text:
Tch, Tch: notes on Cigarettes
Essay by Jeremy M. Davies — Published on September 3, 2012
Tags: dalkey archive press, harry mathews symposium, oulipo
An American in Oulipo: The Harry Mathews Symposium
Cigarettes by Harry Mathews. Dalkey Archive Press. 292pp, $13.50.
Published in Issue 29
The earthbound, comparatively conventional Cigarettes is a singular contradiction in Harry Mathews's fiction. This book of the intersecting romances and relations among well-to-do New Yorkers in the 1930s through the '60s is his only novel to concern itself with "conventional psychology"1—meaning that its characters are not hunting for treasures or navigating fantastical landscapes, are not busy outwitting (or failing to outwit) secret societies, conspiracies, con artists, traps, or puzzles, are not learning invented languages or cracking ciphers (or at least no more than we are). They are simply going about the business of being human, or, rather, being fictional in a way that evokes a different reaction than Zachary and Twang in The Sinking of the Odradek Stadium, than The Journalist's journalist, than Tlooth's revenge-bent fugitive. Our concerns are now "sexual conquest; the fostering of reputation; the love and hate between mother and son, father and daughter, brother and sister; the links (and abysses) between affection and imagination; the parallels between homosexuality and heterosexuality; and the nature of amorous friendship linking quite old people."2 These are as alien to a Rousselian fiction as flying saucers to a Jamesian.
The appeal of these concerns is founded on a similarity to and familiarity with the concerns of the reader, albeit heightened, as fiction must be. As Lynne Tillman has said, "In [Mathews's] earlier books it looks like games play people, and in Cigarettes it's people who play games."3
Further, Cigarettes is Mathews's only novel substantially concerned with Americans as Americans, at large in a fairly recognizable United States, in a place and time recognizable to readers of other novels we might name. Here Mathews inhabits a shared domain in which other authors have ranged before and will range again; not a private kingdom, inasmuch as our shared language permits this, not a walled city.
The characters in Cigarettes aren't even going mad—a not-infrequent narrative terminus for Mathews's manikins—save for the luckless, wonderful, hyperthyroidic Phoebe. And though there are enthusiasms in the book that verge upon the eccentric, these are pursued, so to speak, with sanity . . . Baron Charlus more than Casper Gutman (or Baron Charlus seeking an assignation with Casper Gutman). The characters of Cigarettes do not, by and large, allow whatever abstract systems they may have applied to their thoughts or habits or desires (a specialized vocabulary, a system of classification, installed out of a desire for order, or simply by whim) to impinge on their waking lives, crowding out the everyday situations that they had sought to improve. The opposite, in fact, obtains in Cigarettes. Idées fixes consume themselves here, leaving their survivors outside desire. In literary terms, by the end of the book, these personalities are no longer plotted. Though age and ill health and obsession take their toll on many, and our narrator must contend at last with a virtual army of what he calls the living dead—the shades with which our memories populate the world—the arc of the book is clear: It moves from moneyed decay—a "gabled house" looming over the reader-carrion "like a buzzard"—toward the astounding coda of "the immortal presence of that original and heroic actor who saw that the world had been given to him to play in without remorse or fear." We are led toward a state of Edenic acceptance, even to a sort of well-being, which is to say a way of functioning in the world as game-players rather than -played, emulating Adam's now impossible freedom as much as our melancholy and mortality will allow.
There is, for example, Elizabeth, the much-desired, who has moved in with Maud, the wife of Allan, with whom she (Elizabeth) carried on an affair before vanishing behind the scenes—with the occasional ankle glimpsed—for the majority of the novel. It may be said that desire for Elizabeth, and items emblematic of her, motivates a good many of the men in Cigarettes. In seclusion with "her beloved Maud," in flight from the skewed trajectories of Cigarettes' various masculine protagonists, she finally decides that "'men' [seem] hardly worth the trouble." The next morning she's suffered a stroke, which leads to paralysis and death. But this dreadful peripeteia is not a violence visited on the character. It is a necessary stopping point, an end to the primal story that started all of Cigarettes' many plot-branches whirling like a Calder mobile. It is also a step toward what I can only call "enlightenment" (if she could shout, Elizabeth would no doubt give a mighty "Katsu!"), for Mathews describes the experience of her illness not as a restriction but as a liberation. She does not want to speak or move. It would be "inappropriate," and "smiling no less so." How could this not be the case for someone suddenly "inhabited by so large a number of birds"? For all the shit, inconvenience, and grief with which she has left her loved ones to contend, her loss of agency is not at all a loss of personhood. It also allows Maud to best demonstrate her love for Elizabeth, that "passionate friendship between two middle-aged women"4 which Mathews has mentioned as being one of the impetuses for writing Cigarettes in the first place.
For devotees of Mathews's other novels, then, and/or the Oulipo, there is—I perceive—I worry!—a potential barrier here. A barrier, and then a paradox, for Cigarettes is, by Mathews's own account, his only "properly" Oulipian novel. Not, I hasten to add, that lovers of Oulipian writing are allergic to those tropes that generally accompany "realist" fiction, nor that other Oulipian novels (or novels by Oulipians) are empty of emotion, pathos, and all those other things we are meant to want from literature. As I am fond of reminding people, "sincerity too is a rhetorical mode," and it cannot be sincerity, strictly defined, so long as it must be communicated. Already constituting a restricted vocabulary, sincerity falls squarely within the purview of the Oulipo, does it not? As does the expression of any emotional state in an infinitely permutable medium such as the English language. Nothing could be more "sincere" than a sentence written under duress, without the use of one's customary lexicon. No: the barrier, if it's there, lies in the book's abandonment of the charming playfulness, the fantasy of Tlooth and The Conversions and The Sinking of the Odradek Stadium, which remoteness from quotidian novelistic fare makes them so accessible to the readers likeliest to take up Mathews's flag. The barrier lies precisely in Cigarettes' appropriation of the tools of realism. Mathews's prose is rarely "showy," rarely purple, even when describing (especially when describing) impossible mechanisms or events. In Cigarettes, however, it may be at its quietest: "No erudition, no language games . . . [I]f you took each chapter by itself, it would seem very conventional in style."5 Not very conventional, surely, but we are far from the world of Queneau or Perec or Roubaud at their most playful:
In a clump of copper beeches by the stables, on a tablecloth spread on the ground, Phoebe set out lunch: two club sandwiches, four pears, a slab of rat cheese, a frosty thermos of martinis. They ate and drank. . . . Owen felt pleasantly restless: "Let's go take a look."
"This is no time for camp followers," Phoebe told him. "We'd be in the way."
"Well, I feel like joining the party."
"They thought of that. You get to bet."
But to return to that paradox. Mathews called Cigarettes his only "properly" Oulipian novel because it is structured according to an "abstract scheme of permutations of situations in which A meets B, B meets C, and so forth."6 Or else, as he has hinted more recently, having begun with a series of these simple narrative elements—A falls in love with B, or comes to hate C—these are then swapped about, so that we have A mistakes C for B, and so forth, until the permutations (or their author) are exhausted: "It was arbitrary in the sense that I lined up the different events, but they were after all very basic. They didn't signify anything substantial. . . . The situations were permutated, as in a sestina; their order changes in a precise way."7 Since there's "no point in looking for [the constraint] now because no one will ever figure it out, including me,"8 Cigarettes may be the lone standard bearer for a peculiar sub-genre in the world of Oulipian fiction . . . not so much that its constraint has been very well hidden (a common goal), and not so much that it has the basic concerns of a realist novel, but that this arbitrary (and so, says the conventional psychology, "cold," even antihumanist) structure of narrative events is hidden in particular beneath a tear-jerker, a story of well-to-do New Yorkers, "cast in limpid prose" and with plots and concerns that a writer like Edith Wharton would admire. Indeed, the artificer for whom Maud and Elizabeth and Allan and Lewis and Louisa are merely A, B, C, D, arranged in rows, dehydrated, waiting for a drop of narrative water to inflate them into characters (much as in Roussel's wonderful " Documents to Serve as an Outline," which he didn't live to expand into the novel it was intended to be) has cloaked himself behind a story culminating in an exhortation toward the rather unsexy plateau of health, lucidity, and quietude. For all of the book's advice to itself regarding the necessary annihilation of "typical forms and procedures" in writing, particularly "the illusory 'naturalness' of sequence and coherence" (as master sadomasochist Morris advises his protégé Lewis), Mathews has squared the circle of "making new" his subject by writing an Oulipian novel made up of tried-and-true techniques and which is almost pure plot (things we are supposed to be above, nowadays, remember). It reduces the "experimental" or "nonrealist" elements of the work to as comfortable a Victorian antimacassar for the will to tell stories as "Once upon a time . . ." or "In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been refreshed by Miss Lily Bart."
This all makes Cigarettes an inversion of the "typical" Mathews novel. We are given hints that an infernal machine ticks away deep in its center, while it presents to our eyes something almost—polite. That is, if you're coming to Cigarettes looking for an Oulipian dissection of the novelistic conventions we call realism, you might find, instead, and perhaps to your disappointment, that Mathews has simply built the better mousetrap—has improved realism—by being, perversely, precisely the sort of writer who sees his characters as formal devices, as ways of organizing information. This contra the criticism of the "postmodern" that, in its most genteel form (to flog an old, dead horse) goes a little something like,
after all, are generated by
human beings, and it might be said that these . . .
novels are full of inhuman stories,
whereby that phrase is precisely an oxymoron, an impossibility,
a wanting it both ways. . . .
Each of these novels is excessively centripetal.
The different stories all intertwine, and double and triple on themselves.
Alas,
since the characters in these novels are not
really alive, not fully human,
their connectedness can only be insisted on. . . .9
Can it be that the well-to-do, imaginary New Yorkers who drink and fuck and maneuver and make money for our amusement have actually been begging for this treatment all along? (One thinks of Morris and Lewis's various ministrations: BDSM, like most things, makes for perfectly serviceable literary criticism if done correctly.) As Edmund White put it—the blurb is front and center on the Dalkey Archive edition—Cigarettes is "as involving as a nineteenth-century novel and as original as any modernist invention." That's a specious if tempting binary, natch—as I'm sure White was/is well aware—but I would tweak his sentiment: how about, instead, we say that Mathews has marshaled modernist invention to bring the novel of manners, like Elizabeth, to an enlightened terminus?
What, then, about the devotee of that much-pilloried novel of conventional psychology that Cigarettes is reforming? The reader concerned not with constrained literature, not with Mathews's other work, but with the psychological novel, as it was and is still written? If Cigarettes so sublimates its origins in the arbitrary, are there no barriers or paradoxes in store for them?
I'm reminded of Borges's words in praise of the genre novel over the literary:
The typical psychological novel is formless. The Russians and their disciples have proven, tediously, that no one is impossible. A person may kill himself because he is so happy, for example, or commit murder as an act of benevolence. Lovers may separate forever as a consequence of their love. . . . In the end such complete freedom is tantamount to chaos.10
Mathews has no interest in freedom of that sort, and the reader who prefers those baggy monsters might smell a rat just as quickly as the devotee of experiment/constraint. Mathews has said of Cigarettes' style that, despite its concern with "real life," "there is actually no suggestion of depth in the writing itself. It's all very two dimensional and readers, including myself, must fill in the rest."11 And then, if this were not enough, to reach Elizabeth's transcendence at the end of the novel, you must first pass through its morbid echo, a different avian episode entirely, when hallucinating Phoebe is taunted by her dead grandmother in the form of a black bird. I find this the novel's most memorable and certainly virtuoso chapter ("Owen and Phoebe II"): a breathless unraveling of what constitutes humanity in Cigarettes and fiction generally. It is also the book's one great rupture with conventional narration, aside from the wonderful slips into a kind of (invented?) Polari by Morris, and other peekaboo moments reminding us of the digressive "knee plays" in Tlooth. If Phoebe is the beneficiary of a form of enlightenment, it is not a liberation from fiction but a burdening, a brush with word-gamesmanship as a terrifying and undermining irrationality. This terror serves as an interregnum in the otherwise well functioning engine of naturalist fiction that Cigarettes emulates: Mathews opens the hood to reveal "some kind of Oulipian torture"12 beneath Cigarettes' placid surface, a nightmare in wait for the unsuspecting humanist. To the model of fiction decried by Borges—not dissimilar from that with which we live our lives, built on the assumption that our words and identities are more or less stable and subject to our wills; thus the model to which "real-life" material like Cigarettes' is most often consigned—this is sickness indeed. Phoebe's hell of the body and mind is the inverse of Elizabeth's escape, just as Cigarettes inverts the model of Mathews and Roussel before him. This sickness reduces the signs of the world until a recognition of their depthlessness is inescapable. The chapter seems almost an anticipatory parody of the above-quoted condemnation of the centripetal novel, with its inhuman characters and insistence on (paranoid) interconnectedness:
At another time [the voice in Phoebe's head] repeated an inexplicable succession of letters inside her docile ears: b.s.t.q.l.d.s.t., b.s.t.q.l.d.s.t. . . . Phoebe could not decipher the series. After making it yield "Beasts stalk the question lest demons sever trust," and "But soon the quest lured drab saint thither," she rejected the possibility that the letters were initials. She found it even harder to make words out of them, especially without a u for the q.
The Oulipian snake in the realist garden. Of what else can those letters remind us but the progress from A to B to C? And a page later comes the pivot upon which the novel turns, darkly: Phoebe riding home on the train comes to a new insight, which is that the letters' meaning is not in the words or statements they might imply but in their sound. That sound divorced from sense is what names the book, whose allegiances are thereby put into (permanent, suspended) question:
During her trip, Phoebe learned something about the series of letters. B.s.t.q.l.d.s.t. signified an old train careening down an old track. At slower speeds, the train said,
Cigarettes, tch tch.
There is the temptation to see that "old train" careening down its "old track" as the novel—this novel and then the novel: of manners, of conventional what-have-you. The sounds it makes and the turns it takes are its meaning, but the passengers may well be incidental.
The conclusion of Cigarettes, quoted earlier, states that only the ur-character, Adam, could be a free agent, the "hero" of his story, because unencumbered by the knowledge of mortality. He could play, while we cannot. If there is a sub rosa quest in Cigarettes after all, of the variety at the forefront of The Conversions and Odradek, it is a quest by the narrator to understand how and why the people in his life have acted as they did, which is the subtle or unsubtle intention of much psychological realism. The answer is: the overwhelming constraint that is death, ours and others'. In life and in fiction, our characters and vocabularies are shaped by the knowledge of our inevitable cessation, and we act under its influence at all times. We are not ourselves, but the dead. Eden, which is to say choice, is a fiction, and so character too is fiction. If this is "conventional psychology," it leads us to a place where both of those words have been entirely obviated by other forces.
You might be familiar with Laura Bohannan's famous article "Shakespeare in the Bush," which relates her frustrated attempts to demonstrate the universality of certain "great tragedies" by explaining the plot of Hamlet to the elders of an African tribe (and itself resembles the set up for a Harry Mathews story, for example "The Dialect of the Tribe"). The elders tell her that she is wrong about most of the plot, for surely it could not have happened that way. (Why shouldn't Claudius have married Gertrude? And of course Laertes was responsible for Ophelia's death, for with Prince Hamlet in love with her, no other suitor would take her; better to sell her body to the witches to ameliorate this loss of income . . .) There is something of this same reordering of assumptions in Cigarettes. Mathews is shuttling between his two tribes (that he was born into, and then that he adopted), speaking a language and telling a story that is, or so the scholar-graduate intends, not only comprehensible but affecting to both. Yet each tribe will interpret the stations of Cigarettes' plot differently—what discomfits the one might well amuse the other; and then the motivations of the characters and their author too will come across differently depending on your assumptions as to the function of fiction: A means of transmitting sentiment? A game? A panacea, an emetic, a tool with which to learn about humanity or else about the culs-de-sac in its only manner of meaning? No loan word carries the same import in all the languages to which it's been introduced. I'd like to think that the paradoxical Cigarettes might be the sort of book to undermine the certainties of whatever camp tries to assimilate it to their tradition. If it sits uncomfortably in either of the primary modes to which it belongs, this can only be to the betterment of both, for—it always bears repeating—all novels are constrained by convention, however chaotic or experimental or generic they appear; and there is no fiction so human as that which appears to distance itself from its humanity.
Something as fragile as a cigarette would only be squashed under the weight of a word like masterpiece, and, really, who needs another masterpiece this late in the day? Better in the end, perhaps, for a Great Book "to fade away and leave behind ashes of regret."
Jeremy M. Davies is the author of the novel Rose Alley (Counterpath, 2009), and is Senior Editor at Dalkey Archive Press.
[1] "The Art of Fiction No. 191," Paris Review 180 (Spring 2007). Online at http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5734/the-art-of-fiction-no-191-harry-mathews
[2] Edmund White, "Their Masks, Their Lives," Review of Contemporary Fiction 7:3 (Fall 1997), 77-8.
[3] Lynne Tillman, "Harry Mathews." BOMB 26 (Winter 1989). Available online at "http://bombsite.com/issues/26/articles/1165
[4] Tillman
[6] "Art of Fiction"
[7] Barbara Henning, "An Interview with Harry Mathews." Unpublished, available at http://barbarahenning.blogspot.com/2012/05/interview-of-harry-mathews.html
[9] James Wood, "Human, All Too Inhuman." The New Republic, 24 July 2000. Available online at http://www.powells.com/review/2001_08_30.html
[10] Jorge Luis Borges, "Prologue," in The Invention of Morel (New York: New York Review Books, 2003), 5.
[11]John Ash, "A Conversation with Harry Mathews." Review of Contemporary Fiction 7:3 (Fall 1987). Available online at http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/book/?fa=customcontent&GCOI=15647100621780&extrasfile=A09F7D46-B0D0-B086-B609D260CAA2D76E.html
[12] Mark Ford, "Red Makes Wrong." London Review of Books, 25:6 (2003). Available online at http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n06/mark-ford/red-makes-wrong
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Thank you for your service, Robert Franklin Dormady
May 18, 2020 by Charlene Corson Selbee Leave a Comment
Spring Valley resident Jan Poldervaard and Rochester residents Kathleen Smith, Bryan and Dennis Dormady never met their uncle, Robert Franklin Dormady (fondly known as Frank). Though the four siblings never got to know their uncle in person, they know him thanks to the letters he sent his family members while serving in the Army during WWII. Dormady's letters were transcribed by Poldervaard and saved along with photos and memorabilia. Included in the collection is a 1935 Silver Certificate dollar bill that was returned from the county courthouse after Frank's mother sent the dollar along with a letter requesting a copy of his birth certificate. The county did not charge her and returned the dollar bill.
Poldervaard shared the following exposé of Dormady's life from his letters and her extensive research on the internet.
Dormady's parents, James and Lua Dormady, were pioneer homesteaders and moved to North Dakota. Dormady was born on December 7, 1912, in Sweet Briar, N. Dak. The family experienced tough times in North Dakota and decided to move back to Minnesota, returning to the Dormady family home one mile south of Sumner Center. As the family moved often, he attended school in Sumner Center, Washington, and then Pleasant Grove. He worked at the Ed Hale farm five miles southeast of Stewartville for ten years before joining the Army in April 1942. He had four brothers, Clarence, Herb, Edward, and Gordon; and four sisters, Rena, Ruby, Ruth, and Mildred. Two of his brothers served in the Army, one in the Navy. One sister joined the Air Force, one the Navy, another sister married a colonel in the Army.
One year prior to joining the Army, Frank moved to Seattle, Wash., and worked for the Boeing Aircraft Company. On April 7, 1942, he joined the Army, as the United States had entered WWII. His one brother was already serving overseas. It was out of a sense of patriotic duty and the feeling of serving our country and making a difference to "end this war" that compelled him to join up. He left Preston with 119 men. He was housed in barracks with all North and South Carolina men. He adapted well to Army life, never complained and was always positive. He wrote in his many letters that he liked his work and the men in his company, as well as the many experiences he encountered and the people of Australia. He could not explain in detail his work but expressed the future hope of coming home and sharing his experiences. He wrote to all his family and also a special girlfriend whose letters gave him hope and encouragement.
Robert Franklin (Frank) Dormady, Private 1st Class, was in an Army overseas unit stationed in Australia. He was on the gun crew of a supply ship. He was killed in action on March 28, 1943, on a ship in the Southwest Pacific, Oro Bay, New Guinea, just under a year of service. He was 30 years old. Twenty-two days later, the family was notified by telegram stating only that he was killed in action. It would be another seven years before the family was notified that all efforts to recover and identify his remains have failed and that his remains were not recoverable. At the Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines, Frank's name is on the wall, a tablet of missing soldiers. His name is also on the Fillmore County Veterans Memorial Monument in Spring Valley as well as on the Veterans Memorial Monument in Rochester.
The family had little information on the events surrounding Frank's last days. Searching the internet in March 2004 lead to information of the facts surrounding his death, the attack, and the eventual sinking of the ship. It was through the efforts of an expedition aboard the TIATA that the Masaya was found after a 27-year search beneath 165 feet of murky green, shark-infested waters off the east coast of New Guinea.
The ship built as a destroyer during WWI. Later, it was converted and reconditioned into a banana boat that could carry as much as 25,000 stems of bananas. It was registered under the American flag and was in service from Central American countries to New Orleans, Galveston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
Early in 1942, General MacArthur pleaded that aid is sent by means of blockade runners directly from the United States. In the quest for suitable vessels, the Masaya, along with two other banana boats, attracted the personal attention of three Generals and President Roosevelt. These boats were taken over as US Army Transports. They were given Army gun crews and loaded with supplies of the highest priority. She became an inter-island transport for troops and supplies for General MacArthur. Dangers from the sea or the enemy were expected on every voyage. The defensive armament on the Masaya was negligible. Members of the troop constructed a dummy 6-inch gun on the forward deck in the faint hope of frightening any adversary who might be encountered during the voyage. The fake gun constructed by the troop aboard Mayasa was made of coconut tree logs. At 9:16 a.m. on March 24, 1943, Mayasa sailed from Milne Bay carrying troops and cargo. Within days S.S. Mayasa steamed into Tufi and took aboard supplies, equipment, and a small base force, then sailed into history. The plan called for the ship to unload her cargo of 500 drums of 100 octane avgas, a portable radio, and other base equipment under cover of darkness.
Ensign Galloway and his men were to swim the 500 drums of gas ashore after they were dumped overboard by Mayasa. The heavy battery aboard the ship was a 3" X 50 Cal. A dual-purpose gun mounted near the stern and the ship also carried four 50 Cal. Browning machine guns. When the Mayasa was still about six miles off Oro Bay, a flight of 18 enemy dive-bombers and 40 fighters swept in to raid Army installations ashore, port facilities, and shipping. As soon as the pilots saw the old banana boat, whose destroyer lines had not changed with the years, they pounced on her thinking that they caught a warship out alone. Six bombs were dropped, three were direct hits in the stern area, and three were near misses. The three direct hits took out the gun crew and engineering. None of the 500 drums of avgas was set alight in the attack, which saved many lives. Some of the men had life vests on, and others did not. A rescue craft came out and rescued some of the survivors. The Mayasa went down stern first at 1313 hours and hit bottom hard. There were 11 fatalities. All survivors and casualties were rescued and brought to Oro Bay. Frank was part of the gun crew on the stern of the ship. One of the first bombs struck the stern area and killed not only the gun crew but also some others a distance away. The ship sank in less than an hour. It is presumed that the fatalities went down with the ship, and no remains were recovered.
Frank's death was of great distress to his family. All his other siblings who entered the service returned home without injury, and for that, the family was truly grateful and proud of their service to the country.
Dormady's nieces and nephews are excited to share their uncle's story with his hometown, as his story has never been published. Dormady's story reminds us of what patriotism meant to his generation. His story contains many lessons that we all can learn from, especially to remain positive in the face of adversity. Thank you for your service, sir!
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1951-1955 Nash-Healey
More About the Nash-Healey's George Mason
Although unusual, George Mason's anonymous creation of a public chapel in Michigan was quite in character. Mason insisted on anonymity in his innumerable private philanthropic projects.
For example, about three years after World War II, he had become interested in helping the blind -- and not just by giving money to the various concerned organizations. He learned of a small school in Detroit that trained Dobermans for use as guide dogs. Called Path-Finder Dogs for the Blind, it was loosely organized and little known.
Mason gave his PR chief, Fred Black, the enormous task of seeking financial support for the school, which first had to be restructured according to state law, with a staff, a board of directors, and a building to house the blind boarding students. There were myriad other problems to be solved, but now by people who knew far more about promoting automobiles and refrigerators than running a school.
Black became president of Path-Finder and John Conde was named secretary and business manager. "We worked more than four years to build and strengthen it, ultimately raising funds to provide guide dogs for nearly 300 students," Conde recalls. Path-Finder then merged with the Leader Dog League of Rochester, Michigan.
"Another of our boss's projects was what we called 'Mason's Coffee Lift'," says Conde. In the late 1940s, a decade after succeeding company founder Charles W. Nash as president, Mason learned that coffee was one of the scarcest of life's pleasures in the new war-torn state of West Germany.
Again calling on his public relations staff, he arranged to send packages of coffee to Lutheran churches throughout the country. It was all done with no public mention and little, if any, fanfare among Nash-Kelvinator executives and employees, most of whom didn't know about this further expression of Mason's generosity until after his death.
In addition to all this philanthropy, reading It's Later Than You Think sparked George Mason's creativity. Learn about the results on the next page.
1953-1955 Nash and Hudson Ramblers
1949-1951 Nash Airflyte


