On January 1, 1967, Ellington made national news when its residents assisted the city fire department in rescuing a pilot whose plane was having engine trouble and was unable to locate a runway in a fog that cut visibility to 200 feet. Under the direction and quick thinking of Resident State Trooper, Lionel Labreche, Connecticut State Police, dozens of people assembled at the town's unlit airstrip, Hyde Field, and illuminated the runway with their headlights, allowing the pilot to land safely.
Pilot Frank Robinson's small, single-engine plane was about a dozen miles from Bradley International Airport when its radio died. "When that went out, so did my navigation," said Robinson.
Clouds, ground fog and a freezing drizzle cut visibility to about 200 feet. Robinson banked his plane downward through the clouds and looked for a place to land. "There was nowhere I could go," he said.
He spotted a house with lights on a nearby field and used it as a landmark, but then the lights in the house went out, and he lost his bearings. Using precious fuel, he circled above, barely above the tree line. Townspeople heard the low-flying plane and phoned the fire department and state police trooper Lionel Labreche, reporting the strange activity of the plane.
Along with about 25 volunteer fire fighters, dozens of townspeople drove to the airstrip to see what was going on. That's when Labreche got the idea to line up all the cars and illuminate the runway with their headlights. The landing strip began to glow from the revolving red lights of the fire and police trucks, the car headlights and even flashlights. Robinson caught sight of the lights and thought they might be signaling him.
About thirty minutes later, Robinson landed his plane – without a scratch!
Some would say Robinson had some dumb luck, but the truth is his luck was far from dumb. Thanks to quick thinking and amazing teamwork, the incident ended without calamity.
Four brothers got together and created a company dedicated to fast service, professional expertise and fair pricing. The company is called Sure Lock & Key, and working with you to secure your home, office and car is an example of teamwork par excellence. When a client finds themselves locked out of their home or car, they want a quick thinking locksmith who can get their car open in the middle of the night without much trouble. Twenty-four hour service allows them to "light up the runway" for you and all your security needs.


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Q: What is the range of a standardized distribution? When you normalize data, with scalar values, by dividing with the total number of observations, the range of data values is $[0,1]$. But I cannot figure out the range of data values after standardizing it - that is, subtract mean and divide with standard deviation. Can you help and explain why?
I am using the range of values after standardization to try to explain the following: "standardizing the inputs of a sigmoid would constrain them to the linear regime of the nonlinearity." - this makes me wonder what the author means by the quote. Do anyone have an idea?
To me, it would only make sense if the input values after standardization were in the range like $[0,1]$ but this is not the case after seeing the answer from Henry.

A: If you take the lowest and highest values of your original data, you can "standardize" those values by subtracting the mean and then dividing by the standard deviation.  The transformed lowest value and transformed highest value will be the new range.

A: If you have $n$ observations $x_1,\ldots, x_n$ with mean $\bar x$, standard deviation $s$, minimum $x_\min$ and maximum $x_\max$, then two common choices for "normalisation" or "standardisation" lead to
$$\dfrac{x_i-x_\min}{x_\max-x_\min} \in [0,1]$$ and together the rebased observations will have mean $\frac{\bar x-x_\min}{x_\max-x_\min}$ $($somewhere in $[0,1])$ and standard deviation $\frac{s}{x_\max-x_\min}$ $($no greater than $\frac12)$, with rebased values of $0$ and $1$ occurring so with width $1$, and
$$\dfrac{x_i-\bar x}{s} \in \left[-\sqrt{n-1}, \sqrt{n-1}\right]$$ $($ or  $\pm{\frac{n-1}{\sqrt{n}}}$ depending on how you calculated $s)$, and together the rebased observations will have mean $0$ and standard deviation $1$, with the actual rebased range being $\left[\frac{x_\min-\bar x}{s}, \frac{x_\max-\bar x}{s}\right]$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


"Wongan" welcomes Portia into the family. A real dynamo, she has won her way into our hearts. Already winning fans in and around the ringside, she won Baby in Show at our first outing. Looking forward to some fun times.
STOP PRESS - Portia completes the Hat Trick by winning Baby in Show at our first three shows.
Portia qualifies as a Champion from the Puppy Class winning 1 x RUIS (BIS 2), 3 x BIG, 18 In Group and 11 In Show awards.
Portia win Victoria's Puppy Of The Year 2011 from a star studded entry.


