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Arts in Greece | Nikolaos Gyzis, the Greek master of genre painting
Nikolaos Gyzis (1842-1901) was one of the most prominent Greek artists of the 19th century and an iconic representative of the so-called Munich School, which defined the artistic scene of the nascent Greek state. Famous for his genre paintings but also his allegories, he is mostly remembered for his portrayals of everyday life, often depicting rural scenes inspired from the historical period before the Greek Revolution.
The "Munich School" in Greece
In the 19th century, the prevalent style in Greek art was academic realism. Because studies in the fine arts had not yet reached a high level in the newly founded Greek state, artist aspiring to a prominent career chose to continue their studies abroad. Due to Greece's close ties with Bavaria, following the appointment of Bavarian prince Otto as the first King of Greece, artists were encouraged to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Munich, which was considered one of the most important institutions of its kind in Europe. The Munich school is characterized by a naturalistic style, moving away from the Romanticism of early 19th century; typical subjects include landscape, portraits, genre, still-life, and history painting.
Genre painting is particularly associated with the Munich School, especially in Greece, where it is known as ropographia ("depiction of trivial things"), but predominantly referred to as ethographia (literally "study of mores"), a term borrowed from Greek literary criticism. Subjects are drawn from everyday life, especially in a rural context. Seventeenth-century Dutch art and German Biedermeier painting have been suggested as important influences on Greek genre painting of the time, especially due to their similarities in themes and iconography.
Left: Wishbone, 1878 (National Gallery of Athens); Right: The barber, 1880 (Private collection)
Life and career of Gyzis
Gyizis was born in the village of Sklavochori, on the island of Tinos, on 1 March 1842. His father was a carpenter with five more children. In 1850, his family moved to Athens. There he started attending classes at the School of Arts (the predecessor of the Athens School of Fine Arts) initially as an auditor; he later officially enrolled and completed his studies in 1864.
In July 1865, he went to continue his studies at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts on a scholarship. There, he would shortly reunite with fellow Greek artist Nikephoros Lytras –arguably the only representative of the Greek Munich School whose reputation rivals that of Gyzis himself– who had been studying at the Academy since 1860. The two men were close friends, and would later go together on trips to Asia Minor and Paris.
After the Destruction of Psara, ca. 1896-1898 (National Gallery of Athens)
In 1868, Gyzis was accepted at the workshop of renowned painter Karl von Piloty, one of The Academy's most important professors. In 1869, he was he discovered the work of French realist painter Gustave Courbet, thanks to an international exhibition in Munich. Courbet's style had a great impact on Gyzis. He also established close ties with the circle of the German realist painter Wilhelm Leibl (the so-called Leibl-Kreis), a group of artists also deeply inspired by Courbet, as well as 17th century Dutch painting. Gyzis formed friendly relations with the painters Franz von Defregger, Eduard Kurzbauer and later Franz von Lenbach.
In 1872, Gyzis returned to Greece to work there as a painter, but two years later he decided to move back to Munich, were he would reside for the rest of his life. He married a Greek woman in 1977, with whom he had five children.
He gained increasing recognition in Germany, participating in world fairs and winning critical acclaim. Between 1878 and 1880 he was commissioned the decoration of the ceiling in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Kaiserslautern. In 1880 he became an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts; he was made an assistant professor in 188 and a professor in 1888. He would teach at the Academy until his death from leukemia in 1901.
Spring Symphony, 1886 (National Gallery of Athens)
Nikolaos Gyzis is predominantly known for his genre paintings, with themes inspired from Greek rural life, often depicting scenes alluding to life under the Ottoman rule, evidently influenced by the current of Orientalism. His naturalistic depictions demonstrate a strong emphasis on detail, along with the use of vivid colours and carefully conceived compositions.
The painter's later works, especial after the mid-1880s, his work moved increasingly toward more progressive areas—specifically, Symbolism and Jugendstil (the German counterpart of Art Nouveau). As a deeply devout person, he would also increasingly incorporate religious themes into his works, and create deeply allegorical paintings, which marked his move further away from academic art and towards a more expressionist style.
The Betrothal of the Children, 1877 (National Gallery of Athens)
The work portrays a ceremony for the engagement of two children by their families. This practice is believed to have served in the past for the protection of young boys from devşirme ("blood tax"), known in Greek as Paidomazoma ("the taking of children"), i.e. an Ottoman child-tribute levied in the Balkans. Although the forcible recruitment of soldiers from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects is a well-documented Ottoman institution in the 15th and 16th centuries, the practice had effectively stopped by 1648 and thus would not exist in the era depicted in the painting. This is the second version of a work created by Gyzis in 1875, which belongs to a private collection.
Peak-a-Boo, 1882 (National Gallery of Athens)
This work is representative of genre painting, portraying a moment of everyday life, in a naturalistic style. The subject and style are believed to show a direct influence from Austrian artist Franz Defregger (1832-1921), professor of history painting from 1878 to 1910 at the Munich Academy, with whom the artist had friendly relations. It is suggested that Gyzis's own family served as models for the painting.
The secret school, 1886 (Emfietzoglou Gallery)
The painting is inspired by a widespread, mostly oral, tradition regarding the period of Ottoman rule, according to which young Greeks had to resort to clandestine education, the so-called Krifó scholió ("secret/underground school"), usually hidden in monasteries. There is little evidence to support that the use or teaching of the Greek language was persecuted at any point during this period; the Ottomans are believed to have been for the most part indifferent towards it. This however also meant the lack of an official public education system. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, responsible for most aspects of civil administration for the Christian population, did support the operation of public Greek schools, especially in large towns. Local elementary schools were also closely linked with the Orthodox church; they were often run and/or subsidised by monasteries, while teachers were in fact usually priests or monks.
Glory, ca. 1898 (Presidency of the Hellenic Republic)
The painting was until recently in the possession of a private collector, who donated it to the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic, on the occasion of the bicentenary of the Greek War of Independence of 1821, due to its status as an important example of iconography linked with the Greek Revolution. As in his previous work, After the Destruction of Psara (ca. 1896-1898), Gyzis draws his subject from the tragedy of the Greek island of Psara, where the Ottomans slaughtered a large part of the civilian population on July 5, 1824. As in the Chios massacre of 1822, the mass killings caused international outrage.
More specifically, the painter is inspired by Dionysios Solomos's famous epigram on the destruction of Psara in 1824, where he imagines the personification of Glory "walking alone" on the island's "blackened ridge", crowned with a few leaves of grass from the deserted earth. The theme is reprised in the famous sketch Glory of that same year (on view at the Nafplion Annex of the National Gallery). The painting is representative of the style which characterises his latest works, influenced by Symbolism and moving from genre painting towards allegories.
Read also via Arts in Greece: Nikephoros Lytras, the Artist behind Greek Christmas' Most Celebrated Painting; Sophia Laskaridou, the first woman at the Athens School of Fine Arts; Konstantinos Volanakis: the Father of Greek Seascapes; The visual representation of the 1821 Greek War of Independence through the eyes of Greek and foreign artists; The portrayal of women in Modern Greek painting
N.M. (Left: Photographic portrait of Gyzis; Right: The Betrothal of the Children [detail], 1877)
Created: 01 March 2021


