This belt I make, by hand, from high quality, strong veggie tanned latigo leather. I HAND DYE the leather with this lovely earthy yellow color, which darkens substantially over time and only gets better.
It has a snapped end, is approx 1.5" wide, and will last for years.
It attaches perfectly to any of the full size buckles on this store.


I worked with Brian at Meadowwood Garden to create a new header and favicon for their thesis themed gardening website. I like how it turned out.
Our logo turned out amazingly well and the turnaround was incredibly fast. Pete patiently digested our rambling ideas and thoughts and was able to distill them into a cogent theme that works. Are we happy? You bet! Thank you Pete!


text:
The ocean's biological carbon pump (BCP) plays a crucial role in storing atmospheric CO2 in the deep ocean, thereby isolating carbon from the atmosphere for decades to centuries. Yet, its capacity to do so is under-constrained and its mechanisms poorly understood.
The CarbOcean project will develop a mechanistic and quantitative understanding of the BCP using a novel integrative approach that accounts for its two component pumps: (1) the organic carbon pump driven by the photosynthetic production of particulate organic carbon (POC), and (2) the carbonate pump driven by the production of particulate inorganic carbon (PIC).
In CarbOcean, we will develop a new optical sensor for autonomous quantification of PIC. This technological breakthrough will in turn empower a unique robotic approach to quantify the two key components of the biological carbon pump, which together determine the net transfer of CO2 to the deep ocean and the fate of carbon in the ocean twilight zone.
The robotic ocean profilers will be deployed in a wide variety of ocean environments to gather carbon observations and environmental parameters from the well-lit surface ocean through the underlying twilight zone at high spatiotemporal resolution.
The observations collected by CarbOcean's robotic profilers will then fuel hypothesis-driven research on the transformations and fate of carbon in the twilight zone, and facilitate improved representations of the biological carbon pump in biogeochemical models.
The CarbOcean project comprises the following work packages:
Technological development.
Development of PIC and POC sensors.
Sensor calibration and validation.
Integration of new sensors onto robotic profiling floats of type Biogeochemical-Argo (BGC-Argo).
Work at sea and float deployment.
Float deployment along a latitudinal gradient across the Atlantic Ocean.
Collection of ship-based data for float sensor cross-calibration.
Characterising the planktonic community and ocean carbonate chemistry.
Examining BCP component pumps.
Quantifying strength and efficiency of BCP component pumps.
Examining spatiotemporal variability and pump interconnection.
CarbOcean is a five-year research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme with grant number ERC-StG2019-853516. The grant is awarded to Griet Neukermans at Ghent University.
Copyright © 2022. webdesign and content by Griet Neukermans.
✉ griet.neukermans@ugent.be

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Get 3DHOP last version! The complete package of 3DHOP, comprehensive of all the HOW TO examples and tutorials plus the 3D models used, in a single zipped archive (~17 MB).
Get NEXUS last version! The complete package of NEXUS, comprehensive of all the basic Windows executable files required to convert your models in the multi-resolution format used by 3DHOP, in a single zipped archive (~9 MB).
To know more about the NEXUS open-source code, or also to get a complete set of 3D models useful to test it, please visit the NEXUS project official website.
3DHOP is an open-source initiative: to download all the code and examples, or to find older versions, or to contribute to the project, head to its official GitHub repository.
Visit the contacts page to know more about the project and the Visual Computing Lab.
3DHOP is a software package with full portability: it can run on all the principal OS (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) equipped with an up-to-date Web browser. Mobile support is still not complete, but 3DHOP already works on most devices.
3DHOP works directly inside the web browser, without plug-ins or external components, but it does require an up-to-date web browser. It is supported and successfully tested on the current stable versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera and Apple Safari.
3DHOP does not require a specialized server or server-side daemons/computation; just some space on any web-server will do. 3DHOP can also work on a local machine using a local web-server or Google Chrome (with a launching parameter). More information on deployment can be found here.
All the 3DHOP software is free and open-source, released under the GPL license.
The free open-source MeshLab tool can be used for model preparation and conversion. Multi-resolution conversion is done using the free open-source NEXUS tools; see how to to know more.


Nearly six years after a bipartisan commission sounded the alarm about a transportation system in a crisis so severe that it carried a shortfall of nearly $1 billion a year, Governor Deval Patrick will ask lawmakers to solve the problem with a plan that includes higher taxes.
By Jan. 7, the administration will deliver a proposal calling for robust taxes and more precisely detailing the gap between what is currently spent and what is needed to bring the state's roads, bridges, and transit systems into good condition and keep them there. Lawmakers called for the plan last June in the emergency legislation that balanced the T's budget for the year.
The shortfall could be reduced by raising the long-frozen gas tax, tolls, or other taxes and fees.
"At this point, everything remains on the table," said state Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey, in an interview after a recent stop on a statewide tour meant partly to prepare the public for what is to come.
He avoided citing specific taxes or putting a dollar value on the gap, except to call the 2007 report of the independent Transportation Finance Commission , which estimated it at $15 billion to $19 billion over 20 years, an accurate starting point.
An unsustainable reliance on borrowing helped mask highway problems and allowed the T to go five years between fare increases, but bridges, rails, signals, stations, and other infrastructure continue to age faster than the state can repair or replace them.
The gas tax has remained 21 cents a gallon since 1991, except for a 2.5 cent increase imposed to clean up underground contaminants. That means it has lost buying power against inflation and as cars have become more efficient, even as costs such as fuel, asphalt, and employee health insurance have soared. The state sales tax, the T's largest funding source, has fallen short of projections through multiple recessions and as consumers sidestepped taxes online.
The Patrick administration, which tried unsuccessfully to raise the gas tax in 2009, signaled earlier this year that it may revisit that tax. Other options include taxing miles driven, tapping future casino revenue, and transferring MBTA debt to the state's books.
While the administration refines that plan, a new poll of 1,500 residents from the Berkshires to the Cape shows 62 percent are willing to spend $50 or more in additional taxes to bolster transportation. The poll also found that residents far beyond Boston value transit as well as road investment.
But the MassINC poll revealed that 71 percent believe the transportation red ink is a result of "waste and mismanagement," not insufficient funding — a belief at odds with conclusions of an array of analysts, activists, and policy makers.
"There's clearly a major misperception out there," said Stephanie Pollack, associate director of Northeastern University's Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.
Lawmakers partially addressed the issue three years ago, adopting some recommendations of the Transportation Finance Commission in merging several agencies into a streamlined Department of Transportation, asking employees to shoulder more health insurance costs, and tightening MBTA pension rules.
The T now wrings more money out of advertising and real estate and provides more service with fewer employees than a decade ago.
The 2009 legislative mantra in rejecting the gas tax was "reform before revenue," though lawmakers approved a sales tax increase, part of which went to transportation. But new revenue cannot be avoided forever, Davey said.
"We will do anything . . . legal and reasonable to save money and improve our cost structure and the customer experience, and I don't think that has always been the case," he said.
Before a crowd of 70 in Mattapan Thursday, Davey spent two hours listening to residents describe the importance of transportation in their lives and how it falls short locally: a rail link to downtown, the Fairmount Line, with a byzantine fare structure and no weekend service; an absence of bike paths; sluggish bus service.
Davey sought support for the looming proposal to benefit the economy and quality of life.
The MassINC poll grew from the same impulse that led the think tank to organize a 2010 conference for leaders of the nation's largest transit agencies, which illustrated that the T's shortfalls were not unique.
"We as a country have struggled with how to strike the right balance between financing roads and financing transit. We've struggled with tax revenue generally in a 30-year period of tax revolts, and we need to get people to work every day, and we need to keep our roads maintained," said Greg Torres, MassINC president.
He said the percentage blaming "waste" means "we still have a little work to do, and that should be part of the conversation we have over the next year." Lawmakers have promised to hold that conversation, starting with Patrick's plan.
"If we want to keep Massachusetts as a competitive state economically, so that it's a state that people want to move to and businesses want to locate in, we have an obligation to deal with this, and we don't have a lot of time," said Representative William M. Straus , House chairman of the Joint Transportation Committee.
Clarification: This story about transportation funding was unclear about the nature of the plan that the Patrick administration will present to the Legislature on Jan. 7. That plan will lay out the scope of the state's transportation funding problem and a variety of solutions, including new taxes, that could be used to address it. The plan will not necessarily indicate which of those solutions the administration favors.


(3 WSOS FOR $3!) TRIPLE CROWN DEAL - THESE 3 WSOS GIVES YOU A SOLID REALISTIC 10K BLUEPRINT! ENDING!
FLASH RANK - RANK #1 IN GOOGLE | INSANE RESULTS | 50% OFF FOR TEN PEOPLE!
Massive Charity WSO Bundle! Buy a Product + Give Somebody in Need a Christmas! Insane Value!
[All In One SEO]-[The ONLY SEO Package To rank for ANY Keyword !!!]-Insane Price!
Insane Birthday Blowout - New Products Added Daily - GET THE BEST PRICE!
[Closing] Become an Instant Google+ Expert. Google+ Demystified Special Report at Insane WSO Price.
Dirt Cheap Link Arsenal - 17695 Multiplatform Links in One Rank Boosting INSANE Pack! 50% Discount!
Hot 60 of the Most Popular Wordpress Video Tutorials with Master Resale Rights!!
[Reviews Wanted] Get INSANE Traffic With Facebook & Google+ WITHOUT Spending a Cent on Ads!
[WACKY $1 WSO!! YES JUST $1!] "WHO ELSE WANTS THE SECRETS TO MAKING $10,000 MONTHLY IN 2012?"
no more caps lock, no more hyperbole, no more stars and tildes.
This offer is closed. If you'd like to hire me for a special project, talk to me via WarriorForum PM and we'll talk it over.
WikiMarks by SEOlutions · The Power Of 9000+ Wikis and 1000+ Bookmarks · Insane IP Diversity!
Linkvana - $147 For Public - Just $14 Here - One Of The #1 SEO Services Online Since 2007!
[INSANE SEO] Delivers Web 2.0 & .EDU Links....For just $7?