Systematic monitoring of injury and illness trends over long periods of time provides epidemiological data that are invaluable to protect the health of the athletes—one of the main priorities of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).16 A scientific, evidence-based understanding of incidence rates, characteristics, risk factors and associated mechanisms of injuries and illnesses, across different sports and athlete populations, provides the opportunity not only to enhance the treatment given to the injured or ill athlete, but more importantly, to inform the development and assessment of prevention measures.
The aim of the present paper is to analyse and describe the injury and illness rates and characteristics in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Practical implications and suggestions for further initiatives and research to protect the athletes' health are provided.
We employed the IOC injury and illness surveillance system for multi-sport events in this prospective cohort study.51 We asked all National Olympic Committee (NOC) medical teams to report the daily occurrence (or non-occurrence) of injuries and illnesses on a standardised medical report form. Concurrently, we retrieved the same information on all athletes treated for injuries and illnesses in the polyclinic and all other medical venues by the Sochi Organising Committee for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games' (Sochi 2014) medical staff.
We used the athlete accreditation number to control for duplicates resulting from athletes being treated for the same condition by the NOC and the Sochi 2014 medical staff. In cases of duplicates, we retained the NOC data.
We informed the NOCs about the study in a letter sent 4 months in advance of the Olympic Games. The day before the opening of the Games we organised a meeting with all NOC medical staff to account for and discuss the study procedures. In this meeting we also started the distribution of the daily injury and illness report forms, as well as an instructional booklet detailing the study protocol.
Throughout the data collection, we recorded the response rate of NOCs having more than 10 participating athletes, and frequently visited these to address any questions and encourage continuous reporting during the games.
We defined injuries and illnesses as new (pre-existing, not fully rehabilitated conditions were not recorded) or recurring (athletes having returned to full participation after a previous condition) musculoskeletal symptoms or concussions (injuries) or illnesses incurred in competition or training during the Sochi Olympic Games (6–23 February 2014) receiving medical attention, regardless of the consequences with respect to absence from competition or training.51 In cases where a single incident caused multiple injury types or affected multiple body parts, we recorded only the most severe diagnoses, as determined by our research team.13 Severe injuries and illnesses were defined as injuries or illnesses entailing an estimated absence from training or competition of more than 1 week.
Our injury and illness record form was identical to the one we used in the 2010 (Vancouver) and 2012 (London) Olympic Games.12 ,13 With respect to injuries, we recorded the following information: accreditation number, sport and event, whether the injury occurred in competition or training, date and time, body part, type, cause and estimated time lost from competition or training. Likewise, we recorded the following information for illnesses: accreditation number, sport and event, date, affected system, main symptom(s), cause and estimated time loss.
We provided instructions on how to complete the form correctly in the instructional booklet. Furthermore, we distributed the injury and illness report forms to all NOCs in the following languages: English, French, Chinese, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.
We utilised the athlete accreditation number to query the IOC athlete database for their age, gender and nationality. We treated all information with strict confidence, and anonymised our medical database at the end of the Games.
The study was approved by the medical research ethics committee of the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority.
We calculated the summary measures of injury and illness incidences (i) according to the formula i=n/e, where n is the number of injuries or illnesses in competition, training or in total during the study period and e the respective number of exposed athletes; with incidence values presented as injuries/illnesses per 100 athletes. We calculated CIs of the risk ratio (RR) of the number of injuries or illnesses between two groups by a simple Poisson model, assuming constant hazard per group. We present injury and illness incidences as means and RRs with 95% CIs. We regarded two-tailed p values ≤0.05 as significant.
In total, 2780 athletes took part in the Sochi Olympic Games. Of these, 1121 were women (40%) and 1659 men (60%). There were eight double-starters, meaning athletes who participated in two different sports, giving a total of 2788 athletes exposed to injury or illness.
Among these athletes, we recorded a total of 391 injuries, equalling an overall injury rate of 14 injuries (95% CI 12.6 to 15.4) per 100 participating athletes (table 1). This corresponds to 7.8 injuries and 5 illnesses per 1000 athlete-days. On average, 12% (n=330) of the athletes sustained at least one injury. In addition, there were 43 with two, 2 with three, and 1 athlete with four injuries each, respectively.
The rate of injury was highest in aerial skiing (48.8 injuries (95% CI 27.9 to 69.7) per 100 athletes), snowboard slopestyle (37.0 (19.4 to 54.5)), snowboard cross (34.4 (19.7 to 49.2)), slopestyle skiing (30.8 (15.7 to 45.8)), halfpipe skiing (25.5 (11.6 to 39.3)), moguls skiing (24.6 (11.7 to 37.4)), alpine skiing (20.7 (15.7 to 25.7)) and snowboard halfpipe (18.2 (7.9 to 28.5)). The injury rates were lowest in Nordic combined, speed skating, biathlon, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, luge and short track (incidence rates ranging from four to nine injuries per 100 athletes).
The injury rates in female (14.9 injuries (95% CI 12.7 to 17.2) per 100 athletes) and male (13.2 (11.4 to 14.9), RR=1.13 (0.93 to 1.38)) athletes were similar (table 2). However, female athletes were at significantly higher risk of injury in slopestyle skiing (RR=3.00 (1.04 to 8.63)), whereas male were at higher risk of injury in ski jumping (7 vs 0 injuries).
While two-thirds of the injuries were estimated to result in no time loss from sport (n=240, 61%), 39% of the injuries (n=151) were expected to prevent the athlete from participating in competition or training. It was estimated that 18% of the injuries (n=69) would result in an absence from sports from 1 to 3 days, 5% (n=21) in an absence from 4 to 7 days, 6% (n=22) in an absence from 8 to 28 days, and 10% (n=39) in an absence for more than 28 days. Information on severity was missing on one injury.
one unclassified injury to the lumbar spine.
Of the 11 reported concussions, three were estimated to lead to more than 7 days of absence (two in halfpipe skiing and one in snowboard slopestyle).
While 81% (n=315) of the injuries were reported to occur acutely, 19% (n=76) were reported to be caused by overuse. The three most commonly reported injury causes/mechanisms were contact with a stationary object (25%), overuse with gradual onset (14%) and non-contact trauma (13%).
Contact with the ground, which includes features built as part of the course, was the most frequent mechanism of injury in ski cross (63%), snowboard slopestyle (59%), snowboard halfpipe (50%), halfpipe skiing (50%), aerial skiing (47%), snowboard slalom (44%), moguls skiing (36%), snowboard cross (33%), and slopestyle skiing (31%), and alpine skiing (26%). Similarly, in ice hockey, contact mechanisms accounted for 77% of the injuries, with contact with another athlete accounting for 40% of the injuries, contact with a moving object accounting for 23% of the injuries, and contact with a stationary object accounting for 13% of the injuries.
Overuse with gradual onset was conversely the most frequent cause of injury in curling (75%), bobsleigh (35%), cross-country skiing (26%) and figure skating (25%). Of all overuse injuries (gradual and sudden onset) occurring in the Games, 75% were recorded with no estimated absence from competition or training.
Of all the injuries, 35% were sustained in competition (8.8 (7.7 to 9.9) injuries per 100 athletes) and 63% during training (4.8 (4.0 to 5.7) injuries per 100 athletes), indicating an 82% higher rate of injury in training (RR=1.82 (1.47 to 2.24)). However, when analysing only the severe injuries, estimated to result in at least 7 days of absence, no difference was found, with competition accounting for 56% of the injuries and training for 42% (RR=0.74 (0.47 to 1.15)). Information on training/competition was missing in 11 injuries.
Injuries in training and in competition differed significantly in characteristics (location, type, mechanism and subsequent time loss from sport) and in terms of rates in different sports (table 1). The rate of injury was higher in training than in competition in aerial skiing (RR=3.20 (1.17 to 8.74)), alpine skiing (RR=3.20 (1.80 to 5.71)), bobsleigh (RR=6.75 (2.36 to 19.29)), figure skating (RR=8.50 (1.96 to 36.80)) and luge (RR=8.00 (1.00 to 64.00)). When including only injuries estimated to result in at least 7 days of absence, the higher injury rate in training was seen only in alpine skiing (RR=11.0 (1.42 to 85.20)).
Ice hockey was the sole sport in which the competition injury rate was higher than the training injury rate (RR=0.48 (0.25 to 0.83)), a difference which increased when isolating the injuries estimated to result in more than 7 days of absence (RR=0.15 (0.04 to 0.68)).
Among the 2788 exposed athletes, a total of 249 illnesses were reported, resulting in an incidence of 8.9 illnesses (95% CI 7.8 to 10.0) per 100 athletes (table 1). On average, 8% (n=229) of the athletes incurred an illness, as there were nine athletes with two illnesses each. Female athletes (10.9 illnesses (9.0 to 12.9) per 100 athletes) were at significantly higher risk of contracting an illness than male athletes (7.3 (6.0 to 8.6), RR=1.5 (1.17 to 1.93)).
Illnesses were reported in a variety of sports. Skeleton was the sport with the highest illness rate (27.7 illnesses (95% CI 12.6 to 42.7) per 100 athletes), followed by short track (14.2 (7.0 to 21.3)), curling (14.0 (6.7 to 21.3)), cross-country skiing (13.8 (9.6 to 18.0)), figure skating (12.1 (6.5 to 17.7)), bobsleigh (11.7 (6.6 to 16.8)) and aerial skiing (11.6 (1.4 to 21.8)) (table 1). The illness rates were lowest in snowboard slalom, moguls skiing, ski jumping, snowboard slopestyle, luge, snowboard halfpipe and snowboard cross (incidence rates ranging from 1 to 4 illnesses per 100 athletes).
A total of 159 illnesses (64%) affected the respiratory system, and these were most frequently reported in skeleton (21% of the athletes), cross-country skiing (10%), curling (8%), biathlon (8%), bobsleigh (8%), short track (7%) and Nordic combined (7%). The second, third, fourth and fifth most frequently affected systems were the digestive system (n=28, 11%), nervous system (n=13, 5%), skin and subcutaneous tissue (n=12, 5%) and genitourinary system (n=9, 4%), respectively.
Infection was the most common cause of illness (n=145, 58%), affecting athletes in mainly the same sports as mentioned above. Of the 159 respiratory illnesses, 118 (74%) were caused by an infection.
One in four illnesses (n=63, 25%) were expected to result in absence from training or competition. Of these, two illnesses (1%) were expected to result in an estimated time loss of more than 7 days (one upper respiratory tract infection; and one illness affecting the nervous system).
Thirty-four of the 88 NOCs had more than 10 participating athletes. Athletes from these NOCs comprised 2623 of the in total 2779 athletes competing for an NOC, corresponding to 94% (table 3). Throughout the 18 days of the Sochi Games, the 34 NOCs submitted a total of 610 of a maximum of 612 forms (99.7%).
Only 17% of the injuries and 2% of the illnesses were captured by both the NOCs and the Sochi 2014 staff. While 49% of the injuries and 68% of the illnesses were recorded solely by the NOCs, 34% and 30% of the injuries and illnesses, respectively, were recorded only by the Sochi 2014 staff.
Whereas the majority of injured and ill athletes from the larger NOCs were seen internally by the NOC medical staff, athletes from smaller NOCs were to a greater extent relying on diagnosis and treatment from the Sochi 2014 medical staff (table 3).
There was also an inverse relationship between NOC size (measured in number of participating athletes) and the risk of health problems, with athletes from smaller NOCs experiencing higher injury and illness rates (NOCs with <10 athletes: 30.1 (21.5 to 38.7) injuries and 14.1 (8.2 to 20.0) illnesses per 100 athletes versus NOCs with >99 athletes: 10.5 (9.0 to 12.0) injuries and 8.1 (6.8 to 9.4) illnesses per 100 athletes, injury RR=2.87 (2.08 to 4.00), illness RR=1.74 (1.11 to 2.73)).
The aim of the present paper was to describe and analyse the injury and illness rates and characteristics in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. The main findings of this 18-day long prospective cohort study were that 12% and 8% of all the 2780 athletes suffered from at least one injury or illness, with overall rates of 14 injuries and 8.9 illnesses per 100 athletes, respectively. The magnitude and characteristics of the injuries and illnesses varied substantially between sports and gender.
While the highest injury rates were found in snow sports characterised by aerial manoeuvers and high-speed, namely aerial skiing (49% of all athletes injured), snowboard slopestyle (37%), snowboard cross (34%), slopestyle skiing (31%), halfpipe skiing (26%), moguls skiing (25%), alpine skiing (21%), and snowboard halfpipe (18%), the highest rates of illness were found in ice sports such as skeleton (28%), short track (14%), curling (14%), figure skating (12%), bobsleigh (12%), as well as in cross-country skiing (14%).
The overall rate of injury in the Sochi Games was similar to those in Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and in London 2012 (12% of all athletes injured in Sochi vs 11% in Vancouver and London, and 10% in Beijing).12 ,13 Compared to their Vancouver Winter Games counterparts, higher injury rates were found in the Sochi Games athletes competing in aerial skiing (49% vs 19% of the athletes injured), alpine skiing (21% vs 15%), biathlon (7% vs 1%), cross-country skiing (8% vs 3%), curling (12% vs 4%), luge (8% vs 2%), moguls skiing (25% vs 2%), skeleton (11% vs 6%), snowboard halfpipe (18% vs 13%), and snowboard slalom (14% vs 7%). Conversely, lower injury rates were found among the Sochi Games athletes competing in ice hockey (11% vs 18%), short track (9% vs 18%) and ski cross (14% vs 19%). In general, our findings on the sports-specific injury rates in Sochi are corroborated by a large body of research from the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) World Cup, where snowboard cross and halfpipe,47 aerial and halfpipe skiing and ski cross,42 as well as particularly downhill of the alpine skiing events41 ,46 have been identified as disciplines with a higher rate of injury.
A change in injury incidence can be the result of changes in the composition of the Olympic Games programme (eg, 12 new events introduced in Sochi), environmental factors, such as weather, snow or ice conditions, venue or track design, competition rules, in equipment or other factors. Changes in injury rates can also follow an increased or reduced awareness among the athletes and their medical staff in recognising and reporting even minor incidents (broad injury and illness definition applied in IOC surveillance studies). In certain sports, changes may also be attributable to more comprehensive and accurate data reporting by team physicians who over time have been trained as injury and illness recorders through the implementation of surveillance systems by their own Federation. Also, rate differences (lower or higher) may simply be the result of a natural fluctuation/variability of athlete's exposure to risk, an observation that emphasises the value of on-going surveillance to monitor trends over time, for example, the effect of venue design, rule or equipment changes in the period between major sports events.
In major sports events, like the Olympic Games, injuries or illnesses of even minor severity and time loss have the potential to be participation-limiting and performance-inhibiting, and thus prevent athletes from reaching their life-time achievement. In the Sochi Games, 61% of the injuries were reported to lead to no absence from competition or training, whereas 39% were estimated to result in time loss of at least 1 day. However, 16% of the injuries were estimated to encompass time loss greater than 7 days. This may indicate a shift from the Vancouver Games, where 23% of the injuries were expected to entail a time loss of at least 1 day, and just 4% a time loss of more than 7 days; however, this is uncertain, as there was a high percentage of missing data on injury severity in Vancouver.12 These results warrant a more extensive recording and detailed analysis of injury risk factors and mechanisms, to improve injury prevention in the future.
The risk of concussion is a recurrent concern in certain sports, and its diagnosis, prevention, treatment and return-to-play guidelines have been addressed in recent consensus meetings.53 ,54 Eleven concussions were recorded in Sochi (0.4% of the athletes) which is half of the 20 concussions (0.8%) reported in Vancouver. This is higher than the rates reported from the Summer Olympics in London (n=6, 0.06% of athletes) and Beijing (n=12, 0.11%), although these rates are not directly comparable due to the different nature of the sports and events.
It can, however, be hypothesised that winter sports athletes suffer a slightly higher proportion of injuries in training, whereas their summer sports counterparts sustain more injuries in competition, but more data is needed to confirm this.13 ,22 ,36–38 ,42 ,47 ,52 Ice hockey was the only sport on the Sochi Olympic programme in which the majority of injuries occurred in competition, an effect which was even greater when including only the injuries estimated to result in more than 7 days of time loss. These results correspond with earlier epidemiological findings.55–59 Ice hockey is a team and contact sport, where the intensity, speed of play, number of body checks and fatigue are considerably higher in games—where more is at stake—than in training, where a significant amount of time is used for recovery and training drills of lower intensity.
In studies on sports injury, it is usually recommended to express incidences using a measure of time exposed to risk as the denominator.14 ,15 ,35 ,73 ,74 However, considering the inherent complexity and size of the Olympic Games, this was not feasible in the present study. Instead, we expressed the incidence of injury or illnesses by means of absolute risk: the number of new cases per 100 registered athletes. This approach erroneously assumes that the frequencies and lengths of exposure are identical in all sports and that the number of athletes at risk in each NOC is constant throughout the Games, and interpretation of differences in injury incidences or patterns should therefore be made with caution.
In the current study we defined injuries and illnesses as new or recurring injuries or illnesses receiving medical attention, regardless of the consequences with respect to absence from competition or training. By using such a definition, predominantly the moderate and severe acute injuries will be recorded. The less serious injuries may be overlooked, since such injuries do not always require medical attention,75 ,76 albeit our results show that the majority of reported injuries were not estimated to involve any absence from the sport. In the Olympic Games, all athletes can get healthcare through the athletes' village polyclinic and the venue medical clinics. However, the availability, size and quality of the NOCs own medical teams vary between countries, meaning that not all athletes benefit from identical healthcare, which may bias the injury and illness recording.
Throughout the 18 days of data collection in the Olympic Games, we collected 99.7% of all the NOC injury and illness report forms. This is the highest NOC response rate to date in the Olympic Games injury and illness surveillance, a result which can be attributed to favourably disposed NOC medical staff, an informational meeting with all NOCs the day before the Games' opening, the preparation of report forms in seven languages and an instructional booklet on how to fill in the forms, and a dedicated and increasingly experienced research team which conducted frequent follow-up visits to boost NOCs' compliance. However, although the NOC response rate was excellent, we did not test the accuracy and internal validity of their reported data. Thus, we cannot evaluate the extent to which the NOC data match the actual circumstances of the occurred injury or illness. Furthermore, it has been documented earlier in professional alpine skiing43 and male elite football77 that prospective injury surveillance by team medical staff underestimates the incidence of injuries and time-loss injuries. Our results support these findings, as the NOC medical teams failed to report 34% and 30% of the total reported injuries and illnesses, respectively.
The same result demonstrates how recording data both among NOC medical staff and in the organising committee's medical stations is absolutely vital to the scientific quality of the surveillance study. A mere 17% of the injuries and 2% of the illnesses were captured by both recorder groups. Our study also shows that in particular athletes from smaller NOCs benefit from diagnosis and treatment from the local organising committee's medical staff, whereas the majority of athletes from larger NOCs are seen by their own NOC medical staff. More importantly, we identified an inverse relationship between NOC size and the risk of health problems, with athletes from the smallest NOCs experiencing an almost threefold injury rate and twofold illness rate compared with the largest NOCs. It is difficult not to see this finding in light of distinct differences in resources available to the NOC. Large delegations usually come from countries with well-developed exercise physiology and sports medicine communities, and are generally able to offer their athletes more comprehensive healthcare and closer medical follow-up in the lead up to and during the Games, potentially giving them a competitive advantage.
The IOC is currently developing a customised electronic medical record (EMR) for the Rio 2016 Games and beyond to replace the medical encounter system used by the local organising committees since the Barcelona 1992 Games. The implementation of the EMR will not only improve the healthcare provision in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but also provide a number of new opportunities for recording of injuries and illnesses in a confidential manner. With time, NOC physicians and physiotherapists will be able to record their daily injury and illness data, feeding into the same EMR database, possibly rendering the IOC paper record forms obsolete. Data privacy will evidently be of high importance, with data accessible strictly to authorised users. In the long term, our aim is to invite NOCs to use the same EMR in their daily medical follow-up of their athletes in between the Games. An electronic injury and illness surveillance will also facilitate advances in the quality and usefulness of the data that we capture. For example, one will be able to record risk factors and mechanisms that are specific to each sport and event, which will significantly improve our ability to subsequently ideate and tailor injury prevention initiatives.
The continuously accumulating evidence that injury and illness rates vary substantially between sports demonstrates the need for tailoring preventive measures to the specific context of each sport. Sport bodies such as the IOC, International Paralympic Committee (IPC), IFs and NOCs have the responsibility to protect the health of their athletes. The Olympic Movement Medical Code encourages all stakeholders to take measures to ensure that sport is practised with minimal risks of physical injury and illness or psychological harm.87 For IFs, a critical component of this responsibility is the implementation of a scientifically sound injury and illness surveillance system in all major events. Some sports federations, such as FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation), FIS, FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball), IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation), WR (World Rugby) and UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) have put increasing effort into working systematically and scientifically to protect their athletes' health. We encourage other IFs and sports organisations to follow their example.
In summary, 12% of the athletes incurred an injury and 8% suffered from at least one illness during the Sochi Olympic Winter Games. The incidences and characteristics of injuries and illnesses in training and competition varied substantially between sports and gender. Future initiatives will include the recording of sport-specific injury and illness risk factors and mechanisms, to better inform the development of tailored prevention measures targeting the athlete at risk.
World Health Organization. Global recommendations on physical activity for health. WHO.http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/9789241599979/en/ (accessed 29 Sep 2014).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Physical activity and health—the benefits of physical activity. http://www cdc gov/. http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/health/index.html (accessed 28 Aug 2014).
International Olympic Committee. Olympic Charter—the organisation, action and operation of the Olympic Movement. IOC. http://www.olympic.org/Documents/olympic_charter_en.pdf (accessed 7 2014).
. The injury experience at the 2010 winter paralympic games. Clin J Sport Med 2012;22:3–9.
. Comparison of Ski and snowboarding injuries that occur inside versus outside Terrain Parks. Presentation at ISSS Congress. Keystone, Co, USA, May 1–7; 2011.
. Biomechanics of Ski Jumping—Scientific Jumping Hill Design. In: Muller E, Schwameder H, Kornexl E, Raschner C, eds. Science and Skiing. London: Chapman and Hall, 1997:36–48.
. Safer Ski jump landing surface design limits normal impact velocity. In: Johnson RJ, Shealy JE, Langren M, eds. Skiing trauma and safety. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International, 2009: Volume 17.
. Design of Terrain Park jump landing surfaces for constant equivalent fall height is robust to "Uncontrollable" factors. In: Johnson R, Shealy J, Greenwald R, Scher I, eds. Skiing trauma and safety. Vol 19. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International, 2012.
. Comparing the Impact Performance of a Standard Tabletop and Constant Equivalent Fall Height Snow Park Jump. Personal Communication 2014.
International Olympic Committee. The Olympic Movement Medical Code. IOC. http://www.olympic.org/PageFiles/61597/Olympic_Movement_Medical_Code_eng.pdf (accessed 28 Aug 2014).
Contributors All authors contributed to the study conception and design, data collection and interpretation. TS analysed the data and drafted the paper. All authors provided revisions and contributed to the final manuscript. TS is the guarantor.


