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[Editor's Note: This essay resides within Anna Gade's "Landscapes of Prayer: Islam, the Environment, and Java," a portal into Reverberations' unfolding compendium of resources related to the study of prayer.]
For potentially petitionary prayer practices such as du`a, salawat, and ziyarat (visitation of saints' shrines), scholarship shows that the purpose or object of the prayer is generally divine aid in times of hardship, forgiveness of sins and entry into heaven for oneself or loved ones, or some element of personal or familial flourishing: health, wealth, marriage, progeny, and so forth.
Gade illuminates an apparent shift from this pattern, the emergence of "the environment" as a prayer target: "'the environment' has been introduced as an intentional object, a third agent with respect to the relation of supplicant to petitioned. 'The environment' could even be said to be the primary beneficiary of prayer practice." Muslims have long prayed for aid in times of war, famine, or disease, or for the wellbeing of the political ruler. But "the environment" seems a degree removed from these in abstraction—is this prayer for the environment's own sake, not necessarily for human benefit?
I can't supply the historical, interpretive, or comparative work this new ritual environmentalism invites. Instead I will highlight one deceptively simple moment in Gade's account, namely a new use of the term khalifa that raises questions about how environmental concern and prayer practices are (re)shaping one another and perhaps reframing aspects of Muslim ritual subjectivity.
In discussing the inner workings of Indonesian "eco-dhikr," Gade says:
Ilmu Giri's founder, H.M. Nasruddin Ch. . . . names the spiritual quality to be developed as khalifa ("stewardship"), a Qur'anic term linked to humanity's responsibility to care for God's creation. From the context, it is clear he means this to be understood as "environmental stewardship." . . . Nasruddin suggests that alignment of internal order and cosmological order leads to environmental well-being.
The term khalifa has not historically been strongly linked to ecological concerns, but rather to political leadership, legitimacy, and unity. It comes from a root meaning "to succeed" and has traditionally been translated into English as "viceregency" (or, confusingly, "vicegerency"); khalifa in early Muslim history meant political (though not prophetic) succession to Muhammad as leader of the umma. Tradition holds that Abu Bakr called himself the "mere" khalifa of Muhammad in a gesture of humility. Umayyad leaders shifted the tone by shifting the focus from Muhammad to God directly, calling themselves "God's khalifa," implying a divine right of rule. Scholars unimpressed with the quality of leadership held that the true institution of khalifa ended with the first four "Rightly Guided Caliphs."
In more recent eras, the term has mostly signaled an aspirational ideal hearkening back to the "golden age" of Islam, used as a grandiose affectation by some leaders, and as a cudgel by their critics. Ottoman Sultans used the title in their dealings with Europeans, staking a claim to represent the entirety of the Muslim world. After World War I, in an effort to gain leverage against colonial machinations, many Indian Muslims joined the "khilafat movement," calling on the British to recognize Ottoman sovereignty over a supposedly unified Muslim population. Today the title is claimed by leaders of the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (al-dawla al-islamiyya) in Iraq and Syria. However, recent decades may have witnessed a nascent de-politicization of this term as literacy has increased and traditional authority structures have been disrupted; some Muslims talk of a "universal khalifa" in the sense of generalized responsibility for religious learning devolving on every individual.
If khalifa is coming to mean, for some Muslims, "environmental stewardship," perhaps it is gaining a semantic range (and potential divisiveness) something like the term "dominion" among modern English-speaking Christians. Drawing on Gen 1:28, some Christians have taken "dominion" to license the "subduing" or exploiting of the earth for human purposes, on the one hand, or to charge humanity with caretaking of God's fragile creation, on the other. Conservative evangelical dispensationalists have tended toward the former stance, and liberal Christians toward the latter. Recent decades have also seen the emergence of hyper-conservative post-millennialist "Dominionism" (also called "Reconstructionism" or "Theonomy") pursuing strong-handed Christian political rule with little apparent ecological concern.
Muslim prayer done in, or in pursuit of, a spiritual state of khalifa-as-stewardship suggests not only a significantly different understanding of the term khalifa, but perhaps a distinct framing of the subjectivity of the pray-er. Though the brief remarks documented by Gade don't allow us to move beyond speculation, perhaps cultivating a stance of khalifa in this sense shifts one from being a passive supplicant requesting God's intervention to a more active agent working to enact God's will, in this case specifically working to safeguard God's creation.
To complicate this picture further, we must be careful not to frame this emergent notion of prayer as a state of environmental stewardship too simply, as a liberal/moderate Islam open to environmentalism versus a conservative/militant Islam bent on political domination. There is a jarring moment in al-Qaida's too-overlooked 2002 open letter to the American people titled "Why We are Fighting You." It comes amid a litany of complaints against the West, a litany that emphasizes alleged American hypocrisy and includes sexual immorality, drug use, exploitation of women, usury, and being a puppet of Israel. To these rather standard complaints the letter adds:
You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and industries.
Did Osama bin Laden really care about the environment, or did he just want more arrows in his ad hoc quiver? It is easy to discount this particular charge, and perhaps most, if not all, of the letter as disingenuous and even cynical; in any case, the letter could hardly be called a prayer. But it reminds us that the ongoing process of defining, redefining, and contesting terms and concepts is central to the vibrancy of any religious tradition.
Tags: environment, Muslim prayer, politics
Posted in Landscapes of Prayer: Islam, the Environment, and Java
Salafi Muslim Women in France and "Je suis Charlie"
Recently, New Directions in the Study of Prayer grantee Fareen Parvez wrote for the Council for European Studies' CritCom on the experience of Salafi Muslim women in France, particularly in the wake of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. Lyon, where Parvez did her fieldwork, has been a center for political satire since the early 1800s and the rise of the famous puppet character Guignol. Parvez draws a distinction between Guignol and other satirical works that targeted privileged classes (including Catholics) and more recent satire that has targeted underprivileged minorities, like French Muslims. She offers the example of Salafi Muslim women in Lyon, who are prevented from taking part in public life, due in large part to the discrimination they face since laws banning headscarves and burqas were passed over the last decade. With this historical context in mind, Parvez problematizes the popular expression of solidarity, "Je suis Charlie":
[T]he implications of the slogan "je suis Charlie" are not as straightforward as they are made to appear. To say "je suis Charlie" is not only to denounce the killings and express one's sympathy with the victims and their societies. It is not only to show one's support for protected speech and the use of satire. Rather, it simultaneously has the effect of dismissing and invalidating the persistent reality of aggression, harassment, and political and economic exclusions that have been plaguing French Muslims, especially women among the unemployed working-class. Furthermore, it ignores the history of satire and perverts its logic by prodding and provoking those without social power—those who are excluded from public space and denied various dignities of citizenship.
Tags: France, politics, Salafism, women
Announcing Why Prayer? A Conference on New Directions in the Study of Prayer
The Social Science Research Council's program on Religion and the Public Sphere announces Why Prayer? A Conference on New Directions in the Study of Prayer (February 6-7, 2015). This two-day gathering will showcase the work of over 30 scholars and journalists exploring what the study of prayer can tell us about a range of topics.
Please join us February 6-7, 2015, for panels and presentations on topics including religious technologies, embodiment, material culture, language, politics, and the mind. Beginning Friday afternoon, the conference will also feature the Prayer Expo—a pop-up installation of multi-media presentations and material objects that call attention to the myriad representations of prayer shaping discourse and practice. On Saturday, two plenary events will highlight the multiple registers of engagement occasioned by new, transdisciplinary research on the practice of prayer.
For more information on the conference and how to register, please click here. Registration is free, but space is limited.
Tags: conference, embodiment, language, material culture, politics, technology, why prayer?
The Piety of Celebrating the Prophet
posted by Fareen Parvez
In India, Milad-un-Nabi refers to the celebration of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. The word milad is the Urdu variation of the Arabic word, mawlid, meaning birth. The Prophet's birth took place on the twelfth day of the Islamic month of Rab ̄ı'al-Awwal in the Sunni tradition, or the seventeenth day in the Sh ̄ı'ite tradition. Muslims all over the world honor the date, but differently, according to local custom (and, I argue, local politics).
While I was conducting fieldwork among religious women in a poor, largely Muslim, enclave in Hyderabad, I observed the city's large-scale public festivals and the women's thoughts about these celebrations. That year, 2010, marked the height of public revelry celebrating Milad-un-Nabi. This was no coincidence, as the festivals (and the riots that ensued) occurred just after the passage of a controversial reservations bill that would allot 4% of government jobs and university seats to Muslims. Milad-un-Nabi thus became a public site for marking and demonstrating local political power, especially in the presence of opposition to policies like the reservations bill.
Tags: festivals, gender, India, politics, riots
Praise, Pentecostalism, and the Political: Renewing the Public Square III
posted by Amos Yong
My two previous blogs on Pentecostalism and the political have approached this intersection through consideration of prayer and the prophetic. Even if a stretch, careful observers of the religious life know well that Christians are called to pray for their governments and political leaders even as there may be occasions for civil disobedience; what the scriptural tradition calls "prophetic resistance" in response to what happens in the polis. But if prayer and the prophetic might be tied in with the public square in this way, isn't the activity of praise altogether only religious and without public or political consequences? What does the liturgical life of believing communities, especially Pentecostal ones with their extended singing, shouting, clapping, and dancing, have to do with the public area?
Tags: Pentecostalism, politics, praise
Pentecostalism, Politics, and the Prophetic: Renewing the Public Square II
In my previous post on "Prayer, Pentecostalism, and the Political," I suggested that the anticipated growth of global pentecostal-charismatic Christianity in the twenty-first century had the potential to impact, even transform, the public square as these Christians take their faith from out of their private and ecclesial lives into the political domain, broadly considered. Here I want to reflect further on how such convergence might unfold, and how pentecostal-charismatic spirituality might register its commitments within a public arena that is both post-secular on the one hand and yet post-Christendom on the other. In particular, I wonder if pentecostals' prayer might move them to a more prophetic form of interface with the sociopolitical?
What does "prophetic" mean in this context? In the biblical and Christian theological traditions, prophecy can involve either the fore-telling of a future otherwise unknown to human beings or the forth-telling of a divine message for a specific place, time, and situation. Pentecostals presume both to be achieved under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Whereas pentecostal-charismatic prophecy has more often proceeded in ecclesial contexts and thus been between individuals, New Testament texts like the book of Revelation purport to be about an otherwise obscure future. While such apocalyptic passages also existed in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, more prominent there is that the prophets of ancient Israel warned kings and governments, questioned existing sociopolitical developments, and advocated for the poor, women, and other oppressed groups, often challenging the status quo.
Tags: Pentecostalism, politics, prophetic
Prayer, Pentecostalism, and the Political: Renewing the Public Square?
What does Pentecostalism have to do with the public square or the political? One might think, initially, perhaps not much: classical Pentecostals have by and large been apolitical, although more often than not such postures have been nurtured less by pentecostal spirituality and commitments than by eschatological ideas derived from dispensationalist theologies otherwise inimical, ironically, to the idea that the Holy Spirit's charismatic and miraculous work has continued unabated after the age of the apostles. But as people of the book, Pentecostals do adhere to the New Testament injunctions to pray for their governments and political leaders. In political environments in which they are a minority, often this takes on the form of urging divine intervention that makes possible ongoing pentecostal mission and especially local evangelism. In liberal democratic societies, however, especially those which at least in theory support the freedom of religion, pentecostal growth has precipitated other political possibilities and aspirations and hence also nurtured other types of prayer regarding the public domain.
Tags: Pentecostalism, politics, public square
Studying Ritual
The January 24, 2013 issue of Nature features "The Ritual Animal," an article by Dan Jones on the study of ritual that draws on research conducted by New Directions in the Study of Prayer grantee Jeremy Ginges.
The article focuses on research that Brian McQuinn and Harvey Whithouse conducted while McQuinn was traveling with Libyan rebels in 2011. They focused on understanding how the rebels "used ritual to create solidarity and loyalty amid constant violence," and how rituals evolved over a period of time marked by intense combat and victory.
Rituals are a human universal—"the glue that holds social groups together," explains Whitehouse, who leads the team… Rituals can vary enormously, from the recitation of prayers in church, to the sometimes violent and humiliating initiations of US college fraternity pledges, to the bleeding of a young man's penis with bamboo razors and pig incisors in purity rituals among the Ilahita Arapesh of New Guinea. But beneath that diversity, Whitehouse believes, rituals are always about building community—which arguably makes them central to understanding how civilization itself began.
McQuinn and Whitehouse operate on the theory that rituals are either "doctrinal" or "imaginistic." In the first instance, rituals are easily transmitted to both children and strangers, and are suited to large-broad-based communities "that do not depend on face-to-face contact." By contrast, "imaginistic" rituals are more suited to small, intensely committed groups, and are often more traumatic in nature, allowing for the creation of strong bonds among the participants.
Jones contextualizes McQuinn and Whitehouse's research within a larger set of studies conducted with other communities around the world. In particular, he draws on research conducted by Ginges and his colleagues in Palestine.
Tags: group behavior, politics, ritual
Thinking Methodologically about Prayer as Practice
posted by Ruth Marshall
What does it mean to study prayer as practice? This question implies considering prayer as a certain type of object, or at least, that the object prayer can be seen to have a minimally analogous relation to the object practice. However, it can also be understood less a possible ontology of prayer—prayer ≈ practice (rather than say, cognition, or contemplation, or ideation) —than the question of how we should study this "thing" we're calling prayer. Given the deeply comparative nature of our project, this methodological question is paramount. And the first problem a comparative methodology must grapple with is precisely the difficultly of thinking about what prayer is, across the many varied and disparate instances being studied by the scholars in the project.
Is it possible to assume that we all know what we're talking about when we talk about prayer? I argue that unless we all study prayer as practice, the answer to this is no. But what do I mean by "studying prayer as practice," if the as doesn't imply anything fundamental about the nature of prayer as such? Simply put, I want to make a plea for a Foucauldian approach to our object of study, which is not to say a theory of it, or any substantive claim about it, but rather a mode of problematizing it. Such an approach rejects the existence of a transhistorical object "prayer," as some kind of preexisting natural object of which the particular instance under scrutiny would be one projection. Prayer understood in this way is a pure abstraction, a metaphysical object. Objects such as "the State through the ages," or "religion" do not exist as such—these are rather objectifications created through discursive practices. Moreover, despite certain social scientific pretensions to the contrary, there is nothing "pure" or "natural" about such objects. What is taken for a transhistorical object—such as religion, the state, or prayer—generally refers to a historically specific form passing itself off as a universal, as Daniel Boyarin and Tomoko Masuzawa have shown us with regard to the concept "religion."
Tags: Foucault, methodology, methodology discourse, politics, practice


