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Agile & The Battle for Better Business
Written by Matt Jamison and Josh Bathon
Published in Brand Stories
Brand Story - Agile is a solved problem. In software development environments, it's now a staple.
You would struggle to find a single development team or technology project that isn't using an agile framework to plan and execute their work. The idea has long passed from experimental to adoption; it has saturated the market.
Little proof is needed for this claim of complete saturation. Just look at the list of certification-ready agile methods: SAFe, Scrum, Crystal, DSDM, Feature-Driven Dev, ASD, Lean Software Dev, Disciplined Agile, RAD. Beyond the certifications you'll find (often decades old) schools of thought around Wagile, eXtreme Programming, and others. When you can certify yourself in a handful of different frameworks around the same concept, then it's safe to say that the school of thought is here to stay.
Outside of tech, though, the potential of agile is still largely unrealized. Waterfall methodology is still the dominant approach to project and product management. At the Gunter Group, we feel this is a missed opportunity. The practice and benefits of agile should no longer be the sole domain of nerds.
The Coming Revolution
Agile has revolutionized development, or rather, agile is the response to development's demand for revolution. Waterfall was the child of the uniquely meandering progress of early software projects. Early development borrowed from manufacturing, aerospace, and defense methodologies of the time, and depended on long runways for delivery (and even occasionally relied on physical manufacturing processes).
However, as software leapt forward, the waterfall methods of old failed to serve the split-second pivots required by the go-to-market environment of modern technology. Software development demanded a new kind of organization, one as iterative and quickly-changing as the 1's and 0's upon which it was built. From this need, agile was born.
It is a mistake, however, to limit agile to the tech environs of its birth. There is nothing about agile that is necessarily specific to software development. We repeat: there is nothing about agile that is specific to software development. It is a framework that has application well beyond its homeland.
A renaissance is before us. Agile has yet to have as meteoric an effect on the broader business world as it has in all-things-tech, but this change is on the horizon. In this article, we will explore several simple means for the application of agile in non-tech environments.
This article is for agile practitioners. It is also for anyone else who works in a world of projects and output-oriented teams. That means everyone. Yes, you read that right: everyone. (Even construction has room for agile. There are certainly limits to the application, as failing fast in that landscape could be catastrophic. Construction is a mature industry with many unique frameworks for success, but the concepts of agile are still applicable in creative ways. Design iteration, proposing and awarding subcontractors, and daily standups with subs might be areas for immediate agile-inspired growth).
Tried and true in the tech-focused backbone of our ever-changing world, the revolution of iterative, cross-functional, self-forming teams will ripple through organizations and markets of all kinds. The thoughts below are intended to give you a leg-up in this revolution, to find yourself ahead of the curve in the battle for better business.
The Business Cycle & Agile: An On-Again, Off-Again Relationship
Agile has a place in the business cycle, but only one place. The picture below illustrates this (a notable exception to this limitation can be found in the SAFe framework, which has made progress in utilizing agile in a broader business context). Agile is often embraced by a development team or manufacturing process, but everything upstream and downstream from these teams still think of their work in terms of waterfall. As the landmark book The Lean Startup explains in detail, this often results in products reaching the market after months or years of investment without validation that the product is even needed.
This can be fixed. At TGG, we have seen successes and failures with clients attempting to embrace agile methods. There is no one right or wrong way to embrace agile, but we have seen some general activities or mindsets prevail over others.
Below is a list of high-level considerations you should keep in mind if you are interested in adopting agile in your non-tech team:
1. Don't Do Agile for Agile's Sake: It can be easy for a leader to say, "It works for the Unicorns so it should work for us." As a result, agile or lean Centers of Excellence sprout up in organizations that are not ready or willing to embrace these methods. Agile only works when a team understands why they are doing it and are engaged in the method in a way that adds value. It is all about developing business agility and driving value to the customer—not just about "doing" agile.
2. Find the WHY (Value Added): People are more willing to change when they understand why a particular change will benefit them. This is universally true, and is a fundamental concept that drives all successful change efforts. When accompanying a team that is new to agile, break the component parts down into WHYs that demonstrate the value added by an agile element. More on this below.
3. Use a Light Touch: For teams that have been thinking in terms of waterfall timelines and years-long delivery plans, agile is not intuitive. This is even harder for teams that don't operate in a project environment, such as operations, finance, or HR. It is uncomfortable for someone new to agile to imagine releasing their work before it is "completely done." For these people, adopting agile represents a culture change. Use a light touch, and embrace change management best practices. Educate on the value of embracing agile ceremonies and artifacts (see Point #2), and give them time to adjust to a new work culture.
4. Think About Slicing Small: You might think that the key difference between waterfall and agile is the speed of the work. However, this doesn't quite capture the power of agile methods. Agile teams don't work faster—they work smaller. Sprints are only successful when a team can break their work into smaller chunks that can be accomplished, reviewed, and delivered to customers in a matter of weeks. When looking to adopt agile in your non-tech team, this can be one of the hardest yet most rewarding mindsets to shift. Ask yourself the question: "What can we complete this month and deliver to our consumers?"
5. Start with Standups and Retrospectives: When in doubt, the easiest place to start with agile adoption is with standups and retrospectives. Gather your team together so everyone can give a 30 second status update and share any blockers. Encourage recognitions, because they actually do boost engagement. Periodically bring everyone together to reflect on the way they work, and encourage them to think creatively about small changes they can make to boost productivity or morale. These rituals are baked into agile systems but are often overlooked in the recipes of other structures. They are ceremonies that are simple to implement (their WHYs are easy to understand), and they immediately add value to your team.
Find the WHY: Representing the Value Added by Elements of Agile
In tech, it is easy to take agile for granted. There is little need to investigate why that is the case. Dev teams embrace the frameworks without the need to justify why. Tech simply trusts the efficacy of the model.
Non-tech environments are more skeptical, however. Business units accept the place of agile in their organization's tech division, because the quality and turnaround of their tech solutions are desirable outcomes. But a chasm exists, an us versus them void between tech and business, in which each realm agrees to the ways of the other without cross-pollination. "Agile works for IT," says the non-IT department, "but we will carry on as we always have."
When making the crossover from tech to non-tech, asking WHY is essential. When making the case for an agile adoption in a non-tech environment, it is not enough to know THAT agile works; you also have to understand WHY it works.
The core concept of this article is this: by breaking down the framework into a series of WHYs, you are able to build a business case for its adoption.
In Search of WHY
Before diving into case studies, we'll pause to give a couple brief examples of how to find WHYs. First, we'll give an example of finding a WHY, and then we'll observe an organization that has used this WHY thinking approach to maximize the benefit of agile enterprise-wide.
We'll start with an example of a WHY. Any agilist knows of two basic roles that tend to show up in any agile framework: the Scrum Master and the Product Owner. But why are these roles so valuable? In short, they capture a tension that exists in every project: throughput versus quality.
The Product Owner represents the customer. He or she is ultimately accountable for the product that hits the market. They massage the backlog, prioritize features, and vouch for the throughput and objectives of the customer. The Scrum Master, on the other hand, is a servant to the team. He or she is responsible for maximizing the value of the team's work by removing impediments and maintaining focus.
In every project, there is a tension between speed and quality, and often these elements are at odds. Teams have to choose between the speed or quality of their throughput. The roles of the Product Owner and Scrum Master capture this tension, striking a balance that delivers a timely, quality product.
Here's the WHY: agile purposefully creates this tension. The Product Owner advocates for the deliverable; the Scrum Master advocates for the team. There is no consensus without dissent, and the dissent built into the agile framework ensures a consensus between the competing demands of immediacy and quality.
You'll notice, in this example, that the WHY is subtle. It simply looks at two roles and understands the purpose for each of them, both individually and together. But their purpose, the WHY, is powerful. Maintaining the tension between throughput and quality ensures that an agile team continuously delivers a product that is valuable.
There are many examples of organizations finding the WHYs, but a fantastic example can be found in the way Spotify approaches an agile culture. Spotify, a tech company, started from the assumption that agile adds value. But they also embraced a key mindset: rules are a good start, but let's break them when needed. This led Spotify to match its needs (autonomous squads, short term goals, and an enterprise-wide holistic product strategy) to the WHYs of agile (throughput vs quality, flexibility, consistency, autonomy, alignment) to create a truly unique structure of tribes, squads, chapters, and guilds.
These unique, overlapping structures don't conform to any particular agile method, but point to the WHYs of agile as necessary predecessors. The result: a nimble organization and healthy culture that keeps pace with the ruthless, fast-paced competition of streaming music solutions.
Agile in Business: Case Studies
So far, we have discussed the concept of embracing agile elements in non-tech teams. Let's look at a few examples of this concept in action.
The Lean Startup - Laundry Services in India
A current popular expression of these concepts can be found in the book, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Over the course of 300 pages, Ries walks the reader through a home-grown approach to agile adoption grounded in decades of direct and indirect (consulting) experience with entrepreneurs and startups.
Core principles of The Lean Startup include small slicing vision into minimum prototypes, testing those prototypes early and often, validating assumptions, and promoting a culture of constant adaptation and growth. These agile-adjacent methods are all implemented without any of the typical agile ceremonies or artifacts.
There are dozens of case studies in the book that demonstrate the WHYs in action. One example comes from a laundry service launched in India: Village Laundry Service (VLS). In 2009, VLS was poised to launch a low-cost modest-return laundry service in a virtually untapped market in India.
The company, however, paused to create small-scale experiments to validate product assumptions and zero-in on specific customer needs. They embraced a model of iterative testing and adaptation that allowed them to target a rollout that was specifically tailored to customer needs. This meant that, once scaled, VLS was sure that they were mass-producing a product that customers would actually buy.
National Insurance Provider - Accounting Team "Scrum"
An insurance provider engaged us to assist with an ERP implementation that would replace the general ledger that accounted for tens of billions of dollars in managed assets and revenues. In the organization, there was a Lean Center of Excellence that had been advocating for agile ceremonies across the organization for several years. However, the accounting department had not yet adopted any of these elements. Early in the project, the team decided to organize themselves into a scrum team, with all the usual ceremonies and artifacts.
Initially, the transition was difficult. The team consisted of financial analysts and operations managers, and no one had project experience (let alone a knowledge of scrum). The "scrum team" was also larger than recommended, with more than 15 people.
Over time, the team used the ceremonies to break down their activities into a series of WHYs. Daily standups helped illuminate blockers and inefficiencies, and sprint retrospectives allowed the team to reflect on what was working and what wasn't. Before long, the team developed a rhythm to their work and were able to break out the scope into smaller slices that more efficiently made use of their resources. Additionally, they were able to quickly track and validate decisions made about the product, which allowed for quicker pivots that better met the needs of their internal stakeholders.
HR Job Posting - Introducing Small-Slicing to Recruiting
On November 20, 2019, TGG's Tech Services Lead Matt Jamison presented to AgilePDX on the topic of adopting agile elements in non-development teams. To illustrate his ideas, he shared an example of applying agile to talent acquisition in an HR department, with regard to staffing practices.
The Problem Statement: the struggle to find and hire talented resources presents a series of constant hurdles. Even without complications, it is difficult to sort through the tides of resumes to find individuals who have the professional and cultural acumen needed for a particular situation.
But hiring does not occur in a vacuum, and complicating factors abound. Hiring teams struggle to match job postings to the continuously changing needs of their organization. Market factors like shifting regulations, emerging fields, and competitive innovation require constant adaptation to who or what an organization needs on their teams. On top of this, the company mission is regularly transitioning due to adaptations from corporate strategy and new products.
When hiring for a team, there is a need for agility. Despite this, overworked recruiters are often incapable of the continuous change that would empower them to hire better, faster, and smarter. Poll HR professionals and you will likely hear the same thing, "I'm not getting the right talent. It takes too long to get talent. How do I assess the growth of employees and allow for advancement? I don't respond quickly enough to changes in my organization and market."
Enter the Agile WHYs: how would an HR team look to agile to address some of their struggles? Start with the problems:
● There is too much to change and not enough time to adapt
● Changes in job descriptions require a lengthy approval process
Looking at these problems, several agile WHYs start to jump out in response:
● Vertical slicing deliverables into bite-sized stories
● Sprint structure allows for near-term pivots on vertical slices
● Empowering team members to problem solve allows for quicker creative solutions
● Iteration on pain points or strengths allows for continuous improvement
An HR team embracing these WHYs wouldn't have to embrace a full scrum adoption to realize their benefit. They could small-slice a job description, looking at components of a specific description instead of the whole thing. They could explore ways that recruiters could update parts of job descriptions in a quicker manner without needing full bureaucratic and legal review involved with a new job post. They could collect user stories from teams with upcoming resourcing needs instead of a list of qualifications and specific experience, empowering recruiters to be more creative in finding the right fit.
By embracing the WHYs of agile, teams can borrow the best parts of the methods and ceremonies to foster agility. And by doing so, they are living up to the core principles of agile, putting individuals and interactions before processes and tools.
We want to close this paper by reiterating a key point that is foundational to adopting agile in new environments: don't do agile for agile's sake. If either managers or direct reports fail to understand the reason why they are making a change, then that change is destined to fail. Do not embrace agile just because it's trending in high-dollar markets.
There are good reasons for the successful outcomes of agile—a successful adoption requires an understanding of these reasons first. After witnessing successes and failures in the market around us, we firmly believe that a team must understand the WHYs of embracing agile methods before jumping in.
About The Gunter Group:We set out to build a different firm where we leverage strong relationships to achieve great things in partnership with our clients. Our driven employees make us who we are – a talented team of leaders with deep and diverse professional experience. The big firm model does not resonate with us. There is a better way to continually deliver high value service. We live where we work, so when we help our clients' communities, we are helping to grow our own.
For more information about us, visit guntergroupconsulting.com. For more information on this article's authors, visit Matt Jamison and Josh Bathon.
Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues. The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.
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Leading cosmetic firm Elder Health Care Limited will promote fashion and beauty products of German brand BeYu in the Indian market, a top company official said Tuesday.
Bangalore, Nov 23 (IANS) Leading cosmetic firm Elder Health Care Limited will promote fashion and beauty products of German brand BeYu in the Indian market, a top company official said Tuesday.
'We have an exclusive tie-up with BeYu to promote its products in the growing healthcare market to meet the fashion needs of modern Indian women who are style conscious and in sync with the international beauty trends,' Elder managing director Anuj Saxena said in a statement here.
Some of the BeYu premium products unveiled in the retail market are mineral make-up, lipsticks, foundations, eye shadows, mascaras, eye liners and nail enamels.
'As part of our marketing promotion strategy, we will soon be introducing a wide range of BeYu products to suit every fashion need covering lips, face, eyes and nails,' Saxena said.
To market and popularise BeYu products among youth, the company organised its second BeYu fashion awards 2010 earlier this month, with Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut walking the ramp.
Presented by premium clothing brand Lawman Pg3, the two-day fashion extravaganza showcased latest collections of well-known Indian and overseas designers under the supervision of fashion choreographer and stylist guru Prasad Bidapa.


