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Gilgit Baltistan Bulletin
Its better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
About GB Bulletin
Gilgit-Baltistan: Policies to Curb Smuggling of Wheat
GILGIT (Dawn): The Gilgit-Baltistan food department has stopped wheat supply to flour mills to curb its smuggling which has created flour shortage locally, said an official on Sunday.
Talking to Dawn, the regional director of food Mohammad Ikram said the department took the step after public complaints regarding shortage of flour in the local markets. He said short and long term policies would be evolved to curb smuggling of wheat.
The official said some 45 mills were registered with the department which would now have to procure wheat from the open market.
"Wheat being provided by the government to flourmills on subsidised rates is being smuggled to rest of the country to get extra bucks," he said.
"We have terminated all reserved quota of mills and now wheat will be supplied to residents directly," said the official.
Mr Ikram said wheat was being given to mills under fixed quota and then dealers distributed flour to retailers in their respective areas.
This entry was posted in All Others, Business.
Gilgit-Baltistan:Two Mountaineers Attempting K-2 Missing
Skardu (ET): Two New Zealanders who had come to Pakistan on a mountaineering expedition were reported missing on Sunday, confirmed an official of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Martin Walter Schmidt and Denali Walter Schmidt went missing on the afternoon of July28 while on an expedition to scale the world's second highest mountain, K-2 (8,611 metres).
Martin along with his son Denali had successfully reached Camp III at 7,400 metres on July25 even though the rest of the climbers had decided to descend the peak.
The accompanying Sherpas had turned back because of adverse weather conditions and the threat of being hit by an avalanche. Avalanches had reportedly struck Camp IV, present at 8000 metres.
On the afternoon of July26, base camp group leader Australian Christopher Mellor Madden Warner lost contact with the Kiwi mountaineers.
A Nepali Sherpa, who was sent to Camp III a day later to ascertain the location of the Kiwi mountaineers, reported on July28 that they were nowhere to be seen in the Camp III tent.
He further said that the tent showed signs of having been hit by an avalanche. However, the mountaineer's ice axes and crampons were found intact.
Search for the missing mountaineers is set to start tomorrow with assistance from the base camp.
Martin and Denali were on a mission to summit K-2 after successfully climbing Broad Peak two weeks earlier.
This entry was posted in All Others, Business, Gilgit-Baltistan.
Gilgit-Baltistan: Teacher Mapping & Projection Model Project Launched in GB
GILGIT (ET): The 'Teacher Mapping and Projection Model' (TMPM) project was launched in Gilgit on Saturday. The project hopes to improve data collection methods in the region.
"The initiative aims to bring in modern data collection software tools to generate better and reliable information for institutions," said USAID Teacher Education Project's Provincial Director Jawad Ali at the inauguration. The project has been sponsored by USAID.
G-B's Education Planning Director Muhammad Abideen remarked with the increasing number of schools, enrolment and teachers, old techniques can no longer be relied upon to maintain and update information.
He said an authentic data record is vital to develop an education planning document. "It is encouraging that the Education Management Information System (EMIS) department, G-B has recently upgraded its data collection and processing facilities," Abideen said.
Explaining the project, he said the teachers mapping exercise provides details of teachers and their qualification at district and provincial levels. "This is something we have been lacking in the past."
"With district wise information available, the district managers will be able to better plan future recruitment and infrastructure needs," Abideen further said.
He hoped the initiative will also facilitate provincial authorities in planning and monitoring educational activities in the province. A large number of staff from districts of G-B was trained during the teacher mapping exercises, he informed.
"I also recommend that all district managers learn how to operate the data processing and projections software used by EMIS," he said, adding this will keep them updated about the figures pertaining to their areas.
Abideen also appreciated the hard work of the EMIS staff and hoped that data collected during the mapping will be regularly updated.
The project has also extended support in provision of scholarships to trainee teachers, capacity building of the faculty of Government College Elementary Teachers, provision of equipment and furniture, and establishment of a directorate for staff development.
The TMPM project is part of the comprehensive US education assistance programme for Pakistan, which includes building or rehabilitating more than 850 schools across the country, establishing centres for advanced study at three Pakistani universities to focus on applied research in energy, agriculture and water, and expanding English skills of more than 5,000 students from low-income backgrounds.
This entry was posted in All Others, Business, Education.
Gilgit-Baltistan:Locals would be Preferred for DBD Recruitment
ISLAMABAD (APP): Federal Minister for Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir Affairs Chaudhry Barjees Tahir Wednesday said that maximum number of local people of Chillas would be employed in Diamer-Bhasha Dam project. During a meeting with two members of Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly here, the minister said that when the work on project would begin local people would be given priority in recruitment. He said that all the employees of class-IV and under would be from Chillas adding maximum eligible people in technical cadre would also be selected from the area. He said that the remaining seats of the project would be fulfilled from rest of the country on merit.
Barjees asked the Chief Secretary GB to look into the matter and update him about the latest situation. He said that the government would take all decisions in the larger interest of the people.
Earlier, the members informed the minister about problems being faced by the people of the area.
Gilgit-Baltistan: Financing of Wahabi & Salafi Militants Across the Globe
Gilgit (Dawn): It is not merely the faith or oil that flows out of Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich Arab state and its neighbors are busy financing Wahabi and Salafi militants across the globe.
A recent report by the European Parliament reveals how Wahabi and Salafi groups based out of the Middle East are involved in the "support and supply of arms to rebel groups around the world." The report, released in June 2013, was commissioned by European Parliament's Directorate General for External Policies. The report warns about the Wahabi/Salafi organisations and claims that "no country in the Muslim world is safe from their operations … as they always aim to terrorise their opponents and arouse the admiration of their supporters."
The nexus between Arab charities promoting Wahabi and Salafi traditions and the extremist Islamic movements has emerged as one of the major threats to people and governments across the globe. From Syria, Mali, Afghanistan and Pakistan to Indonesia in the East, a network of charities is funding militancy and mayhem to coerce Muslims of diverse traditions to conform to the Salafi and Wahabi traditions. The same networks have been equally destructive as they branch out of Muslim countries and attack targets in Europe and North America.
Despite the overt threats emerging from the oil-rich Arab states, governments across the globe continue to ignore the security imperative and instead are busy exploiting the oil-, and at time times, blood-soaked riches.
The European Parliament's report though is a rare exception to the rule where in the past the western governments have let the oil executives influence their foreign offices. From the United States to Great Britain, western states have gone to great lengths to ignore the Arab charities financing the radical groups, some of whom have even targeted the West with deadly consequences.
While the recent report by the European Parliament documents the financial details connecting the Arab charities with extremists elsewhere, it is certainly not the first exposition of its kind. A 2006 report by the US Department of State titled, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report – Money Laundering and Financial Crimes, reported that "Saudi donors and unregulated charities have been a major source of financing to extremist and terrorist groups over the past 25 years." One of the WikiLeaks documents, a cable from the US Consulate in Lahore also stated that "financial support estimated at nearly 100 million USD annually was making its way to Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith clerics in the region from 'missionary' and 'Islamic charitable' organisations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ostensibly with the direct support of those governments."
This entry was posted in All Others, Business, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
Gilgit-Baltistan:Three Mountaineers Missing after Ascending the Peak
ISLAMABAD (Dawn): The head of a mountaineering club says rescuers have called off their search for three Iranian mountain climbers who went missing in northern Pakistan.
Manzoor Hussain, president of Pakistan's Alpine Club, said Sunday his outfit was coordinating the expedition, and that the three Iranians successfully ascended the 8,051-meter (26,414-foot) summit of Broad Peak.
He says the men sent a call for help last Tuesday while descending the peak, saying they were exhausted and had run out of food.
Hussain says rescue teams were dispatched, but failed to find them. A helicopter search Sunday has been called off.
He says the three men were last in touch with their homeland via satellite phone on Saturday.
Gilgit-Baltistan: RCC Bridge Between Ghanche and Skardu
Gilgit (RP): Construction work on first ever double way RCC Bridge on river Indus between Skardu and Ghanche would be started next week.
Spokesman of PWD told our Skardu correspondent on Tuesday that 140 million rupees would be spent for construction of this bridge.
He said that after completion' the way between Skardu and Ghangche would be reduced and big vehicles would be allowed to go to Khaplu Siachan area.
Gilgit-Baltistan:FPSC to Hold Competitive Examination 2011 for GB
Gilgit-Baltistan:Career As a Lawyer
Gilgit-Baltistan: NAVTTC Regional office in GB
Gilgit-Baltistan: Fruits of GB in Pakistan
GB-Bulletin
GB-Bulletin Archives