If you want high-end brands you have to go to the Inner Harbor or leave the city and head to Towson. There are some amazing vintage stores and some cool boutiques and we listed the best below. We wouldn't call Baltimore a fashionista, but she's practical. You will find what you need.


text:
Fernie man Wade Gardner (left) has launched a new craft business, Vintads, with his brother Billy. They're pictured at the Spring Craft Fair in Fernie on Saturday. Kimberley Vlasic/The Free Press
New craft business makes market debut in Fernie
Blast from the past: "Vintads" offers vintage magazine advertisements in custom built frames
Kimberley Vlasic
May. 11, 2019 10:30 a.m.
Rummaging through yard sales and scanning classifieds has become a regular past-time for Wade and Billy Gardner.
The brothers are the brains behind newly launched craft business, Vintads, which specializes in vintage advertisements in custom-built frames.
They showcased their products for the first time at the Spring Craft Fair, held at the Fernie Community Centre on Saturday.
"I was at a garage sale and buddy had a bunch of advertisements cut out in a little milk crate, and I was asking him how come he doesn't have frames for them," explained Wade.
"They don't make that paper size anymore. I bought all the magazines he had and then made my own frames."
Reusing and recycling is important to the Gardners.
Working between Fernie and Calgary, the brothers source vintage magazines from yard sales and Kijiji, using their dad's cabinet making shop to build the frames, which are sprayed with leftover paint from the autobody paint shop next door.
Wade, who lives in Fernie, said their current range dates back to the 1950s to '70s and has been categorized according to subject, from alcohol and household appliances to sports and entertainment.
"Most are out of LIFE magazines but we've got a bunch of old National Geographics that we'll be cutting up and making frames for here, going forward," he said.
Billy said it has been fascinating to see how attitudes and advertising standards have changed over the years.
Some of the ads featured in Vintads' collection would raise a few eyebrows if circulated today.
"Most of these ads you'd get in trouble for if you were showing them," said Billy, referring to an advertisement for a dishwasher with the caption 'let her have a break from the kitchen'.
"It's old stuff that you'd never see so it's kind of comical.
"For older people, it brings back memories for them… and it's cool for the younger generation to see."
Wade and Billy plan to sell their wares at future markets around the Elk Valley, and will soon launch a Facebook page for Vintads.
Sparwood elementary school reduces food waste
B.C. SPCA reminds public to travel safely with pets this summer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This book collects sketches produced for the German contribution to the 12th Architecture Biennial in Venice, including one by Alison Brooks.
The leitmotif, desire , is at the same time the topic of a survey among architects; answers are given through drawings. What are you longing for? The response drawings are highly individual, diversity becomes programme: both in picture language and in the presentation in terms of content, reactions are quite different.
But there is one thing they all have in common: the burning desire of something concrete. Sometimes it spreads lightning-like on the observer, sometimes time is required for a contemplative involvement with form and content. The architectural sketch, as it may seem, degenerated into a side product of architectural work within the last years, is back!


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Zdzisław Gergowicz (ur. 20 maja 1920 we Lwowie, zm. 18 września 1992) – polski inżynier  dróg i mostów.

Życiorys
W 1938 ukończył szkołę średnią i rozpoczął studia w Politechnice Lwowskiej na Wydziale Inżynierii Lądowej i Wodnej. W latach 1939-1944 pracował początkowo jako robotnik, a następnie technik budowlany, kontynuując studia w "Technische Institut" we Lwowie. W 1944 został wywieziony na roboty do Wrocławia. Po zakończeniu wojny zgłosił się do pracy w ekipie Uniwersytetu i Politechniki we Wrocławiu. Absolwent z 1946 Akademii Górniczej w Krakowie. Od 1947 zajmuje stanowisko st. asystenta w Katedrze Budowy Mostów, organizował zajęcia dydaktyczne z budownictwa podziemnego na Wydziale Budownictwa Lądowego Politechniki Wrocławskiej. Brał też czynny udział w odbudowie Wrocławia. Po uzyskaniu doktoratu 1958 objął kierownictwo Zakładu Budownictwa Podziemnego w Katedrze Fundamentowania na Wydziale Górniczym Politechniki Wrocławskiej. Habilitację otrzymał w 1962 na Wydziale Budownictwa Wodnego Politechniki Gdańskiej. Nominację na profesora nadzwyczajnego otrzymał w 1968, a tytuł profesora w 1977. Kierownik Katedry Mechaniki Górotworu i Budownictwa Podziemnego (1965–1968) i Zakładu Mechaniki Górotworu i Budownictwa Podziemnego (1968–1990), dyrektor Instytutu Geotechniki (1975–1981 i 1988–1990) i dziekan Wydziału Górniczego (1968-1972).

Należał do Międzynarodowego Komitetu Mechaniki Gruntów i Fundamentowania, Międzynarodowego Biura Mechaniki Górotworu, Międzynarodowego Stowarzyszenia Mechaniki Skał. Wypromował 10 doktorów, autor 70 publikacji i 6 skryptów.

Odznaczony Krzyżem Komandorskim Orderu Odrodzenia Polski, Medalem Komisji Edukacji Narodowej, Złotym Krzyżem Zasługi, odznaką Zasłużonego Nauczyciela.

Przypisy

Polscy inżynierowie
Absolwenci Akademii Górniczo-Hutniczej
Wykładowcy Politechniki Wrocławskiej
Odznaczeni Krzyżem Komandorskim Orderu Odrodzenia Polski
Odznaczeni Medalem Komisji Edukacji Narodowej
Odznaczeni Złotym Krzyżem Zasługi
Odznaczeni odznaką tytułu honorowego "Zasłużony Nauczyciel PRL"
Ludzie urodzeni we Lwowie
Urodzeni w 1920
Zmarli w 1992

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Python 2.7.9

Bot to monitor zKillboard's RedisQ feed and relay to kills to GroupMe channels.

    pip install -r requirments.txt

Rename config.sample.py to config.py and fill in the priority_corps and bot_id fields.  You should be good to go.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
'Il bel sesso e l'austero Senato': The Coronation of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini Grimani
Bronwen Wilson
Centre for European and American Art History
Art History and World Art Studies
The Venetian printmaker Giacomo Franco produced several engravings for the 1597 coronation of Morosina Morosini, the wife of doge Marin Grimani (1595-1605). Focusing on three of these prints in which a bird's-eye view of the city is framed with illustrations of the festivities, this essay explores relations between space, gender, allegory and costume as they were manifested in this rare female procession. An examination of the pictorial conventions used by Franco and other artists to depict the event suggests that Morosina's coronation functioned both to resist existing codes of gender but also to reassert female patrician status.
Renaissance Quarterly
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/journals/journal/rq.html
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2902017.pdf?acceptTC=true
Wilson, B. (1999). 'Il bel sesso e l'austero Senato': The Coronation of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini Grimani. Renaissance Quarterly, 52(1), 73-139. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/journals/journal/rq.html
Wilson, Bronwen. / 'Il bel sesso e l'austero Senato': The Coronation of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini Grimani. In: Renaissance Quarterly. 1999 ; Vol. 52, No. 1. pp. 73-139.
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Wilson, B 1999, ''Il bel sesso e l'austero Senato': The Coronation of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini Grimani', Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 73-139. <http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/journals/journal/rq.html>
'Il bel sesso e l'austero Senato': The Coronation of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini Grimani. / Wilson, Bronwen.
In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 1, 1999, p. 73-139.
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AU - Wilson, Bronwen
N2 - The Venetian printmaker Giacomo Franco produced several engravings for the 1597 coronation of Morosina Morosini, the wife of doge Marin Grimani (1595-1605). Focusing on three of these prints in which a bird's-eye view of the city is framed with illustrations of the festivities, this essay explores relations between space, gender, allegory and costume as they were manifested in this rare female procession. An examination of the pictorial conventions used by Franco and other artists to depict the event suggests that Morosina's coronation functioned both to resist existing codes of gender but also to reassert female patrician status.
AB - The Venetian printmaker Giacomo Franco produced several engravings for the 1597 coronation of Morosina Morosini, the wife of doge Marin Grimani (1595-1605). Focusing on three of these prints in which a bird's-eye view of the city is framed with illustrations of the festivities, this essay explores relations between space, gender, allegory and costume as they were manifested in this rare female procession. An examination of the pictorial conventions used by Franco and other artists to depict the event suggests that Morosina's coronation functioned both to resist existing codes of gender but also to reassert female patrician status.
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Wilson B. 'Il bel sesso e l'austero Senato': The Coronation of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini Grimani. Renaissance Quarterly. 1999;52(1):73-139.