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HOME / SOCIAL/CULTURAL / Angelina Jolie's MI6 Interview Shows Just How Connected Hollywood Is To the Deep State
Angelina Jolie's MI6 Interview Shows Just How Connected Hollywood Is To the Deep State
Alan MacLeod
Wednesday 4 Nov 20
To some, the pairing of a Hollywood star and a veteran spymaster might seem strange. But, in reality, the silver screen and the national security state have always been intimately intertwined.
MPN- With election fever still gripping the U.S., talk of rigging or interference in the democratic process is reaching new levels, high enough that even Hollywood legend Angelina Jolie is talking about it. In an extraordinary interview in Time magazine, the star of "Wanted, Maleficent, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," sat down with the former head of the UK's MI6 spy network, Sir Alex Younger, to ask how worrying the threat from Russia or China really is.
"Russia feels threatened by the quality of our alliances and, even in the current environment, the quality of our democratic institutions. It sets out to denigrate them, and it uses intelligence services to that end. It is a serious problem, and we should organize to prevent it," the British spook told the actress.
Younger also went on to discuss the rise of China, and how the West must act to challenge the supposed threat Beijing poses. "We are going to have two sharply different value systems in operation on the same planet for the foreseeable future. We mustn't be naïve. We need to retain the capacity to defend ourselves," he told Jolie.
Never challenging him, Jolie even asked the head of perhaps the world's most notorious spying agency how we can protect ourselves from fake information.
To some, the pairing of a Hollywood star and a veteran spymaster might seem strange. But, in reality, the silver screen and the national security state have always been intimately intertwined. And as much as Jolie presents herself as a leading humanitarian, even being appointed as a Special Envoy for the UN Commission for Refugees, she has spent an inordinate amount of her free time rubbing shoulders with some of the world's worst human rights abuses.
At World Refugee Day in 2005, Jolie shared a stage with then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice was a key player in the Bush administration, responsible for the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, two of the world's worst humanitarian and refugee crises that continue to plague the planet to this day.
Jolie herself has slowly become a leading member of the U.S. national security apparatus, joining the influential and well-endowed Council on Foreign Relations think tank in 2007, and penning a joint op-ed in The New York Times with John McCain two years ago calling for U.S. intervention in Syria and Myanmar. "Around the world, there is profound concern that America is giving up the mantle of global leadership," they questionably asserted, decrying America's "steady retreat over the past decade" that has, "dangerously eroded the rule of law," and condemned the Trump administration's inaction in Syria that could have "deterred mass atrocities," and reduced the refugee crisis.
Jolie's collaboration with high-level government officials is not limited to her personal life, however. The 45-year-old Californian has also worked closely, and openly, with CIA officials as part of her movies. A case in point is the 2010 blockbuster Salt, where Jolie plays a CIA agent accused of being a Russian spy. The movie was released at the same time as the real-life Anna Chapman scandal, where the Russian national was caught spying for her country inside the U.S., and marked the beginning of hardening American relations with Moscow, ending up at the point where some have declared the beginning of a new Cold War.
"Salt was the first big cultural product reflecting this geopolitical change, for most of the 2000s Hollywood had no interest in evil Russians," Tom Secker, an investigative journalist with SpyCulture.com told MintPress. "If you watch the film the Russian politicians are clearly based on Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev."
Jolie, playing an evil Russian spy in Salt, chokes out an NYPD officer
"We talked to a lot of the women in the CIA," said Jolie of her experiences preparing for her role. She appeared to have nothing but admiration for the organization; "One after the other, they are just these lovely, sweet women that you can"t imagine being put in a dangerous situation, but they really are," she added. Salt even hired a former CIA officer to be an on-set technical advisor.
A CIA document Secker shared with MintPress highlights the extent of CIA involvement in Hollywood and their reasons for doing so. "In an effort to ensure an accurate portrayal of the men and women of the CIA," it reads. "For years the Agency has worked with creative artists from across the entertainment industry. [The CIA Office of Public Affairs] interacts with directors, producers, screenwriters, authors, documentarians, actors and others to help debunk myths and provide authenticity, and of course to protect Agency equities," it adds. But perhaps the most important reason stated is, "to help prevent inappropriate negative depictions of the Agency," in mass media.
Propaganda on an enormous scale
The level of state involvement in Salt is far from abnormal. In fact, Alford and Secker's book "National Security Cinema" details how, since 2005, documents they obtained showed that the Department of Defense alone had closely collaborated in the production of over 1,000 movies or TV shows. This includes many of the largest film franchises, such as "Iron Man," "Transformers," "James Bond," and "Mission: Impossible," and hit TV shows like "The Biggest Loser," "Grey's Anatomy," "Master Chef" and "The Price is Right."
In general, the military or the CIA will offer free services to productions, such as the use of prohibitively expensive military equipment, or technical direction, in exchange for editorial control over scripts. This allows the agencies to make sure the power, prestige, and integrity of these organizations are not challenged. Sometimes entire movies are radically rewritten.
"The Department of Defense actually apologized in their covering letter to the producers of "Hulk" (2003), since the changes they required were so extensive," Dr. Matthew Alford of the University of Bath told MintPress.
But really the disturbing thing here is the pattern and the scale…What I suggest is that we focus on the deliberate, major, secretive pressures that rewrite scripts — and we find they're all on the side of the national security state. Systematically scrubbed from the screen is an unsavoury century of military history including war crimes, illegal arms sales, racism and sexual assault, torture, coups, assassinations, and weapons of mass destruction. It amounts to the airbrushing of an entire mediated culture."
Thus, the large majority of big-budget productions featuring military or intelligence services have been greenlighted by the national security state, who have negotiated for control over the message in order to better propagandize both Americans and the global public. However, serious antiwar content rarely makes it to network TV or Hollywood drawing boards, so wholescale interference is usually unnecessary.
In 2014, former Deputy Counsel or Acting General Counsel of the CIA, John Rizzo, wrote that his organization "has long had a special relationship with the entertainment industry, devoting considerable attention to fostering relationships with Hollywood movers and shakers—studio executives, producers, directors, big-name actors." Many of America's most familiar faces have visited the organization's headquarters in Langley, VA, including Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Mike Myers, Bryan Cranston, and Tom Cruise.
In recent years, collaboration has become even more overt. The Department of Defense even tweeted out during the Oscars how proud it is to work so closely with Hollywood to further its own image.
https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E970461390283587585%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mintpressnews.com%2Fangelina-jolie-mi6-hollywood-connected-cia-national-security%2F272835%2F
Meanwhile, the latest series of the hit spy show "Jack Ryan," for instance, has the eponymous CIA hero travel to Venezuela to help overthrow tyrannical dictator Nicolas Reyes (a clear allusion to current president Nicolas Maduro). John Krasinski, who plays Ryan, said that he worked closely with the Agency in order to make the show more realistic. Krasinski also described the CIA as amazingly "apolitical." "They're always trying to do the right thing," he said of them, claiming they "care about the country in a bigger, more idealistic way."
Last month, a real CIA agent, Matthew John Heath, was arrested outside Venezuela's largest oil refinery carrying explosives, a grenade launcher, a submachine gun, and stacks of U.S. dollars.
"Probably Hollywood is full of CIA agents and we just don't know it. And I wouldn't be surprised at all to discover that this was extremely common," said "Batman" star Ben Affleck in 2012, before going to describe himself, perhaps jokingly, as a CIA agent himself.
The CIA's Jack Ryan Series Is 'Regime-Change' Propaganda Aimed At Venezuela
Propaganda works
The effect of years of propaganda has been to improve the standing of the deep state and make the American public more conducive to supporting the tactics of the CIA and the military. One academic study found that showing torture scenes from the hit spy series "24" to liberal college students made them far more likely to support the use of it against anyone deemed an enemy of the state.
Democrat-aligned voters' opinion of the FBI has been steadily rising over the last decade, to the point that 77% hold a favorable view of the institution (and almost two-thirds of the country supports the CIA).
Thus, while the entertainment industry might be liberal in that it largely opposes Trump and donates to the Democratic Party, it works closely to support and uphold the national security state, promotes ultra-patriotism and American aggression throughout the world. While Jolie might present herself as a champion of human rights, working with the very institutions responsible for destroying those rights around the globe undermines this assertion.
Feature photo | Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie addresses a press conference at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Feb. 5, 2019. Photo | AP
Tags: Angelina JolieCIADeep StateHollywoodMI6
Alan MacLeod is a staff writer at Mint Press News and a contributor to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Canary, The Guardian and others. His latest book is "Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent". A member of the Glasgow University Media Group, he completed his PhD there in 2017.
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Randolph, C 12-10; Moore, K 2-6; Andrews, M 3-6; Belton, R 2-6.
1-13; Selmon, Z 1-9; Marion, K 1-6.
INTERCEPTIONS: Clemson-Watkins,N 1-3. Wake Forest-Abbate, J 2-26.
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FUMBLES: Clemson-Stuckey, C 1-0; Jackson,S 1-0. Wake Forest-Randolph, C 1-1.
40 Waters,A           8    4   12     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
8  Hill,T            10    1   11  3.0/12   .   .     .      .    .      /     .
20 Billie,T           4    3    7  1.0/12   .  1-0    .      .    .     1/12   .
86 Bennett,C          3    2    5  1.0/2    .   .     .      .    .      /     .
25 Hamlin,M           3    1    4  1.0/1    .   .     .      .    .      /     .
24 Fudge,J            2    2    4     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
32 Watkins,N          1    3    4  1.0/5    .   .    1-3     .    .      /     .
92 Tate,T             3    .    3     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
15 Gilliam,S          2    1    3     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
93 Adams,G            2    1    3     .     1   .     .      .    .      /     .
91 Jackson,R          2    .    2  1.0/3    .   .     .      .    .      /     .
12 Gaddis,C           1    1    2     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
22 Clemons,C          1    1    2     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
44 Clark,D            1    .    1  1.0/2    .   .     .      .    .     1/2    .
7A Groover,C          1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
94 Merling,P          1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
46 Richardson,L       .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
37 Merriweather,R     .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
50 McKissic,J         .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
43 Clay,A             .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
18 Baham,C            .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
31 Dunham,D           .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
40 Abbate, J          6    7   13     .     .   .    2-26    .    .      /     .
11 Smith, A           9    2   11  1.0/7    .   .     .      .    .      /     .
30 Ghee, P            6    3    9     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
22 Gattis, J          5    2    7     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
7  Swanson, R         4    3    7     .     1   .     .      .    .      /     .
51 Easley, P          2    3    5     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
42 Robinson, M        1    4    5     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
59 Curry, A           2    1    3     .     .   .     .      .    1      /     .
10 Patterson, K       2    1    3     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
55 Tucker, J          2    1    3  2.0/17   .   .     .      .    .     1/15   .
98 Thompson, J        2    1    3     .     .   .     .      1    .      /     .
44 Pratt, J           2    .    2  1.0/2    .   .     .      .    .      /     .
34 Sykes, N           1    1    2     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
57 Scales, G          .    2    2     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
41 Berry, E           .    2    2     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
29 Major, K           1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
38 Swank, S           1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
43 Arnoux, S          1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
46 Adams, J           1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
48 Andrews, B         1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
97 Callahan, D        1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
20 Vaughn, C          .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      /     .
C 1-10 C35   WF ball on WF35.
Swank, S kickoff 65 yards to the CU0, touchback.
C 1-10 C20   Merriweather,R rush over left tackle for 9 yards to the CU29 (Arnoux, S).
C 1-10 C34   Merriweather,R rush over right guard for 5 yards to the CU39 (Ghee, P).
CU37, 1st and 10, WF ball on CU37.
W 1-10 C37   WAKE FOREST drive start at 13:20 (1st).
W 1-10 C37   Randolph, C rush quarterback draw for 7 yards to the CU30 (Waters,A).
W 2-3  C30   Barclay, C rush up middle for no gain to the CU30 (Waters,A).
CU17, 1ST DOWN WF (Hill,T).
Swank, S kick attempt good.
C 1-10 C20   CLEMSON drive start at 11:09 (1st).
C 1-10 C20   Merriweather,R rush up middle for 3 yards to the CU23 (Gattis, J;Abbate, J).
CU ineligible downfield on pass off-setting, NO PLAY.
C 2-7  C23   Whitehurst,C sideline pass incomplete to Baham,C.
1ST DOWN CU (Swanson, R).
CU46, 1ST DOWN CU (Smith, A).
C 2-3  W47   Merriweather,R rush up middle for 2 yards to the WF45 (Abbate, J).
C 1-10 W40   Davis, J rush up middle for 6 yards to the WF34 (Ghee, P;Berry, E).
C 2-4  W34   Davis, J rush right for 5 yards to the WF29, 1ST DOWN CU (Smith, A).
1ST DOWN CU (Smith, A;Ghee, P).
C 1-10 W15   Stuckey, C rush left for 8 yards to the WF7.
(Swanson, R), PENALTY WF face mask (Gattis, J) 2 yards to the WF1.
C 2-G  W01   2nd and 1.
C 2-G  W01   Davis, J rush right for 1 yard to the WF0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 03:54.
Dean,J kickoff 65 yards to the WF0, touchback.
W 1-10 W20   WAKE FOREST drive start at 03:54 (1st).
W 2-5  W25   Barclay, C rush up middle for 1 yard to the WF26 (Tate,T).
1ST DOWN WF, TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:44.
C 1-10 C34   CLEMSON drive start at 02:36 (1st).
return 12 yards to the CU26 (Merriweather,R;Baham,C).
W 1-10 C26   WAKE FOREST drive start at 02:28 (1st).
W 1-10 C26   Barclay, C rush left for 3 yards to the CU23 (Hamlin,M).
W 2-7  C23   Barclay, C rush over left guard for 2 yards to the CU21 (Merling,P).
W 3-5  C21   Randolph, C sacked for loss of 2 yards to the CU23 (Clark,D).
1ST DOWN CU (Patterson, K).
C 1-10 C49   Start of 2nd quarter, clock 15:00.
C 1-10 C49   Merriweather,R rush up middle for 2 yards to the WF49 (Abbate, J).
1ST DOWN CU (Smith, A).
C 2-12 W43   Whitehurst,C sideline pass incomplete to Stuckey, C.
CU intentional grounding (Whitehurst,C) 0 yards to the CU42.
C 4-27 C42   4th and 27.
C 4-27 C42   Chason,C punt BLOCKED, recovered by CU Team at CU29 (blocked by Curry, A).
W 1-10 C29   WAKE FOREST drive start at 13:28 (2nd).
WF holding (DeGeare, C) 10 yards to the CU37, NO PLAY.
1ST DOWN WF, TOUCHDOWN, clock 12:18.
C 1-10 C34   CLEMSON drive start at 12:09 (2nd).
C 1-10 C34   Stuckey, C rush left for 1 yard to the CU35 (Ghee, P).
C 2-9  C35   Whitehurst,C sideline pass incomplete to Davis, J (Thompson, J).
C 4-4  C40   Chason,C punt 35 yards to the WF25, fair catch by Idlette, W.
W 1-10 W25   WAKE FOREST drive start at 11:15 (2nd).
W 2-1  W49   Barclay, C rush up middle for no gain to the WF49 (Clay,A;Watkins,N).
W 1-10 C45   Barclay, C rush left for 5 yards to the CU40 (Hill,T).
W 1-10 C33   Randolph, C sideline pass incomplete to Morton, N.
W 2-10 C33   Barclay, C rush over right tackle for 3 yards to the CU30 (Waters,A).
by Randolph, C recovered by CU Billie,T at CU36.
C 1-10 C36   CLEMSON drive start at 07:58 (2nd).
C 1-10 C36   Davis, J rush up middle for 4 yards to the CU40 (Abbate, J).
C 1-10 C46   Merriweather,R rush up middle for no gain to the CU46 (Easley, P;Abbate, J).
C 2-10 C46   Merriweather,R rush right for 4 yards to the 50 yardline, out-of-bounds.
1ST DOWN CU (Smith, A;Vaughn, C).
C 1-10 W17   Merriweather,R rush up middle for 3 yards to the WF14 (Thompson, J).
W 1-10 W20   WAKE FOREST drive start at 04:26 (2nd).
W 1-10 W20   Barclay, C rush up middle for 6 yards to the WF26 (Billie,T;Watkins,N).
W 2-4  W26   Barclay, C rush over right guard for 3 yards to the WF29 (Groover,C).
W 3-1  W29   Belton, R rush up middle for no gain to the WF29 (Waters,A;Billie,T).
W 4-1  W29   Timeout Clemson, clock 02:44.
W 4-1  W29   Plackemeier, R punt 35 yards to the CU36, out-of-bounds.
C 1-10 C36   CLEMSON drive start at 02:36 (2nd).
C 1-10 C36   Whitehurst,C sideline pass incomplete to Baham,C.
C 1-10 C47   Whitehurst,C slant pass incomplete to Harrell,C.
C 2-10 C47   Whitehurst,C sideline pass incomplete to Davis, J.
1ST DOWN CU (Swanson, R;Abbate, J).
C 2-5  W11   Timeout Clemson, clock 01:16.
C 2-5  W11   Whitehurst,C sideline pass incomplete to Kelly,A.
W 1-10 W20   WAKE FOREST drive start at 00:59 (2nd).
W 1-10 W20   Randolph, C sideline pass incomplete to Morton, N.
W 2-10 W20   Barclay, C rush up middle for 8 yards to the WF28 (Bennett,C;Waters,A).
W 3-2  W28   Barclay, C rush up middle for loss of 2 yards to the WF26 (Bennett,C).
W 4-4  W26   Timeout Clemson, clock 00:06.
W 4-4  W26   Plackemeier, R punt 74 yards to the CU0, touchback.
C 1-10 C20   CLEMSON drive start at 00:00 (2nd).
C 1-10 C20   End of 1st half, clock 00:00.
C 1-10 C20   Start of 3rd quarter, clock 15:00, CU ball on CU35.
W 1-10 W20   WAKE FOREST drive start at 15:00 (3rd).
W 2-15 W15   Randolph, C rush left for 8 yards to the WF23 (Adams,G).
W 3-7  W23   Randolph, C sacked for loss of 12 yards to the WF11 (Billie,T).
C 1-10 W49   CLEMSON drive start at 12:55 (3rd).
C 1-10 W49   Merriweather,R rush right for 9 yards to the WF40 (Ghee, P).
Goryal Scales is injured player.
C 1-10 W23   Davis, J rush up middle for no gain to the WF23 (Sykes, N).
C 2-10 W23   Stuckey, C rush right for 7 yards to the WF16 (Smith, A).
1ST DOWN CU (Abbate, J).
C 2-G  W02   Davis, J rush up middle for loss of 2 yards to the WF4 (Tucker, J).
C 3-G  W04   Timeout Clemson, clock 10:19.
C 3-G  W04   Whitehurst,C flag pass incomplete to Kelly,A.
C 4-G  W04   Dean,J field goal attempt from 21 GOOD, clock 10:07.
W 1-10 W20   WAKE FOREST drive start at 10:07 (3rd).
W 1-10 W20   Barclay, C rush over right guard for 5 yards to the WF25 (Tate,T).
W 2-5  W25   Barclay, C rush up middle for loss of 5 yards to the WF20 (Watkins,N).
C for 4 yards to the CU29 (Gattis, J).
C 1-10 C29   CLEMSON drive start at 07:57 (3rd), CU ball on CU29.
1ST DOWN CU (Swanson, R;Sykes, N).
C 1-10 W49   Davis, J rush over right tackle for 3 yards to the WF46 (Easley, P).
C 1-10 W36   Whitehurst,C rush quarterback draw for 6 yards to the WF30 (Ghee, P).
PENALTY CU holding (Pilgrim,B) 10 yards to the WF35, NO PLAY.
C 2-15 W30   Whitehurst,C slant pass incomplete to Baham,C.
C 3-15 W30   Whitehurst,C sideline pass incomplete to Baham,C.
C 4-15 W30   Dean,J field goal attempt from 47 GOOD, clock 03:41.
W 1-10 W20   WAKE FOREST drive start at 03:41 (3rd).
W 1-10 W20   Barclay, C rush right for 5 yards to the WF25 (Fudge,J;McKissic,J).
W 2-5  W25   Moore, K rush reverse for 1 yard to the WF26 (Hill,T).
W 1-10 W41   Randolph, C rush quarterback draw for 2 yards to the WF43 (Bennett,C).
CU48, 1ST DOWN WF (Billie,T).
W 1-10 C48   Moore, K rush left for 5 yards to the CU43 (Dunham,D;Clemons,C).
W 2-5  C43   Start of 4th quarter, clock 15:00.
W 2-5  C43   Barclay, C rush up middle for loss of 1 yard to the CU44 (Hamlin,M).
W 1-10 C33   Randolph, C rush quarterback draw for 1 yard to the CU32 (Bennett,C).
W 2-16 C28   Randolph, C flag pass incomplete to Boldin, D.
W 4-4  C16   Swank, S field goal attempt from 33 GOOD, clock 11:00.
C 1-10 C27   CLEMSON drive start at 10:51 (4th).
CU38, 1ST DOWN CU (Adams, J).
C 1-10 C38   Merriweather,R rush up middle for 4 yards to the CU42 (Andrews, B).
CU49, 1ST DOWN CU (Ghee, P).
C 1-10 C49   Whitehurst,C post pass incomplete to Grant,K.
C 2-10 C49   Whitehurst,C rush quarterback sneak for 5 yards to the WF46 (Thompson, J).
C 3-5  W46   PENALTY CU false start (Baham,C) 5 yards to the CU49.
C 4-2  W43   Chason,C punt 34 yards to the WF9, downed.
W 1-10 W09   WAKE FOREST drive start at 07:12 (4th).
W 2-4  W15   Andrews, M rush up middle for 3 yards to the WF18 (Waters,A).
W 1-10 W22   Andrews, M rush up middle for loss of 3 yards to the WF19 (Jackson,R).
W 2-13 W19   Andrews, M rush right for 6 yards to the WF25 (Billie,T).
W 3-7  W25   PENALTY WF delay of game (Randolph, C) 5 yards to the WF20.
W 1-10 W23   Timeout Wake Forest, clock 03:43.
return 3 yards to the WF30 (Callahan, D).
C 1-10 W30   CLEMSON drive start at 03:36 (4th).
C 1-10 W30   Merriweather,R rush up middle for 2 yards to the WF28 (Robinson, M).
C 2-8  W28   Merriweather,R rush left for 1 yard to the WF27 (Robinson, M;Easley, P).
C 3-7  W27   Timeout Wake Forest, clock 02:40.
C 3-7  W27   Whitehurst,C sideline pass incomplete to Merriweather,R.
C 4-7  W27   Dean,J rush left for loss of 7 yards to the WF34 (Smith, A).
W 1-10 W34   WAKE FOREST drive start at 02:31 (4th).
W 1-10 W34   Randolph, C sideline pass incomplete to Selmon, Z.
CU37, 1ST DOWN WF (Gilliam,S;Watkins,N).
(Hill,T), PENALTY WF illegal formation 5 yards to the CU42, NO PLAY.
W 1-10 C23   Randolph, C rush quarterback sneak for 3 yards to the CU20 (Jackson,R).
C 1-10 C20   CLEMSON drive start at 00:33 (4th).
yardline, 1ST DOWN CU (Swanson, R).
C 2-3  W43   Timeout Clemson, clock 00:16.
1ST DOWN CU (Gattis, J).
C 1-G  W03   End of 2nd half, clock 00:00.


