheme would complement the introduction of town councils to manage public housing estates, as it would be economical for a town council to manage a group of three constituencies. Subsequently, in 1991, the Government said that GRCs also minimized the need to redraw the boundaries of constituencies which had grown too big for the MPs serving them, and, in 1996, GRCs were said to provide Community Development Councils with the critical mass of residents that they needed to be effective.

Three proposals for minority representation in Parliament had been considered by a 1966 Constitutional Commission chaired by the Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin. The first was to have a committee of representatives of minorities that would elect three persons from amongst its members to represent minorities in Parliament. However, this was rejected as the Commission felt that it would be an inappropriate and retrogressive move in that unelected members should not be allowed to dilute the elected chamber. The second proposal, which was to have proportional representation, was also rejected on the grounds that it would intensify party politics along racial lines and eventually "perpetuate and accentuate racial differences". This would then make it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to achieve a single homogeneous community out of the many races that form the population of the Republic. The third proposal was to have an upper house in Parliament composed of members elected or nominated to represent the racial, linguistic and religious minorities in Singapore. However, this was rejected as being backward-looking since politicians should attain a seat in Parliament through taking part in elections.

Operation

Number and boundaries of electoral divisions
Apart from the requirement that there must be at least eight SMCs, the total number of SMCs and GRCs in Singapore and their boundaries are not fixed. The number of electoral divisions and their names and boundaries are specified by the Prime Minister from time to time by notification in the Government Gazette.

Since 1954, a year ahead of the 1955 general election, an Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) has been appointed to advise the executive on the number and geographical division of electoral divisions. Even though neither the Constitution nor any law requires this to be done, the Prime Minister has continued to do so from Singapore's independence in 1965. This is generally done just before a general election to review the boundaries of electoral divisions and recommend changes. In recent decades, the Committee has been chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and has had four other members who are senior public servants. In the EBRC appointed before the general election of 2006, these were the head of the Elections Department, the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Land Authority, the Deputy CEO of the Housing and Development Board and the Acting Chief Statistician. Since the Committee is only convened shortly before general elections, the preparatory work for boundary delimitation is done by its secretariat the Elections Department, which is a division of the Prime Minister's Office.

The EBRC's terms of reference are issued by the Prime Minister, and are not embodied in legislation. In giving recommendations for boundary changes over the years, the Committee has considered various factors, including using hill ridges, rivers and roads as boundaries rather than arbitrarily drawn lines; and the need for electoral divisions to have approximately equal numbers of voters so that electors' votes carry the same weight regardless of where they cast their ballots. In 1963, the EBRC adopted a rule allowing the numbers of voters in divisions to differ by no more than 20%. The permitted deviation was increased to 30% in 1980. It is up to the Cabinet to decide whether or not to accept the Committee's recommendations.

Requirements of GRCs

All the candidates in a GRC must either be members of the same political party or independent candidates standing as a group, and at least one of the candidates must be a person belonging to the Malay, Indian or some other minority community. A person is regarded as belonging to the Malay community if, regardless of whether or not he or she is of the Malay race, considers himself or herself to be a member of the community and is generally accepted as such by the community. Similarly, a person will belong to the Indian community or some other minority community if he or she considers himself or herself a member and the community accepts him or her as such. The minority status of candidates is determined by two committees appointed by the President, the Malay Community Committee and the Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee. Decisions of these committees are final and conclusive, and may not be appealed against or called into question in any court.

The President, at the Cabinet's direction, declares the electoral divisions that are to be GRCs; the number of candidates (three to six) to stand for Parliament in each GRC; and whether the minority candidates in each GRC are to be from the Malay, Indian, or other minority communities. The number of GRCs in which at least one MP must be from the Malay community must be three-fifths of the total number of GRCs, and the number of MPs to be returned by all GRCs cannot be less than a quarter of the total number of MPs to be returned at a general election. For the 2011 general election, there were 14 SMCs and 17 GRCs.

Electoral system

An electoral division which is a GRC returns the number of MPs designated for the constituency by the President to serve in Parliament. A group of individuals standing together in a GRC is voted for as a team, and not as individual candidates. In other words, a successful voter's single vote in an SMC sends to Parliament one MP, and a GRC sends a group of MPs from the same single list depending on how many have been designated for that GRC. All elected MPs are selected on a simple plurality voting ("winner takes all") basis.

A by-election need not be held to fill a vacancy in any GRC triggered by the death or resignation of an MP, even if there are no other minority candidates in that GRC, or any other reason. A by-election is required only if all the MPs in a GRC vacate their Parliamentary seats. Assuming that such a situation does arise, the Prime Minister would be obliged to call a by-election within a reasonable time, unless he intends to call a general election in the near future.