text:
Action and Reaction
Newton's Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
It is perhaps fortuitous that storm which surrounded Pope Francis' Interview should have preceded his meeting with the Council of Eight Cardinals, Benedict rather notoriously didn't care for his 'image', his successor does, or at least he cares for how it affects the Church. Following the impression that he is 'lite' on marriage, life, doctrine, and that he has disconcerted a large number of active committed lay people and younger clergy as well as those who count those seeds Ratzinger planted as something precious and important, we can expect some kind of reaction.
It is interesting that the announcement of the Canonisation of JPII and John XXIII is being spun as an 'act of reconciliation', the trumpet, fan loving, Tridentine Mass saying John is being presented as the Liberal whilst the Koran kissing John-Paul is being portrayed as Conservative.
I am intrigued by the letter of Pope Benedict to the mathematician Odifreddi, why now has he chosen to remind the Church he can still write, and although it was a very small part of the letter, defend his reputation.
It is presumably an indication that despite his obedience to Francis, he still has his personal autonomy.
Alexander Borgia wasn't that bad
Rorate tells us Alexander VI was not such a bad thing, or at least they did, now it has disappeared!
I have not exactly admired him but given him just a little respect for suppressing devotion to Our Lady of the Swoon, which was an extension of Our Lady Sorrows, but taught that the Mother of God collapsed, overcome in her grief. Borgia said, 'No, the Gospels clearly say, she stood at the foot of the Cross'.
The other good thing he did was to attempt to bring peace between Spain and Portugal by 'giving' Spain the Americas and Portugal the East, it forestalled a war that would have engulfed Europe and laid her open to Islamic invasion.
The point Rorate is making is that for despite all his personal excesses and sinful actions Alexander Borgia, as Pope, was doctrinally orthodox and unambiguous. In a sense as ghastly as he was, he was subsumed by his office.
Horror of horrors
Marini to be named Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
If that is true then that is a repudiation of all Pope Benedict stood for and a return to something rather unpleasant in the corridors of the Vatican. It is not just an indication that the liturgical Reform of the Reform is ended but also the moral reform of the Curia is questionable too.
For many this is indisputably the most insensitive appointment Pope Francis could make, this is deliberately divisive and the biggest sign, so far, of where Pope Francis intends to take the Church.
If it is true.
The London Oratory: An Infestation of Fleas
I was very touched by the plight of a homeless lady from London who thought she would be on the streets until she was given help by one of the Father's of the Oratory.
Even so, according to their Provost, Fr Julian Large, fleas and stench are not unknown to the Fathers.
Disconcerted by Francis #4
I think of myself in old style politically left-wing terms, as a young man I became a Catholic by being a Communist first. I believed in the brotherhood of man and through that learnt a need for the Fatherhood of God and the Motherhood of the Church. I have a soft aging hippy notion of the openness of borders, the welcoming of immigrants. I am pro-life but I realise that there are economic implications to being open to Life. I have no problem with a Pope who at least in Western and North American terms presents himself as being towards the left, or as both he and I would like to say 'on the side of the poor'. When pushed I suspect both the Pope and I would readily admit there is as much poverty, spiritual poverty at least, in Mayfair as there is on the seafront in Brighton.
There are priests and laypeople who because of their Christian principles strongly disagree with my own interpretation of the Church's teaching, the Church is large enough. We hold to the same doctrines but have received different inspiration, as Pope Benedict kept saying the Christian Faith is "both and not either or"
There is problem when the Church identifies itself with the poor, Jesus does 'go to the peripheries' and speak about the poor but he seems much more concerned about God's generosity. Ches writes on the experience of the Spanish writer Juan Manuel de Prada, who I suppose could be described as politically right of centre, who has spent a great deal of ink defending Christian thinking, especially on what are those touch button issues such as marriage, the family, the rights of the unborn, he feels betrayed by the recent Francis interview.
Abp Chaput from the USA has said, "I heard from a mother of four children – one adopted, another disabled from birth -- who'd spent years counseling pregnant girls and opening prolife clinics. She wanted to know why the Pope seemed to dismiss her sacrifices. A priest said the Pope "has implicitly accused brother priests who are serious about moral issues of being small minded," and that "[if you're a priest,] being morally serious is now likely to get you publicly cast as a problem." Another priest wrote that "the problem is that [the Holy Father] makes all of the wrong people happy, people who will never believe in the Gospel and who will continue to persecute the Church."
Being a soft liberal I am not the greatest fan of Michael Vorris but I think he has a very important point in this video, that the "change in tone" the Pope calls for actually turns out be a way of undermining those heroic priests and laypeople who do speak out on moral issues.
In the Church St Paul tells us there are 'a variety of gifts', a local bishop or archbishop can understand and address the problems that beset his particular diocese, as Pope Francis is speaking to the whole Church, he has a duty not to 'stifle the Holy Spirit'. Narrowing the Church's message only serves the enemies of the Church and pours cold water the flame of faith.
I am sure if the Holy Father realised how this interview would be used would be mortified, perhaps in the next few weeks we might see him strengthening the position of Christ's friends rather than allowing his words to be a comfort to those who hate the faith.
Labels: disconcerted
I know from recent personal experience how the media can destroy or at least badly one's reputation. Whatever Pope Benedict did from the moment he stood on the balcony of St Peter's wearing his black jumper under the Papal cassock with his black plastic watch on his wrist the media hated him. The build up to the Papal visit here in the UK indicated a flop, the media spread stories of massed anti-Pope demonstrations, even the prospect of arrest, every interview tried to suggest he personally was responsible for clerically child abuse rather than the one who chose to deal with it, then he arrived and his gentle courteous humility seemed to change hearts.
Cardinal Suenens visited the seminary I was in after the election of Pope John Paul II, I met him in the corridor and in brief conversation asked what Cardinals did after electing a Pope, his answer was, 'prepare for the next Conclave'. The speed of Pope Francis' election would suggest that he had already secured the block vote of the Curia, and probably a proportion of the Italian electors before he even entered the Conclave. As runner-up to Ratzinger in the previous Conclave his election was probably not such a surprise to him, and those who had taken part in the previous Conclave, as it was to most of us. It would be foolish to think that likely candidates for the Papacy do not think through, and even discuss with others, the first few months of their tenure if the are elected.
Considering the negative media coverage of his predecessor it would be not unnatural for Pope Francis to have considered, and received advice about his image before his election, nor would it have been foolish or cynical for this to have been discussed during the Conclave and in an image conscious age one of the things Cardinal-electors would have been concerned about a new Pope's ability to project a positive image.
'Spin' is a fact of life, being thought well of is in many ways a Christian virtue. Cardinal Hume used tell his novices when Abbot of Ampleforth, 'The Community is commanded by Christ to love you, you therefore have a duty to make yourselves lovable', as with novice monks, so with Popes. Building up support for himself within his diocese and Italy is a wise and prudent thing to do, and for Pope Francis doing the things Italians love, kissing every baby, hugging every granny obviously comes easily. The large black camera that has appeared on the back of the Popemobile ensures that every kiss every embrace is seen by thousands. Popes should be seen as lovable. Being the son of Italian parents is almost as good as actually being Italian and probably the best Italians can hope for in any future Pope and is certainly not a hindrance to filling St Peter's Piazza.
Certainly Francis' message is simple: show mercy and humility, love the poor, be good, don't gossip etc. it is a message even a cynical journalist can understand without it needing to be interpreted, he says the things one might expect any parish priest to say. In a culture where it is quite possible to be a good Catholic and anti-clerical, the slightly subversive Pope plays well, complaining about priest's cars and wanting to fight against Vatican corruption plays well.
The press are always going to do the 'compare and contrast' bit between Francis and Benedict, it is natural and it is also obviously a concern for those inside the Vatican. To some the comparison is disconcerting, it highlights shifting sands, to others to others it is a source of hope or more likely wishful thinking but behind the obvious public image of Francis there is something quite enigmatic, we see him through the media which having been given a certain lead then builds up its own momentum. The reason for expressing these thoughts is that a couple of days ago El Pais came out with the headline: Pope Francis contemplates appointing a female cardinal which has as much substance behind it as so many other speculative pieces about the Pope or his plans for the future but it is emblematic of many of the headlines that appear in the popular media.
As far as Francis' plans for the future are concerned, we know he wants to reform the way in which the Curia operates, we know he wants the Church to be more concerned about mission, there is little more that we know. The amazing thing is that six months into his Papacy for most of us he is still enigmatic, one day saying we say too much about abortion, the next day addressing that very issue, or another talking about freedom from laws, the next excommunicating an unrepentant dissident. For me Francis remains a disconcerting enigma, the problem is separating the spin from the reality.
He cannot change dogma, he can change its expression and presentation, the more he is presented as being likely to change fundamentals of discipline and the way in which ordinary Christian live their faith, the more disconcerting he becomes. The more the media present him as subversive, the sooner he will be forced to show himself as the stable Rock on which the Church is built. A Pope can't base his Papacy on subversion, we know from scripture what happened to house built on sand.
I would put forward one speculation of my own, perhaps in the reform of the Curia Francis himself doesn't yet quite know what he can do, beyond a few small steps and if I am right in my suggestion that he was elected by the Curia's block vote, he doesn't know himself what the Curia will allow him to do either, they of course are the real masters of spin, and illusion too!
Non nobis, Domine
Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.
Not to us O Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory
When I preach, when I celebrate the Sacred Liturgy, when I appear in public as priest, I am more than a little afraid, I know that what I say has impact for good or ill. Often what I think is good does ill, I am a servant and an unprofitable one at that. There are couple of interesting post from an American women here and here, she speaks about losing her faith, she compares what she hears at Mass on Sunday and the Popes interview and in the dichotomy wants to run from the Church.
All priests are more conscious of their failures rather than their successes, of the family who comes to Mass for a while and gives up the day their child is baptised. of the child who makes their first Communion and Confession but never their second, or those who treat Confirmation as a graduation ceremony that marks the beginning of their lapsation, in the Confessional one is left wondering if one is asking too little or sometimes too much from a penitent, or whether the penitent will return.
The lady in who writes these two posts is right to be dissatisfied with her priest, she is actually has a duty to expect him to be a saint, a duty to be frustrated that he is not Christ but rather than running from the church she needs to have the spiritual maturity to show the poor devil a bit of compassion. It isn't the priest but Christ who comes to save the world, if he is fortunate on a few occasions in his priesthood, when he doesn't get in the way, he might be the occasion of Grace, even a great outpouring of God's Grace.
This is the reason I love the old Rite, why I celebrate Mass facing the same direction as my people, why I think vestments are important, why I prefer hearing Confessions behind a grill, why, if there is a choice between the words of the Church and mine or others, I prefer the Church's words. This is why I question my practice of preaching at every OF Mass I celebrate.
It is Jesus who brings Salvation, not the priest, bishop or pope. A priest's spiritual maturity comes when he realises he is an unprofitable servant. I have sympathy with this woman but something seems to have gone awry when flawed, sinful human beings are given a place where they can become a barrier rather than a bridge between God and his people. A mature Catholic is one who realises the Church is God's not ours, and everything depends on him, not us.
The problem comes when we cannot perceive the supernatural and its importance.
Following on from the previous post, I understand that not a few African bishops have been disconcerted Pope Francis' interview, mainly by his words on homosexuality. As archbishop of Buenos Aires he could tailor his words for his own audience, knowing the reaction of the faithful and to some extent of the local media, as Pope his words are thrown to the four winds and in many places reinterpreted in way to cause the maximum damage the Church.