text:
Babin, Stefanik Take a Stand for Border Patrol Agents
Authoritarian Vaccine Mandates Threaten National Security and Declining Morale
Washington, November 1, 2021
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Brian Babin (TX-36) and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21) led their colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden expressing concern over the impact that his authoritarian vaccine mandates will have on our national security and on Border Patrol agents already suffering from declining morale.
In the letter, the lawmakers note that a record number of illegal border crossings at the southern border have forced Border Patrol agents into no-notice deployments, disrupting agents' families and burdening agents with a crisis created by this administration's failed policies.
This is also leaving several portions of the border – including the northern border – understaffed and inadequately protected. Now, many Border Patrol agents face losing their jobs due to authoritarian vaccine mandates. The consequences of which could prove fatal to America's security.
"Thanks to the Biden administration, our southern border is on a path to extinction," said Babin. "Biden's top priority should be ending the border crisis, but instead, he's threatening to terminate our already overwhelmed Border Patrol agents for their personal medical choices. This president would rather exacerbate the crisis, putting Americans and our national security at greater risk, than secure the border."
"Joe Biden's border crisis is impacting all states, including the North Country," Stefanik said. "I have heard from several of my constituents who work to protect our northern border, but who have been displaced from their homes to work long hours to fight Joe Biden's crisis on the southern border. Instead of rewarding them for their service, this administration is threatening to terminate our Border Patrol agents who wish to make their own medical decisions. I am proud to stand with our Border Patrol agents, who work to secure our borders and keep our nation safe."
"After months of crisis and utter chaos at our Southern border, Agents across the country are at a breaking point," said Brandon Judd, President, National Border Patrol Council. "The Biden Administration's self-inflicted crisis has destroyed standard border security operations nationwide and has led to the forced deployment of Agents from all over the country, leaving an already understaffed agency unable to appropriately secure our Southern and Northern borders. Add to this the demonization of Agents by the far left, just for doing their jobs, and now a vaccine mandate that undermines our personal freedoms and it should be no surprise that morale among rank-and-file Agents is at its lowest point ever. President Biden's vaccine mandate could not come at a worse time. After years of attrition and critically low staffing levels, and in the midst of a historic crisis at our Southern border, the potential for mass resignations and terminations directly caused by the vaccine mandate will mean an open border and a less secure homeland. Border Patrol Agents are entrusted to protect our homeland from ever growing threats such as deadly narcotics, dangerous criminals and potential terrorists, yet these same Agents are not trusted by President Biden to make decisions about what goes into their bodies. Sadly, this irony comes in addition to the utter hypocrisy in President Biden's mandate for Border Patrol Agents when the illegal border crossers we apprehend everyday are then released into communities across the country without a similar mandate. To Congresswoman Stefanik, Congressman Babin, and all the House Republicans who continue to fight against this mandate, thank you for your tireless efforts and unwavering support for border security."
In the letter, the lawmakers specifically request President Biden provide a suspension of COVID-19 vaccine mandates for Border Patrol agents, available data on Border Patrol agents vaccination rates and natural immunity, steps the Biden administration is taking to protect agents and other Americans from COVID-19 exposure due to infected illegal immigrants, and a determination of the impact of mass-termination of Border Patrol agents on our national security.
Read the full letter here or below:
President Joseph R. Biden
Dear President Biden,
We have serious concerns about your vaccine mandate for Federal employees[1] and how it will impact the already understaffed and overworked United States Border Patrol and our overall national security. Given your administration's open border policies and failure to invest in adequate border security, we are facing the worst border crisis in our nation's history—a crisis that will only be exacerbated by your vaccine mandate.
Our patriotic Border Patrol agents serve on the front lines of the chaos you created, protecting America's sovereignty, and providing humanitarian and life-saving services to illegal migrants. These brave men and women face dire threats every day from violent drug cartels and human traffickers while carrying out their duties, including being caught in cross-border gunfire originating from inside Mexico[2]. Further, we have heard from countless agents across the country who have been forced into no-notice deployments to the southern border to help manage your self-inflicted crisis. These deployments are disruptive to Border Patrol agents' families and leave other critical portions of our borders—which are already dangerously understaffed—overwhelmingly unprotected.
Despite these staffing issues, thousands of Border Patrol agents are at risk of losing their jobs because of your ill-conceived policy. This mandate is wholly incongruent with the principles of individual choice and medical freedom, puts families in our districts at risk of financial ruin, and threatens our national security by flooding our communities with undocumented, unvetted migrants.
With a record number of illegal border crossings this year and no end in sight, terminating Border Patrol agents for their choice not to vaccinate against Covid-19—when many Border Patrol agents have a more effective natural immunity—is not only irresponsible, but is a dereliction of your duty as Commander-in-Chief. We immediately request the following actions and information related to your Federal vaccine mandate and the U.S. Border Patrol:
An immediate suspension of Covid-19 vaccine mandates for Border Patrol agents, or any first responder tasked with securing our borders and addressing the ongoing border crisis;
General available data on vaccination rates for Border Patrol agents, with respect to medical confidentiality, including the number of Border Patrol agents who have previously contracted Covid-19 and have natural immunity;
Steps your administration is taking to protect Border Patrol agents from Covid-19 exposure while carrying out their duties, as well as protecting Americans from Covid-19 infected immigrants being relocated into their communities;
A determination of the impact of mass-termination of Border Patrol agents on our border security and your administration's plan to address current and future staffing shortages at our nation's borders.
The American people support the brave men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol and roundly reject your administration's catastrophic open border policies. Sadly, while we have seen countless members of your own party malign our Border Patrol agents for years, punishing these agents for their personal medical choices would constitute a full-frontal assault on our border agents and further reinforce your utter abandonment of our southern border.
We look forward to your prompt response to the aforementioned requests and urge you to immediately reinstate and enforce common-sense border security policies.
[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/covidplan/#vaccinate
[2] https://www.foxnews.com/media/melugin-crew-drug-cartel-gunfire-us-mexico-border


text:
The Year the Swans Came
By Barbara Spencer
Ruth and Maidy have been best friends for as long as they can remember. Stunningly beautiful, rich, and wilful, Ruth has always insisted she will marry Pieter, Maidy's eldest brother, only for him to vanish from their lives late one night.
Is his disappearance linked to the arrival of the swans, feared as cursed and birds of ill-fortune? What will happen when they return six years later, on the morning of Maidy's sixteenth birthday?
And who exactly is the enigmatic and mysterious Zande?
Follow Ruth and Maidy's cursed tale of love as they discover what happened to Pieter, how the appearance of Zande will affect the rest of their lives, and just how much destruction Ruth's beauty can cause.
"Maybe that's what I should write about; the year the swans came, and my brother, Pieter, vanished..."
No one would speak of Pieter after that. For his younger sister, Margrit "Maidy" Bader, the loss of her brother became a silent heartache, a private grief. Was he dead? Maidy dared not ask her parents. She only knew that no one was allowed to sit in his chair at the table — it was waiting, as they all were waiting, for him to come home again.
The swans which Maidy had thought so beautiful with their polished silk feathers, but her mother irrationally feared, returned on her sixteenth birthday. Was her mother, right? Were the swans an ill omen? Something evil? Maidy thought not. However, their return would bring undeniable heartache to all those whom their spirits touched. For Maidy, her life would never be the same again.
From a daring rescue of a swan to the devastating truth about Klüsta— the island of a thousand rumours, The Year The Swans Came by Barbara Spencer is the hauntingly gripping, yet enthralling story of a secret that threatens to destroy not only the swans, but the Bader family as well.
With a lusciously detailed narrative that mesmerised me from the opening chapter, The Year The Swans Came is in all ways a work of exceptional scholarship. This book, these characters, captured my imagination, and I was swept away to a world that is vivid, evocative, and utterly irresistible. Words cannot express how much I loved this book. The brilliance is in the writing. The Year The Swans Came is in all ways, an absolute triumph.
With an elegant turn of phrase and a visceral understanding of human fragility, Spencer has presented her readers with some unforgettable characters. The heroine of this story, Maidy, is a character that I simply adored. Maidy reminded me a little of Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling. Maidy believes herself plain, unattractive even. She lives in the shadow of her best-friend — the very glamorous Ruth, who all the boys at college want to date. But like that ugly duckling, there is a swan, a beautiful, graceful, caring swan just waiting to fluff her feathers and step into the light. Maidy is entirely ignorant of how she is perceived by others, especially Zande, who is the male version of Ruth. However, her goodness is incorruptible — even Zande, who is free with his love, does not attempt to corrupt her. Maidy is an extremely likeable character and one I came to care about very much. This story is told from her point of view, which I thought gave this book a sense of authenticity, as well as a sense of realism.
All the characters in this book are fabulous, and each has their role to play. One of the characters that I took a strong dislike to was Ruth. Ruth is incredibly self-centred and a truly terrible friend. She is self-seeking and does not care for the pain she causes others. Ruth uses her good looks and her father's money to get what she wants regardless of the consequences. Maidy slowly comes to realise the kind of person Ruth is, and as she does so, Maidy does not like what she sees. But even as they begin to drift apart, Maidy still cannot see how exceptional she is in her own right — Maidy still believes that Ruth is the one that all the boys want to be with, which isn't true. Ruth is not quite an antagonist, I wouldn't go that far, but her egotistical behaviours certainly demonstrates the goodness that is in Maidy's soul.
I have to mention Zande — Zande, with his charm and easy smile which hide a lifetime of sorrow and a soul that is trapped. He is in every way a bad-boy, the one you don't want your daughter dating. But, Maidy sees past the facade and glimpses a deep and terrible pain that she does not understand and can never understand. I thought Zande's depiction was fabulous.
I could not but help the strong emotional reaction that I had for these characters, and I was impressed by Spencer's scope and brilliance in their creation. Pieter, Hans, Tristan, Jaan, Zande, Ruth, and Maidy all bring something unique to this story. Wonderful, wonderful characterisation. It doesn't get better than this.
Strangely, no dates are mentioned in this book, only that there had been a war and the community had been invaded at one point by the enemy — one can only assume it is set after World War II and that Ruth's family are Jewish. But surprisingly, the era seems almost timeless. It matters not what the date is, only that the story is so incredibly captivating. There is magic in the words that Spencer has written, a swirling of emotions that swept me up into its warm embrace. However, as the story picks up momentum and races headlong towards a catastrophically explosive ending, I found myself screaming silently in my head the word NO! And by the time I read the last word and noted the final full-stop, I was sobbing quietly to myself. Spencer demands every conceivable emotion from her readers, and boy does she get it. Be sure to have a box of Kleenex with you because believe me you are going to need it.
The Year The Swans Came is something extraordinary indeed. This is a book that not only deserves your attention — it deserves it again and again until the spine of the book breaks and the pages start to fall out, and you need to purchase another copy. That, is how good this book is.
If you are looking for your next great adventure which will leave you gasping and begging for more then check out The Year the Swans Came by Barbara Spencer. You won't be disappointed. I cannot wait to read the second book in this fabulous series.
I Highly Recommend.
Review by Mary Anne Yarde.
The Coffee Pot Book Club.
Pick up your copy of
Amazon UK • Amazon US • Waterstones
Barbara Spencer
In 1967, Barbara Spencer hi-tailed it to the West Indies to watch cricket, the precursor to a highly colourful career spanning three continents, in which she was caught up in riots, wars, and choosing Miss World. Eventually, she settled in Somerset to bring up a family. In 2010, the publication of Running, her new teenage thriller, has taken Barbara countrywide. Passionate about the importance of books in today's society, Barbara is happiest working with young would-be writers and is frequently invited into schools to talk about creative writing.
Connect with Barbara: Website • Facebook • Twitter.
Labels: #CoffeePotBookClub #Historical #Fantasy


