Clarendon's design inspired by the vibrancy and character of the market.
A successful restaurateur is a mix between a shape-shifting number-cruncher, an agile tightrope acrobat with aerialist aspirations, an eagle-eyed pitbull with balls of steel and a refined epicurean of unknowable depths. These creatures often work in the shadows, rarely get the accolades nor, to be fair, the scathing reviews their chefs do. It would not be a stretch to say that our world would be tasteless without them.
Enter my friends Caroline Gosselin and Peter Boole who, together, have formed an enduring partnership over two decades in a world of unforgiving rocky shores strewn with carcasses crowned in wilting laurels. The success they have achieved in not only staying open but afloat and relevant in our fickle seas of change is remarkable and rare. Together, they own the iconic e18hteen and Sidedoor, as well as the newcomers Jackson and Clarendon Tavern. Peter also owns the ageless Social on Sussex Drive.
Restaurant design is as hand-wringing a process as it is a deeply rewarding one, and quite ironically for the very same reason: time, or more succinctly, the lack thereof. Restaurants cannot stay closed too long before opening, or the ship will sink before she even hits water. To a designer, this means most decisions are to be made upfront, well before the ink is even dry on the rental or purchase contract. If you are getting a sniff of a gamble here, take that to the bank: The restaurant world is not for the weak of stomach, nor for profiteers. It is a vocational world of mavericks with a flair for the theatrical and madmen with a weakness for the delectable.
The ultimate sidekick of a restaurateur is the designer whose primary aim is to be the Rorschach equivalent to the owner's food. Over the past three years, I have had the honour of being the splattered ink put through this blotting not once, not twice, but a total of four times. I think it is important to this story to disclose that Peter and I have been in a lasting and committed relationship for exactly the same amount of time as he has redone his entire fleet of eateries.
Yes, feel free to go ahead and think it: Our relationship is a miracle.
It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I walked through the Clarendon's rooms last Christmas. Peter had not signed the lease agreement and yet, looking over at the fire in his eyes, I knew it was all but a done deed: My man likes a good story, and The Clarendon Tavern had it in spades.
One of the oldest buildings in Ottawa, the Clarendon Hotel opened in 1864, briefly served as Army barracks until 1871 and reverted to a hotel until 1879, when the Government of Canada bought it. From the early days, the building took on value as a place that held significant public services and cultural institutions. Interestingly, the building was used to host the inaugural exhibit of the Canadian Academy of Arts whose works formed the initial collection of the National Gallery of Canada.
When you own a portfolio of eateries, you try and balance it. Caroline and Peter's savvy lies in riding the market's ups and downs, or—in the Clarendon's case—reading it every which way. In our Ottawa market saturated with new restaurants (increased offer) and a stagnant population of patrons (decreased demand), they saw an opportunity to serve simpler fare at lower prices. In case you think this may be an easy feat, I would like to refer you to a coffee mug for sale at our National Gallery shop that says, "To those who look at a Picasso and think, 'Easy. I can do that'", the answer is, 'But you didn't'. Enter the aforementioned high-wire act: How do you create dishes that cost less, look good, taste great, all the while keeping them flavourful and fresh?
The large dining room flaunts a Safavieh wool area carpet that echoes the shapes, texture and colours of the Cole and Son wallpaper in the bar area. The entire space is anchored by a whimsical Heidi Conrod mixed-media piece.
The simple two-word answer is: David Godsoe.
Godsoe may be the very best kept secret to us non-foodie-in-the-know lay(wo)men with an appetite: The talented chef who took over the mantle at e18hteen is performing his very own culinary Rorschach at The Clarendon Tavern. With brilliant gusto, he has composed a menu where every plate, including mains, is under $20. In case you may think this is a typo, I wrote a two followed by a zero. To put this into perspective, I would like to let you in to a dirty little secret of my own. It is so dirty that my boyfriend has an alias for it: I sometimes swerve off the road to my cottage to eat at my "favourite Scottish restaurant", aka McDonald's. Simply put, the Clarendon is comparatively priced. In fact, between 4 and 6 p.m. and after 10 p.m., its prices even best McD's with its $5 snack menu. The main difference is that one won't clog your arteries with genetically modified organisms or saturated fat while, at the same time, and quite contrarily, the other one hands you the opportunity to inflame them right back up with a great glass of wine, vintage cocktails or craft beer. In my books, that's called the best of both worlds.
Back to the nitty-gritty: Godsoe. You know that feeling you get when you get older that it seems like everyone is getting younger? But, then to overcompensate, you think you are wiser? Try here at your own risk. Godsoe is younger AND wiser. In other words, he is like his food: a rare treat. It could have taken someone only as dedicated and passionate as David to serve up "big and admirable flavours", as the Ottawa Citizen's Peter Hum precisely put it, at low cost. When I talked to the Chef, as glistening morsels of orange-infused duck confit hung from my lips, he gave me a glimpse into how lucky we Capital Dwellers not only were to be so close to locally sourced ingredients, but to farmers and artisans who lavished love and time into their craft of culture. Before reducing, recycling and reusing was the only the way to leave our children a better planet, it was a well-practised dictum in the culinary world. Take mushrooms, for example. The day I spoke to Godsoe, he was expecting 20 crates of delicate wild mushroom varietals for e18hteen. Do you know what the enterprising chef makes out of the leftovers? He makes a mushroom demi for the Clarendon poutine. That's right, folks: The most succulent poutine in Ottawa is vegetarian. Hit me with a feather.
Speaking of vegetarian. My nine-year-old quite dramatically proclaimed she was a "pest-tatarian" (pescetarian) last month, and if I did not already know how limited eating-out options are for people so philosophically inclined, as many of my friends and family are de facto leaf-lovers, her choice really underscored the point. As vegetarianism is on the rise, so is the understanding of savvy restaurateurs in meeting this need. In a playful acronym twist, The Clarendon Tavern's KFC stands for Kentucky Fried Cauliflower and is quite the Cinderella story: The oft-maligned Brassica Oleracea is a stand-out on the small plate menu with a finger-licking crustilicious rendition of a deep-fried, whisper-sweet, pickled cauliflower. Chef Godsoe coats the florets in a secret blend of 14 spices, and spreads his crackling masterpiece over a thin, chili cashew cheese blanket.
Of equal interest, light fare is also on the up and up. Body-conscious, taste-forward, ethical-minded people have not been left off menu at this Byward Market tavern. Bring on the spicy coconut lemongrass tom yum with shrimp and the fresh-as-roses tuna poke. Vegans have more than a nod with the Hearty Bowl of sprouted grains, chickpeas and cashew dressing, as well as two flatbreads called "Farm Vegetables" and "Olive and Rosemary", not to mention the heart-warming lentil tourtiere with tomato chutney and mushroom gravy.
The development of a menu that will withstand the vagaries of taste and time is a protracted and often painful exercise. It involves a lot of self-doubt, spoiled food and hairsplitting (after it was pulled). Yet, the design needs to rest on the overarching theme and demographics of the restaurant before the menu is tweaked, before the kitchen is built and, yes, before the ink is dry on the lease of the space, itself. I was told this: The Clarendon needed to feel like a pub, but slightly less pedestrian, look like a tavern, but slightly less cavernous, and, above all, be unique.
I would like to take the space to clarify a point that has become important to me: The restaurants I designed were completed on a strict budget—not a shoestring one, by any means, but nowhere close to the added zeroes involved in a Joey's or a Shore Club outfit, for example. This may be the biggest pitfall of any new restaurateur: overspend on design. In order to not fully shoot myself in the foot here, I want to add that it takes a firm hand to lead an expansion, renovation or full-on new build, and Peter and Caroline have a team of trades that have faithfully worked for them over the decades. This well-oiled machine supports the chameleonic efforts of our reinventing restaurateurs and may well be the backbone of their true success.
The bar oozes with Portuguese tiles from Euro Tile and Stone and leather stools from Wayfair. The bar is solid white oak to match the floor, and the panelling in the dining room. The library lights are a nod to the cheeky concept.
The Clarendon's eponymous green and black tiles hark back to my Parisian childhood memories of the corner butcher. The white, oak panels are a lighter version of my University cafeteria walls at Trinity College, and the distressed floor tiles bring back flashes of my sunny summer visit to the old town of Lisboa, Portugal. The wallpaper from Cole & Son is a nod to a 19th-century carpetbagger: The man who would knock on your door to sell you an array of ingenious wares held in a large bag made from a recycled wool kilim. Sprinkle in industrial school chairs, oxblood leather banquettes, moss green velvet booths, with lobster-trap wicker lights and presto! You get approachable, recognizable, affordable design that lends itself toward calm, comfort and companionship within its hallowed walls.
lifted and new oak floors were laid, the washrooms went from grotto to whammo, and an entirely new kitchen with windows facing the street made some of the chefs green with envy.
The Clarendon Tavern is my fourth restaurant redesign with Peter Boole, owner of Social, who, together with long-time partner Caroline Gosselin, is also the fearless team behind Byward's iconic eateries e18hteen and Sidedoor and the up-and-coming jewel "Jackson" at the new Art Gallery of Ottawa.
One of my favourite and more labour-intensive touches are the vintage window lights that act like beacons on the deep sills of the Clarendon's 12 oversized and architecturally preserved windows that wrap around the building from Sussex Drive to George street. These painted ceramic table lamps were sourced one by one during the course of many months from Vanier Modern and were outfitted by handmade recreated '50s tiered parchment shades from Retromod Design in Oregon. I handpicked not only the shape and size of the shades but also their colours and patterns. Choosing each one made me feel like a child in an ice cream parlour. Christmas came early the day I unwrapped those cylindrical candy canes. Their visual pleasure made up for the pain caused by the decision to install two large televisions at the bar over the black tile panelling: As a game-changer for the sport crowd and beer-lovers, it also helped to know they were as black as the tile…when turned off. Let it be known that I compromise. I kick and scream only in private—sometimes even into a cushion. I was well brought up like that, wouldn't you know?
Ottawa is not the sleepy hollow it once was, and we must credit the teams of restaurateurs and their designers for this metamorphosis as more than any other partnership, it is they who bring change, colour and craft more swiftly and deftly than any other venue has or can in such a short time frame. Give them praise and see them shine: For their work is not just a collective and collaborative effort, it is a monumental labour of love. This deeply felt journey into the hearts and senses of their patrons is an arduous road that these hard-headed dreamers take willingly and daily. Their sole purpose is to give their all to give you pleasure.
If all else fails, happiness is but a Scotch egg away at The Clarendon Tavern.