The proper role of the Pope is to teach and safeguard fundamental Christian principles, it is the role of local bishops to safeguard and to enculturate these principles in the context of the culture in which they are missioning. Fifty years ago it might be possible to make assumptions that western, indeed European culture, with its strong Christian underpinning was superior. In the nineteenth century, and before the Church had flourished in the wake of European colonisation, first of all the Spanish and Portugeuse, then the French and British, and finally the tremendous influence of Americanisation, today there is perhaps much greater cultural diversity and European and Western culture sees itself at enmity with its Christian roots. Just as the age of of monarchy and colonialisation has past, so the age of a strongly centralised Church has past. The centre is not holding.
Pope Francis points us the Orthodox or Byzantine model, presumably because it is also a Catholic model which pre-existed the 19th century Ultramontane doctrine. I have no problem with the doctrines of Vatican I, I do have problems with how these doctrines became so quickly corrupted by the middle of the 20th century. I remember asking an Orthodox priest historian after an ouzo filled discussion on pre-Great Schism on Church discipline, why he didn't become a Catholic. With a degree of fury he slammed down his glass and said, 'How could I become a subject of the Pope of Rome when he personally can sign a document which abandons two millennia of Tradition'. He was speaking of Paul VI's act of 'abrogation' of the Traditional Liturgy. He saw that act as the fruition of Ultramonatanism: a pen stroke made in Rome that changed the nature of the entire Catholic Church throughout the world.
He suggested that having fruited, the plant had died, because for him as an Orthodox the essential constituents that held the Church, were adherence to the Ecumenical Councils and their Symbols, adherence to to the teachings of the eastern synods, adherence to the writings of the holy Fathers and most importantly adherence to the Sacred Liturgy. In summary it was holding on to that which was passed on, faithfulness to Tradition, that marked the Church and for Orthodoxy guaranteed unity. For him, the West was in a state of disunity; little, except the historic label seems to mark the Catholic Church's unity and he wondered how long that would last. In many ways he was obviously a little partisan but the observation was interesting.
The problem for Pope Francis' reforms is that the unity that the Liturgy once gave the Church has been severely damaged, it is after all the Liturgy that is the main mark of communion for the billion Catholics throughout the world. The 20th century anti-Traditionalism, which some see as a 'movement', that marked much of the implementation of Vat II could actually be seen as being encapsulated in the Bergoglio Papacy.
What holds Orthodoxy's together is its 'Traditionalism' something which is held in common by bishops, priests and laity. Survey after survey in the Catholic Church seems to suggest there is gulf between the faith of the heirarchy and that of the rest of the billion plus. There is crisis of trust, therefore of unity between people bishops, the upheavals from the Council, the abuse crisis have seriously damaged the trust of both priests and people in their bishops.
Some might well be fearful that the Church can withstand yet another shake up.
I would wonder whether many of our bishops are capable of taking responsibility for the local Church. The insistence on Catholic doctrine has since the rise of Modernism not been a strong point of Catholic bishops. Local bishops covered up the abuse crisis, it was Rome or rather Pope Benedict who stepped in to cut out the disease. Local bishops dither not knowing how to deal with Catholic politicians who enact laws contrary to the faith, local bishops seem to want to cosy up to the governments or political parties.
The great weakness of taking the Orthodox as a model is that the Church easily becomes a nationalist Church, supporting either the Emperor, or the Sultan or the Czar or even Stalin or as we have seem in Serbia in recent years to its shame was involved in the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia.
Disconcerted by Francis?
I was a little disturbed by a comment on a post yesterday.
James said,
I abandoned the SSPX under Pope Benedict XVI but now I wonder if I made the right decision - could they be right? Pope Francis I believe is causing untold damage with his off-the-cuff remarks and style and worse is sowing confusion. Does he realise or even care that his words have been, are and will be misinterpreted and used to justify every error, abuse or heresy? I feel so disconcerted. The Pope seems to imply Catholic doctrine is unimportant really. Some of us try at great sacrifice to adhere to church teaching on issues such as those highlighted. Now we look rather silly. Perhaps I should give it all up. Maybe that's what this Pope wants. Is it wrong to want a Pontificate to end before it destroys ones faith?
I don't think James is alone, I have had similar emails from a few people who are disconcerted by the events in the Church over the last six months. It is not only those who have left the SSPX or thinking about it following the overtures made by Pope Benedict but former Anglicans too. I have had emails from people who are considering changing rites or even joining the Orthodox. But for the most part I get emails from people who are just confused about the direction the Church Francis is taking the Church in. I must be honest and admit I too have problems with him.
My advice, to myself, as much as everyone else is always, pray, remember Christ's promises to Peter, meditate on what the Church teaches about herself, be patient and wait on the Lord, the Master and Bridegroom of the Church who promises to be her us unto the end of time.
As I said in the post James commented on, many younger priest seem equally disconcerted, not on the point of leaving, just at sea. I think some of the statements from one or two of our bishops recently; the push by ACTA and Queering the Church have reflected the confusion Pope Francis has brought to many. Groups like ACTA who don't seem to have a particular agenda just a vague support for that illusive poltergeist, the Spirit of Vatican II, seem to be given strength by things the Pope has said and done. One suspects some bishops are saying things today they would have remained silent about under Benedict, Francis is being used to justify their own disorderly thinking.
The real fear that many have is that if the Church is 'lite' on doctrine and its prayerful expression in the Sacred Liturgy -lex credendi lex orandi- there is a serious danger in Catholicism fragmenting into, not so much a Communion but a loose federation of national Churches, each with their own liturgical styles but more worryingly with their own pick 'n' mix set of beliefs, with little to hold it together and ultimately become something like the Anglicans, with nothing but the label to hold it together. The truth is that this already exists in many dioceses, the orthodox and the extreme liberal are left to get along as best they can. Outsiders, even many of the faithful, like to see the Catholic Church as being monolithic but the truth is it is already deeply divided, the unity we presume is a long distant memory.
Benedict tried to restore that unity, on one level his resignation was an admission of his failure, Francis is trying another experiment based synodality and collegiality and rather than trying to gloss over the fragmentation, perhaps he is facing it head on. Benedict from the late 1950s onwards predicted a smaller more deeply committed Church, Francis seems to be wanting a larger or at least broader and therefore possibly, less committed Church, but one like Benedict which is seeking Christ.
Could it just be that Francis is being more realistic and more imaginative? Dr Adam DeVille argues as I would argue that the centralised bureaucracy of the late 19th and 20th century which supported a Ultramontane Papacy is an aberration. He quotes Francis:
We must walk together: the people, the bishops and the pope. Synodality should be lived at various levels. Maybe it is time to change the methods of the Synod of Bishops, because it seems to me that the current method is not dynamic. This will also have ecumenical value, especially with our Orthodox brethren. From them we can learn more about the meaning of episcopal collegiality and the tradition of synodality. The joint effort of reflection, looking at how the church was governed in the early centuries, before the breakup between East and West, will bear fruit in due time…. We must continue on this path.
Francis is realistic enough to recognise that there is actually a problem with unorthodoxy but though Rome can help, its function is not actually to act as policeman but to assist local bishops who should deal with it, he sees orthodoxy as being an issue of concern for local bishops, not something which they ignore:
It is amazing to see the denunciations for lack of orthodoxy that come to Rome. I think the cases should be investigated by the local bishops' conferences, which can get valuable assistance from Rome. These cases, in fact, are much better dealt with locally.
The problem is useless bishops, as a wise Irish priest I know says, 'Ah, in my day they wouldn't have even been allowed to make their first Holy Communion let alone be made a bishop'. Are our bishops capable of working 'collegiately'? It presumes they share a common faith, and having a sense of the Church.
It is worth noting that again and again Francis criticises careerist bishops, bishops that seek promotion to better Sees, bishops that are airport bishops, bishops that fail to be true fathers to their priests, bishops who spend time out of their dioceses, bishops who don't smell of the sheep, bishops who aren't a sign of asceticism. The major task of Nuncios, for him, is to find good bishops.
He certainly has a different vision of the Church to Benedict but it isn't one in which all the poisons in the mud are left to hatch out.
After reading the interview I am much more impressed with Francis than before, it is easy to see him just as a chatterbox, a popularist, even as a rough gaucho, even at times a buffoon, but read this:
Among musicians I love Mozart, of course. The 'Et incarnatus est' from his Mass in C minor is matchless; it lifts you to God! I love Mozart performed by Clara Haskil. Mozart fulfills me. But I cannot think about his music; I have to listen to it. I like listening to Beethoven, but in a Promethean way, and the most Promethean interpreter for me is Furtwängler. And then Bach's Passions. The piece by Bach that I love so much is the 'Erbarme Dich,' the tears of Peter in the 'St. Matthew Passion.' Sublime. Then, at a different level, not intimate in the same way, I love Wagner. I like to listen to him, but not all the time. The performance of Wagner's 'Ring' by Furtwängler at La Scala in Milan in 1950 is for me the best. But also the 'Parsifal' by Knappertsbusch in 1962.
Those aren't the words of a gaucho but of a deeply sensitive intelligent reflective thinking man who should not be underestimated.
My advice is always, pray, remember Christ's promises to Peter, meditate on what the Church teaches about herself, be patient and wait on the Lord, the Master and Bridegroom of the Church who promises to be her us unto the end of time, and pray for the Pope.
McBride now works for Cafod
I am a bit sensitive to reporting in the media at the moment. I was a little disconcerted by the revelations about Damian McBride, Gordon Brown's spin doctor who by his own admission spread poison about his colleagues.
What I cannot understand is that he now works for Cafod.
Don't we consider calumny a serious sin anymore or is it just too much to expect people who work for that 'Catholic' organisation that deals with social justice to actually be just, to have clean hands and a pure heart?
Again what worries me is the connection between the Labour Party and Cafod, its head at one time shared a house with a Labour minister. Shouldn't someone from the Bishop's Conference ask a few question.
Cafod's image is becoming increasingly tarnished!
Francis Interview
After reading the Vicar of Christ's interview, if I understand him rightly, he is not saying anything new but the interview is highly problematic.
There is a particularly Jesuit flavour to what he is saying, which boils down to bringing people to know and experience Jesus' mercy, then they will want to know the finer details of our faith. The details, the dogma serve to fine tune our knowledge of him.
At the heart of Jesuit spirituality is this encounter with the mercy of God, met in his Son on the Cross, which is life changing. Hence his motto: Miserando Atque Eligendo. There is a problem of course for those who don't believe in this mercy, for Francis God's mercy flowers in the Sacrament of Penance, that is problematic for those who have a muddled understanding of the nature of this sacrament, especially for those who would want limit it to forgiveness of major sins only or turn it into a counselling session, rather than primarily Christ's forgiveness of the tedious oft repeated lists of sins most of us come out with. There is also a problem for those who do not believe that the Gospel demands choice.
Francis' teaching can certainly be interpreted in Relativistic terms and it certainly will be but Francis is not a Relativist, he understands the principle of the hierarchy of doctrine. Not the mistaken idea that some doctrines are disposable or ignorable but that they are all subservient to the fundamental doctrine that God has Revealed His Mercy in His Son Jesus Christ. For fringe group Catholics who are obsessed with reorganisation of Church structures, superficially there might appear crumbs of comfort but actually Francis is calling us back to the centre, which is the person of Jesus Christ and to a radical following of the person of Christ. In Francis' theology a true encounter with Jesus always results in conversion.