text:
The American Whaleboat of 2014
In 1978, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., published The Whaleboat: A Study of Design, Construction and Use from 1850 to 1970 by Willits 'Will' D. Ansel, a shipwright and boat builder at the Museum's Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. Ansel had been asked by Mystic Seaport to do research about the whaleboat, as by the beginning of the 1970s it was almost extinct. For many years this book was the ultimate source for anyone interested in the history of the American-built whaleboat. (To clarify one thing, the double-ended 'whaleboat' was the vessel lowered down from a whaleship and the watercraft from which the whale was hunted and killed. The whaleboat, with assistance from other whaleboats, would then sail or row back the dead whale to the whaleship where the whale was 'refined': cut to pieces, the blubber boiled in the tryworks and the oil kept in barrels. The oil was later used to light up the street lamps in all major cities in the country; whaling was a large and important industry in America during the 1800s.)
The best description of the content of this book is to name the different chapters: "Development of the Whaleboat to 1870"; "Performance and Use"; "Lines of the Whaleboat"; "Hull Structure"; "Fittings and Equipment"; "Sailing Rigs"; "Whaleboat Production"; "Building Methods"; "Painting, Repairs, and Maintenance of Whaleboats"; "The Whaleboats and Related Types"; and two appendixes: "Sail Plans and Rigs" and "Examples of Ten Whaleboats".
Will Ansel's The Whaleboat is a well-written, richly illustrated book – and some of the black & white photographs are taken by the author and many of the drawings are by him as well. Ansel has dug deep in old archives and sources, and this is truly a book for all wooden boat enthusiasts. A 2nd edition was published in 1983, but the book has been out of print for many years.
In 2008, while Mystic Seaport started restoring its flagship, the 1841 Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaleship in the world, the Museum soon realised that it had neither the manpower nor the funds to build the whaleboats that were needed for the whaleship's 38th Voyage – between 1841 and 1921, the Morgan made 37 whaling voyages across the globe – and it would truly not be a total restoration of the whaleship if the whaleboats were not aboard for her last voyage. The question went out to the maritime community if there was an interest in building whaleboats for the Morgan's 38th Voyage. When she left Mystic Seaport to embark on her voyage, on 17 May this spring, nine companies along the east coast, in a project called the National Whaleboat Project, had built ten brand new whaleboats.
The same day, the Morgan left the Museum, the institution published the 3rd edition of The Whaleboat, now with a slightly different title, The Whaleboat: A Study of Design, Construction and Use from 1850 to 2014. Added to Will Ansel's chapters were now two new chapters by Will's son, Walter Ansel, and Walter's daughter, Evelyn Ansel, who thereby is the third generation Ansel to be involved in narrating the history of the American whaleboat. Walter is a senior shipwright at Mystic Seaport and has worked on the Morgan's restoration and a lot of other vessel restoration projects at the Museum. After finishing up her college studies at Brown University, Evelyn has also worked on the Morgan, as an apprentice. This year, however, she has been a Fullbright scholar at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.
Walter's chapter is about a whaleboat programme from 2002, when Will came back to Mystic Seaport to teach Walter and a few other shipwrights how to build a whaleboat. Evelyn's contribution is about the National Whaleboat Project, a well-penned article, which also includes her photographs. Earlier she has published articles with some wonderful drawings of hers.
So, here we have three shipwrights who write very well, two of which also take marvellous photographs and draw and depict brilliant pictures – a very talented family, the Ansels.
Order your copy of The Whaleboat here ($24.95 plus postage).
At a book signing for The Whaleboat in the Mystic Seaport Bookstore during the 2014 WoodenBoat Show, Walter Ansel, Will Ansel and Evelyn Ansel.
Labels: Evelyn Ansel, Rowing Books, Walter Ansel, whaleboats, Willits Ansel, wooden boats
Watching the waves
caused him think
to whittle wood,
the pieces of wood
he had gathered on his walks
along the beach. From whittling
he turned to carving,
crude replicas at first,
of sea life, otters, a trout.
He attempted a plover.
But the toothpick thin legs defeated him,
which drove him to attempt
more solid appearing things,
a rowing scull and oars,
and, with practice,
the rower himself.
Some Row Boats at the 23nd WoodenBoat Show
A Rangeley Row Boat
The 23nd WoodenBoat Show is now in full swing at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. The weather was beautiful during Friday, and it is said to be equally wonderful during Saturday and Sunday. There are, of course, many water craft on display, and HTBS would like to present a few of them below - all being propelled by oars.
I have to confess, I do not see the charm with this kind of row boat, where the oars are propelled by your feet, unless you like to get some excises on the water while you are knitting...?
This row boat did not have a sliding seat, or a thwart, just a little stool, which really didn't look that comfortable. One could, however, adjust the stool as there were different holes to place the stool in; it didn't look like one could move the foot board, though.
This little '9 dinghy was originally built between 1941 and 1942 in the San Pedro area, California; designer and builder unknown. It had been used as a tender to a 1941 40' cruiser, and had been restored in 2012-2014. The original hull was stained cedar planks, with seats of mahogany. The fellow who had restored the boat had used steam-bent ash for frames and the transom top was mahogany. The oars were also ash, and in the stern was a 2 HP British Seagull, Forty Series. A beautiful craft!
A sturdy boat with two thwarts with back-rests, perfect for a river pic-nick - don't forget the Pimm's!
I am not really sure about this boat, built by Swanson Boat Company. It looks fast, but while the hull seems perfect for a speedy outing, the arrangement of the sliding seats seem 'weak', and so do the oars, which were thin with very small blades.
Above two types of shells with sliding seats.
A traditional 'dinghy'. In the background is the Museum's 1866 Connecticut 'smack', Emma C. Berry, built in Noank. This sloop is one of four National Historic Landmark vessels at Mystic Seaport.
What I did not see this year was a Thames skiff, which I have seen at the Show previous years.
Labels: Mystic River, wooden boats, WoodenBoat Show
The 23nd Annual WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport
Today is the start of the 23nd Annual WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut, which, as usual, is a three-day event. More than 100 traditional classics and contemporary wooden boats of every type will be on display at this festival that celebrates the design and craftsmanship of wooden craft. This year's event will honour three of N.G. Herreshoff's most beloved designs: the 12 ½, Newport 29, and Buzzards Bay 25. All three were originally conceived in 1914 and turn 100 this year.
The WoodenBoat Show offers something for all wooden boat enthusiasts and marine history buffs. Wooden boats of every type – large and small, old and new, power, sail, oar and paddle – will be on display including cruising yachts, launches, runabouts, fishing boats, performance powerboats, daysailers, dinghies, rowboats, canoes, performance shells, multi-hulls and racing boats.
As usual, HTBS will try to concentrate its reports on rowing boats and shells. Read more here.
Photo: FISA
The rowers sat waiting
in their sculls
to begin the race,
like tattoos drawn
on the skin of the river.
How like a sampler, the river,
on which the rowers
embroidered their race,
their oars, needles
sewing the watery
fabric with design.
Remembering Harry Parker
Today, 25 June, is exactly a year since the passing of Harvard Coach Harry Parker. Above is a short but fine tribute to Parker, produced by Harvard University.
Special thanks to Louis P.!
Labels: Harry Parker, Harvard
The Birth of Modern Olympic Rowing
Greg Denieffe writes:
In July 2012, in a post called 1948 Olympics And The Thin Green Line, Part 2, I identified Terence Sanders as first man born in Ireland to win an Olympic rowing medal for Great Britain; he was the stroke of the British coxless four that won the gold medal at the 1924 Paris Games. It was also in Paris that the first Olympic rowing regatta was held in 1900, and it was at those Games that the first Olympic rowing medal was won by an Irishman. His name was William Carr and I will return to him later.
Had things gone to plan, the inaugural Games of the modern era, held in 1896, would have seen the first Olympic rowing champions crowned in Athens, but the weather intervened and the rowing events were cancelled. Peter Mallory touches on the subject in The Sport of Rowing (2011):
The rowers assembled, but rough water in Piraeus Harbor forced the postponement and eventual cancellation of the regatta. Therefore, rowing competition was not actually included until the second modern Games in Paris in 1900, and as a consequence, French became the language of international rowing from that time forward until quite recently.
Promotional Poster for the 1900 Paris Olympic Games – Genuine Antique or Fake?
In the poster/programme (above) the rowing events are listed under the heading Sports nautique and are shown as follows:
Aviron:
Un rameur: 2000 metres sans virage (Skiffs).
Deux rameurs de pointe: 2400 metres san virage (Outriggers).
Quatre rameurs de pointe: 2400 metres san virage (Outriggers).
Huit rameurs de pointe: 2400 metres san virage (Outriggers).
The regatta took place on the River Seine between Courbevoie and Asnières on 25 and 26 August 1900 and all the events were over a shortened course, believed to be 1,750 metres, and not as suggested in the Poster above. Throughout the regatta there was wrangling, protests, crew changes and the farce of two finals in the coxed fours event, both of which count in the official International Olympic Council (IOC) medal table.
Whilst the results of the regatta are readily available, books on rowing history only briefly mention the event and therefore this article is an attempt to put faces to the first Olympic rowing champions and gather the story of those two days in August 1900 into one place.
Un rameur (Skiffs)/Single Sculls
Twelve scullers entered, nine from France and one each from Great Britain, Italy and Spain. The four heat winners; Saint George Ashe (GBR), Hermann Barrelet (FRA), Louis Prével (FRA) and Georges Delaporte (FRA) were joined by the four runners-up in two semi-finals, with the first two in each semi advancing to the final. Barrelet won the first semi by ten seconds with André Gaudin (FRA) taking the second qualification spot. In the second semi, Prével had nearly as much to spare over Robert d'Heilly (FRA).
Ashe who had finished third in the first semi-final was eliminated but protested the result; Barrelet and Gaudin objected and refused to race if Ashe was allowed to take part in the final but they eventually relented and took their places in a five boat final. Read more about Ashe in Göran Buckhorn's post from November 2012, The First Englishman....
Barrelet won the final beating Gaudin for the third time in two days. Ashe finished third, 40 seconds behind the winner! Prével failed to finish after falling in the water and of course protested but this time the protest was rejected. Perhaps good Anglo-French relations were the reason; the Entente Cordiale would be signed within four years.
Hermann Barrelet – Swiss born and 1900 Olympic Champion for France.
St. George Ash (sic) as portrayed by Ogden's Cigarettes 1902. Ashe was born in Malta, which along with England has Saint George as their national saint.
Louis Prével European Champion in 1899 and 1900 but out of luck at the Olympics.
Deux rameurs de pointe/Senior Coxed Pairs
Only three countries entered for the coxed pairs event; France had five crews; Belgium and the Netherlands had one each, giving seven crews split into two semi-finals. Even today, not only rowing historians but sports historians and especially Olympic historians discuss the possibility that the youngest ever Olympic medallist took part in this event.
The French crew from Société Nautique de la Marne won the first semi-final beating the Dutch crew from Minerva Amsterdam who also qualified for the final. In the second semi-final Rowing Club Castillion (FRA) had an 'easily' verdict, beating Cercle Nautique de Reims (FRA) by 27 seconds!
The Dutch crew had been coxed by Hermanus Brockmann (60 kg) in their semi-final and had nine seconds to make up on their French conquerors in that race. They decided to copy their rivals and use a much lighter coxswain in the final and recruited a young French boy whom some believe to be that youngest ever Olympic medallist. The final was a very close affair but the change of coxswain made the difference with the Dutch crew (now with a French coxswain) reversing the result of the semi-final and winning by 0.2 seconds.
The finish of the pairs final next to Asnières Bridge. François Brandt and Roelof Klein (NED) just ahead of their French rivals Lucien Martinet and Waleff - both coxswains unknown.
The same scene through the eyes of Vincent van Gogh in 1877.