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Mecklenburgische Brauerei Lübz is a brewery in the German city of Lübz. It is best known for the Lübzer brand. With over 160 employees, it is the biggest employer in the city and one of the largest breweries in the region. Holsten Brewery holds a majority stake in the company; Holsten, in turn, is owned by Carlsberg Group.

History
The Mecklenburgische Brauerei Lübz was founded in the year 1877 by August Krüger. During the following decades, it was operated under a variety of names, such as Bürgerliches Brauhaus GmbH zu Lübz (1905), Vereinsbrauerei Mecklenburger Wirte GmbH zu Lübz (1907), and Vereinsbrauerei Mecklenburger Wirte AG, Lübz (1921). After World War II, the brewery was dismantled, but production was able to resume in 1947. It could not be seized, as the majority stakeholder (55%) was an American citizen, so the operations continued on a fiduciary basis. A new brewery was constructed in 1969, after which it was folded into the Getränkekombinat Schwerin as "VEB Brauerei Lübz. The brewery owned the only beer canning line in East Germany and the beer was exported to West Germany.

After German reunification, the brewery was acquired by the Hamburg-based Holsten Brewery, which invested heavily in modernization. In 2004, Holsten was acquired by Carlsberg Group.

The Mecklenburgische Brauerei Lübz has a production capacity of . Alongside  and , it is one of the largest breweries in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and has sponsored football teams such as F.C. Hansa Rostock and FC Energie Cottbus.

References

1877 establishments in Germany
Beer brands of Germany
Breweries in Germany
Companies based in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Pages translated from German Wikipedia
Ludwigslust-Parchim

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The colours in these windows are BREATHTAKING. Circa 1920 SUMMER FLOWERS - FANTASTIC COLOURS - REDS, AZURE BLUES, & GREEN , WOULD MAKE AMAZING CABINET DOORS. The glass has no chips or cracks and the leading is in exellent condition. This coloured glass is of a heavy and deep texture.


We are talking about a home that you may spend the rest of your life in. MJC Construction, Inc. will guarantee that you feel satisfied and comfortable in your new home.
MJC Construction, Inc. specializes in efficient kitchen and bath remodeling.
We are a family owned business and we want to give your home that special touch and uniqueness.
MJC Construction, Inc. is a dedicated construction company that puts the homeowner's designs and requirements first. We provide our homeowners with stability and structure. We are also a custom masonry business with over 20 years' experience. It is important to us to that we stay on time and budget, but we are also patient and cooperative with the homeowner if they experience a change of thought. We want to ensure that we give them every little detail and feature that they want for their homes and we do this by working with the homeowner directly.
Choosing MJC Construction, Inc. for your construction desires makes it a stress-free and consistent process from beginning to end. We make this happen through direct communication with the you, the homeowner, and the construction crew. We are talking about a home that you may spend the rest of your life in. MJC Construction, Inc. will guarantee that you feel satisfied and comfortable in your new home.


Decorate your bar with this beautiful heavy weight decanter perfect for those nights sipping a nice smooth whiskey.
Material: Glass and metal; 10.5H x 4.5D; 3 lb.
Want to tell a friend about Copper Rim Glass Decanter? It's easy. Just enter the information requested below, click the "E-mail a Friend" button, and your message is on its way.


All aspects of copper production require energy, whether i n the form of ... In-pit crushing and conveying can eliminate ... by maintaining operations as close to the ideal ... ing, report prepared tor the U, S, Bureau of Mines, December 1982, vol.
crusher's discharge opening, as the production continues through an on-line .... Perhaps a steel-supported, modular design will be best for short-term operations, ..... Concrete stph stons ft. sq. [email protected] cu. yds. Bethlehem. Copper. Highland Valley,.
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If you dared dip one foot into the sea of your emotions, Bergamot takes your second foot in! Why not have a bath with a few drops of Davana as well?
There is a tree of the family Rutaceae, called bergamot. Its fruit is the bergamot and its essential oil bears the same name.
Indeed. When it comes to where it may originate... authors seem to like to have divergent opinions to seek clarification, whereas others seem to prefer remaining in the shadows and smell essential oil quietly.
Some say it's a cross-species between sour orange and lime. Further it is a cross between a lemon and bitter orange. Others that is cross-species between ... brace yourselves ... citron and a crossing between grapefruit and tangerine!!
About its origins, struggling seems to take precedence over consensus.
Anyway, it is. Not bad, right?
And it is beautiful enough for it to be cultivated on a large scale though it is not a table fruit (naranjine makes it bitter). The peel or the essential oil is used to flavour many things: Earl Grey tea, Cologne, Bergamots from Nancy (candy), Moroccan tagine and many other things.
The tree looks like an orange tree: very leafy. The fruit resembles a small orange. Its shape is close to that of a pear. Its thick and smooth skin is green, like its flesh, all green as well.
So, a nice little tree with a great little fruit that gives wonderful small bottles. And that's it.
Calms hard feelings and resentment.
Makes the brain go the intuitive, sensitive way.
Increases feelings of happiness, joy, peacefulness... if ever it has a name.
Very feminine, it stimulates responsiveness.
External use: proves slightly dermocaustic when used repeatedly in the same place.
Children and pregnant women: no other contraindications.


text:
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Sort results per "Jerome K. Jerome"
By Jerome K. Jerome
Publisher: David De Angelis
Three Men in a Boat, published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford. The book was...
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Told After Supper Ghost Stories on Christmas Eve
Narrator: Roy Macready
Publisher: Big Happy Family
Jerome K. Jerome is known of course for his novels that tell of the hilarious adventures of "Three Men" particularly the one where they are "in a Boat"! The stories "Told After...
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Narrator: John Rainer
Publisher: Recorded Books
Three men and a dog in a boat on one of the prettiest waterways in the world-the Thames-in summer. Idyllic, wouldn't you say? Perhaps, if George hadn't insisted on camping, and if...
Three Men In A Boat (to Say Nothing Of The Dog)
Publisher: Passerino Editore
"Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)" published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a two-week boating holiday on the...
The Cost of Kindness
Narrator: Cathy Dobson
Publisher: Red Door Consulting
Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859-1927) was an English writer and humourist.The Cost of Kindness is an ironic tale about a congregation desperate to see the back of their cantankerous...
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Jerome K. Jerome's masterpiece of gruesome fantasy.A German toymaker seeks to oblige his daughter's friends by building the perfect dancing partner. He can dance all night, never...
B. J. Harrison Reads Three Men In A Boat
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Jerome, George and Harris are three hypochondriacal friends who like to spend time comparing their illnesses, although none of them is ill. One day they decide to go on a vacation...
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Three Men on the Bummel is a sequel to equally popular humorous novel Three Men in a Boat. The sequel brings back the three companions, this time on a bicycle tour through the...
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A wonderful selection of some of the most bizarre and unsettling stories ever written. 1. "The Furnished Room", by O. Henry 2. "The Smile of La Gioconda", by Morley Roberts ...
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A wonderful collection of classic stories on the theme of love. A must-listen for the incurable romantic. "The Marquise", by George Sand "The Girl Who Was Tired of Love", by...

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text:
Young egg farmer Charles-Éric Bouchard is growing the family business
March 7, 2018 By Egg Farmers of Canada
This is the seventh of a series of profiles of young egg farmers. They are all young leaders taking part in Egg Farmers of Canada's national young farmer program.
Charles-Éric Bouchard
Saint-Gédéon-de-Beauce, Quebec
Charles-Éric Bouchard, an egg farmer from Saint-Gédéon-de-Beauce, Quebec, operates Ferme Gédésoeufs inc. together with his father, Paulin Bouchard. The farm, established in 2016, houses 26,000 hens and produces free run eggs.
Ferme Gédésoeufs is an expansion of Ferme Paulin Bouchard, owned and operated by Charles-Éric's family since 1987. The farm expansion, along with 1,000 acres of crop land where they grow corn and soybeans used in the feed for their hens and a successful woodlot, is an opportunity to involve the next generation in the family farm. And Charles-Éric, a recent graduate in agriculture economics from Université Laval, was happy to rise to the challenge.
He says that his educational training "enabled me to broaden my vision of agriculture and to cultivate work tools related to my new on-farm duties," but admits that—like many farm kids—he got his start at a young age "by working full time in the fields in the summer." Though his farm experience has mainly been in crop production, more recently he's taken a greater interest in, and responsibility for, the egg production side of the farm.
"In working with the Gédésoeufs flock, my knowledge is really expanding and diversifying. My vision of production has changed a lot and enabled me to create a job I love."
"Being fresh out of school, I like having the freedom to experiment, compare, analyze and push the boundaries of what has been done before," he says. "For now, I want to put the best of myself into egg production and maximize the farms' efficiency."
Connecting with consumers is also a passion for Charles-Éric, who has been an ambassador for the Fédération des producteurs d'œufs du Québec (FPOQ) for the past 3 years, working at public events to share his knowledge about agriculture and egg production. "I really like having the opportunity to better explain my work and that of my colleagues," he says.
Charles-Éric, who is representing FPOQ in Egg Farmers of Canada's national young farmer program, sees his participation as an opportunity "gain a network of contacts, a better understanding of current issues in the sector and contact with the people who defend our industry." Skills that will serve him well as he grows as a leader and advocate for egg farming.
Starting from scratch: meet young farmer Trevor Pickard from Saskatchewan
5th generation Ontario farmer Ian Laver continues the egg farming tradition