A few reminders for the Haw Creek Community. First, there have been some issues regarding speeding on New Haw Creek Road and Old Haw Creek Road. Due to several complainants the traffic unit will be running radar to help keep our community safe. If you are a speeder, please slow down it's not worth the heavy fines or hurting yourself or someone else.
Second, I know traffic is horrible on New Haw Creek Road as you are approaching Bethesda Road, especially when school is letting out. At the intersection of New Haw Creek Road and Bethesda Road, there is a gravel area to the right traveling east. Please do not pass on the right of a stopped vehicle, it is illegal. If you are in a rush to get somewhere, then leave early enough to beat the traffic or use a different route.
Finally, with Halloween approaching, please watch out for children on Halloween night. Parents, if your children are out enjoying Halloween, make sure an adult is with them and that everyone is wearing reflective clothing and that the group is carrying enough flashlights to make them visible to cars. Thank you for making Haw Creek a safe and enjoyable community.
The Haw Creek Community Association welcomes new east Asheville business, Filo Featuring POST 70 Indulgence Bar which opened in July. Many folks are familiar with FILO Pastries, the creation of pastry chef Maria Papanastasiou, an east Asheville favorite for nine years. Maria and her staff create amazing bakery items and serve fast casual lunch items such as spanakopita, quiche, and croissant sandwiches.
What you may not know is that at 5:00 pm the lights get turned down, candles are lit and the unassuming bakery shop turns into a unique evening venue. Featuring chef-created small plates and craft cocktails, the POST 70 Indulgence Bar project is the brainchild of Emilios Papanastasiou, Maria's nephew. He is also son of Nick Papanastasiou, owner of the adjacent East Village Grille for over 24 years. The name POST 70 pays homage to the original occupants of the unique stone structure, The American Legion Post 70 which has since relocated to a nearby location on Reddick Rd.
The family has deep roots in east Asheville, growing up in Haw Creek and currently living in Redwood Forest. Emilios and his family are proud to call this area home for both their residence and businesses. Filo Pastries and EVG have always been community-centric and he hopes to continue that neighborhood bar feeling. POST 70 is an east-end alternative to the sometimes crowed and busy feeling of downtown eateries.
At POST 70 Indulgence Bar, everything is created in house. Herbs and some seasonal veggies are grown right on premises. Mediterranean-style small plates combine the family's Greek heritage with an Asheville flair. Small plates encourage communal sharing of food but don't let "small" fool you, this is a high quality restaurant experience. Stop by to have a drink, some great food and say hi to your neighbors!
Filo Featuring POST 70 Indulgence Bar is located at 1155 Tunnel Road in Asheville.
The Asheville Fire Department would like to send an important message to the Haw Creek Community, one that could save your life. AFD responds to emergency calls daily and we normally reach our destinations quickly. However, several avoidable factors often slow us down. One way residents can assist in lessening that response time is to help us find you. Your house number is what we are looking for and if it is hidden or not displayed this will slow us down. No matter if it is a fire, a medical emergency or a child locked in a car, seconds count. So please be sure your house has numbers, which are visible from the street. AFD recommends numbers to be at least 6 inches high and contrast their background. If your house is set back from the road, be sure your house number is displayed on a mailbox or a sign in your yard. We thank you ahead of time for your cooperation!
On July 15th, 115 East Asheville residents attended a meeting at Groce Methodist Church to voice concerns over the conditions of the East Asheville Library and loss of the community center that has been leased out to L.E.A.F. The loss of the community center leaves East Asheville community associations with no free meeting space and impacts library programming. County Commissioners David Gantt and Brownie Newman attended the meeting as well as City Councilman Chris Pelly and Roderick Simmons of the Parks and Recreation Department. Haw Creek Community Association coordinated the meeting.
Gigi Frances, current Manager of the county library system provided the history of the East Branch and told the audience that the East branch has been on the County's Capital Projects Plan since 2002 but has been delayed multiple times. The current plan calls for renovations to begin in fiscal year 2019 with probable completion in 2021.
Residents voiced their concerns over the loss of the community center and the conditions of the library, which is the fourth busiest library in the system. Jeanie Martin of the HCCA Board announced that there was a current petition drive asking the County and City to begin a new library in a timely manner with input from local residents and to address the lack of meeting space. Comments on the petitions included: the library is too small (2,700 sq. ft. as compared to 8,000 sq. ft. at the North Branch), lack of space for children's programs, not enough computers, no indoor bathroom, lack of adequate parking, the library being rundown and outrage at loss of the community center. Most residents would like the facility to remain at the current site. David Gantt explained priorities for county spending and advised the community that fundraising for library furnishing/equipment would be a good idea.
A group of residents formed after the meeting to advocate for a new library/community center complex. The petition drive is proceeding and a children's petition has been designed and is being circulated. A letter to the Editor has begun and an open community-visioning meeting is being planned for Oct. 28th. Everyone living in East Asheville is invited so stay tuned for details.
To sign the petition online, go to HCCA's website https://hawcreeknc.wordpress.com and click on helpful links to scroll down to the petition. To become more involved contact Jeanie Martin at mt.to.sea@gmail.com.
Hot Dang! Haw Creek Community Chili Cook-Off Oct. 24, 4 – 6 p.m.
Do you have a secret family recipe for chili? Have you figured out how to make a vegetarian chili that is healthy AND delicious? Have you never met a chili pepper you didn't like? We invite all chili enthusiasts– whether you make it, or just love to eat it – to come to the first annual Haw Creek Chili Cook-Off at St. John's Episcopal Church at 290 Old Haw Creek Road on Saturday, Oct. 24.
All PRE-REGISTERED entrants should arrive at St. John's between 3:30 – 4:00pm to set up with chili in a crock-pot, ready to go. Please provide your own ladle or serving piece for your entry; HCCA will provide small bowls or cups, napkins and spoons for tasters to use as they try your dish. The evening will start with a traditional cakewalk at 4 p.m. with donated cakes from local grocery stores and bakeries, as well as some of your Community Association board members. After the cakewalk, there will be a pumpkin-carving contest. Pumpkins for the contest can be painted or carved, and the contest age groups are Pre-K, K-3 and 4-6. Prizes have been donated by Dancing Bear Toys.
Then, the main event! Our judges for the evening are City Councilman Chris Pelly, Rev. Joan Grant of St. John's, and Rev. Karen Doucette of Bethesda Methodist. To make it a little more interesting, the Asheville Police Department, will field a team. Winners and runners-up in all three categories –red meat, poultry, and vegetarian/vegan – will receive prizes. You can enter solo, or as a two-cook team. Space is limited to 20 entrants and registrations are due by October 14, 2015. We also ask that you bring a typed list of all ingredients to have available as a precaution for individuals with allergies.
Field behind St. John's Church – 290 Old Haw Creek Rd.
Any well behaved dog welcome. Dog parade, discounted nail trims by Haw Creek Animal Care (need proof of rabies vaccination), behavior tips by Mindful Mutz Dog Training, Brother Wolf Adoptions. This is no Westminster, just good family fun. Join us. Your dog just may be "Haw Creek Top Dog".
Doing a little spring-cleaning? Turn those old possessions into cash at the spring yard sale. The Haw Creek Community Association will be hosting our Spring Community Yard Sale on Saturday, May 9th at the field on Pressley Road behind the St. John's Episcopal Church at 290 Old Haw Creek Road. The rain date is Saturday, May 16th. We're limited to 20-30 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Seller sign-up and other details will be sent out in the next couple of weeks.
Thank you to everyone who completed the survey the Association sent out in February. 152 residents responded and the information was very helpful to the HCCA Board. Here are a few highlights from the survey with the number of respondents noted and the percentages rounded up. Only on the top responses are reported.
The vast majority of the responses were very positive. Some comments heard more than once include: Great organization, appreciate leadership, $12/yr. membership very reasonable, I wish I could help but too busy, need to advocate for more sidewalks, used to be involved but became discouraged as others would not get involved or help, appreciate litter cleanup.
Watch your email for an upcoming date for a spring wildflower walk. The woods are waking up with beauty!