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... said scrip to be sold by said States and the proceeds thereof applied to the uses and purposes...
The American Journal of Education - 第 529 頁
由 編輯 - 1866
Bulletin, 第 13-22 期
United States. Office of Education - 1951 - 1008 頁
...hereby directed to issue to each of the States, in which there is not the quantity of public lands subject to sale at private entry, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, to which said State may be entitled under the provisions of this act, land scrip to the amount...
State Agricultural Experiment Stations: A History of Research Policy and ...
Harold Carl Knoblauch - 1962 - 304 頁
...is hereby directed to issue to each of the States in which there is not the quantity of public lands subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, to which said State may be entitled under the provisions of this act, land scrip to the amount...
Land-grant Colleges and Universities, 1862-1962
Henry Sherman Brunner - 1962 - 78 頁
United States. Office of Education - 1962 - 550 頁
...other purpose whatsoever: Provided, That in no case shall any State to which land scrip may thus be issued be allowed to locate the same within the limits...entry, at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, an acre: And provided further, That not more than one million acres shall be located by such assignees...
Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee on Education and Labor
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor - 1966 - 872 頁
...of sections, not less than one-quarter of a section; and wherever there are public lands in a State, subject to sale at private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the quantity to which said State shall be entitled shall be selected from such lands, within...
Bulletin, 第 1-15 期
A Compilation of Federal Education Laws
United States - 1967 - 548 頁
A Compilation of Federal Education Laws, 第 3 卷﹔第 8-12 卷
...use or purposes whatsoever: Provided, That in no case shall any State to which land scrip may thus be issued be allowed to locate the same within the limits...twenty-five cents, or less, per acre: And provided, further, That not more than one million acres shall be located by such assignees in any one of the...
...otner purpose whatsoever: Provided. That in no case shall any State to which land scrip may thus be issued be allowed to locate the same within the limits...said land scrip upon any of the unappropriated lands 01 the United States subject to sale at private entry, at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less,...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Future of CMC: An Interview with Jean-Pierre Metabanzoulou
Biomanufacturing,CMC,Regulatory Affairs,News
1 month ago By Josh Neil
The need to ensure patient safety and drug efficacy in pharmaceuticals is only increasing. With the sudden disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chemistry and Manufacturing Controls (CMC) process has been thrown into the spotlight as critical to drug manufacturing and to pharma regulation in general. But this same pandemic has also altered what many thought to be the future of the industry, and where CMC will go from here is an increasingly uncertain question. Proventa spoke to Jean-Pierre Metabanzoulou, Senior Director, MBA, PhD, CMC & RA at Acasti Pharma, to hear more about his work in CMC and how the field will progress over the next five years.
Proventa: Tell us about your role within CMC, and which parts of the area you enjoy most?
Jean-Pierre Metabanzoulou: I am actually currently Senior Director of CMC at Acasti. Day to day, I lead a cross-functional internal team of 10 people and external CDMO/CRO resources to ensure anything to do with process development and analysis runs smoothly, and as we're using QbD, that we have a robust development program. I also ensure we have a strict set of specifications for our processes and that other critical quality attributes are set and in line with what the process can deliver.
I also deal with the troubleshooting of any program issues, and ensure we have a risk-based system in place to investigate problems thoroughly and ensure they cannot happen again. This is what we call the CAPA system – corrective action, preventative action.
A lot of the enjoyment I find in my role stems from introducing new concepts and innovation. I'm keen on looking at new technologies and new ways of doing things – for example when I joined the team, they were performing continuous manufacturing, but they were missing continuous quality control. I looked at the process and decided that there was an opportunity to include this element. At the time we didn't have the right internal resources, so we worked with academia to gain access to these. Continuous quality control is not yet implemented because we're not at the commercial manufacturing stage yet, but we have the elements to include the quality control continuous monitoring. Once the batch is manufactured at the end, the quality testing will be completed at the same time. This is how I envision CMC.
Proventa: Which technologies would you want to implement into CMC, or adopt more to progress the sector?
JPM: What I'm seeing more of, and what the CMC professional must do, is reduce the siloing that occurs in the pharma industry. We have medicinal chemistry experts who design the molecule, and then the development side who take over when the lead is optimised. The drug can then be developed and moved along the clinical pipeline.
But what we should be doing, as soon as some candidate leads have been identified, is to ensure those currently involved at later stages are brought in earlier, so they can have more input on the molecule's design. This is vital because in development these people will be familiar with some attributes that medicinal chemistry experts perhaps are not, and so by involving them issues that might come up later can be prevented. So we definitely need to break down these silos!
Right now there's a lot of innovation and new technology on the discovery side of things, and how professionals there are developing and designing new molecules and validating targets is changing. So this makes it even more important to work as a team. For global companies this can be difficult, but it's much more achievable for biotechs and smaller companies. So greater collaboration is something the industry desperately needs.
On the technology side, we've talked about it a lot but it's worth repeating: AI. There's a lot of data gathered in pharmaceuticals and CMC, but this data is scattered across different systems which don't interact with one another. There's an opportunity here, and I'm seeing more and more tools which can be applied to this – but none that are commercial and off the shelf at present that can facilitate the data acquisition and exchanging from early development up to commercialisation. This is vital if we want to understand our processes, improve them, and use the data to feedback into our systems. This will not only improve quality but also reduce costs.
Proventa: How do you see CMC changing over the next five years?
JPM: The industry is definitely moving towards improving drug quality and greater standardisation. This concept has been around for quite a while, with Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) gaining fame in the early 2000s after it was introduced by the FDA and other regulatory bodies and pharma companies were encouraged to adopt them. PAT standards were introduced to combat batches being recalled and bad product quality within the industry. As a side effect of PAT, the costs also decreased as fewer batches were lost.
We are seeing more and more online testing, meaning you implement some probes on your process that monitor the quality of your product. As soon as you see that there's a risk, you can make sure you immediately put in measures so the process will be back in control. So this is what we're looking at also.
In terms of technology, one tech that's changing things is NIR – Near Infrared Tech. That's very interesting – it's very sensitive to the environment. That means we won't have the same response when you're testing for a material, as it's like a fingerprint. Different molecules have different fingerprints. It's a very interesting technology in the small molecule arena.
I definitely see silos being reduced over the next five years. Other than that, COVID-19 has of course changed how the industry is collaborating. We see more and more people working as a team, and reaching out to other organisations more than we used to.
I can see these cross-functional teams continuing post-pandemic. These are very important, and we need the different perspectives of people in separate departments, sciences etcetera. Our work needs experts from early development, pharmacology, CMC, manufacturing, quality control and assurance, all working together to develop processes. We need those different perspectives. By bringing these together, we'll see improved final results – but this isn't easy to do! I think it will take time for this to become a norm in the industry. But the more we do it, the easier it will be to break those silos.
Joshua Neil, Editor
Proventa International
Weekly News Round-up – 15/1/21
In the news this week, COVID vaccine production continues to advance, with Regeneron signing a new $2.6 billion deal in the US, the J&J one-shot looks set to distribute in March 2021, and two inhaler treatments advance in trials. In...
Weekly News Round-up – 8/1/21
Vaccines dominate the news this week, as multiple companies come ever closer to having their products greenlit for market. Janssen's single-shot vaccine could be approved within weeks, while Moderna's vaccine sees EU take-up and AZ/Oxford University's product seems set for...
How COVID-19 has Affected Clinical Operations
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted sectors and organisations around the world. But one of the most vital fields that has seen significant impact is in clinical operations. Trials and supply chains have had to be rapidly changed to accommodate the...


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Turkey's HRC dumping probe to include imports from S Korea as well as EU: CEO
EUROMETAL // Turkey's HRC dumping probe to include imports from S Korea as well as EU: CEO
A dumping investigation by Turkey into imports of hot-rolled coil from the EU will also extend to South Korea, which increased its deliveries to Turkey significantly throughout 2020, according to Ugur Dalbeler, CEO of key Turkish steel producer Colakoglu.
Although no official announcement on the investigation has been made, two top Turkish steel industry executives told S&P Global Platts that the Trade Ministry had already informed the relevant parties, including the European Commission.
A decree relating to the investigation is expected to published in Turkey's official gazette in the next few days following presidential approval.
"Following the review, our Trade Ministry has decided to open a dumping investigation and has made the necessary declaration to the EU," Dalbeler, who is also vice chairman of the Turkish Steel Exporters' Union (CIB) told Platts. "This investigation will also involve HRC imports from South Korea."
The EC had no official comment.
The EC said Dec. 17 that it has decided to impose an antidumping duty of 4.8%-7.6% on imports of Turkish HRC. The duties will be imposed on a provisional basis on Jan. 14 and will be valid for six months, which is expected to limit exports to the region by Turkish mills. Definitive duties are scheduled to be set by July 13.
The Turkish Steel Producers Association (TCUD) has previously called upon the Turkish government to impose similar counter-measures on steel imports from the EU, arguing that quotas and trade investigations had already notably reduced exports of HRC by Turkish mills to the EU, their main export market, while imports from the EU remained strong.
Turkey imported around 1.3 million mt of HRC from the EU in the first 10 months of 2020, relatively unchanged year on year, while HRC imports from South Korea reached 262,000 mt over the same period, well above the 64,000 mt imported in the same period of 2019, according to Platts calculations based on the most recent data from the Turkish Statistical Institute.
— Cenk Can


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by A. L. WegwerthA. L. Wegwerth
Buy Online, Pick up in Store )
A.L. Wegwerth (also known as Amber Ross) has an uncanny ability to recall songs and rhymes from childhood with little-to-no prodding. As one might imagine, this remarkable skill comes in handy on a daily basis—or at least for the time it took to create this book. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her husband and kids.
Dino file — Mighty monster — King of the cretaceous — T. rex's world — Cretaceous carnivore — Hungry hunter — Terrifying teeth — Powerful tail — Tiny arms — A fossil names Sue — Feathered friends — Surprising relatives — Gone.
Supports Common Core Reading Standards for Informational Texts Smithsonian branding Quotes from experts about the featured dinosaur Graphic organizers, such as charts and maps
Gr 2–4—These dinosaur profiles cover key information at a good level for middle elementary readers. Text flows nicely, with simple vocabulary and age-appropriate analogies (for instance, "an egg smaller than a soccer ball"). Readers will get a sense of how scientists use fossils to make educated guesses about dinosaurs, and the difference between fact and speculation is clearly noted. Labels and fact boxes balance the narrative neatly; most expand on the information provided in the main text. Key features are supported by appealing illustrations, which include drawings, photos of models, and diagrams. Though a few spreads are overcrowded, the visuals should have strong appeal. Details of sizes, ranges, and eras are all covered well, though one phonetic pronunciation is inaccurate. Kids will likely ignore the three Common Core questions at the end, but these might be useful to teachers. The dinosaurs featured here are covered in most series, but these are solid additions in an always popular subject area.


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Under the provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 ("the 1987 Act") qualifying tenants of flats have a right to buy their freehold on a proposed disposal of the landlord's interest to a third party. That right is known as "a right of first refusal".
Why buy your freehold?
Freehold purchase gives leaseholders more control over managing and maintaining their building.
Following completion of the freehold purchase, the leaseholders will have the ability to grant themselves 999 year leases at a peppercorn rent which can be expected to increase the value of their flats and improve their marketability.
Who is a qualifying tenant?
For the purpose of a right of first refusal, a person is a qualifying tenant if he or she is a tenant of a flat under a tenancy. The right of first refusal applies equally to tenants under a long lease or a short lease. However, the right of first refusal does not apply to an assured shorthold tenancy.
If a person owns three or more flats in the building, he or she will not be a qualifying tenant in respect of any of those flats.
How is the right claimed?
Following the service of the landlord's Offer Notice (also known as "a Section 5 Notice"), the landlord's offer must be accepted by qualifying tenants representing more than 50 per cent of the flats in the building.
An Acceptance Notice must be served within the period specified in the Offer Notice. The qualifying tenants must act together and not independently. This means that one Acceptance Notice must be served by all the qualifying tenants who wish to participate in the right of first refusal.
If it is intended to proceed, the qualifying tenants then have a further period of at least two months in which to serve a Nomination Notice on the landlord notifying the landlord of their nominated person to conduct the proceedings on their behalf. This is normally a limited company formed specifically to act as such.
What if no Acceptance Notice or no Nomination Notice is served?
If no Acceptance Notice is served within the acceptance period and/or no Nomination Notice is served within the nomination period, the landlord is then free to proceed with his proposed disposal within the next 12 months on the terms set out in the Offer Notice. The landlord cannot dispose of his interest for less than the price quoted in the Offer Notice.
Can a qualifying tenant withdraw his or her acceptance?
A qualifying tenant who accepts the landlord's offer may withdraw his or her acceptance at any time until a binding contract has been entered into for the purchase of the freehold. If the number of qualifying tenants falls below the minimum number of qualifying tenants required to proceed, the Acceptance Notice must be withdrawn immediately.
Can the landlord withdraw the offer?
The landlord may withdraw his offer following the service of an Acceptance Notice at any time until a binding contract has been entered into for the purchase of the freehold.
What about costs?
If a Notice of Withdrawal is served by the nominated person within th first four weeks of the nomination period, neither the nominated person nor the qualifying tenants are liable for any costs incurred by the landlord. If the Notice of Withdrawal is served later, the landlord may recover his reasonable costs from the nominated person and the qualifying tenants who served the Acceptance Notice.
If the landlord serves a Notice of Withdrawal before the end of the first four weeks of the nomination period, the landlord is not liable for any costs incurred by the qualifying tenants. If the Notice of Withdrawal is served later, the landlord is responsible for any costs reasonably incurred in connection with the proposed disposal.
These notes are intended for general guidance only and individual advice should be sought as appropriate.
Contact Us for further details.