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Brian Goldner, CNBC, Earnings, HAS, Jim Cramer, Mad Money
Hasbro CEO Defends Company After Post-Earnings Sell-Off
Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 2:52pm | 435
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) shares traded lower by more than 15% Tuesday in reaction to a concerning earnings report, but CEO Brian Goldner said the toymaker is in a position to grow in the fourth quarter and beyond. What Happened Hasbro's third quarter was negatively impacted by the U.S.-...
Analyst Color, Brian Goldner, CNBC, DA Davidson, Earnings, Eric Handler
'Magic: The Gathering' Works Wonders For Hasbro
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 11:38am | 724
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) surprised Wall Street with a first-quarter earnings beat Tuesday, finding some magic in a new esports version of an old game, "Magic: The Gathering." The beat helped convince sell-side analysts that the disruption caused by the Toys R Us closure is over...
Brian Goldner, CNBC, HAS, Jim Cramer, Toymakers, Toys
Hasbro CEO Tells Cramer Toys R Us 'Disruption' Is Over
Tuesday, February 12, 2019 - 4:40pm | 417
Toymaker Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) reported Friday with fourth-quarter results that were negatively impacted by the Toys R Us liquidation. During the quarter, net revenue fell 13 percent from last year to $1.39 billion, while full-year revenue fell 12 percent from $4.58 billion. What...
Brian Goldner, Elon Musk, GE, HAS, Larry Culp, News
Insider Buys Of The Week: GE, Hasbro, Tesla
Monday, November 5, 2018 - 4:36pm | 540
Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors. Some notable CEOs were making insider buys last week. Shares of one of these companies have hit multiyear lows. Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10 percent owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason --...
Border Tax, Brian Goldner, CNBC, CNBC, Donald Trump, HAS
Hasbro's CEO Brushes Off Border Tax Concerns
Thursday, February 16, 2017 - 11:58am | 413
Toymaker Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) has seen its stock soar more than 25 percent since the start of 2017 and is trading near its all-time highs of $98.76. On Thursday the company's CEO Brian Goldner was a guest on CNBC's "Squawk Box" segment to offer his take on President Trump's proposed border...
Brian Goldner, DIS, Fortune, HAS, Jurassic World, Long Ideas
Toy Wars: Mattel Snags 'Jurassic World' License Out From Under Rival Hasbro
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 - 8:50am | 423
Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) announced it has won the toy license for "Jurassic World" beginning in the summer of 2017. The California-based toy company will be taking over a business that was previously owned by rival Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS). The shakeup in the "Jurassic World" franchise is being...
Alan Hassenfeld, Brian Goldner, Colin Stretch, David Wehner, FB, Felix Baker
Zillow, Prospect Capital Lead List Of Notable Insider Transactions Last Week
Monday, February 29, 2016 - 3:14pm | 359
Zillow Group, Inc.-Class C (NASDAQ: Z), Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), Lear Corporation (NYSE: LEA) and Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: PSEC) were among the key insider transactions last week. Director Jay Hoag acquired 2,269,337 shares of Zillow, a real estate information provider, paying $19....
Brian Goldner, CNBC, HAS, Jurassic World, Nerf, Play-Doh
Hasbro CEO Explains What's Driving The Company's Growth
Monday, July 20, 2015 - 12:49pm | 335
Toymaker Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) reported better than expected quarterly numbers on Monday morning. EPS for the second quarter came at $0.33 on revenue of $797.7 million, compared to analysts' estimates of EPS of $0.29 on revenue of $773.1 million. Brian Goldner, Hasbro CEO, was on CNBC...
Brian Goldner, Earnings, HAS, Long Ideas, MAT, News
Hasbro Earnings Prove There's More Than Meets The Eye
Monday, July 18, 2011 - 9:02am | 812
Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) reported earnings this morning that missed the mark on the bottom line but beat on the top line, as Transformers helped the Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based company report strong top line growth. Shares are down around 3% or so as of the time of this writing, but the shining part...
Brian Goldner, HAS, Long Ideas, News, Management, Trading Ideas
Insider Buy: Hasbro (HAS)
Monday, April 25, 2011 - 12:55pm | 177
When an insider buys stock, there is only one purpose in it: to make money. Insiders sell for all kinds of reasons, and while locking in gains is one of them, it is not the only one. When a CEO makes a buy, investors should stand up and notice, and this happened at Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) last week...
Brian Goldner, Captain America, CNBC, DIS, DISCA, discovery communications
Hasbro CEO Talks Rising Costs, New Deals, The Hub, And More
Friday, February 11, 2011 - 2:15pm | 239
This afternoon, Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) CEO Brian Goldner spoke to CNBC about some of the company's products and movie tie-ins, as well as the rising cost of oil. "We've looked at how the rising costs will go into our products, 'cause we have so many products that are new every year," Goldner...
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Who Watches the Watchers?
Views on Ireland's Hidden Controversial Issues
Garda scandals
Ireland Murders
Secrets of Cronyism
Year of the Gangster
11 Jul, 2020 Uncategorized
I totally Agree with Pat Flanagan below, it is now Alleged Barry Cowen drove for almost 30 years with no full Driving Licence. In any other country, it would be a National Scandal, but FF are back, and they make their own Laws. Return of the Gombeen Mafia, what next?
Posted by Fred Bassett
Pat Flanagan column: Hat-trick of scandals prove the law still doesn't apply to Fianna Fail
'So why should the public adhere to rules and laws when Fianna Fail politicians can flout them without consequences? Because that's what Fianna Fail does'
Minister for Agriculture Barry Cowen says criticism of him is fully deserved, and says that he has apologised to his family, to the Taoiseach, to his constituents, and to the general public
Barry Cowen says that he has apologised to his family, to the Taoiseach, to his constituents, and to the general public
Three apologies and three impending scandals in as many days – welcome back Fianna Fail, you haven't lost it.
Charlie Haughey's old party is a bit like Dublin buses – you're waiting for a scandal for ages then three come along at the same time.
Still, you have to hand it to Micheal Martin who is not quite two weeks in office and yet his Government has been rocked by controversy.
And it comes in the same week a survey by the Central Statistics Office found that less than half of the people in this country have confidence in the justice system. Read on and you might see why.
Barry Cowen speaks in Dail
Rel 'Serious scandal' if banks profit from mortgage breaks as Leo Varadkar vows to come down on them 'like a tonne of bricks'
If scandals were goals then the one scored by Barry Cowen was the most spectacular of the Fianna Fail hat-trick.
The new Agriculture Minister was caught drink-driving and received a three-month ban but it has since emerged he didn't have a licence to lose, at least not a full one. He was also done for speeding.
Minister Cowen still hasn't explained how he reached 49 years of age without ever holding a full driving licence or how he was on the road when the law clearly states that learners must be accompanied by a full licence holder. Did he have L plates on his car when he was driving up and down to the Dail and was he claiming huge travelling expenses for doing so?
He says he made a "stupid, stupid mistake" but it would appear he did it every time he got into his car over many years. Why should young men and woman learners be prosecuted and get points on their licence when this prominent politician apparently drove around for years and did not?
While the Government would have us believe "we are all in this together" when it comes to the pandemic, that's not the case in the Fianna Fail parliamentary party.
While the Taoiseach claims he was unaware of Mr Cowen's driving ban, someone in his organisation ratted on him to the media which doesn't augur well for party unity
in a fraught coalition with Fine Gael and the excitable Greens.
As for the bould Barry, unless he comes up with some plausible explanations about his past driving it could, and should, be the end of the road for him.
Another Fianna Fail TD with "deep regrets" is Joe O'Flaherty who only went and wrote a letter to a court on behalf of three brothers whose homes were this week raided by the Criminal Assets Bureau as part of a major investigation.
The Longford-Westmeath deputy said penning the letter on behalf of the men during a violent disorder trial was an "error of judgment" which is something of an understatement. In it he described Thomas, 40, Denis, 39, and 35-year-old Willie Hannafin as "extremely capable, very sharp and more than familiar with hard work", during a trial in Longford Circuit Court.
The three brothers were given suspended sentences for an attack which resulted in an 18-year-old receiving a knife wound. An axe was also used in the assault.
As if this wasn't bad enough, last Monday the homes of all three men were among a dozen residential properties raided by CAB which seized €110,000 and £14,000 (€15,570) in cash.
Also confiscated were three caravans and 11 high-end vehicles, including a Mercedes, as well as two Rolex watches and designer handbags and shoes.
The brothers had been in court for the attack which is believed to have been part of the Longford feud which has resulted in numerous violent incidents including shootings, arson attacks, assaults and death threats.
Yet Deputy O'Flaherty gave the three what amounted to character references on his personalised headed note paper and listed his Dail address.
Meanwhile, MEP Billy Kelleher proved once again that when it comes to rules and regulations they don't always apply to Fianna Fail.
Billy Kelleher during a Fianna Fail press briefing on the plinth of Leinster House, Dublin (Image: Gareth Chaney/Collins)
Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Fianna Fail face accusations of bringing back 'cute hoor politics' to Dail
Taoiseach says no politician is 'above the law' ahead of Barry Cowen statement
He flew to Dublin from Brussels, totally disregarding public health advice for people arriving into Ireland, ignoring the order to self-isolate for 14 days.
He deemed it more important to be there to see Micheal Martin crowned Taoiseach the following day at the National Convention Centre in Dublin rather than stay at home in case he might spread the virus.
So why should the public adhere to rules and laws when Fianna Fail politicians can flout them without consequences? Because that's what Fianna Fail does.
Indeed many people consider it a scandal in itself that Fianna Fail are back in office when the public overwhelmingly voted for change.
Published by Fred Bassett
Political searcher of the truth; I also expose corruption and cronyism and also help whistleblowers.	View all posts by Fred Bassett
Drug Gangs are really feeling the Heat, and Gardai are getting to grips slowly with Organised Crime across the country. Drogheda still is a major Problem, between different Gang Factions, and the Question still left is, Where is Barrister Irene Sands?
A Recall of some of the Murders in the Kinahan/ Hutch Feud. Media sources today state Daniel Kinahan told "Porkies" about the Plot to kidnap Bomber Kavanagh's son, then the bond between Kinahan and the Bomber, which saw the murder of the cousin Hatchet Kavanagh, it was this bond, that began the begining of the end for Daniel Kinahan and the Cartel?
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Motorola Edge 20 Pro gets portrayed in official-looking renders
Following a slew of leaked renders showing the Motorola Edge 20 a few days ago, today we have some official-looking renders of the Edge 20 Pro doing the rounds.
So far, the Pro model of the family was expected to sport a curved screen like the original Edge and Edge+, but as you can see below, the point of the "Edge" branding is now completely lost, as Motorola chose to go with a flat panel on all three members of the 2021 lineup.
The Motorola Edge 20 Pro is expected to have the Snapdragon 870 chipset at the helm, paired with 6/8/12GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage. On the rear there's supposedly a 108 MP main camera, a 16 MP ultrawide with autofocus for macro shots, and an 8 MP periscope telephoto with 5x optical zoom. On the front you get a 32 MP snapper for selfies, and the phone has a 4,500 mAh battery.
The pictures tell us to expect either a mono down-firing speaker or a hybrid stereo combo with the earpiece as the other channel, an under-display fingerprint sensor, and a Google Assistant button (possibly) on the left. The handset is depicted in blue, but other colors may be on offer too.
The Edge 20 family will become official at an event on August 5, the company has revealed earlier today.