The memoirist's dilemma of portraying friends, enemies & family.
This is a continuation of my last post on crafting a truth-telling persona in memoir.
2. Writing about others is as challenging as pulling off one's own persona.
I am lucky in that my family members are tolerant. I write less, and less personally, about my children than my wife. Some details are matters of negotiation. My children are often surprised because they usually don't even remember an event that was huge for me. That is the nature of memoir—it's so personal, and even from the same event, everyone experienced and remembers things differently.
My chipper answer later troubled me, because I was thinking of my situation and not what these students might be facing. And I realized that their situations might include living parents. My mother died during time I was writing my memoir, which mentioned our difficult relationship. She was tough and nails and wouldn't have had the least problem with that. But Shepherd is more a daddy issues book, and I can't even imagine having published it while my father was alive. Of course, much of it concerns coming to terms with his death, including the long shadow of his legacy. But telling any element of his story would have been off limits during his lifetime. That's me. We do own our experience, I believe, but what we are willing and able to live with varies.
The students' concerns made me remember the big hurdle I faced in writing about friends and acquaintances in Shepherd: A Memoir. I found that some were disturbed or overly sensitive about being portrayed. It made them uncomfortable. Hence I ended up changing most of their names and identifying details in my book.
Two events led to pseudonyms. The first was a stand-alone essay I crafted from the manuscript when my hired helper on the farm, a neighbor, died. We were very different but got along and worked together for years, and I spoke at his funeral. But when I proudly shared my essay with his widow, she was just puzzled by it. In her experience, apparently it made no sense. My pride turned to discomfort, almost shame.
Then an acquaintance I shared the manuscript with objected to being described as having grown up as "a poor kid." For years he'd been bragging to me in those words about himself. Seeing it in print, he roared, "We weren't poor! We were working class!" So I thought, To hell with it. I gave him and almost everyone else in the book a fake name and physical description. The weird thing, especially in his case, was I began to write with much more freedom and truth.
Both instances underscored that people are sensitive to being stared at—"congealed" as objects, as Jean Paul Sartre explains in Being and Nothingness. When you write about them, you reveal, inevitably, your staring appraisal. Or that's how it can come off. As something not entirely sympathetic, for even the warmest portrait involves stepping back. Someone sees the gap between how he tries to come across—and hopes he does—and what others see. Or at least how one twit sees him.
He was enormous, wide beard untrimmed, two streaks of gray in it, thick mustache that fell over his mouth, flannel shirt, top button ripped, thermal-underwear shirt beneath despite the heat, massive shoulders, massive arms, massive hands black with engine grease, massive chest pressing the bib of a huge pair of Carharrt overalls, legs like tree trunks, big leather shoes that looked to be shaped by a chain saw, unlaced, heavy rawhide dangling, one pant leg rolled up showing long johns.
Bill prefaces the book with the information that the man is a composite of several backwoodsmen. And you can see why—and hope that that tactic works forever—given what a menacing fellow he turns out to be. He's contemptuous of outsider Roorbach, and literally and figuratively trespasses upon him, but is hyper-sensitive himself about such matters, especially about Roorbach's awareness that he's a poacher.
Obviously depicting real enemies or just bad dealings with someone taxes the memoirist. Even if the person in question is family and dead—because of repercussions among relatives. You may write as a writer but you live as a person.
Despite stereotypes about the genre's navel-gazing narcissism, the best memoirists manage to write a lot about others. And what typifies their prose isn't vengeance but love. Love for certain others, love for the world.
Yes! Especially to that last paragraph. Thanks for the Sartre connection and the idea of the stare.
Memoir is difficult. My parents and grandparents have passed on so I feel free to write without offending them. Neighbors and tenants in our Chicago West Side rooming house may still be alive, so for those I'm not sure about, I'm using pseudonyms; Those I know have died, I'm using real names, unless they're public figures (i.e., their names appeared in the papers, as in one case). My trickiest part is not about a particular person, but the racial changes I write about in our neighborhood half a century ago. I must write honestly about the attitudes of the time, but want to make clear, these are no longer viable attitudes, nor do I ascribe to them — and want to offer plenty of historical context. Thanks for the excellent post.
Your project sounds fascinating, Linda. I bet that by using the perspective of you now you can write freely about attitudes you depict then. Best of luck.
Hi, Richard. I think your strongest tool in writing about others was in fact the way that you wrote so very gently and humorously about the interactions you had with them. Most people would not like being parodied or made fun of from a strongly satirical point of view, as the public difficulties of many stand-up comedians and satirists show. But in a memoir like yours, in which the cultural differences and peculiarities of the area were part of your topic and reference, I think you handled it quite well by also making gentle fun of yourself as a sometimes clueless outsider. That way, the potentially critical readers who may see themselves in the book can see that each man or woman has his or her peculiarities, and is invited to see the naturally arising comedy in the relationships. Well done!
Victoria, I appreciate your analysis of Shepherd. It is kind of you to say I succeeded at what I tried. Inwardly I will think, How discerning!
Hi, Richard. I have been dormant in writing–no blog entries for over a year. Don't want to go back. Those were mostly little book reports. Nor do I want to attempt a memoir–your journey has helped me to see how difficult that is. But I do want to reflect on some episodes–not for any audience but for me. At my daughters urging, I have begun a creative non-fiction "life-long learning" class at IU. Just six weeks, but at least I am writing again. Your entries on persona are helpful in getting some juices flowing.
High praise! Thank you, Darrelyn.
I just ordered Temple Stream for Andrew. He will love it! Interesting post. I would love to know what my relatives would write about me.
Cool, Annette. I predict he will like it!