Anthony Th. Bijkerk has written two interesting articles about the Dutch pair, their substitute coxswain and the wonderful trophy, called 'La Chanson' that they received for their victory. The first in the Journal of Olympic History (Spring 1997) and the second in the Journal of Olympic History (Winter 2001).
This quote is from the latter:
Although the identity of the young French coxswain has never been detected, there does exist a photograph of him and it was published in a Memorial Book from the Dutch Student Rowing Club LAGA, in which François Antoine Brandt, in 1926, published his own story on the events in Paris.
The 1997 article contains an English translation by Bijkerk of Brant's account of what actually happened in the coxed pairs event. The 2001 article has photographs of the Dutch pair with their French coxswain and another of the pair at Henley Royal Regatta in 1899. There are also two photographs of the trophy presented to them and bearing the inscription:
EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DU 1900
RÉGATES À L'AVIRON DU 26 AOÛT
2 RAMEURS SENIORS
François Brandt and Roelof Klein with the mystery coxswain, but how old was he?
Gold medals were not given at the 1900 Games; a silver medal was given for a first place and a bronze medal was given for second. The International Olympic Committee has retroactively assigned gold, silver, and bronze medals to competitors who earned first, second, and third place finishes respectively, bringing early Olympics in line with current awards.
Quatre rameurs de pointe/Senior Coxed Fours
French crews made up half the 10 entries with Germany providing three and both the Netherlands and Spain one each. The regatta jury 'tore up' their rule book following protests that crews eliminated in heats two and three had posted better times than the winner of heat one. They announced a further qualifying round but failed to notify all the crews. Despite the course having only four lanes they then announced that there would be a six-boat final. More protests followed and eventually two finals were raced; one for the winners of the three heats and one for the three crews involved in the original protest.
The winners of the three heats were as follows:
Ludwigshafener Ruder Verein (GER), time 6:14.0; Minerva Amsterdam (NED), time 6:02.0 and Germania Ruder Club, Hamburg (GER), time 5:56.2. These three crews should have been joined in the final by the runners-up to 'Germania' as this was a four-boat heat.
The runners-up in the first heat, Réal Club Barcelona (SPA) posted a very slow time of 6:38.4 and therefore there had been no reason for 'Ludwigshafener' to push themselves to race any quicker. The runner-up in the second heat, Club Nautique de Lyon (FRA), time 6:06.2 and the third crew from the final heat, Favorite Hammonia (GER), time 6:03.0 did not see it that way and so the protests began.
Eventually the jury went with the option of two finals, perhaps the least satisfactory of all the options available to them.
The final for the losers with the three quickest times from the heats, took place on Sunday 26 August and was won by Cercle de l'Aviron Roubaix (FRA), time 7:11.0. They had finished second in the four-boat heat and were automatic qualifiers for the final by right if the original programme had been followed. 'Lyon' finished second and 'Hammonia' last.
Germania Ruder Club - Olympic Champions in 1900.
Winning crew: Gustav Gobler, Oskar Gobler, Walter Katzenstein, Waldemar Tiegens & Carl Gobler (Cox).
The second final in this event was held over until the following day, Monday 27 August. The form of the crews in the heats was upheld with 'Germania' winning in a time of 5:59.0, 'Minerva' were four seconds behind and Ludwigshafener a close third in 6:05.0.
Bijkerk in his 1997 article includes a report by Dr. Meurer, the coach of the Dutch crews (participating under the patronage of Minerva Amsterdam). It was published in August 1900 in a Dutch sports magazine and it provides us with much valuable information about the organisation of the 'Minerva' crews, about the coxed fours event(s) and a reason why the 'A' final was held over until the following day: the original three prizes had been given to the crews in the first final and new prizes had to be supplied before the race could take place. Dr. Mauer did not mince his words when he expressed his opinion on the organisation of the regatta:
It is completely clear for me that the Netherlands should not any longer compete in rowing races in France; the conception of sport and the organization of races are more than 25 years outdated here!
There is a short slide show on the film website onlinefootage.tv that shows the coxed-pairs and coxed-fours as they line up to race on the River Seine. View the 44 second clip here. Included is a picture of a coxswain with his arm raised. He certainly looks younger than the boy recruited by Brandt and Klein.
Huit rameurs de pointe/Senior Eights
Five crews from five countries raced two heats. The first two crews in each heat were to advance to a four boat final. Minerva Amsterdam (NED) won the first heat in 4:59.2; Club Nautique de Gand (BEL) were second, time 5:00.2 and Germania Ruder Club, Hamburg (GER), time 5:04.8, finished third of the three. In the second heat which was effectively a row-over Vesper Boat Club (USA) finished alone in a time of 5:15.4, Société Nautique de la Marne (FRA) failing to finish. 'Germania' was thus allowed to take the fourth place in the final. The times quoted (Wikipedia) are fast, even for a course of 1,750m.
The American Eight on the River Seine, Paris, 1900.
The final was won by the American crew in a time of 6:07.8. The Belgians finished second, time 6:13.8 beating the Dutch (6:23.0) and the Germans (6:33.0). Alfred van Landeghem (Cox) and Oscar de Somville were members the Belgian crew and you can read more about their exploits at Henley Royal Regatta (1906-09) and the 1908 Olympics in The Mysterious Affair of 'Les Braves Belges'.
The Dutch crew, Minerva Amsterdam, contained the winning coxed pair of Brandt and Klein. They were coxed by Hermanus Brockmann who lost his seat in the final of the coxed-pairs but was the coxswain of four that finished runner-up to 'Germania'. As the IOC recognizes him as a winner in the pairs, as a runner-up in the fours and a bronze medallist in the eights, he is, without ever knowing it, the first multi-medallist in Olympic rowing.
Olympic Champions - Vesper Boat Club representing the USA. Missing from the photo is the coxswain, Louis Abell. Is that their trophy in the foreground?
The First Irishman …
In the four-seat of the victorious American crew was 24-year-old William John 'Bill' Carr. He was born on 17 June 1876 in Gortnagrace, near Castlefin, County Donegal, Ireland. He went to the United States in the 1890s where he worked initially as a carpenter, and later as a building inspector in Philadelphia. His parents were Robert Edmund McIlcar of Gortnagrace, Castlefin and Jane Doran of Alt, also near Castlefin; they were married when they were 20 and 21 years-old respectively at Melmount Catholic Church, Strabane, County Tyrone on 11 February 1873. It wasn't unusual for immigrants to simplify or change their name on entering the United States.
In November 2000, Vesper Boat Club honoured this crew by hosting a celebration of their achievement a century before. Bill Lyon wrote a preview of the event in the Philadelphia Inquirer on 2 November 2000:
So there they sat, the nine of them in a wooden boat, bobbing about in the choppy waters of the River Seine, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, waiting for the start. Eight sturdy Philadelphians and a coxswain, come to Paris to represent America and the Vesper Boat Club, in the 1900 Olympics.
A fierce head wind raged at them, but they dug grimly in and after a dozen strokes opened a lead they would never yield. They covered 1 mile and 153 yards (1,750 meters) in 6 minutes, 7 4/5 seconds, six full seconds ahead of runner-up Belgium.
The crew of eight: John Exley, Henry de Baecke, James Juvenal, John Geiger, William Carr, Ed Hedley, Edward Marsh and Roscoe Lockwood. The cox: Louis Abell. The coach: Pat Dempsey, who took no salary. Rowing, in the minds of its devotees, is its own reward.
A full century later, descendants of the Vesper Olympic champions are gathering tonight, 72 of them, at the newly restored club on gleaming Boathouse Row. Great-grandchildren and great-nephews are coming, bringing with them mementos - a medal, statuary, even one of the original oars.
It is being billed as a history flashback. Not many reunions link 100 years.
Although Olympic rowing did not have the most auspicious start, the fact remains that it has been on the Olympic programme since Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the modern Olympics, and rowing is the only Olympic team sport to be included in every modern summer Games.
Some historians and websites suggest that there were six events for rowing at the 1900 Olympics. This is not the accepted position by the IOC who recognize four events, albeit with two sets of prizes awarded in the coxed-fours category. The event that causes confusion is a coxless-pairs event won by Belgium. The eminent Olympic historian, Bill Mallon in his work The 1900 Olympic Games (1998) lists four criteria that should be considered in determining whether an event held during the Exposition Universelle of 1900 was an 'Olympic' event or one held in conjunction with the Exposition. The four criteria are: Amateur or Professional, International or National, Handicapped or not and Open or Restricted. He concluded that the single sculls, coxed-pairs, coxed-fours and coxed-eights were all Olympic events because the competitors were amateurs, the events were international, the races were not handicapped and these events were open to all. Four other events were raced at the regatta – three events for juniors; coxless-pairs, coxless-fours and coxed-eights and a coxless-fours event for novices. These four events failed the 'openness' criterion and therefore are not judged to be Olympic events by the IOC.
The coxless pairs event was won by Belgium; another Belgian crew was second with France in third place. The winners are given as Van Crombuge and De Sonville. Could they actually be Marcel Van Crombrugge and Oscar De Somville who raced in the Belgian eight that took the silver medal? Now there's something for Poirot to ponder!
Labels: Bill Carr, Bill Mallon, François Brandt, Georges Delaporte, Greg Denieffe, Hermann Barrelet, Hermanus Brockmann, Louis Prével, Olympic Rowing, Roelof Klein, Saint George Ashe
Results from World Cup II and Henley Women's Regatta
It was a busy weekend across the pond. The Marlow Regatta (nowadays at Dorney Lake) and the Henley Women's Regatta were held in England, while FISA World Cup II was organised on Lake Aiguebelette, France. Unfortunately, at the time of posting this blog post, the results from Marlow have not yet been posted on the regatta's website, therefore, below you will only find the results from the two other regattas:
Results at Henley Women's Regatta, here.
World Rowing Cup II in Aiguebelette, here.
Labels: FISA World Cup, Henley Women's Regatta, Marlow Regatta
Women Racing at Marlow 95 Years Ago
Today, it was both the Marlow Regatta, held at Dorney Lake (this year only a one-day regatta), and Henley Women's Regatta at Henley, of course. We will hopefully put links up for the results tomorrow, but in the meantime enjoy a ninety-five-year-old little film from Marlow, where women of Newnham College, Cambridge University, met London School of Medicine.
Labels: British Pathe, London School of Medicine, Marlow Regatta, Newnham College, Women Rowing
2014 Henley Women's Regatta Starts Today!
Photo: HWR.org.uk
Today, the Henley Women's Regatta starts and goes on until 22 June. Though living in the shade of the Henley Royal Regatta (which will be held in two weeks), the Women's Henley is the largest regatta in England for women. This weekend more than one thousand six hundred women – on an international level, Senior and Intermediate level for clubs and universities, and race experience and development for Schools, Juniors and Under-16s – are expected to race. Crews are coming from all around Great Britain, Ireland, France, New Zealand and the U.S. From the latter country, I was happy to read that Bowdoin College, Maine, is sending two coxed fours. Bowdoin actually started their rowing programme (for men) already in 1858, but after a couple of decades the programme died, but was brought to life again in 1986.
Bowdoin's Women's Varsity 1 boat, called the Gibbons, with Katie Ross '14, Emily Martin '15, Courtney Payne '15, Mary Bryan Barksdale '15 and coxswain Sophie Berubé '16 won the Reading Amateur Regatta last weekend.
Read more about Henley Women's Regatta here.
Labels: Bowdoin College, Henley Women's Regatta
The Olympic '56 Eight Reunion
A few weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of bumping into William 'Bill' Becklean, cox of the Yale crew who took the Olympic gold medal in the eights in 1956. We had a nice chat, and Bill mentioned that he and the others in the Olympic eight crew were soon to have their annual reunion. Yesterday, he sent along a photograph of the group, of which only five remain. Special guest at the reunion was Emory Clark, of the Vesper '64 Olympic eight, also an Olympic champion.
I would like to share the photograph of the group with you readers.
Left to right: [at the head of the table] Bob Morey, stroke; Tom Charlton, bow and captain; [white trousers] Bill Becklean, cox; Ann Esselstyn; Emory Clark, of the 64 Vesper Olympic crew; Dave Wight, #2; and Caldwell 'Ess' Esselstyn, #6 and host of the reunion, at his farm near Hudson, N.Y.
