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Makerfield Labour Party Christmas Dinner
Lisa Nandy MP, Tony Lloyd MP & Sir Ian McCartney
A long-serving Labour Party stalwart was honoured at a function held in Wigan Town Hall on Friday, 16th December. Guest speaker was Tony Lloyd, MP for Manchester Central and Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Alderman Mrs Joan Hurst was the guest of honour at the Makerfield Labour Party dinner held in the Charter Suite.
Former Makerfield MP, Sir Ian McCartney and Cllr David Molyneux, Deputy Leader of Wigan Council were on hand to present Joan with a 'Long Service' certificate inscribed with the words;
Alderman Mrs Joan Hurst, Sir Ian McCartney & Cllr David Molyneux
'To honour a lifetime's commitment to the Labour Party and the people of Wigan.'
The certificate is signed by Leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband and General Secretary, Iain McNicol.
Joan Hurst represented the Ince Ward on Wigan Council 1997-2011. She was the first citizen of the Borough in 2000/01 in her Mayoral year. Her Grandfather, John Parkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Wigan from 1918 until his death in 1941. His tenure was the first of an unbroken chain of Labour MPs to the present day.
Sir Ian McCartney said, "Joan has been a community fighter and activist all of her life. She served with distinction as one of Wigan's few women mayors. She is a Labour stalwart who deserves this recognition.
Cllr David Molyneux added, "Joan has always give 100% to the Labour Party and the Community where she lived and worked. This award is in recognition of that dedication and is well deserved."
Rugby League Group to challenge cuts to BBC Local Radio
The Parliamentary Rugby League Group are to challenge the BBC's proposed cuts to local sports coverage.
At a recent meeting in Westminster, the group heard from RFL Chairman Richard Lewis, veteran broadcaster Ray French, Head of BBC Sport for English Regions Charles Runcie and BBC London rugby league producer and commentator Ian Ramsdale.
This meeting brought home just how significant the proposed changes to BBC local radio are. There have been debates in Parliament on the cuts to local radio services, but for rugby league – which is recognised as one of the most community-focused sports in the UK – the consequences could be devastating.
If all the proposals made in the consultation are enacted, it will result in:
• The loss of local programmes on weekday afternoons, with programmes being shared with neighbouring stations;
• The loss of all local programming between 7pm and 10pm. This means the end of any sports magazine shows, in-depth discussion about sport and the opportunity to have options heard, engage with clubs, officials and others involved in the game;
• Significant loss of live commentary as there will be a massive reduction in the number of games covered and with the reduction in the number of commentators at games that are broadcast any local flavour disappears;
• The loss of all local programming between 1am until the start of the breakfast show. All stations would broadcast Radio 5 Live;
• The loss of a wide number of locally-split breakfast programmes; and
• Huge costs to any local station that wants to offer live coverage of more than one game matches of any sport as stations will be charged to use the medium wave band.
As Secretary of the Group, we are challenging the way the BBC has gone about consulting with the public on such an important issue as well as the proposals they are suggesting. We have written to Mark Thompson from the BBC and Chris Patten from the BBC Trust and have contacted other sports-related Parliamentary Groups asking to join us to raise these issues directly.
For more information, visit the Group's website.
Unify Credit Union welcomes newest member
Unify's Angela Fishwick was on hand to welcome me as a new member of Wigan's biggest credit union at the headquarters of the Higher Ince based Unify Credit Union Ltd.
Cllr Keir Stitt also joined us. Keir is the Chair of Wigan & Leigh Cooperative Party and a staunch supporter of credit unions. He is an existing member of Unify.
Angela Fishwick said, "We are really pleased that Yvonne recognises the good work that Unify Credit Union does within the borough and that she wants to be part of that success."
"As well as providing low cost loans, Unify members are encouraged to save and receive a good return on their savings (2.5% in 2010). All members' savings and loans are also insured at no cost to the member, meaning that the loan dies with the member and savings could be worth twice as much. This service is not provided by any other financial organisation."
Her membership comes in the month that a report from R3, a trade body for insolvency professionals, has found that 45% of the population struggle to make it to pay day each month before running out of cash and that 3.5 million adults are considering taking out a pay day loan in the next six months.
Pay day loans provide access to small sums of money until a person's next pay day but are controversial because of the rate of interest that they charge which can, in some cases, be as much as 4,000% APR. Whilst such borrowing can be useful for immediate one-off emergencies, critics point out that when loans are rolled over – only the interest is paid and the capital left for repayment at a later date – interest costs can quickly spiral out of control.
The report also raises the spectre of 'zombie debtors' who can afford to only make interest payments on their borrowings and finds that one in six now finds themselves in this position.
As Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Credit Unions I know that Credit Unions offer a safe and reliable way to save and they play a vital role in helping people through difficult financial circumstances.
Too many low income borrowers face extortionate rates of interest, but credit unions provide loans at low cost and help to keep the loan sharks away from the doorstep.
Credit Unions also support the growing appetite amongst the public for mutual alternatives to banks.
Home Heat Helpline
As we approach the coldest time of the year, the challenge that many households face in keeping their homes warm only becomes greater. Unfortunately, many people do not know where to turn for help.
I am therefore writing to urge anyone in Makerfield who is concerned about staying warm to call the Home Heat Helpline on 0800 33 66 99. It is a free, independent service which helps people to find out whether they are eligible for help.
Around 6,600 households in the Makerfield Constituency are entitled to some form of assistance with their fuel bills, which on average can be worth £250. People have nothing to lose from calling the helpline and potentially a lot to gain.