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Head Coach Lisa Bluder
Hawkeyes in the WNBA *Coming Soon
2020-21 Media Guide (PDF)
2020 Golf Extravaganza
Hawk Talk Schedule
Women's Basketball / March 12, 2012
Hawkeyes Draw California in NCAA Tournament
South Bend First and Second Round Information
NCAA Tournament Central
IowaWomensBasketball.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa women's basketball team has received an at-large berth into the NCAA Women's Basketball Championships. The Hawkeyes (19-11, 11-5) are a No. 9 seed and will play No. 8 seed California (24-9, 13-5) from the Pac-12 in South Bend, Ind., at the Joyce Center. First round action will begin Sunday at 11:10 (CT). The game will be televised live on ESPN2, with Dave O'Brien and Doris Burke calling the action.
This marks Iowa's 21st trip to the NCAA Tournament. Head Coach Lisa Bluder has led the Hawkeyes to nine NCAA Tournament appearances in her 12 years at Iowa, including each of the last five years.
"We are absolutely thrilled to be in the NCAA Tournament," Bluder said. "I don't care how many times you go through the selection show; it's always great to see your name come up on that screen. The NCAA Tournament is what every team strives for and we are very happy to be participating for the fifth straight season.
"We are also excited to be able to play in the Midwest," Bluder added. "The past few years we have been from east coast to west coast. Our loyal Hawkeye fans will now have a chance to travel to South Bend to see us play in the NCAA Tournament against a very solid California squad."
The California Golden Bears finished second in the Pac-12 behind Stanford, and lost to the Cardinal in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game. California and Iowa shared three common opponents during the regular season; Illinois, UNLV and Ohio State. California defeated Illinois (80-56) and UNLV (70-48) and dropped a two-point decision to Ohio State (77-75). The Hawkeyes defeated Illinois in overtime (69-62) and fell to UNLV (69-59) and Ohio State (84-71).
California is led by Layshia Clarendon, who was one of 15 players named All-Pac-12 at the end of the season. Clarendon has started all 33 games and leads the team with 12.6 points per contest. Reshanda Gray and Brittany Boyd were both named to the Pac-12 All-Freshmen team. Gray is the second leading scorer at 10.2 points per game, while Boyd is next at 10.1 points. Gennifer Brandon leads the Bears with 9.9 rebounds per game.
Iowa and California have met twice, with the Bears winning both matchups on a neutral court. The teams first met in the Sun Devil/Dial Classic in Tempe, Ariz., on Dec. 9, 1982, with California winning, 89-66. The other meeting was in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands on Nov. 29, 2008. No. 3 ranked California defeated Iowa, 76-43. The Hawkeyes are 11-16 all-time against Pac-12 opponents.
Iowa is 2-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed. The Hawkeyes advanced to the second round as a No. 9 seed in 1997 and 2002. This is the fourth time that Iowa has entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed. The Hawkeyes have never played an NCAA Tournament game in the state of Indiana.
The South Bend first/second round site is a part of the Raleigh, N.C. Regional. No. 1 seed Notre Dame will take on No. 16 seed Liberty approximately 30 minutes after Iowa's game vs. California. The two winners will meet in the second round Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CT).
Tickets can be purchased by calling (574) 631-7356 or by clicking HERE. All session tickets are $32 for adults and $22 for children college age and under.
WBB Notebook: vs. Purdue
Women's Basketball / January 17, 2021 WBB Notebook: vs. Purdue
Cohesive Hawkeyes Set Focus on Purdue
Women's Basketball / January 16, 2021 Cohesive Hawkeyes Set Focus on Purdue
Hawkeyes Lose Heartbreaker to No. 15 Buckeyes
Women's Basketball / January 13, 2021 Hawkeyes Lose Heartbreaker to No. 15 Buckeyes


Beginning drivers in Michigan now have greater restrictions on when and how they can drive unsupervised.
A bill signed into law on Tuesday affects drivers who are in stage two of the state's graduated licensing process, allowing them to carry only one passenger under the age of 21 while driving unsupervised and moving up the nighttime driving curfew to 10 p.m. The previous curfew was midnight.
A motorist with a level-two graduated license has had at least six months' worth of supervised driving. According to Rep. Richard LeBlanc, the average Michigander at this stage in the licensing process is 16.5 years old.
The legislation was written in order to combat the high accident rate among teenage drivers, which has made them a high-risk Michigan auto insurance group.
Although the annual totals of auto deaths involving 16- and 17-year-old Michiganders have been falling in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the numbers remain startling. Between 2004 and 2008, they were involved in 294 fatal crashes in the state. This means that during that period, the chances that a 16- or 17-year-old Michigander being involved in a fatal accident were about a 1-in-5,000.
If studies of these fatal accidents are correct, the greater nighttime-driving and passenger restrictions could help curb the involvement rate.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), "Most young drivers' nighttime fatal crashes occur between 9 p.m. and midnight, so teenagers shouldn't be driving much later than 9." And the IIHS also notes that passengers often distract a teen driver and could increase the likelihood of an accident.
A report published in the Journal of Safety Research in 2003 indicated that young drivers' likelihood of getting into a deadly crash increases significantly with one or more passenger in the car, and that likelihood grows with the number of passengers.
But as insurance provider AAA pointed out in a press release applauding lawmakers for advancing the bill, state legislators cut a provision that would have sought to eliminate another serious distraction for teens — cell phones. Michigan remains part of the majority of states who currently only have bans on text messaging while driving.
Readers can visit the IIHS website to compare Michigan's nighttime and passenger restrictions with that of other graduated licensing programs around the country.