The National Partnership for Women & Families has redesigned and updated the Childbirth Connection Website, designed to be a reliable source of information for expecting mothers. Enhancements include an updated 'giving birth' section, revised 'maternity care' section, a list of tools for women to use as they choose a maternity care provider and birth setting, and a new mobile-friendly design.
The Childbirth Connection website link will remain at the bottom of the Belmont County Health Department website page under other information for future reference.
If you have any questions regarding our Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program, please call 740-676-2232. Or, you can check out our WIC page here.


When Walter and Audrey Stewart wanted to create a unique European-inspired dream home in Liberty Park, they hired Alex Krumdieck. The result is a modern masterpiece in architecture.
Our February 2014 fashion feature is all about the shoes.
Alabama designers begin the Alabama Organic Cotton Project, which dares to change the way Alabama thinks about cotton.


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JAY OWENS
is this just fantasy
Location: Carnaby Street, London
Read on Instagram
Soho has lost a lot of its neon fantasy lately - but some lives on in spectacular form. I started off thinking: I'm sure I'm meant to criticise this. But after some reflection: nah. I've got time for it, weaponised Instagram-bait as it is. Here's why.
Amazon is hollowing out our high streets and replacing human-facing shop jobs with warehouse drudgery that leaves workers mere servants to a machine. It is hollowing out our material culture into price-arbitraged Alibaba drop-shipped disposable trash. And the media that might object to this turns instead to affiliate links and "service journalism" to stay afloat. An entire section of New York magazine is just an Amazon catalogue now. High street shops shutter and people stay away and the decline accelerates.
Meanwhile, Tinder and Deliveroo and Netflix (and high alcohol taxation and stagnating incomes and NIMBY-ist anti-nightlife zoning) mean our generation have… turned inwards. Culture shifts from the public to the domestic and digital, & away from the press of bodies in a crowded room to the tap of thumbs on a Twitch stream. This is bad for love, joy, solidarity and resistance. Bodily presence and shared experience are irreplaceable. People do better participating in the world. Hikikomori aren't #goals.
This Christmas Visa did a full on feels-ad with local shopkeepers singing "All I want for Christmas is you." And this neon spectacular is the same: it's another big 'Fuck you Amazon', and the fact it's retailers & a multi-millionaire rock band reminding us of this doesn't mean they're wrong. You will not remember the brown cardboard box of your 32nd Prime delivery next year, but you might remember this.
Sure, it's designed to transmute into a spectacular digital image & circulate accordingly. But note how everyone takes their own photo, whatever the quality of their phone cam, rather than posting professional promo shots. This says: it matters that this was my experience. And in that, a germ of hope.
Work to be done yet on sustainable retail & imagining the city centre beyond consumption & bringing about the end of capitalism, sure. But the city I want looks more like this than it does an Amazon warehouse.
Still Thinking about hotels
Location: Lobby of the Langham, London
Placeholder for a desire to think more about hotels.
Perhaps it comes from participating in Precarious Gossips last month at Hotel Zoo, Berlin - or seeing that Helen Hester has been writing about them lately too (on rather more defensible, labour relations grounds). Or perhaps it's because I'm reading 'Tender Is The Night' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, about a caste defined by the fact they live out of them, anywhere and nowhere.
The department store of the 1880s was instrumental in the production of modern subjectivity: it was "conceived as a technology of self-invention" through consumer choice, says Joanne Finkelstein (2007). Pace Lukacs she notes how "the inner self has been hollowed out and made into a subjectivity that becomes an object - to be groomed and improved." Felix Guattari writes of the court of Versailles that subjectivity itself is understood to be a commodity. It's all a performance of sensibility and taste; the flâneuse, rather more than the flâneur, "the real model for the modern consumer subject" – Kevin Hetherington, 2011.
The hotel, though… It seems as though it should be the same sort of space as the department store, a cosmopolitan public - and perhaps its bars and restaurants are, but the hotel really is not. It is something the opposite, a place of escape and avoidance.
But it's nonetheless also productive of a subjectivity too. So of what sort?
The Archbishops of York
Location: York Minster, northern England
Over dinner, my uncle asked me how I felt about the future. "Personally optimistic, globally pessimistic," I replied. Climate change, of course - and more so the political & human horror that will accompany it. If the ice sheets were to melt into the oceans without taking democracy and human rights with them, I might take that deal.
We talked about what it takes to feel invested in the future beyond your lifespan. To my aunt it was inherent, it just made sense. "Children," said my uncle. He didn't think he was so invested, if he were honest (we're all three child-free.) "Money," I said. Perhaps it's a luxury to be able to care about the future. Many are one paycheck from disaster and have more pressing concerns.
I talked about how crisis-averting change is possible (ecologically, economically) and impossible (politically, perhaps psychologically). We in the West do not live in a system that can act beyond the financial quarter or the electoral cycle. Time discounting is a cognitive norm.
But, I said. There are also systems that take a longer view. The Native American principle of thinking for seven generations. Japanese thousand-year corporations. And a cathedral a hundred yards away that on just three panels lists its archbishops back to 314.
This deep thread of continuity in place is something close to the heart of my personal sense of Englishness. It's one of the things that makes Europe (and Japan, and China) different to America.
Continuity does not mean ethno-nationalism, though. Just look at these names. The ruptures within them.
From the Romans Eborius and Paulinus to the Celtic name Chad, to the Angles of the Kingdom of Northumbria: Wilfrid, Egbert, Aethelbert. The capture of York in 867. Wulfstan I, who played off the Vikings vs the Wessex kings. The Danes Oscytel and Oswald. 1066, conquest. 1071, a new Norman dynasty of names: Thomas. Bastard offspring of royalty (Fitzherbert). Kin of kings (Plantagenet). In 1514 the common son of a butcher, Thomas Wolsey.
This list of archbishops ends (for the moment) with John Sentamu, 2005—, who was born in Uganda.
In order to have a future, we need a new conception of time, which has been present all along
Death In the afternoon
Location: Luzia, a bar in Kreuzberg, Berlin
Reading Hemingway negroni in hand is absolutely undoubtedly definitively a pretentious thing to do - but there are also passages in here that make your head spin and blood rush, and if you can heighten that then so much the better.
Five pages on the matador Maera, "so brave that he shamed the stylists that were not," and his last year in the ring, knowing he was dying of consumption, when he fought bulls as though, "I thought that year he hoped for death in the ring but he would not cheat by looking for it." My god.
So yes, I really liked 'Death in the Afternoon' (1932), an account of why bullfighting is art (and why writing is a lot like bullfighting) - even though it's twice as long as it needs to be, and it's not clear Hemingway's quite cognisant of the target at which he jousts.
"I was trying to learn to write," he writes early on, "commencing with the simplest things, and one of the simplest things of all and the most fundamental is violent death." Hemingway is trying to write what's there and nothing more - and this is hard: "I found the greatest difficulty, aside from knowing what you really felt rather than what you were supposed to feel and had been taught to feel, was to put down what really happened in action; what the actual things which produced the emotion you experienced."
The tragedy of this book lies, perhaps, in the way he misses.
Or so argued Max Eastman in his review in the New Republic, 'Bull In The Afternoon' (1933). "It is not death that Hemingway writes about or travels to see, but killing. …He has got into it an enthusiasm for killing - for courage and dominating and killing. Hemingway cannot feel - he cannot even see - the hero of his 'tragedy' staggering towards death in blood loss and bewilderment." The bull.
Yet ultimately Eastman so deeply and sympathetically eviscerates Hemingway's book that it becomes something greater than Hemingway perhaps knew, as among, "...those confessions of horror which are the true poetry and the only great poetry of this generation," who fought and lived through the Great War - "And it does not matter much whether Ernest Hemingway knows this fact or not."
When they met in 1937, Hemingway punched him.
"1. Find each other"
Let me tell you how this book found me.
Two copies were posted to me from Finland by somebody I don't know, on the request of someone else I met only once in New York in March 2014.
A few weeks after that encounter I moved back to London, and you'd think that would've been that.
But we didn't unfollow each other on social media because take just a little care and then that isn't necessary. And I had gotten to know his friends online and started supporting their radical media project, $10 a month. I still liked his work. 18 months later I found, quite suddenly, the work of my own.
Life went on. A month or two ago, @inhabit.global crossed my Instagram feed. I recognised something there. I DM'd. A reply. A network of other people - complete strangers - mobilised to share resources. To post books internationally. To meet at Defcon for a conversation.
That's what this lil book is about. "Imagine a life that reaches past your individual borders. You change the way you move through your environment to intentionally come into contact with others. Fleeting encounters become real relationships. You wander through your neighborhood, stopping by friends' houses on the way to the cafe. You meet up nightly at the park to work out. You walk each other home. You share each others' cars. You go camping and learn how to start a fire together. You pool money for a collective rainy day. The idea of private property starts to get blurred. You begin to understand yourselves as something more decisive than a group of friends." Step one.
It's 'Instructions for Autonomy'. Up on http://inhabit.global
Book 25 of 2018. Take a look back at Book 21, 'Now' by the Invisible Committee, for more notes along related lines.