Francis is a breath of fresh air to those on the fringes or even outside of the Church but for many inside especially many younger priests and theologians, especially those formed under JPII and Benedict, he is disconcerting. In his attempt to get the Church to turn away from the obsession with itself that has haunted it since Vatican II -see the agendas of geriatric organisations like ACTA that stink of churchiness- his message is to focus on the Church's mission, the movement to the messiness of the poor at the peripheries. For him this is more important than even pro-life lobbying, or opposition to experiments with marriage or anything else.
The problem Francis presents us with is that he presents himself as being almost a war with the institution of which he is the visible head, there is something in scripture about the dangers of a kingdom divided. The Telegraph amused me recently with a pod-cast entitled 'Can Francis save the Catholic Church?', well, only Jesus Christ can save anything, but the Church's leaders, especially the Pope, have a duty to make themselves lovable,
There are dangers for a Peronist in the Vatican, especially in a Church that still has not learnt the principle of subsidiarity and is still sees the Petrine office in Ultramontane terms. There are serious dangers too in a Pope who seems to have scant regard for both Tradition and tradition(s). There dangers too in much talked about concepts of Collegiality when one forgets that such a concept embraces not just the horizantal dimension of being in communion with the bishops throughout the world but also the vertical dimension of being in Commuion with ages past.
The answer: Pray for our Pope
A Trip to the Cinema
My parishioners have been very kind to me lately, to cheer me up a bit I was taken to the cinema to see La Grande Bellezza, it has had rave reviews, it is beautifully filmed in Rome. I think they might have thought it was travelogue - it wasn't. I stayed for about 15 minutes and then left. It was decadent, hedonistic, self referential etc, etc. It wasn't really the type of film a priest should see, even one who is well acquainted with the more unpleasant side of life here Brighton and its casualties.
It was obviously a critique of the state that Italian and in particular Roman culture has been brought to by men like Berlusconi, in fact I suppose it could have been set in any major European city but it was so obviously an Italian film and about a particular echelon of artistic literary society. What was interesting was that it was obviously a critique not a celebration of that culture.
In a way it explains the Francis effect. In Italy the Berlusconi years are being seen as the vacuous, debauched time they were, maybe even by those who once attended his parties. Francis coming to the Roman Cathedra at the end of the Berlusconi era was opportune, there is hunger for a more serious attitude to life, for spiritual rather than material values. The problem is the Italians do like big, popular men - for a time.
The search for new values and maybe looking at least in part to the Church for those seemed to mark the French Manif Pour Tous movement. I can't yet see an equivalent in the UK
Honk, honk!
A friend who runs a European opera company was putting on a Rameau opera in a Balkan city, he wanted a series of talks or even workshop to accompany it. I offered to speak about string technology from the 16th to the 18th century, I even offered to do some workshops, making linen or horse or human hair strings for the earlier period, then gut strings out of lambs intestines and loading them with lead or plaiting them to illustrate the development, then finally ending with the great innovation after the loosely wound-on string of the tightly wound on string. We could have explored the different tonal qualities of gold, silver and brass, all of course annealed to different levels, I must admit I am somewhat weak on the use of alloys, as my main interest is those strings made by family industries around Freising rather than Northern Italy.
It wouldn't have just been about cleaning and stretching intestines but making gold and silver wire and the whole art of 'winding on', as well as explaining catgut is caterpillar gut or silk, not moggy. [Factoid: their intestines are irregular and therefore unsuitable for strings of any real length, it is a carnivore thing, I have a paper by Robert Spencer on it somewhere.] I would have read up on bandora stings at the court of Philip II, which is a very interesting subject in itself,
Despite my enormous knowledge of the subject and our friendship he didn't think it would draw great crowds, especially in translation, hence I share a little with you now.
If you are still with me, it is just a way of saying there are some things we men can get obsessed about. Most chaps know a great deal about cars and nothing about the stringing of bowed and plucked instruments before the middle classical period, I am afraid I am different. I am not quite as bad as a friend of mine who whenever a barber asks, 'See last nights match? replies, 'Gosh yes, Argentina got a terrible trouncing in the third chukka didn't they'. He gets a peaceful, prayerful haircut.
Well cars: the Pope seems to have a thing about them. There were reports of him checking out the Vatican car parks to see which official was driving what, now a friend says some Roman priests are a bit disgruntled over the Pope's remarks to the assembly of young people in which he castigated priests with new cars, they see it as playing to the gallery and into the hands of that insidious Italian anti-clericalism. I am told that scratching priests cars has become a bit of a game in some parts of Italy, probably with a small 'F', for Francesco and if you want to embarrass any cleric you just ask him about his car, now it can never be old or tatty or dirty enough.
I knew a priest who is dead now, pray for him, he drove a rather ordinary car around the parish and a very splendid large shiny one whenever he was out of the parish he changed it every year and used to claim he had been lent it by a parishioner. It turned out he was a bit of crook and might well have gone to prison had he not died.
I can only imagine what the dread around the City State when that little newly restored little white Fiat, which is going to be cosseted by the Vatican mechanics, honks its way around the Palazzi on surprise visits or inspections or transferring His Holiness from his apartment in the Casa Sta Marta to his appointments in the unslept in but still used for work Apostolic Apartments. One or two members of the Curia have been arguing for a fleet of eco-friendly electric golf buggies for everyone to use to get from office to office for ages.
A classic refurbished Fiat is a plaything for a wealthy man who has everything else, the kind of man who still has his shoes repaired in Argentina, few priests I know wear shoes that are worth repairing these are for princes not for poor shepherds who smell of the flock, their cars are necessity not a luxury.
Big question: is the Pope going to car share?
Before Turning to Other Things
Before turning to other things, one last word on the Argus smear attacks, before I turn to other things; we bent over backwards to give them an easy and cheap way out of the difficulties they got themselves into, they have neither agreed to a settlement nor proposed anything themselves.
That is life!
I am very pleased the highly acclaimed Dr Colin Harte has been acting for me in this matter. I just want to get back to being a priest, who happens to write a blog. Colin is best known for his book Changing Unjust Laws Justly. Here is Francis Philips review of it.
Someone said of him to me recently,
'THE Colin Harte of 'Changing Unjust Laws Justly' - probably the most important pro-life book of our generation? '
'I cannot over-emphasise just how important that man is for the future of ethics and morality in the very Church itself...he just doesn't realise it yet - his book could potentially save us from disaster.'
So if you want to support him buy the book which 'could potentially save us from disaster', having bought it, read it.
I am very grateful to God for this exceptional man and I also want to express my thanks to everyone else who has supported me, mostly especially my brother priests. Continue to pray for me, please and pray that this unpleasant affair will be brought to a just and proper conclusion.
Brighton Argus smear: parish reactions - fightback
Still no response from the Argus certainly no apology, or even an acknowledgement of fault, nothing. Ironically I am told the unscrupulous journalist Bill Gardner was on the BBC speaking about bullying, of all things.
Numbers at Mass were down noticeably, probably the weather, it could be the effect of the Argus' misrepresentation. One disturbing thing, I didn't hear it myself, but there was group of lads outside the church yesterday evening, probably a bit drunk, one shouted out, 'chuck a petrol bomb in there'. This was a first time we had something like this, drunks normally want to come in and light candles not make threatening remarks, no, nobody took it serious enough to ring the the police. It could be a result of the Argus' article, more probably just the madness of Brighton but it is perhaps an illustration of Brighton's anti-religious bullying culture, the same stable Bill Gardner and Michael Beard his editor inhabit.
Anyhow, most of my parishioners were sympathetic, some were extremely angry with Argus, one or two are getting together to approach some of the Argus advertisers, apparently there was a full colour page ad from a local private school, I think some of our people into 'social justice' intend to contact the head or bursar about the ethics of advertising with the Argus, the thing in Brighton everyone knows everyone.
A few others intend to go around the local newsagents who are mainly Coptic Christians and try an persuade them to stop stocking the Argus, it probably won't be that effective but many are sufficiently aware of Christian persecution abroad, some apparently have said they are willing to make available an issue of a little journal called 'The Eye of the Needle' produced by one of my parishioners and talks about my original post, its real purpose is to defend the homeless.
I have had some journalist ringing up, having been bitten I am shy. I did speak to one from a 'Catholic' paper which I and right thinking priests do not allow in their churches, to ask about my possibly closing my blog, when I insisted the story was not about that but about bad, unethical journalism and when I asked him to do a story on that he muttered something about 'libel laws' and was uninterested. I am afraid I got a little angry and suggest that it was precisely because Christian journalists are unwilling to to put their heads above the parapet that we have even after Leveson and the revelations about other unscrupulous and unethical journalists, journalists who are unwilling even to discuss, let alone report, the failings of their own industry.
On the fourth day of his Pontificate Pope Benedict spoke of the importance of "clear references of the ethical responsibilities" and to engage in a "sincere search for the truth and the safeguarding of the centrality and the dignity of the person." If only Catholic journalists would do that, if only they had a love for 'the indestructible truth and its eternal beauty', if only other journalists would even think about following the Editors Code of Practice of the Press Complaints Commission then Journalists might actually be regarded as champions of truth, with a holy vocation to search for truth, rather than something only marginally above pond life.
Journalists should have a noble role in society, uncovering 'lies and falsehood', my concern is when journalists and the media are the source of such lies and falsehood. Some people making comments here suggest that I should ignore a gross distortion of the truth, that is merely 'co-operation with evil', giving into playground bullies.
People ask have I forgiven the Argus. The answer is I haven't any choice. I feel sorry for Bill and Mike working for a failing provincial paper, which few under 70 read, they get a pittance for their work and have to spice up their stories to get them in the National to make a living, otherwise they have to supplement their pay by working, as at least one does, as a chorus boys in the local theatre. It's Brighton!
Forgiveness is not too difficult, most victims forgive bullies but to simply allow a bully to continue without bringing him to repentance is condoning his evil. The only answer to bullying is to fight back. No good father will allow a naughty child to simply carry on his self destructive naughtiness.
Please continue with your help, even just clicking onto the blog means it moves up the Google page the Argus appears on and leave a comment on my blog, it helps. I think I might be getting a few more readers at the moment than they are, there are lots from Brighton, thanks.
I am happy to give an interview on this to any serious journalist, I said no last week, this week I am more open to sensible suggestions.
A montage prepared by one of my parishioners: Bill hasn't resigned, I don't want that, I just want him to be incredibly successful but I also what him to be a good ethical journalist first.
God can do that - pray!
This is what St Francis de Sales - the patron saint of ... ahem ... journalists, says about slander in the Introduction to the Devout Life:
"He who unjustly takes away his neighbour's good name is guilty of sin, and is bound to make reparation, according to the nature of his evil speaking; since no man can enter into Heaven cumbered with stolen goods, and of all worldly possessions the most precious is a good name. Slander is a kind of murder; for we all have three lives--a spiritual life, which depends upon the Grace of God; a bodily life, depending on the soul; and a civil life, consisting in a good reputation. Sin deprives us of the first, death of the second, and slander of the third. But the slanderer commits three several murders with his idle tongue: he destroys his own soul and that of him who hearkens, as well as causing civil death to the object of his slander; for, as Saint Bernard says, the Devil has possession both of the slanderer and of those who listen to him, of the tongue of the one, the ear of the other. And David says of slanderers, "They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips." Aristotle says that, like the forked, two-edged tongue of the serpent, so is that of the slanderer, who at one dart pricks and poisons the ear of those who hear him, and the reputation of him who is slandered."
Brighton Argus: Contacting Advertisers
Procrastination and the Argus
A new post!
A time to keep silent?
Pope's Letter to G20
Protecting the Bride
Bill Gardner: an unscrupulous journalist
'Foetal Remains
Bertone: Crows and Vipers in the Vatican
Naughty Seminarian


