TAKEN ON 3rd OCTOBER 2008 BY ONE OF OUR CONTRIBUTORS.
BROOKFIELD ROAD 10/02/2018 Have just come across your website and it brought back many memories of living in Brookfields. My grandparents, Fred and Ethel Hardy, lived at 8 Brookfields Road, which is one of the houses still currently standing. I think they moved into the house in the 1920's or early 1930's, and my grandmother was still there until the time the residents were told the houses were going to be demolished, my grandfather having died in Dudley Road hospital in 1970.
The houses had an alleyway running at the back, which was pitch black, and friends and family always used the back door, never the front. The houses were 3 stories, with a coal cellar, scullery and outside loo. Looking at the photos of the houses I can see the window of my bedroom right at the top of the house. Two doors to the right of my grandparent's house lived "Uncle" Brian and "Aunty" Mary. They gave me my book of Common Prayer which I still have 50+ years later. I remember a boy called John and his sister Pat ??Gregory?? lived the other side of my grandparents.
My mother and I lived with my grandparents from around 1960 to c1964 and I attend All Saints School and Church. I remember little about the school, apart from the fact that it always seemed cold even in the summer and when I was about 6 some of my class, including me, were tested for the ability to read phonetic passages.
My grandfather worked at a engineering factory as a caretaker and I used to go with him some weekends while he checked the building. On one occasion he just managed to stop me putting my hand in a vat of acid!! I thought it was just clear water.
I remember the "outdoor" on Crabtree Road where my grandfather would send me with a bag containing 2 bottles to be filled with draft beer. Further down was the "chippy" where the kids could get bags of "scratchings" which were all the bits of batter and chips and we would hang around the closed up shop on the corner of Brookfields. There was a little shop on the left hand side of Crabtree Road that used to split loaves of bread in half and sell cigarettes from the packet. I was often sent with the shopping list wrapped around the money. And I seem to remember an ironmongers, or similar, at the end of the alleyway and the name Gucks. There was also a pub on Crabtree Road where the kids would sit on the step with a bottle of pop and packet of crisps, and would never be allowed inside. Further up Crabtree Road was the old R White pop factory.
At the top of Brookfields Road, on the left, was a working yard that had some old vehicles in the corner which we used to make dens. From there was a bridge over the canal and we spent hours on the towpaths there by the hospitals. Opposite the yard was the warehouse where we also played until we were "politely" told to go away. It later became a factory where by bizarre coincidence my step-father, who did not come into our lives until years after we had left Brookfields, was killed in an industrial accident around 1973/1974.
It is amazing how the views and prejudices of the older generation filter down. A few years after we left Brookfields I was visiting my grandparents when I fell in the back yard and broke my elbow. I would not let my grandmother take me to Dudley Road hospital because of the reputation it had that, if you went in there you did not come out. I was in agony for two days until I was taken to Selly Oak hospital near to where we lived at the time.
A picture of my cousin Alan Aston, in a cowboy outfit, bought back from the USA in about 1953 or 1954, after his mother, my Aunt Gert made a visit to her brother who had emigrated there. The outfit is typical of the sort play garment popular with young boys at the time. No Star Wars here!
A picture of my mom, Frances Elizabeth Aston (Giles) in the back yard of 2 Highfield Terrace, Brookfield Road. The 'pinnie' - pinafore, she is wearing, is a typical garment of the time, worn over a dress or similar, to protect the dress whilst doing household chores. This photo was taken in about 1952. My mother, like most women of the period, was a housewife at the time.
What a pleasant surprise to find, whilst browsing the web, a site specifically for Brookfields, and a similar one for Winson Green. Both districts of Birmingham that figured largely in my formative years. My immediate family and I lived in Brookfeld Road. We had a large extended family who lived around us, and on my mother's side, in and around Peel Street, and latterly Barford Road, both of which are in Winson Green.
I was christened Keith Aston, although since secondary schooldays, everyone has called me Ken. I was born at 2 Highfield Terrace Brookfield Road, in 1950, where I lived with Mom and Dad plus three older sisters - Jean Audrey and Pauline. We moved into number 13 from the terrace, a 'front' house in about 1954. The house is still standing, along with most of the other houses in Brookfield Road, but it has been re numbered 15. The end house of each of the original front terraces, was demolished during a 1980's refurbishment, to make way for a car park for each enclave of properties. The result is that the terraces are much more open nowadays than they were in the 50's. Another big difference is the quietness of the area. The factories, with the exception of most of the ones in Great Western Road, are gone and of course, the kids don't play on the street as once they did. There are also fewer kids than there were in the 50's. so the atmosphere of Brookfield and adjacent roads, is much quieter than I recall. So much for the hectic pace of modern life! We stayed at number 13 until 1963, a time when a lot of the so called 'old' Birmingham communities were being rehoused. I remember the surname of the family who exchanged houses with us was Mariner. They came from Monument Road Ladywood. We were rehoused by the city council to a High rise flat in Highgate. Not a good move, in my opinion, as all the attractions of the old community were gone, to be replaced by the concrete jungle.
Ansells outdoor on the corner of New Spring Street and Crabtree/Western Road. Run by Mrs Flynn, from about 1958. I don't recall who ran it before that time. Mrs Flynn's son Kevin was a mate of mine. He had to spend some time in Switzerland, as he had terrible asthma, which gets me thinking. The air around Brookfields was not good in the 50's. Like most of the other kids of the time, I suffered terrible catarrh, but how come that more people are diagnosed with asthma today, despite the undoubted improved quality of air. Strange!
Mr Podmore the butcher. Ran the shop with his wife for the whole period I lived in Brookfield Road. I was his butcher boy for a few months from my 13th birthday - 1963, until we left the area. Wages for two afternoons and a Saturday were £1.50. This compared handsomely with the paper kids wages of 37.5 pence per week. I was lucky to land that job, and sorry to have to give it up. Derek Wilson took over from me when I left. Mr Podmore had worked for Marsh & Baxter (of Brierley Hill) before he went out on his own.
Garbutts the greengrocer. Again, they were there all my time in the area. They had as I recall 2 sons, both older than me. The younger boy was named Roger. I can't for the life of me remember the older boy's name.
Mr Crutchley. He ran a cobblers shop until a few months before we left in 1963, when he retired. I remember my dad saying at the time that Mr Crutchley had run the same shop since the twenties, so he must have been in his seventies when he packed it in. Strangely, I don't recall Mr Crutchley ageing one bit over the years. He always wore a flat cap, leather apron, and could usually be found humming or whistling a tune to himself.
Greenfields chippie. Janet Greenfield was best mates with my youngest sister Pauline. The Greenfields left the area about 1958, after which the chippie was taken over and run by Greeks.
Wilkes paper shop. I remember that Mr Wilkes' first name was John. He was bald on top, and had a moustache. For Mrs. Wilkes character, think a younger Annie Walker from Coronation Street!
Coopers grocers. I only remember a Mrs Cooper, who ran the shop. There was a son John. In the late 50's, early sixties, the Coopers sold out to a Mr LLoyd, a small man with a moustache. He was running the shop at the time we left.
Brookfield Pressed Steel and Metal Works. A converted Victorian chapel next to Lloyds. Like a lot of industry in Birmingham at the time, it was right amongst the living area of Brookfield Road.
Mrs. Evans Grocers. Across the road from Coopers, and coming back toward Brookfield Road itself, was Mrs Evans. She ran the shop while Mr Evans, kept the books and ran the house. It worked well for them, as they were still running the same shop when we left the area. My mom used to mind the shop for Mrs Evans when herself, Mr Evans and their only child Mary Mira, went on holiday for a couple of weeks each year. They always went to Portsmouth!
Moving swiftly along, back in the direction of Brookfield Road, and opposite New Spring Street, stood Gucks. Mr Guck sold hardware, and in 1959 supplied me via my Dad, with a Runwell two wheeler bike, made as I recall in Tyseley. Mr and Mrs Guck had a son Roger. They like some of the other shopkeepers, did not live above the shop, which was left empty.
Moving further along into Western Road, were two other shops each, like Gucks on the right hand side. They were not used the whole time we lived in Brookfields, but I remember that a large family, the Tierneys, lived opposite. For a while, one of the sons ran the shop, as a decorators merchants. I also vaguely recall that the other shop was something like a drapers or needlework shop for a while. To close this section, and speaking of the Tierney's, does any one recall Pete Tierney and the Nighthawks. Pete, I think was the eldest son.
Finally on entering Brookfield Road itself, on the right hand side about two thirds of the way along, was Stanton's. This was a shop converted from someone's front room, and closed during the late '50's, when Mrs Stanton retired. I can just remember going in there for bits and bobs. My eldest sister Jean spent a lot of time with my Gran during the '30's. Gran Aston lived at 7 Claremont Place until she died aged 92, in 1964. Sister Jean tells me that she remembers as a kid in the 30's, seeing the Oxo wagon delivering to Stantons. Apparently it was literally a covered wagon, pulled by a large Bullock! My mom and dad lived across the wall from my Gran at number 7 Landsdowne Place. Next door to them was mom's sister – Aunt Nell and Uncle Herbert (Mogford), whilst on the front at number 36 Brookfield Road, lived Aunty Maud and Uncle Edgar (Powell). With various cousins , uncles aunts etc coming and going, this is what I mean when I refer to a large extended family living in the area at the time!
Opposite number 36 was a warehouse for HJ Heinz & Co. of 57 varieties fame. The warehouse was just that, a storage facility. It was busy five and a half days a week, with deliveries etc. The old building was demolished in the late '50's, and replaced by a modern structure. I recall Heinz moved out after 1963, and I think there was an engineering firm who occupied the site before it was demolished. It lay derelict for some years, before being developed for housing. With an arm of the Soho loop Canal adjacent, I can quite imagine how these houses are considered nowadays as 'waterside residences,' whereas we would have thought of them as being next to the Cut!