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Tavaris Dygg Patton / Facebook Screen Shot
Firefighter Leaving Work Late Spots Fiery Crash, Saves Unresponsive Man Trapped in Burning Jeep
Trump Attacks Barack: President Obama Paid for Hostages, We Didn't
By Randy DeSoto May 12, 2018 at 6:47am
During a political rally Thursday night in Indiana, President Donald Trump contrasted the conditions regarding the return of three American prisoners from North Korea this week to the return of U.S. hostages from Iran while Barack Obama was in office, noting the 44th president paid well over $1 billion, while his administration paid nothing.
One of the many critiques then-presidential candidate Trump had of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran is that the Obama administration did not set as a pre-condition to the negotiations the return of American hostages.
"In all fairness, Obama — President Obama — paid $1.8 billion for hostages," Trump told a raucous crowd in Elkhart, Indiana.
The mere mention of the former president's name brought a thundering chorus of "boos" from those in attendance.
Trump went on to praise North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un for his decision to return the imprisoned Americans.
"Kim Jong Un did a great service to himself and to his country by doing this," Trump said. "Those hostages came out with respect. We didn't pay for them. … They came out for nothing, and the others came out for $1.8 billion in cash. Can you believe that?"
.@POTUS: @BarackObama paid for hostages, we didn't. pic.twitter.com/ootXhN3Pni
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 11, 2018
In January 2016, the Obama administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Iran at the same time four American hostages were released.
One of the American hostages, Saeed Abedini, told Fox News the plane carrying himself and the other Americans was not allowed to leave until another plane arrived first, which he understood to be transporting the pallets of cash.
Do you think Trump did a better job negotiating the release of Americans imprisoned abroad than Obama did?
Yes: 98% (87 Votes)
No: 2% (2 Votes)
The Wall Street Journal reported the $400 million was the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the Obama administration agreed to pay the Islamic Republic from a judgment handed down at the international tribunal at The Hague.
Tehran had paid the United States for military equipment never received due to the overthrow of the Shah of Iran during the 1979 revolution.
Obama explained his decision to authorize the payment in January 17, 2016, remarks at the White House
"With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well," he said, without disclosing the $400 million cash payment.
When the cash payment later became public, the Obama administration denied there was any link between the payment and the release of hostages.
President Carter Once Found Classified Docs at His Home, But Bill He Signed Into Law Changed It All
"As we've made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim … were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home," State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
"Not only were the two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side, including, in the case of The Hague claims, by technical experts involved in these negotiations for many years," he added.
Trump said Thursday the release of the American hostages by North Korea boded well for the upcoming talks between himself and Kim, slated for June 12 in Singapore.
"The relationship is good, and hopefully, I mean for all of us — for the world — hopefully something very good is going to happen," Trump said, referring to the upcoming summit.
"It's important for them, important for everybody," he stated. "I think it's going to be a very big success."
Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un, money, North Korea, politics, prison
Not only was the man unresponsive, but both his legs were broken. He would have died in that burning wreck if not for Patton.
@BradGalliTV / YouTube video screen shot
MSU Football Players Charged Over Scuffle with Rivals to Be Let Off With 'No Criminal Responsibility'
Scuffles broke out in the tunnel after Michigan defeated Michigan State 29-7 on Oct. 29, and part of it was caught on video.
By The Associated Press January 27, 2023

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: How to download PDF blob using puppeteer? When the download button is clicked, a new tab is opened where the user can view a PDF statement.
This new tab has a URL starting with blob:, e.g.: blob:https://some-domain.com/statement-id.
How could I download this PDF statement to the file system?
Note: I'm using { headless: false } mode.

A: Trying to simulate the case:
import puppeteer from 'puppeteer';
import { writeFileSync } from 'fs';

// Minimal PDF from https://github.com/mathiasbynens/small#documents
const minimalPdf = `%PDF-1.
1 0 obj<</Pages 2 0 R>>endobj
2 0 obj<</Kids[3 0 R]/Count 1>>endobj
3 0 obj<</Parent 2 0 R>>endobj
trailer <</Root 1 0 R>>`;

const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: false, defaultViewport: null });

try {
  const [page] = await browser.pages();
  await page.goto('http://example.com/');

  await page.evaluate((pdf) => {
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([pdf], {type: 'application/pdf'}));
    window.open(url);
  }, minimalPdf);

  const newTarget = await page.browserContext().waitForTarget(
    target => target.url().startsWith('blob:')
  );
  const newPage = await newTarget.page();
  const blobUrl = newPage.url();
  page.once('response', async (response) => {
    console.log(response.url());
    const pdfBuffer = await response.buffer();
    console.log(pdfBuffer.toString());
    console.log('same:', pdfBuffer.toString() === minimalPdf);
    writeFileSync('minimal.pdf', pdfBuffer);
  });
  await page.evaluate((url) => { fetch(url); }, blobUrl);

} catch(err) { console.error(err); } finally { /* await browser.close(); */ }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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As a martech enthusiast, I can vouch that there are hardly any marketers or sales professionals today, who are not incorporating artificial intelligence in some way. 91% of companies with world-leading brand recognition and high levels of customer satisfaction use AI solutions to increase customer satisfaction, compared to 42% of companies in their fields overall. -MIT Technology Review and Genesys, 2017.
We all use Alexa, Google Assistant and more. But the question to ask is – Is AI enabling us? Is the impact measurable?
While some continue to doubt the outcome, AI has helped us get closer to the customer by making us data-driven. For example, machine learning has been long applied in search engines by industry leaders such as Google and Microsoft, thereby continuously improving the relevance of search results for the end users.
So, if you look closely, what this means to us as marketers is – the impact of AI will be directly proportional to the quality of data that goes in. In other words, the better you know your customers and prospects, the more relevant you are to them. It also means that the customer data needs to be enriched to prevent decay (industry average for data decay is 30% YoY) and thereby ensure it is useful to derive predictive analytics, customer segmentation, sales intelligence, insights and more.
One of the key metrics that a marketing team is measured by, is the prospect pipeline it creates. Prospecting is not about reaching out to your list by cold calling or emailing – it is about having real-time information on who is interested in your solutions and why. More importantly, do they have a budget for it? In a typical B2B scenario, where this information is even more difficult to get, an AI platform such as Fiind Smart Signals helps marketers and sales professional with signals on customer intent and product fit.
Now, let's say you are running an ABM campaign – intent and fit signals are gold. You exactly need to know whom to target, why they would be interested, their stage in the buying cycle, etc. Since we touched upon ABM – here's an ABM checklist that you can use as a blueprint.
Once you have adequate information on your prospects and existing customers, it is all about prioritizing and segmenting them. This is where machine learning algorithms come into play with predictive lead scoring and hyper-segmentation. This gives a very scientific approach to segmenting your leads based on their sales propensity compared to speculations whose results vary with the experience of the marketing or sales professionals. AI is not just useful in the case of prospects but also for your existing customers where you can identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities based on the signals they exhibit across several sources internal and external to your organizational martech stack.
Now that the "why" and "who" part is taken care of, let's look at the most critical part – "what". Why should a prospect or a customer respond to your campaign? Is it relevant to them? We're in an era of hyper-personalization. Marketers need to move away from the market mindset and be focused on giving the individuals that comprise the market – a great experience. No one wants to be sold to, they want to be engaged.
AI can help you with at the right pitch for the right customer at the right time. At Fiind, we like to call this "pitch points" which typically is the bedrock of all inbound/outbound marketing campaigns and also the intelligence that helps salespeople in ensuring meaningful conversations.
To sum up, there is no question of whether AI will enable marketers. It is all about how we integrate AI into our daily marketing and sales operations. AI is not here to replace human beings, and the effectiveness of AI in enabling relies on how well we augment it.


I always enjoy the transition from one month to another. I delight in turning the pages on my wall calendar with a feeling of newness, encouragement and opportunity. Even now, while I do value the convenience of managing time and productivity with digital devices and tools, I still hang on to a yearly calendar. Its lovely colorful images beautify the wall space and my preference to keep it unmarked reminds me to take a long view of what matters.
When March arrived a few days ago I remembered a verse from a poem I learned in my elementary school days, "March brings breezes, loud and shrill, to stir the dancing daffodil" (The Garden Year by Sara Coleridge). It's similar to the familiar "lion and lamb" predictions for unpredictable March. Both shed light on our yearning for longer warmer days and colorful surroundings.
My grandmother's phrase "Marzo Pazzo" although attributed to the uncertainty of weather can also be a useful term to describe the upcoming phenomenon of "March Madness" when many sports fans' fancies turn to thoughts of bubble teams and brackets. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) generates a lot of excitement as teams vie to be included in "Sweet Sixteen," "Elite Eight," "Final Four," and then onto the championship game. Some fans take it very seriously while others fill out their brackets just for the fun of it.
This national phenomenon of brackets became an entryway for literary journals, librarians, and schools to promote interest and discussion of books during March Book Madness. In 2015, Ohio teachers Tony Keefer (@tonykeefer) and Scott Jones (@escott818) took their classroom versions to a wider audience of global online participants. From the collection of selected titles of books, students vote for their favorites, either individually or a class, via a Google Form for each round of the voting bracket. Twitter chats provide conversations between participating classrooms with opportunities to connect with characters and to experience other points of view. Although I am not keen on partnering competition with the joy of reading, I have seen enthusiasm and energy for books and lively conversations in classes I visited. Teachers often do book talks to inspire students to read new books and widen their repertoire of genres and authors. Click here to access a list of 2018 books for the Picture Book Bracket, Middle Grade Bracket and Young Adult Bracket. Scoot Jones and Tony Keefer provide tips for setup, organization and participation to spread the love of books and reading. Even for classes that have not registered to participate, it might be beneficial to become familiar with the books and authors for future reading.
Read Across America is a familiar reading motivation program that garners a lot of attention to coincide with the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Although you are never too old to enjoy Dr. Seuss, the celebration of Read Across America is a great opportunity to become familiar with books about particular states and regions of our country and/or study authors from a particular state and examine the role of setting in literature. The National Education Association has posted a "50 State Booklist" with a selection of fiction and non-fiction for readers of all ages. It might be helpful to pair this list with other suggestions throughout the year. For example, Colours of Us provides reviews of newly published multicultural books. These lists help us evaluate the diversity of topics, authors and serve as springboards for compiling, as a class or school project, a comprehensive list that reflects the world we live in.
With these spotlights on the importance of reading during the Month of March, I am pondering the clever commercial by Audible claiming 'Listening is the New Reading." Yes, it is very convenient to listen to books on the go for information and entertainment. Certainly, audiobooks enhance reading and provide support for readers, but will they ever replace the act of reading as the advertisement from Audible claims? Audiobooks provide opportunities to multitask which appeals to those who don't have time to read. Audiobooks can level the field for students struggling with decoding by giving them a means to improve vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Participating in class activities and discussions with fellow classmates reading the same book can build their self-confidence and help sustain interest in reading. There are undoubtedly pros and cons to consider for each format depending on purpose for reading.
Ruth Farmer, a writer, coach and poet unpacks Audible's clever slogan in her blog, "Is Listening the New Reading?" Although appreciative of how audiobooks fit into the routines of her multitasking personality, she clarifies the overlapping functions of these forms of communication. Depending on content and purpose, she suggests intermingling the visual aspect of reading with the narration (and performance) of the spoken word.
In our fast-paced society, speed listening is a current choice for those who desire to consume greater amounts of information in less time. With the ability to adjust the playback speeds and sync between devices, listeners are finding a more efficient way to consume content. I'm willing to give this a try – just a tad bit faster, definitely not at 'chipmunk' speed.
What is your reading/listening pleasure? Are you participating in a literary tournament, promoting reading for pleasure, or experimenting with new ways of reading/listening? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Rita, I enjoyed the way you wove together the various threads of reading in March. I prefer hard copy books to digital, although the convenience of digital is undeniable. I also prefer the act of reading to listening to audio books, but it's great for students to know what their options are, and that reading can take many forms, at different times and for different purposes. Your post makes me think that helping students to find their preferred way of reading/listening, in addition to their preferred genres and formats, would be of value in developing reading identities.