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Have you ever tried a Dinkie? These round puppies remind me of the Corn Baller ™.
Dinkie (ding-kee) noun 1. A fun homemade treat, a hybrid between a pancake and a cake, it's shaped like a sphere and can be filled with anything from peanut butter & jelly to ham & cheese. It fits right into the palm of your hands. It is served with endless sauces and toppings.
Great pix! Dinkies appear to be the nourishment of PAC men!! Can you dunk a dinkie??
Yes you can dunk a dinkie, they come with awesome sauces for dipping!


Even in the world of Fake News™, how can anyone call these "cuts"? Because in Washington, DC, numbers don't start at zero.
Ever since the Budget Act of 1974, the federal government has used baseline budgeting to determine spending levels. That means that when writing a new budget, each program and department doesn't start at zero, but at the previous level plus an inflation adjustment. Other than Congress specifically repealing a program, there are no "cuts" anymore, especially to mandatory-spending entitlement programs, only reductions in the rate of growth.
If the CBO estimates based on current spending levels that Social Security will spend $2 trillion in 2027, but the proposed budget outlays its spending at $1.7 trillion, Washington considers it a "cut". It isn't. Words mean things.
This all matters even less so because of the congressional crutch of continuing resolutions. Congress has only passed a full budget once in the last 8 years. Every other year, they've relied on last minute partial CRs to continue most spending levels at baseline+inflation so they don't actually have to debate spending levels, government priorities, and taxpayer outrage.