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1378 Growing up on Salmon River
All the Quiet Places
by Brian Thomas Isaac
Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2021
Reviewed by Danial Neil
In his debut novel, Brian Thomas Isaac invites us to bear witness to the life of Eddie Toma. He deftly guides us, shocks us, and in the end informs us of the reality of growing up Indigenous in the fifties and sixties. Here we open our minds and our hearts as we meet young Eddie as he explores his world on the reserve along British Columbia's Salmon River. The simple map inside the book illustrates the physical scope of the story: Eddie's house, the outhouse, hollow tree, Grandma's house, the river and the highway, and the Cluff farm across the river dominate, but the emotional scope is vast. Eddie is an observer of everything. He takes the same keen interest in his family, his mother Grace and younger brother Lewis, and his Grandmother and Uncle Alphonse, as he does the world outside his door. The trees along the river, his secret place under a cottonwood stump, and the river itself function as the backdrop to his young life, providing a steady and unfailing presence that sustain him.
The book begins the morning after a summer storm raged down upon their poor house. Eddie looks out the window. Trees are down everywhere. He finds his mother at the table. Grace sits with a cigarette, and we are introduced to her mood. Eddie tries to understand. He worries when she's distracted, "red-eyed" as if daydreaming. "He felt sad and wondered what he could do to make her feel better." This theme, along with his mother's shortcomings and the lengths she goes to rise above the poverty of reserve life, serve as the driving force, the device of Eddie's coming of age.
Brian Thomas Isaac, left, with family and friends wait for a train to return to Canada after a summer of berry picking. Courtesy Brian Isaac via CBC
As the story develops, we see the care that Isaac takes with Eddie as he navigates his young life. There is a wildness, the innocence of a boy at play, a kind of balance of the exterior wonders of the woods with the hard and unforgiving interior of the house, a house without plumbing or electricity. This contrast of wonderment and oppression is used skillfully throughout the story. Isaac's story-making feels understated at times, a kind of relief, but one still feels the accumulating weight, the gathering storm. And when Grace's old friends Ray and Isabel arrive with their son Gregory, we feel at once the impact of a man in the house. Grace is ambivalent with Ray's arrival. His flamboyant charm and gifts accompany a plan to lift Grace and her family out of poverty, starting by picking field crops in the farms of Washington State for the summer. He convinces Grace that the Indian Agent will take Eddie away to a Residential School once he sees the living conditions on the reserve. As she wishes that Eddie will attend the white school in Falkland, she agrees.
The story shifts to the farm cabins in Washington, where a malignancy seeps into the story. We bear witness to Ray's alcohol abuse after hard days in the field that soon turns into violence. Gregory runs away after he is beaten with a willow stick for stealing a candy sucker at the local store. Eddie fears that Gregory will get another switching. The search is on, only to find Gregory dead. The story pauses here, perhaps to reflect, to comprehend what has happened, how life can be irrevocably changed, ended. And soon Ray and Isabel leave.
Brian Thomas Isaac
At such times in the story there is evidence of some trick at play. The third person narrative seems to drift into first person. We get closer to Eddie, can hear his beating heart, feel his fear, feel his grief for his new friend. A device of the author perhaps, or simply the effect of the reader's profound sympathy for Eddie and his experiences.
Isaac's simple but convincing writing style moves effortlessly, poignantly, from character to character and scene to scene that includes, purposefully, the ever-present landscapes along the Salmon River, the highway and highway bridge. All are foundational fixtures. All the Quiet Places feels partly autobiographical, by the way, and not so astoundingly; the writer and the written cannot be separated completely. Isaac's soul is stitched to every page, paragraph and word, but hidden from the reader. The craft in fiction is to conceal oneself, an illusion really. But his personal experience cannot be challenged, or mitigated for any reason. We must hear the clear truth of anything, but particularly that which reveals the consequence of colonial subjugation. To read is to listen, and to listen is to understand.
Summer is over and starting school for the first time can be traumatizing to be sure, crossing the highway bridge over the river to catch the school bus, for starters. And Eddie soon discovers that there are other complications, not from his own making, but because he is an Indigenous boy in a white school where racism thrives unanswered. He musters his will to survive the taunts and bullying. There is one particular boy who is relentless with his intimidation: Rodney Bell. But Eddie meets this challenge with his own self-protection and toughness, a strategy that results with visits to the principal's office where he is strapped for his crimes. Not quite the deterrent, for the day will come when Eddie challenges Rodney to a fight to the end. But one bright light at the school, a new friend, a spirited white girl named Eva Cluff, unexpectedly steals young Eddie's heart. They become fast friends, and gives Eddie a sense of hope.
And yet hope can be taken away, a hard lesson to learn for a young boy, and that is precisely what happens when Eddie's father, Jimmy, whom has never met, shows up on day at the house. He recognizes some unfinished business between Jimmy and his mother. He brings Eddie and Lewis gifts. A bag of marbles for Lewis, but to Eddie, he gives him his childhood .22 rifle. There is the promise of a better life, but once again Eddie is let down by an adult male as Jimmy's drinking and violence spiral. These are hard pages in All the Quiet Places, but Isaac assuages us with innocent moments in the story that are necessary in their simplicity. For example, when Eddie goes fishing with his grandmother along the river. She serves as a solid foundation, something absent in his life at home. They dig for worms and go on to catch several pan-sized trout. "You know Eddie, school starts pretty soon … I won't hardly see you anymore. You're the only pardner I got left…." Heartfelt moments that serve as a sort of compress for emotional wounds.
Downtown Vernon, ca. 1957. Courtesy Rob at Flickr
On one particular time Jimmy and Eddie go into Vernon. Jimmy has business to attend to, mainly in the beer parlour with another woman. But Eddie is not idle. Fourteen now, he finds his way around the town, visits pool halls and walks down the main street. Sometimes he just watches the street. He is about go into a cafe and notices Eva Cluff with her girlfriends across the street:
To Eddie's surprise, she threw her arms around him and hugged him. She held him for so long that people walking by stared at them. Eddie placed his hand on her beck and was about to return the hug when she pulled away. She reached out and cupped his face with her hands. Eddie didn't know what to think. He had always liked Eva — a lot — and dreamed of them being together, kissing and looking into each other's eyes like people in the movies. He couldn't believe what was happening.
She tells Eddie that she will soon be returning to UBC, and invites him to their apartment. Of course, with his raging hormones, he accepts. There, he manages to take Eva's yellow kerchief and stick it in his pocket. Eva, with her white privilege, is crucial to the continued unfolding of the story, a key figure in Eddie's emotional development. There is a moment later in the story when Eddie assumes Eva feels the same as he does, and kisses her on the lips. She is upset: "… I'm so disappointed that you're just like all the other boys after all." Eddie doesn't understand what has happened.
The visceral moments continue, a kind of quickening to the story now. Jimmy's presence in the house grows continually worse, abusive physically and emotionally. Eddie grows bolder to protect his mother. In one particularly violent episode, Jimmy punches the pregnant Grace in the stomach. Eddie has thoughts of beating Jimmy to death with a club. Jimmy leaves for good and Grace loses the baby. And so, Isaac begins to conclude the story, helps us make sense out of a boy's life. Eddie meets Rodney Bell in a fight, a fight to settle all scores, and Eddie rises bloody and victorious. Rodney Bell won't touch him ever again. His grandmother dies. Life is hard, never lets up. Eva invites Eddie to lunch with her unexpecting parents and uncle. She has made up to Eddie, apologizing for her earlier rebuff. But her parents' unbridled racist insults are too much to take, and Eddie leaves. It is an awful moment. Eddie only wishes to be accepted. Eva follows after Eddie on her brother Albert's horse. She calls out to Eddie. He crosses the bridge. A truck is coming and….
Brian Thomas Isaac and Marlene. Courtesy Brian Isaac via CBC
So, we see the string of tragedies that Isaac knits into his narrative. I found the tragedies somewhat restrained, perhaps to give a sense of normality: not to astonish, not to shock the masses, but to elucidate life as it was and still is on many reserves. This skilful rendering of the story offers a few doubling-over punches to the gut, but there is the steady gnawing in the belly as the string stretches across time until the cumulative affect leaves you dazed. All the Quiet Places is superb story-making, nuanced in ways that only Isaac can provide. Isaac knows this story, knows how it has played out over generations now. I thank him for his honesty and his craft. This is a first novel, after all, and one that is so needed. It leaves a promise of more to come from a true story-teller.
Danial (Dan) Neil
Danial Neil was born in New Westminster in 1954 and grew up in North Delta. He began writing in his teens, journaling and writing poetry. He made a decision to be a writer in 1986 and took his first creative writing course in Langley with Rhody Lake. Danial worked steadily at his craft, completing eight unpublished novels. And then one of his short stories was published in the 2003 Federation of BC Writers anthology edited by Susan Musgrave. He went on to participate in the Write Stretch Program with the Federation of BC Writers teaching free verse poetry to children. He won the poetry prize at the Surrey International Writers' Conference four times and studied Creative Writing at UBC. His poetry and fiction articulate a close relationship with the land, its felt presence in his narrative and vision. He is the author of The Killing Jars (Trafford, 2006), Flight of the Dragonfly (Borealis/Tecumseh, 2009), The Trees of Calan Gray (Oolichan, 2015), my June (Ronsdale 2014), Dominion of Mercy (NeWest Press, 2021), The Sum of One Man's Pleasure (NeWest Press, forthcoming 2024), and contributor to the poetry anthology Worth More Standing (Caitlin Press, Spring 2022). Danial lives on Vancouver Island.
Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line journal service for in-depth coverage of BC books and writers. The Advisory Board consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Cole Harris, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, Maria Tippett, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies.
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1379 Bill Hong & the Cariboo Mountains
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Soldupe is on a mission to give users back their digital freedom.
And this can easily be achieved by using open standards and protocols only, as this enables users to freely choose the client software of their choice. Because it's your data and your decision.
Using open standards also means maximizing interoperatibility between devices of different vendors. And these open standards also provide open interfaces to Soldupe Cloud Services, which our customers in turn can use to seamlessly integrate Soldupe into their existing IT environment.
Read our technical F.A.Q. to learn which standards and protocols are supported by Soldupe.
If you have any questions, that are not covered in our F.A.Q. please get in touch with us!