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Home » NEWS FEED » SAY WHAT? Congresswoman Cori Bush's Car Shot Up In St. Louis, Blue Lives Matter Spokesman Has 'Vile' Response: 'We Need the Lawmakers to be Victims'
SAY WHAT? Congresswoman Cori Bush's Car Shot Up In St. Louis, Blue Lives Matter Spokesman Has 'Vile' Response: 'We Need the Lawmakers to be Victims'
by Nicole Duncan-Smith January 30, 2022 December 31, 2022
Now, we all know where this is heading.
This just in from Yahoo News?
January 29, 2022-Missouri's first Black congresswoman's car was littered with bullets last weekend while it was parked in St. Louis. Despite sources believing she was not the intended target of the gunplay, the politician continues to receive a great outpouring of support from the community.
NBC News states while U.S. House Rep. Cori Bush was not in the car when it was shot up, nor was she injured, but she is still shaken.
"Like far too many of us in St. Louis, experiencing gun violence is all too familiar," Bush said in a statement released on Twitter. "Thankfully no one was harmed. But any act of gun violence shakes your soul.
Missouri's first Black congresswoman's car was littered with bullets last weekend while it was parked in St. Louis. Despite sources believing she was not the intended target of the gunplay, the politician continues to receive a great outpouring of support from the community.
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., attends a news conference on the FIX Clemency Act outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday, December 10, 2021. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The progressive steered the conversation from herself and drew attention to a much larger issue.
"No one should have to fear for their safety here in St. Louis, and that is exactly why our movement is working every day to invest in our communities, eradicate the root causes of gun violence, and keep every neighborhood safe," she continued.
A source close to her says that it is believed the shooting, allegedly on the morning of Jan. 22, was not intended for the congresswoman but the incident is disturbing. The representative also says that there was evidence that other vehicles were tampered with over the weekend in the same area of the shooting.
One guest on Fox News described the incident as what he claimed is natural consequence of the defund the police position he claims is held by Democrats. New York Police Sgt. Joseph Imperatrice, founder of Blue Lives Matter NYC, told the anchor last week, "The harsh truth is we need the lawmakers to be victims."
Tagged: bluelives, firestlouis, gun, hatred, Matters, responsecongress
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The Township plows and salts streets as needed during the winter months. There is a winter No Parking Ban on all Township streets from Dec. 1 to April 15 from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
The Township erects and maintains traffic control and street signs as needed.
The Township mows the grass along the right of way of vacant lots three times a year.
The Township maintains and repairs the paved surface of the street as needed.
The Township does a brush pickup program twice a year to give the homeowners a place to dispose of minor prunings from their yards. The first pickup is the first Monday in May and the second is the third Monday in September. Brush should be out no later than 7:00 a.m. on the Monday of the scheduled pickup. The crew will come by to pick up the brush sometime during the week. Due to the volume of brush picked up, the Township cannot give a specific time or day for the pickup in your area. Brush should be tied in bundles with twine not more than 4 feet in length and 3 inches in diameter and not over 25 pounds per bundle. DO NOT use wire to tie the bundles! The Township does not accept any yard waste in bags or garbage cans.
The Township trims trees on the parkway as needed. All trimming is done at the discretion of the Township. As much as we would like to accommodate the request of the homeowner to be present during the trimming, that is not always possible. Dead trees and storm damaged trees on the parkway are also removed by the Township. If a tree needs to be removed, the Township will also remove the stump. The Township does not replace trees that are removed. Homeowners can replace the tree at their expense with the approval of the Township.
The Township does ditching and driveway culvert replacement as needed at no cost to the homeowner, once the street has been accepted into the Township.
The Township has a cost share program with the homeowner for the replacement of sidewalks. Sidewalks will not be replaced for cosmetic reasons. Call the Township for an inspection if you think your sidewalk needs repairing.
The Township applies and maintains pavement markings as needed and as approved by the County Engineer.
The Township recycles wood chips back to the homeowners of the Township free of charge. Call to schedule a free delivery.
The Township is a member of the J.U.L.I.E program to locate buried utilities in your area. Please call 1-800-892-0123 BEFORE you dig! It's the safe thing to do, it's the law and it's free!
The Township requires a permit and bond for most construction projects done by the homeowner or a contractor for the homeowner on their property. Please call the Highway Department (630-682-4270) and the DuPage County Building Department (630-407-6700) before you start your project to see if you need a permit. Waivers can be given for certain projects. A final inspection will be done when your project is completed, and the bond will be returned if there is no damage to the right-of-way.
The Township will only remove dead animals from the right-of-way. Animals located on private property are the responsibility of the homeowner.


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The following article describes the history of Melbourne City FC including the background and formation in 2010 as Melbourne Heart through to its purchase and renaming by City Football Group in 2014 and its season by season performance.

Formation

After the dissolution of the National Soccer League in 2003, brought about by the Crawford Report, plans were drawn up for a new revamped national competition to begin the following season. Two separate plans put forward by the Professional Footballers Australia and Libero Consulting called for the new league to be established under the name "Australian/Australasian Premier League" with two Melbourne clubs to feature as foundation members of the competition. One to be playing in the North West of the city, and another to be playing in the South East of the city representing the two population loads of Melbourne.

Despite the calls for the new soccer competition to feature two clubs from Melbourne, in 2004 Football Federation Australia, opting for a "one city, one team" policy, announced that the Melbourne Victory had won the licence to be the only Melbourne club to compete in the new national competition, known as the A-League. A 5-year moratorium was also established preventing any other expansion sides from the eight original A-league teams' areas entering the competition until the 2010–11 season, allowing Victory five seasons to establish itself in the Melbourne market.

By 2007 the Victorian Major Projects Minister Theo Theophanous put forward the idea of a second Melbourne club being formed to be a founding tenant at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, during the protracted negotiations with Melbourne Victory due to the early design of the stadium being smaller than Victory's then season average crowd.

Speculation about a second Melbourne side progressed and on 12 February 2007, South Melbourne FC revealed that they were courting approaches from private investors with the prospect of being the second A-League club based in Melbourne. As part of the South Melbourne bid, the club was to be privatised and the bid name was to be 'Southern Cross FC'.

On 1 March 2008 former Carlton Football Club vice-president and businessman Colin DeLutis expressed his interest in a second Melbourne A-League side, with an approach to the FFA to become sole owner of the second licence with the bid name of 'Melbourne City', not to be confused with the current club Melbourne City. FFA chief executive Ben Buckley raised the possibility of expanding the A-League from eight to 12 teams in May 2008, in readiness for the 2009–10 season. Buckley also revealed the existence of a third Melbourne bid tentatively known as 'Melbourne Heart' backed by Peter Sidwell, to compete with the two other bids of Southern Cross FC and Melbourne City. On 25 July 2008, the Melbourne City bid dropped out of the bidding process leaving the Melbourne Heart and Southern Cross FC bids as the last two bids standing. By September 2008 the Melbourne Heart bid was awarded exclusive negotiating rights for the league's 11th licence, beating out the South Melbourne-backed Southern Cross FC bid. Negotiations continued until Sidwell's group, Melbourne Heart, was awarded the licence to join the A-League's 2010–11 season by the FFA on 12 June 2009.

2010s

2010–11 season

Heart started its inaugural season against Central Coast Mariners on 5 August 2010, at their home ground AAMI Park, losing 1–0. The club's first ever goal was an own goal scored by Ben Kantarovski in the Heart's second league game, a 1–1 draw against Newcastle Jets. Melbourne Heart's first win was a 1–0 victory over North Queensland Fury, which came in the fifth round of their first A-League season on 4 September 2010. They contested the first ever Melbourne Derby against Melbourne Victory on 8 October 2010, and won 2–1. In the middle of their season, they went seven matches without winning (six losses and a draw) and over five hours without scoring a goal. This was turned around when they travelled to play Adelaide United and beat them 2–1 in the final five minutes, despite trailing at 1–0 for all of the second half up to that time. Heart finished their first season on equal points with Newcastle Jets, but behind on goal difference in eighth position. They failed to make it into the top six teams to reach the finals, despite sitting in sixth position for majority of the season.

2011–12 season

On 7 July 2011, the club announced it would take part in the inaugural Hawaiian Islands Invitational from 23–25 February 2012. The squad was set to be made up of emerging youth players as the tournament overlaps with the 2011–12 A-League season. Taking part in the Invitational was Japan's Yokohama, South Korea's Incheon United FC and reigning MLS Cup winners the Colorado Rapids from the United States. Melbourne Heart drew against Busan IPark and lost 0–1 against Colorado Rapids.