It was so nice to read about Brookfields Road, but I noticed an error, my grandmother was Mrs Atkins who owned the drapery shop. Nan did live in Crabtree Road and the drapery shop was also a book exchange, Granddad used to go round on his bike exchanging books and taking orders, Nan only had one leg as the other was lost when she was 2 when she was run over by a horse and cart.
Does anyone remember the Wiggins family, we lived at No 11 Highfield Terrace from 1930 until the late 60s There were 6 children, First Harold, then John who married Jane Atkins from the Drapers shop, next was Lewis who now lives in Shard End, he told me about your web site, next was myself Margaret still very much around, then came Alan who has been living in South Africa for 26 years, and is also going to contact you with his memories, last was Marjorie, who lives in Bickenhill,, we all attended All Saints school, and remember Miss Cole very well, I have not seen anyone mention a teacher called Mr J. Roberts, everyone was terrified of him and my brother John taught me a song does anyone recall it.
At the time I was born - in Dudley Road Hospital, on 20th July 1935, my parents John and Louisa Wiggins were living at 11, Highfield Terrace, Brookfield Road. We always said our address as 11, Highfield Terrace, because it sounded so much posher than "11 backa 13". Mom, Dad, Harold, John, Lewis, Margaret and me, (Marjorie came later) were all crammed into a 2 up 2 down (+ kitchen), but we did have front and back gardens and our own loo. Our entry consisted of 13 houses and at that time from No. 1 to 13 the occupents were :- No.1 the Nicholls, 2 the Andrews/Astons, 3 the Hawkes/Butlins, 4 the Vaughans. 5 the Barnes/Davis, 6 the Pike/West/Smiths, 7 the Griffiths, 8 the Shiners, 9 the Badgers, 10 the Poutneys, 11 the Wiggins, 12 the Suttons, 13 the Lanes/Taylor's. Just over the wall at our back gate, was a small Chapel, where Spiritualist meetings were held every Sunday morning. You could go and have your fortune told for a small fee. The singing however, was awful!!!
Life in the late 30's was pretty hard, but we never went hungry. Dad worked at Bellis & Morcamb in their foundry and Mom was a charlady for our Doctor - Doctor McKernan. However I often ran errands for 1d for the gas meter.
When the war started in 1939 I was four and started School at All Saints. The Headmistress was Miss Cole and my first teacher was Miss Orme. The highlight of my time there was taking the Lead part in the School Play about a court jester named Merryheart. Having to sing solo in front of all the parents was a terrifying business. I was in the Church choir for a time, but I fell foul of the Vicar, the Reverend Jackson. He caught me ringing the Church bells and reported me to my Mom, who promptly told him to "bugger off". Then hit me round the ear with a wet floor cloth!!
The war was to me pretty exciting. When the bombs started falling, we all retired to our cellar which Dad had reinforced and fitted out with bunk beds. The closest bombs dropped to our house, were in Prescott Street. One outside the Prince George and the other close to Watty Green the Bookmaker's house. I do remember watching the glow in the sky when Bulpits was hit and going out looking for pieces of shrapnel. After All Saints, I went to Handsworth Grammar School, from 1946 to 1951 and was a member of Edge House. The Headmaster was the Rev.J.J. Walton, who loved to use his cane at every opportunity. I was caned four of the best on my backside twice, once for running in the corridor, (mind you, I did run into him!) and once for not doing my homework. During this time I didn't get much time for mates, but my particular friends were Gordon Parsons from No. 5 Brookfields Road and his sister Margaret, George Palin who lived at about No. 8 Brookfield Terrace, Albert Day and Graham Sutton, who taught me how to smoke!
As I remember, the surrounding shops, the ones in Crabtree Road opposite Brookfield Road were from right to left :- The Off License, C.V Bull the Butcher, managed by a Mr George Bell, then Wilkes the Greengrocer. Then the Chip Shop, then Crutchley the Cobbler. Then there was a Drapers with a Hairdressers in the back room, then Boyles the News Agent, then Coopers the Grocer, who used to have Wimbush's cream cakes! From Brookfield Road down Crabtree Road were - Evans the Grocer, Atkins the Draper (My brother John married Muriel (Jane) their daughter) Blackhams the Confectioner, Weavers who sold sweets and cigarettes, Parker the Tobaconist. Coming up Crabtree Road, there was a Cafe' then Miss Gazey who sold candles and paraffin, Keedwells Furniture, a Drapery Shop, then the Prince George on the corner.
With all those shops on our doorstep, I could never understand why my Mom always shopped on "The Flat"? The trudge back home with bags of spuds and cabbage etc. was an absolute killer!
Going to School was an adventure in itself, as often the magnificent Clydesdales which pulled the railway carts, were returning to their stables, which were situated on the corner of Crabtree Road and All Saints Street. The roadway was cobbled and the horses' shoes struck sparks as they scrabbled for grip on the slippery surface. Often they slipped and it was an enormous effort for the handlers to get them to their feet. The horses which pulled the Scribbans Bakery cart however, were entirely different, they were like Hunters and very sedate. Our biggest "dare" was to run under a Scribbans horse! I remember watching those horses being shoed at the Blacksmith in Clissold Passage at the side of the canal and wondering how they managed to do it without hurting the horse.
The canal system was our major playground. We rode our bikes along the sloping banks and towpaths for hours on end. We made slides when they froze over and even swam in them in the summer, yuk!! We often "borrowed" coal boats from the boat dock at the end of Brookfield Road and went for joy rides! We were one of the few families who had a car in those days - a Wolsely 9 No. XG 2484. My Dad and my brothers spent more time fixing it, than driving it, but it made a splendid place to act out our imaginary journeys to the seaside and beyond. It was garaged in a lock up, sandwiched between the School and the railway lines. This was the ideal place to trainspot the GWR Engines, even though it was a good distance from the lines. Many a happy hour was spent here trainspotting, as I was the chief bottle of tea fetcher for my Dad and brothers, as they dismantelled the old Wolsely and put it back together every weekend.
In my late teens, I played for Brookfields cricket team in the Birmingham Parks League. Our Captain and Manager was Doug Constable, who, with his younger brother Don, were the leading lights in the team. I was the fast bowler, but at 5' 2" I was a bit disadvantaged. I got a lot of wickets though!
I stayed in Highfield Terrace until March 1960, when I left home to marry Val (nee' Morris) my wife of nearly 44 years. We left the U.K. with our children Ian, Andrew and Jenny in 1976 and now live in Edenvale in sunny South Africa. Our Daughter Jenny lives with her husband and three children in San Ramon in California. A long way from Brookfields, but the experiences and values learned living there, will never be forgotten.
I have just found your web site my parents lived in Brookfield's road from the early sixties to 1970 , my dads name was Terry Harper and mom's Irene (nee Carter) , moms sisters Pat and Maureen also lived in Brookfeilds Road with their husbands Ray and Eddie Jones. My moms mother and father Harry and Elsie Carter also lived in the road , I went to All Saints School, until we moved in 1970. The reason for my contact is, sadly my dad passed away a few days ago at home in Quinton on April 18th 2015, so if anyone remembers him or any other family members I would be interested to hear from you, I live in Western Australia, I'm currently here in Birmingham till after the funeral.
What a find. Names come rolling back.I was born at 2 Brookfields Road in 1940.Went to Ellen Street Primary and then Barford Road Secondary.
Left in 1959 for Australia. I live in country Victoria. Hope to write more later. Does anybody remember the great street party we had for Queen's Coronation? Money was collected for weeks and although I was only twelve I remember it as a great day.


In the darkest days of the 1980s, Chicago's dance community was gamely pirouetting through a Giselle-mist insufficiently shrouding the HIV/AIDS tragedy, dancers involuntarily reaching for partners who could never lift them again. There was no ignoring the unrestful spirits brushing past in the corridors, no shutting out dreams of dances that would never spring from soul-to-stage. The dust of the fallen co-mingled with the rosin glimmering on every dance floor.
But as a tide of protest against a studied, willful governmental ignorance washed over the pointed toes of artists, Chicago's dance community clasped hands and voted with their bodies. With a goal of raising money for for HIV/AIDS education and care for those struggling to pay for treatment, dancers Keith Elliott, Harriet Ross and Todd Kiech began the conversation that would become Dance For Life.
This year's Dance for Life ( DFL ) is Aug. 18, beginning with a 5 p.m. gala at Chicago's Hilton, and continuing with a 7:30 p.m. performance at the Auditorium Theatre. In addition to being a fund-raiser, the annual event is a showcase of artists who are trained not to be at contest with each other, but rather to fight their own bodies, making them better today than the story the mirror told them yesterday.
Keith Elliott and Harriet Ross were both with Joseph Holmes Dance Theatre when they launched Dance for Life in 1992—roughly seven years after their company's namesake and founder died of AIDS-related causes. They were joined by Todd Kiech, then something of a "rogue ballerina," and a dancer/choreographer known for innovative works that defied tidy categorization. Their efforts yielded the first DFL in 1992, when AIDS was seen as a death sentence and resources for the afflicted were few. The mainstream press was treating the pandemic as a joke. Under Ronald Reagan, the White House never so much as acknowledged the plague's existence.
Over the past 26 years, DFL has raised more than $5.5 million, partnering with companies clouding Giordano Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and the Joffrey Ballet. The annual concert is now one of the city's most glittering social events, replete with star-studded, pre-show gala.
This year's DFL features artists from Giordano Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet, Hanna Brictson and Dancers, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Chicago Dance Crash and Nomi Dance Company as well as a finale by internationally lauded acclaimed choreographer Randy Duncan. Beneficiaries are the Dancers' Fund and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
Each year, newer companies apply to spice the DFL punch with their kinetic storytelling and picture-painting. This year, Nomi Dance Chicago earned a coveted first-time slot. Nomi's style is eclectic and accessible, their company ethic firmly collaborative. That aesthetic explains much about how their DFL piece "Begin Again" ( by Joshua Blake Carter ) came to the evening's program.