Modifications
In 1988, 39 SMCs were grouped into 13 three-member GRCs, making up 39 out of a total of 81 elected seats in Parliament. The Constitution and the Parliamentary Elections Act were changed in 1991 and again in 1996 to increase the maximum number of MPs in each GRC from three to four, and then to six. In the 2001 general election, three- and four-member GRCs were replaced by five- and six-member GRCs. There were nine five-member GRCs and five six-member GRCs, making up 75 out of the 84 elected seats in Parliament. This arrangement remained unchanged at the 2006 elections.

On 27 May 2009, the Government announced that it would refine the size and number of GRCs. This could be achieved without amending either the Constitution or the Parliamentary Elections Act. Instead, when the next EBRC was appointed, its terms of reference would instruct the Committee to plan for fewer six-member GRCs than at present, and to reduce the average size of each GRC. The average size of GRCs at that time was 5.4 MPs because there were only five-member and six-member GRCs. The new average, however, would not exceed five MPs.

In addition, to ensure that the number of SMCs kept pace with the increase in voters and hence the number of MPs, the EBRC's terms of reference would state that there should be at least 12 SMCs. The rationale given for these changes was that the GRC scheme would work better and the link between voters and their MPs would be strengthened. In the 2011 general election, SMCs returned to Parliament 12 MPs and 15 GRCs a total of 75 MPs.

Assessment

Advantages
As Article 39A of the Constitution states, the GRC scheme entrenches the presence of minority MPs in Parliament, ensuring that interests of minority communities are represented in Parliament. Article 39A(1)(a) of the Constitution allows for a maximum number of six MPs for each GRC so as to provide flexibility in ensuring that a GRC with a rapidly expanding population is properly managed. As the population of a constituency grows, it becomes increasingly difficult for an MP to singlehandedly represent all his or her constituents' views. A team of MPs arguably has greater access to more constituents, and the fact that there are different MPs in the team suggests they can more effectively provide representation in Parliament of a wide range of constituents' views.

Criticisms of the scheme

Diversion from original purpose
The official justification for the GRC scheme is to entrench minority representation in Parliament. However, opposition parties have questioned the usefulness of GRCs in fulfilling this purpose, especially since Singapore has not faced the issue of minorities being under-represented in Parliament. In fact, statistics show that all PAP minority candidates have won regularly and that the only two MPs to lose their seats in 1984 were "racially" Chinese. One of them was beaten by a minority candidate. In addition, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaratnam of the Workers' Party of Singapore won a by-election in 1981 at Anson, a largely Chinese constituency, and the first elected Chief Minister of Singapore was David Marshall who was Jewish. Technically, as the size of GRCs has increased, the minority has had less representation overall as the proportion of minority MPs per GRC has been reduced. Since minority MPs are a numerical minority in Parliament, their political clout has also been reduced.

In February 2017, then-Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Chan Chun Sing said that if a minority candidate leaves their group representation constituency (GRC), a by-election will not be called. Chan claimed that the goals of having enough minority members in Parliament, and to ensure no political campaign on issues of race and religion, would still be met even if the minority member of the GRC left.

Furthermore, the GRC scheme is now used as a recruiting tool for the PAP. In 2006, Goh Chok Tong stated, "Without some assurance of a good chance of winning at least their first election, many able and successful young Singaporeans may not risk their careers to join politics". Indeed, every PAP GRC team is helmed by a major figure such as a minister, and this allows new candidates to ride on the coat-tails of the experienced PAP members. Since 1991, the PAP has generally not fielded first-time candidates in SMC wards. On the other hand, one of the "in-built weaknesses" of GRCs may be that "through no fault of their own or that of their team", "high-value" MPs can be voted out; this was said to have occurred when former Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo lost his parliamentary seat to a Workers' Party of Singapore team in Aljunied GRC at the 2011 general election.

It is also said that GRCs serve more as administrative tools than to ensure minority representation. The size of GRCs was increased to take advantage of economies of scale when managing the wards. However, whether GRCs are required for this purpose is arguable, as Goh Chok Tong stated in 1988 that MPs in SMCs could still group together after elections to enjoy economies of scale.