Melbourne Heart signed former rival Melbourne Victory player Fred on 20 June 2011, as a marquee player, he replaced Simon Colosimo as captain of the Heart

On 1 September 2011, Heart added the addition of a youth team to the club, which would compete in the A-League's National Youth League. The youth team launched with former Australia international John Aloisi as the inaugural youth team head coach, while highly respected Victorian coach Arthur Papas was brought in as his assistant.

In 2012 the Melbourne Heart Futsal team was founded. They play in the F-League which is top tier of Australian Futsal.

Melbourne Heart's first game for the 2011–12 A-League season was against Newcastle Jets at Ausgrid Stadium. The Heart were defeated 3–2, after a goal by Byun Sung-Hwan in added time. Heart lost their first two matches in a row after being defeated by Perth Glory at home, however they then went on to get 21 points out of thirty, making them 3rd on the ladder.

After their successful start to the first half of the season, Melbourne Heart only won two of their remaining matches, coinciding with the loss of Fred to injury, and Dugandzic, Aziz Behich and Jason Hoffman to international Olyroos duty, They finished 6th on the ladder, enough to make the finals, and had their best season in the club's history.

Heart's first final was against Perth Glory, where they were defeated 3–0 at nib stadium. On 1 February 2012, Melbourne Heart coach John van't Schip announced he was leaving the club at the end of the season due to family reasons.

2012–13 season

Melbourne Heart announced on 8 May 2012 that former Socceroo and Melbourne Heart Youth team coach John Aloisi, had been promoted from his existing position and signed as head coach for 3 years. During the off season Heart were stung by the transfer out of several young key players in Curtis Good, Brendan Hamill and Eli Babalj. However key off season signings included Socceroos Richard Garcia and Vince Grella, and two VISA players in Croatian striker Josip Tadić and Swiss/Liberian defender Patrick Gerhardt.

Heart opened the season with a 2–1 win over rival, Melbourne Victory. The first half of the season was plagued however by inconsistent performances which left the club languishing in last place at the end of 2012, due mainly to second half fade outs.

During the January transfer window, Heart lost a further two key players in Michael Marrone and Aziz Behich on transfers, as well as midfielder Vince Grella to retirement. However they did bolster the squad with returning striker Eli Babalj and Dutch midfielder Marcel Meeuwis.

The new year saw more consistent results at home with 4 wins in a row, resulting in a gradual climb up the table. However, a run of poor results saw Heart finish in 9th place out of 10 teams on the A-League ladder, their worst ever A-League finish. Melbourne Heart veterans Clint Bolton, Simon Colosimo, Matt Thompson and Fred, were released by the Heart at the conclusion of the 2012-13 A-League season.

2013–14 season

Onfield in season 2013–14, Melbourne Heart struggled, failing to win a game until 17 January 2014 (15 matches into the season), recording just six wins across the season. The high point of the season was a 4-0 drubbing of derby rivals Melbourne Victory in March 2014. Striker David Williams managed to score 11 times across the season, while marquee signings Orlando Engelaar and Harry Kewell were restricted to limited game time due to injury. Kewell eventually retired from professional football at the end of the season. Melbourne Heart finished the 2013–14 A-League season in 10th position.

2014–15 season

It was announced on 23 January 2014 that the City Football Group had acquired Melbourne Heart for $12 million. The deal involves CFG acquiring 80% of Heart, the other 20% to be held by a consortium of businessmen allied to Rugby league club Melbourne Storm. On 5 June 2014, the team obtained Spanish World Cup-winning striker David Villa on loan from New York City FC, another team owned by the City Football Group. Villa was expected to play in the A-League until New York City entered Major League Soccer in 2015.

Villa played only 4 of an expected 10 matches, scoring twice, before being recalled by New York. Although none of the matches were won, coach John van 't Schip credited Villa with bringing attention to the new team, and it was estimated that his presence trebled the club's attendance.

Ferran Soriano, City Football Group's chief executive, expressed hope that the partnership between Melbourne City FC, New York City FC and Manchester City FC will create synergies between the clubs. Soriano stated that the access to global scouting networks and operational experience in soccer performance, technical development and sports science would be some of the most important synergies shared between the clubs.

2015–16 season

In August 2015, City Football Group bought out the Holding M.S. Australia consortium to acquire 100% ownership of Melbourne City Football Club.

References

External links
 Official website

Melbourne City FC
Melbourne City

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Inspector General releases letter on ethics leak probe
After taking complaint regarding alleged conversation between Cuomo and Heastie, IG spoke to neither of them
Brendan J. Lyons
Nov. 27, 2019 Updated: Nov. 27, 2019 9:57 p.m.
1of6New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo addresses a regional summit of governors on public health issues around cannabis and vaping, Thursday Oct. 17, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)Bebeto MatthewsShow MoreShow Less
2of6 Show MoreShow Less
4of6Howard Vargas, executive counsel to Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie(Getty Images)Show MoreShow Less
Former JCOPE Commissioner Julie Garcia, whose report prompted a nine-month investigation that failed to substantiate the allegations of a leak from the ethics panel. Garcia resigned in frustration less than a week after the IG sent its letter to JCOPE.
Provided by Julie GarciaShow MoreShow Less
ALBANY — The state inspector general's office released its three-page report Wednesday afternoon — the eve of Thanksgiving — outlining its investigation into allegations that details of a closed-door meeting of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics had been improperly shared with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
"Ultimately, the investigation was unable to substantiate whether or by whom confidential information was in fact improperly disclosed," states the Oct. 4 letter, which the Times Union requested two weeks ago. "Specifically, the referral from JCOPE set forth general allegations with no supporting facts; no individual was able to provide firsthand knowledge of any leak or potential perpetrator; and any information provided was admittedly based on supposition and speculation. In addition, all JCOPE staff and commissioners who would have been privy to confidential information in executive session denied disclosing such confidential information."
The Times Union had first reported the investigation, which centered on a complaint made to JCOPE's former executive director, Seth Agata, by Julie A. Garcia, a former Essex County district attorney who was appointed to the ethics commission in August 2018 by Assembly Speaker Carl E Heastie.
Garcia told Agata that someone had contacted her shortly after the commission's Jan. 29 meeting and said that Cuomo told Heastie that afternoon that the speaker's appointees to JCOPE had voted against the governor. Earlier that day, according to court filings, the ethics panel had deliberated behind closed doors on a matter involving Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to the governor.
Despite this, neither Cuomo nor Heastie were interviewed by the state inspector general's office as part of its nine-month investigation of the alleged leak — an investigative strategy that has raised questions about the quality of the probe.
"The IG talked to the people who had the legal obligation" not to discuss JCOPE's private deliberations, Cuomo said Tuesday, marking his first public comments on the matter.
Heastie has declined to say whether he communicated with any JCOPE commissioners that day after speaking with Cuomo. His spokesman said this week the speaker had "nothing further to add."
Under state law, both Cuomo and Heastie would have been obligated to report to the inspector general any breach of JCOPE's private deliberations last January. Both Public Officers Law and Executive Law make it a crime to leak details of the panel's closed-door deliberations, including whether a vote was taken.
Garcia resigned her position with JCOPE on Oct. 10, six days after the inspector general issued its letter report to JCOPE stating it had been unable to substantiate her allegations.
The inspector general's letter outlined several recommendations that may stem leaks — inadvertent or otherwise — from the commission tasked with acting as the state's independent ethics "watchdog."
"JCOPE should ensure that all commissioners and staff members are fully trained on all their obligations and responsibilities, including regarding confidentiality, before attending any JCOPE meetings," wrote Spencer Freedman, the executive deputy inspector general who handled the case.
Read the full letter:
State IG's letter by cseiler8597 on Scribd
The unusual call to Garcia that day was from Heastie's executive counsel, Howard Vargas. It took place not long after Cuomo had spoken with Heastie at the Capitol, and allegedly expressed concerns about the voting that day by the speaker's appointees to JCOPE.
"I was alarmed when I was contacted so quickly after that (January) meeting," Garcia said two weeks ago. "I was being told the governor knew how I voted in executive session, even though I was unable to confirm whether or not the information was accurate."
Cuomo has denied discussing anything "inappropriate" with Heastie during that discussion, but both have declined to specify what they talked about. In a statement issued Nov. 13, Heastie's spokesman told the Times Union the Democratic leader "does not recall having a conversation with the governor regarding the specifics of any JCOPE investigation."
Garcia last week said she stands by her previous statements and would offer no further comment. Another commissioner, George H. Weissman, told the Times Union that Garcia's concerns were "well-founded." Weissman has been a commissioner with JCOPE since it was created in 2011.
After the Times Union informed Heastie's office last week that it had confirmed that Vargas contacted Garcia on Jan. 29, the speaker's spokesman Michael Whyland said that Vargas reached out to Garcia "without the speaker's knowledge. We don't know what motivated him to make the call."
Whyland declined to say whether the speaker or anyone else on his staff had asked Vargas to explain himself.
"In late January, the governor and the speaker had a tense conversation about many subjects, including legislation, upcoming budget negotiations, and their working relationship," Whyland said last week. "The speaker took this call with staff around, and the speaker recalls that the governor made a vague reference to JCOPE, but not in relation to any specific matter. The speaker told the governor he had no idea what he was talking about. Further, the speaker has never and will never get involved in JCOPE affairs."
Cuomo's spokesman, Richard Azzopardi, has said that Cuomo did not receive any information about JCOPE's closed-door meeting on Jan. 29.
"As both the governor and the speaker have said publicly, they have spoken about ethics, but have never had any inappropriate conversations about JCOPE," Azzopardi said.
Azzopardi added that Cuomo never spoke to anyone in the inspector general's office about their investigation this year and "had never heard of Julie Garcia until her name appeared in the press recently."
Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro, a former executive director at JCOPE and a longtime Cuomo aide, recused herself from the investigation, which was handled by her chief deputy, Spencer Freedman.
Freedman has declined to be interviewed about the probe. It remains unclear if the office's investigators used subpoenas to gather evidence such as phone records or other data to determine if other JCOPE commissioners had been contacted by any state officials that day.
Last week, after being told by the Times Union that Cuomo and Heastie had confirmed they were not interviewed by investigators, the inspector general's office issued a statement saying their focus was an allegation that "pertained specifically to JCOPE officials and whether they illegally disclosed confidential information – regardless of where such information may have ended up. The only legal liability lies with JCOPE officials and no one else."
The inspector general's "nine-month investigation included interviews, document and record reviews, and signed affirmations under penalty of perjury from JCOPE staff and commissioners in attendance at the executive session of their Jan. 29, 2019 meeting, which included, among other representations, that they did not disclose information regarding any matter discussed in the executive session."
"No one interviewed could provide any evidence or information on a leak beyond mere supposition, which upon investigation was not confirmed," the inspector general's statement added.
Agata, JCOPE's executive director at the time of Garcia's complaint, resigned from that post in June; since then, JCOPE has been embarked on what it describes as a national search for its next top staffer. All three of its executive directors have been former Cuomo aides.
Vargas is a former executive director of the Bronx Democratic Committee and was appointed by Heastie as his executive counsel in November 2015. In that role, Vargas oversees many of the speaker's appointments, including to commissions such as JCOPE. Vargas had previously served as a commissioner for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission and also was general counsel for state affairs to the New York City Council.
Garcia said she was interviewed under oath earlier this year by officials with the inspector general's office and was aware of at least one other JCOPE commissioner being interviewed.
"I am not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation," Garcia said two weeks ago. "It's difficult for me to believe that the information I provided could not be corroborated by someone. It's frustrating because I don't know what the investigation entailed."
The complaint to JCOPE last year about Percoco's improper campaign work was made by state Republican leaders after his federal criminal trial in early 2018, when Percoco was convicted on corruption and bribery charges. Cuomo has denied any knowledge of Percoco's crimes and claimed he was also unaware his former executive deputy secretary was conducting political work at their government office in Manhattan after leaving the state payroll to run the governor's 2014 re-election campaign.
JCOPE has 14 commissioners, three appointed by the temporary president of the Senate, three by the Assembly speaker, one each by the Senate and Assembly minority leaders, and six appointed by the governor.
Reach Brendan J. on
Brendan J. Lyons is a managing editor for the Times Union overseeing the Capitol Bureau and investigations. Lyons joined the Times Union in 1998 as a crime reporter before being assigned to the investigations team. He became editor of the investigations team in 2013 and began overseeing the Capitol Bureau in 2017. You can reach him at blyons@timesunion.com or 518-454-5547.