Q.1 Under how many heads the income of a taxpayer is classified?
Q.2 What is gross total income?
Q.3 What is the difference between gross total income and total income?
Q.4 How to round off total income before computing tax liability?
Q.5 Can I claim deduction for my personal and household expenditure while calculating my taxable income or profit?
Q.6 Most of my income is given away in charity and I am left with just enough money to meet my personal requirements. What will be considered as my income?
Q.7 My daughter stays in USA. She owns a house in India and has let it out. She has asked tenants to pay rent to me. She has not received any rent. Is she still liable to tax? What if she transfers the house to me?
Q.8 Is there any limit of income below which I need not pay tax?
Q.9 How to compute the total tax liability?
Q.10 How to round off the tax liability?
Q.11 What is rebate under section 87A for F.Y 2017-18 and who can claim it?
Q.12 Can a partnership firm or HUF claim rebate under section 87A?
Q.13 Can a non-resident claim rebate under section 87A?
Q.14 What is surcharge and how it is computed?
Q.15 What is marginal relief and how it is computed?
Q.16 What is minimum alternate tax?
Q.17 What is alternate minimum tax?
Ans: Total income of a taxpayer from all the heads of income (as discussed in previous FAQ) is referred to as Gross Total Income.
First any part of rupee consisting of any paisa should be ignored.
Ans: No, you cannot claim deduction of personal expenses while computing the taxable income.
While computing income under various heads, deduction can be claimed only for those expenses which are provided under the Income-tax Act.
Ans: What is done after the income is earned by you will not give you tax exemption. However, contribution to approved institutions will give you the benefit of deduction from taxable income under section 80G subject to limits specified therein.
Ans: At this moment (i.e., for the financial year 2017-18) Individual, HUF, AOP, and BOI having income below Rs. 2,50,000 need not pay any Income-tax. In respect of resident individuals of the age of 60 years and above but below 80 years, the basic exemption limit is Rs. 3,00,000 and in respect of resident individuals of 80 years and above, the limit is Rs. 5,00,000. For other categories of persons such as co-operative societies, firms, companies and local authorities, no basic exemption limit exists and, hence, they have to pay taxes on their entire income chargeable to tax.
Ans: After ascertaining the total income, i.e., income liable to tax, the next step is to compute the tax liability for the year. Tax liability is to be computed by applying the rates prescribed in this regard. Following table will help in understanding the manner of computation of the total tax liability of the taxpayer.
(*) Rebate under section 86 is available to a member of association of persons (AOP) or body of individuals (BOI) in respect of income received by such member from the AOP/BOI.
Rebate (i.e., relief) under section 89 is available to a salaried employee in respect of sum received towards arrears of salary, gratuity, etc.
Rebate under sections 90, 90A and 91 is available to a taxpayer in respect of double taxed income, i.e., income which is taxed in India as well as abroad.
After ignoring paisa, if such amount is not a multiples of ten, and the last figure in that amount is five or more, the amount shall be increased to the next higher amount which is a multiple of ten and if the last figure is less than five, the amount shall be reduced to the next lower amount which is a multiple of ten; and the amount so rounded off shall be deemed to be the tax payable by the taxpayer or refundable to the taxpayer.
Ans: An individual who is resident in India and whose total income does not exceed Rs. 3,50,000 is entitled to claim rebate under section 87A. Rebate under section 87A is available in the form of deduction from the tax liability. Rebate under section 87A will be lower of 100% of income-tax liability or Rs. 2,500. In other words, if the tax liability exceeds Rs. 2,500, rebate will be available to the extent of Rs. 2,500 only and no rebate will be available if the total income (i.e. taxable income) exceeds Rs. 3,50,000.
Ans: Surcharge is an additional tax levied on the amount of income-tax. In case of individuals/HUF/AOP/BOI/artificial juridical person, surcharge is levied @ 10% on the amount of income-tax where the total income of the taxpayer exceeds Rs. 50 lakh but doesn't exceeds Rs. 1 crore.
Surcharge is levied @ 15% of income-tax where the total income of the taxpayer exceeds Rs. 1 crore (*).
In case of a domestic company surcharge is levied @ 7% on the amount of income-tax if the total income exceeds Rs. 1 crore but does not exceed Rs. 10 crore and @ 12% on the amount of income-tax if total income exceeds Rs. 10 crore (*).
In case of a foreign company surcharge is levied @ 2% on the amount of income-tax if the total income exceeds Rs. 1 crore but does not exceed Rs. 10 crore and @ 5% on the amount of income-tax if total income exceeds Rs. 10 crore (*).
(*) A taxpayer can claim marginal relief from the amount of surcharge, subject to certain conditions. Refer to next FAQ for concept of marginal relief.
Mr. Kapoor is a doctor, his total income for the year amounted to Rs. 44,00,000. Will he be liable to pay surcharge, if yes, then how much?
Ans: The concept of marginal relief is designed to provide relaxation from levy of surcharge to a taxpayer where the total income exceeds marginally above Rs. 50 lakh, Rs. 1 crore or Rs. 10 crore, as the case may be.
Thus, while computing surcharge, in case of taxpayers (i.e. Individuals/HUF/AOP/BOI/artificial juridical person) having total income of more than Rs. 50 lakh marginal relief shall be available in such a manner that the net amount payable as income-tax and surcharge shall not exceed the total amount payable as income-tax on total income of Rs. 50 lakh by more than the amount of income that exceeds Rs. 50 lakh.
In case of a company, surcharge is levied @ 7% (2% in case of foreign company) on the amount of income-tax if the total income exceeds Rs. 1 crore but does not exceed Rs. 10 crore and @ 12% (5% in case of foreign company) on the amount of income-tax if total income exceeds Rs. 10 crore. Hence, in case of company whose total income exceeds Rs. 1 crore but does not exceeds Rs. 10 crore, marginal relief will be computed as discussed above, but in the case of company having total income above Rs. 10 crore marginal relief is available in such a manner that the net amount payable as income-tax and surcharge shall not exceed the total amount payable as income-tax and surcharge on total income of Rs. 10 crore by more than the amount of income that exceeds Rs. 10 crore.
Mr. Mukesh is salaried employee (age 40 years). His total income from salary for the year 2017-18 amount to Rs. 51,00,000. Will he liable to pay surcharge, if yes, then how much and will he get the benefit of margin relief?
30% for income above Rs. 10,00,000.
Apart from above rates, cess will be computed separately.
Mr. Raja is businessman (age 35 years). His total income for the year 2017-18 amounted to Rs. 1,02,00,000. Will he be liable to pay surcharge, if yes, then how much and will he get the benefit of marginal relief?
Mr. Karan is a businessman (age 35 years). His total income for the year 2017-18 amounted to Rs. 1,07,00,000. Will he be liable to pay surcharge, if yes, then how much and will he get the benefit of marginal relief?
(*) Tax rates are discussed in previous illustration.
I think there is some error in the last example quoted by the author, as the amount above Rs. 1 Crore is Rs. 5 Lac not Rs. 7 Lac.
i am a salaried person , got arrears of 2012-13 Rs 19050.00 in the year 2013-14.
how much can i claim refund of above mentioned amount in AY 2014-15.
Very benificial and useful article.Many thanks for your efforts.
have mention for sec 24b.
but this article is appeared in 2014-15 F.Y.why this difference ?
Sir, This illustration is very useful.
I want to ask one question about Income tax calculation.
I am Central Govt. employee. One of my colleague is living in rented house. For HRA exemption what can we take ie. Basic pay + Grade pay + DA or not. In some office DA is taking for HRA exemption calculation. There is no clarity in Income Tax Rule. Kindly clarify whether we can take DA for HRA exemption.
Excellent article. All young and old tax payers should learn how to prepare their own ITRs and do so on line.. The CBDT is also equally efficient these days in refunding the excess tax paid. My wife's ITR submitted on line in June 2014 has already collected the refund through the bank account. Hats off to CBDT and TAX GURU for helping the nation to undersatnd the system properly and act without fear.
Very good and informative article which apart from solving any doubts is educative also. Even rounding off is a simple exercise, way it is to be done is well explained with illustration.