Bill writes: 'Only five of us are left, Emory was added this year, so we didn't have to retell all the old rowing stories!'
Thank you, Bill, may there be many more reunions for your group to come!
Labels: Bill Becklean, Bob Morey, Caldwell Esselstyn, Dave Wight, Emory Clark, Olympic Rowing, Tom Charlton
Impressive International Range of Rowers at the World Rowing Cup II
In a press release the World Rowing Federation, FISA, announces a diverse field of entries for World Rowing Cup II in Aiguebelette, France, on 19-22 June, 2014. FISA writes:
Lake Aiguebelette will host nearly 700 athletes from 46 nations. Strong rowing countries like Australia and New Zealand are making the trip to Europe, as well as the United States and Canada. This means tough competition for last year's World Cup overall winner, Great Britain.
A full schedule of racing includes Olympic, International and Para-rowing boat classes. China has entered all Olympic boat classes, with Great Britain and Germany the next biggest teams in this area. Of the five Para-rowing boat classes Poland, Ukraine and Russia have entered the most, with four boat classes each.
The lightweight men's double is the most popular boat class with 30 entries. This includes local favourites Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou (FRA). Delayre and Azou became European Champions earlier this month, but they will face World Champions Kristoffer Brun and Are Standli (NOR) in the quest for World Cup points.
The women's double sculls has created a lot of interest with Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj (POL) looking to lead the way. Multiple World and Olympic Champion Ekaterina Karsten (BLR) is back in the boat, with Olympic and World medallist Yulia Bichyk, to form a formidable combination. Karsten, who just turned 42 years, is into her third decade of international competition.
Emma Twigg (NZL) won the women's single sculls over Olympic Champion Mirka Knapkova (CZE) at the World Rowing Cup I in Sydney and the two will meet again in Aiguebelette for some high intensity racing. In the men's single sculls, Ondrej Synek (CZE) continues to look unbeatable. Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale (NZL) returns to international racing to challenge Synek along with top sculler Marcel Hacker (GER).
World and Olympic champions USA in the women's eight and World Champion Great Britain in the men's eights will add to an exciting finish to the regatta.
The regatta starts on the afternoon of 19 June with Para-rowing heats and continues to 22 June 2014. The heats on 20 June will be in time trials format in order to prepare all rowers for possible contingency scenarios at some point in the future. The rest of the races will follow the FISA progression system leading to the finals on 22 June.
Full entries and provisional timetable can be found at www.worldrowing.com The World Rowing media centre includes a media guide for the event (online as of yesterday, 16 June 2014) at http://www.worldrowing.com/mediacenter/
Race reports, live results, live blogging, live race tracker and a photo gallery will be available on www.worldrowing.com throughout the regatta.
Labels: FISA, FISA World Cup
Van Voorhis New Yale Captain
In a press release Yale announces that the team has elected a new captain for the 2014-15 Season. The press release reads:
Photo: Bulldogs.com
Following the best varsity eight finishes in years at the Eastern Sprints and IRAs, the Yale heavyweights have elected Lyon Van Voorhis to lead the team to even better results as next year's captain. The rising senior from Mattapoisett, Mass., is a history major in Branford College. He will take over leadership duties for the heavyweights from outgoing captain Zachary Johnson '14.
"I am very honored to have been granted this responsibility", said Van Voorhis. "In my three years on the team, I have seen unbelievable growth in the program, and I am excited to keep moving it forward this coming year".
Van Voorhis joined the heavyweight crew his freshman year as a novice to the sport. In his first year rowing, he sat four-seat in the 1F that had dual season wins over Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn and Princeton.
His sophomore year, Van Voorhis was a part of the crew that finished second in the Club Eight event at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. He went on to row in the third varsity that beat Dartmouth and finished ninth at Sprints.
This past season, Van Voorhis rowed in the junior varsity, helping it to one of its most successful seasons in recent history. The boat went 3-3 in the regular dual-racing season, beating Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. The boat went on to finish 12th at Sprints and 10th at IRAs.
Growing up in Mattapoisett, Van Voorhis attended Falmouth Academy, where he played varsity soccer, basketball and lacrosse. During his senior seasons in high school he made the All-League Team for all three. He began rowing during his first year at Yale.
This summer Van Voorhis will be training out of a rowing club and working in Berlin, Germany.
Labels: Lyon Van Voorhis, Yale
Rowing in Basque
In Basque country
fourteen men crew
a trainera,
rowed in competition,
fishing village against fishing village,
a competition evolving
out of the 12th century
when rowers would race one another
out into the rough
Atlantic to harpoon
whales sighted off the coast,
men powered by the survival of their culture,
men powered by the ocean,
men made men of
by the ocean, men
getting in touch with
the fish in their blood,
the ancestral fish
in all our bloods.
In Basque country, men
row their civilization.
Philip Kueeper
Labels: Basque, Philip Kuepper, Rowing Poetry, Trainera
Go To Blazers
Tim Koch writes:
For over six months, HTBS has been dropping hints about a lavish book on rowing blazers that was in production. Even before some examples showing the quality of the photography and text crept out, the project already had great credibility as the person behind it, Jack Carlson, is a man steeped in rowing. This was not going to be something thrown together by a publisher out for a quick profit using stock pictures and hack text culled from the internet. I wrote about Jack very recently in my pieces on the Oxford Summer Eights (where he coached the crew that went Head of the River) and HTBS's Greg Denieffe interviewed him last year and wrote this:
Jack Carlson has certainly had an annus mirabilis in 2013. A winner at this year's Henley Royal Regatta and Canadian Henley Regatta, he was instrumental in bringing together a 'Super 8' made up of some of the world's fastest women scullers to compete at last week's Head of the Charles Regatta racing as Cambridge Boat Club in the Women's Championship Eights, they started behind the USA national crew and rowed a remarkably well passed race to snatch victory by 1.2 seconds.
Previously he coxed at Buckingham Browne and Nichols School, was Captain of Rowing at Georgetown and was the co-creator of the iErg. In his spare time he is writing a PhD thesis at Oriel College, Oxford.
Clearly, Jack is someone who gets things done and done well. It was with great excitement therefore that I received the above invitation, my chance to see the book before its official publication date. I can tell you now that I was not disappointed. A full review will follow, it would be wrong to rush something when so much time (four years) and care had obviously been put into producing Rowing Blazers. The official website tells the story of how the book came about, shows some of the wonderful images and allows pre-ordering of copies. For now, here are some pictures of the London launch party. There are other launch events planned for Henley in July and New York and Boston in September-October.
Not the first dummy to wear a rowing blazer.
Jack and a fan.
Selfie 1
This could be one of those books where an unsigned copy is worth more than a signed one.
The Ralph Lauren event was covered by many others, most not usually present at rowing events, including the 'society magazine', Tatler, The Times, and other blogs including boymeetsfashion, andrewcusack and preposity. Air kisses to you all, darlings.
Labels: Jack Carlson, Rowing Blazers, Rowing Books, Tim Koch, Well-Dressed Gents
Lords v Commons Boat Race: Parliamentary Upset
What do members of the House of Commons do worse than running the country? After today some would say 'rowing' (though I think that may be a little unfair).
Their Lordships make their way to the start.
The All Party Parliamentary Rowing Group was established in 2006 to run an annual Lords v Commons boat race in order to raise funds for charity and to support the sport of rowing. After today the score is five wins to the Commons and three to the Lords. The event includes three other 'two boat races', one each for invited men's and women's clubs crews and one for two crews from London Youth Rowing. For the first time there was also an indoor rowing event for adaptive and special needs rowers.
Stroke of the Commons, Dan Byles MP and cox, Julia Headley.
The Commons crew were:
Stroke: Dan Byles MP
7: Andrew Cusack (A Parliamentary Researcher)
6: Matthew Offord MP
5: Aidan Burley MP
4: 'Last minute sub'
3: Luke Webster (A Parliamentary Researcher)
2: Sian Norris-Copson (An MP's Head of Office)
Bow: Graham Evans MP
Cox: Julia Headley (Vesta RC)
The stroke, Dan Byles MP was probably the man most suited to the day as his Wikipedia entry describes him as a 'mountaineer, sailor, ocean rower and polar adventurer'. He has the smallest majority of all Conservative Members of Parliament (54) and so his rescue was no doubt greeted with relief by a Government keen to avoid a bye-election.
Both crews on the start.
The Lord's crew (not in seating order) were:
The Lord Thomas of Gresford (Stroke)
The Lord Addington
The Earl of Courtown
The Lord Paddick
The Lord St John of Bletso
The Lord Redesdale
The Viscount Goschen
The Lord Bilimoria
Cox: Claudia Stocker (London RC)
Since 1999 few Hereditary Peers can sit in the Lords and this instantly cut off a fine supply of men who attended good rowing schools. In compensation their Lordships actually practised for this event, something the 'Other Place' did not manage to do. It showed in both cases.
In deference to their age, the Lords were given an eight second start. As it turned out, based on ability it was the Commons who should have been given the advantage. The Lords soon opened up a commanding lead and rowed on comfortably to win 'easily'.
Mid-way through the race, the Lords have a comfortable lead.
The Commons seemed to find the worst water but appeared to be managing.
The Lords finish in fine form.
The finish point was where the Lord's Terrace overlooking the river ended and the Commons Terrace began and the crews were greeted with polite applause from both sides. The Lords turned early and went in easily to disembark at 'Black Rod's Steps', a landing spot especially built in the days when arrival by boat was a common way to enter Westminster. The Commons crew went above Westminster Bridge before they turned but seemed to be making their way back to Parliament without too much trouble, despite the rough water and the mostly novice crew. The cox, Julia Headley of Vesta RC, an experienced steers, takes up the story:
The Lord's (eight second start) was probably a little too much but we came back at them... when the race had finished, because the tide was on the way out we were carried through the bridge and, unfortunately, on the other side of the bridge there were some large cruisers that were creating quite a lot of wash. We got trapped under the bridge... it was (like the) North Sea coming in over the boat... but everybody stayed with the boat and everybody did what they were told....
The Lords head back for afternoon tea.
Pictured very shortly before their upset, the Commons, having turned above Westminster Bridge, found the water very rough. Their personal safety boat can be seen shadowing them in the background and it was at their side in seconds when they capsized.
Luckily, it was a nice day for a swim, very warm.
One MP said that it was the most fun of any of the Parliamentary races that he had done as 'up till now, we just finished and got out of the boat, which is kind of boring'. They seemed to have genuinely enjoyed the experience but it could have been very different were it not for the very elaborate (and as it turns out very necessary) safety precautions that the organisers had taken. If I had to end up in the tidal Thames at some event, this is the one that I would choose – and not only because you get tea and cakes on the terrace of the Palace of Westminster afterwards.
Safe on the Umpire's launch, Day Byles, Andrew Cusack and Julia Headley greet their supporters on the Lord's Terrace.
The Common's crew, seemingly non the worse for their swim.
See also yesterday's blog post, here.
Labels: Dan Byles, Julia Headley, Parliamentary Boat Race, Tim Koch
Results from World Cup II and Henley Women's Regat...
Impressive International Range of Rowers at the Wo...
2014 Parliamentary Boat Race: Peers Win, MPs Swim
One Up for Charley Butt – When Crimson Takes All
New Rowing Book: Port Jackson Pullers
Bumps to the Head: The 2014 Oxford Summer Eights. ...
Bumps to the Head: The 2014 Oxford Summer Eights -...
The Rock will stay Red!
Will the Rock be Red or Blue Tomorrow?
Some Strong Crimson Coxes
The No-Wiggle Rigs
A 1936 German 'Silver Man'
Bravest & Finest Fight it out on the Harlem
Results from this Weekend's Regattas