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I tried to use it for backpacking. I had the panels on the back of my backpack for over 8 hrs, angled so that one panel was on top and the other panel more on the backside so that the sun would hit both panels. Even after 8 hrs on the pack, and at least an hour on the ground pointed directly at the sun for lunch, the batteries still could not provide a full charge. I have an InReach and it only charged it 30%. It would not charge my iPhone 6, nor my buddies iPhone 5. It couldn't charge my fitbit fully.
I am not going to give you a technical review. I am a somewhat techy grandma, I could not do it justice. This was the first smart television I have had and I was amazed at how simple it was to set it up. I love the "smart" feature that takes away all the trouble of attaching extra items such as a Roku player and all the others. That is all built in now. It arrived in great shape. I am a 73 year old, 5' tall granny and I had no problems opening the carton and attaching the stand and lifting it up onto the table. Be sure and have all your different sign on id's and passwords written down and handy because you will need to enter them for your different apps to work. Apps such as, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and of course your wireless router.
Amy Jarecki can tell a tale like no other. Conversations flow smoothly and descriptions put you in the middle o of the scene. This story, based on a true event, is especially poignant and touching. And as always, I love the romance!
Fun guitar game. If you are a beginner player, like me, then it is only a little useful. It will help you play some simple melodies, but doesn't teach you what you really need to know to advance. You'll probably need something like Yousician or a proper teacher for the basics.
Tammy Melot - Not safe!!