I have been waiting to receive my cash back since the 17th of December 2018 they promised that I will receive it after 14 days of purchase. It's now been almost 20 days still nothing is happening. Why would such a huge broad furniture shop does this to their customers. This is unethical please change the way you guys are doing things.
Required to inform you about complaint approval (or reject).
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5.50pm on a Sunday afternoon somewhere in the Premier League. The players and the officials have done their bit. But the pundits and the presenters have barely started.
Two ordinary commuters on an ordinary railway station in an ordinary town. A story of shared history and betrayal.
After exaggerating and lying about their physical attractiveness on a dating website, Andrew and Angela meet up.
An elderly couple celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary. But do the snapshots of their seemingly idyllic life together reveal the whole story?
On a trip to the seaside, Nellie meets retiree, Frank. A last chance of happiness? Or will the ghosts of her past continue to haunt her?
Six actors in search of a play. A chaotic rehearsal in cramped conditions - but who is directing who? The question remains ; is this a play or isn't it?
JB Reloaded is now FULLY CAST. 8 JB debutants join 14 alumni from the original productions for this tenth anniversary retrospective. Once again thank you so much to all those who applied to be part of JB Reloaded. As ever, we were overwhelmed by the volume of interest and were spoilt for choice in making our final decisions. Thanks again.
JB Shorts invites guest writers to join the team for each production. There is a 'waiting list' of guest writers for future shows and the team is not currently inviting any script submissions.
Find out about our new home over on their website!
Joanna Ing is impressed with JB Shorts 10 at Joshua Brooks, Manchester.
Television credits include Children's Ward, Big Meg Little Meg, MI High and Emmerdale. On radio, he has worked on The Archers as well as creating the sitcoms North East Of Eden and Men Of Intelligence along with dramatising the novels of Giovanni Guareschi, Terry Pratchett, E Nesbit and Julie Myerson. He has also one novel published, The Scribe.
Trevor has had more than sixty plays produced, ranging from monologues to musicals, children's theatre and sketch shows as well having written for Coronation Street and Eastenders. He has had a number of one-act plays both staged and broadcast in the US and many of his plays are published online. He founded the Reallife Theatre Company way back in 1992 whilst writer in residence at The Green Room in Manchester.
Lindsay Williams is a BAFTA nominated UK television and theatre writer. She has written over eighty episodes of prime time TV including many episodes of Emmerdale and EastEnders. She has also written for radio and her first Afternoon Drama 'A Little bit of Latitude' was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2012. She also writes regularly for the stage and is a big fan of the short format. She has been part of part of JB Shorts from the start and has written short plays about diverse subjects ranging from earthquakes, to Iranian nuclear politics, to Lady Gaga, and wedding dresses. Lindsay is also part of the production team for JB Shorts and has spent countless hours in meetings listening to James Quinn and Trevor Suthers row over seating arrangements and ticketing issues. It's every bit as exciting and glamorous as you'd imagine.
Roger has been awarded the Horniman award for his contribution to theatre in the North West. For the Library Theatre, Manchester he directed productions of Into the Woods, (Manchester Evening News Award Best Production of a Musical) Assassins, (TMA Award Best Production of a Musical) Company, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd, as well as the European premières of William Finn's March of the Falsettos (MEN award Best Production of a Musical) and Sophisticated Ladies, both of which transferred to the West End. As musical supervisor for the company he was responsible for the European premières of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, Follies and Pacific Overtures.
Roger has also directed national tours of Steel Magnolias, Driving Miss Daisy, (TMA Award Best Touring Production) and Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, (MEN Award Best Production of Play) which he also directed in the West End, starring Gene Wilder.
Roger directed Charlotte's Web for Birmingham Stage Company at Derby Theatre. He also directed national tours of Calendar Girls, The Full Monty and The Girls by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth. He directed the highly acclaimed world premiere of the musical The Go-Between (TMA Theatre Awards UK Best Production of a Musical 2012) for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Derby Live and the Royal & Derngate, Northampton. He has since directed it for the West End with Michael Crawford playing the leading role.
As an actor, James has appeared in theatres all over the country including Old Vic, Sheffield Crucible, Royal Exchange, Birmingham Rep. Greenwich Theatre. Library Theatre, Bolton Octagon and many more.
On TV, James has played returning characters in Early Doors, Coronation St, Fat Friends, Red Cap, Hollyoaks, New Street Law, Emmerdale & Drop Dead Gorgeous - and guest roles in various other shows including, Dr Who, Scott & Bailey, Shameless, Dalziel & Pascoe, See No Evil, Buried, Clocking Off, Heartbeat, New Statesman, Casualty.
As a writer, James's 'JB Short', 'At The End Of The Day', became BBC Radio 5Live's first ever drama commission whenh it was performed live on the Colin Murray Show in 2011. James's first stage play 'Twenty-20' received its World Premiere in Summer 2010 at The Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough and James has recently been commissioned to co-write a new stage play about Edward Rushton – with John Graham Davies.
For BBC Radio, James wrote and played the title role in three series of his Radio 4 comedy, 'Sir Ralph Stanza's Letter From Salford' and has performed in many R4 comedies and dramas. In addition to his acting and scriptwriting work, James has spent two spells as 'Writer-in-Residence' at HMP Manchester ('Strangeways'), 2000/1 & 2005/6 and is a matchday commentator on FC United of Manchester TV and Radio.
Dave Simpson started his writing career with the BBC and has had in excess of 30 radio productions broadcast before moving on to TV where he wrote for The Bill, Coronation Street and was an Emmerdale writer for five years. In recent years, however, he has developed his career in theatre and film. He has had in excess of 18 stage plays performed, the most successful being GIRLS' NIGHT OUT, which toured for three years and transferred to the West End in 1998, and also toured for 20 weeks in 2010, and more recently, THE NAKED TRUTH which finished its 5th tour in 2011. He is currently working with Producer, Bill Kenwright, on a new stage musical, THE GOLDEN OLDIES and has just had another stage play optioned, GIRLS' NIGHT IN, for a possible tour next year.
He currently has two feature films optioned, RAVING BEAUTIES, produced by Mark Forstater, to be directed by Paul Hills and WHATEVER LOVE IS, produced by Jeffrey Taylor of StageScreen Productions and to be directed by Douglas McKinnon. He is currently co-adapting the novel, NICHOLAS DANE, written by the award-winning teen novelist, Melvin Burgess.
Diane is an experienced scriptwriter, showrunner, script editor and producer. She worked as development producer and head writer/showrunner on Series 1 and 2 of the RTS and BAFTA nominated hit gothic teen drama, HOUSE OF ANUBIS, which Lime Pictures and Studio 100 produce for Nickelodeon US & UK. She also wrote a feature length special of the show as well as kicking off Series 3. More recently she has been writing on the brand new CBeebies show TOPSY AND TIM for independent company, Darrall Macqueen. Her previous work includes writing and producing for Granada Kids on shows such as GIRLS IN LOVE, THE WORST WITCH, 24 SEVEN and BIG MEG LITTLE MEG and writing for the BBC on shows such as GRANGE HILL, HOME FARM TWINS, and BEAR BEHAVING BADLY. Di has a number of original series ideas in development and recently won development finance from Creative England to develop a feature film, GIRL MISSING, which she will write and produce. Diane – along with co-writer Danny Spring - has also just been commissioned for a major new live action CBBC drama.
When John co-founded J.B. Shorts with Trevor Suthers it squared the circle in that he started his writing career having one-act plays performed by Pan Theatre, in PUBS, in the early '80s. Dave Simpson and Di Whitley were amongst the founders of Pan.
John subsequently went on to write over a hundred hours of tele (from soaps to children's drama plus 4 thirty minute plays for BBC2). His stage plays have been premiered around the northwest (Contact, Octagon, Playhouse, Dukes, Coliseum & Library Theatre where he was Arts Council Dramatist).
Throughout he's always returned to one act plays – due no doubt to his low boredom threshold. He is currently working on a series of one act plays under the title "Lives – Lived and Imagined". Research on some started 15 years ago! They are now beginning to appear online and are getting productions in the UK, North America and Australia among others.
His work is mostly of a radical bent.
James is a freelance theatre technician, lighting designer and stage manager, based in Manchester. He has worked with JB Shorts since its fifth incarnation.
James graduated from the University of Manchester in 2008 with a BA(hons) in Performance Design and Management. Since then, James has gone on to work in a number of venues in and around Manchester.
James was responsible for designing the lighting for the highly successful world premier of Blind Date at the Bolton Octagon, where he also acted as Stage Manager. James has worked on various projects in venues in and around Manchester, including the Capitol Theatre (Three Sisters) and the Zion Arts Centre (Jane Eyre), as well as a number of Fringe productions.
Since graduating from the School of Sound Recording Manchester in 2012, Tom has worked on gigs, live events, seminars and theatre all over the city. Since joining the team in 2013 for JB10, Tom has done both sound design and operation for each subsequent JB Shorts, as well as being Assistant Stage Manager.Tom's other ventures include producing Podcasts, online instructional videos and other multimedia educational products and studying music.
Joseph Colgan is a freelance Company Stage Manager now based in the North West. After working on TV series Shameless for Channel 4, his involvement began with the initial JB Shorts and subsequent 9 that followed. He has provided technical support for corporate entertainment events, festivals and theatre (including Lighting and Sound Design). Also engaged as a CSM on numerous national touring productions across the UK and Ireland with venues including, (Manchester) Lowry Theatre, Contact Theatre, Library theatre (now Home). Greenwich Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse, Brighton Dome.
John is currently the Stage One Apprentice Producer based at Sheffield Theatres, a scheme that aims to develop the best new theatre producers in the country. He works alongside some of the best creative teams in the country working on all aspects of producing – casting, budgets, investments and agreements. Sheffield Theatres was voted The Stage's Regional Theatre of the Year in both 2013 & 2014 and John works on all in-house productions.
John has worked with poet, writer and performer Ben Mellor (BBC Radio 4 National Poetry Slam Winner) and instrumentalist Dan Steele to manage their tour of Anthropoetry, a spoken word performance about the human anatomy, which recently toured the country across ten venues.
John is a founding member and producer of Strawberry Blonde Curls, a theatre company for whom he has produced two successful UK studio tours for, Inside and Elastic Bridge. John manages the creative teams, artistic vision and raises the funds for their projects, which set out to tackle human rights and social issues. In the summer of 2013 at Edinburgh Fringe, Strawberry Blonde Curls took their work to the next level with masses of critical acclaim from the press for their show Inside which will tour in late 2014 and early 2015. The company are currently developing two new shows, including Century which will be presented as a work-in-progress at Sheffield Theatres.
John was part of Contact's Re:Con scheme, where he developed a 24 hour multi-platform, 24 Arty People arts event that created innovative work from all types of creative people - many of whom continue to collaborate together now.
Nick worked as our Associate Producer for JB Shorts 13 and 14, having assisted John James Tomlinson on JB Shorts 12.
Nick is currently the Assistant Producer at Theatr Clwyd in north Wales. He is a line-producer and programmer for the theatre. Nick's credits as line-producer include: A Streetcar Named Desire (Theatr Clwyd, Nuffield Southampton Theatres & English Touring Theatre); The Great Gatsby (Theatr Clwyd & Guild of Misrule); Sleeping Beauty; The Snow Queen (Theatr Clwyd & Paperfinch Theatre); Heroine (Theatr Clwyd & High Tide Festival); Paines Plough's Roundabout Season 2017 (Theatr Clwyd, Paines Plough & Orange Tree Theatre);The Importance of Being Earnest; Scarlett (Theatr Clwyd & Hampstead Theatre); Aladdin; The Nutcracker (Theatr Clwyd & Paperfinch Theatre).
Nick is the Executive Producer of Junction 8 Theatre, a company based in Chorley, Lancashire which he runs with his sister and Artistic Director Liz Stevenson. Junction 8 Theatre's first production Under the Market Roof by Becky Prestwich ran on Chorley Market in October 2017.
Previously, Nick was the Stage One Apprentice Producer at Theatr Clwyd. Nick has also worked on freelance projects for Lancaster Arts at Lancaster University and Nottingham Lakeside Arts. Following graduating university, Nick was the Arts Administration Intern at Nottingham Lakeside Arts. He was the coordinator of the East Midlands Children's Theatre and Dance Network, a project supported by Arts Council England to tour high quality national and international work for children around the region.
Website designed and created by Constructive Coding Ltd.


United Family Healthcare (UFH) is an international hospital and clinic network that provides private, premium healthcare. Founded in 1997, UFH has led the way in private international healthcare in China. After almost two decades, UFH has established itself with hospitals and clinics in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuxi, Tianjin, Qingdao, Bo'ao and Nanjing as the provider of choice for those seeking premium, personalized healthcare. There are over 400 full-time doctors from 25 different countries and regions working in UFH. Additionally there are over 1000 part-time experts and over 800 nurses on the team.


text:
Benoît Bourrust (born 16 Jun 1985) is a French rugby union player. A prop forward, he played for Auch, Sale Sharks and Perpignan.

For the start of the 2012-13 season he signed for Welsh team Cardiff Blues.

References

External links
 Cardiff Blues profile

French rugby union players
Cardiff Rugby players
1985 births
Living people
People from Auch
Rugby union props
Sportspeople from Gers