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Getting ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Make your life easier with these 5 online shopping tips.
No Man's Sky is now apparently everybody's refund.
HTC and Valve teamed up to create a VR headset called Vive. Is this something Oculus Rift should be worried about?


Hailey police believe that someone peppered two Blaine County vehicles with arrows last week in the parking lot east of the courthouse.
If so, the archer retrieved the arrows but left the vehicles on the morning of June 13 with three arrow tip-size holes and a flat tire. Total damage was estimated at $2,000 to a white 1989 GMC pickup and a white 2006 Dodge Durango SUV.
Both vehicles were formerly used by the Blaine County Sheriff's Office, but neither had license plates or other markings identifying them as police vehicles.
Hailey Lt. Steve England said the vehicles were the only ones in the parking lot at the time of the attack.
"At first it looked like it was from bullets, but the more we looked at it, these aren't bullets," England said. "We believe it's arrows, but we're really not sure.
"We're just treating it as vandalism at this point. We're not treating this as an attack on any agency. We're looking more into did someone leave the courthouse mad that day or the day before."
England said investigation has shown that a high-powered bow or crossbow could easily fire an arrow or bolt that could penetrate a vehicle's exterior.
"We do have a potential lead," he said.


text:
Volkswagen hits record sales in bid to top auto industry
by: DAVID McHUGH, Associated Press
FILE – In this Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019 file photo Volkswagen unveils its VW I.D. Space Vizzion autonomous electric concept wagon at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Volkswagen and a German consumer group said Thursday they will conduct talks on a possible settlement in a landmark case in which hundreds of thousands of people aim to establish a right of compensation for cars affected by the automaker's diesel emissions scandal. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen has announced record annual sales that could determine whether it keeps its crown as the world's largest automaker.
The company based in Wolfsburg, Germany, said Tuesday that it delivered 10.97 million vehicles in 2019. That compares with 10.83 million in 2018, when Volkswagen edged out the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance and Toyota, although the alliance was slightly ahead when trucks are removed from the totals.
The alliance and Toyota will report their figures in coming weeks. Toyota in December estimated its 2019 total would be 10.72 million, which would leave it behind Volkswagen.
General Motors held the title for more than seven decades before losing it to Toyota in 2008 and no longer has a shot at the top spot after selling its European business and closing other money-losing operations.
Volkswagen underlines that it does not set being the sales leader as a business goal but focuses instead on its financial results. The company's diesel scandal, in which it rigged cars to cheat on pollution emissions tests, came amid a push under former CEO Martin Winterkorn to dethrone Toyota as No. 1 in sales. The company has since pivoted in the wake of the 2015 scandal toward electric cars as the industry seeks to meet tougher limits on greenhouse gases.
Volkswagen was able to increase sales despite shrinking global auto markets. That means its market share increased against the competition. Sales were boosted by strong results in its home market in Germany, the U.S. and in Brazil, while sales slipped in the Asia-Pacific region.
by GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press / Jan 18, 2020
LONDON (AP) — The British government has announced plans for special events on the night of Jan. 31 when the country officially leaves the European Union but the country's treasury chief has admitted that some U.K. business sectors will suffer as a result.
Sajid Javid told the Financial Times in an interview Saturday that Britain's regulations will not be aligned with the EU in the future and that those changes may hurt some businesses. Currently the EU is Britain's largest trading partner.
Monroe Police searching for runaway teen