The south of Tenerife has closed 2016 with a growth of tourists of 6 percent for a global figure of 4,314,505 housed, according to the Statistics of Receptive Tourism of the Cabildo, analyzed by the Department of Tourism Research of Tenerife.
These good results are registered thanks to the increase of clients in the hotels in the area, which receive a total of 2,792,473 customers, 8.9 percent more than the previous year, the Cabildo reports in a note.
In the case of non-hotel establishments, which housed 1,522,032 tourists, growth is 1 percent higher than in the previous year.
In this line, the island's tourism adviser, Alberto Bernabé, recalls that thanks to the tourist activity, "Tenerife invoices around 12 million euros a day, which gives an idea of its importance as a key sector of the economy ".
Overnight stays registered in accommodation establishments increased by 5.3 percent for a total of 34,361,237 stays. The average stay, which stands at 7.96 days in the year, is reduced by 0.05 points.
The housing establishments in the tourist area of southern Tenerife have an average occupation of 73.6 percent, 6.4 percent higher than the previous year.
In the case of hotels, the occupancy figure rises to 83 per cent, which means a growth of 5.5 per cent, while non-hotel establishments have a 61.8 per cent occupancy rate (+6.1 per cent) .
In the analysis of the issuing markets, foreign tourism experienced a 9.4 percent increase for a total of 3,790,163 housed in the south of Tenerife, while Spanish customers decreased their influx by 13.7 percent A global of 524,342 national tourists.
The British market, the main emitter of tourists for the area, increases its presence by 15 percent. The German market (+8.7%), the Dutch (+ 12.6%), the Irish (+ 15.8%), the East (+ 13.3%), Russia (+4,8%), Switzerland (+ 3.1%) and Italy (+ 2.7%). On the other hand, the Nordic markets (-7.9%) and the Austrian (-2.4%) fell.


INDUSTRY.co.id - Former Secretary General of SOE Ministry Said Didu said that oil and gas holding is only a mode of acquisition of PT Pertamina (Persero) to PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) Tbk.
"Actually this holding is too big, it's an acquisition," he said in a discussion titled "Observing the Formation of Holding BUMN Migas" in Jakarta, Monday (26/3/2018).
Nevertheless, according to Said, oil and gas holding is really important to be formed because gas should be utilized as much as possible for the benefit of the people. He explained as the two state-owned companies that manage natural gas in Indonesia, the position of the two state-owned companies are difficult to get the same treatment because PGN shares are also owned by the public.
It caused government intervention to limited gas control because there are companies that are not 100 percent of SOEs.
"So better combined to be assigned to Pertamina only," he said.
Said said the holding of both BUMN oil and gas is also needed for the utilization of gas for the national interest can be done thoroughly.
The reason is that PGN controls gas distribution while Pertamina owns gas field but does not control the distribution network.
"This merger makes it easier to utilize gas for the country's interest, so this plan is okay," he said.
With the formation of holding, Said assesses the control of gas through one door will make the country into a total role.
As known by President Jokowi has authorized the formation of holding BUMN Migas with the signing of Government Regulation No. 6 of 2018 on the addition of State Capital Investment in the Company's capital of PT Persero Pertamina, in March 2018.
Through this regulation, the government increased state equity in the form of transfer of 13,809,038,755 series B shares owned by the government to PT PGN Tbk to PT Pertamina (Persero).


Valiant has announced Secret Weapons, a new series with ties to the Harbinger saga that brings back elements of Valiant's 1990s continuity from writer Eric Heisserer and artist Raul Allen.
Secret Weapons focuses on four new characters, led by Livewire, who were secretly activated by the Harbinger Foundation long ago, but were hidden from the world because Harada deemed their powers to be of no use to him.
The team will face off with Rex-o, a major Valiant villain from the 1990s who has yet to appear in modern rebooted continuity.
"My path to Secret Weapons is a bit wonky," explained Heisserer. "I started writing for characters like Pete, Faith, Livewire, and Bloodshot in the film adaptations of their stories. When I am given the opportunity to translate a property to screen, it's like adopting someone else's child for a while. I put in my time, try to respect all the hard work of the original authors, and sooner or later I'm on my way."
"The Valiant characters were different, especially Livewire. I kept thinking about her, long after my official writing services were complete. I wanted back into that world. I had crazy ideas for her powers, and the hard choices ahead of her. So, I asked to build a new book for Valiant, with a new group of faces, all led by Amanda. To my relief, Dinesh Shamdasani and Warren Simons said yes."
"Of all the writing I've done in the last year, my heart is most in Secret Weapons and its collection of freaks, misfits, and outcasts. And I think a story of a woman who's shouldered such great burdens, now trying to rescue some lost souls and form a surrogate family, may be one of the most emotional stories I've put to paper."
Secret Weapons #1 will hit shelves on June 28. You can check out the first interior pages from the issue right here .


Which kinds of rooms do we have?
Roomy, modern rooms and apartments with their own bathrooms (toilet / shower) and free highspeed-WiFi and 4K-Flat TVs with satelite connections.
Our rooms are soundproofed, have their own residential ventilation and underfloor heating.
We also offer free parking spots (1 per room), coffee, snack and beverage vending machines in our foyer. We also have a modern washroom with washing machines and dryers. Our rooms are cleaned every day from monday till sunday. In every floor, there also is a sitting room with an modern kitchen in it. Our apartments have their own modern kitchen each.
We are near the center of Wels (15 min by feet), directly at the B1 street.


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Things to do in 2019
2018 Show Results
Education and Articles
The Tack Store
Sponsorships & Donations
HomeAbout the Club
Dressage and Combined Training
To encourage and support interest in dressage and combined training by providing:
Acting as liaison with the USDF & USEA
Marketing the activities of IaDCTA throughout the state and region
On behalf of the Iowa Dressage and Combined Training Association (IaDCTA), I would like to welcome you as a member. Thank you for joining our group as we share our interest in training horses in the classical methods of dressage. This knowledge helps our mounts in other disciplines, such as eventing (combined training), Western Dressage, and even trail riding. The IaDCTA offers a number of resources to help you in your endeavors.
Among them is our webpage that contains news of upcoming events, our handbook, copies of our newsletter The Collection, and our member directory. The Handbook has information on awards programs for riders and horses, committees, competitions, and volunteering. The more you become involved, the more you will benefit from your membership. To access the webpage, go to www.IaDCTA.org and create your log-in as a member.
The IaDCTA Handbook is currently being updated and will soon be available on the website.
As a member of the IaDCTA, you are also entitled to many rewards. These include being able to attend our association events as a discount. In addition, you will receive the USDF Connection magazine, and the IaDCTA's electronic newsletter, The Collection. Adult members will receive 1 vote in any IaDCTA elections or voting decision. You will also be eligible for Year-End Awards.
As a Group Member Organization (GMO) member of the United States Dressage Federation (USDF), the IaDCTA makes it possible for you to access many benefits through the USDF.
GMO member benefits include:
Access to eTRAK, USDF's online learning center for dressage and equine education. Through one convenient location, access hundreds of educational resources, engage in structured learning activities, and earn USDF University Program credit!
Ten issues of the award-winning USDF Connection magazine
Access to the digital version of USDF Connection
Full access to all non-retail titles on the USDF app
Eligibility to compete as rider and/or owner at USEF-licensed/USDF-recognized shows
Eligibility for USDF Rider Awards (Rider Performance Awards, Bronze, Silver and Gold Medal, Freestyle Gold, Silver and Bronze Bar, Master's Challenge)
Eligibility for USDF/Dover Saddlery Adult Amateur National Merit Award
Access to "members only" section of the USDF website
E-newsletters sent by USDF, which helps Group Members stay in touch with what is happening at USDF
A USDF Group Member card which can be used at USDF competitions and an online membership card available for printing, at any time, free of charge
Discounted rates at USDF educational events
Discount in the USDF store
Discounts with USDF's Member Perks Partners
Eligibility to earn USDF University Program credit
Representation at the BOG through the GMO delegate
Eligibility to receive a Ruth Arvanette Memorial Fund grant, which funds convention attendance
Eligibility for the Regional GMO Volunteer of the Year Award
GMO youth members (21 and under) are eligibility for the USDF Youth Volunteer of the Year Award, USDF Shining Star Awards, and USDF Arts and Creativity Contest
Eligibility for the "L" Education Program
Grants funded by The Dressage Foundation are available to USDF Group Members
Because of the logistics of submitting your membership to the USDF, there may be a time period of about a month before your name is listed in the USDF. You will then receive a membership card through the mail. It will contain your USDF number. With this number, you will be able to log onto the USDF website at usdf.org.
I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event.
Nena Denman
IaDCTA is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to IaDCTA are deductible under Section 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code. View the IaDCTA IRS 501(c)(3) letter here.


Wagner J, Arora S. Oncologic Metabolic Emergencies. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2017 12; 31(6):941-957. PMID: 29078931.
Wagner JG, Schneberk T, Zobrist M, Hern HG, Jordan J, Boysen-Osborn M, Menchine M. What Predicts Performance? A Multicenter Study Examining the Association Between Resident Performance, Rank List Position, and United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 Scores. J Emerg Med. 2017 Mar; 52(3):332-340. PMID: 27955983.
Wagner JG, Bench EM, Plantmason L. An Unusual Case of Angiotensin-Converting-Enzyme Inhibitor-Related Penile Angioedema with Evolution to the Oropharynx. West J Emerg Med. 2015 Dec; 16(7):1185-7. PMID: 26759679; PMCID: PMC4703164.
Gausepohl JS, Wagner JG. Survival from cervical necrotizing fasciitis. West J Emerg Med. 2015 Jan; 16(1):172-4. PMID: 25671035; PMCID: PMC4307710.
Wagner J, Arora S. Oncologic metabolic emergencies. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2014 Aug; 32(3):509-25. PMID: 25060247.
Arora S, Wagner JG, Herbert M. Myth: parenteral ketorolac provides more effective analgesia than oral ibuprofen. CJEM. 2007 Jan; 9(1):30-2. PMID: 17391598.