There's no better way to spend Mothering Sunday than a morning of creativity with a complimentary glass of bucks fizz!
You will be delighted with the results of this super simple drum lampshade. The method shown can be adapted to any size frame so you can create more.
finds will be used for the outer material, if you want to bring in your own then please fetch ½ of fabric.


Emperor's Chocolates is a Brand Visible in myriad places across the demography of Goa. Be it hotels, beach shacks, Airport or any Commodity Store; you will find it there. We make our own chocolates keeping in mind the consumer experience and ensuring that "No one can eat just one"!
The 'Secret Ingredient' of our Chocolates is the finest Goan Cashew Nuts.
The right blend of 'Chocolate' to smoothly mix with the flavour of Cashew Nuts.
Our world class machinery, ensures higher product quality.
The box reminds 1000 memories of Goa, and gets you the taste in every piece.


Griffith Tennis Club is a premier sporting facility located in Noorilla Street, Griffith NSW. The club features four synthetic grass courts and 11 traditional clay courts and boasts a proud history of community sporting participation and achievements.
We run a variety of social competitions and tournaments for all ages and skill levels. We are also proud to host the longest running sporting event in Griffith's history, the MIA Open which runs over the June long weekend, every year.
Griffith Tennis Club runs coaching clinics throughout the year. For more information on available sessions and times to suit you, check out our Coaching page.
The Club is managed by a Committee of volunteers which meets on the second Tuesday of every month, with the Annual General Meeting being held annually in March.
For any enquiries, please contact us!


UltraShape® Power demolishes fat cells — safely and effectively.
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Come to the treatment with clean, dry skin (no perfume, no lotion).
Avoid rigorous exercise the day of treatment. Light exercise is okay.


Smitiuch Injury Law assists individuals and families from all walks of life following the aftermath of significant trauma. The following are a few of the testimonials we have received from our clients.
In March 2012, I was in a motor vehicle collision and was rear ended by a tractor trailer while on duty in my police cruiser and sustained numerous serious injuries.
After researching and interviewing several injury law firms I chose Smitiuch Injury Law. Many injury law firms are content to settle cases without going to trial and most cases are resolved this way. My goal was to hire a law firm based on the possibility of going to trial and Mike Smitiuch and Peter Cho had good trial experience. Peter Cho came to my home to review my case and I spoke to Mike numerous times during this early process and they convinced me that I was in excellent hands with their firm. The Smitiuch team helped and guided me through the stressful and lengthy process with a dedicated and supportive group.
Mike and Peter advised me that the insurance offer was not acceptable and that we would proceed to trial. The trial started in September, 2017 and lasted three weeks. The trial process is where the Smitiuch team was the most impressive. Mike and Peter had prepared well for trial and had medical, financial and police witnesses set up in a seamless presentation. My case was presented in a clear and precise manner with clarity for the jury. Peter had all charts, visuals and photos set up on the computer for clear presentation for jury members. The closing statements to the jury by Mike Smitiuch were epic and had the jury riveted. On October 5th, 2017 the jury award was in my favour and was higher than expected.
The appeal process was next and was handled skillfully and was resolved without an appeal trial due to the diligence, tenacity and negotiating skills of Mike and Peter.
I would and have recommended the Smitiuch Injury Law to anyone looking for a complete and professional injury law firm.
After my accident, I was at the lowest point in my life. I didn't know what to do. I called another injury law company, Diamond and Diamond. I felt they were very unprofessional as there were many errors on my forms, including my last name being spelled wrong and my date of birth wrong. I was given Smitiuch Injury Law phone number from a friend and he highly recommended Smitiuch Injury Law. I called the office and I remember Mike and Peter coming to my house the very next day. I was very impressed and I hired the firm right away.
Being injured is very stressful. Mike and his team treated me with respect, dignity and caring. I would get weekly calls to see how I was doing and was kept updated on my case. I was treated like family, not like a number. My case was completed in less than four years. Far less than I thought and a settlement exceeding my expectations.
Mike always said to me "You gotta believe." I have recommended numerous friends and colleagues to Smitiuch Injury Law. They saved my life.
My experience with Smitiuch Injury Law and all the people that work there that I came in contact with was nothing less than professional and helpful on all levels.
I should have gotten a lawyer immediately following my accident instead of waiting 2 years to start the process. That would be my advice to anyone who is unlucky enough to be in a serious accident. I would also advise people to be patient and let the process take it's course because even my impatience and frustration at times when I thought it was taking too long was put to rest by Paula who was with me and explained everything and why every step of the way.
It was all worth the wait as my settlement was higher than even I would have imagined it to be.
Mike and his entire team took excellent care of us in a troubling time. They responded to our questions in short order, which took away so much stress and uncertainty. They let us have a say in the way our case was going. We always felt that they had our best interests in mind. They treated us like family. Thank you!!!
From start to finish which was a long time due to the severity of my case, Michael and his team were very communicative, helpful in all aspects and understanding of my situation. They went above and beyond any of my expectations of a Lawyer, they not only got myself and my family what we deserved, they continue to be a big part of my life.
Even years after my case has settled Michael still reaches out to make sure I am still doing well. The team allowed me to be a part of everything that was happening with my case, and really listened to me when I put my 2 cents in! If for any unfortunate reason I am in need of a Personal Injury Lawyer I wouldn't call anyone else!!
Thank you again for everything that you and your team did for me and my family. Thank you Michael.
Thank you very much Peter! And to everyone else at Smitiuch Injury Law!
I was involved in a car accident that left me in a coma for 3 weeks, a brain injury with permanent damage to my brain and several parts of my body.
The day i met Michael i experienced his genuine loving self at my side, like a guardian angel. I knew he was there for my best interest in every sense. He would ask me how i felt and how things were going with my recovery and therapy sessions, if anything i didn't like, he would make sure it was corrected to not waste anytime and maximize my recovery.
With a brain injury of that degree, one small error and time wasted would really make things worse, but thanks to his professionalism and dedication, i was under his wings with his guidance when needed, i couldn't of felt more secure from the day i met Michael to the last day i met up with him to say good-bye.
I knew he was the lawyer that could get it done, and i would recommend him 100% to anyone in need of a lawyer due to a personal injury. Every time i go and visit him, i still get that feeling as if i saw angel.
We consider ourselves lucky to have had Smitiuch Injury Law fight for us in court. Their entire team are friendly warm, caring and very supportive. They strived for justice and were dedicated to us and our family. Mike and Peter were extremely supportive through our entire experience with them.
Mike and Peter worked and fought hard for our victory in court. Thank you so much for being there for us.
We are going to recommend Smitiuch Injury Law to our family and friends.
"Smitiuch Injury Law is not just a law firm, they are a team of compassionate and dedicated people striving for justice and compensation for their clients. Our family has known this firm for almost ten years. They helped us through the darkest time of our lives, they got justice for us, and the compensation for our daughter that she well deserved. They stand behind their clients every step of the way. The entire staff are professional, courteous, and always in touch with their clients. I would highly recommend Michael Smitiuch and his team for anyone who has been injured, and needs help from a truly professional and highly successful team."
"Michael Smitiuch and his team are very effective advocates for people who are at the worst moment in their life. They are knowledgeable, compassionate, and aren't afraid to fight for the little guy."
"Mike was great & honest throughout the whole long process. Right from the first time we met him, he remained the same. Supportive and caring."
"Smitiuch Injury Law is not just a business it's a passion in getting justice for their clients. As former clients we can attest to the honesty and professionalism of their lawyers. The staff are friendly and courteous when directing calls to the appropriate person. In person they provide a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Michael and Peter worked extremely hard to obtain our win in court and made history in the law world. They were supportive and knowledgeable throughout our case. They were always to the point and confident in the evidential outcome. Having known this firm and the staff for 14 years they are family and the best in every aspect. They will always be a huge part of our lives and we attribute our justice to their expertise and professionalism."