Opposition parties disadvantaged

The GRC scheme has also been criticized for raising the bar for the opposition in elections. First, opposition parties may find it harder to find competent candidates, including minority candidates, to form teams to contest GRCs. Goh Chok Tong has acknowledged that the GRC scheme benefits the PAP as they can put together stronger teams. With the GRC system the threshold for votes for the opposition is also increased, and opposition parties have to take a gamble and commit huge proportions of their resources to contest GRCs. Each candidate in a GRC is required to deposit a sum equal to 8% of the total allowances payable to an MP in the calendar year preceding the election, rounded to the nearest S$500. At the 2011 general election, the deposit was $16,000. Unsuccessful candidates have their deposits forfeited if they do not receive at least one-eighth of the total number of votes polled in the GRC. Critics have noted that the number of walkovers has generally increased since the introduction of GRCs. To date, only one opposition party, the Workers' Party, has won GRCs: Aljunied, in the 2011 general election, and Sengkang, in the 2020 general election.

Creation of unequal voting power
GRCs have been criticized as giving unequal voting and lobbying (correspondence) powers between electors. Every ballot in a GRC ward returns five or six candidates into Parliament, compared with one vote in a SMC ward, which only returns one. In counterbalance it dilutes electors' voting power and may result in concerns raised taken less seriously as to lobbying/correspondence. Specifically, in an SMC ward are around 14,000 voters, compared to 140,000 voters in a five- or six-member GRC. Thus, the per-candidate power of the ballot in a GRC is lower than in an SMC, as each voter in a GRC finds it harder to vote out an MP that he or she does not like; but the overall power effect is the same.

Electoral division re-drawings
Malapportionment is a viable charge against some divisions as a 30% deviation from equality of electorate is tolerated. It follows, a five-member GRC could in theory have from 91,000 voters to 86% more: 169,000 voters.

Weakening of voter–MP relationship
Critics have noted that the credibility and accountability of some candidates may be reduced because in a GRC the members of the team who are popular "protect" less popular members from being voted out. It has been said that the relationship between the electorate and their representatives is also weakened, because the relationship is between the individual and the GRC team rather than between the individual and a particular MP. Improving the link between voters and MPs, and to make the latter more accountable was the reason for the changes proposed in 2009 to introduce more SMCs and to reduce the size of GRCs.

Enshrining of racialism
Even though the GRC scheme is intended to ensure minority representation in Parliament, it can be said that the scheme emphasizes racial consciousness and hence widens the gap between races. It may undermine the esteem of minority candidates as they would not be sure if they are elected on their own merit, or due to the scheme and the merits of the rest of the team of MPs. This would result in minority candidates resenting that they are dependent on the majority to enter Parliament, and the majority candidates believing that minority candidates have insufficient ability. It has also been claimed that the GRC scheme demeans the majority of Singaporeans as it assumes that they are not able to see the value or merit of minority candidates, and only vote for candidates with whom they share a common race, culture and language.

Law of large numbers
Derek da Cunha has proposed that the law of large numbers favours the GRC system. According to the theory, the large number of voters from GRC wards generally, though not necessarily always, reflects the popular vote. This was evident at the 2006 elections, at which the PAP garnered an average of 67.04% of the votes in a contested GRC, while the average was 61.67% for a SMC ward. The national average for the 2006 elections was 66.6%. Similar trends can be seen from previous elections. The gap grew from 3% in 1991, and remained stable at around 5% in the 1997, 2001 and 2006 elections. This may be attributable to the enlargement of the size of GRCs in 1997 which gave greater effect to the law of large numbers.

See also

Constituencies of Singapore
Gerrymandering
General ticket (of which the system used for GRCs is a modified version)
Non-constituency Member of Parliament
Presidential Council for Minority Rights

Notes

References

Legislation
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Other works
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Further reading

Articles and websites
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Books
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External links
Official website of the Elections Department
Official website of the Parliament of Singapore
Singapore Elections

1988 in Singapore
1988 establishments in Singapore
Constituencies established in 1988
Multi-winner electoral systems
Parliament of Singapore
Singapore government policies
 Group Representation Constituency


Systems are initially trialled for 50 bets in order to evaluate their potential usefulness. When a system performs well for its initial 50 bets, the trial will be extended to 100 bets or more.
A wide variety of tactics are tested through the various systems, some of which you may wish to apply to your own personal betting strategy.
Please note that these systems are deliberately trialled using very few rules and results are recorded to SP rather than early prices. The idea is that, should a method show promise in this very basic form, it must have the potential for substantial progress with the addition of appropriate filters and the use of more competitive prices.