This block of Mundell Heights has been divided into four tracts of heaven! Each group of lots has a very nice slope with a view of Beaver Lake! Each listing has easy road access and access to community water. These lots are very close to Starkey marina and would be an excellent place to build!
Directions: From Eureka Springs: Take 62 west to left onto 187 at RiverLake gas station. 187 to left onto Mundell Road. Mundell Road to the entrance to Mundell Heights on your right. Lots will be to the left/west of the entrance on Mundell Road, Lakeview Road, and also on East Center Road.


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Grapefruit juice is the liquid obtained from grapefruits. It is rich in vitamin C and extends from sweet-tart to very sour. Varieties include white grapefruit, pink grapefruit, and ruby red grapefruit juice.
Grapefruit juice and grapefruit, in general, can be part of a healthy diet. They have vitamin C and potassium, nutrients your body requires to work properly. Grapefruit juice can affect the way your medicines work, and that food and drug interaction can be a concern so please be cautious.
Be aware that too much juice can weaken the lower esophageal sphincter, contributing to heartburn and symptoms such as burning, chest pain, and a bitter taste at the back of your mouth.
Grapefruit juice is also great with
A Sea Breeze is a cocktail containing vodka with cranberry juice and grapefruit juice. The cocktail is usually consumed during summer months. The drink may be shaken in order to create a foamy surface. The cocktail was born in the late 1920s, but the recipe was different from the one used today, as gin and grenadine were used in the original Sea Breeze.
Hemingway Special
A Hemingway Special is an all day cocktail based on the Floridita Daiquiri. It is made with rum, lime juice, maraschino liqueur, and grapefruit juice and served in a double cocktail glass. The popular classic cocktail is named after the writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), whose novels propelled him to worldwide fame.
Diki-Diki
The Diki-Diki is a cocktail drink with calvados, Swedish Punsch, and grapefruit juice. It first appeared in the 1920s when it was popular in London's higher-end American Bars. Nowadays is more commonly served as a Tiki drink. The initial recipe calls for shaking the ingredients with ice in 2:1:1 proportions. Over time later variations have modified the ratio to greater highlight the calvados as the base ingredient (4:1:1). The Diki-Diki is presently served primarily in Tiki bars. A tiki bar is a themed drinking place that serves decorated cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails.
A salty dog is a cocktail made with gin or vodka, and grapefruit juice and is usually served in a highball glass with a salted rim. The salt is the only distinction between a salty dog and a greyhound. It is believed to date back to the 1920s. The Salty Dog was probably created in the 1950s, possibly by a gentleman named George Jessel, as a way to dial down the grapefruit's tart and bitter notes.
A greyhound is a cocktail made with grapefruit juice, and gin and served over ice. The beverage is called a salty dog if the rim of the glass has been salted. The earliest known mention of this cocktail is in Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930. This classic mixed drink needs nothing more than vodka or gin and grapefruit juice. While it is not available on many bar menus, the greyhound is the recipe that all bartenders know. Optionally for the greyhound, a twist of grapefruit, lime or lemon can be used as a garnish.
The Zombie is a Tiki cocktail made of fruit juices, liqueurs, and various rums. In a cocktail shaker, pour the light and dark rums, pineapple and citrus juices, passion fruit syrup, simple syrup, and bitters. Add the high-proof rum now, or reserve it for a float. Fill the shaker with ice. The Zombie is a classic Tiki drink by legendary bartender and restaurateur Donn Beach, of Don the Beachcomber.
A salty dog is a cocktail of gin, or vodka, and grapefruit juice, served in a highball glass with a salted rim. The salt is the only difference between a salty dog and a greyhound. The Greyhound dates to at least 1930, when it appeared in Harry Craddock's "Savoy Cocktail Book" as a simple cocktail combining gin, grapefruit and ice.


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Is the continent with Australia in it Oceania or Australia?
I am making a quiz and I want to know whether Australia or Oceania is the continent? I have searched it on Google but I can't find an answer.
dferdo_04dferdo_04
$\begingroup$ Australia is the continent & Oceania is name invented to group a number of small area & small population countries, predominantly in the Pacific Ocean. $\endgroup$ – Fred Feb 20 '17 at 11:56
$\begingroup$ @Fred, I disagree. See my answer below $\endgroup$ – arkaia Feb 20 '17 at 20:32
Australia is a continent and Oceania is a region.
Continents are vaguely defined as large landmasses separated by water or just by historical context. Earth scientists have much more precise definitions of what a continental plate is vs an oceanic plate.
In the case of Australia, the continental plate consists of the landmasses Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea. Sometimes other names are used to clarify the difference between the country Australia and the continent.
Oceania is the region of island nations and sometimes Australia, located in or near the Pacific Ocean. There are a number of different definitions depending on the context. Usually Oceania includes islands that have no affiliation with the Australian continent.
A personal comment inspired by aretxabaleta's different, but also correct answer: Exact definitions can be difficult and often misleading as we tend to use language to label objects rather than processes, whiles Earth is better understood as processes, scientifically and socially.
Partly, it depends on where you got educated. In many countries of Europe, Oceania is the continent. Calling the continent Australia is pretty much considered "English-centric". The reasoning for calling it Oceania is that Australia is only part of the continent. The extend of the mainland during the ice ages included part of today's Indonesia and Papua-New Guinea. While calling it Australia makes some sense and it is the largest part of the continent, in a sense it is like if we were to call Asia, Russia.
Source: Wikipedia (Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa) - Self made, using this map for the background, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7382691)
arkaiaarkaia
$\begingroup$ In what European countries/languages are Oceania used for the Australian plate? Is the same word used for the sociopolitical region? $\endgroup$ – Tactopoda Feb 23 '17 at 3:44
$\begingroup$ In Spain for instance. $\endgroup$ – arkaia Feb 23 '17 at 4:11
This is Oceania according to this Norwegian meteorological website https://www.yr.no/place/Oceania/. As you can see, it is a quite a large area. The website has a very precise weather forecast for almost every place on Earth. The continent is Australia and the area of the Earth is Oceania.
trond hansentrond hansen
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged continent or ask your own question.
Is Zealandia really big enough to be called a continent?
How and when people first realized that Antarctica is a continent?
How do tectonic plates move upward?
Did the formation of Panama trigger the beginning of Ice Ages?
Distortion-free map of all continents
How do scientists reconstruct pre Cretaceous continent if all plates that are currently left are younger than Cretaceous?
Given that water will center over the mass of Earth, how could Pangaea be the only continent?


Washington's trade policy in the past few decades has failed the American middle class and industrial base. For far too long, we have seen the U.S. export jobs rather than products. We can no longer afford to continue on this path. We must abandon these failed, so-called "free trade" policies of the past and take a new direction that creates more jobs here at home in America. We need balanced trade. That is why I have opposed NAFTA, CAFTA, MFN for China, and a host of bad trade deals we have adopted over the last 20 years.
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) announced his intention, along with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), to introduce legislation to eliminate so-called 'right-to-work' laws.
Sherman has introduced this legislation in the past five Congresses. In the 114th Congress, Sherman introduced the bill in July 2016 with 48 House cosponsors. Sherman consistently earns a 100 percent rating from the AFL-CIO.
"If our previous free trade deals are any indication of what we can expect from the TPP, American workers are in serious trouble.
Washington DC – Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, released the following statement upon the arrival of Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan.
Washington DC – Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), the second ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, announced new Subcommittee roles for the 114th Congress. In the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Sherman will serve as the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Asia, and will continue to serve on the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, as the Chairman Emeritus (former Chairman).
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) made the following statement after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Sherman is Co-Chair of the House CPA Caucus and serving his tenth term in Congress.
House Foreign Affairs Committee member Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that it would be "appropriate" for federal officials to file criminal charges against BNP Paribas, which has been under investigation for doing business with countries blacklisted by the U.S., including Iran.