"[Carter] reached out to me in 2014; he was setting out as a young choreographer," Nomi's artistic director Laura Kariotis said. "I had heard good things about him, great stuff about his classwork and certainly [I] had seen him perform and loved his beauty onstage. He sent me video of a couple of pieces of his work and I said, 'Yes, let's do it!" There was an instant rapport with him and the company and the two of us and I thought, 'this doesn't always happen.' There was an incredibly positive energy."
For Carter, "Begin Again" was deeply personal.
"[M]y parents were getting a divorce after 33 years of marriage and my mom was on this new path, this new, renewed life for her," Carter said. "In the midst of the piece I turned off the music and I said to the dancers, 'We're creating a piece about my mom.' I think we've created a piece about her journey and a women's journey, the journey of my mom working hard and still coming home and cooking every night.
"I remember being a kid and my parents separating and then getting back together. I saw this struggle she went through my entire life, and then I saw a moving picture of a woman who had taken her life back," Carter said. "For me it was really a personal statement of love for my mother, but also a reflection on women and women's rights in our country."
The 27-minute piece is "grueling and challenging but perfect," said Kariotis. "It [is] a great celebration of the company and of women, and which is just so ��ppropos of what's going on in today's culture."
This year's DFL also includes Duncan's "Adroit." Duncan was onboard with DFL from the start, taking leadership of Joseph Holmes Dance after Holmes died in 1986. His work with DFL made his see another opportunity for Chicago's dancers.
"I thought to myself, wow, it would really be something if we had a dancer from each of those companies get together and do a creative piece as the [DFL] finale," he said. Organizers loved the idea. Duncan began tapping dancers from each company to help create a spectacular closer for the concert.
"It really pulls those dancers who are used to doing the contemporary modern or classical ballet to a different sort of style," Duncan said. "It's spell-binding to watch them cheering each other on. Even though they didn't know each other before, it's become this family atmosphere. It's infectious."
As we tiptoe through a time when HIV/AIDS is not necessarily a death sentence, Dance For Life funds are being donated to other areas of need. There s no shortage of them: This Is a community where any injury can put one of its family on the sidelines with no income and overwhelming emotional stress. Still, DFL remembers its roots. Even as the Duncan and Carter pieces celebrate rather than grieve, today's DFL dancemakers move through a singular jumble of feelings, a fingertip's breath away from those missing and mourned.
For more on Dance for Life, visit www.auditoriumtheatre.org/shows/danceforlife2018/.


Sunday, December 7, 1941. 7:48 a.m. Pacific Time.
Torpedo planes manned by kamikaze pilots from Japan's Imperial Navy looped the Hawaiian Islands and descended on the US Fleet at Pearl Harbor in a full scale attack. Two hours later, more than 350 fighters, bombers and torpedo planes emblazoned with the red circle of Japan's Rising Sun, had sunk four US battleships (including the USS Arizona) and had damaged four more. They destroyed more than 180 US military aircraft, killed 2500 Americans and wounded nearly 1300.
But this isn't about the attack. Everyone knows about that. This is about the seven-minute block of time that happened on December 8. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) addressed a joint session of Congress with his "infamy" speech. A speech he wrote himself that demonstrated what a master communicator America's 32ndpresident was. No speech has ever been so intentionally worded, crafted, and delivered to rally people to a cause.
Congressional representatives had packed the chamber hall of the House of Representatives to await the arrival of the President. Lobbyists, aides, reporters, photographers, and guests jammed into the standing-room-only gallery. And Americans in 81 million homes, the largest radio audience in history, adjusted the dials of their table top Emersons and tuned in.
At noon on December 8, the doors opened and FDR entered the Congressional gathering. He was on a mission and he needed more than words to do his talking. Real persuasion requires more than language. Sometimes it needs props.
FDR brought with him an important guest—former First Lady Edith Wilson, widow of Woodrow Wilson, the last president to ask Congress to declare war—24 years earlier. Her presence drew a subconscious parallel to the last time America went to war.
Escorting FDR into the gallery was his son Lt. Col. James Roosevelt, fully dressed in the military uniform of the Marines. James sat behind his dad at the podium.
At 12:38 p.m., America held a collective breath waiting to hear what the President would say about the attack on Hawaii, which wasn't even a state. Yet.
If we remember FDR's speech at all, most incorrectly remember his words that December 7 is a day, which will live in infamy. FDR deliberately chose the word "date" instead of "day." Master communicators would know the difference between day and date. December 7, the day, was a Sunday. December 7, the date, was the anchor point in history that would demonstrate America's military superiority and strength the greatest country on the globe as a world power.
But there are times when passive voice packs a punch. This was one of them.
In the case of the "infamy" speech, passive voice served its purpose. Roosevelt said, "The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." He went on to remind the people that until December 7, we had been at peace with Japan. Their premeditated actions not only damaged America's military, but cost American lives. In other words, America was innocent and military action was an act of self-defense—the only way to keep the nation safe.
Taking a well-placed pause, the president pushed listeners in the chamber and at home to the edge of their seats. Roosevelt needed everyone's full attention before announcing Japan had not stopped its killing spree in Hawaii. The foreign nation had engaged in equally surprising—and equally unjustified—attacks on Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippines, Wake Island and Midway. Clearly, they were on the offense and the people of the United States were in danger.
Thirty-three minutes after the infamy speech ended, US Senators and Representatives took action. They declared war on Japanin what would have been a unanimous vote if not for the sole "nay" vote cast by Jeanette Rankin, a Republican from Montana and the first woman elected to Congress.
The declaration of war on that date represented a nation undivided—unity behind a common purpose, and a determined commitment to fight an aggressor. A decision to keep the world safe from belligerent war mongers.
More than 77 years later, we still remember the date, which went down in infamy.


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Improve Your Sex Life This Summer
Have the best sex of your life by crossing these 7 experiences off your lust list
By Madeline Haller
Every summer bucket list sounds the same: Lose some weight. Hit the beach. See your buds more. Get a tan. And while all of those are admirable goals, why not make a resolution that benefits your body and your relationship? In fact, why not pledge to have the best sex of your life this summer?
We think you should. And we're here to help. That's why we've scoured the latest research and phoned the leading experts to create a list that's guaranteed to bring you more pleasure. From spanking to role-play, you're only seven steps away from a happier, healthier sex life.
Grunts and moans may make your point, but telling her want you want and how she makes you feel is a better way to make her temperature rise. "It's sexy for her to hear your desires in bed, because you're both in such an uninhibited state," explains Emily Morse, host of the Sex with Emily radio show. And don't be afraid to get dirty: The more couples used "crude language" between the sheets—opting for "tits" over "breasts" or "blow job" instead of "oral sex"—the more satisfied they felt with their sexual communication, according to a study in the Journal of Sex Research.
Make out. Perform oral. Get her off. Finish. If this is what your typical charade in the sheets looks like, shake up your routine. "The notion that women want foreplay, then sex needs to be retired," says Morse. Kissing, caressing, and breast play should take place throughout sex, she explains. This makes sense: A woman's mouth and neck are the third and fourth most erogenous zones on her body, according to a recent study from the U.K., so pay extra attention to these sensitive spots during sex.
Take a walk on the wild side: Couples who experimented with bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism (BDSM) are more in tune with their sexual desires and report feeling more secure with their partners, according to a study in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Not ready to invest in handcuffs? Try spanking. Just a forewarning: Men often make the mistake of spanking too high on the cheek, which could cause her pain because you're closer to bone, says Ava Cadell, Ph.D., founder of Loveology University, an online resource for sex knowledge. Aim lower for the fleshier area of her cheeks, Cadell explains.
A private tryst in a public place is a rush that's hard to top. Warm her up to the idea by trying a place that's tame—like the apartment balcony or hot tub—then work your way up, suggests Morse. Another thing to keep in mind: The rendezvous should include plenty of manual stimulation before clothes start being removed, that way you minimize the length of exposure. (It is illegal to be naked in public.)
Porn doesn't have to be your dirty little secret. Sixty nine—yes, really, 69—percent of women said they'd be open to watching porn with their partner if he initiated the conversation, according to a new survey from Good in Bed, Men's Health, and Women's Health. Kickstart the conversation by saying, "I'm happy with our sex life, but let's try this once. It's something we can enjoy together," suggests Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., the Men's Health Sex Professor.
Turn her fantasies into reality by asking her a couple of not-so-innocent questions—like what she thinks about while she masturbates, says Morse. Or, ask if there's anything she's always wanted to try in bed, but was too embarrassed to admit. By asking directly, you're more likely to get an honest answer. And if you share your desires first, it takes the pressure to reciprocate off her shoulders, says Morse.
Sorry man, we're not talking about her hot coworker. We're talking about the one in her nightstand—her vibrator. Already feeling outgunned? Don't. A woman will never love a sex toy the same way she loves a man. Plus, research shows that 67 percent of women are dying to explore these uncharted territories with you. So make her buzzing buddy an ally—not enemy. Check out these three awesome sex toys every couple should try.
5 Sex Positions Every Guy Must Try
Madeline Haller I'm the social media editor for Cosmopolitan.com, as well as a self-proclaimed expert on Internet cats (tough job, but hey, someone has to do it).
How Masturbation Can Improve Your Sex Life
Improve Your Sex Life with One Kiss
Heat up Your Sex Life!
3 Things You Should Never Say After Sex
5 D.I.Y. Sex Toys She'll Love
30 Ways to Have More Sex

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Tag: Ahn Se-Ho
The Bros (부라더, Chang You-jeong, 2017)
Posted on December 22, 2018 by Hayley ScanlonLeave a comment
Time passes differently in the country. Two brothers from rural Andong thought they'd escaped the relative restrictions of an oddly feudal upbringing, but something keeps pulling them back. Ghosts literal and figural force them to return home, confront each other and their remaining family, and then attempt to come to some kind of acceptance of their places in the grand scheme of things in light of their newly acquired knowledge. The Bros (부라더, Buladeo) stars unlikely siblings Ma Dong-seok and Lee Dong-hwi and is adapted from the stage musical "The Brothers Were Brave" which was also directed by Chang You-jeong. Set in rural Andong, the film is an affectionate, if not entirely sympathetic, portrayal of the fiercely traditional way of life in tiny country towns in which it really still matters who accedes to be the head of a family and women are expected to know their place.