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World: Meet President Tony Soprano
Ranjit Sidhu
Donald Trump's press conference showed a lying, vengeful bully
"He said he was gonna ask a very simple, easy question. And it's not, its not, not — not a simple question, not a fair question. OK SIT DOWN……..So here's the story, folks. Number one, I am the least anti- Semitic person that you've ever seen in your entire life. Number two, racism, the least racist person…..QUIET, QUIET, QUIET."
That was Donald Trump's answer to a Jewish reporter asking about the recent rise of anti-Semitism in America.
He let his guard down yesterday at his extraordinary press conference, and we saw the real Donald Trump shine through, the bully, full of lies, prepared to forget legality and decency and act like an 'unhinged' mob boss talking on and on about the 'lack of respect' he is getting.
For those who have done their background reading on Trump, Trump the Mobster would not have come as a surprise.
Donald Trump's actual links to Mafia are well documented, from his close mentor Roy Cohn, the lawyer who was the gateway to the New York mafia, to working with 'Fat Tony' Salerno, boss of the Genovese crime family, and Paul Castellano, head of the Gambinos in the building of Trump Tower, to his close friendship with embezzler Joseph Weichselbaum who ran Trump's personal helicopter service and ferried his most valued clientele, the list goes on and on.
His conduct would also not be a shock to anyone who has a passing understanding of his history of property development, in particular, his building of his golf course in Scotland so memorably documented in 'You've Been Trumped'.
All the many books on Donald Trump's life all point to his other mob characteristic of reacting to any perceived personal slight with an attack coupled with his total encompassing desire for vengeance.
It's a dangerous characteristic in a property developer and TV star, but totally frightening for the Commander in Chief of the most powerful army ever assembled. Something the world needs to be prepared to react to and condemn.
Our only hope is that his other mobster-like obsession — money — will come back to haunt him. His Russian connections and still unreleased tax returns still have the legs to bring him down.
Let's hope that this happens before President Soprano goes on a hit that the world will regret.
Ranjit Sidhu is is the founder of SiD, Statistics into Decisions. Follow him on Twitter.
See: Donald Trump has crossed the Rubicon – none of us can afford to stand by
2 Responses to "World: Meet President Tony Soprano"
Calvin Graham
The problem is that so many people are wittering on with ludicrous nonsense ( "he's going to lock up all the muslims" , "he's going to launch nukes at China" , etc) that people are starting to zone out and ignore the real news. I suspect the whole thing is a deliberate and calculated media strategy and it's worrying how predictably many in the media are falling for it, hook line and sinker.
My cartoon take on his week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqTn8SXkBxM
Jimmy Glesga
The left and liberal elites are pretty well fucked now. Trump is on their case. He knew the press would come up with trivia. They are not dealing with their pal Obama now they are dealing with a Yank.