The idea came while Dr. Andrea Dreyfuss was doing her emergency medicine residency at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Could Dr. Dreyfuss, with the help of others, create an Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship program? Not only would it be rewarding to be a part of building an ultrasound program in her home country, but the nation of Peru is poised for a point-of-care ultrasound revolution.
Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, a public hospital in Lima, a city of 8 million people, established an Emergency Medicine residency 17 years ago, which had a major impact on patient lives. Furthermore the Peruvian officials recently required that Emergency Departments in Peru have access to ultrasound. However, the new regulations didn't come with support for ultrasound training which has resulted in a lag in developing ultrasound expertise in POC and thus a delay in widespread POC ultrasound adoption in emergency medicine.
Dr. Dreyfuss saw this gap in ultrasound training as an opportunity. She presented her idea to Dr. Arun Nagdev, Director of Emergency Ultrasound at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA.
While the need for ultrasound training in Peru was clear, Dr. Nagdev had been involved in training clinicians on POC ultrasound around the world and knew that when an established ultrasound program didn't already exist, it would be an uphill battle for the local clinicians to get the ongoing training and mentorship they needed to get the program off the ground. Programs with similar goals always face the same challenges: the lack of access to ultrasound experts significantly impacts longitudinal learning, and supplementing ultrasound expertise across a distance is both expensive and time consuming.
The need was great, the appetite was high, but how would they provide access to ultrasound experts to ensure effective longitudinal ultrasound education for the three Fellows in Dr. Dreyfuss's Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship program?
To address this, Dr. Dreyfuss set up a clinical rotation exchange between the Fellows at Hospital Dos de Mayo and key physicians at Highland Hospital Emergency Department. While these efforts provide a great learning environment, there remained the challenge of having 24/7access to experts and mentors for on-going education and consultation in difficult cases.
Dr. Dreyfuss and Dr. Nagdev have now enlisted a new tool: Philips Lumify with Reacts, integrated tele-ultrasound. Lumify provides outstanding image quality, simplicity and mobility to facilitate ultrasound learning and diagnosis anytime, anywhere. Reacts directly connects physicians at Dos de Mayo with experts at Highland providing live tele-ultrasound at the bedside. It doesn't matter where the physicians are – in the same facility, across town, in another city or on another continent. Lumify with Reacts allows them to share ultrasound images, two-way video and voice, virtually bringing experts to any clinical case.
For Dos de Mayo and Highland, this has already had a huge impact. In one case, real-time consultation with a remote expert helped the clinician in Peru determine that the patient was suffering cardiogenic shock, not sepsis due to pneumonia as originally thought. The clinician immediately changed the clinical management of the patient.
In another case, one of the residents came in to help out on her day off. She noticed a patient in the waiting room with a gunshot wound who looked seriously ill. The resident used Lumify with Reacts, and with the real-time guidance of the consulting physician, she was able to determine that the patient had a hemothorax that was not seen on x-ray. With ultrasound guidance they placed a needle in the chest and found blood and subsequently placed a chest tube. This is an example of the ease of using Lumify with Reacts to help make confident clinical decisions.
Dr. Nagdev is encouraged by the ability to have real-time consultation with experts as he feels this creates a model for longitudinal education that can be used worldwide. Having access to a POC expert provides an important element to any ultrasound training program, and is key to developing and retaining POC ultrasound champions. Lumify with Reacts facilitates longitudinal learning experience, and brings expertise directly to clinicians where and when it's needed – in near or distant emergency departments, clinics and small hospitals.
Want to know more about Lumify? Click here.


text:
package com.knam.namchat;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.DatagramPacket;
import java.net.DatagramSocket;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.SocketException;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;

public class Client {

	// Networking variables
	// using UDP
	private DatagramSocket socket;
	private InetAddress ip;
	private Thread send;
	private String name, address;
	private int port, id = -1;

	// constructor
	public Client(String name, String address, int port) {
		this.name = name;
		this.address = address;
		this.port = port;
	}

	public int getID(){
		return id;
	}

	public void setID(int id){
		this.id = id;
	}

	public String getName() {
		return name;
	}

	public String getAddress() {
		return address;
	}

	public int getPort() {
		return port;
	}

	// opening connection
	public boolean openConnection() {
		try {
			socket = new DatagramSocket();
			ip = InetAddress.getByName(address);

		} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
			return false;
		} catch (SocketException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
			return false;
		}

		return true;
	}

	// receiving messages
	// waits for a packet
	public String receive() {
		byte[] data = new byte[1024];
		DatagramPacket packet = new DatagramPacket(data, data.length);
		while (true) {
			try {
				socket.receive(packet);
			} catch (IOException e) {
				e.printStackTrace();
			}
			String message = new String(packet.getData());
			return message;
		}
	}

	// sending message over UDP
	public void send(final byte[] data) {
		send = new Thread("Send") {
			public void run() {
				DatagramPacket packet = new DatagramPacket(data, data.length,
						ip, port);
				try {
					socket.send(packet);
				} catch (IOException e) {
					e.printStackTrace();
				}
			}
		};
		send.start();
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Between Easton's one short nap and a late night, I've managed to trace off the pieces of the Echino Boston Bag and cut everything out – twice. I ordered enough fabric to make not one, but two bags and have a nice size pieces left over for something small (box bag, maybe?).
One thing that I love about this pattern is that it has the seam allowances included! I'm not sure if this is 'standard' for Japanese paper patterns or not, so if anyone has any experience with them, please let me know. I also opted to use Peltex for the interfacing – if I would have though ahead, I would have sprung for the double sided fusible, but now I'll have to baste everything together…. drat! As for the bag lining, I sifted through the stash and found a wonderful embroidered batik that matches the colors perfectly (it looks like it was made to go with this print). Since I spent so much money on the exterior fabric, I'm glad I was able to 'keep costs down' by using something I already had for the interior, plus I feel good that I've been making a dent in my stash fabric lately. Hopefully, I'll have some time today to baste the interfacing to the fabric and add piping to the bag!
This entry was posted in Echino Boston Bag on March 7, 2009 by stacy.
The fabric you chose is fabulous! I love, love, love Echino fabrics.