text:
Deer Hunting: 6 Rules for More Success with Ground Blinds
By Mark Melotik
When it comes to ground blinds versus treestands for mature white-tailed deer, the choice for me has always been fairly easy. As in, if there's any chance a treestand can work at a specific location, 9.9 times out of 10 you will find me up a tree, hugging bark. The reason is that treestands offer a litany of bowhunting advantages, not the least of which are far superior viewing of incoming game (allowing more time to adjust and prepare for a shot), and far more accurate judging of trophy quality (your elevated vantage point almost instantly clues you into rack width and other telling characteristics).
Still, I've done enough big-game hunting from ground blinds (primarily pronghorns), that I know these portable wonders can work magic when conditions are right. And when it comes to whitetails, I'm inspired to expand their use when I cross paths with and tap the knowledge of bowhunters who depend on them consistently. One such expert is Brooks Johnson, 47, president of Minnesota Bowhunters Inc.; our recent talk has me thinking I've got to devote more time to ground blind hunting this season. Conversing with the enigmatic Johnson can do that to a guy.
Johnson's resume includes a long stint as co-owner of Double Bull Blinds (now owned by Primos Hunting), and during that 12-plus-year stretch Johnson traveled to literally dozens of states, where he hunted most species of North American game, from the ground. Even today, Johnson continues to depend on ground blinds regularly. Here are some things he has learned about using ground blinds to ambush mature whitetails.
1. Make Sure They See It—Or Can't
"My number one tip is, don't surprise the deer with your blind," Johnson says. "The deer need to be able to see it from a distance—or not at all, meaning it needs to be 'brushed-in' so it literally disappears into the surrounding vegetation. And if you're placing one in a relatively open spot, my personal rule is the deer need to be able to see it from at least 100 yards before they will be consistently comfortable approaching it. If they come around a corner and see it at less than 50 yards, they're out of there—guaranteed. I've found that from 50 to 100 yards is kind of a gray zone where pretty much anything can happen."
2. Let 'Em Get Used To It
"Another option is to set the blind out well in advance, so the encounter becomes part of their daily routine," Johnson says. Just how far in advance? Johnson's recommendation might surprise you. "For mature bucks, you're looking at a few weeks. Mature bucks get old for a reason, and they need time to observe plenty of other deer hanging around that blind before they will come near it."
3. Decoys Make A Difference
One scenario that can throw a wrench in Johnson's strict rules listed above is when decoys are involved. "I think decoys are one of the best ways to use a ground blind. And I'll go so far as to say, for mature deer on a same-day set, the best-case scenario for that is with decoys. I always use a buck, and sometimes pair it with a doe. I like to use a full-body, realistic 3-D buck, and I'll pair it with a Montana Decoy doe. Passing bucks will see that combo and think my fake buck has something he wants, and his focus is going to be on that buck decoy instead of the blind. It's the envy factor."
4. Set Up A Destination Ambush
Another of Johnson's hard-won tips involves blind location. He advises against random deep woods sites and other obvious travel corridors, instead choosing to place his blinds where a mature buck wants to be. An isolated waterhole might be the best example. "Setting ground blinds where deer have options is not your best bet," Johnson explained. "For example, if you have three trails running through the woods and set up on one of them, a mature buck will avoid the trail with the blind almost every time, and simply take one of the other trails. But when you have an isolated water hole, or maybe a bait situation or small food plot, that's when those mature bucks will get used to your blind. And really, it's because they have to. Anywhere water is scarce, and you have the opportunity to hunt waterholes, it's just one of the best places in the world to set up a ground blind. At some point you'll get to watch most every animal in the area.""
5. Escape Scrutiny of Concentrated Deer
Another of Johnson's favorite ground blind setups? Anywhere you find lots of deer concentrated, where drawing your bow undetected can be difficult, even from high treestands. "If there are a lot of eyes, and in a lot of areas that can be in conjunction with a prime water or food source, ground blinds are the ticket because you don't have to worry about drawing."
6. Deploy a Blind After Scouting
It was Clint Eastwood, as the iconic character Dirty Harry, who said, "A man's got to know his limitations." Hunkering in a ground blind has at least one glaring, undeniable weakness. "Blinds suck as a scouting tool," Johnson admits, citing the extremely limited visibility in general, and especially in comparison to observing area deer movement 15 or more feet up in a treestand. So make sure your arsenal includes one or two of each and get ready to have some fun.
"A ground blind, especially for scouting new areas, is not the best tool in the world," Johnson continued. "But once you have the deer pegged, a blind does so much to conceal your scent and movement it can be a tremendous advantage once you figure out what the deer are doing."
Are you one of those bowhunters who simply packs away the blinds after spring turkey season? It might be time to consider some of Johnson's sage advice and use them wisely this fall—to get the drop on one of the wisest animals to roam the fields and woods: a cagey old mature buck.
More Game Changers