Dr. Erica Mitchell, who performed procedures and held leadership positions in OHSU's Division of Vascular Surgery, left in June 2018 after 12 years over frustrations with how she was treated, the suit says. In extensive detail, it alleges that at OHSU she endured a "two-tier working environment that favors men over women." The complaint names three male physicians as defendants, including Dr. John Hunter, executive vice president and CEO of the OHSU health system, saying they contributed to a sexist environment.
The suit includes a long list of accusations, saying that OHSU managers paid Mitchell less than male counterparts, blocked her from moving up the leadership ladder, demanded that she be more compassionate than male counterparts, justify her clinical judgment more often that her male peers, asked her to resign from a position to make room for a man, allowed men to make sexist comments and tolerated male colleagues who had intimate relations with co-workers but retaliated against her for doing so.
This is the second gender discrimination lawsuit against OHSU from a female physician in the past year. The other case, filed by cardiologist Dr. Rupa Bala last May, is scheduled to move to mediation later this month. But OHSU indicated in a statement to The Lund Report that it has no intention of negotiating plans with Mitchell over her claims.
Mitchell advanced at OHSU after she was hired, the suit says, moving from assistant professor of surgery to associate professor to professor. She performed procedures on the vascular system, the body's network of blood vessels, published research and developed education materials used in her profession nationally. At OHSU, she held administrative positions, including vice chair for quality for the Department of Surgery at OHSU and medical director for vascular and endovascular surgery at Salem Hospital, which had a partnership with OHSU until 2017.
A key complaint of the lawsuit centers around pay: "Dr. Mitchell was paid less than men whose jobs required substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility, including Dr. Amir Azarbal, Dr. Timothy Liem, Dr. Gregory Landry and Dr. Cherrie Abraham," the suit says, adding that they all had similar responsibilities for surgery, patient care, research, instruction and other duties.
The complaint says Moneta refused to increase her pay.
The complaint says that men automatically received raises but that women had to find advocates to lobby on their behalf to get a pay raise.
"The women there for years have had to basically wheedle their way through the back door to get raises similar to men," said Jeff Merrick, a trial attorney representing Mitchell.
The allegations also include a claim that female physicians are slotted for educational roles -- not administrative positions. When Moneta's job as division chief opened, Mitchell wanted to apply, the suit says. But she says she was told she could not because she'd had had an intimate relationship with Moneta.
The suit says that all of the men in the division were asked to apply for the position but that none of the women received an invite. It also says that men and women were treated differently when it came to other career opportunities. It alleges that another plaintiff in the case, Dr. Kenneth Azarow, currently surgeon-in-chief for Doernbecher Children's Hospital, asked Mitchell not to apply for membership in the prestigious American Surgical Association the same year that one of her male colleagues was applying, to help his chances. She applied anyway and was accepted.
In another instance, the suit says Hunter, OHSU's CEO of Healthcare, told Mitchell to resign as co-chair of simulation, to allow a man to take that role, in order to become vice chair of quality.
The suit says male physicians "did not have to horse-trade for leadership roles" and that managers did not ask men to step aside so that Mitchell could take on new responsibilities.
And finally, the complaint says that when Mitchell announced she was leaving that she was stripped of her administrative roles, but that men were not. It says Dr. Lloyd Taylor was allowed to keep his leadership positions until he left and maintained his OHSU affiliation after he stepped down.
The complaint says Azarow called Mitchell "the competition" when she said she was leaving and shunned her at last June's meeting of the American Board of Surgery.
"Defendants 'blackball' or authorize or tolerate the blackballing of women by a male supervisor who has purposefully tried to prevent women from being hired at academic institutions," the complaint says.
The suit accuses OHSU managers of perpetuating more subtle types of gender discrimination, such as calling female physicians by their first names while referring by men as Dr., asking women to justify their clinical decisions more frequently than men and to show more compassion and be "less businesslike" towards others than men.
Studies have documented gender inequity in medicine and uncovered bias against female professionals. In fact, a recent study by OHSU examined attitudes experienced by female residents performing procedures between 2013 and 2016 at an unnamed institution. It found that the women received more instruction than the men even though their performance was the same.
This suit is unusual in the specificity of the allegations. Merrick said his first complaint was more general but that OHSU's lawyers contacted him and said it was too vague so he amended the first version, packing it with details.
"They wanted specifics, and now it's out there in the public record," Merrick said.
An OHSU physician who knows Mitchell said the allegations in the complaint ring true.
"Ask any other woman in the university and you would not get a different description than what she described," the physician said. She requested anonymity over fears of retribution.
Have a tip about OHSU or another health care story? Please reach out and contact Lynne Terry at [email protected].