"Estranged" brothers Seok-bong (Ma Dong-seok) and Joo-bong (Lee Dong-hwi) have each skipped out on their familial responsibilities for lives of modern "freedom" in Seoul. Seok-bong is a "treasure hunter" who gives eccentric lessons on archeological ethics to bored students while overspending on the latest tools to aid him in his (permanently unsuccessful) quests, while Joo-bong is an ambitious salaryman whose career runs into a problem after he is accused of "embezzlement" for ruling out the cheapest route for a new road because (unbeknownst to his bosses) it would cut right past his childhood home. Just as Seok-bong realises he'll have to pay back the outrageous sum of money he "speculated" on new equipment when a civil war breaks out in his prospective dig site, and Jong-boo frets over his workplace blunder, both sons get an unexpected text informing them that their "estranged" father has died and they're "welcome" to attend the funeral, if they should wish. As both brothers are in need of a getaway plan (and also an opportunity to ask for some financial assistance), they find themselves finally going "home" only to unexpectedly find each other on the road, start bickering in the car, and then accidentally run over a random young woman (Lee Honey) apparently out walking in this otherwise barren and deserted stretch of land.
On their arrival, the brothers are not exactly embraced by their loving family. Nobody really expected to see them and, as it turns out, their grandfather didn't even realise they'd been invited. The boys' rural country home is one of fierce traditionality, seemingly cut out of time and existing in the feudal past where people refer to each other via archaic titles and it really seems to matter who is declared "first son" of the family. Both Seok-bong and Joo-bong left the village because they had no interest in all this feudal nonsense and resented the old fashioned authoritarianism which defined their relationships with the apparently tyrannical patriarch they have both come home to bury, if not perhaps to mourn. Seok-bong, in particular, remains extremely resentful towards his late father for the way he treated their mother who, he assumes, must have been very unhappy all her married life.
Rural Andong, it turns out is not a great place for women. The brothers do have a "friend" in the family complex in the form of Mi-bong (Jo Woo-jin) – a policeman recently married to a very nice but often frustrated young lady who has taken to smoking (still considered scandalous in these parts) in secret in order to relieve the stress of being a married woman suddenly expected to undertake all these arcane social responsibilities, which include being "nice" to her overbearing mother-in-law who seems to delight in scolding her for doing everything wrong. In fact Mi-bong's wife wants to move to Vietnam to get as far away from the family as possible, but finds it difficult to abandon the feudal way of thinking in wondering what it would be like to be the wife of a "first son". Women here are supposed to know their place – stay silent, serve the men. When Joo-bong's "lady friend" from the city shows up unexpectedly, everyone reacts to her as a "potential daughter-in-law" and sets about giving her the third degree which includes a pop quiz on the three duties of an Andong woman which include obeying a father, then a husband, and then presumably a son. In a running joke, no one can even remember the given name of the boys' mother because she was always just referred to as "first daughter-in-law".
All in all, it's no surprise that Seok-bong and Joo-bong wanted to leave but then again, it turns out there was a lot more going on with the family than they were ever privy to know and they have perhaps judged their father unfairly without knowing all the facts. This being a comedy, the central point is the repair of a broken family – firstly in the brothers repairing their bond as they face the crumbling of their individual quests and are forced to work together, unwittingly uncovering the truth about their family history. Meanwhile, they also have to cope with the strange woman they apparently ran over who seems to have lost her memory but has valuable information to impart to each of them. Haunted by the ghosts of home, neither of the boys finds what they originally came for but gets something (arguably) better in rediscovering their roots and experiencing the upsides of familial connection.
Filled with the strangeness of the village tradition with its mourning suits, wandering monks, shamanic rituals, and uncles who speak only in incomprehensible four character idioms The Bros is an absurd affair but one with its heart in the right place. Chang enlivens the otherwise unremarkable comedic narrative with interesting visual compositions as the mysterious woman seems to drag the brothers away into a pretty fairytale land filled with oversaturated picture book images in which the moon is just a little bit bigger than you'd expect and oddly '70s fashions of purple and yellow lend a cheerful and nostalgic air. A comedic tale of family, brotherhood, and the unexpected endurance of feudal tradition, The Bros is a warm and fuzzy tribute to rediscovering one's roots but also one with unexpected bite in its subtle undercutting of the pervasive misogyny which underpins it.
The Bros is currently available to stream in the UK (and possibly elsewhere) via Netflix.
Original trailer (Korean subtitles only)
Posted in Korea
Tagged 2010s, 2017, Ahn Se-Ho, Chae Dong-hyun, Chang You-jeong, Choi Ji-ho, Han Kuk-Jin, Heo Sung-tae, Honey Lee, Jeon Moo-song, Jeong Soon-won, Ji Chang-wook, Jung Jae-jin, Kang Hee-joong, Kim Ji-han, Kim Jong-ho, Kim Kang-hyu, Korea, Korean, Lee Dong-Hwi, Lee Honey, Lee Ji-ha, Ma Dong-Seok, Netflix, Oh Man-seok, Park Jong-gook, Park Jung-pyo, Seo Hyun-chul, Seo Ye-Ji, Sin Sin-Beom, Son Young-soon, Song Sang-eun, Song Won-soo, Song Young-Chang, Sung Byoung-Sook, Yoon Tae-hee
Queen of the Night (밤의 여왕, Kim Je-young, 2013)
Posted on September 1, 2017 September 1, 2017 by Hayley Scanlon2 Comments
There are only two things which spring to mind on hearing the words "Queen of the Night" – Mozart and…something else. Anyway, Kim Je-yeong's Queen of the Night (밤의 여왕, Bamui Yeowang) is about neither of these. It's about a dreadfully self-centred IT guy who finds out something he didn't previously know about his wife and then decides to go all CIA about it. It's also about her boss who turns out to have a connection to her hidden past and a taste for date rape. Queen of the Night is a comedy in which in which nothing seems very funny, at least if you don't happen to be a nerdy IT guy whose dream it is to marry a kind and "frugal" woman who will have just emerged from a nunnery or spent her formative years at a conservatoire where all male contact was expressly prohibited.
Young-soo (Chun Jung-myung) is a lonely, middle-aged computer guy whose continual search for love is often undermined by his money-saving mania which extends to leaving his lunchtime blind date waiting while he runs back to the office to retrieve the discount coupon he'd intend to use to buy her a cheap meal. All he wants is a wife who is "frugal" and kind. One day he ventures into a Subway and lays eyes on the girl of his dreams, Hee-joo (Kim Min-jung), who doesn't seem to notice him and also seems to be the reason this is store completely packed out with middle-aged salarymen. Finally she sees him, the pair start dating, and eventually get married.
Everything is amazing, Young-soo has never been happier. The pair have bought their own apartment in Seoul and are even about to get rid of Young-soo's horrible old fridge. Young-soo's life begins to derail when his good-looking but sleazy boss, Park Chang-joo (Kang Sung-ho), asks him to install a dodgy surveillance app across the office network but it's a trip to a uni reunion which plants doubts in Young-soo's mind as to how well he really knows his wife.
Without giving too much away, Queen of the Night's big secret is not what you think it is. In fact it's nothing at all. All it amounts to is that Hee-joo was once young and a bit mixed up. She spent some time abroad, didn't feel like she fit in, came back to Korea and felt even more out-of-place. So she started going to clubs and hanging out with delinquents – how scandalous! Of course, Young-soo wanted a nice, level-headed girl who was careful with money so this information disturbs him. Hee-joo has definitely outgrown her wild years and is exactly the woman he wants her to be, but Young-soo just can't let it go.
The ironic thing is, spineless Young-soo is conflicted about employing the spy program but does it anyway while planning to write a blocking program to stop it working. Meanwhile he's basically stalking his wife, googling her on the internet and trying to track down her old friends to find out who she really was before he met her. Simply asking Hee-joo does not occur to him.
The world Hee-joo is forced to live in is extremely misogynistic. Young-soo's suspicions are first aroused when he is talked into making a rare appearance at a uni reunion after being assured he can take his new wife with him. Young-soo only wants to do this to show off that's netted himself such a lovely, pretty girl but the reunion itself takes a turn for the strange when the wives (there is only one female computer engineer in the group and she apparently owes her graduation to Young-soo who supposedly ghostwrote her thesis for her, because you know women and computers, right?) are expected to participate in a bizarre talent contest to win white goods by showing off their special skill. Hee-joo ends up winning a kimchi fridge her mother-in-law had been desperate for by showing off her smooth moves on the dance floor, much to Young-soo's surprise and mild displeasure.
Aside from being thrust into combat with the other wives of engineers, Hee-joo is also forced to contend with the unwanted attentions of Young-soo's boss, Park. As part of his attempts to defeat the spying app, Young-soo discovers surveillance footage of Park taking women back to his office and spiking their drinks after which he assaults them. Despite seeming outraged, Young-soo does nothing at all about this. When Hee-joo looks set to become his latest victim, Young-soo busts a gut to save her but later descends into a bout of victim blaming, preferring to bring up the small amount of info he's discovered about Hee-joo's past to imply this was all her fault. Matters are made worse by Young-soo's geeky friend (Kim Ki-bang) who spends too much time on the internet and assures him that the reason he and Hee-joo haven't conceived is because of the anti-sperm antibodies in her system generated by promiscuity. Absolute and total rubbish, but Young-soo falls for it without reservation, largely because he has such low self-worth that he assumes any woman who falls for him must in some way be damaged.