Novem Group is a full-service corporate benefits firm in Rochester, Ny. From the initial analysis of existing benefits and employer finance strategies to plan implementation and compliance audits, Novem Group can help you manage one of your biggest human resource investments with ease.
Payroll can be straight-forward or complex, but it is always mission critical for your company's success. From small start-ups to multi-state, multi-affiliate employers, we can design a payroll (and benefit) package that maximizes your return on the time spent managing your payroll needs.


text:
RSN Kołobrzeg (Radiofoniczna Stacja Nadawcza Kołobrzeg) – wieża radiotelewizyjna zlokalizowana w Kołobrzegu przy ul. Jedności Narodowej 16. Właścicielem jest EmiTel Sp. z o.o.

Parametry
 wysokość posadowienia podpory anteny: 5 m n.p.m.
 wysokość zawieszenia systemów antenowych radiowych: 70 m n.p.t. i 100 m n.p.t.
 wysokość zawieszenia systemów antenowych telewizyjnych: 76 m n.p.t.

Transmitowane programy

Programy radiowe

Programy telewizyjne
Programy telewizji analogowej zostały wyłączone 20 maja 2013 r.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne

Wieże telekomunikacyjne w Polsce
Maszty w Polsce
Kołobrzeg
Obiekty inżynierii lądowej i wodnej w Kołobrzegu

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Love Spit Love was an alternative rock band founded in 1992 by singer Richard Butler during the 1990s hiatus of the Psychedelic Furs.

History
When the Psychedelic Furs went on extended hiatus in 1992, Richard Butler contacted guitarist Richard Fortus, whose band, Pale Divine, had been the opener on the Psychedelic Furs' final US tour. The two began to collaborate on what Butler expected would become his first solo record. The duo enlisted drummer Frank Ferrer to help develop the material. As the songs took shape, however, Butler opted to push the project into a new band. The band's name was taken from a 1991 performance art exhibit in New York, which featured three naked couples (of varying sexual orientation) openly engaging in acts of affection. The event was the brainchild of publicist Kelly Cutrone and her husband Ronnie Cutrone, an artist who worked closely with Andy Warhol; the event was aimed at protesting government censorship of "obscene" music and art.

To record their debut album, the band brought in Butler's brother (and Furs bandmate) Tim to fill in on bass. (Butler also co-wrote six songs on the album.) The completed self-titled album was released in August 1994 on Imago Records. The album barely made it into the US charts, peaking at No. 195 on the Billboard 200 in October 1994.

The album's lead single, "Am I Wrong", reached No. 83 on the US Hot 100, and was warmly received at alternative radio and MTV. (The song eventually appeared on the soundtrack to the 1995 movie Angus, with a marching band (Warren Township Marching Blue Devils of Gurnee, Illinois) added to the background of the song.)

Richard Butler and Fortus undertook a series of promotional tour dates in mid-1994, performing acoustically.  For a late 1994 tour, the band enlisted bassist Lonnie Hillyer.  The fall touring included an appearance on The Jon Stewart Show, where the band performed their second single "Change in the Weather".

Near the end of 1995, the band was approached by the music supervisor of the movie The Craft, who inquired if they might record a cover of The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?". After initial reluctance, they recorded the song, and it was released as a single from the movie's soundtrack in 1996. Warner Bros reused the band's cover as the theme song for the television series Charmed, which debuted in 1998.

For most of 1995 and 1996, the band found themselves in a precarious situation with their label. Imago Records, which was founded as a joint venture between Terry Ellis and BMG, lost its distribution deal with BMG at the end of 1994. Ellis retained the contracts to the label's acts and hoped to find a new distributor. By 1996, however, the label went bankrupt, leaving the band to find another home. Later that year, Love Spit Love signed with Maverick Records. In the meantime, Chris Wilson replaced Hillyer on bass.

The band's second album, Trysome Eatone, was released in August 1997. The album spawned two singles, "Long Long Time" and "Fall on Tears".

After touring in support of the album, Love Spit Love spent the rest of the 1990s idle, before announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2000. That year, the Psychedelic Furs decided to reform, with both Fortus and Ferrer joining the reformed lineup. Fortus later spent time as a supporting guitarist for Nena and is currently a member of Guns N' Roses along with Ferrer.

Discography

Albums
Love Spit Love (1994) – US No. 195
Trysome Eatone (1997)

Singles

References

External links
Maverick Records: Love Spit Love

Musical groups established in 1992
Musical groups disestablished in 2000
Alternative rock groups from New York (state)
1992 establishments in New York City


The SBA Wyoming District Office and the Wyoming PTAC will host a free government contracting workshop in Laramie on May 6.
The event will feature an informative workshop and matchmaking opportunities with Federal Contracting Officers.
Current and prospective small business owners will have the opportunity to learn how to sell their products and services to the federal government and meet officials responsible for government purchasing. Representatives from the U.S. Air Force, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest, Service, Veteran's Administration, Army and Air National Guard are scheduled to attend.
Benefits of attending this event include receiving free resources designed to help small business sell to the federal government, as well as information on the SBA's 8(a) Program for socially disadvantaged businesses and HUBZone certifications. HUBZone certification is free and can be very advantageous to your business.
In 2018, the federal government spent $376,632,868 buying goods and services in Wyoming. The SBA encourages all Wyoming small business owners interested in selling to the federal government to attend this free event.


text:
Netflix Is Taking a Bold New Step Into... a Linear Scheduled TV Channel
The new Direct service is being trialled in France this month.
byAdele Ankers
Netflix is testing out a new linear content channel, dubbed Netflix Direct, which will offer subscribers real-time, scheduled programming for the very first time.
According to IndieWire, Netflix is trialling a new service that will pull content from the streaming giant's existing library and present it in a linear, scheduled format for those subscribers who like the idea of accessing a pre-programmed feed that "doesn't require them to choose what they are going to watch," similar to standard broadcast and cable TV channels.
The report notes that Netflix Direct had a soft launch in France on November 5, with a broader rollout of the service expected across the country next month. Netflix said it chose this location to test out the company's first linear channel because of the "consumption of traditional TV [in France]."
"Whether you are lacking inspiration or whether you are discovering Netflix for the first time, you could let yourself be guided for the first time without having to choose a particular title and let yourself be surprised by the diversity of Netflix's library," Netflix said in a statement announcing the new service, which is only available on the web version of the streaming platform for select subscribers in France.
This isn't the first time that Netflix has experimented with its entertainment offerings. In September, the company unveiled a promotion that offered a selection of Netflix original movies and TV show episodes to non-subscribers for free. The "Watch Free" page invited users to sample some of the platform's content without the need for a subscription, presumably in a bid to attract new members.
Once users are subscribed, however, Netflix doesn't seem to face too many issues in trying to maintain viewers' interest, as a recent report revealed that the company's investment in anime had been going particularly well for them in terms of viewership. In fact, Netflix announced plans to produce even more anime content after noting an exceptional uptake in anime streaming on the platform over the past year.
With dozens of new shows each season and a robust back catalogue that is yet to be fully explored, anime has quickly become one of the streaming market's most popular content categories. For more on this shift in streaming, read all about why we think anime is the next streaming frontier and what it could mean for the future of streaming services.
Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
1 month Comments
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How To Give Your Reception Hall A Vintage Victorian Look On Your Wedding Day - Welcome to Shannon's Shoes!
Victorian styles are known for their ornate elegance, which makes them a common choice for weddings. If your dress will have a Victorian look, then it makes sense to decorate your reception hall to match. Here are a few ideas to use as inspiration as you aim to give your reception hall a vintage Victorian appeal.
Choose seat covers and tablecloths with a Victorian style.
Modern metal chairs and tables certainly don't look Victorian, but there's an easy solution to this. Covers that slip over the backs of standard metal chairs can give them any look you like, and long tablecloths can camouflage even the most boring, basic table. Some table and chair rental companies offer seat back covers for rent, too. Before you sign a contract with a table and chair rental company like Party People Rentals & Sales, make sure you like what they offer in this regard.
To ensure your seat covers and table cloths have a Victorian look, focus first on color. Off-white is a good base color that was popular in the Victorian era. Look for accents of deep Prussian blue or cranberry red, as these colors were also prominent at this time. A delicate lace border adds authentic appeal. If possible, look for seat back covers and table cloths that fit more loosely, with a draped look, rather than those that fit tightly, as bulkier, flowing fabric was common during the Victorian age.
Rent a couple of Victorian-inspired sofas or lounge chairs.
You can set two upholstered chairs in front of a little wooden table to give guests a private area to sit and chat. A larger, wood-footed sofa paired with a few ornate wooden footstools also looks classy. If you are having trouble finding a company that rents ornate furniture, your table and chair rental company may be able to recommend someone in your area. Some furniture stores even offer this service.
Use ornate candelabras as centerpieces.
Ornate candelabras made from brass or iron were popular in the Victorian era. Look for some remakes of these candelabras at a local furnishings store, or search antique shops for authentic ones. They don't all have to match. Having a different one on each table will add even more interest to the space. Look for candelabras that hold five or six candles, and then place tall, off-white candles in each space. When the dinner hour comes, you can have the lights dimmed and let your wedding guests enjoy dinner by candlelight.
See if the company that is providing your tablecloths and chair covers also offers cloth napkins (many do). Ask to see their design options, and choose the laciest napkins possible for a Victorian-inspired look. Alternatively, you could purchase lacy cloth napkins for the occasion and let guests take them home as their wedding favors. In either case, make sure that they are displayed neatly on top of the plates when the tables are set, as this was standard practice during the Victorian era.
Creating a Victorian look in your reception hall is not as difficult as you might imagine. With the right seat covers, table cloths, centerpieces, furniture and napkins, you'll be off to an ornate and beautiful start.