text:
Carlyle Acquires Siemens's Mechanical-Drive Unit for $2.4 Billion
October 29, 2020 | themiddlemarket
Blackstone, Bill Gates Weigh $4.3B Signature Aviation Bid
Private flying is one of the few travel sectors to have benefited from the coronavirus pandemic.
M&A Forecast 2021: Telehealth is Suddenly the Norm, and Deals Follow
The coronavirus pandemic suddenly made it normal to go to a virtual doctor's appointment.
Carlyle-Backed Manna Pro Acquires Bullymake
The acquisition follows Manna's recent purchase of online wellness brand Doggie Dailies.
Carlyle Group Inc. agreed to acquire Siemens AG's mechanical-drive unit Flender for more than 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in one of the last acts to unwind the German conglomerate under its longtime Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser.
Carlyle is buying Flender to make it more independent and accelerate its growth, Siemens said, confirming a report from Bloomberg. The firm outbid suitors including Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc. in the end, people familiar with the matter said earlier this week. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2021, Siemens said.
The disposal of Bocholt, Germany-based Flender marks one of the final steps by Kaeser to turn the industrial-manufacturing giant into a more manageable entity for his successor, Roland Busch. Last month, the company listed Siemens Energy AG, whose technology is behind roughly one-sixth of the world's electricity. Health-equipment company Siemens Healthineers went publicin 2018.
Siemens had been exploring a sale as well as a spinoff of the Flender business, which it bought from Citigroup Inc. in 2005. The unit makes gears and transmissions used in everything from cement production and shipbuilding to beer making and offshore oil extraction. The company's flagship products are 150-ton transmissions that connect wind-turbine blades to generators.
Flender employs about 8,600 people and generated pro-forma revenue of about 2.2 billion euros in fiscal 2020. Carlyle agreed to make "long-term and reliable commitments" for the business and its employees, Siemens said, without specifying.
The European industrials sector has been a bright spot for dealmakers in an otherwise drab year for mergers and acquisitions. There have been about $127 billion worth of European transactions involving industrials companies so far in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's 5% up on the same period in 2019.
Industrials Manufacturing industry Private equity firms Carlyle Group
More From Private Equity
Roark-Backed Driven Brands Raises $700M in IPO
Golden Gate Reportedly Weighs Sale of Mavis Tire Centers
Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman, Who Backed Trump, Urges "Peaceful Transition"