text:
Browns' Jarvis Landry suffers MCL injury, leaving teammates to rally from dip in intensity
Nate Ulrich
CLEVELAND — Nick Chubb felt the energy drop, and Myles Garrett thought the entire team was affected.
The Browns lost five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver and respected team leader Jarvis Landry to a knee injury on the second play from scrimmage in their 31-21 win over the Houston Texans in Sunday's home opener at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Landry suffered a medial collateral ligament injury, and the team's medical staff will have images of the knee Monday morning.
"Very tough. You don't ever want to lose Jarvis Landry from your football team, so hopefully he's back real soon," Stefanski said. "But he's another leader of this football team. I think he was on his way to having a good day, so we'll just see what the MRI looks like in the morning."
A two-time Pro Bowl running back, Chubb missed four games last season with a sprained MCL.
"It was tough," Chubb said. "After [Landry] went down, it took us a while to get going. I felt the energy kind of drop a little bit because Jarvis, he's a big part of our offense, he brings energy and intensity and he makes big plays."
Landry came up limping after catching a screen pass from quarterback Baker Mayfield for a 9-yard gain early in the first quarter. Landry was examined in the medical tent on the sideline before walking with medical personnel to the locker room.
The Browns (1-1) initially announced Landry was questionable to return, but early in the third quarter they ruled him out for the remainder of the game.
An All-Pro defensive end, Garrett described the emotional toll Landry's exit had on the Browns.
"It affects all us, but the sparks are flying for us to push on for him because we know that he'd be in our ear — offense, defense, special teams — trying to get us amped to play our best," Garrett said. "So we were just trying to carry on with the energy that he always provides."
Landry's streak of consecutive regular-season games with at least two receptions ended at 111. Only Tim Brown (147), Jerry Rice (146) and Antonio Brown (125) have had longer streaks of that nature in NFL history.
Landry entered this season as healthy as he has ever been since the Browns acquired him in 2018 via a trade with the Miami Dolphins. He had five catches on five targets for 71 yards and rushed twice for 13 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown, last week in a 33-29 season-opening loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Chubb and quarterback Baker Mayfield pointed out Landry's injury gave rise to rookie running back and receiver Demetric Felton. A sixth-round draft pick, Felton caught two passes on two targets for 51 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown with 7:50 left in the third quarter.
"I feel like we've had to preach the next-man-up mentality quite a bit," said Mayfield, who suffered a left shoulder injury in the second quarter but played through it. "We've been trying to tell D-Felt that he needs to be studying Jarvis' stuff quite a bit, just 'cause when they get the ball in their hands, good things happen. Obviously, that showed today.
"You never want to lose a player the caliber of Jarvis, but even more so the leadership that he brings. When things aren't going well, the stuff that he can say to all the guys, [it's] just another voice that we have to lean on. So it sucks. Hopefully it's not too serious, and we'll move on."
With Landry likely to miss games, the Browns could use three-time Pro Bowl receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on Sunday at home against the Chicago Bears (1-1).
Beckham figures to be close to completing his comeback attempt, but he has yet to play since suffering a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Oct. 25 against the Cincinnati Bengals and undergoing surgery Nov. 10.
If neither Landry nor Beckham are available, the Browns could lean on receivers Donovan Peoples-Jones, rookie Anthony Schwartz and Rashard Higgins, running backs Chubb and Kareem Hunt and tight ends Austin Hooper, David Njoku and Austin Hooper.
Also, don't forget about Felton.
"D-Felt got more opportunities to make plays, and he did for us," Chubb said. "If a guy goes down, we're all prepared to step, and I think our team did a good job with Jarvis going down today."
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.