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Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, Sen. Elizabeth Warren plan sweeping legislation to combat opioid crisis
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-cummings-warren-opioid-20180416-story.html
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are planning to introduce legislation Wednesday that would require $10 billion a year in federal funding to combat the opioid crisis. (Associated Press and Baltimore Sun photos)
Luke BroadwaterContact ReporterThe Baltimore Sun
With drug overdose deaths ravaging communities across the country, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Baltimore and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are planning to introduce legislation Wednesday that would require $10 billion a year in federal funding to combat the opioid crisis.
Cummings and Warren are proposing a program — modeled on 1990's Ryan White Act, which provided billions in federal money to combat the AIDS crisis — to address the drug overdoses which are claiming lives in record numbers. The program would send federal help directly to local and state governments to provide treatment services.
The two Democrats are planning to tour the states hardest hit by the opioid crisis to drum up support for what they're calling the CARE Act, an acronym for the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency Act.
"This is a problem that is crying out for a solution," Cummings said. "It is literally life or death."
Warren said the time for "empty rhetoric and half measures" is over.
"I'm proud to partner with Elijah on a bill that'll give communities the tools to fight back against this epidemic," Warren said in a statement. "Congress has come together before to save lives — it's time for us to do so again."
In 2016, more than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses — more than the highest death tolls of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s. About two-thirds of the drug deaths were attributable to opioids, according to the federal government.
Yet only about 10 percent of people in need of specialty treatment receive it, the surgeon general's office says.
The opioid crisis is often thought of as a rural issue, affecting small towns in poorer parts of the country. But the death toll has hit urban and rural jurisdictions alike, statistics show.
West Virginia's McDowell County had the highest overdose rate in the country in 2016, followed by Rio Arriba County in New Mexico and Bell County in Kentucky.
Big cities were ravaged as well. Nearly 800 people died of overdoses in 2016 in Baltimore — more than double the number of homicides. More than 2,200 people fatally overdosed in Los Angeles County and nearly 2,000 died in Cook County, home of Chicago.
Cummings said he and Warren got the idea to fund a massive public health campaign against opioids from Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana S. Wen and her staff, who pitched the lawmakers on the need for increased funding.
"We have been calling for the same thing all along: sustained funding," Wen said. "It needs to be a proportional amount to the size of the epidemic. The funding needs to be given directly to the highest-need jurisdictions."
The legislation would provide $100 billion in federal funding over ten years, including $4 billion each year to states; $2.7 billion to the hardest-hit counties and cities; and $1.8 billion for public health surveillance and biomedical research.
It would also provide $1 billion per year for expanded services; $500 million for greater access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone; $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and $400 million to train doctors and health workers.
Cummings and Warren have teamed up on a number of key issues in recent years, including tours focusing on economic disparity in America and the challenges of the poor and middle class.
The Maryland congressman, who has undergone heart and knee surgeries since last year, is using a walker and a scooter to get around, but he said he's undeterred and expects to make a full recovery.
"My doctors tell me I will recover and be fine," Cummings said. "I love what I do. I see the pain that comes to families who lose people because of drugs. I am ambitious in trying to address this situation."
Comment;
I'm all for fighting this epidemic, but funding a 10 year plan will lead to waste and abuse. I think funding is needed in shorter-term blocks. Make that much money available long-term and all sorts of folks will crawl out of the woodwork to grab a piece of that pie.. It's not efficient. If we find 3 years from now that we don't need it because we're making progress, to bad, the money is already allocated.


With today's acquisition announcement we will be taking this work much further to make our world class developer tools and services even better with deeper integration and seamless mobile app dev experiences. The combination of Xamarin, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Team Services, and Azure provides a complete mobile app dev solution that provides everything you need to develop, test, deliver and instrument mobile apps for every device. We are really excited to see what developers build with it.
The closing of this acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.


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Quality Education in the Benedictine Tradition. info_outline
Saint Vincent College is a welcoming environment, sharing the core values of the Benedictine tradition, especially hospitality, community, love, prayer and respect for the dignity of all.
Founded in 1848 by Boniface Wimmer, a monk from Bavaria, we are the first Benedictine college in the United States. Saint Vincent College has striven to embody the ideals and character of the 1,500-year-old heritage of Benedictine education. For 170 years, the monks of Saint Vincent have exemplified and carried on this living Benedictine tradition.
Got monks? We do, and we're proud of it.
master's degree in Criminology
Thank you for your interest in our master's program
In addition to the information you supply in this application, we also request the following:
Transcripts from all Colleges Attended
(3) Letters of Recommendation
Please send these items to the Graduate Coordinator at the following address:
Graduate and Continuing Education
300 Fraser Purchase Road
Latrobe, PA 15650-2690
Application for Master's Degree in Criminology
Saint Vincent College subscribes to a policy of equal opportunity and does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status or disability in any of its programs, activities, or employment decisions.
Work for SVC
© 2019 Saint Vincent College. All rights reserved.