When is AT&T going to fix the problem of having a limit of only being able to send a group text to 10 recipients? No other carrier has a limit on the amount of recipients that can be sent a group text except AT&T. When are they going to fix this huge problem that they constantly seem to ignore and not give a real answer too?
I have been with AT&T for over 22 years and their cell service is great, but their customer service is the worst, and their in store service is just as bad. The question I asked above has been a constant problem that people have complained about for a while now and they never do anything about it. Just watch how they answer the question above, if they even respond to it at all. I guarantee you they will dance around it or use some lame excuse like it's an Iphone problem. Well I don't have an Iphone, I have a new Samsung S6 Impact and I know other people who have the same phone as me but with Verizon and they have no problem sending group text messages with no limit on the amount of recipients they choose to send them too.
Why is there a limit of only 10 recipients when sending a group text?
I do apologize that you are limited to 10 recipients. We created a Group Text Limit article that goes over why this is in effect.
"Alternatively I can suggest trying a third party messaging platform which poses no limitations on the amount of users or media sent."
One limitation regarding third party messaging apps is that Verizon members don't want to, and don't need to download them, so they won't.
The response I get from friends is, "How about you join a real mobile network?"
One person switching networks is probably more realistic than getting everyone in a group texting thread to download a third party app.
Why is it only AT&T that has this network limitation? All other carriers allow many more recipients on a group text. If this issue is not resolved soon, I will be going back to Verizon. It seems to be a fairly simple request made from several of your customers. If you care to keep business, you would remedy the issue quickly.
Textra doesn't work. 3rd party mms porgrams don't make a difference. You're lucky. AT&T hasn't decided to max out your recipients yet.
Some people can group message more than 10 people, and some can't. That's very frustrating. When you talk to customer service, they just give the "Our max is 10" response. Even if they themselves can text more than 10.
Went to an AT&T store. The rep said, "My fantasy football league has 14 members. I can text them all. There is no limit. After trying to determine the problem, and talking to a few people, he finally came back with, "I don't know, man. They say we do have a limit of 10. Sorry. I guess there is nothing I can do. They don't know why I can text more than 10, and you can't."
Not upset with the rep. He did what he could. I'm upset with the AT&T policy, and the random customers it effects.
Bottom line, it looks like AT&T will not change this policy. I have to recommend switching to Verizon if you need to group text with more than 10 recipients.
ATT has no intention of "resolving this problem" as they don't see it as a problem, but a solution to spam texting. So my suggestion is to visit a Verizon store ASAP.
I had Verizon for two years and had good service. Just got a better deal with ATT.
Thank you AT&T, i just got a group text from 15, guess who can't reply, the AT&T customer, me. I'll keep you because i have unlimited, throttled data. But tell me why I should suggest AT&T to my friends again.... Since you are not doing anything better than any other company. Your not the fastest, not the biggest, not the most reliable, or the cheapest. I need to look at the few remaining companies that offer unlimited, see if they throttle their plans.
Care specialist says use an app, to send the same amount of data through the same network. I got wow'ed with that brilliant answer.
I need to look at the few remaining companies that offer unlimited, see if they throttle their plans.
You do realize ATT raised the throttle threshold for unlimited data customers to 22GB and then only when network congestion requires it, yes?
This is insane. I've tried a few apps, but all of them require your entire group to use an app; which isn't going to happen. ATT, guess what, it's possible to have more than 10 friends in a group (sports, school, etc.) 10 is too low. 20 would be better. I'm just adding my voice that this limit will not work for me. I'm also a long time ATT customer, but this might be the final straw.
I have ZERO confidence that anyone at ATT will care or resolve this issue so may have to switch to Verizon. I've also contacted a few developers to see if they can build a program that will essentially parse the messages into groups of 10 'behind the scenes' so that a user could simply receive and send messages to larger groups and have a program manage the splitting of the groups and then putting the group back together during reciept. I think it's technically possible so if I can find a way to do it, I'll fund it.
Note also that maybe this limit only applies to group texts via MMS, not to group texts via iMessage (which would require that all the recipients of the text be using an iOS device.
I can't believe you have not fixed the only 10 per txt messaging problem... This is way to low for people who coach sports or are involved in any organization and need to commicate easy and fast via txt message. Having to set up multiple groups is ridiculous and having to use FB messages is ridiculous... GET THIS FIXED!!!!
I agree! AT&T needs to fix this! I am on a parent council at my kids' elementary school... There are 12 of us, so I need the ability to text 11 people at once! But I have to send 2 texts! Not convenient! Not efficient! Totally time consuming! Ugh!
There isn't anything to be fixed because anything isn't broken. The 10 person limit has been in place for quite a while and this will not change more than likely.