text:
Q: ModelBinded IList-items are empty OnPost In my page I generate multiple forms based on my models like this:
@for (var i = 0; i < Model.CaseData.Case.CaseSheets.Count; i++)
{
    Model.CaseData.CaseSheetNum = i;

        <form method="post">
            <input type="hidden" asp-for="CaseData.Case.Id" />
            <input type="hidden" asp-for="CaseData.Case.CaseSheets[i].Id" />
            <input type="hidden" asp-for="CaseData.CaseSheetNum" />

@Model.CaseData.Case.CaseSheets[i].Title

            @for (var n = 0; n < Model.CaseData.Case.CaseSheets[i].CaseSheetOptions.Count; n++)
            {
                Model.CaseData.CaseSheetOptionNum = n;
                await Html.RenderPartialAsync("PartialName", Model.CaseData);
            }

<button type="submit" name="Submit" class="btn">Save sheet</button>

        </form>

}

When I post the forms I can retrieve that value of CaseData.Case.Id but CaseData.Case.CaseSheets is empty (should be a List of 6 items).
The models:
public class Case
{

    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public Guid AccountId { get; set; }
    public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
    public Guid CreatedBy { get; set; }
    public DateTime? ClosedDate { get; set; }
    public Guid? ClosedBy { get; set; }
    public int Status { get; set; }

    public IList<CaseSheet> CaseSheets { get; set; }

}

public class CaseSheet
{

    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public int MajorNum { get; set; }
    public int MinorNum { get; set; }
    public Guid CaseId { get; set; }
    public int Status { get; set; }

    public IList<CaseSheetOption> CaseSheetOptions { get; set; }

}

public class CaseSheetOption
{

    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Headline { get; set; }
    public string Text { get; set; }
    public bool Yes { get; set; }
    public bool No { get; set; }
    public string Comment { get; set; }
    public Guid CaseSheetId { get; set; }
    public int Priority { get; set; }
    public int Status { get; set; }

}

public class CaseData
{

    public Case Case { get; set; }
    public int CaseSheetNum { get; set; }
    public int CaseSheetOptionNum { get; set; }

}

The controller:
[BindProperty]
public CaseData CaseData { get; set; }

public async Task<IActionResult> OnGetAsync(Guid id)
{

    var c = await _dbContext.Cases.Include(x => x.CaseSheets).ThenInclude(x => x.CaseSheetOptions).FirstOrDefaultAsync(x => x.Id == id);
    c.CaseSheets = c.CaseSheets.OrderBy(x => x.MajorNum).ThenBy(x => x.MinorNum).ToList();

    foreach (var sheet in c.CaseSheets)
    {
        sheet.CaseSheetOptions = sheet.CaseSheetOptions.OrderBy(x => x.Priority).ToList();
    }

    CaseData = new CaseData
    {
        Case = c,
        CaseSheetNum = 0,
        CaseSheetOptionNum = 0
    };

    return Page();

}

public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostAsync()
{

    var caseSheets = CaseData.Case.CaseSheets;
    int caseSheetNum = CaseData.CaseSheetNum;
    Guid caseSheetId = caseSheets[caseSheetNum].Id;

    var sheetOptions = await _dbContext.CaseSheetOptions.Where(x => x.CaseSheetId == caseSheetId && x.Status == 1).ToListAsync();

    foreach (var option in caseSheets[caseSheetNum].CaseSheetOptions)
    {
        var sheetOption = sheetOptions.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Id == option.Id);
        sheetOption.Yes = option.Yes;
        sheetOption.No = option.No;
        sheetOption.Comment = option.Comment;
        _dbContext.Update(sheetOption);
    }
    await _dbContext.SaveChangesAsync();

    return RedirectToPage("", new { caseSheetId });

}

In the OnPost() the caseSheets.GetType() is Generic.List, but caseSheets.Count is 0 (it should be 6).
The input-fields are named like CaseData.Case.CaseSheets[2].CaseSheetOptions[0].Id.
What am I missing?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A big beautiful book on the disco generation of the 70s – oversized, filled with color images, and broken into great little segments that serve up the period in sweet little slices! The book's a lot better than we might have guessed – thoughtfully put together, with a look at disco from many directions – its roots, its records, its regulars, its radio – and a whole host of other intersecting forces that made the period one of the greatest ever for groovy music! The text is layered beautifully with the images – which include loads of vintage images from the clubs, fashion, records, magazines, and more – a really great array of pictures, but put together with an eye more towards historical significance – not just 70s trash. 256 pages, hardcover, in full color!


• Assign responsibility for dealing with the spill - again, this must be someone who has had appropriate training in the use of spill kits and dealing with chemical spills • Consult the Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for advice on dealing with the type of spill that has occurred.
When a corrosive chemical is spilled, people often panic or are unsure of how to proceed. While corrosive chemicals are certainly dangerous and must be treated accordingly, cleanup isn't as difficult or complicated as many people fear.
It is essential that chemical spillages are quickly contained to minimise the loss and damage caused. To ensure spillages can be contained and dealt with as quickly as possible it is essential to have an emergency spill control plan in place.
Whether large or small, spills require caution and skill to contain them safely. Here's a quick general response guide on how to clean up chemical spills in the lab.


Violent Dems Attack Peaceful Trump Protesters Showing Support For Trump – Where's the Media Now?
Never expect the mainstream media to report the news in an unbiased way.
On Saturday, President Trump supporters took part in the March4Trump, an event that was designed for Trump supporters to show their support for the president.
However, as supporters met and peacefully voiced their support for the president, several violent Democrats showed up and began attacking them, burning hats and signs, and engaging in other violent behavior.
True to form, Democrats made it clear that they would not allow the free speech of Trump supporters to take place without a fight. As expected, Trump supporters were beaten, heads were cracked, people who tried to run from mobs of cowards chasing them down the streets like a pack of hyenas, were severely beaten when they were finally caught. All of these things happened while what appeared to be an uninterested group of Berkeley law enforcement officers took a mostly hands off approach.
Photo credit goes to Noah Berger, SF Chronicle, and Lizzie Johnson's Twitter.


One, two three o'clock, four o'clock rock.
Nine, ten, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock rock.
We gonna rock around the clock tonight.
We're gonna rock rock rock till the broad daylight.
we'll be riding up in seventh heven.


text:
Q: Как сделать, чтобы эта svg иконка стала белой?
У меня есть иконка svg, я не знаю как её вставить, у я вот так прописал `
          <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" iewBox="0 0 50 50">
                 <g>
                    <path id="clock_blog" d="images/clock-blog.svg" />
                 </g>
              </svg>-->``

Но я не знаю как редактировать размер, что написать. **,  Помогите пожалуйста **

A: Вот как-то так можно извлечь путь и добавить в свою svg

let downloadedSvgAsText = `<svg><path d="M10,10 l10,-10 l10,10 l10,-10"></svg>`
let tmp = document.createElement('div');
tmp.innerHTML = downloadedSvgAsText;
let d = tmp.querySelector('path').getAttribute('d');
document.querySelector('#clock_blog').setAttributeNS(null, 'd', d);
console.log(d);
body{
background-color:black
}
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 50 50">
   <g>
      <path fill="white" id="clock_blog" d=""/>
   </g>
</svg>

downloadedSvgAsText скачать либо через xmlhttprequest либо fetch, а еще лучше использовать какой нибудь webpack и вставлять эти картинки еще при сборке


Afghan boys play on the outskirts of Jalalabad April 6, 2015.
Hello! Here's what you need to know for Wednesday.
1. A South Carolina police officer has been charged with murder for allegedly shooting an apparently unarmed black man at least eight times in the back as he was running away.
2. Royal Dutch Shell is reportedly in talks to acquire British gas producer BG Group, which has a market value of $46 billion (£31 billion).
3. German economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel called Greece's demand Tuesday for more than €278 billion ($306 billion) in World War II reparations "dumb."
4. Russian-hired hackers reportedly breached an unclassified White House system and pilfered information about President Obama's daily schedule and communications.
6. A new Russian-led offensive in Ukraine is likely to take place within the month, the former head of US and NATO forces in Europe warned Tuesday.
7. FedEx made a $4.8 billion (£3.2 billion) bid Tuesday for Dutch rival TNT Express, which will make the US delivery service the No. 2 package delivery service in Europe, with a 17% market share, if the acquisition is approved.
8. Oil prices fell Wednesday after Saudi Arabia reported a record output of 10.3 million barrels per day in March.
9. A United Nations official has described the situation in a Syrian refugee camp as "beyond inhumane" as Palestinian fighters clash with Islamic State militants.
10. The US is expediting its arms shipments to a Saudi-led alliance bombing the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.
All six "Star Wars" films will be available to download from online this Friday.


text:
Q: DoS in Sleep function PLSQL How to avoid DoS attack in the below case?
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION slow_function (
  p_in INT
AS
BEGIN
  DBMS_LOCK.sleep(p_in);
END;
)