text:
Why I'm not Celebrating the 40th Birthday of the "War on Drugs"
June 8, 2011 - 3:30pm
By Kent Willis, Executive Director
Richard Nixon's 1971 "War on Drugs" was a bad idea with bad results. After four decades of intensive law enforcement efforts to rid the country of illegal drugs, violent traffickers still endanger life in our cities, a steady stream of drug offenders still pours into our jails and prisons, and tons of cocaine, heroin and marijuana still cross our borders unimpeded.
The cost to taxpayers? We've spent about a trillion dollars on the War on Drugs.
The cost to civil liberties? With the exception of the reaction to 9/11, the War on Drugs has been the driving force behind the most dramatic erosion of Fourth Amendment rights in our nation's history.
The cost to civil rights? Through its structure and built-in prejudices, the War on Drugs has targeted minority communities, incarcerating a generation of African-American men at an alarming rate.
Nixon's "War on Drugs" may have seemed new in 1971, but it was mostly just another name and a bigger budget for a failed drug policy that dates back to 1914. In that year, the Harrison Act became the first of scores of federal and state laws criminalizing the possession and sale of drugs for personal use.
But criminalization, before and after 1971, didn't solve the drug problem. This issue has been studied from every imaginable angle and through every ideological prism, but experts -- including current U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske -- agree that illegal drugs are about as easy to get now as they have ever been.
Not only has criminalization failed to make drugs less available, it has spawned a micro-economy that, absent the rules and regulations of the legitimate market, is fueled by violence.
Prohibition serves as a good example of how criminalization breeds crime. When the Eighteenth Amendment was finally repealed, it was not because Americans wanted to drink again--they never stopped-- but because the black market created by Prohibition had ushered in the most violent era in American history.
The War on Drugs has significantly damaged the Fourth Amendment, creating what Justice Thurgood Marshall once called the "drug exception to the Constitution." In support of the War on Drugs, the U.S. Supreme Court has expanded the power of police to stop and search our automobiles. Once considered private places, cars may now be randomly stopped for administrative searches or DUI checkpoints, and otherwise pulled over for most tenuous of reasons. The War on Drugs is also responsible for a sharp increase in the warrantless drug testing of employees and for the civil forfeiture laws that take away the cars, boats and other possessions of persons accused of crimes.
Perhaps most devastatingly, the War on Drugs has also led to an unprecedented explosion of racially triggered incarceration. Despite the fact that the vast majority of drug users are white, most of those arrested and imprisoned are people of color. In the end, African-Americans are incarcerated for drug offenses at a rate 10 times greater than whites.
Some of these disparities are the result of the subtle but deeply rooted racial prejudice in our criminal justice system, while others are legislated into the structure of the system itself. There is, for example, an enormous difference between the sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine and powder cocaine despite the fact that there is no pharmacological difference between the two. Most users of powder cocaine, which carries a lighter sentence, are white, while crack cocaine, with its much harsher sentences for use or distribution, is largely preferred by African-Americans.
The racial disparity in prosecuting and sentencing drug users has contributed significantly to the over-representation of African-Americans in prison. Which leads to yet another problem: Thirteen percent of all African-American males in this country are now disenfranchised as a result of felonies, many of which are due to drug possession convictions. In Virginia alone, it is estimated that 25% of African-American men have lost the right to vote.
The deeply destructive effects of the War on Drugs on the African-American community are even recognized by the conservative Cato Institute, which recently ran a piece on this very subject (pdf).
A person far more cynical than I once wrote that the definition of government is an entity that deals with failed programs by allocating more money for them. The trillion dollars spent on the War on Drugs since 1971 has resulted in no reduction in drug use, a precipitous decline in privacy rights, an increase in violent crime, and a whole new Jim Crow era. Still, the government spends more money on it every day.
So, no happy birthday wishes from me, "War on Drugs."
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Scott Rocklage is a renowned author, investor and leader in the healthcare industry. He boasts of over 3 decades of experience in the industry. Currently, he works at 5AM Ventures. Scott Rocklage joined the company, as a venture partner, in the year 2003. A year later he was promoted to be a managing partner.
Recently he was interviewed by Ideamensch. His first question was of course how the company came to be. To this he answered that the life science based venture capital was named 5AM because just like 5Am, they were involved early in the formation of the company. Scott Rocklage said that he is successful because of his ability to prioritize, calendar and manage time. He also advised other people to take risk s and venture into entrepreneurship. It is the only way that one can have control over their future and what Scott knows.
Prior to joining AM Ventures, Scott Rocklage had been a number of company, mostly working in leadership positions. He was with Nycomed Salutar Inc., from the year 1990. At Nycomed, he served as the CEO and president of the company, a position that he assumed four years. Two years into working for Nycomed Salutar, he was appointed president, chairman and CEO of Nycomed Interventional INC. He held this position until the year 1994.
In the year 1994, Scott Rocklage co-founded Cubist Pharmaceuticals. He began working for this company as its president. Come the year 2000, he was promoted to serve as the chairman of the board of directors. In the year 2001, he was again promoted to serve as the CEO of the company, a position that he held until the year 2003 and Scott's lacrosse camp.
In the year 2003, Rocklage joined 5AM. He joined the company as a venture partner. But his experience in the industry led him to being promoted to be a managing partner in the year 2004. He has served as the acting CEO of EPIRUS Biopharmaceuticals from May 6, 2016 to May 11, 2016 when he was appointed as the official CEO of the company.


text:
Home Latest Articles
Smart Trains and Connected Urban Rail with Improved Public Transport and Inclusive Mobility
M K Rai
Image for representation.
The major problem which our developing cities are suffering from today is the lack of efficient and effective public transport system. The modern cities in India are not modern in planning in any sense. The planning lacks everywhere and can be seen in every aspect of the urban planning, designing and development. There are many problems which a new or existing city experiences today in developing nations like ours.
Enhancement of the Urban Transport System will surely result in easy access to transportation to cater to the growing needs of the residents of these cities. There are a lot more factors which may play crucial roles in the development of progressive cities for a developed India which We all have been aspiring for!
The industrial "internet of things" has had a major impact on the transportation industry, with the advent of autonomous vehicles and improved cargo management. One area that has seen less coverage is the connected railway.
"The fact that trains operate at such high speeds through tunnels and extreme weather conditions presents real challenges when it comes to deploying IoT systems. But advances in networking have made smart trains a possibility, and one that could provide significant benefits when transporting goods, providing comfort for passengers and increasing operators' return on investments", says one expert.
As we see today, infrastructure is gradually being replaced by train management systems in which trains become interconnected, which may be called communication hubs. They are then so interconnected that it is easy for them to transmit data among themselves, which further helps them to manage network control centres effectively, and receiving instructions from control centres. Technology and Artificial intelligence are today playing crucial roles in the enhancement of Urban Transport Systems.
As we progress further in future, we will see a whole system being developed not only in the developed nations but also in the developing countries mainly of Asia and Africa. One of the problems which Indian Railways regularly faces is delayed arrival of trains. The derailment of trains is another big issue pertaining to the safety and security of commuters. Systems have been developed today by Engineers that can display train velocity for drivers and report speeds back to central control systems. These may reduce the chances of train accidents, and it will further lead to a sharp decline in the number of average rail accidents in any country.
Furthermore, on-board monitoring systems are interconnected with outdoor signalling systems that can regulate train speeds or even remotely command trains to stop based on track conditions, the positions of switches, the presence of other trains on the track and other factors. This may help in protecting the trains from crashes and derailments once these technologies are brought into use.
The Technologies are being developed which will not only help in the vision of running Smart Trains, but these will also provide the efficient, effective and best way of transportation to the cities. The governments are trying to bring more infrastructural projects for providing an efficient mode of the public transport system in the cities. India is also introducing the RRTS System. RRTS is a new, dedicated, high speed, high capacity, comfortable commuter service connecting regional nodes in NCR. According to the NCRTC which is the nodal agency for the development of Delhi -Meerut- Ghaziabad RRTS project, "RRTS is different from conventional Railway as it will provide reliable, high frequency, point to point regional travel at high speed along dedicated pathway".
Delhi- Ghaziabad – Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System is an 82.15 km long, under-construction, semi-high speed rail corridor connecting Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut. RRTS is different from the metro as it caters to passengers looking to travel a relatively long distance with fewer stops and at higher speed and this will further help in the better travel facilities to the people of Urban Centres of Trade and Commerce.
The future indeed seems to be very bright for the urban transport system. Many more Metro Projects are coming up. The concept of Bullet Train is now not unknown to India. High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport that runs significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, new lines in excess of 250 kilometres per hour (160 mph) and existing lines in excess of 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph) are widely considered to be high-speed.
In India, the upcoming Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train corridor will be 508 km long high-speed train corridor and will be India's first Bullet Train corridor. It will be based on Japan's E5 Shinkansen technology. The ambitious railway project will boast speeds of over 300 km per hour. This is the first of its kind in Indian Subcontinent. What I want to say here is that things are changing today in each and every perspective. The RRTS and High-Speed Rails are two different projects which show the progress of our country towards modernization of Urban Transport Systems.
As compared to the traditional Rail Systems, the Smart Trains are going to be of great help and use. When we compare the signalling systems, then we find that a lot more things are changing with the advancement in technologies. Signalling systems control the movement of a train by remotely adjusting train speed and braking.
More traditional signalling systems are based on radio-frequency identification along the train track, but wireless train to ground signalling is getting more and more common in both railroad and metro systems as of the trends now. The new European high-speed railroads are today equipped with European Train Control System Level 2, a signalling standard that requires constant radio communication between the train and the group.
These all changes are going to bring a lot of changes in the Public Transport Systems which will not only improve the things but will also help in inclusive mobility and economic growth. The time is set to change and we will see a new dawn of hopes and dreams when these all systems get fully developed and implemented in the Indian Transit System. The hopes will always be there as science is never at rest nor the scientific advancements.
I am hopeful that the Indian government work for this cause and the Ministry of Railways bring rapid transformations in the Railway Sector. Although Metro Networks are using many modern technologies, it's a time of upgrading some existing old and traditional practices. I hope we get Smart Trains and adopt these new technologies very soon in the next couple of years.
MoHUA
Urban Mobility India
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M K Rai is a Delhi based Author and Journalist.
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American Nightmare may refer to:

Entertainment
Alan Wake's American Nightmare, a 2012 video game
The American Nightmare (2000 film), a feature-length documentary directed by Adam Simon
American Nightmare (film), a 1983 Canadian horror film
"American Nightmare" (Supernatural), a television episode
American Nightmare (band), former name of Give Up the Ghost, an American hardcore punk band
"American Nightmare", a song by Misfits from Legacy of Brutality
"The American Nightmare", a song by Ice Nine Kills from their 2018 album The Silver Scream
The Stand: American Nightmares, a comic book by Marvel comics

People with the nickname
 Cody Rhodes (1985), an American professional wrestler
 Goldust (1969), an American professional wrestler

See also
Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare, a collection of essays edited by Richard Kim and Betsy Reed
All American Nightmare, an album by Hinder
"The Great American Nightmare", a song by Rob Zombie


Kleefeld on Comics: Free Comic Book Day... From Home!
So maybe you're a teenage who doesn't have access to a car or maybe you're out traveling on business and are in the middle Russia for the next week or three. But in any event, you'll find yourself unable to attend a comic book shop participating in Free Comic Book Day.
Never fear! We have other free FCBD offers available for you!
Next, I'll point to some free PDF downloads from Lone Star Press available through Wowio. They have the first issues of SideChicks, Heroic Tales, Force Seven, Ex Parte and Ace of Diamonds available through the weekend.
Finally (at least as far as I know) you can get a free pulped wood copy of Hogan's Alley by sending an email ON MAY FIRST to hoganmag AT gmail DOT com. They emphasize that it has to be on Free Comic Book Day itself and that "Before and after that date, any requests for freebies will receive only scorn and derision."
UPDATE: I knew I was forgetting something else I'd seen. Jabberwacky will also be available as a free PDF download from Wide Awake Press on May 1.


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Rowan Armour-Brown Memorial Trust Fund
Supporting Student Violin Makers
Rowan Armour-Brown
UK Colleges
RAB Trust blog
Workshop placements
Search the Rab Trust website...
RNCM 2019: Two baroque cellos in two weeks. Part 1: a tale of monstrous work
Jahanava Gargallo, a third year student at Newark, was funded by the RAB Trust as a helper/observer during a recent project at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where four violin makers made two baroque cellos in a fortnight.
I arrived on Saturday evening to meet the team of violin makers that would welcome me to be part of this event. It was with a great joy that Kai Thomas Roth, William Castle, Tibor Szemmelveisz and Marc Soubeyran met again this year for an even bigger project: the making of two baroque cellos inspired by the models of Stradivari and Gofriller.
It was a pleasure to see this friendly bunch of wood-eaters being happy to see each other again and make themselves at home, installing all their equipment with great organization, excited to start.
I was also happy to take part in this adventure, providing my services concerning the food and drinks, so the makers could be fully focused on the daily tasks of their schedule, and also observing, taking notes, pictures, and asking plenty of questions.
I was there only the first week of the project, from Sunday 24th to Friday 29th, six days that went very fast, as fast as the rhythm of the workers that managed to stay in tune with their schedule! Even though that included working after dinner!
This experience taught me a lot, workwise but also from a social and professional point of view.
First of all, it was interesting to see the working methods of four violin makers that had been taught in three different schools (Newark in the UK, Mittenwald in Germany and Brienz in Switzerland). Although they all have a personal approach to their making, they interact openly. I liked to see them looking at each other's work, exchanging ideas and making decisions about how the instruments should be. I have had the opportunity to participate in other violin making team projects before and this is a point that usually shows a lot in the final aspect of the instrument. It was good to see in the making process the seamless transitions between the different methods and personalities, as well as the result on the cellos.
Also, as a violin making student, the speed of the woodworking during this week has unlocked many fears and questions, and given me wings for my coming graduation test!
THANK YOU to the RAB trust for this opportunity and also to those fourviolin makers who took time and welcomed me with open arms.
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The Fire of Norman Morrison
in DC, Maryland, Virginia by Mark Jones
Dusk was approaching when Norman Morrison pulled into the Pentagon parking lot on November 2, 1965. Parking his two-tone Cadillac in the lot, he walked toward the north entrance, carrying his 11-month old daughter, Emily, and a wicker picnic basket with a jug of kerosene inside. Reaching a retaining wall at the building's perimeter, the 31-year-old Quaker from Baltimore climbed up and began pacing back and forth. Around 5:20 pm, he yelled to Defense Department workers who were leaving the building.
Then, the unthinkable.
"Right Out Our Front Door": The Pentagon, East Arlington and Queen City
in Virginia by Anne Hollmuller
East Arlington and Queen City were two tight-knit African American communities that forged a strong and independent existence despite the perils of Jim Crow. Yet the rapid expansion of federal government and the pressing demands of World War II endangered all that these Arlington residents had built together and, quite literally, wiped it off the map.
Whatever Happened to the Flower Girl?
in Virginia by Richard Brownell
The Vietnam War left a number of indelible images burned in our collective psyche, but few encapsulated the anti-war movement here at home more than Marc Riboud's 1967 photograph of a flower girl standing before a row of bayonet-wielding soldiers in front of the Pentagon. Amazingly, despite the attention the photo garnered, the young woman, Jan Rose Kasmir, didn't know it existed for almost 20 years.
The Pentagon Goes Up in Flames, 1959
in DC, Virginia by Mark Jones
The call came in to the Arlington County Fire Department at 11:16am on July 2, 1959… The Pentagon was on fire.
ACFD units raced to the scene, soon to be joined by deployments from 34 other jurisdictions including Falls Church, Alexandria, Fort Myer, the District, Prince Georges County, Bethesda and the Inter-Agency Government Pool — over 300 firefighters in all.
When trucks reached the scene, black smoke hung over the building, so thick that they had to form a human chain in order to navigate. Firemen groped, clawed and cut their way to the blaze, which had erupted in the Air Force statistical services offices between rings C and D and corridors 1 and 10.
The Movie That JFK Wanted Made, But Didn't Live to See
in DC by Patrick Kiger
It was July 1963, and on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, a brutal melee suddenly erupted between rival groups of pickets who were on opposite sides of a proposed nuclear test-ban treaty. As Washington Post reporter Stephen C. Rogers described the scene, the protesters began "slugging, kicking and gouging" one another, until baton-wielding policemen waded into the fray to separate them.
As the officers dragged the most vociferous brawlers away, a man in a bright-blue baseball cap suddenly stood up in the center of the confrontation. "All right! All right! All right!" he shouted, and the fighting abruptly stopped.


Zekieyes Emergency/Evacuation Backpack is an All-In-One portable Emergency Preparedness Kit for evacuation or lock-down situations. This backpack is specially designed for childcare classrooms, public and private schools, field trips, offices, and homes. Each of our "Self-Contained Emergency Backpacks" comes with all the essential emergency preparedness supplies that can help teachers, caregivers and parents take steps to ensure the children's safety. The Inside-kit includes emergency food, water, 12 hour light stick, shelter supplies to prepare for all disasters, rescue supplies, hygiene and sanitation supplies, emergency flashlights flashing Led and 115 First-Aid Kid for the first several hours after an emergency or disaster. The supplies included are enough for a classroom of 20 children, the teacher and the teacher assistants.
• Complies with NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene / Bureau of Day Care standard policies & procedures for the safety operation of Child Care Service.
• As part of Article 47 (47.11 Write Safety Plan) every school, public/private, and childcare classroom should store emergency supplies in preparation for either an evacuation or/and an emergency that resulted in students and teachers to shelter in place.
• A detachable First Aid Kit Pocket contain 115 items pediatrician most recommended to treat scrapes, bruises, fevers, bumps, headaches, and insect bites. All First Aid kit products are manufactured by "FDA" registered facilities; complies with the US Safety Regulations and meet the latest CPSIA standards.
• Red rugged backpack is made of durable 600 Denier Polyester with PVC lining.
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Designed on-the-go emergency preparedness. Supplies backpack which will maintain child care safety standards.