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Crisis Leadership with Nikhil Patel: The Critical Importance of Trust
Two weeks into his Leadership Fellows position with the Detroit's Office of the Mayor, Nikhil Patel (MBA 2019) was summoned by the Mayor for a car ride. Among Patel's mandates – which included economic development, housing, and transportation – was gun violence. "We drove to the East Side," Patel says, "and parked underneath a tree to meet with gang members. We asked them, 'What could the city do over the next three, six, and twelve months to improve lives and reduce gun violence?'"
The point, Patel understood, was to build trust "and bring a human, bottom-up approach" to Detroit's more urgent challenges.
In March, community trust would prove critical. While taking a deep dive into the potential for tax policy to incentivize housing development, "COVID-19 really hit," Patel says. Virtually overnight, Patel's housing priorities changed from ten-year horizons to the days and weeks immediately ahead. "I had to figure out how to set up isolation and quarantine sites for two to three thousand homeless people, sheltered and unsheltered," he says.
"I made epidemiological models to estimate the number of rooms we needed, then helped ensure the necessary medical services were in place," says Patel. At the same time, he crafted models "for addressing mental health issues and comorbidities" while negotiating services and soliciting potential funders for money. Finally, Patel coordinated Detroit's Rapid Abbott COVID-19 Testing site, starting with first responders then moving to bus drivers, nursing homes, and homeless shelters. "We're running twelve-to-sixteen hours a day, seven days a week."
For Patel, both the intensity and the complexity of the pandemic response offer important lessons in leadership. "You can't overestimate how important it is to communicate early and often," he says. "If you don't communicate early, you lose the chance to build trust. And if you lose that trust, your outcomes will be compromised. Your people will work in silos, and gaps will appear in your work processes."
"When things are good," Patel observes, "ineffective leadership styles are less exposed. But in bad times, weaknesses reveal themselves. Leadership cannot be absent; people have to know who is ultimately making the decisions." For example, Patel feels obligated to respond to work emails – all of them – within hours. "Otherwise, people can't get their work done."
Effective communication must be accompanied with efficiencies in structure. "We have to operate more like a private company in which different departments have their own authority to act without running every decision up the chain of command," says Patel. "Things need to move fast."
Finally, the "soft" skills of leadership become the hard substance of excellent crisis response. "As a leader, you have to be genuinely caring about people's needs," Patel stresses. "If they don't believe it, it's much harder to get people to rally behind you."
The way one leads in a crisis, Patel believes, has enduring consequences. "In good times, it feels okay to take a risk on who you get behind as a leader. But when things go wrong, it's important to think about who you trust. The impact of our leadership, for good or ill, will remain after the crisis, affecting our teams' confidence, the public's trust, and the well-being of our society."
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Armed thugs kidnap and threaten international human rights observers, in the midst of a community's resistance and struggle against a mining project. "The terror we lived for two hours is the tragic everyday life in this town," says kidnapped human rights observer.
Staunch opposition by the U.S. delegation and, to one extent or another, by European countries has blocked the approval this year of a draft multilateral declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, which is backed by the developing world.
More than a year has passed since a DEA-assisted drug war operation in the Honduran Moskitia killed four indigenous Miskitu civilians, and relatives of the victims are still looking for answers. Operating outside of Honduran chains of command, it remains unclear how Honduran state structures – particularly when evidence is destroyed during the operations by the DEA itself – can conduct thorough and reliable investigations leading to arrests and, ultimately, justice.


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01 February 2023 - 12:28 AM
Midtown Theatre Festival Round-Up
Eddie and the Palaceades
The end of summer is prime theatre festival season in NYC, and I kicked off my theatre festival escapades this year at the Midtown Theatre Festival (i.e. the only time you will find me anywhere near the hellish nightmare called Times Square if I am not headed to a Broadway theatre). With over 75 plays, musicals, cabarets and one-acts, the Midtown Theatre Festival has a diverse offering of avant-garde, quirky, serious, and developing shows. Despite my aspirational goal of seeing every show at the festival,* I managed to take in three diverse performances.
Occasionally, a playwright embraces a concept that calls out for more attention. He or she discovers a subject matter worthy of a play. Jung Han Kim has done just that with his new play Comfort. Unfortunately, while the premise is strong, Kim's show does not adequately do justice to the story of the "comfort women" of WWII and fails to inspire the sort of thought-provocation and action that this story has the ability to inspire.
For those who are unfamiliar with the history of the "comfort women," the phrase "comfort women" is a euphemism for the women of varying nationalities who were held (many after being kidnapped) and forced to have sex with the Japanese troops. Some of these women were raped between 50 and 200 times a day. Their story is one of government-sponsored sex trafficking, and it is not only a heart wrenching story from a historical point of view; it is incredibly poignant and relevant given the ongoing horrors of sex trafficking worldwide.
Kim's biggest misstep is failing to fully focus on the plight of the comfort women. The play is about a documentary filmmaker and his efforts to get a documentary about the comfort womenproduced. While it introduces the history of the comfort women and the Japanese government's repeated denials of their forced prostitution, the play spends far too much time focused on the neuroses of the filmmaker and his battle with insipid "industry" representatives who simply want to sell a product to entertainment consumers ("make a documentary about dolphins because everyone likes dolphins!"). In other words, the playwright compromised his subject matter to make room for self-indulgence – Kim made an artistic work about himself and not about his topic. The ongoing battle between "starving artists" who works for the sake of their art and their message and large corporations who promulgate art for commercial resale is an eye-roll inducing trope that pops up in countless plays. We get it. There is a frustrating philosophical divide between the artist and the industry. They have different motives and respond to different stimuli. Despite those personal frustrations, Comfort found an audience at the Midtown Theatre Festival – why not take advantage of that fact and showcase the plight of the women who experienced abuse, psychological torture, and atrocities that confound the soul and defy all logic?
Kim's play is certainly not unwatchable, and it does have some strengths. For example, Kim, as writer and director, used complex and visually interesting staging reminiscent of modern dance to express the pain and internal turmoil suffered by the comfort women, to great effect. Moreover, when the plot focused on the filmmaker's interactions with a comfort woman named Roksun, Kim is fairly successful at capturing the raw emotion experienced by Roksun as she is subjected to unimaginable brutality.
The performances in Comfort are uneven at best. Shannon Kelly generally handles the role of Roksun well, although her emotional outbursts do not always convey sincerity. The highlight of this show is the ensemble, which does an excellent job conveying Roksun's emotional state. Unfortunately, the men in this cast are less successful than their female counterparts. Lucio Fernandez and Josh Tucker come across as caricatures of human-beings and fumbled lines throughout the show. Additionally, David Couter was troubling as the filmmaker, Peter. Couter's portrayal of Peter as a writhing, drug-addicted maniac was, to put it in the nicest way possible, over the top. His performance was both puzzling and distracting. Most surprisingly, in a play generally about Asian women, the cast was disappointingly devoid of Asian cast members.
It is my understanding that a few of the surviving comfort women intend to see Comfort. It is my sincere hope that they enjoy it and see in it what I failed to see – a respectful and well-crafted story that sheds light on the horrors that they endured and calls for action to end sex trafficking worldwide.
*Disclaimer: not a real goal – I have a full time job that requires my attention from time to time.
Eddie and the Palaceades!
Fun, light, and upbeat musicals have been a staple in musical theatre since before the advent of Oklahoma!, and I have seen my share of nostalgic jukebox musicals traipse through New York City. The newest incarnation of an unabashedly fun and uplifting musical comes in the form of Roy O'Neil and Stephen Feigenbaum's musical Eddie and the Palaceades. Self described as a "corny and square" "rock and roll musical" "with brand new songs that reek of nostalgia," Eddie and the Palaceades is neither deep nor groundbreaking, yet it generally works and can likely find an audience among baby boomers.
Eddie and the Palaceades is the story of aging Eddie Doyle, who, together with his wife Gracie and friend Vinny Moriarty,* remembers the good old days when his band rocked the local Palace Theatre in Brass City (a blue collar town in Connecticut). Eddie finds himself at odds with evil Mayor Biggie Williams who wants to destroy the Palace Theatre and sell the land to Land Use Liabilities Unlimited for some less than savory construction projects. Meanwhile, Eddie's daughter comes home from NYC to do a cover story on Brass City – the worst place to live in America. Eddie, having had enough of the judgment and efforts to destroy the town that he holds so dear, decides to take a stand – rising up against Biggie Williams and his own daughter to save his town. A story of personal growth, Eddie and the Palaceades captures both the feel good notion that a person can change his or her destiny and the cliché that home is where the heart is.
Stephen Feigenbaum and Roy O'Neil's music and lyrics shine for a few brief moments throughout this play, but generally the music and lyrics struck me as generic upbeat musical faire without much personality. While catchy tunes like Meet Me At The Palace, Write About That, and C'mon Eddie You Can Do It get the crowd clapping, chuckling, and nodding their heads, and the requisite love song The Heart of the Story is appropriately sappy, there is nothing novel or revealing in the lyrics or score that merits discussion. Generally, I did not hate the music but I did not love it.
With one notable exception, the cast of Eddie and the Palaceades transformed this show from a one-note bubblegum piece to a work of heart. Bill E. Dietrich has an "everyman" quality about him that is necessary for the role of Eddie, but he also has quite an impressive voice. Sheila Egan's Gracie is enjoyably feisty, and she and Kayleen Seidl, who plays daughter Mary, portray respectably strong and successful female characters with great poise and confidence. Other standout actors include Michael Indeglio who is ideal as the charming, "boy next door" and Marilyn Matarrese who, despite having very little stage time, steals the show with her upbeat rendition of the song Mangia. Although much of this cast is talented, Tony Triano may have been my favorite member of the ensemble as the lovable widower Vinnie Moriarty. Triano plays sidekick to Dietrich's Eddie with an understated sense of humor and unmitigated honesty. He was delightful. Not all of the actors were quite so successful. Shelley Valfer was woefully miscast as Mayor Biggie Williams in large part because he struggles with the musical numbers.
In totality, Eddie and the Palaceades is a fun romp through one man's nostalgic feelings towards his hometown and an innocuous call to follow your dreams. I've seen the same themes better written and better presented, but parts of this show are enjoyable.
*Characters named Doyle and Moriarty – my inner Sherlock Holmes fan is grinning.
Warp Speed: A Sci-fi Musical
Last time I visited my parents, my mom gave me an order: figure out which of my childhood toys I want to keep and get rid of the rest. It was an odd request. I had no idea what toys she was referring to. All of the Barbies were sold long ago. The Beanie Babies and baby dolls are no more. Anything remotely resembling a princess was destroyed or donated before I hit my teenage years. Thinking that she was perhaps referring to my microscope or telescope, which simply will not fit into my tiny NYC apartment,* I rummaged through the stacked boxes in the garage. Then I found them. I highly doubt that many girls collected Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures and play sets when they were kids, but the stockpile of Star Trek toys that I amassed from 1st to 3rd grade is unrivaled.** I cherished those toys and wore them out through years of play. With this confession out of the way, it should come as no surprise that I was looking forward to reviewing Warp Speed: A Sci Fi Parody Musical! by Clara Hoch and Eva Thorpe.
There is nothing inspired about a Star Trek parody. After all, everyone from Saturday Night Live to the Internal Revenue Service has created a parody of the original Star Trek series. It's just so darn campy, how could you not? That being said, Hoch and Thorpe have solid comedic chops and have crafted a pretty hilarious, although admittedly imperfect, script filled with nods to the original series, references that only a Star Trek fan could appreciate, and a healthy dose of childish humor. The play is loosely (and, I stress, loosely) based on the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before," although the character Gary Mitchell has been replaced with a Khan-lite character. All of the classic characters are included: "strictly platonic best friend" Mr. Schlock, the capable and sassy Lt. Uvula, ship-obsessed Scotsman Scotchy, apparently gay swordfighter Mr. Hulu, beehive-wearing Nurse Apple, grumpy Dr. Tibia, quirky man child with an exaggerated Russian accent Yerkov, and a plethora of expendable red shirt crew members (complete with targets on their backs). Along with their inept Captain Jack T. Jerk, they battle evil and, as they sing proudly, endeavor to go where no man has gone before.
While the book is sure to make any Star Trek fan chuckle, the music and lyrics are often forgettable and, at times, I found myself wishing the play were not a musical. The sheer number of writers involved with composing the musical numbers may have had something to do with the uneven results. Certain numbers like I Am the Captain, Fight Like a Man, and Beam Me are well composed and advance the plot, while most others lack a discernible harmony, are disjointed, or are overlong. It's a shame, really (although I confess that I left the theatre humming the closing number).
The greatest strength of this show lies in its cast, who, as a whole, do an absolutely remarkable job impersonating their respective Star Trek inspirations. Of particular note are Adrian Rifat with his spot-on, deadpan delivery as Mr. Schlock and Peter Perry Lam's admirable take on George Takai. Greg Sullivan also deserves special mention both for launching himself wholeheartedly into the goofiest role of the show – Yerkov – but also for his impressive acrobatic work in the small performance space. DeAnne Stewart and Justin Ivan Brown also proved to be strong performers who crafted memorable characters. While all of these actors are talented, Collin Kessler stole the show with his take on William Shatner (aka Captain Jerk). Kessler is a marvelous vocalist and is positively hilarious both with respect to line delivery and physical comedy. If there are lowlights in this cast, they are John Edgar Moser who fails to leave much of an impression as Dr. Tibia and Dylan Libby who behaves strikingly silly and decidedly non-sinister as Khanrad Badguy.
Given budget constraints and the oddball nature of this particular show, Gabrielle Robinson did a lovely job developing a set design that was both appropriate and funny. Similarly, Anna Winter's costumes are well-designed and demonstrated an appreciation for the absurdity of Star Trek costumes.
While far from perfect, Warp Speed: A Sci Fi Parody Musical! is an enjoyable combination of pop culture references, Star Trek nerdiness, and general mayhem. All in all, it made for a fun evening.
*Plus, I cannot come up with a reasonable explanation as to why a lawyer needs a microscope.
**I may have tested out the transporter to see if it still turned on. To my delight, my Geordi La Forge action figure vanished when I hit the "energize" button.
Written by: Theresa Perkins
Published: Wednesday, 2014/08/06 - 0:27
Contemporary Theatre
Midtown Theatre Festival