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Mariah Carey in a Hostel
In Da Hostel with 50 Cent
Budget Backpacking
A backpacker's guide to Berlin LGBT nightlife
Berlin is the party capital of Europe, famed for being a hedonistic wonderland of sex, drugs, and rockin' techno. If you're an LGBT traveller looking to let your hair down and have a good time, it's hard to think of a place...
The best hostels in Berlin: explore hostel life in the city of art, history and hipsters
How to find the best hostels in Berlin for your trip The German capital is one of the most exciting cities in the world! You could do something new every day and not run of options or get bored for years, seriously!...
Berghain and Beyond: The Best Clubs in Berlin for Electronic Music
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will Begin the 23rd and 24th of November, just during the Black Friday.
the major unions in The logistics centre of Amazon in San Fernando de Henares (Madrid) have confirmed this Monday what they had already advanced a few days ago: the announcement of a new round of strikes this Christmas. In particular are the 23rd and 24th of November, just during the Black Friday, which is held on the Friday, the 23rd of the aforementioned month. Also stop the activity between the 7 and the 9 of December, during the bridge of the Constitution, on days 15 and 30 of December, in addition to the day 3 of January, the eve of epiphany.
The workers "will try to stop the shipments in a few key dates for the company as it is the christmas period, including Black Friday," said the representatives of the insole in a press release. The plan of protests have approved CCOO and CGT, and is still pending the accession of CSIT and UGT, which represent 25% of the company committee of the center.
two weeks Ago, notified the company informally the intent of the convening of the strikes. Amazon had until last Saturday to respond. At this time, the workers "have not been summoned to a table of dialogue, nor has there been movement on the part of the address of the group in the center", so that today, during an assembly of workers, it has been agreed to continue with the strikes.
It's the fourth round of stoppages in the logistics center of San Fernando. This was the first that Amazon opened in Spain and, therefore, their workers enjoyed a specific convention that is unique for this factory. This expired months ago and in April the company decided to implement unilaterally the agreement of the sector of logistics in Madrid in this store.
The problem is that the previous convention had some improvements with respect to the current in relation to the price of the extra hour, the categories of professionals, the guarantee of higher wages or add-on disability leave. Negotiations "they have been stuck since the last strike" in the month of July, which has led employees to re-load.
The stoppages will be in the most critical days of the christmas campaign, whose purchases have been brought forward in recent years and already produced at the end of November and not in December as before.
Since Amazon refuse to make declarations in respect of the call strike and is limited to noting that the group "believes in maintaining an open and direct dialogue with employees." "We have created more than 2,000 permanent jobs in Spain since 2011. These jobs come with a competitive salary, a full package of benefits and programs innovative education as a Career Choice that finances 95% of the studies for our employees. We encourage anyone to come see for himself by making a tour in one of our logistics centres", they say.