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This was the scene at 11.00am this morning, looking from our house to Hillswick. And yes, that IS a seal balancing on the tidal drain.
What a long strange year it's been....and all annotated on this blog, if you can be bothered looking for the highs and the lows.
Time to move on, and lots to look forward to in 2009: Lots to get nervous about, too, but hell, what's the point? Plans for this year: keep on broadcasting, including a major series on alcohol and the second series of Musical Genes. New novel to be published in June. More breadmaking and music. The renovation of the erstwhile Radiocroft into tourist accommodation and some REAL crofting. With a spade.
All this and more. Including the question:pigs or reindeer? See you on the other side. And speak to you Friday, as usual, two until four, BBC Radio Scotland.
Posted by Tom Morton at 1:39 pm 4 comments:
To the lighthouse, and back to work tomorrow
An absolutely cracking Shetland Sunday; mild, calm and clear. The urge for end-of-the- year clearing up and general outdoors activity struck deep. I was engaged (with help from Magnus and James) in filling up an unexpectedly empty skip, and Susan barrowed tangle (kelp) from the beach for fertiliser.
The daylight stretched longer than we're used to, and even at 3.00pm it was light enough for me to take James on a driving lesson up to the Eshaness cliffs. At 17, with hardly any real practice, he's amazingly competent. Computer games...
Tomorrow it's back to work, and that means travelling into Lerwick following the demise of the Radiocroft. There's no live show on Ne'erday (a really excellent prerecorded one instead), but apart from that, it's live radio all week. Speak to you between two and four...
The floating hotel, Christmas dinner, Wii Unfit and turkey in the fridge!
I've written before about the St Magnus Bay Hotel, which stands in white wooden splendour just a couple of hundred yards (or metres) from our house. Closed for a while until just over a year ago, its revival under the ownership of Andrea and Paul has put a lot of heart back into the village of Hillswick. We now have a bar, and great food available every lunch and dinner time.
The hotel has a fascinating history. Prefabricated in Norway, it was part of the Norwegian exhibit at Glasgow's Great Exhibition of 1896. Afterwards, it was dismantled, put on a barge and floated north to Shetland, where, in 1902, it became the Northern terminus of the North of Scotland Steam Navigation company's tourist and freight steamer service from Thurso. Hillswick was, for a while, one of Britain's centres of extreme, upmarket tourism. There was shooting, fishing, climbing, golf and much else.
Andrea and Paul have carried out major renovations and are still working on the building. It's just splendid to have it up and running again.
Susan is on call this Christmas and, while we both love cooking, the fact that the hotel was offering full-on Christmas dinners seemed too good a chance to miss. So we booked the five of us in for lunch today and it was fantastic. Turkey with all the trimmings, AND each booking had a turkey of suitable size TO THEMSELVES. At the end of the meal, we were able to take the leftovers (large amounts) away. So we can enjoy turkey sandwiches, curries and the like without having had to do the cooking OR the washing up! Very reasonable price, too.
Add to that the Buja-Buja chocolates I got from Santa and the day has been going very well. Low point was the arrival of the Wii Fit game thingy, though, which assessed my bodily state as verging on the obese and my Wii Fit age as 61...
Och weel...
Posted by Tom Morton at 9:27 pm 1 comment:
....and a merry Christmas!
Still wading through the runny-nose, coughing, wheezing and spluttering stage of something approximating a cold. My voice has dropped half an octave (at last!) but there's just today's show to go before Christmas. No broadcasting from me on Christmas Day or Boxing Day (though BBC Radio Scotland continueth, of course!), and then it's the weekend. So four days to recover. And we're off to the hotel from Christmas dinner, so no cooking and more importantly, no washing up!
Many thanks to everyone for their Christmas wishes and expressions of sympathy on the demise of The Radiocroft. As Bruce Lee always said, walk on (as quoted by Mr Frank Skinner in his excellent autobiography, £1.40 from Oxfam.
...and it's goodbye from The Radiocroft; good afternoon again from the Palace of Sheep
Well, it's been looming for the best part of six months, but on Friday the decision was taken to stop broadcasting from The Radiocroft. The official line is that we're 'resting' it, but after five broadcast-threatening (and in three cases, broadcast-destroying) failures of the ISDN line, enough is enough. My confidence, and the BBC's, in the technology's stability has been shattered.
I can only pay tribute to the Beeb's forbearance. The Radiocroft was my idea, and it's my (several thousand pounds' worth) studio. I think the idea of doing a music show beside a peat fire from a remote, seaside croft house has proved really attractive to listeners over the past five years, as well as allowing me to avoid a daily 74-miles round trip to Lerwick.
The Palace of Sheep is my nickname for Lerwick's 'Studio Seven' ( I have no idea why it's called that; there are only two) at BBC Radio Shetland in Pitt Lane. It's a 'self-op' studio often used for contributors to news and chat programmes. And it uses old-style BBC 'music lines' to connect with mainland, which I always see as great brass-cored 19th-century telegraph cables winding along the seabed. Not ISDN, although we have that as a backup.
The Radiocroft functioned reliably until this year, when the ISDN installation at the local telephone exchange began to fail with monotonous regularity. ISDN is different from broadband, which has replaced it for almost everything but broadcasting: ISDN is a high-quality, secure (hah!) one-to-one digital connection. You share that quality, that connection, with no-one else, unlike ADSL broadband, where quality varies according to how many folk are online. Although ADSL is used for remote radio broadcasts, the quality is not up to BBC standards. And it's unreliable.
Anyway, ISDN used to be reliable. Now it's not. Every lightning storm knocks the system out. Power cuts can do the same. Why? My one fellow Shetland user of ISDN believes it's to do with the Marconi equipment now used exclusively by BT; the old Motorola cards were more robust.
I want to pay tribute to the BT engineers who have, in all weathers and with great speed, come to fix the failures. Alas, though, Thursday's was the last straw. A blink of lightning at 14.40 and we were off air. I decided to drive into Lerwick while records and an 'apology loop' were played in from Aberdeen and Glasgow. The drive was a total nightmare, through ice, snow, hail, rain and high winds, and in a highly tense state, and afterwards I was forbidden from doing anything similar on health and safety grounds. And quite rightly so.
But what I was really conscious of was failing the listeners. The whole point of this kind of live radio has to be its reassuring reliability. To be always on, when expected, sounding like yourself. And not a shattered, breathless wreck fresh from The Ice Road Truckers Experience.
So from today, it's a trip to Lerwick. Probably by bus a lot of the time (roughly a fiver return) and only for three days this week, as there's no show Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
I can't complain. The Radiocroft has been fun - lots of memories: recording with Mark Radcliffe, a host of fiddlers playing live, the dawn-to-midnight midsummer special, chasing sheep from the lawn during the news, visitors barging in and refusing to believe I was on air, helicopters hovering overhead and having a second-hand bookshop operating downstairs for an entire summer. Most recently, Lulu the St Bernard being hugely disconcerted by my two-hour conversation with someone invisible.
The show must go on, and it will. To the Palace of Sheep!
Posted by Tom Morton at 9:35 am 10 comments:
The 'Hallelujah' issue, Shrek, Bathsheba and the titanic Mr John Cale fae Wales
Well, at least Ol' Lennie won't have to worry too much about his retirement fund any more(Leonard Cohen, writer of Hallelujah, has infamously been forced to return to performing after losing almost all his lifetime earnings in a management scam).
As battle rages between supporters of Ms Alexandra Cowell-Burke and those of the late Jeff Buckley over whose version of H should go to the top of the charts this Christmas, consider the many other versions of said song. There are some truly horrendous attempts out there (and on YouTube). Try Bon Jovi for example. Or better, don't. KD Lang's is pretty impressive, Dylan's (live on YT) awesomely intimidating (love those sneering 'do-yas'). But not exactly pleasant.
This is the one. Mr John Cale is the man whose edited version (I chose the cheeky verses) (originally the song had 15 verses)was essentially 'covered' by Jeff Buckley, and who sings it in the film Shrek (though not on the soundtrack CD - that's Rufus Wainwright, for some unknown reason.)Cale released two versions on the Cohen tribute CD I'm Your Fan and on his own live album Fragments of a Rainy Season.
The biblical references abound, with that extraordinary Old Testament tale of David and Bathsheba (lust, murder, friendship, politics, religion - it's got everything)kicking things off and Samson turning up later on. In the end, though, the Cale version is about sex (Buckley claimed it was simply about 'the hallelujah of the orgasm') the end of love and possibly death. Jingle Bells or Merry Christmas Everybody it isn't.
Anyway. Here's the former classical wunderkind violist, Velvet Underground graduate and unrepentantly Welsh Mr Cale, with a truly magnificent string arrangement and cadaverous vocals to match his appearance.
This was recommended weeks ago by a listener to the show whose name now, alas, escapes me.
Posted by Tom Morton at 10:58 am 7 comments:
Peatiness, dodgy phenols, and the new Bruichladdich...
From the Drinking for Scotland blog:
Below is the press release from Bruichladdich, announcing the release of the 63.5 per cent alcohol Octomore (five years old, £79 a bottle).
I have (what remains of) a bottle of Bruichladdich"s 3D3 Norrie Campbell Tribute bottling, which is nice enough but peculiar. It's as if the phenols have been layered, like oil, on top of a thin base. The cask-strength Octomore may well be better. I have some of the Infinity and it's very good.
If, however, you're one of the folk who actually managed to get hold of a bottle, don't knock it back all at once. As if you would! Apart from the alcohol, high phenols usually mean bad hangovers. Phenol (the stuff that makes a whisky 'peaty') is a poison, and in sufficient quantities, according to the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry can be very nasty indeed. The organisation says that effects (not from whisky,which in truth only contains tiny amounts) but from, I assume, ingesting fairly large, pure concentrations) can include:
* Exposure to phenol by any route can produce systemic poisoning. Phenol is corrosive and causes chemical burns at the contact site.
* Symptoms of systemic poisoning often involve an initial, transient CNS stimulation, followed rapidly by CNS depression. Coma and seizures can occur within minutes or may be delayed up to 18 hours after exposure.
* Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, methemoglobinemia, hemolytic anemia, profuse sweating, hypotension, arrhythmia, pulmonary edema, and tachycardia.
As a corrosive substance, phenol denatures proteins and generally acts as a protoplasmic poison. Phenol may also cause peripheral nerve damage (i.e., demyelination of axons). Systemic poisoning can occur after inhalation, skin contact, eye contact, or ingestion. Typically, transient CNS excitation occurs, then profound CNS depression ensues rapidly. Damage to the nervous system is the primary cause of death from phenol poisoning. However, damage to other organ systems (e.g., acid-base imbalance and acute kidney failure) may complicate the condition. Symptoms may be delayed for up to 18 hours after exposure.
Hey, now that's what I call a hangover! Pass the Lagavulin/Laphroaig/Ardbeg/Caol Ila...
Actually, I've just come across some even more interesting stuff about phenol, from the Absolute Astronomy website. To say that the substance has a bad history is putting it mildly...it's quite putting me off my Islay malts. Must see if I can get some of that £14.99, not-very-peaty Aberlour...
"Bruichladdich distillery announce the release today of the world's the most heavily peated whisky ever.
The inaugural bottling of Octomore, a single malt whisky distilled at Bruichladdich from barley peated to 131 ppm, three times more peaty than any other whisky ever produced.
Demand from 'peat-freaks' has exceeded the 6000 bottle supply. The stocks were sold out before the whisky left the distillery.
6000 bottles Bruichladdich Octomore were bottled @ 63.5% ABV, at 5 years old, RSP £79."
Katy Perry and the power of proper post-evangelical pop
How good is this?
Rayburn loaves on a very windy night
The ferries to and from Shetland have been cancelled for another night...it's force nine gusting A LOT higher. A friend's son was on one of the flights that did make it in to Sumburgh - two attempts, people vomiting and screaming. What a relief not to have any more trips away before the new year.
Susan and the kids went into Lerwick today, leaving me to vacuum (Dyson: the most overrated domestic appliance EVER) light fires, clean, mop and cook. And sneak a few wee sleeps on the sofa, once the Rayburn was all stoked.
It's seen some action, that stove. Before we moved in, 10 years before, in fact, the sea invaded the manse and the Rayburn was three feet deep in salt water. It's back boiler doesn't work, its enamel is cracked and its handles are missing. But it works a treat. Anyway, with the peat-fuelled oven reaching some seriously impressive temperatures, I decided to make some bread. Two loaves. Plus coq-au-vin for the returning shoppers. And now another wee nap, I think...
The bouncing St Bernard
This is an old picture, but I don't think I've ever blogged it before. Lulu in full flight, before the wind took the trampoline away...
Now That's What I Call Quite Distracting, Vol.1
...This is the track listing and sleevenotes for a wee best-of-2008 mix-tape/CD I've put together for family and friends. I know, I know: Some tracks are from 2007 or earlier, and there should be some Hello Saferide. But on the whole I think it's pretty good stuff. Elbow and Ry Cooder really shine for me. Album of the year has to be the Ry Cooder Anthology The UFO Has Landed, which is stunning (and, technophiles, BEAUTIFULLY mastered)
I think all these tracks are available from iTunes if you want to investigate further:
NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL QUITE DISTRACTING
Twenty top Tom Morton tracks from 2008 (with some obvious omissions and anomalies)
Steve Earle: Way Down In The Hole (2:56) from the album Washington Square Serenade. Theme for the fifth season of the Greatest TV Series Ever Made (Way Down in the Hole is a Tom Waits song, used with different performers as the theme for each season of The Wire). Steve acts in the show as an alarmingly overweight addiction counsellor.
Elbow: Grounds for Divorce (3:39) from The Seldom Seen Kid. Stunning album, bringing long-deserved success for the band. First time I heard this track I thought my car stereo was going to explode
Bon Iver: For Emma (3:41) from the album For Emma, Forever Ago. Recorded on a laptop in a wilderness log cabin, apparently. Hugely atmospheric album, literally out of nowhere.
Ladyhawke: My Delirium (4:17) 'Ladyhawke' is the debut CD from the woman also known as Philippa Brown, who writes and plays everything. She's from New Zealand, and this album took ages to penetrate my consciousness. But, as the year ends, this is 80s electronica revivalism destined to dominate in 2009. Maybe.
Colin Macintyre: Be My Saviour (3:46) From The Water. Mull Historical Society was a much better name. This is a very good album but Colin seems to be slipping further and further under the radar. He's a kind of Calvinist Prince (pop star not royalty).
The Fortunate Sons: Wasted Time (3:41) Eponymous debut album from the Glasgow team is an absolute cracker, Sam West's voice almost ripping the microphones to shreds. Great songs, fantastic playing, loads of good humour and they're supposed to be excellent live.
Mark Knopfler: Secondary Waltz (3:44) This is from the 2007 album Kill To Get Crimson, but I only really got into Mark's solo stuff this year. It's enormously underrated and under-exposed, considering he's such as huge star with Dire Straits. The songs are worthy of Richard Thompson.
The Killers: Spaceman (4:45) I am not ashamed to say that I absolutely love The Killers. There's something endearingly odd about them...they're like Abba trying to be U2, or Roxy Music crossed with Deep Purple and Slade. Three great albums so far and Day and Age is no exception.
Martin Simpson:Never Any Good (4:14) Hold onto your hats and prepare to weep. Martin wrote this about his dad, and it's on the 2007 album Prodigal Son. Songwriting to break the hardest heart.
Ry Cooder: Ridin' With The Blues (3:01) I've played this obsessively ever since I almost crashed a VW camper when I first heard it. Brand new Ry, as good as anything he's ever done, showing where Keef got those licks. From I, Flathead. The anthology The UFO Has Landed is exemplary. This track's a tad politically incorrect, though...
George Formby: Andy The Handy Man (2:49)...and speaking of politically incorrect...2008 was my ukulele year. From the absolutely essential double CD The Ultimate Collection. Technically, he was a uke genius, too. But filthy.
Nick Lowe: Failed Christian (3:56) Came across this via David Mundell at the Inn At Lathones. It's a song by Henry McCullough, once of Wings, and among David's collection of rock memorabilia there's a letter from Nick pleading with Henry for the use of it on Dig My Mood. Chillingly sad.
Peter Case: I'm Gonna Change My Ways (3:25) Peter is one of the greats. It's just nobody knows it except me and a few folk in Greenock! I'll be heading there I hope in February when he arrives for a wee tour of...Inverclyde. from the mini-album Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (4:12). Apocalyptic Testamental rock with great Australian jokes. Grinderman were superb at the Connect Festival, and this Bad Seeds album is a joy and a dark thrill.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Killing The Blues (4:19) Raising Sand was the groovy dinner party album of the year, beautifully produced by T-Bone Burnett but, like Springsteen's Magic, horribly mastered. This is a transcendent John Prine song.
Sigur Ros: Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur (4:03) from the wonderful album Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust. probably best asked for as 'the one with the arses'.
Vampire Weekend: M79 (4:16) This eponymous debut lasts the pace, for me, whereas I'm quite sick of Fleet Foxes, and I'm not sure why. If I want America, I'll just have CSN and Y, thank you. or possibly just Y.
Geraint Watkins: Easy To Say "Bon Temps Rouler" (4:00) Low-key Welsh delight from aged ex Dominators frontman and Nick Lowe pianist. From the CD In A Bad Mood. Great cajun version of Heart of the City on it.
Justin Currie: What Is Love For? (3:10) Title track from one of the great depressive break-up albums, a long time coming from former Del Amitri frontman, who looked seriously pissed off during his set at Belladrum.
Shebang: Sheena is a Punk Rocker. Swedish punk-pop courtesy of Mr L Hutton. Gloriously, intelligently dumb. Like all the best pop.
Monday, farewell to Robertson's Jam and more book action
The news that Robertson's Jam is to disappear from our shelves means that an icon of my childhood will vanish forever. The Robertson's Golly has, of course, already gone amid much controversy, but somehow Hartley's, which Premier Foods will concentrate on when Robertson's disappears, has always been an English jam to me. Something to do with the TV adverts when I was a kid. I'm sorry to appear in any way parochial, but the fact is that James and Marion Robertson kicked off the jams (sorry) empire by inventing Golden Shred marmalade in Paisley.
Won't be able to avoid talking about all this on the show today.
Probably won't talk about David Simon's Homicide:A year on the Killing Streets which I've just finished and is not just the source material for The Wire, but one of the great pieces of in-depth 'immersion' journalism. And one of the last? Let's hope not.
Posted by Tom Morton at 8:40 am 1 comment:
Serpentine - I can't believe it's really happening...but it is!
Working with the editor Jennie Renton today on the manuscript, which I think she's improved manyfold...publication date is 4 June next year, but if you want a sneak preview, click here.
Sunday Herald Diary today....nudist broadcasting exposed!
...read all about it here.
Bob Dylan to play Edinburgh Playhouse and SECC
...Tour just announced. Tickets are on sale NOW for the SECC gig, but there's some delay regarding the really hot one, the Playhouse in Edinburgh. Tomorrow or the day after, according to Ticketmaster. The chance to see Dylan (as previously with Waits and Young) in a small, seated venue is too good to miss.
Meanwhile, today's show is mostly about your choice of covers (second hour) though I may mention speed cameras (alternative uses) and the top 10 stupid Christmas gifts.
The Mighty Torslanda is back! Remakes and sequels...
Picked up the Volvo 240 this morning, all decked out in its new exhaust system, battery and brakes. The Torslanda is back just in time to cope with some truly nasty weather!
Just getting sorted for today's show...looking at the music presented to Barack Obama by David Cameron (The Smiths, Lily Allen, Radiohead and Gorillaz) and what albums you'd give the president elect...
Also: Russell Brand is apparently going to star in a remake of the Dudley Moore film Arthur...and Keanu Reeves is planning (further) sequels to both Bill and Ted and Speed.
So...what should be remade, who with, and which sequels are we dying to see?
0500 929500, tommorton@bbc.co.uk or text 80295.
Festive Radiocrofting
Moustaches and bad Christmas trees
The Radiocroft now has a Christmas tree (I'll take a snap after it gets dark) and it is pretty scabby....but with the people of Peterlee claiming theirs is the worst civic Christmas tree in the UK, where is Scotland's most appalling?
And as for Brad Pitt's attempt 'to rehabilitate the moustache', well...
Rainbow and approaching snow, Hillswick
Phone snap from Findlin's Farm, looking north-north east. 60 seconds after this, it was snowing heavily. On me.
Indiana Jones and the....search for a plumber in Shetland?
According to Harrison Ford, a fifth Indiana Jones movie is at the planing stage. But having found the Temple of Doom, the Crystal Skull and the Philosopher's Stone (or was that a Star Wars movie?) what should Indy be looking for?
Also: A Russian advertising agency is using pet dogs as mobile hoardings - what could your dog or cat sell? And who put the traffic cone on the highest spire of Marischal College in Aberdeen? Who has the skills? Who put the Santa hat atop the supposedly unclimbable 'Humility Tower' at Gaius and Gonville College in Cambridge? Who are the mountaineering pranksters and are you among them?
Meanwhile, we're desperate to cut our oil bills by linking a peat-fired Rayburn to the central heating system. Not a single plumber in Shetland has shown the slightest interest in doing it. I'm thinking of retraining...
December dawns!
Good grief, but Sweden looked amazing in the new TV version of Henning Mankel's Wallnder books. The acting was, in general, absolutely brilliant, with Branagh's brilliance quite awesome at times. Fabulous photography, but scripting was occasionally iffy and the choice of Nicholas Hoult from Skins to play the avenging wee brother rendered the whodunnit element laughably redundant.
Please, though, if you like Wallander, get hold of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's Beck series. Set in Stockholm in the 60s, explicitly but not overbearingly Marxist in ideology, the books are cool, laconic, character-driven, and somehow very human. Wallander, with his depression and illness, is clearly based on the constantly suffering Beck Not everybody will find that appealling, but I've read the whole lot twice and I think they're among the best police procedurals ever written. There's one, very good English-language film version of the Beck book The Laughing Policeman, set in the USA with Walter Matthau and Bruce Dern, but only available on US region DVD. Try and see it.
Today's show...
Hmmm...It's the start of December so i think we'll go Christmas tree spotting...Scotland has just introduced compulsory seller's surveys for house sales, so I'll be asking about houses you've moved into and found very different from the property you viewed...and the Campaign for Universal Festive Folding Female Flip Flops starts here...
Posted by Tom Morton at 9:23 am 2 comments:
The floating hotel, Christmas dinner, Wii Unfit an...
...and it's goodbye from The Radiocroft; good afte...
The 'Hallelujah' issue, Shrek, Bathsheba and the t...
Peatiness, dodgy phenols, and the new Bruichladdic...
Katy Perry and the power of proper post-evangelica...
Monday, farewell to Robertson's Jam and more book ...
Serpentine - I can't believe it's really happening...
Sunday Herald Diary today....nudist broadcasting e...
The Mighty Torslanda is back! Remakes and sequels....
Indiana Jones and the....search for a plumber in S...