Ethics training is now mandatory for State Employees.
Ethics training is mandatory for State employee and special State officers.
Ethics Liaison Officers ("ELOs") are encouraged to contact the Commission's Training Officer to schedule training for their employees. We also encourage you to consider ethics training as a component of other regularly scheduled employee training. Subject to availability, the Commission's Ethics Training Officer can provide ethics training as part of employee development workshops, staff meetings, seminars or new employee orientation programs.
Online training is also available for State employees and special State officers. The Commission has separate online training programs for State employees, special State officers, and State college and university faculty and trustees. The training module for State employees is available on both the Commission's website and the website of the Civil Service Commission, through the Learning Management System ("LMS"). The remaining three modules for special State officers and State college and university faculty and trustees are available only on the Commission's website. All of the online training modules include slide presentations and detailed narratives that replicate the substance of the in-person training programs.
Employees of agencies and authorities that have completed ethics training are required to receive the annual, mandatory ethics briefing in any year that they do not receive training. Employees and officers should contact their agency ELO for information about the ethics briefing. The briefing is also available on the Commission's website.
Please contact the Commission's Ethics Training Officer Sherry Wilson with suggestions for providing ethics training to your employees. The Commission is committed to helping ELOs and training coordinators deliver ethics training to their departments in the most efficient, effective way possible.


The Amazon Trapeze, where Colombia, Brazil, and Peru meet, is home to several communities along the Amazon River that are able to preserve their cultural and natural heritage through tourism. Take a community to community trip in the Amazon: staying at locally run lodges, exploring the rainforest, and learning about local cultures!
Strengthen the communities of the Amazon through tourism, helping them preserve their cultural and natural heritage.
Explore the Amazon River through visits to indigenous communities, full of culturally-rich experiences and amazing community members.
Walk through the Amazon Rainforest, visiting a project that helps preserve the primate species of the area. This part of the jungle is home to thousands of types of flora and fauna!
After arrival at Leticia International Airport, staff will be waiting to pick you up, and take you to your hotel. If there's time, you'll visit the culturally-rich ethnographic musuem, and see Santander Park. Santander Park is home to thousands of parrots. Eat dinner, and settle in for the night. Your adventure begins tomorrow!
After breakfast, you'll set out at 7:30am on a speedboat ride on the Amazon River. You'll arrive at the village of Mocagua, and take a sightseeing tour. After lunch with community members, you'll visit the Mono Churuco Miqueando project developed by the Maikuchinga Foundation. This project dedicates itself to the conservation of the primate species in the area. After, you'll return to the village to participate in a crafts workshop, and eat dinner shortly after. Here, you'll stay at a wonderful lodge hosted by the community.
After breakfast, you'll take a boat ride through the Amazon river and Amacayacu river which are bordered by the Amacayacu park and the Palmeras community. Arrive to San Martin, a community of Amacayacu, and learn about the community from an elder.
You'll eat lunch, and tour the garden center, pharmacy and maloca where the indigenous will talk about plants, medicinal properties, and their other uses. After, you'll partake in a crafts workshop with Maloka-- a community elder.
Dinner and accommodation at Casa Gregorio or Maloca.
After breakfast, depart for Puerto Nariño via boat ride. After arrival, visit of the Natutama Foundation, where you can appreciate important aspects of the Amazon river's fauna (dolphins, manatees, turtles, fishes among other things).
Eat lunch, and visit Tarapoto lakes, full of beautiful landscapes. Return to the village and rest.
The night will be focused on exchanges of culture with elderly women who will talk about aspects of their traditions, myths and legends. Dinner and accommodation on Puerto Nariño.
After breakfast, you'll say your final goodbyes as you head for the dock to take the speedboat back to Leticia. Here, you can be transferred back to the airport, or continue on your journey in Colombia!
EcoDestinos offers a variety of multi-day tours in the Amazon rainforest and the communities that surround it. Through tourism, they aim to strengthen their relationships with nature and people of the regions. Explore the diversity of the rainforest and cultures through jungle adventures, boat rides, and interactions with the communities you visit!
After your arrival at the international airport in Leticia, EcoDestinos staff will be there to pick you up and take you to the start of your incredible experience!


Locations Where in the World are You?
Great question! The increasing mobility of people exceeds every expectation of even a few years ago.
As a people, we are moving at a quickening pace in search of new opportunities. Amidst the excitement that this brings, it also raises the need for furniture rental as the average age of the expatriate is younger than before.
They simply have less items to ship than the families of a generation ago. While others may claim to have a global footprint, only Home Essentials has the capacity and capability to deliver the same furniture, at the same price, and under the same conditions on 6 continents.
Expatriates want and need a consistent and professional furniture rental service that is not only dependable, but dedicated to addressing all their home furnishing requirements.
Home Essentials offers furniture rental and retail in all of the following places.
We consider it a privilege to assist with the home furnishings your relocation requires with flexible furniture rental or furniture hire options. No matter where you go, remember that A Beautiful Home is Essential.


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Fidelity To Offer Bitcoin-backed Loans Through Nexo
Lending firm Nexo has partnered with institutional custodian Fidelity to bring professional bitcoin products to market, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The lender will leverage Fidelity's enterprise-grade infrastructure to expand institutional access to its prime brokerage platform. "As a first step, the collaboration with Fidelity Digital Assets will expand Nexo's ability to service
Lending firm Nexo has partnered with institutional custodian Fidelity to bring professional bitcoin products to market, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The lender will leverage Fidelity's enterprise-grade infrastructure to expand institutional access to its prime brokerage platform.
"As a first step, the collaboration with Fidelity Digital Assets will expand Nexo's ability to service and enhance its growing portfolio of assets under management and will provide an additional custody layer to Nexo's military-grade security infrastructure," per the statement.
Nexo said the partnership would enable it to explore the development of new products for institutional investors, including tri-party structures for bitcoin-backed loans. Wall Street banks are also reportedly exploring ways to do institutional cash loans with bitcoin as collateral by emulating tri-party agreements. The model, popular in traditional finance, leverages a third-party agent to ensure the proper delivery of cash and the underlying assets to each party as per the agreement terms.
It isn't the first time Fidelity Digital Assets has dabbled in bitcoin-backed loans. In December of last year, Bloomberg reported that the custodian had tip-toed into the space in collaboration with BlockFi. In March, it extended its bitcoin-backed loans by adding Silvergate as a partner. Now, Nexo is the latest lender to leverage Fidelity's institutional custody and trading platform for the service.
"Working with Fidelity Digital Assets is the latest milestone in our quest to offer a complete institutional platform and to onboard traditional finance companies into the digital asset ecosystem," Kalin Metodiev, co-founder and managing partner at Nexo, said in the statement. "Our client base will now have full use of our industry-leading credit and trading products with reliance on Fidelity Digital Assets' bespoke custody and security solutions."
Nexo says it serves more than 2.5 million customers in 200 jurisdictions, offering bitcoin-backed loans in over 40 fiat currencies.