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text:
Bristol tower block fire fuelled by flammable cladding that's fitted to many of the city's high rises
Polystyrene insulation contributed to the spread of a blaze at Eccleston House. The council has committed to removing the material from its high rises – but it could take a decade.
Reports 9th November, 2022
Sean Morrison
Flammable cladding contributed to the spread of a deliberately started fire at a tower block in Barton Hill, the city council has confirmed.
The revelation follows an investigation by the Bristol Cable that revealed the presence of the polystyrene cladding and warnings over its poor condition.
The blaze at Eccleston House on October 20 injured six people – three of them were rushed to hospital suffering burns or smoke inhalation. It happened just weeks after a fatal fire at another council block just a mile away.
Eccleston residents had raised concerns that a polystyrene material in the building's cladding system contributed to the spread of the fire, which spread easily through the block's west stairwell and trapped people in their homes.
Some said they witnessed construction workers ripping the material from the building in the days after the blaze. On a visit to the building, we discovered that specks of polystyrene were scattered around its walkways.
When exposed, this polystyrene is highly flammable. According to a fire safety report from 2019 acquired by the Cable, the surface of the material encased around the polystyrene at Eccleston House was in "very poor condition" and "unlikely to remain intact in the event of fire."
The Cable asked Bristol City Council last week if it had begun work to remove or repair the polystyrene board material (EPS) system present in the building, or when it planned to. The local authority did not respond to our request.
However, when we published an investigation into the fire on Tuesday, the council revealed in a blog post that Eccleston House was fitted with an EPS system – and that it contributed to the spread of the fire.
The blaze started on the first floor, and spread to the top floor of the nine-storey block
New fire safety measures
Tom Renhard, the council's cabinet member for housing, said the authority is concerned about the safety of other tower blocks in the city with the same type of cladding and is making plans to replace it.
EPS cladding Bristol's council tower blocks will be replaced with a rock-based cladding instead, Renhard said. He added, however, that the works could take up to a decade to complete.
Meanwhile, all of the council's blocks that are fitted with EPS cladding will see 'waking watch' fire marshals patrolling the buildings around the clock, until new evacuation alarms can be installed.
This measure will be applied to 38 of the council's blocks in total. The council did not confirm if this number of its tower blocks has an EPS system. The Cable has approached the authority for clarification.
A sprinkler programme will also be "accelerated", with the need for sprinklers evaluated for each building. The council's progress on this scheme has been facing heightened scrutiny following the fire, a blaze at Twinnell House in September, and a campaign by tenants' union ACORN.
Some blocks already have waking watch fire wardens, but new patrols will begin at 27 other blocks within the next two weeks, meaning two thirds of all the council-owned blocks will see around-the-clock patrols.
'Waking watch' fire patrols stood down at two Bristol tower blocks as flammable cladding removed
Twinnell House residents still waiting for answers on smoke spreading and sprinklers following tower block fire
The 'waking watch' measure has already been introduced at three council blocks in Barton Hill following the Eccleston House fire: at Beaufort House, Phoenix House and Eccleston House itself.
Residents desperate for answers
Renhard's blog on Tuesday was published on the same day as a Cable investigation into how the fire at Eccleston House was able to spread, and the impact it had on the local community.
The overriding concern raised by residents we spoke to was the council's lack of communication with those affected by the fire, and a lack of detail on the authority's plans for new fire safety measures to keep them safe.
Before the publication of our investigation, the Cable asked if and when council officials would meet with residents and the wider community to answer their serious questions about fire safety.
The council will write to all affected tower block residents, explaining the works and patrols, and changes to evacuation plans if more fires happen, Renhard said in the blog.
He also pledged to attend several residents' meetings at council tower blocks across Bristol and confirmed the authority would publish its latest fire safety risk assessments for all its high rises from next week.
After a fire at Twinnell House fire in September, residents asked Bristol's mayor Marvin Rees and Renhard to come to a meeting and face questions about why sprinklers hadn't been installed yet – but they didn't attend.
What do we know about Eccleston House's cladding system?
Eccleston House's cladding system contained a 100mm thick polystyrene board type material (EPS), secured with mushroom headed plastic drive fit fixings, driven into pre-drilled holes in the underlying concrete walls.
This is according to a 2019 independent fire assessment report by Easton Bevins carried out after the Grenfell Tower tragedy two years earlier, which the Cable acquired via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
Some Eccleston House residents were trapped in their homes as the fire spread
Polystyrene is highly flammable and ignites at relatively low temperatures. It has been linked with huge fires. Experts say, however, that EPS would not burn if encased in a cement-based render.
The surface finish of the render at Eccleston House was "in very poor condition", according to the 2019 Easton Bevins report, "and unlikely to remain intact in the event of fire."
The fire safety report made clear there were cracks in the material.
"The cracking to the render on the southern gable in particular, is significant enough to compromise the system's performance," the report states. "There is a strong argument for replacing the cladding rather than local repairs and additional fire break installation."
The council did not confirm if the repair works being carried out at Eccleston House – scaffolding had been fitted to the building prior to the fire – involved removing the EPS system or repairing damage to it.
There are believed to be hundreds of buildings that have EPS systems in the UK.
The government has previously refused to add this system to its post-Grenfell testing regime, according to Inside Housing. The aluminium composite material (ACM) panels used on the Grenfell Tower is treated as a unique threat to fire safety.
But a report from an Australian government research agency that tested an EPS system found there is "clear, test-based evidence" that the system can result in "vertical fire spread and pool fires" when exposed to a large fire.
'We must constantly remain vigilant'
Renhard said: "As new risks have come to light we have had to take an urgent decision in consultation with Avon Fire and Rescue Service to introduce further measures.
"Fire safety has been especially high profile since the Grenfell tragedy in 2017, and we carried out numerous checks and reviews of our blocks to be sure they didn't have the same cladding and were safe."
He added: "We must constantly remain vigilant about fire safety as research, testing and regulations change. We continually improve our approach to fire safety and had begun a pilot to roll out a sprinkler programme.
"New information regarding fire safety in blocks has developed since those post-Grenfell checks took place and we are in a better place now to understand what is needed than before."
Responding to the council's commitments, Shaban Ali, a resident of Barton House, said it shouldn't have taken this long for the local authority to "see common sense" and stick to promises it made after the Grenfell tragedy, adding: "We're ecstatic, our collective voice, along with the backing and support of [union] ACORN, has been heard and finally action is being taken to make buildings safe. Families and their loved ones can now sleep easy."
Additional reporting by Alex Seabrook
Read more on: fire safety
I'm a reporter for the Cable, specialising in social issues and investigations.
sean@thebristolcable.org
Home » Reports » Bristol tower block fire fuelled by flammable cladding that's fitted to many of the city's high rises
Nigel Varley
I have been on at the Council, through various "tenant participation" groups, since the Grenfell Tower fire about cladding. They have always said that the cladding in the block I live in was not the same as Grenfell therefore I shouldn't worry. The arrival of fire watchers in our block on Friday and the change to the evacuation policy from "stay put" to "everyone out" seems to indicate that I should worry. There are other problems. The alarm in our block is inaudible and our disabled residents do not have a personal evacuation plan. If there is a fire, our one and only stairwell is likely to get blocked. I have raised this with the Council, in local media and with Acorn but with no response. Our block is supported housing for the over 60s so I don't suppose we really matter.
Work to remove dangerous EPS cladding has been completed at Eccleston House, scene of a serious fire in autumn 2022, and another Barton Hill tower.
Adam Postans (Local Democracy Reporter)
Building safety in Bristol
Flammable polystyrene cladding used on Bristol towers: was the writing on the wall?
After two fires at tower blocks fitted with expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation, Bristol City Council is stripping the flammable material from all its high-rises. But experts say it should never have been allowed in the first place.
Ella Jessel
Bristol council was warned of polystyrene cladding dangers long before tower block blaze, so why didn't it act sooner?
The Cable quizzes Bristol City Council's housing chief on the 'urgent' rollout of new high-rise fire safety measures, how much it's all going to cost, and why the authority didn't act faster.
An arson attack. A pig's head dumped outside. Eccleston House residents are traumatised, and their concerns have been met with silence.
The Cable investigates how flammable cladding fuelled a fire at the tower block, the impact it's had on the community, and why the council's communication is making matters worse.
Council chiefs failed to show up to a residents meeting to answer questions on why no sprinklers have been installed in the high rise
Alex Seabrook (Local Democracy Reporter)
Bristol high rises to be inspected for fire safety after Twinnell House tragedy
New government regulations require the council to inspect fire safety at all the tower blocks it owns.


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TEL-AVIV, Israel and RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (Nasdaq: RDHL) (Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange: RDHL) ("RedHill" or the "Company"), a specialty biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development and commercialization of proprietary drugs for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Talicia (omeprazole magnesium, amoxicillin and rifabutin) delayed-release capsules 10 mg1/250 mg/12.5 mg for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in adults. RedHill expects to launch Talicia1 in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2020 with its dedicated sales force.
Talicia is the only rifabutin-based therapy approved for the treatment of H. pylori infection and is designed to address the high resistance of H. pylori bacteria to current clarithromycin-based standard-of-care therapies. It is estimated that H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin more than doubled between 2009-20132.
Professor David Y. Graham, MD, MACG, Professor of Medicine, Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston and Lead Investigator of the Talicia Phase 3 studies, said: "Talicia offers patients a much-needed new treatment option for H. pylori with an excellent safety and efficacy profile that is not compromised by clarithromycin or metronidazole resistance. The clinical studies for Talicia demonstrated high efficacy in eradication of H. pylori. Studies with Talicia found zero resistance to rifabutin and showed 17% resistance to clarithromycin, a current standard-of-care macrolide antibiotic, consistent with current data showing that clarithromycin-containing therapies fail in approximately 25-40% of cases."
Colin W. Howden, MD, AGAF, FACG, Hyman Professor of Medicine & Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, added: "H. pylori is a major cause of peptic ulcer and gastritis. It is also carcinogenic and is the leading cause of gastric cancer. Treatment of H. pylori infection has become increasingly difficult due to growing bacterial resistance and the lack of advances in treatment options over the past decade. Talicia offers a new effective treatment option to overcome bacterial resistance and provide optimal efficacy and I believe it could become a recommended first-line standard-of-care treatment for H. pylori infection."
"The FDA's approval of Talicia demonstrates our unwavering dedication to patients suffering from gastrointestinal diseases. We thank the patients, researchers and clinical staff who participated in the studies of Talicia and the RedHill team and vendors for this important milestone achieved by their commitment and hard work," said Dror Ben-Asher, Chief Executive Officer of RedHill Biopharma. "We are working to expand our sales force to approximately 140 representatives who will promote Talicia, Aemcolo and other gastrointestinal-focused products in our basket."
RedHill will host an Investor and Analyst day on November 22, 2019 in New York to review launch plans for Aemcolo® and Talicia® and provide an overview of the Company's commercial operations. A live webcast of the event, including the slide presentation, will be available on the Company's website: https://ir.redhillbio.com/events. Additional information will be made available on the Company's website.
About Talicia
Talicia (omeprazole magnesium, amoxicillin and rifabutin) delayed-release capsules 10 mg1/250 mg/12.5 mg is a novel, fixed-dose, all-in-one oral capsule combination of two antibiotics (amoxicillin and rifabutin) and a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) (omeprazole), approved by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of H. pylori infection in adults. To reduce the development of drug-resistant bacteria and maintain the effectiveness of Talicia and other antibacterial drugs, Talicia should be used only to treat or prevent infections that are proven or strongly suspected to be caused by bacteria. Talicia is designed to address the increasing resistance of H. pylori bacteria to the antibiotics commonly used in current standard-of-care therapies and the imperative need for new treatments.5 Talicia's approval is based, in part, on the results of two positive Phase 3 studies in the U.S. for the treatment of H. pylori-positive adult patients complaining of epigastric pain and/or discomfort. The confirmatory Phase 3 study of Talicia demonstrated 84% eradication of H. pylori infection with Talicia vs. 58% in the active comparator arm (p<0.0001). Further, in an analysis of data from this study, it was observed that subjects with measurable blood levels of drug at Day 13 had response rates of 90.3% in the Talicia arm vs. 64.7% in the active comparator arm3. No resistance to rifabutin, a key component of Talicia, was detected in the study. Treatment discontinuation due to an adverse reaction occurred in 1% of patients (4/305) receiving Talicia. The adverse reactions leading to the patients' discontinuation of Talicia were nausea and vomiting, nausea, nasal congestion, and nasopharyngitis, respectively. Talicia is eligible for a total of eight years of U.S. market exclusivity under its Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designation, in addition to patent protection extending until at least 2034.
About H. pylori
H. pylori bacterial infection affects over 50% of the population worldwide4 and approximately 35%, or over 100 million people, in the U.S., with an estimated 2.5 million patients treated annually in the U.S.5 H. pylori is classified as a Group I carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It is the strongest risk factor for the development of gastric cancer6 and a major risk factor for peptic ulcer disease7 and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma8, with infected persons having a 6-fold increased risk of developing non-cardia gastric cancer and MALT lymphoma9. Eradication of H. pylori is becoming increasingly difficult; current standard-of-care therapies fail in approximately 25-40% of patients who remain H. pylori positive due to growing resistance of H. pylori to clarithromycin and metronidazole, antibiotics commonly used in standard combination therapies10. Clarithromycin-resistant H. pylori was formally categorized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pathogen for which there is a high priority need to develop new treatments11.
INDICATION AND USAGE
Talicia is a three-drug combination of omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor, amoxicillin, a penicillin-class antibacterial, and rifabutin, a rifamycin antibacterial, indicated for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection in adults.
To reduce the development of drug-resistant bacteria and maintain the effectiveness of Talicia and other antibacterial drugs, Talicia should be used only to treat or prevent infections that are proven or strongly suspected to be caused by bacteria.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION CONTRAINDICATIONS
Known hypersensitivity to omeprazole, amoxicillin or any other beta-lactam antibacterial drugs, rifabutin or any other rifamycin, or any component of Talicia.
Rilpivirine-containing products.
Delavirdine.
Voriconazole.
Hypersensitivity Reactions: Serious and occasionally fatal reactions (e.g., anaphylaxis) have been reported with components of Talicia. If hypersensitivity reactions occur, discontinue Talicia and institute immediate therapy (e.g., anaphylaxis management).
Clostridioides difficile-Associated Diarrhea (CDAD): Evaluate if diarrhea occurs.
Reduction in the Efficacy of Hormonal Contraceptives: Additional non-hormonal highly effective methods of contraception should be used while taking Talicia.
Acute Interstitial Nephritis (AIN): Observed in patients taking Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) and penicillins. Discontinue Talicia if AIN develops.
Cutaneous and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Mostly cutaneous; new onset or exacerbation of existing disease; discontinue TALICIA and evaluate.
Most common adverse reactions (≥1%) were diarrhea, headache, nausea, abdominal pain, chromaturia, rash, dyspepsia, oropharyngeal pain, vomiting, and vulvovaginal candidiasis.
Components of Talicia have the potential for clinically important drug interactions. See full prescribing information for important drug interactions with Talicia.
Talicia may cause fetal harm.
Renal Impairment: Avoid use in severe renal impairment.
Hepatic Impairment: Avoid use.
To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact RedHill Biopharma INC. at 1-833-ADRHILL (1-833-237-4455) or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.
Please also see full Prescribing Information. (Article from : www.drugs.com)