Hee-joo is allowed to get her own back, to a point, by reuniting with some of her delinquent friends to scare the living daylights out of Park before telling Young-soo to get lost. He, of course, tries to win her back but he'll have to learn to love her past too if he's to have any chance of regaining his bright and happy future. This is a positive step, in a sense, as Young-soo seems to have acknowledged Hee-joo is a person and not just a personification of his hopes and dreams, but it's also painted as a kind of forgiveness rather an acknowledgement of his totally inappropriate behaviour. Nothing about this is funny to anyone born after 1780, it is rather profoundly depressing. Queen of the Night may shine a little light on male/female relations in modern-day Korea but the picture it paints is far from inspiring.
Tagged 2010s, 2013, Ahn Se-Ho, An Se-ha, Bae Sung-Woo, Choi Joo-young, Chun Jung-myung, Chun Min-hee, Han Bo-reum, Han Jung-soo, Ji Dae-han, Jung Min-jin, Kang Sung-ho, Kim Byung-ok, Kim Je-young, Kim Jung-tae, Kim Ki-bang, Kim Min-jung, Kim Sung-eun, Kim Tae-hyun, Korea, Korean, Kwon Jung-Eun, Lee Chung-Hee, Lee Dong-Hwi, Lee Joo-won, Lee Mi-Do, Nam Tae-Boo, No Kang-min, Park Jin-young, Park Seong-taek, Yang Hee-myoung, Yoo Jae-Sang, Yoon Jin-ha, Yu In-Young
The Prison (프리즌, Na Hyun, 2017)
Posted on May 19, 2017 May 19, 2017 by Hayley Scanlon1 Comment
Prison can be a paradise if you're doing it right, at least if you're a top gangster in the movies. Na Hyun's The Prison (프리즌) paints an interesting picture of incarceration and the way it links into his nation's infinitely corrupt power structures. When investigators wonder why a crime spree suddenly came to an end, one of the frequently offered explanations is that the perpetrator was most likely arrested for another crime but what if you could turn this obviously solid alibi to your advantage and get those already behind bars to do your dirty work for you?
Disgraced policeman Song Yoo-gun (Kim Rae-Won) has wound up imprisoned alongside several of the men he himself helped put away. Like many cops who suddenly find themselves on the other side of the bars, Yoo-gun's life is not easy. Badly beaten, tortured, and threatened with amputation Yoo-gun eventually starts fighting back and seizes the most likely path to prison survival – allying himself with the inside's big guy, Jung Ik-ho (Han Suk-Kyu). Ik-ho, a notorious gangster famous for eating the eyeballs of his enemies, is the one who's really in charge around here, not least because he's the one running the gang of prison based hitmen trotted out to take care of the bad guys' hit list.
What starts out as an intriguing idea quickly descends into predictability as Yoo-gun and Ik-ho face off against each other, finding common ground and camaraderie but ultimately existing on the plains of good and evil. Yoo-gun has his own reasons for landing himself in prison but his policeman's heart still loves truth and justice even if he's forced to become a prisoner whilst in prison. While he goes along with Ik-ho's crimes, joining in the violence and intimidation he practices, he also wants to take Ik-ho down even if it means becoming him in the process.
While the interplay between the two men forms the central axis of the film as they develop an odd kind of grudging friendship which may still end on the point of a knife at any moment, Na tries his best to recreate the world of the grim '80s action thriller. Technically speaking, The Prison is set in the '90s (not that viewers outside of Korea would notice aside from the external lack of mobile phones, computers, internet etc) but wants to be the kind of tough, bruisy, fight heavy action movie they don't make any more in which a righteous hero defeats a large-scale conspiracy by jump kicking hoodlums. He almost succeeds in this aim, but never quite manages to anchor the ongoing background conspiracy elements with the intense pugilism of the prison environment.
Yoo-gun and Ik-ho are obviously a special case but aside from their efforts, prison life in Korea is not too bad – the guards are OK, the warden is ineffectual, and the inmates are running the show. Nevertheless the prison is the centre of the conspiracy as elite bad guys take advantage of put upon poor ones who've found themselves thrown inside thanks to ongoing social inequality, trading cushy conditions to guys who're never getting out in return for committing state sponsored crimes. Needless to say, someone is trying to expose the conspiracy which would be very bad news for everyone but rubbing them out might prove counter productive in the extreme.
Na lets the in-house shenanigans drag on far too long, pitching fight after fight but failing to make any of his punches land with the satisfaction they seem to expect. Flirting with the interplay between Yoo-gun and Ik-ho in wondering how far Yoo-gun is prepared to go or whether he is destined to become his criminal mentor rather than destroy him, Na never fully engages with the central idea preferring to focus on the action at the expense of character, psychology, or the corruption which underlines the rest of the film. Nevertheless The Prison does have the requisite levels of high-octane fights and impressive set pieces including the fiery if predictable prison riot finale. Life behind bars isn't all it's cracked up to be after all, the corrupt elites of Korea will have to actually pay people to off their enemies. Predictable and poorly paced, The Prison is best when it sticks to throwing punches but might be more fun if it placed them a little better.
The Prison was screened at the 19th Udine Far East Film Festival.
International trailer (English subtitles)
Posted in Korea, Udine Far East Film Festival 2017
Tagged 2010s, 2017, Ahn Se-Ho, Cha Yub, Choi Sung-Won, Dong Hyun-bae, Ha Soo-ho, Han Joo-wan, Han Suk-kyu, Han Sung-Yong, Hong Jae-Sik, Jang Hyuk-jin, Jeon Bae-su, Jeong Gi-seop, Jo Jae-Yun, Jung Suk-won, Jung Woong-In, Kim Kwang-Hyun, Kim Rae-won, Kim Seung-Hoon, Kim Sung-kyun, Korea, Korean, Kwak Min-Ho, Lee Jae-kyoon, Lee Yong-jik, Na Hyeon, Na Kwang-Hoon, Park Jin-Woo, Park Joong-geum, Park Won-Sang, Shin Sung-Rok, Showbox, Song Kyung-cheol, Udine Far East Film Festival, Udine Far East Film Festival 2017, Yeon Song-ha, Yu Ha-jun
One Way Trip (글로리데이, Choi Jeong-yeol, 2016)
Posted on November 5, 2016 July 20, 2020 by Hayley Scanlon1 Comment
Young men just trying to do the right thing often end up losing out in the long run – so it is for the four best friends at the centre of Choi Jeong-yeol's One Way Trip (글로리데이, AKA Glory Day). Caught right on the liminal divide between adolescence and adulthood, each of the four has a different path set before him, not entirely of their own choosing. De facto leader Young-bi (Ji Soo) seems the most directionless of the four but as the only one with a driving license he's found an old banger of a van and got the guys together for one last road trip before Sang-woo (Suho) enlists in the military. Joined by city councilman's son Ji-gong (Ryoo Joon-Yeol) and Doo-man (Kim Hee-Chan), a reluctant baseball player, the boys take off for the last real trip of their adolescent lives.
Things do not go to plan as the opening sequence features the guys furiously running away from the police, more worried about their parents finding out than any more serious consequences, but tragedy strikes when Sang-woo is knocked over in a hit and run accident. With Sang-woo unconscious in the hospital, the remaining three guys find themselves locked up on assault charges which later graduate to murder. How did their peaceful trip turn out like this?
Told largely through flashbacks explaining both the events of that night and the guys' lives, One Way Trip examines the effect of a traumatic incident on each of the boys as they find their friendship coming under increasing pressure. Hanging around near the harbour, the guys spot a couple having a domestic dispute in a nearby car before the man drags the woman outside and proceeds to accuse her of having an affair whilst becoming increasingly violent. Headstrong Young-bi decides to intervene but goes too far in picking a fight with the guy while the woman gets herself to safety. When the violent husband falls into a nearby boat, the guys get scared and run off but the battered wife has already called the police who wind up chasing them through the town.
Panicking in the police station, distraught Young-bi gets himself into even more trouble sending their case straight up to the detectives. Though originally sympathetic, the police change their tune when it turns out that the woman involved is a high profile TV news reader. In an attempt to protect her reputation, she refuses to back the boys' story and implicates them in the murder of her husband. The police, not overly interested in the finer details of the case, want a speedy resolution – a desire which is only echoed from further up where head office is getting pressure from the media.
These are all nice, ordinary kids who've never been in any kind of trouble before but suddenly they're being encouraged to turn on each other and engineer the best possible outcome for themselves as individuals. Ji-gong's mother (Moon Hee-kyung) is a prim woman most worried about what the neighbours will think, not to mention the impact on her husband's political career. Doo-man's father (Yoo Ha-bok) is even more panicked than his son and immediately starts making every conceivable kind of fuss at the police station, including attempted bribery. Young-bi, by contrast, has no one to speak for him as the only responsible adult is his older brother (Kim Dong-wan) – his father is already in jail. To the other parents, the answer is obvious, blame it on the no good delinquent their "nice" kid has been lead astray by and forget about the whole thing.
Though these boys are almost men, they have very little control over their own lives which continue to be dictated by parental expectation. Ji-gong's overbearing mother locks him in the house to try and force him to study while Doo-man's father ignores his pleas that he can't stand playing baseball and is sick of the other players' resentment because they know he's only on the team because his father put him there. Young-bi has no firm parental input but his feelings about his family circumstances are what lead him to try and help a woman in peril, as well as the reason he loses his temper so quickly. Sang-woo, the most blameless among the boys, has only his grandmother whom he wanted to spare a life of hardship by serving in the military followed by a solid government guaranteed job afterwards.
Fear and external pressures start to work their magic on the three previously innocent guys who thought they were doing something good but have ended up paying the price. Heartbreak and betrayal are the order of the day as money, power, and influence will always win out over justice, goodness and friendship. Injustice is the force that governs the world, Young-bi thought he was doing the right thing by coming to the aid of a woman under attack only for everyone else to tell him he should have just minded his own business and not gotten involved. Bookended scenes of the four guys together having fun on the beach only reinforce the stark contrast between their youthful innocence, naively believing in friendship and the essential goodness of helping others, and their post-trip awakening to the self-centred indifference of the adult world.
Reviewed at the 2016 London Korean Film Festival.