text:
The House of Mirth ~ Edith Wharton
I missed Edith's birthday last week so catching up with a belated Happy Birthday now...
Continuing my foray into the writing of Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth was next off the pile after The Age of Innocence and I think I had perhaps stumbled on the best reading order. The former went some way to laying the foundations (sorry) for the latter; one elaborating on the life, social habits and unspoken rules of Old New York, the other revealing the dire consequences if a person couldn't quite fit that mould for whatever reason. The reasons could be manifold but predominantly a lack of money 'earned' ( I use the word lightly) in the right way, and sufficiently long ago so as not to be 'new', was enough to exclude most people from the hallowed inner circle, and Lily Bart is up against it from the off.
I am always intrigued by the direction in which an author will take a chaotic, dysfunctional childhood, and as the adult Lily lays in the dark 'reconstructing the past out of which her present had grown' there was much to feast on. Emotionally absent parents, a demandingly 'vigorous and determined mother' and a brow-beaten 'neutral-tinted father', a 'changing dynasty of nurses and footmen' with profligate trips to Europe interspersed by summers spent at Newport, Rhode Island...
' a zig-zag broken course down which the family craft glided on a rapid current of amusement, tugged at by the underflow of perpetual need - the need of more money.'
With little appreciation of the value of money or what may be involved in its aquisition, Lily has little concept of what will follow when the family fortunes are ruined and her father subsequently (and probably gratefully) dies.
When her mother's death throws her on the mercy of her aunt Mrs Peniston, who will 'try her for a year', the die is cast and Lily's reliance on others is complete. Rootless and effectively home-less Lily must become a social chameleon, an actress who can supress her own desires and personality, an artist who can paint the picture others want to see in order to blend into any background and fulfill any role required of her to remain within the circle. The circle itself a relentless round of ennui, falseness, monotony and vanity for the women especially, who will only be preserved within its precincts if they can lay claim to a man and a fortune.
One of Edith Wharton's most consummate skills for me as I read The House of Mirth was to sustain the edge and my interest through the middle third of the book. With its focus on the vacuity and sustained ennui of the social lives, hours spent fretting over the minutiae of social niceties...well that same sense was almost invoked in this reader. I wondered too whether Edith was imagining, to some extent, the life that she had escaped from, the one that she had married into, a life of unquestioning obedience to shallow social values that left women disempowered.
I dipped a toe (just a toe) into The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen. Published in 1899 it is considered the definitive analysis of the 'socio-economics of affluent American societies, and its truths could very much have been the blueprint for The House of Mirth.... 'Wives flaunted as trophies, their bared bosoms draped with jewels, as proof of their men's wealth and success', suggests Martha Banta in her introduction.
Oh no, not another dinner party...
Oh no, not more posh frocks...
Oh no, not another carriage drive down Fifth Avenue.
There is a marvellous moment when Lily performs in a tableau representing Mrs Lloyd, a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It says much about Edith Wharton's vision of Lily and no wonder the tableau caused quite a stir. The last person on God's earth you would want to excite is the portly, rather rubicund and everso slightly eager Mr Gus Trenor. Poor Lily, the consequences will be profound.
Then it was "Oh no, not another cruise," except this one is different, Lily will be deceived, used and deeply humiliated, the sacrificial lamb finally taken to the altar in order to rescue a marriage in distress, unceremoniously dumped in the South of France and her downward spiral begins.
'I wasn't meant to be good,' says Lily ultimately broken on the wheel, and though I am sure everyone knows the ending I won't spoilt it for those that haven't read this one yet.
The denoument felt neither melodramatic nor overwrought and given events Edith Wharton could be forgiven for descending into either or both. Instead the brushstrokes felt featherlight and tender as I sniffed my way through.
Suffice to say I was completely absorbed and utterly convinced by the changing phases of Lily's life. Her yearning for security and love clouded by her need for money.
'... The only way not to think about money is to have great deal of it.'
says Lily to the on-off-off-on love of her life Lawrence Selden (who, forgive me but I just wanted to slap around the mutton chops for his indeciveness and mistimed and misplaced interventions in Lily's life) as it becomes increasingly clear that Lily's scant and superficial resilience is going to run out any day.
Lily's foibles all masking a fundamentally 'good' person, desperately lonely yet one who, when the chips were down, refused to compromise her integrity or her honour and I defy anyone to read this as the end of the book is nigh and not have a bit of a lip-quiver...
'I have tried hard - but life is difficult and I am a very useless person... I was just a screw or a cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else....'
I heart Lily Bart and I heart Edith Wharton too.
I read this in the Oxford World Classics edition because in a 1936 preface to the book Edith expresses her pride at inclusion on their list. I'm sure many of you have read it and I'd love to know what you think...
...is The House of Mirth Edith's best novel??
I am begining to think it might be, with The Custom of the Country a close second of those I have read to date, but in my mind at least The House of Mirth remains as valid and as powerful now as the day it was written.
And the next question is... should I now watch the film??
Enthusing over Edith...
Women in War ~ Edith Wharton
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | Permalink | Comments (39)
The Age of Innocence ~ Edith Wharton
'In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphical world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs...'
So having been on that virtual visit to The Mount, and hastened to the Edith Wharton shelf, the first novel I settled on for this little reading journey was The Age of Innocence. I read it in the old Oxford World's Classics edition with this cover picture a detail from An Evening at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen by Paul Gustav Fischer. It made for perfect gazing as I stopped and pondered the book, all eyes very cleverly focused on a woman sitting alone and seemingly isolated.
I think we've been through the whole 'Why on earth haven't I read The Age of Innocence before?' and I am confident that this Edith Wharton foray will yield some great reading before the trail eventually lures me off in another direction. I am sitting on (not literally) the new biography Nancy - The Story of Lady Astor by Adrian Fort though I don't know how long I can keep my hands off it. There are real local connections to pursue with Nancy given that she was the first woman MP and the seat she won was Plymouth, but I want to spend a while with Edith and the glittering world of Old New York first.
Published in 1920, The Age of Innocence, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize the following year and it would seem no one was more surprised than Edith. In fact everyone else was probably surprised too, including Sinclair Lewis whose novel Main Street was chosen by the prize jury only for that decision to be over-ruled in favour of Edith Wharton by 'higher authorities.'
Imagine that happening today...or does it??
By this time Edith was earning big money too, an $18,000 payment for The Age of Innocence along with further payment of $15,000 against royalties came as a welcome boost to the bank balance of a woman who was restoring and running two homes. Editors of the fabulous volume of Edith's letters that I am dipping into alongside my reading estimate that between 1920 and 1924 her earnings were approximately $250,000 (in 1988, the year of publication of these letters, that was calculated as about $3,000,000 in today's money) which gives much credence to her popularity whilst adding to the mystery of quite how and why Edith fell out of fashion for some years before a resurgence in the 1970s.
It would seem that not a great deal happens in The Age of Innocence.
On the surface, and perhaps even more so to a 21st century reader, lives seem superficial and beset by boredom and monotony in the gilded age of wealthy 1870s New York. People don't seem to do much and pay lip service to the notion of work without breaking into a sweat whilst living off inherited money. This is a closed circle of 'old money' that admits outsiders, the 'new money', with reluctance, and of course I immediately saw parallels with rural life here. Whilst the community may not be quite so 'moneyed' there is much suspicion levelled by the old guard at those who seem to appear from nowhere, buy up a large country estate and proceed to live the life.
It will be many years before the likes of Mrs Struther are considered true 'locals' but Edith Wharton cleverly pins down that willingness of the old guard to sample the hospitality nevertheless...
'It was thus, Archer reflected, that New York managed its transitions : conspiring to ignore them till they were well over, and then, in all good faith, imagining that they had taken place in a preceeding age. There was always a traitor in the citadel; and after he (or generally she) has surrendered the keys, what was the use of pretending that it was impregnable? Once people had tasted of Mrs Struther's easy Sunday hospitality they were not likely to sit at home remembering that her champagne was transmuted Shoe-Polish.'
Newland Archer and May Welland, living in their world of 'faint implications and pale delicacies', are betrothed and swiftly married at Newland's impatient insistence, and perhaps more out of convenience and convention than real love, and it is the arrival of May's cousin, the enigmatic Ellen Olenska, in the throes of a divorce from her Polish husband, that will gently upset the marital apple cart. I say 'gently' because this is Old New York, 'tumultuously' would be inconceivable within a community that has sufficient power and authority at its kid-gloved fingertips to ensure that everything is kept cleverly beneath the surface. Appearances must be kept up at all costs, so the possibilities are rarely given voice and only allowed to bubble up through occasional cracks. It is never made clear quite what makes Count Olenska so dreadful that to return to him would be unthinkable, but lawyer Newland works tirelessly on the divorce inevitably becoming besotted with Ellen in the process.
May is not quite the dupe she would seem and plays a canny game with her husband, leaving the reader in no doubt that she is fully aware of what is happening, though Newland might be too blinkered to see it. Under no circumstances will May relinquish her husband and herself to a life of scandal, and when matters do come to a head it is the tribe that steps in to support her, and with such devastating precision at a dinner party.
The penny finally drops for Newland...
'He guessed himself to have been, for months, the centre of countless silently observing eyes and patiently listening ears, he understood that, by means as yet unknown to him, the seperation between himself and the partner of his guilt had been achieved, and that now the whole tribe had rallied about his wife on the tacit assumption that nobody knew anything, or had ever imagined anything...'
Along the way I think Edith Wharton has created one of the most memorable characters I have yet to meet in her fiction...well, apart from Undine Sprague in The Custom of the Country that is. Prepare to meet a Wharton classic in the 'carniverous old lady', Mrs Manson Mingott...
'The immense accretion of flesh which has descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city had changed her from a plump active woman with a neatly turned foot and ankle into something as cast and august as a natural phenomenon.'
Well I nearly choked on my cup of tea... Edith being best read on the sofa on a gloomy, overcast winter's afternoon with a blazing fire and a pot of the best Earl Grey...oh for a day bed like Edith's...
Confined by the burden of her flesh to a single floor of her New York home it is Mrs Mingott who holds court in her sitting room with a very unacceptable glimpse of a frivolous, lace-flounced bedroom....'in flagrant violation of all the New York proprieties.'
For me, Edith Wharton's skill rests not only with her depiction of this elite, insular, tight little citadel and her barely diguised disdain for it, but also in her acute observance of the social nuances and the motives behind them.
'Madame Olenska is a great favourite with the gentlemen,' said Miss Sophy, with her air of wishing to put forth something conciliatory when she knew that she was planting a dart...'
Moments that added up, piece by piece to a complete understanding for this reader.
The ending, which of course I won't reveal, is replete with yet more unspoken anguish as it becomes clear what fate has awaited those who tried but failed to break free.
The Age of Innocence was initially serialised and sent to the U.S. publishers in instalments from Edith Wharton's home in Paris. For all the money that Edith was earning she was no pushover when it came to laying down her terms, and getting wind that the publishers may 'tamper with the text of the novel' she had this to say...
'I have done a really super-human piece of work in writing. within a year, the best part of two long novels, entirely different in subject and treatment, simply to suit the convenience of the Editor of the Pictorial and I cannot consent to have my work treated as if it were prose-by-the-yard.'
Brilliant.... loving the Edith.
Monday, December 03, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (10)
Every so often I am drawn back to our Edith.
Edith Wharton that is. I'm not sure I know of any other literary Ediths, though doubtless someone will now think of another ten....and I have just thought of Edith Pargiter so will get that one in first.
Perhaps it is snowing and I feel the urge to read Ethan Frome yet again, or perhaps I glance at the shelf and realise I still haven't read half of the novels. This time around it was a visit to The Mount in Lenox Massachussets that did it.
Not that I budged from my armchair mind you, no I leave all that hoohah about locking up the house and getting to the airport, and checking in for the long haul flight and coping with the jet lag, and racing around another continent and driving on the other side of the road, and then back home to piles of post and washing and the empty fridge, I leave all of that to Barbara at Milady's Boudoir. As well as meeting up whenever she has schlepped down west for a visit I tag along on Barbara's virtual literary travels with her too.
So recently I had an email along the lines of ' Send me your address, I am 'somewhere' and I want to send you a postcard.' I duly obliged and then a week or so later this postcard appeared..
And then followed Barbara's blog posts about her visit to The Mount, home of Edith Wharton and a wander around the grounds and I was completely inspired.
I headed straight to the Edith shelves, no messing...
...and gathered together a great big voluminous pile of Edith and started browsing uncontrollably.
Does this happen to you??
Eventually I had to get it under some sort of control and sort out a little shelf of unread possibles...
And it is at this point I have to confess that I have never read The House of Mirth.
I will pause while you all *gasp*
So I sit here with a huge stack of books and am like a butterfly as I flit from one to the next with that huge surge of enthusiasm for a writer I had forgotten about for a while. In my mind Barbara's pictures of Edith's home and her library,
...and there, in one of the books in front of me the newspaper cutting that I had sensibly kept and even filed in the right place for once, about the sale of those books and their eventual return to their rightful place at The Mount. I had known that the books had been retrieved from the Saltwood Castle home of MP Alan Clark and eventually sold back to the U.S. by a Yorkshire man, but I had no idea that Colin Clark, brother of Alan and son of Kenneth Clark had been Edith Wharton's godson and had been left the books in her will.
Then I have to decide what I am actually going to read. Rather than twenty pages each from ten different books...which particular one am I going to settle on.
I really would like to read Hermione Lee's biography but haven't managed that yet though I do browse it, so I settled on the much 'lighter' (and with lots of pictures) one by Eleanor Dwight.
I am going to head for some of the short stories too, because the new Persephone short story collection has me right in the mood having read Edith Wharton's Roman Fever in there. I had read it before but it still has the power to surprise, surely one of the most perfectly formed short stories with its delivery of that quietly satisfying knock-out punch in the last line. You can read Roman Fever here and please do let me know if you agree.
In the end The Age of Innocence was first up amongst the novels, and yes I too was mystifed as to why I hadn't read that either. I have finished that now, and for those who *gasped* backalong you will be very pleased to know I have finally moved on to The House of Mirth.
All I can say about that is *gasp* what an amazing book so far.
So how about you... your favourite Edith Whartons??
Monday, November 12, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (39)
Finding myself in mid-Edith Wharton Fest, and gathering together all the books by and about her that I possess, I came across a thing of beauty... a little Hesperus Press edition of Fighting France - From Dunkerque to Belfort by our Edith in the War Cabinet. This is a rather grand name for the £10 bookcase with sliding glass doors (clever Bookhound find) where I keep all my war-related reading.
From the blurb..
'Opening in August 1914, as the onset of the First World War is announced to a sunlit Paris, Edith Wharton's chronicle of her experience of the front lines powerfully evokes a country and a way of life under threat.
As nuanced in her observations of human behaviour as she is in her vivid depictions of French landscape and architecture, Wharton fully exploits her unique position as consort to Walter Berry, President of the Amercian Chamber of Commerce in Paris, which allows her unparalleled access to life in the trenches. Sensitive without sentimentality, Fighting France is nothing less than an inspirational testament to the strength of the human spirit as a time of great adversity.'
And what a record this is. Edith Wharton's writerly instinct for spotting what lies beneath which I am finding so skillfull and so entertaining in her fiction, now turned on a shocking moment in history witnessed first hand...
'...for a minute I has the sense of an all-pervading, invisible power of evil, a saturation of the whole landscape with some hidden vitriol of hate. The the reaction of the unbelief set in, and I felt myself in a harmless ordinary glen, like a million others on an untroubled earth...'
But unlike many others Edith is also able to get away from the trouble and take a holiday on the Riviera every so often, as revealed in another book in my Edith pile, My Dear Governess, The Letters of Edith Wharton to Anna Bahlmann ...and who can blame Edith for getting away. This wasn't her war and she could so easily have remained in comfortable but stultifying splendour back in New York, but as Colm Toibin elaborates in his introduction...
'Edith Wharton had grown to love France...her novelist's eye for the perfect detail was matched ...with a sense of moral grandeur and warlike fervour, which makes her book and important document not only about the state of the front but of the state of mind of a woman who passionately and idealistically supported the war...'
a good little book for a very different perspective, and that of a woman.
Interestingly too Fighting France was published in 1915 having first appeared as a series of tmely and informative articles in Scribner's Magazine, and at a time when many foreign corrsepondents were still excluded from the war zone. However, the publication in 1923 of Edith Wharton's novel of the Great War, A Son at the Front was considered mistimed and misplaced. J.B. Priestley of the opinion that the novel had arrived at the wrong moment according to Mary Conde, in an essay I discovered in one of those books that sits on the shelf in case it comes in useful one day, Women's Fiction and the Great War (edited by Raitt and Tate). Either too early or too late, though belated and out of date was the general consensus, with people finding it too painful to go back and look at such recent sorrow and pain... and looking at that cover on an early edition it is not hard to see why.
Please do keep your Women in War reading suggestions coming, I will compile a list as a blog post this weekend. Mixing the wars for a minute, the Tinker is already reading Jude's suggestion Fifty Years of Silence by Jan Ruff O'Herne, harrowing and courageous in the extreme is his verdict so far. His was one of the ships that brought prisoners-of-war home from Japan at the end of the Second World War, so he is no stranger to the aftermath...yet still he is shocked.
Goodness...how vital all these primary source accounts are.
Thursday, November 08, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (16)
The Touchstone
Despite having a stack of varied and engrossing books on the go I suddenly felt the need to break into more of that tempting display of Hesperus books I waved in front of you last week.I decided on comfort zone, familiar territory and readable in one sitting because those sort of reads offer a unique experience, it was to be The Touchstone by Edith Wharton.
The house was quiet, which is rare at the moment, but the kitchen was a bit of a mess, which is not rare. I'd been left strict instructions not to waste precious home-alone time clearing up but to indulge in other more pleasurable tasks.
Who am I to disagree? So I closed my eyes as I walked through, made a pot of tea and settled down with Edith.
I hadn't read The Touchstone before but I knew, just knew, that I was in the familiar waters of an Edith Wharton read.
Down on his beam ends Glennard has failed to cadge a free night out from amongst his wealthy friends
"As he turned into Fifth Avenue he caught the wet gleam of carriages on their way to the opera, and he took the first side street, in a moment of irritation against the petty restrictions that thwarted every impulse. It was ridiculous to give up the opera, not because one might possibly be bored there, but because one must pay for the experiment"
Who else writes about New York society like our Edith?
In a previous life in the UK, Stephen Glennard has been the object of infatuation of a celebrated lady novelist. Eventually fleeing the continent to escape the unwanted attentions of Margaret Aubyn of whom Glennard felt "genius is of small use to a woman who does not know how to do her hair" the letters of adoration appear thick and fast and all unrequited.
Following her death Margaret Aubyn has become a national treasure and the public is hungry for anything and everything about her. With this sudden interest in her life comes a call for any available letters and of course Glennard has drawers stacked with them.
Selling anonymously he may as well have sold his soul as the full extent of his turpitude and perfidy (I've lifted these two wickedly expressive words from Salley Vickers foreword and plan to use such gems on a daily basis) becomes apparent to all and sundry who read the book of letters when it is published.
This is vintage Edith with a fascinating debate about some of the moral issues surrounding the publication of personal correspondence and having read Salley Vickers foreword and then substituting George Eliot for Margaret Aubyn I saw the book in a whole new light.
Lest I stood accused of perfidy and turpitude myself I did wander off and sort out the kitchen but hardly noticed I was doing it as I pondered this remarkable little book.
Thursday, May 24, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (6)
Middlemarch Book One ~ Miss Brook