Philippine Airlines (PAL) started life as the Philippine Aerial Taxi Company in 1935. In 1941, Filipino industrialist Andres Soriano Sr. acquired the company, and the national airline was born. This year, as the company celebrates 75 years as the Philippine flag carrier, President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime J Bautista is proud of its history. "No other Philippines-based airline can claim 75 years of being in business," he says.
In the 1940s, it became the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific and the first South East Asian airline to fly to Europe. Over the years, it continued adding to its domestic and international destinations and expanding its fleet. In the late 1990s, the airline had to scale back significantly to cope with losses caused by the Asian financial crisis. It went into receivership until 2007, during which time it worked on recovering from the setback.
Now, the company is prosperous once more. Philippine Airlines has put strategies in place for rapid international growth, with new airplanes, destinations and services. The airline flies to 30 domestic and 43 international destinations, and is looking to expand the number of routes and flights in and out of Europe, the US, Middle East, Asia and Oceania. It is acquiring brand-new Airbus A350-900s, expanding its fleet to nearly 80 aircraft.
This year, as the company celebrates 75 years as the Philippine flag carrier, President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime J Bautista is proud of its history. "No other Philippines-based airline can claim 75 years of being in business," he says.
Now that the airline is once again extending its global reach, Jaime wants all employees to "rally towards a single goal — to become a five-star airline". The focus is on customer service and providing a superior experience to PAL passengers. Jaime believes his employees' long years of service in the aviation business will help PAL achieve this goal.
"Many loyal PAL staff spend lifelong careers with us, equipping them with valuable experience on how to handle all situations. Many of them comprise generations of families who have served at PAL, handing down insightful lessons on doing their jobs well through the generations," he explains.
The airline will enhance its inflight offerings, with new entertainment system and a free inflight entertainment app allowing passengers to stream content on their personal devices. It will also provide inflight wi-fi and mobile roaming, allowing passengers to use the internet and their phones on board the aircraft. And some of the Philippines' top chefs are working with the airline to update its inflight cuisine.
Another goal for the company is to join a global airline alliance. Philippine Airlines has partnership agreements with a number of airlines including Etihad Airways, Cathay Pacific, Gulf Air, WestJet, Malaysia Airlines and Turkish Airlines. However, joining a global alliance would extend its international reach substantially.