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Jack Everly Artis-Naples Naples Tickets
Jack Everly | Naples Philharmonic Pops | Frank Sinatra and Great Ladies of American Song
Artis-Naples will be rocking with a concert by Jack Everly. ConcertFix has a great selection of seats starting at $137.00 for the ORCHESTRA LEFT section and range all the way up to $161.00 for the BOX 3 section. The concert will be held on February 8, 2022 and is the only Jack Everly concert scheduled at Artis-Naples at this time. We only have 32 tickets left in stock, so get them as soon as you can before they are all gone. Purchased tickets come with a 100% moneyback guarantee so you know your order is safe. Give us a shout at 855-428-3860 if you have any questions about this exciting event in Naples on February 8.
Tue 8:00 pm
Naples Philharmonic Pops: Jack Everly - Frank Sinatra and Great Ladies of American Song
Artis-Naples - Naples, FL
Feb 8, 2022| Tue 8:00 pm
32 tickets left starting from $123.00
Wed 8:00 pm
Feb 9, 2022| Wed 8:00 pm
Thu 8:00 pm
Feb 10, 2022| Thu 8:00 pm
Fri 8:00 pm
Feb 11, 2022| Fri 8:00 pm
Sat 2:00 pm
Feb 12, 2022| Sat 2:00 pm
Naples Philharmonic Pops: Jack Everly - An American in Paris: Film with Orchestra
Mar 8, 2022| Tue 8:00 pm
Few tickets left - check prices
Mar 9, 2022| Wed 8:00 pm
Mar 10, 2022| Thu 8:00 pm
Mar 11, 2022| Fri 8:00 pm
Jack Everly will be visiting Artis-Naples for a huge concert that's expected to sell out! Tickets are currently on sale at great prices here at ConcertFix where it's our priority to get you to the show even if it's not available through the box office. We want you to sit up close, which is why we are a top source for front row and premium seats. If you need them last-minute, find eTickets for the quickest delivery so you can get them sent to your email. All sales are made through our safe and secure checkout and covered with a 100 percent guarantee.
Right when is the day for the Jack Everly concert in Naples?
Jack Everly is scheduled to have a concert 6 shows in Naples, starting on February 8. Some other appearances for Jack Everly in Naples will be February 9 08:00 PM, February 10 08:00 PM, February 11 08:00 PM, February 12 02:00 PM and February 12 08:00 PM.
Is Jack Everly playing in any other cities near Naples, FL?
No, regrettably Jack Everly has no other concerts scheduled close to Naples at thit time. Return again finally to find out if Jack Everly scheduled any other any other shows around Naples or any other place in the state of Florida.


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About Inverness, MT
Inverness, MT is located in Hill County in the state of Montana.
The total City Population for Inverness is about 41 with about 4 people per square mile, and the larger Metro Area Population is about 99.
The Average Home Value is $0.00, which is roughly 100% lower than the Average Home Value of $167,602.00 for the state of Montana, and roughly 100% lower than the National Average of $188,692.00.
The Median Income Per Household is about $95,208.00, which is roughly 49% higher than the Average Median Income Per Household of $48,647.00 for the state of Montana, and roughly 40% higher than the National Average of $57,518.00.
The Unemployment Rate for Inverness is about 0%.
Hill County voted Republican in the 2020 Presidential Election with a significant difference of 24.66% between the winner and runner up.
Republican: 55.1%
Libertarian: 3.4%
Rudyard, MT (6.26 mi.)
Joplin, MT (8.05 mi.)
Hingham, MT (12.07 mi.)
Chester, MT (14.98 mi.)
White Population Estimate : 100.00%
NOTE: Crime is available at the County level so this doesn't necessarily represent the city of Inverness specifically.
Average # of Homicides for Hill County: Data Not Available
Average # of Violent Crimes for Hill County: About 467 per 100,000 People
Hill County is about 38% higher than the national average of about 288 violent crimes per 100,000 people.


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Daily Content Archive as of Friday, December 14, 2018
(as of Friday, December 14, 2018)
sanctify
Definition: (verb) Render holy by means of religious rites.
Synonyms: hallow, bless, consecrate
Usage: Though they are comfortable with the fact that their marriage has not been sanctified in a Christian church, their parents are not.
Gage was a railroad worker whose incredible survival of a traumatic brain injury played a seminal role in the study of localization of brain function. In 1848, Gage was blasting rock to clear the way for a new rail line when an explosives accident caused a large metal rod to shoot through his face, brain, and skull. Remarkably, Gage was conscious, walking, and talking within minutes. However, his personality allegedly underwent a radical transformation. What were some of the reported changes?	More...
USSR Expelled from the League of Nations (1939)
The League of Nations was an international confederation of countries created after World War I and disbanded following World War II when many of its functions were transferred to the United Nations. The League collapsed when faced with threats to international peace from all sides in the 1930s, including the Spanish civil war, Japan's resumption of war against China, and the appeasement of Adolf Hitler at Munich. Its last important act was to expel the Soviet Union in 1939 for doing what?	More...
George VI, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1895)
The subject of the Academy Award-winning 2010 film The King's Speech, George VI became king of the United Kingdom following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII. George was an important symbolic leader of the British people during World War II, supporting the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill and visiting armies on the battlefield. He earned the respect of his people by scrupulously observing the responsibilities of a constitutional monarch and by overcoming what disability?	More...
Everyone is as God has made him, and oftentimes a great deal worse.
Halcyon Days (2018)
The ancient Greeks called the seven days preceding and the seven days following the Winter Solstice the "Halcyon Days." Greek mythology has it that Halcyone (or Alcyone), Ceyx's wife and one of Aeolus's daughters, drowned herself when she learned her husband had drowned. The gods took pity on her and transformed them both into kingfishers. Zeus commanded the seas to be still during these days, and it was considered a period when sailors could navigate in safety. Today, the expression "halcyon days" has come to mean a period of tranquillity, often used as a nostalgic reference to times past.	More...


I spent the weekend getting ready for my most important speech of the year. It's not a speech for a massive corporate audience, I won't be on stage at a glitzy industry conference and I'm not even getting paid to deliver it… In fact, the speech that I'll be giving will be even shorter than a TED talk but to me it will be much more important. Next Saturday at around 3pm I'll be standing up in a small village hall in East Sussex, in front of the hundred or so guests that will be celebrating my brothers wedding!
It's the first time in years that I've actually been slightly nervous about standing up in front of an audience. It's not because people know that I'm an actor, a speaker and a communications trainer – although there is certain amount of pressure there! The reason I'm nervous is the fact that in the audience will be all of the most important people in my life… and I want to make them proud.
It's not the actual performance I'm worried about, that's the bit I enjoy! The thing that I've found most difficult when writing this speech is striking the balance between humour and sincerity. I'm the Best Man, so there's an expectation in the audience that there will at least be a few jokes but at the same time I want say something meaningful, not just go all out for laughs! I hope that I've achieved that in the speech I've written (although I suppose I won't know for sure until I've sat down after the toasts!) so in this blog post I thought I'd share some tips on getting the tone right….
My first bit of advice for you, before you even put pen to paper, is to take a moment to think about who you will be speaking to. Who exactly will be in the audience? What do they want? How familiar are they with your subject matter?… As experts in our fields it's all too easy to assume that everyone understands a topic as well as we do. However if we fail to adapt our message to the people listening to it, they will quickly loose interest. You wouldn't give the same presentation on the subject of "personal finance" to a group of chartered accountants as you would to a group of primary school children. You'd naturally adapt – or at least I hope you would! Once you start to really think about your audience – and by that I mean getting as specific as possible – it will automatically start to affect the way that you think about what you are about to say. Put yourself in their shoes. Think in their language. As soon as you do this, you'll start to naturally find the appropriate tone.
You can't please all the people all of the time… but there's no point in alienating half of your audience just for the sake of it! Modern audiences have relatively short attention spans. We're bombarded with information 24/7 and even when we intend to give something or someone 100% of our focus, our emails, our social media and our ever expanding "to-do lists" are in the background waiting to distract us. Good presenting and public speaking is all about balance. We need to vary our tone in order to preserve engagement. If you have a lot of detail to deliver, that's fine but make sure you cover the bigger picture too. Likewise if your subject matter is more visionary make sure that you use specific examples to support your argument. Balance humour with sincerity and rallying cries with quiet reflection. If you look at any famous speech, this symmetry of light and dark will always be present. Think about where you can use this contrast in your public speaking and avoid getting stuck on one note.
My final tip on striking the right tone is to include stories. Ideally personal ones. I know the idea of revealing things about yourself can sometimes feel risky or inappropriate. However, used in the right ways, stories create a deep connection with your audience. I don't think you should be airing your dirty laundry or revealing the skeletons in your closet but making things personal is a great way to build rapport. Talk about your feelings. Give parallel examples from your life to the subject matter you are speaking about. Create metaphors. Or simply ask your audience to take a leap into the unknown… "I'd like you to pause for a moment and imagine what would happen if….". As human beings we're hardwired for story. They engage our imagination and touch our hearts.


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