text:
STOLOFF, Carolyn
MoreTRIPTYCH
[Sideshow Performers]: [Randion]
BIOGRAPHY OF PRINCE RANDION: World's...
MoreBIOGRAPHY OF PRINCE RANDION: World's Greatest Living Half Man / PALACE OF WONDERS
SPENDER, Stephen (editor)
W.H. AUDEN: A Tribute
MoreW.H. AUDEN: A Tribute
[Situationists]: [Pro-Situ]. [PERLMAN, Fredy].
BLACK & RED - No...
MoreBLACK & RED - No. 6 - March 1969
[Situationists]: [Pro-Situ]. Point-Blank!
STRANGE DEFEAT: The Chilean Revolution 1973
MoreSTRANGE DEFEAT: The Chilean Revolution 1973
ROBINSON, Kit
THE CHAMPAGNE OF CONCRETE
MoreTHE CHAMPAGNE OF CONCRETE
ROBINSON, Joan
COLLECTED ECONOMIC PAPERS: Volume One
MoreCOLLECTED ECONOMIC PAPERS: Volume One
ST. DENIS, Ruth and Ted...
THE DENISHAWN MAGAZINE: A Quarterly...
MoreTHE DENISHAWN MAGAZINE: A Quarterly Review Devoted to the Art of the Dance: Vol. 1 No. 1 [and]...
STEWART, Alan
THE CRADLE KING: The Life...
MoreTHE CRADLE KING: The Life of James VI & I, the First Monarch of a United Great Britain
SAMUELSON, Dale and Wendy Yegoiants
THE AMERICAN AMUSEUMENT PARK
MoreTHE AMERICAN AMUSEUMENT PARK
BIOGRAPHY OF PRINCE RANDION: World's Greatest Living Half Man / PALACE OF WONDERS
(Coney Island): n.p., [c. 1920]. Wraps. 8vo. Bifold leaflet. Toned; lower edge sunned. Moderate edgewear, with creasing throughout and a few small closed tears. Small archival tape reinforcement at spine. [4]pp. Very good. Very good. Item #23048
Biographical show pamphlet for Prince Randion, a longtime sideshow performer at Coney Island's Palace of Wonders and star of one of the most famous scenes in Tod Browning's FREAKS (1932), in which he was cast as The Living Torso (miscredited as "Rardion").
Randion (also known as Randian) was born in 1871 in Demerara, British Guyana without arms or legs due to Tetra-Amelia syndrome. Of the several sideshow performers sharing his condition, Randion was the most famous, with the signature trick of rolling a cigarette from loose tobacco, lighting it, and smoking it, as may be seen in his memorable (and only) film appearance. The brochure details this and other self-taught skills incorporated in his act, closing with praise for his "well-trained, bright and flexible mind, a characteristic native intelligence, a thirst for knowledge of the world and a desire to travel."
Reportedly recruited by P.T. Barnum as a young man, Randion traveled to the U.S. to begin a long career as a sideshow performer and would spend more than 40 years at Coney Island. The photograph reproduced in this brochure shows him seated on a stool next to his wife, known as "Princess Sarah," with whom he had four children; the family eventually settled in Paterson, New Jersey. Randion is described as 49 years old in the text, dating this copy to approximately 1920. Browning's FREAKS remains an empathetic portrait of the exploited and ostracized, one Randion's brief performance helped bolster. An ephemeral document from an iconic sideshow performer.
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