International trailer:
Posted in Korea, Uncategorized
Tagged Ahn Se-Ho, Choi Jeong-Yeol, Heo Joon-Seok, Ji Soo, Jung Do-Won, Kim Dong-Wwan, Kim Hee-chan, Kim Jong-Soo, Korea, Korean, Kwon Bum-Taek, Lee Dong-Yong, Lee Hyun, Lee Ji-Yeon, Lee Joo-Sil, Lee Sang-Hee, LKFF, LKFF 2016, Moon Hee-kyung, Ryu Jun-yeol, Suho, Yang Hee-myoung, Yoo Ha-Bok


I have had so many amazing opportunities working with each of you and your families. It's been such a blessing to see your children grow. Choosing me as your photographer when you could choose someone else, means so much to me!
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Financial Planning Estate Planning
Pros and Cons of Using TOD Accounts to Avoid Probate
What to Know About Transfer on Death Accounts
Bloom Productions / Getty Images
Julie Garber
Julie Garber is an estate planning and taxes expert with over 25 years of experience as a lawyer and trust officer. She is a vice president at BMO Harris Wealth management and a CFP. Julie has been quoted in The New York Times, the New York Post, Consumer Reports, Insurance News Net Magazine, and many other publications.
Somer G. Anderson
Reviewed by Somer G. Anderson
Somer G. Anderson is CPA, doctor of accounting, and an accounting and finance professor who has been working in the accounting and finance industries for more than 20 years. Her expertise covers a wide range of accounting, corporate finance, taxes, lending, and personal finance areas.
A popular alternative to probate in the U.S. is the use of a transfer on death (TOD) account, which is a special type of investment account recognized under state law. When the account owner dies, the remaining assets will pass directly to the TOD beneficiary previously named by the owner without going through the probate process.
What Is a Transfer on Death Account?
TOD accounts can be set up for investment accounts, including mutual funds and stocks and bonds held in a brokerage account. Some states also recognize TOD deeds to transfer property ownership outside of probate. To receive the investments after the account holder passes away, the beneficiaries of a TOD account will need to provide the investment company with an original death certificate for the owner.
The remaining investments will then be transferred to the beneficiaries named in the beneficiary designation form on file with the investment company in the percentages specified. Note that if a revocable living trust is named as the beneficiary of the TOD account, an employee identification number (EIN) will need to be obtained for the trust before the investments can be transferred to the trustee of the trust after the owner dies.
TOD Benefits
Transfer on death accounts are easy to establish. Each company handles the process a little differently, but, in general, TOD accounts are easy to establish. You can start by contacting your investment company to ask how to open a new TOD account or to inquire about changing your existing accounts to TOD accounts.
No Need for Probate
Depending on state law and individual circumstances, probate can be a lengthy process. A TOD account gives the option to bypass probate and transfer the account directly to the TOD beneficiaries even if the account owner had a last will and testament or revocable living trust that stated otherwise. For this reason, you must carefully coordinate your will or trust with the beneficiaries you have named for your TOD accounts.
Joint TOD Accounts
Multiple owners can maintain a joint account with rights of survivorship and have an undivided interest in the TOD account. When you die, your share of the investments is divided between the surviving owners equally. Tenancy in common and tenancy by the entirety are also possible, depending on your goals for the account.
Downsides
TOD accounts aren't meant for everyone. In some instances, beneficiaries may be disinherited. For joint TOD accounts of married couples, after one spouse dies, the surviving spouse will have full control to change the beneficiaries. If you and your spouse are in a second marriage and have children from other marriages, the surviving spouse can disinherit the children of the first spouse who dies.
There are also special rules for minors with TOD accounts. Naming minors, such as grandchildren, as TOD beneficiaries of your accounts, may result in unintended consequences if the grandchildren are still minors when you die. Minor beneficiaries do not have any legal authority to receive investments under most state law. Instead, a court-supervised guardianship or conservatorship must be established to manage the assets. When the minor reaches age 18, they will have full access to the TOD investments without any strings attached.
If you have a TOD account, make sure you update your TOD beneficiaries periodically. This is particularly important if a beneficiary you have named predeceases you or falls out of favor. Keep in mind that if you have a revocable living trust and name it as the beneficiary of your TOD accounts, each time you change the beneficiaries of the trust you will also change the TOD beneficiaries without having to change the designation you have on file with the investment company.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Transfer on Death (TOD) Registration." Accessed April 30, 2020.
Nolo. "States That Allow Transfer-On-Death Deeds for Real Estate." Accessed April 30, 2020.
Ohio State Bar Association. "Law Facts: Revocable Trusts." Accessed April 30, 2020.
Fidelity. "Investment Accounts: Transfer on Death." Accessed April 30, 2020.
Lacy Katzen LLP Attorneys at Law. "Transfer on Death Accounts." Accessed April 30, 2020.
T. Rowe Price. "Transfer on Death Facts." Accessed April 30, 2020.
Fidelity. "Your Spouse as Beneficiary." Accessed April 30, 2020.
American Century Investments. "Transfer on Death Rules," Page 3. Accessed April 30, 2020.
Joint and POD Accounts Avoid Probate But Aren't Foolproof
What to Consider in Designating Beneficiaries for Retirement Accounts
Avoid Probate on Investments With a Transfer on Death Account
Do You Need a Revocable Living Trust or Only a Will?
What Is an Inheritance?
What Is a Deceased Account?
When You Need a Pour-Over Will in Estate Planning
How to Leave an Inheritance to Your Grandchildren
How To Add a Name to Your Deed
What Is an Irrevocable Trust?
Do You Need an Attorney to Settle Your Loved One's Revocable Living Trust?
Transfer-on-Death Deeds Can Avoid Probate
How to Calculate the Value of Your Gross Estate
Does a Payable on Death (POD) Account Make Sense?
Can You Inherit Debt?


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5 May '10
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Voronezh-1 rail station eyes $9.6m overhaul
A total of $9.6m is to be spent on reconstruction of...
30 Apr '10
Russian Rail's $4.4bn Oriental development aired
Russian Railways has announced a $4.4bn three-year...
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Kurgan Airport has announced plans of private...
EBRD's $130m Pulkovo loan endorsed
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Privolzhsky Railways is to invest $8.9m in...


Harper graduated from Marysville (Ohio) High School in 1993 and began screenwriting in 2007, after the publication of several short stories and novels. He has worked on projects for James Tucker Productions and 11th Dimension Films. He is currently involved with several projects, covering literature, film and comic books. As of May, 2013, he is also a contributing writer for "Nuclear Winter Entertainment".


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Boruff creates a friendlier place for butterflies
Jim Slonoff
Julie Boruff Former marathon runner • Graduate of Northern Illinois University • Competitive tennis player • Once kept fruit flies in her refrigerator to feed the family's pet praying mantis
Creatures large and small have always found a welcome place in the home of Julie Boruff. Over the years she has raised dogs, nurtured an ant farm, offered shelter to a guinea pig and even welcomed a millipede named Frank. And that's just inside the house.
Outside, Boruff has created a friendly space for monarch butterflies. The creation of an outdoor monarch habitat was part of the plan from the day the Boruffs broke ground on their Hinsdale home more than 10 years ago, Boruff said.
Boruff was introduced to the life cycle of the monarch when her girls, now a junior and senior in high school, attended Seton Montessori in Clarendon Hills. A friend and science teacher gave the family a small monarch habitat and they watched together as the caterpillar inside morphed into a monarch butterfly.
"We watched the monarch go through the whole process," Boruff said. "It's really an amazing transformation."
Today, she's not only attracting monarchs to her own backyard, but helping others to do so, too, through the Hinsdale Monarch Project. Each summer Boruff and her daughters, Maddie and Chelsea, construct several self-enclosed habitats in which to raise monarch butterflies. Through the habitats' clear sides, people can witness for themselves the transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly.
Placed in public spaces such as the Hinsdale Public Library, The Community House and The Birches retirement community, the habitats are maintained by the Boruffs throughout the process.
"People just love it," Boruff said.
The caterpillars in the public habitats come from eggs harvested from the Boruffs' own garden.
"Unless you know what you're looking for, they're kind of hard to find," Boruff said, but she and her family have no problem spotting the tiny orbs often found on milkweed plants.
The latest addition to the Hinsdale Monarch Project is a website by the same name. At https://www.HinsdaleMonarchProject.org, visitors can learn about the importance of the monarch butterfly and what they can do to support the species and other pollinators.
The overall message and mission of The Hinsdale Monarch Project is to teach people that they can have an impact on the monarch butterfly population and on the world around them.
"You can do small things to make a difference," Boruff said. That's something she practices not only in her own garden, but throughout the community.
While she no longer works as an accountant, Boruff finds ways to share her years of experience both as a member of the Hinsdale Central High School Booster Board and as treasurer on the District 181 Foundation Board. She's helped several other nonprofits, too, helping them to find and manage the tools they need to keep their numbers in proper order.
For several years Boruff also has helped to coordinate the Community Speakers Series presented by Districts 181 and 86, finding experts to speak to parents about topics important to them and their children.
"I feel like I do have a full-time job volunteering," Boruff said.
Like her mission to nurture the monarch population, it's a job she intends to keep for as long as she can.
- story by Sandy Illian Bosch, photo by Jim Slonoff
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Jerry Lynn – Scotts Blog of Doom!
Cornette are in the booth for tonight's show.
Location of the taping is not given.
Zero match and explained Michaels recent motivations.
refused to give a Vader Bomb to the Patriot.
until the Patriot comes out and breaks it up.
recap Pillman's allegation that Dakota is his love child.
here, albeit a good one because of the energy Sincere brought to it.
Pillman calls out Goldust from the crowd.
Pillman brings up the love child angle and Goldust goes after him.
interview with Jim Ross, which aired on RAW, is replayed.
gimmick serves no function anymore.
dances with some groupies on the way to the locker room.