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Ms. Sallaya, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, has over 30 years' experience in nutrition for health and diabetes. She is also the author of six Thai-language books on nutrition.
Postgraduate Diploma in Nutrition, Queen Elizabeth College, University of London, U.K.


The Lower Elementary Cottage: Thanksgiving craft and 1 more day for my giveaway!
Thanksgiving craft and 1 more day for my giveaway!
I'm not feeling so great tonight, so this will probably be short and sweet. My shadow student today turned out to be on the severe end of the spectrum, when I teach mild-moderate, high functioning students. It caused a chaotic start to the day and I had to keep a counselor in the room the whole time he was there just to keep him in the room. My kids struggled with all the extra noise and the sounds he made. They decided to send him home after an hour which was more than enough to know my class was not a good placement for him. I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow's shadow student works out better.
My students feel the need to share their germs with me. My sudafed wore off around 11:00am and I felt terrible from then on. I decided to scrap my plans after math time, teaching 2 social studies/science lessons at once (kinder and 1st/2nd) just wasn't going to happen. So we all did Thanksgiving projects together, then had puzzle time. The kids painted super adorable Mayflowers. I painted their hands brown and then stamped them on the paper. So much less messy than dipping in a puddle of paint on a plate like I used to do! One kid giggled like crazy because it tickled, too cute! Then they got to choose to paint sails or make them out of paper, and it worked out at 50/50.
Then we had puzzle time. The kids were sooooo much better at them today than the first couple weeks of school. It's amazing how quickly these little guys are learning! I love my puzzles, several were donated by a parent last year when their kid grew out of them. That reminds me, I need to mention that concept to this year's parents. Their kid may have outgrown things, but my younger guys love them. I even got a tag reader last year! That reminds me, I should go get some batteries and pull it out of the closet!
They loved this magnetic maze puzzle!
Your art project is really cute!
So I was in bed last night and saw your cute mayflower post and decided we HAD to do it. So we did it today! We're not quite finished but they're so cute! Thank you for the great idea and late night inspiration!
I gave you out a shout out on my blog today!
Love the Mayflower idea!!! Wednesday's art lesson here we come.
Lisa and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!
NEW!! Money Centers! Social Skills Posters!
Happy Monday! Anyone have a Cricut or Cameo??
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Tricky Tuesday & Don't Forget My Giveaway!
Manic Monday Including My 100 Follower Sale!
MY 100 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY IS FINALLY HERE!!


BEFORE CARES will begin on Wednesday, September 7, 2016.
WHEN: 7:00-7:50am. Pre-K students move to their classrooms until their day begins at 9:00am, but MUST arrive between 7:00 and 7:50am.
RATE: $5.00 per morning regardless of drop-off time.
BILLING: Bills are sent out at the end of the month for the days used.
AFTER CARES will begin on Thursday, September 8, 2016.
WHEN: FULL days of school only, and will run from 3:00 – 5:30pm. Please make sure to check the school calendar for any additional changes to CARES. It is important that your child knows when they will be attending cares to avoid confusion and tears at the end of the day. For parents of younger students, it helps to provide a note to the teacher communicating which days your child will be attending CARES.
PICK-UP: In order to enter the building to pick up your child you must ring the doorbell located to the right of the main gym doors.
Your child will be offered time to do their homework, play with friends, or enjoy the fresh air outside. We can only suggest the children start their homework in CARES, we can't force them.
LATE FEE: There is a $5.00 late fee added to your child's care for every 5 minutes late past 5:30. Please make sure to call the CARES room (610-459-8134 follow the correct prompts) if you are stuck in traffic or if an emergency should occur.
BILLING: Bills will be sent out monthly via email. Typically bills will be sent out on a weekend and will be due that Thursday.


text:
Q: flutterfire realtime database a children to dynamic list I am new on flutter. Now i am trying to get a children from realtime database to dynamic list. and with that list i need count them and create box. but when i try that i get all datasnapshot in one box with datakey.
My future class:
Future<dynamic> getdata() async {
  final ref = FirebaseDatabase.instance.ref("Categories");
  final snapshot = await ref.get();
  if (snapshot.exists) {
       entry.add(snapshot.value);
   print(entry);
  } else {
      print('No data available.');
  }
}
late List<dynamic> entry =[];

my output

I/flutter (13624): [{-N3lX7tMzVVT7gqUF_1q: deneme, -N3lX9bwkr3X6J3wfHfq: deneme1, -N3lXAwEnNKQ1WcA4Vw2: deneme2, -N3lXFEq5RV5HXkfHiVF: deneme3}]

so i want this one by one not in one line and just data not key. with that i will create box and write there .

A: You have put your snapshot data inside Map like:
Future<dynamic> getdata() async {
      final ref = FirebaseDatabase.instance.ref("Categories");
      final snapshot = await ref.get();
      if (snapshot.exists) {
        Map<dynamic, dynamic> categories = snapshot.value;
        categories.values.forEach((value) {
          print(value);
        });
      } else {
        print('No data available.');
      }
    }

Here you can get all data one by one. (You can use it by adding inside the List).

A: It sounds like you want to loop over the children of the snapshot you get from Firebase, which you can do with:
final ref = FirebaseDatabase.instance.ref("Categories");
final snapshot = await ref.get();
if (snapshot.exists) {
  snapshot.children.forEach((child) { //
            //
    entry.add(child.value);
  })
  print(entry);
} else {
  print('No data available.');
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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GENEVA (AP) — The emergencies chief for the World Health Organization predicted Tuesday that Congo's Ebola outbreak will last at least another six months, saying that informal health facilities have become "major drivers" of the current, deadly transmission.
Dr. Peter Salama said that makeshift "tradi-modern" health centers — offering both traditional and modern treatment — were believed to be linked to more than half of cases in Beni, the largest city affected by the current outbreak that has taken more than 200 lives.
Salama, who returned from a trip to Ebola-hit eastern Congo last week, said Tuesday it appeared "very likely" that some cases of Ebola had been misdiagnosed as malaria, because early symptoms are virtually identical.
In some cases, people appeared to have contracted Ebola while visiting the centers for other health concerns, Salama said.
Salama noted how many residents appear suspicious of foreigners, officials and outside organizations, but that many also believe in the effectiveness of injectable medicines. And when proper hygiene isn't respected — like through sharing of needles — conditions are more propitious for viruses like Ebola to spread.
"Probably more than 50 percent of cases in Beni have been driven from these tradi-modern health care facilities, and the fact that hygiene and injection practices in these areas are relatively unsafe," he said.
Salama said the current Ebola outbreak is "arguably the most difficult context that we've ever encountered," pointing to activities of two armed opposition groups in the region. The outbreak has been "amplified" by the health centers, he said.