Why does the description on my Marti Report for (paint, trim, axle, option, etc.) not match a (window sticker, reference book, sales brochure, etc.) I have?
Because Ford Motor Company is (and was) a very large organization, different departments within Ford used different terminology for the same thing. For example, the 1970 paint color that was associated with the paint code "1" was known by several different names. It was called Vermilion, Calypso Coral, and Competition Orange. The first description was even spelled two different ways by different departments at Ford - Vermilion and Vermillion!
Now, it isn't correct to say who at Ford was "right" about their term. There wasn't a department that trumped other departments.
In general, when Marti Auto Works makes a choice about which term to use, we use the description that was used in the Engineering Broadcast Handbooks since these were the books produced by the Data Processing people that we received the data from. But keep in mind, that is an arbitrary choice. There still is not a right term any more than calling a device that projects from the wall and dispenses water a faucet, tap, or spigot. Each term is as valid as the next and we doubt silly arguments arose at Ford about "who was right!"
In extremely rare cases, your car or items on your car may actually be different from what is recorded in the database, but there are good reasons for this. I am actually hesitant to admit this because I know there are opportunists (read cheaters and liars) out there who will take advantage of this information and, therefore, take advantage of a buyer or seller. And when I say 'take advantage,' you should read that as cheat.
These cars were, when all is considered, the product of a large bureaucracy that was mass producing automobiles. At times, substitutions would occur to keep the assembly line going. Having said that, think common sense. Ford did not say, 'we're out of six-cylinders, stuff a 428 Cobra Jet in the next one!' But they might have put a tinted windshield into a car because there was a shortage of clear windshields. At the beginning of a production year, spot shortages are more common. Very low serial number cars will, on occasion, have items substituted from the original order. These substitutions may not get updated in the system if someone wasn't methodical.
At the end of a model year, there was a process known as 'balance out' that means what it says. As Ford is winding down the production line, they don't want a lot of extra parts and materials. Substitution became a lot more common. If they ran out of black paint, they might actually not paint a car black. You can't paint with what you don't have. If there were 20 cars left and they only had 14 radios, the other six cars would be built without radios, even if they were ordered with radios. This idea applies to upholstery, dash pads, bumper guards, etc.
Returning to the idea of painting, certain body panels were painted off the car. Fenders and hoods are a good example of this for production in the 1960s. Now, if they were getting to the end of assembly and it turns out there was a red car, but only a green fender available, someone actually took the green fender, scuffed the paint, and shot red paint right on top of the green paint. Imagine the quandary someone restoring the car forty years later has.
To repeat, the building of millions of vehicles is a process conducted by humans beings. Generally, things go according to plan. But there can always be exceptions. Just bear in mind some will try to take advantage of you because of that possibility.


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Arts Consultancy
The last two or three years have been stretched out over short contracts for delivring public artworks in different place. One working on behalf of b-side to commission a trail of 6 permanent artworks across Weymouth and the second for Lydney Harbour Development for Forest of Dean District Council. After three years of progress the artworks are being installed in Weymouth. Find out more here. Six artists were chosen to design and create the artworks for the trail by members of the council's Arts Advisory Panel, supported by b-side curators. The artworks use a wide range of materials, techniques, approaches, and interpretations to tell the story of the town's history and connection to water, as well as exploring current and future challenges.
The trail spans from the headland of Nothe Fort , through the shopping centre and along the seafront, out to the edge of the town.
Lydney Harbour Development- Public Art Commission
Flow Contemporary Arts has also been working on behalf of the Forest of Dean District Council, conducting a public consultation specifically about the commissioning of an artist to create a public artwork/s, to mark the route to Lydney Harbour. Sadly Covid hit hard the day the consutlancy began so much of the work was conducted via surveys and online. The Lydney Coastal Community Team (LCCT) were successful in their bid for £2.1M from the Government's Coastal Communities Fund. The fund enables the LCCT to develop and improve local attractions, create jobs and promote socio-economic growth in Coastal Communities and enhance Lydney Harbour and surrounding areas.
Artists Denman + Gould were appointed and the work will be launched in Spring 2022. Watch this space, the designs are wonderful!
The Forest We Want
The Biosphere Reserve Action Group (BRAG) successfully procured an Arts Council England Grant for Forest Economic Partnerships (FEP) to commission 2 artists to create a film and podcasts to engage the people of the Forest of Dean area in considering becoming a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Supported by the Forest of Dean District Council, the project has resulted in several films that provide creative narratives to open up pbulic imaginations. A survey has received a fantastic response in terms of both numbers and positive feedback.
Find out more on the FEP website
Watch the films here
Listen to podcasts here.
Learn more about what a Biosphere Reserve does here, narrated by Chris McFarling
The first project I delivered in the public realm was the Dialogue Project in Bristol, as a Director of Independent Artists Network (IAN). Dialogue delivered in empty buildings, warehouses, flower stalls, ferry boats and underneath bridges. IAN went on to work in Bristol area for several years, working with all the key players in the city – Watershed, Arnolfini, Bristol City Council, UWE etc. Public engagement and consultation was all part of that process, as was evaluation and documentation.
Eve Dent, Dialogue Project, 2003
Bristol, Lisa Scantlebury 2006
Following IAN, I was employed as Project Assistant to Claire Doherty of Situations on the Thinking of the Outside Project. Using empty buildings in the city centre, we delivered some ambitious works, including installing a cinema in an old market hall at St Nicholas Market, complete with cinemas seats, carpets and drapes, and a video installation in a grade I listed building, part of the Bristol castle on Castle Park.
My next role in the public realm was as Producer for the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust, where I honed my awareness of health and safety (blue light meetings) and environmental awareness, alongside the specific challenges of delivering permanent artworks outdoors in unprotected spaces. We commissioned events, temporary works and permanent works for the trail and worked closely with Forestry Commission to submit and achieve planning permission for permanent works.
Echo by Annie Cattrell, Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail
Working on the contract to tour Aeolus with, and by, Luke Jerram demanded awareness of conservation in both the built environment and the natural. We worked together with two Universities – Salford and Southampton – and our host partners – to ensure the artwork was engineered and installed safely in three key locations – outside the BBC on Salford Quays, in a wildflower meadow at The Eden Project and at National Trust Property on a veranda at Lyme Park. Manoeuvring ten tons of steel into place at all three locations took a skilled team and some careful thinking.
Aeolus at Lyme Park, Luke Jerram
I was the Producer for ExLab in Dorset, presenting as part of London2012. ExLab was a county-wide scattered-site exhibition of temporary works, sited on headlands in Coastwatch Towers and National Trust barns; on Hive Beach; Durlston House and other locations.
Since then I've delivered the Bideford Black Project for The Burton in Bridport and various other events and temporary works, including another with Luke Jerram, Withdrawn, a number of huge fishing boats installed in Leigh Woods, as part of the Bristol Green City programme. Straddling land owned by National Trust and Forestry Commission, the partnership working was complex but achieved. Withdrawn was a temporary work but still required planning permission and compliance with playground legislation.
Luke Jerram Withdrawn 2015


We've drawn up a list of the 10 cyclists who have most impressed us this year. Alongside the high profile Grand Tour winners and record breakers we also wanted to acknowledge one or two riders who may not have won any of the big prizes but whose passion for the sport and respect for its history shines so brightly that it's impossible not to be inspired by them.
10. Nairo Quintana – This was the Colombian's breakthrough year, with a gutsy win at the Giro to top his second place in the 2013 Tour de France. If he hadn't broken his collarbone he might have won the Vuelta too. Welcome to the future.
9. Geraint Thomas – Having had a strong showing at the Tour of Flanders, Thomas chaperoned Ritchie Porte across the cobbles on stage 5 of this year's Tour. He's ridden his heart out all season and deserves a major victory of his own.
8. David Millar - In Millar's final pro season we reflect upon an amazing career of highs and lows. A powerful rider prepared to dig in and support his team as well as TT to individual glory, in his prime Millar was one of the best.
7. Marco Pantani - 10 years after his death, Pantani's name still stirs the passions of the cycling tifosi. Like Fausto Coppi before him, Pantani remains a legend of Italian cycling and, like Coppi, his death is still shrouded in mystery.
6. Mike Cotty – The adventure cyclist surpassed himself this year with his epic Road to Mont Blanc ride: a non-stop marathon covering 1,000km and 23,000 metres of climbing over 21 mountains in the Dolomites and the Alps.
5. Jens Voigt – The world of pro cycling is a drearier place now that Voigt has retired but what better way to bow out of a professional career than breaking the world hour record? Jensie, we salute you!
4. Marianne Vos - As the world slowly wakes up to the fact that women's cycling is here to stay, Vos continues to excel across all disciplines like no man ever has. When others dig deep, Vos digs deeper.
3. Alberto Contador – For the sheer guts and determination he displayed to come back from breaking his leg in the Tour de France to win the Vuelta just two months later, beating Chris Froome in a direct Grand Tour rematch.
2. Sir Bradley Wiggins – For his wins at the Tour of California and World Championship time trial, his stage win in the Tour of Britain, and the fascinating insights he shared with the BBC.
1. Paul Rippon – Simpson trade team rider (albeit one who hasn't yet ridden with the team) for successfully completing a truly heroic six-day LEJOG on a single-speed.
All images exclusively commissioned for Simpson Magazine by Jack Chevell and Marshall Kappel.