Sergeant Slaughter to give him another crack at Steve Austin.
warrant with the blood from his forehead from last week's RAW.
match is not going to be pretty.
wreck, but this one defied my expectations.
go back to the ring.
super hurricanrana and springboard plancha.
with addressing Sunny with their eyes.
This is the first time the Truth Commission have been seen in a while.
package that recaps tonight's show plays us out.
aside from Rockabilly-Dude Love everything else was serviceable.


Having, or consisting of, one or more fossulae.
Early 19th century; earliest use found in William Kirby (1759–1850), entomologist and naturalist. From fossula + -ate, originally (in entomological use) after scientific Latin fossulatus, fossulata, specific names of beetles.


MINISTERS are investing £1.3 million to encourage more Scots to start using electric bicycles.
Interest-free loans of up to £3,000 are being made available for those looking to buy the new type of cycles, which work like a conventional bike but have a battery and motor.
Individuals and businesses will be able to apply for the loans as part of the £500,000 Low Carbon Transport Loan Fund.
Meanwhile the E-bike Grant Fund will distribute £700,000 to councils, public sector bodies and community groups for schemes such as e-bike pools, secure parking and safety equipment.
A further £100,000 from this scheme will allow people to test ride e-bikes at some community centres, Home Energy Scotland advice centres, and active travel hubs.
Rural Economy and Connectivity Secretary Fergus Ewing announced the cash ahead of the Scottish Transport Summit in Glasgow.
He said: "These funds are the latest in a range of measures the Scottish Government is introducing to encourage sustainable and active travel.


text:
Name: Tom
U.S. Department of Agriculture blacks out animal welfare reports
[This is Gary Grady, Tom's brother, posting something that Tom would have wanted his readers to know about. This article is cross-posted from my own blog here.]
The United States Department of Agriculture has ended a longstanding practice of making animal welfare reports available on its website. Previously tens of thousands of reports could be read online concerning treatment of animals at nearly 8000 facilities, including about 1200 research laboratories as well as zoos, circuses, and various commercial enterprises. The reports have to do mainly with large mammals covered under the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act.
This is according to articles published in both Science and Nature, the two largest-circulation general science journals.
The USDA's statement says that the change is intended to protect personal information. But personal information is in fact routinely redacted from these reports, and the reports are still available through Freedom of Information Act requests.
The article in Science says in part,
Inspection reports contain little, if any, personal information about individuals.
Public access to the reports has led to scores of media reports like this article in The Boston Globe in 2012 documenting problems at Harvard University's primate research facility; the university later closed the trouble-prone New England Primate Research Center. Similarly, the reports allowed Nature and The New Yorker to report on the chronic abuse of goats held at the private company Santa Cruz Biotechnology in California, once the world's second largest marketer of research antibodies. Several months after the Nature report, USDA in a rare move revoked the company's license to market the antibodies.
"[These are] basic data about animal use and compliance that taxpayers have a right to access, particularly when it comes to taxpayer-funded labs," says Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy at the White Coat Waste Project, a Washington, D.C.–based group that opposes taxpayer-funded animal experiments.
The Humane Society of the United States said in a statement: "This action benefits no one, except facilities who have harmed animals and don't want anyone to know."
And Nature similarly reports,
The disappearance of information caught animal-welfare groups by surprise. "I'm just flabbergasted," says Eric Kleiman, a research consultant at the Animal Welfare Institute, an advocacy group in Washington DC. "This is not only the opposite of transparency, it takes us back to the Stone Age."
Getting such information through FOIA requests can take years, Klein says. And knowing what information to request will be difficult, as the USDA will no longer post complaints that it or outside groups file against an institution. These complaints often trigger USDA investigations.
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Tom Grady 1959-2016
This is Gary Grady, Tom's older brother. I am very sorry to say that Tom died at home September 15.
As he mentioned on this blog, in March of 2015 he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a particularly deadly type of brain cancer. He initially responded well to treatment, experiencing few side effects, but earlier this year the tumor began to grow again and he was hospitalized for a few weeks in July. He kept apologizing for being a burden, saying that he was the youngest and he should be taking care of us. Finally he was placed in home hospice care and after a steady decline he finally simply stopped breathing. Toward the end it was very difficult for him to express himself, but he still got jokes and smiled and laughed.
Tom was a life-long athlete and sports enthusiast who played on the longest-lasting recreational softball team in his area. As a volunteer he officiated at basketball games and coached youth soccer. One of his teams, the Pink Panthers, gained the state championship for girls in their age group, but he emphasized enjoyment and sportsmanship over winning. Once when officiating at a basketball game a young boy who had not scored a point all year had a free throw. The ball went in, but the boy stepped a bit over the line. Determined not to take away his one point, Tom pointed at the scorer's table and said, "Count it!" This drew angry reactions from the other team and their supporters, but the coach later came to Tom and apologized, saying that after thinking about it he realized that Tom had done the right thing. The boy's father told Tom, "You made my son's year."
Tom was fortunate enough to have his a dream job, becoming a sports and features writer for the Wilmington North Carolina Star-News newspaper. The sports editor wrote an excellent article about Tom you can read here.
Animals, especially pets, and more especially dogs, were his other great passion, and he wrote a column about pets for the newspaper, often arguing against cruelty, as he did for many years on this blog and his Facebook page.
A memorial service for Tom will be held Saturday, October 1, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, on the softball field where he played for many, many years. Details can be found here.
3 Comments "
Hunting Endangered Animals Must Bring Criminal Charges
There is really somethings wrong with anyone who hunts down an endangered species for "sport." Maybe it's a lack of education from these folks or maybe it's something more.
But there are no excuses for engaging is this level of behavior – where individuals torture and kill animals – that we might never see again on the face of the Earth.
It would be extremely difficult to get more selfish and cruel than that. The individual who gunned down a lion earlier this year tried to use the warped excuse that he didn't known the lion had a name.
The lion clearly has a higher IQ than the hunter. I just gave every endangered species on the planet a name. So that takes care of that.
In August 9 article by the Star Tribune included an interview with another tropy hunter. He was asked about his killing trips. He said, "This is who I am."
Trophy-hunting dentist Jim Derhaag called trophy animates a "three-dominional picture that is a memory for me." The animals take away a vastly different picture, one of extreme suffering.
Let's be VERY CLEAR. This asinine notion that killing endangered species is a good way to save endangered species is just that – asinine. They cannot kill their way to more animals and certainly humane safaris are way more efficient and humane.
Yes – humane. It's an important phrase that no one can argue against.
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Officially Back to Blogging for Animal Welfare
After some time away from the blog, I am back.
To update, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor back in early March and underwent surgery immediately. About 75 percent of the rumor was removed and I've undergone chemo and radiation treatments and more.
On the one hand, I've been given a though diagnosis and a though possible outcome. But if by nothing more tHan massign determination, I will beat it.
My healthcare slogan is – "I'm a lean, mean, tumor-fighting machine."
I'd like to thank my family for their support, in many ways. It has been an up and down ride and my vision – due to a partisan field-of-vision loss – has been impacted.
But getting to the main theme today, I am going to continue my mission of speaking out for animals. I will continue to focus on topics such as the evils of puppy mills and greyhound racing and so much more.
I will also dive into more positive topics and even some humour on occasion to mix things up. And I'd like to bring in updates on my cancer battle, as I want to be an advocate for others battling cancers – for humans and animals.
Please follow the blog and hollow along on Twitter.
– TOM GRADY
Greyhound Racing: The twisted info keeps on coming
I continue to collect the on-going statements out of the greyhound racing industry that not only boarder on asinine, they wallow in it.
But let's start with May 22, when Terry Frei wrote a column for the Denver Post that contained the following: "In a perfect world, live racing could stand on its own four feet. " He was writing mostly about horse racing, the equally-evil brother of dog racing.
"In a perfect world," you Mr. Frei would not be writing about horse or dog racing. In a perfect world, both industries would be banned forever.
You apparently are not aware of the abuses in both industries, where horses and greyhounds are sent off to be shot, have their heads cut off or are slaughtered.
This next story goes back to February, but it's worth a focus on this post. The Florida Greyhound Association does not support a call for decoupling in the state, of course.
David Bishop of the Florida Greyhound Association was quoted in an article by the Broward Palm Beach New Times as saying: "The Florida Greyhound Association fully supports reporting at-track injuries and deaths, but this is more than just gathering numbers."
Once again, we see an official from greyhound racing admit there are injuries and deaths in dog racing. But they still want to race dogs. There is no reason whatsoever in that position.
Our moral compasses tell us that admitting that dogs are being killed for gambling profits means the industry should be shut down immediately.
The industry also continues to make the bizarre claim that ending greyhound racing would lead to an increase in gambling. This is tinfoil-hat stuff. The industry would love to see the now-empty stands at dog tracks filled with people gambling on dog races.
That would increase gambling – right? So dose the industry not want to see an increase in gambling on dog racing??? Come on folks – let's not go off on wild tangents that you really can't possibly believe are true – at least I hope.
The dog racing industry suggesting it thinks an increase in gambling is a bad thing would be like Kim Kardashian saying she's going to drop TV appearances and drop fashion and just wear sweatpants to major events.
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Comments Off on Another huge oil spill and Big Oil will respond with more propaganda
True colors of greyhound racing come out again with news about payments to breeders
It is predictable and disgusting at the same time – the news that the West Virginia Racing Commission has handed over more than $10 million to greyhound breeders.
This dying industry is being held up to just benefit a few. The casinos could drop racing and hire the employees into the rest of the facilities. But they can't because some elected officials in states like Florida and West Virginia are in their seats for no other reason than to benefit the few. These officials certainly are not there to represent the public and they certainly do not have any concern for animal welfare.
We should offer our thanks to the elected officials who are pushing for decoupling legislation.
The money being given to breeders could instead help with job training and caring for the dogs in need of new homes when greyhound racing shuts down for good.
And then there's the breeding. My wife and I know of one couple in our state that has adopted four rescued racing greyhounds who all died of Osteosarcoma, a nasty form of cancer.