Last month, WealthForge hosted a round table in Richmond, VA with local business and securities attorneys to discuss the emerging trend of electronic signatures and subscription automation in non-publicly traded securities transactions.
Electronic signature technology allows subscription documents to be sent securely via email, where investors can then review, fill out, and provide an electronic signature without the need to print or receive a paper document through mail or fax.
When asked about the use of electronic signatures by their clients, attorneys who attended the meeting reported a spectrum of levels of acceptance. In some cases, their clients routinely use electronic signatures. In other cases – particularly in the commercial real estate realm – electronic signatures have yet to be adopted.
As more investment offerings move away from paper-processes, we expect electronic signature technology to become an essential tool for issuers of private securities. We hope that these discussions continue and issuers and their counsel continue to warm to electronic signatures and the benefits they provide.
The group next discussed the rising trend of subscription automation. Much like electronic signature technology, subscription automation enables issuers to eliminate paper-processes. Using this technology, issuers can collect investor information through online workflows. This process has been proven to reduce both the time required to submit an investment and the rate of errors on subscription documents.
Based on feedback we have received from our clients and other large sponsors of private real estate funds and other private offerings, we believe that issuers are souring to an all paper process. Instead, they are looking towards technical solutions to make the subscription process more efficient. Using technology can make the private placement subscription process a simpler experience for subscribers and advisors, similar to placing an order with your broker.
When asked for their thoughts on subscription automation, most of the attorneys acknowledged they had not considered the use of technology to facilitate private placement subscriptions, but were interested in WealthForge's experience. In particular, we discussed the high not-in-good-order (NIGO) rates for paper subscription agreements. An industry average of 30% of subscription documents are returned with errors that need to be corrected before processing. However, based on our internal data, the NIGO rate for subscriptions processed via subscription automation technology is significantly lower, perhaps in the low single digits. This came as a surprise to the group.
Combining these two technologies, issuers can gather investor information through an easy-to-use online workflow and then automatically pre-populate all the applicable fields of a subscription document and email it for the investor to sign electronically. While this idea has yet to become widely used, the attorneys provided helpful feedback about adopting such measures.
This was the first of what we hope to turn into a series of roundtable talks with attorneys. We enjoyed the insightful conversation about topics at the cutting edge of the private markets and look forward to further discussion in the future.


Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, a life and the biography of the German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.
1.When a person can take pleasure in marching in step to a piece of music it is enough to make me despise him. He has been given his big brain only by mistake.
2.Physics should represent a reality in time and space, free from spooky action at a distance.
3.The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science.
4.The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.
6.A society's competitive advantage will come not from how well its schools teach the multiplication and periodic tables, but from how well they stimulate imagination and creativity.
8.Throughout his life, Albert Einstein would retain the intuition and the awe of a child. He never lost his sense of wonder at the magic of nature's phenomena-magnetic fields, gravity, inertia, acceleration, light beams-which grown-ups find so commonplace.


Are you a bookworm or a movie junkie? Organize your media storage and accentuate your walls with your favorite collection. Both ends of this floating shelf serve as bookends to keep your CD's, DVDs or books intact.
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