Engineering: Is it a man's world?
Throughout our Women in Engineering Week 2018, FPR Group has been delving into the issue of the gender imbalance in engineering. We've spoken to recruiters, students, managers and engineers themselves to raise awareness of the issue that we're passionate about. There are several campaigns and organisations attempting to encourage greater diversity within the engineering industry. Today we conclude with an important question: is it working?
There is a huge skills shortage in the engineering industry. Engineering UK's 2018 report states that 124,000 engineers and technicians with core engineering skills are required every year, and there is a 59,000 annual shortfall to fill core engineering roles. One way to address this is to reach a larger pool of skilled engineers, and that means appealing more to women. Women make up 47% of the UK's workforce, but only 12% of the engineering workforce.
Everyone brings a different thing to the table, by not including women there is a whole pool of opinions and potential solutions to issues that aren't being heard.
FPR Group began our campaign to raise awareness of the imbalance of the engineering skills shortage and noticeably larger numbers of men in the industry. However, we didn't realise quite how large the problem is, and how many people across the world feel so passionate about balancing the scales. The response we've had to this campaign demonstrates a widespread determination to proactively tackle this issue, which is already underway.
What's really important to me is that it's not seen to be an issue, that we're just people. I don't want to be seen as a woman in engineering, but simply, "She's an engineer". It should be normal, that's the aim.
This issue isn't being ignored. As we mentioned on Day 1, there are several interventions already in place to improve the proportion of women in engineering.
2018 is the government's official Year of Engineering, which is a campaign that focuses on engaging children at school age. Their mission is to inspire a new generation of engineers through school-age interventions, e.g. lesson plans, videos and STEM events. Through our own research, we found that over 40% of current engineering students believe females could be encouraged to consider STEM and engineering pathways in early education, but does this need to be more hands-on?
Start young. At every level of education, there is a drop in the percentage of women studying STEM subjects.
More and more companies are now introducing STEM and engineering programmes to children in schools, of any gender or background. Siemens, Engineering Education Scheme, STEM, Women into Science and Engineering (WISE), Tomorrow's Engineers, and Year of Engineering are just a few examples of larger organisations engaging with younger people.
I think that attitudes in the workforce have vastly improved, meaning that it is much less intimidating for women working in these areas than it used to be. There are some great positive female role models now and even Doctor Who is helping pave the way for future generations.
I think we have turned the corner in regards to how women are viewed in the engineering environment, now it's a case of ensuring they are as equally interested in this field.
Despite the low numbers of women in core engineering roles, progress is being made, with more than double the number of women working as professional engineers in 2018, compared to 2013 (STEM). However, there is still plenty to be done to continue this upward trajectory. Whether we need to empower more young men and women to consider engineering as an achievable career choice, or adapt the way we approach diversity in the workplace as a whole, it won't change overnight. We look forward to following up on our Women in Engineering Week, and following other campaigns that are making such an impact within the industry.
There is a 59,000 annual shortfall to fill core engineering roles, which will continue to rise year on year. FPR Group want to impassion both young men and women to begin a career in engineering. We are happy to support the engineers of the future, and as part of that, we will be attending University of Southampton's annual Technology & Engineering Careers Fair on 14th February 2019.
We hope our Women in Engineering Week 2018 can be a platform to encourage conversation, invite ideas and tackle this issue openly, so feel free to comment your ideas and share!


Brochures provided to schools Published: 1.12.2009.
"More space for river" which focuses on protection of rivers and the importance of river structures.
The aim of this joint action is to raise awerenes and increase the level of knowlage among pupils in regard to water use and protection, and in long term intice and support enviromental education.
The brochures can be downloaded from our web site together with other educational material on environmental protection.


Available June 1, 2019 this spacious 1 bedroom apartment is located just a step off bustling Thames Street this spacious second floor apartment offers easy access to Newport's best shopping and dining! In a well maintained building with a terrific porch dedicated to the unit, you can sit and watch the world go by.
The layout is flexible and you can choose which room makes the most sense for you as a living room. Two doors access the apartment off a traditionally styled landing. If you use the right side, you'll have a living room dining area. Choose the left side as your living room, and the bedroom has a little office space attached.
Plant container gardens on your porch and enjoy flowers and veggies that should flourish in the southern exposure of your dedicated veranda styled porch.
On street parking and no laundry in the building. Please, no pets.


Manangatang Racing Club is a horse track in Manangatang, Victoria, Australia that features thoroughbred racing.
This is such a cool story. Great things happen at the #ManangRaces!
Notes: Track rises gently from 1400m to400m, then falls slowly along straight past winning post to 1400m.


Premier US Shipping. We care about the quality of our products, so we handle our production with perfection. Processing usually takes 1-3 days. Delivery takes 12-20 days depending on stock availability and shipping destination. We also ship worldwide, note that any duty/customs tax in the destination country (if applies) is not included.