We have faced cancers with our rescued greyhounds. And we keep running into people at veterinary hospitals who tell their emotional stories of racing greyhounds with cancer, many at far too young an age.
When I've debated the pro-dog racing crowd online, they typically throw out the tired line that other big dogs get Osteosarcoma. My response includes the fact that comparing bad breeding practices with with bad breeding practices is a losing argument – every time.
And we have always argued about inbreeding. The racing insiders call it "line breeding." But line breeding is just inbreeding on steroids. Every time we adopt a new, rescued greyhound, my wife goes on the racing site and looks up the dog's lineage.
Way more often than not, she finds family connections to our current and previous greyhounds. And we find the same dogs are regularly listed as the parent or grandparent or great-grandparent of an unending list of dogs.
That's inbreeding and it's a small gene pool and both are not what we want. But in greyhound racing, the post-racing career doesn't matter to the insiders. It's about the profit motive.
I've written about cancer in dogs for many, many years and I've researched into the issue – a lot. Now that I have brain cancer, I plan to ramp up my efforts in speaking out against bad breeding that lead to cancers in dogs.
$10 million to breeders? That money could have gone to job training for track employs – as the state legislatures do what they should do today – shut down dog racing. Thanks to a request put in by Grey2K USA, these payments where brought to light.
The money came from the Greyhound Breeding Development Fund. It's almost too nutty to believe. But we've heard enough out of racing to not be shocked.
Johnny Depp dog story has multiple bad actors
Johnny Depp is in a spat with government officials in Australia over the screen actor's two dogs, who he reportedly brought into the country without quarantining them for the required time period.
So now the dogs are being threatened with euthanasia if Depp does not take then back to the US.
Depp certainly carries his share of the blame for not addressing the requirements and therefore putting the dogs and others at risk. He should know better.
But Australia is a nation that allows greyhound racing and the government is still closing its eyes to the history of abuse and the current scandal over the use of live baiting in the so-called training of the dogs.
So Australia – if you really want to do the right thing for animals, show us some real steps. Announce tomorrow that due to the preponderance of evidence, greyhound racing has been immediately banned – forever.
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Good Samaritan laws should be modified nationwide to include animal rescue
The recent news concerning a man who broke out a car window to save a dog locked in a hot car should signal a change in Good Samaritan laws across the United States.
Our laws in general and across the board should be based on logic.
We don't know all of the details about this case out of Athans, GA. But in general, a person should be able to save an animal in distress and be protected from prosecution, should it be found he or she acted appropriately and to save an animal from suffering or near death.
It is idiotic to even suggest that a person should let the suffering go on, because the damage to a car is wrongly perceived to be more important than the life of an animal. Who could have that mentality now?
We other inhumane laws, like those that suggest the life of an animal has no more value that a stolen TV. Who could think that way in 2015? We should be better than that as a society.
It seems we still have people in charge in the United States who believe a woman or girl who has been raped has limited rights. We've seen recent interviews that suggest these people want to minimize and marginalize what the victims have gone through.
We don't live in the 1920s. And we can't allow people without souls or an ability to feel compassion to run the country.
Back to the case in Georgia, if it is found that witnesses are correct and the dog was locked in the care for an extended period, the charges filed against the man who broke out the window should be cropped. And the driver of the care should be charged.
Let's get these laws changed and make the rescuing of an animal in a health crisis something that people are honored for doing.
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HSUS: Class B dog dealing on the way out
The horrible system created by Class B pet dealers could soon be a thing of the past. It would be one more step into the direction of stopping another cruel practice.
On his A Humane Nation blog, Humane Society of the US top dog, Wayne Pacelle stated earlier this week: "Of the two remaining Class B dealers, one had only four dogs in its most recent inventory and the other is facing formal enforcement action from the USDA."
Pacelle also notes these dealers get the dogs they sell from "flea markets, shelters, auctions, and even the backyards of unsuspecting owners." Many end up in research labs.
Thank you to the HSUS and to everyone who fought to make this happen. Hopefully, we'll see a complete end to the Class B system very soon.
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Eighty percent of Americans will experience foot and ankle pain at some point in their lives.
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Physical therapy and pedorthic services are also available.
We provide custom fabrication and fitting for all types of prosthetic and orthotic devices, right here in our on-site lab.


text:
Top Student Inventors Awarded Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
Students around the country recognized for revolutionary solutions to global challenges
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 10, 2018 – Following a nationwide search for the most inventive college students, the Lemelson-MIT Program today announced the winners of the 2018 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize. The Program awarded a total of $80,000 in prizes to 14 undergraduate and graduate student inventors, selected from a large and highly competitive pool of applicants from across the United States. Students were selected based on a variety of factors including: the overall inventiveness of their work, the invention's potential for commercialization or adoption, and youth mentorship experience.
The Lemelson-MIT Student Prize is supported by The Lemelson Foundation, serving as a catalyst for young inventors in the fields of health care, transportation and mobility, food/water and agriculture, and consumer devices.
"This year's Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winners are the embodiment of the inventive spirit," said Stephanie Couch, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program. "They have not only invented solutions to real-world problems, they are also paving the way for their peers through their mentorship. We're excited to share their accomplishments and to continue seeing them grow as Lemelson-MIT winners."
"These students represent a new generation of inventors with big ideas on how to improve healthcare, agriculture, mobility, and scientific discovery," said Dorothy Lemelson, board chair of The Lemelson Foundation. "They are an inspiration to their communities and we're proud to honor their accomplishments."
2018 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize Winners
The "Use it!" Lemelson-MIT Student Prize: Rewarding technology-based inventions that involve consumer devices.
• AssistENT: Melissa Austin, Eric Cao, Talia Kirschbaum, Theodore Lee, and Harrison Nguyen, Johns Hopkins University, $10,000 Undergraduate Team Winner
The AssistENT team developed N-Stent, a comfortable and discreet nasal dilator designed to improve breathing for those who suffer from nasal obstruction. Unlike existing external nasal dilators, N-Stent is inserted into the nose, making it undetectable and comfortable for wear during the day or night.
• Kayla Nguyen, Cornell University, $15,000 Graduate Winner
Kayla invented the EMPAD, a fast, highly-efficient detector that enhances imaging for a range of microscopic applications. The detector is a special camera designed to detect and display electrons in microscopes at a much greater level of detail than existing versions. This detailed data can be utilized to make faster computers, more effective drugs, more advanced electric cars, and can even aid with art conservation.
The "Eat it!" Lemelson-MIT Student Prize: Rewarding technology-based inventions that involve food/water and agriculture.
• Maher Damak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $15,000 Graduate Winner
Maher developed a polymer additive that can be mixed with pesticides and other agricultural sprays to help them adhere to plants more effectively. Plants currently retain only a tiny portion of chemical sprays, resulting in runoff that leads to the contamination of soil, ground water, and surface water. Maher's invention would result in the use of 10 times less pesticides and could save farmers 10-20% of their total production costs.
The "Cure it!" Lemelson-MIT Student Prize: Rewarding technology-based inventions that involve health care.
• Treyetech: Kali Barnes, Stephanie Cai, Akash Chaurasia, Conan Chen, and Eric Chiang,
Johns Hopkins University, $10,000 Undergraduate Team Winner
The Treyetech team developed a device to help surgeons successfully perform corneal transplant surgery. About three million Americans are at risk of corneal diseases, but surgeons are hesitant to perform the only procedure that can restore vision to 20/20 because of a challenging and sometimes unsuccessful portion of the operation that involves unrolling a delicate cornea tissue graft into a patient's eye. The Treyetech team has created a device that prepares and transports the donor cornea graft from an eye bank to surgeons, eliminates the unrolling step, and allows for more effective and successful insertion into the eye.
• Tyler Clites, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $15,000 Graduate Winner
Tyler developed a new approach to amputation called the Agonist-antagonist Myoneural Interface (AMI), which is comprised of a novel surgical technique for limb amputation and a complementary prosthetic control system. The AMI is unique in its ability to provide patients with proprioception, or the sense of the relative positioning of their prosthetic body parts in space, which is not possible in the current clinical standard of care. In this way, the AMI enables persons with amputation to receive feedback of joint position, speed, and torque from their brain-controlled prosthetic limb, improving their ability to perform everyday tasks and enabling them to feel as though their prosthesis is truly a part of their body.
The "Drive it!" Lemelson-MIT Student Prize: Rewarding technology-based inventions that involve transportation and mobility.
• Guy Satat, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $15,000 Graduate Winner
Guy invented All Photons Imaging, a system that can image through dense fog, intended for augmented driving, autonomous vehicles, drones, airplanes, and helicopters. The system computationally removes dense fog from camera images in order to produce an image as if the fog were not there. Seeing through obstructions helps avert great danger for the various modes of transportation to which this system can be applied, and the invention has useful applications in other fields, such as providing enhanced medical imaging.
Students interested in applying for the 2019 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize can find more information here.
The Lemelson-MIT Program is also seeking partners with interest in sponsoring the competition, in addition to supporting the execution and scaling into new categories. Interested sponsors can find more information here.
ABOUT THE LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM
The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates outstanding inventors and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention.
Jerome H. Lemelson, one of the most prolific American inventors, and his wife, Dorothy, founded the Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. It is funded by The Lemelson Foundation and administered by the School of Engineering at MIT, an institution with a strong ongoing commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for K-12 STEM education. For more information, visit Lemelson.MIT.edu.
ABOUT THE LEMELSON FOUNDATION
Established in the early 1990s by Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson and based in Portland, Oregon, The Lemelson Foundation uses the power of invention to improve lives. Inspired by the belief that invention can solve many of the biggest economic and social challenges of our time, the Foundation helps the next generation of inventors and invention-based businesses to flourish. To date, the Foundation has made grants totaling over $200 million in support of its mission. For more information, visit http://lemelson.org.
Jennifer Manley
Jennifer.Manley@deweysquare.com
This entry was posted in Other on April 10, 2018 by uwirepr.
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