A: DBMS_LOCK.SLEEP does not use any significant resources.  There is nothing specific to that function that would enable a denial of service attack.  On the contrary, that is probably one of the safest functions anybody could execute.
To demonstrate this, I ran the below test case on a PC to simulate 100 sessions calling the function at the same time.  Even with 100 sessions, oracle.exe used less than 1% of the CPU.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION slow_function (
  p_in INT) RETURN NUMBER
AS
BEGIN
  DBMS_LOCK.sleep(p_in);
  RETURN 1;
END;
/

select /*+ parallel(100) */ slow_function(60) from dba_tables;

--In another session, check that statement is really using 100 sessions.
select * from v$px_process;


text:
Bridging the Gap: The Oxford Review on the problem of academic-practitioner distance
David Wilkinson, Editor-in-Chief of The Oxford Review, has written an incredibly insightful piece on the gap between the world of research and that of business– what he deems the "academic-practitioner distance." It both underscores the mission of Ethical Systems and spotlights the reasons why it is in the best interest of both communities to close this chasm.
Wilkinson shows how "The gap isn't just a physical one, [extending to] a gap of perspective, language, understanding and thinking."
Each group has its own fences that keep learning siloed. Wilkinson explains that for practitioners:
"They are immersed in the day to day challenges and issues faced. They are, however, part of the culture and, as a result, things are often hiding in plain sight. Further, regardless of remonstrations to the opposite, they are subject to the pressures of the politics of the organisation and their departments / functions."
And for academics:
"There is no doubt that our universities conduct valuable and useful research that can help organisations become much more effective. In fact they produce lots of useful research that organisations could use. As the call for more evidence based practice increases, and with good reason, a rather large problem arises. Hardly anyone outside of academia has access to the research, has the time to find it, and even if they do find it understanding it is a nightmare. There is a very real and damaging academic – practitioner distance."
The main issue, as Wilkinson points out, is that "the people with the more pure forms of objective (-ish) evidence are in academic institutions and the people with the grounded know-how of the realities are in the organisations, with a few bridging the gap…Given that most practitioners and consultants don't have the time or expertise to find, translate and turn the research into something useful and practical it's like we have two different universes operating next to each other, both largely ignoring the other."
Further, as Wilkinson points out, "The best and most up-to-date evidence, based on good research using the very latest techniques can take years to permeate into the workplace, if indeed it ever does. We frequently find really useful and potentially game changing research that has been published in some obscure journal that hasn't even been cited by other academics, let alone seen by practitioners." This gets to the heart of why we see such a gap in the knowledge and application of lessons from relevant research
We appreciated that Wilkinson cautions that previous partnerships between organizations and universities have been more "transactional than mutually transformational," explaining "Universities see organisations as a potential source of funding and data, and organisations see universities as a source of external consultation and the odd research project. This is not a transformational relationship." Industries like aviation and medicine, however, represent a more ideal picture of how ongoing research and real world application can function hand in hand.
This is the gap that Professors Jonathan Haidt and Linda Trevino recognized in their piece in Nature Human Behavior: Make Business Ethics a Cumulative Science. Wilkinson's piece spotlights the fissure Ethical Systems is looking to fill in the area of business ethics research, with thoughtful curation of research by leaders in their field and the creation of new tools that help companies benefit from the peer review and validation processes that academic work depends on. Our mission is to blend the best of both approaches to provide opportunities to build better societies through ethical business behavior.
We urge you to read the entire piece on the Oxford Review here >>
*Academic-Practitioner Distance, illustration courtesy of David Wilkinson
November 21, 2017 /by Jeremy Willinger
Tags: academics, Academics-practitioner gap, David Wilkinson, practitioner, The Oxford Review
https://www.ethicalsystems.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/academicPracGap.png 257 1000 Jeremy Willinger https://ethicalsystems.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ES-logo-final-white.gif Jeremy Willinger2017-11-21 19:39:012020-03-26 16:56:34Bridging the Gap: The Oxford Review on the problem of academic-practitioner distance
Ethical Systems Files Amicus Brief in Defense of Internal Whistleblowers 2017 Ethical Systems Collaborator Highlights


text:
Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America is a 1991 science fiction collage film directed by Craig Baldwin. The film presents a chronicle of U.S. involvement in Latin America through a pseudo-documentary about an alien invasion.

Plot
An alien race called the Quetzals flee the destruction of the solar system's tenth planet and find shelter on Earth, hidden under the South Pole. They construct underground cities out of their own excrement, with large networks of caves reaching up to humans' water and sewage systems. When the United States begins nuclear weapons tests in the 1940s, the Quetzals prepare a counterattack. They use their telepathic powers to distort Earth's culture, sowing hatred and violence, and they infiltrate human society with human replicants.

This causes many of the crises of the twentieth century—political assassinations, civil wars growing out of the Cold War, and economic collapses under neoliberal austerity. Harry S. Truman establishes the Central Intelligence Agency to wage a secret war against the Quetzals. The CIA mounts plots against various replicants in Latin America—Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala, Fidel Castro in Cuba, and Salvador Allende in Chile. The Quetzals retaliate by assassinating John F. Kennedy and infiltrating the Democratic Party. The secret war escalates, and the Panama Canal is flooded with radioactive waste, melting the polar ice caps and flooding the entire planet. A small group of the political elite board spaceships to escape Earth. From space, they rejoice in the planet's destruction.

Production

Having worked with the El Salvador Film and Video Projects, Baldwin was interested in solidarity movements happening throughout Latin America. Reading articles about covert operations by the CIA in the CovertAction Information Bulletin, Baldwin thought that "these guys are like scriptwriters working for me…all I've got to do is put it in this movie, people will not believe it." The premise for Tribulation 99 was influenced by the 1970 documentary Chariots of the Gods, which speculated that aliens interacted with humans in visits to Earth long ago.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Baldwin built a large collection of thousands of film works, many of which were discarded by institutions changing to VHS. Material for Tribulation 99 was drawn from this archive of found footage. Instead of building the film around a prepared script, Baldwin edited works from the archive to imply connections and form a story. He enlisted local actor Sean Kilcoyne to do the film's narration, which Kilcoyne performed in an exaggerated form of journalese.

Themes
Tribulation 99 draws from many existing conspiracy theories, such as UFOs, the hollow Earth, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It plays on the idea of alien invasion to describe not just attack by extraterrestrials, but also the history of American imperialism in Latin America. Baldwin explained that when the story's literal meaning is "read backward, so to speak, through a mirror, the truth would emerge."

In this way, the film bypasses the didacticism of other kinds of documentary focused on consciousness raising, and it often strikes a comedic tone. Rather than critiquing the ideological distortion of his source material to allow an authentic history to emerge, Baldwin reconstructs them as part of a new narrative. This montage strategy disputes the idea that a historical reality is contained in the images and positions history as a site where multiple ideological narratives compete for dominance.

Release
Tribulation 99 was chosen for distribution by Drift Distribution. After its 1991 release, Ediciones la Calavera published a novelization of the film that November. It contained text and stills from the film. Tribulation 99 was selected for the 1992 San Francisco International Film Festival. It was later released on DVD with two of Baldwin's earlier shorts, Wild Gunman and RocketKitKongoKit.

Critical reception
J. Hoberman championed the film in a review for The Village Voice, describing it as "at once a sci-fi cheapster, a skewed history of U.S. intervention in Latin America, a satire of conspiratorial thinking, and an essential piece of current Americana". Manohla Dargis described the film as "a vertiginous expression of every bloody footnote to the Monroe Doctrine, cocooned in paranoid fantasies," and likened its frantic editing to the work of Bruce Conner. Dennis Harvey of Variety called it "a hilarious and bizarrely absorbing collage…coherent enough to avoid strictly experimental appeal." In his review for PopMatters, Keith McCrea wrote that "Baldwin manages to confuse, amuse, and inform without seeming arch or heavy-handed" and added that the film's rapid pace allows it to "[avoid] being smug while driving the point home relentlessly."

In 1999 cinema scholar Catherine Russell critiqued Baldwin's film as, "cut off from the historical real," however in a 2003 analysis and lengthy rebuttal to Russell published in The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, Michael Zyrd sees the work's ironic voice and paranoid tone of narration as 'real' insofar as they, "mimic the image saturation and chaos of contemporary media culture itself."

References

External links
 Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America at Other Cinema

1990s science fiction films
Alien invasions in films
American political films
American science fiction films
Collage film
Films about conspiracy theories
Films directed by Craig Baldwin
Films shot in San Francisco
1990s avant-garde and experimental films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The Teletubbies Could Hit North Korea
The BBC and the British government want to air programming in the isolated country
The Teletubbies might be coming to North Korea.
The British government is hoping to soften relations with the isolated country by exporting BBC television programs, the Sunday Times newspaper reports. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of Britain's public service broadcasting body, is in talks with North Korea's state-run television channel to screen a variety of programs,
"I have always believed what brought down the Berlin Wall was not highbrow diplomacy but Dallas and Dynasty," an unnamed senior British diplomatic source told the newspaper.
The British Foreign Secretary said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is assisting BBC Worldwide in picking a range of suitable programs that could be shown on North Korean TV, the Sunday Times reports. Possible options include popular soaps like EastEnders, to help showcase British life, and the children's program the Teletubbies, which has no dialogue.
[Sunday Times]


And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen, * years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah.
Uzziah was sixteen, * years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem.
Now he went out and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the Philistines.
The Ammonites also gave tribute to Uzziah, and his fame extended to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong.
The total number of the heads of the households, of valiant warriors, was 2,600 8337a>, *.
Under their direction was an elite army of 307,500 * * * * * *, who could wage war with great power, to help the king against the enemy.
In Jerusalem he made engines of war invented by skillful men to be on the towers and on the corners for the purpose of shooting arrows and great stones. Hence his fame spread afar *, for he was marvelously helped until * he was strong.
But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of the LORD, valiant men.
They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the LORD God."
But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside * the altar of incense.
Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because the LORD had smitten him.
King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the king's house judging the people of the land.
Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first to last, the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, has written.
So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings, for they said, "He is a leper." And Jotham his son became king in his place.