Westlake Village, CA Realtor Julia K. Goodman | Sotheby's International Realty, Inc.
Julia K Goodman partners with clients to find "Refined, Elegant and Personalized" real estate investments and properties that align with what's important to you. As your real estate consultant, Julia likes to ask questions, listen and "guide you in the process of finding a harmonious home that connects with your heart and builds long-term wealth through the greatest asset there is - real estate.
With over two decades of experience as a residential CPA, Julia now works with clients primarily in the Conejo Valley. Prior to calling the Conejo Valley home, Julia resided and represented buyers and sellers in the Westside of Los Angeles for over 18 years. She can cross-sell in both areas through the network of Sotheby's International Realty.
Julia can help you identify luxury lifestyle homes from the majestic Santa Monica Mountains to spectacular oceanfront views on the Pacific Ocean. With equestrian farms, ranches and large-acre lots, there is an abundance of beautiful homes. Her primary markets surround Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, and include Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Hidden Valley, Malibu, Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks, Topanga and Westlake Village.
Long-Term Partner - Julia genuinely cares about her client's decisions and long-term wealth. 95% of Julia's clients return to make future investments with her guidance.
Real Estate Consultant - During the discovery process, Julia asks many questions about priorities, lifestyle preferences and numbers to find your ideal home and real estate investment. She loves putting these pieces together in an elegant way.
Great Negotiator – As a former CPA for one of the Big 4 firms (KPMG Peat Marwick, Ernst and Young), Julia partners with you to negotiate the right investment at the right time in the right place. She enjoys helping clients navigate the contract details.
Intuitive Realtor – Julia takes great pride in helping you evaluate your options using both rational decision-making and intuition. Your gut instincts and emotional connections are paramount in this process.
Family and Spiritual Foundation – As an American with a Japanese family that goes back 400 years, Julia lives a bilingual, bicultural and spiritual lifestyle. Her daily meditation and yoga practices, family history as landowners, Japanese tea ceremony traditions, and connection with nature are all part of her solid foundation.
Community Engagement – Julia is a member of the California Yacht Club and supports the Viewpoint School and several charities (Tuesday Nights). Her professional memberships include the National Association of Realtors, California Association of Realtors, Conejo Simi Moorpark Association of Realtors, Women's California Association of Realtors Ventura County, and AICPA.
"Art of Tea" Traditions – Similar to her personalized approach to real estate, Julia regularly practices the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremonies as a member of Omote Senke Doumon Kai.
Julia's core values of passion, trust, integrity, and gratitude drive all her interactions.


text:
Sport & Charity
Marham is a monthly publication. See what is in the latest edition.
Armed Forces Day at Wisbech
The RAF Marham RAFBF were invited to the Armed Forces Day at Wisbech.
This was an excellent opportunity to raise awareness and raise some money for our RAF charity.
Cpl Russell, A/Sgt Kennedy and myself decided to try and make the stall a bit more interactive and with the help of Wg Cdr Fell and his PA Kirsty Pote who made and designed an RAFBF "splat the rat" we came up with a few ideas. Cpl Russell came up with the idea of a wine raffle which was very popular on the day. Cpl Kennedy made and designed a lucky dip with a few surprises hidden inside for the local children. The day was very hot and humid and the sun was definitely shining, bravely Cpl Russell put the Ben Elephant suit on and went around the market place asking for donations from the visiting public.
Mr Ray and Mrs Jan Hutchinson, members of the organising group, made us feel very welcome on the day. The group, which consisted of some very dedicated volunteers from Wisbech, presented us with a cheque of £500 for the RAFBF. The cheque was presented by Jan Hutchinson and Barbara Oliver on behalf of the Wisbech Armed Forces Day organising group.
The monies raised was as a result of a RAF Swing Wing concert held annually at Wisbech and from which the profits are distributed to the RAF charities. The concert was organised by an enthusiastic group made up of Barbara and David Oliver and Jan and Ray Hutchinson.
The day was a success and the RAF Marham RAFBF would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made us feel so welcome on the day.
Cpl Freeman
Member of the RAFBF Committee at RAF Marham
in Features, Sport & Charity


text:
Mind Buddy
The Perils of Playing with a Price Tag
Written by Alex Freemantle
Dealing with Expectation in Sport
This summer's football transfer window saw a 'crazy' (Benitez, 2017) rise in transfer fees that few pundits could have foreseen. Despite eye watering figures in the 2015/16 season, Paul Pogba's £89m move back to Man United and Gonzalo Higiuian's switch from Napoli to Juventus for €90m for example, the transfers completed this year reached completely new heights. A loan deal for 18 year-old Kylian Mbappe, with an option for PSG to make the deal permanent next season for a staggering €180m, capped off a month which also saw Barcelona pay €105m for Ousmane Dembele, and PSG break the world record transfer fee to sign Neymar for €222m. Aside from these huge money signings, a number of British teams also broke their respective record transfer fees bringing in new talent, albeit on a smaller scale. Premier league teams such as Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal forked out more than ever before to bring match winners to their dressing rooms, and Premier League 'new-boys' Huddersfield and Brighton and Hove Albion opted to spend big to increase their chances of prolonging their stay in the top flight.
Suggested explanations for the wildly inflated prices now paid for footballers range from the influence of rich new clubs in the Far-East to specific unwarranted high transfer fees that skewed the market. However, the reason for the rise is not something that players, coaches or fans concern themselves with, instead, as soon as pen is put to paper the attention turns to performance on the field.
Neymar and Mbappe currently have 7 combined appearances for PSG and 7 combined goals, which seems to imply that PSG's investment is paying off. However, throughout footballing history, big money signings all too often end in disappointment for all involved. Andy Carroll's £35m move from Newcastle to Liverpool is a transfer that falls into that category. At the time, the fee Liverpool paid, made him the most expensive British player ever and the eighth most expensive player ever to play the game. Yet, unfortunately for Liverpool, Carroll's performances (6 goals in 44 appearances) led many to brand him as wasted money (Daly, 2014). A player who had pressure heaped upon him, and was expected by many to be 'world class' for Liverpool (Spearing, 2011), turned out to be average at best and he was soon sold to West Ham United. For some players, the big money signing they have been waiting for their whole careers simply doesn't end in the fairy tale they dreamed it would, and instead they succumb to the pressure that follows all big signings; the pressure of expectation.
Expectation is consistently addressed by journalists when interviewing new signings and the conversation more often than not ends with the player stating something similar to 'it doesn't affect me' and 'I just wish to win games at my new club'. Gylfi Sigurdsson gave a textbook example of this after joining Everton this summer for a club record fee of £45m. In response to being asked whether he felt any pressure due to his high price tag, Sigurdsson replied 'personally it is not up to me how much the club has paid for me. I put the pressure on myself to play well for the team, create and score goals for the club. That's all I need and that's the only thing I focus on'. This is seen by many as a good mentality for a player to hold in response to the great expectation that is bestowed upon him, and for as long as players disregard pressure in this way, their club's fans are happy. However, from time to time a new signings' performance on the pitch may not always be as polished as the answer they give to journalists regarding the pressure they feel. For example, in the 479 minutes of competitive football that Sigurdsson has played for Everton so far this season, they have drawn two and lost 4 and the goal difference whilst Sigurdsson has been on the field has been 1 goal scored and 14 goals against. These poor results cannot under any circumstances be blamed solely upon the new signing, however, it does beg the question that maybe the pressure of expectation cannot be dismissed quite as easily as players often say it can.
Expectation can affect sportsmen and women in many different ways and can even sometimes lead performers to react in a positive way (Mothes et al, 2017), although often the reaction exhibited is negative (Mesagno & Beckmann, 2017). One very simple effect that the pressure of expectation can have upon an athlete is to cause that performer to dislike competing and playing their sport altogether (Husbands, 2013). A football player who thinks that when he runs out onto the pitch there will be 35,000 fans expecting him to score lots of goals and perform well, even against talented opposition, will instantly feel dread towards performing, and will play for 90 minutes with a great weight upon their shoulders. It has been shown that any player who attempts to play their sport without enjoying it will ultimately fail to perform well (Merkel, 2013), a phenomenon that Andy Murray arguably fell victim to during his early career.
Athletes that start to feel the pressure of expectation will have already started to imagine a negative outcome that is yet to occur (Cohn, 2017); 'the manager has bought me for a lot of money and so the fans expect me to perform well but I am going to disappoint them'. In this instance, the player has imagined that they will perform badly before they have even set foot on the field. Despite the great benefits that imagination and mental imagery can have upon sports performance (Smith et al, 2007), it can also create major problems for athletes too. An athlete that focuses upon a preconceived outcome will ignore the reality that they still have control over their performance and the processes that can help them to perform well.
This focus upon the processes that make up good performance is the solution that a sport psychologist should encourage when working with a player suffering from the pressures of expectation. Often players focus upon the outcomes of matches, such as the result, which they have almost no control over, or they get too fixated upon performance goals such as scoring goals. Instead, players should focus upon the simpler processes of their sport which, when attained correctly, will eventually add up to playing well and winning games.
If we refer back to Gylfi Sigurdsson's quote, it seems to be a perfect answer with a sentiment that any fan would be pleased to hear from their new signing. However, after deeper analysis of the words he uses, he clearly incorrectly fixates upon scoring and creating goals which are both performance goals. Sigurdsson doesn't have control over whether he scores a goal a game, however, he has complete control over the processes that he completes in order to try and score. If Sigurdsson forgets about scoring and instead focuses upon, for example, making his forward runs as positive as possible or striking his long range efforts as cleanly as he can, then he will be able to feel his performances improving and eventually goals and assists will follow and he will soon forget about the expectation that that his high price tag created.
Too many athletes forget that goals, tries, personal bests and medals are made up of lots of little competencies completed correctly again and again. Once athletes focus upon perfecting these small movements, better performances follow and subsequently better results after that (Schunk & Schwsartz, 1993).
Athletes suffering from the pressure of expectation must work hard to forget about outcomes and focus upon the process. An athlete that is perfecting the processes of their performance is very rarely an athlete that feels the weight of expectation upon them.
*All statistics and records correct at time of writing
Keogh, F., (2017). Summer transfer window: Record set to be broken in Premier League spending spree. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40571881. Retrieved 20/09/2017.
Schunk, D. Schwartz, C., (1993). Goals and Progress Feedback: Effects on Self-Efficacy and Writing Achievement. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 18(3), 337-354.
Daly,. J & Burrows, B. (2014). Andy Carroll injury: Who are the biggest wastes of money in Premier League history?. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/andy-carroll-injury-who-biggest-3909160. Retrieved 20/09/17.
Mesagno, C. Beckmann, J. (2017). Choking Under Pressure: Theoretical models and interventions. Current Opinions in Psychology. 16, 170-175.
Mothes, H. et al. (2017). Expectations affect psychological and neurophysiological benefits even after a single bout of exercise. Journal of Behavioural Medicine. 40, 293-306.
Merkel, D., (2013). Youth Sport: Positive and Negative Impact on Youth Sport. Journal of Sports Medicine. 4, 151-160.
Cohen, P. (2017). How to manage strict expectations. http://www.peaksports.com/sports-psychology-blog/sports-confidence-booster-number-1-of-6/. Retrieved on 20/09/2017.
Smith, D., (2007). It's All in the Mind: PETTLEP-Based Imagery and Sports Performance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. 1.
Alex Freemantle
I am currently studying on a BPS accredited Sport and Exercise Psychology Masters course after graduating from Brunel University with a first class honours degree in Psychology (BSc). I have been volunteering as an Education and Player Welfare Assistant for the past three seasons at a championship football club and, through those experiences, I have been able to learn first hand how elite sports teams can be motivated and led effectively. I am especially interested in research related to leadership and youth development.
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text:
using UnityEngine;

namespace HutongGames.PlayMaker.Actions
{
	[ActionCategory(ActionCategory.Audio)]
	[Tooltip("Sets the global sound volume.")]
	public class SetGameVolume : FsmStateAction
	{
		[RequiredField]
		[HasFloatSlider(0,1)]
		public FsmFloat volume;
		public bool everyFrame;

		public override void Reset()
		{
			volume = 1.0f;
			everyFrame = false;
		}

		public override void OnEnter()
		{
			AudioListener.volume = volume.Value;

			if (!everyFrame)
				Finish();
		}

		public override void OnUpdate()
		{
			AudioListener.volume = volume.Value;
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Remastered and restored from original BYG 1/4" master tapes.
The first great Gong band beaming in on the loudest and clearest CD issue ever of this undisputed classic. For many people their relationship with Gong starts right here with this album thanks to Virgin Records releasing it in 1974 for the price of a 7" single. Now you can enjoy it with greatly enhanced audio.
During his last few weeks daevid was aware this re-issue was in the pipeline, I spoke to him about it. Being the man he was, he welcomed it, naturally wanting people to enjoy it - even though there would be no income for any of it's creators or their dependants. Why that should be the case is a complicated, rather painful story which will be told in full one day.
CD is housed in a replica of the original BYG gatefold LP with a 24 page booklet reproducing daevid's original illustrated lyric sheets, plus some interesting new sleeve notes.
Note: The only way the musicians or their families will any benefit from the sale of this release in any way is if you buy it here. They will receive no royalties on sales or on publishing.


text:
Agency Move Favors Oil and Gas Industry, Critics Say
The Trump administration is moving staff from another agency out of Washington, D.C., citing efficiency and cost savings as reasons. If you want to improve the responsiveness of the Bureau of Land Management, start by filling vacant positions, says an employees' association.
Politics and GovernmentEnergyEnvironment
By Bryce Oates On Jul 26, 2019 Last updated Aug 9, 2019
An oil and gas leasing operation regulated by the Bureau of Land Management. (Photo courtesy Colorado BLM Oil and Gas Leasing web page.)
The Trump administration announced last week it will move another federal agency out of Washington, D.C., relocating dozens of management-level employees of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). While the administration claims the move is necessary to increase agency responsiveness, critics of the decision say the BLM reorganization is part of a broader pattern of poor management and lack of respect for the federal workforce.
BLM officials made the announcement July 16, explaining the decision to move the Interior Department Agency's headquarters from the National Capital Region to Grand Junction, Colorado. The bureau has nearly 10,000 employees, with only 550 currently located in Washington, D.C.
"This approach will play an invaluable role in serving the American people more efficiently while also advancing the Bureau of Land Management's multiple-use mission," said Interior Secretary David Berhardt, in a statement. "Shifting critical leadership positions and supporting staff to Western states — where an overwhelming majority of federal lands are located — is not only a better management system, it is beneficial to the interest of the American public in these communities, cities, counties and states."
The Palisade Wilderness Study Area near Grand Junction. (Photo courtesy of Bureau of Land Management)
If the move is implemented as outlined, 61 BLM employees will remain in DC, 222 will be redistributed in local BLM offices throughout the West and 27 employees will establish the "new headquarters" in Western Colorado. BLM manages 245 million across the country, nearly all of which are located in rural communities of the West.
Much like USDA's decision and rationale to relocate the Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), numerous critics of the BLM relocation plan are not convinced by the administration's statements about saving money and making the agency more responsive.
"I don't think anyone was complaining about a lack of responsiveness at BLM, particularly the oil, gas and mining industries," said Jeff Ruch, Pacific director at the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). "If anything, this administration has had an open door policy so that they get what they want."
Ruch is referring to BLM decisions since 2017 to pursue "increased energy dominance" by opening additional federal lands to fossil fuel and mining development. "The BLM is understaffed as it is," Ruch said. "The White House has proposed budget cuts each year they have been in office despite a bigger workload of processing more permits for energy and mining."
"If they were interested in actually improving performance," Ruch said, Interior Secretary Bernhardt "would at the very least appoint a functioning staff. Everyone in BLM is an 'acting' appointment. We're two and a half years in and there has not even been a nomination for BLM director."
Representative Raul Grijalva (D-New Mexico), the lead congressional Democrat on BLM issues and chair of the Natural Resources Committee, said the move would give oil and gas interests more of an advantage in gaining access to public lands.
"This administration has been handing over public lands to fossil fuel companies at record speed, and this move is part of that agenda," Grijalva said. "Putting BLM headquarters down the road from Secretary Bernhardt's hometown just makes it easier for special interests to walk in the door demanding favors without congressional oversight or accountability. The BLM officials based in Washington are here to work directly with Congress and their federal colleagues, and that function is going to take a permanent hit if this move goes forward. The agency will lose a lot of good people because of this move, and I suspect that's the administration's real goal here."
An oil and gas operation in Colorado that's regulated by the Bureau of Land Management. (Photo courtesy of Bureau of Land Management Oil and Gas Leasing informational video.)
Changes to BLM staff and location of the headquarters have been discussed since the early days of the Trump administration when Ryan Zinke was head of Interior, according to Kate Kelly, Public Lands Director of the Center for American Progress. "While this is a huge blow to the morale and talent at BLM, I don't think you can overestimate the politics of this decision," Kelly said.
"There are Senate and local elections coming in 2020 in Colorado," Kelly said. "Plus, Interior Secretary Bernhardt is from Grand Junction, as are many other major players in the oil industry. And, when the BLM employees are redistributed to local offices, every state in the West is going to gain a number of federal employees."
Kelly said that moving key policy staff away from the Capital Region, where the Secretary of Interior and Congress are located, doesn't make sense. "Like it or not, D.C. is the place where many agency decisions are made," Kelly said. "From the budget to policy, having staff available on site where the Secretary sits is very important to informing good decision-making."
Retaining those staff through the reorganization also worries Kelly, who points to the large number of USDA employees choosing to retire or resign rather than relocate to Kansas City.
Last week, USDA announced that only 145 ERS and NIFA workers had chosen to move along with the research agencies. Another 250 employees have declined to stick with their employer because of the decision.
"Given all the employees who have resigned in recent months in light of this ill-advised relocation, plus those who say they will not relocate, USDA is likely to retain less than 10% of the total workforce at these two agencies once all is said and done," said J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents the USDA employees, in a statement. "In addition to the direct costs of the relocation, the resulting brain drain from this massive loss of talent will severely damage NIFA and ERS, and it will take years to rebuild the highly specialized workforce at these agencies."
Congressional opposition to both the USDA and BLM relocations continues to surface, as do concerns about the cost-effectiveness of the agency projections. Questions remain about how congressional action through the budget process can affect both decisions.
The BLM's 245 million acres of public forest, grass and rangelands are located primarily in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.
By Bryce Oates
Bryce Oates151 posts 0 comments
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