At this time of year, we must also think of others who may be struggling to keep warm. If you know anyone elderly or who you think may be having difficulties please urge them to call the Home Heat Helpline. Let's try to keep every home warm this winter.
Cameron's NHS plans will cost £22million across Wigan
New figures obtained by Labour has revealed the hidden cost of the Government's wasteful NHS reorganisation in Wigan. New guidelines will force the local NHS to put aside £22.1million from their budget this year and next to pay for a costly NHS restructure that David Cameron repeatedly ruled out.
These shocking new figures show the Government's reorganisation is costing the NHS even more than we first feared. It is scandalous that they are telling our local NHS to hold back millions of pounds for their own reckless plans whilst thousands of nursing jobs are being axed.
Our local area has already seen a 40% increase in the number of patients waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment since Cameron became Prime Minister. Before his plans are even fully through Parliament, David Cameron's reorganisation is hitting the NHS hard and costs are now topping £3.4bn across the country for the first time. Spending this amount on an unnecessary reorganisation is totally unjustifiable when every single penny should be focused on maintaining standards of care.
At the election Cameron ruled out top-down NHS reorganisations. But only weeks after entering Number 10, he ripped up his own words and ordered the biggest and most dangerous upheaval of the NHS since it began.
The financial request is buried in the Government's new NHS 'Operating Framework' document and takes the nationwide cost of the NHS reorganisation above previous estimates of £2-3bn, with Primary Care Trusts now holding back £3.44bn over two years.
This month leading doctors from the British Medical Association voted to call for an immediate halt to the Government's costly and controversial Health Bill.
The country did not vote for it and our doctors, nurses and patients have already expressed huge concerns at the plans. Yet Cameron is ploughing on with his Health Bill, ignoring public and professional opinion. The time has come for him to listen, put the NHS first and drop his dangerous Bill.
£22million should be focused on proving health care for patients not a needless reorganisation.
Christmas Card Design Competition
Picture credit - John Rowbotham
Today I proudly announced the winner of my 2011 Christmas card competition today as Aleyna Adamson (aged 10), a pupil of St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School, Ashton in Makerfield.
I presented Aleyna with a framed copy of her winning picture and a set of books by famous childrens' author Jacqueline Wilson during the school's morning assembly.
The design competition attracted entries from across the constituency with all of the designs being carefully judged.
It was an absolute pleasure to present Aleyna with her prize. It's a great design and she's clearly hit the right note, so I'm sure people will enjoy receiving the card in the run up to Christmas.
I know everybody at St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School will be very proud of Aleyna and I am too.
We had a fantastic response from local schools. The children clearly put a lot of effort into their art-work so it made my job of picking the winner extremely difficult. But I'd like to thank all of the children and their teachers for taking part.
Aleyna's winning design
 I also presented a prize to the runner up, Shanice Galloway (aged 10), a pupil attending St Paul's CE Primary School, Goose Green. Shanice's design features on the back of the card.
Aleyna's winning design will be sent to a number of distinguished people in the political world, including both the Prime-Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband. The card will also be sent to individuals across the public and private sector in the Wigan Borough including the Mayor of Wigan, Cllr Joy Birch.
Work Capability Test faces scrutiny
Controversial medical tests by a private sector company at the centre of the government's drive to cut the benefit rolls are failing genuine claimants.
In the week that it emerged that ministers have been forced to spend millions of pounds hiring more than 80 new judges to tackle a costly backlog of welfare claimants appeals (Salary £101,000 pro rata) against the loss of their benefit, I tabled a parliamentary question to the minister which confirmed that;
• Of 667 cases heard 218 or a third of Employment Support Allowance (ESA) appeals were decided in favour of the appellant on appeal (1st April-30th Sept 2011)
• Of 119 cases heard, 38 or a third were decided in favour of the appellant on appeal during September 2011
• 741 individual cases were not determined within the Dept Work & Pensions 35 day target (October 2011).
Across the UK welfare appeals are up a colossal 72% on 2008/09.
Charities and individuals have criticised the "work capability assessment", which has determined entitlement to benefit.
I am not surprised by the figures as Charities, Law Centres and Citizens Advice have all criticised the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). My concern surrounds the poor decisions by those carrying out the WCA is fuelling appeals which are conducted by Atos Healthcare, a private company.
Some cases are taking up to a year to go from lodging an appeal to having the final tribunal hearing date according to Duncan Lewis Solicitors, the UK's biggest benefits legal department.
I am calling for a regular audit to ensure that the decisions about eligibility "are consistent, robust and evidence-based".
The Government are failing far too many genuine benefit recipients who are forced to appeal due to an unacceptable high degree of poor decision making. This is further compounded by the slow appeal process leaving people in limbo at a time of stress and anxiety.
At a time when funding to advice agencies is being cut the figures demonstrate that people need increased access to advice in order for them to claim the benefits to which they are entitled.
Rugby League Group to challenge cuts to BBC Local ...
Cameron's NHS plans will cost £22million across Wi...


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Home/Stories/Coronavirus Update: When Will The Pandemic End?
Coronavirus Update: When Will The Pandemic End?
nandiniApril 27, 2020
Everyone is sitting scooped up in their houses and thinking about when will this pandemic end? When will everyone be free and do what their mind says and what their heart wants? There have been debates on this topic and no clear findings have come up because this virus is extremely new and there has been extensive research ongoing about it.
On the basis of the pattern of the spread of Covid-19 from China to the rest of the world and slowing down, the researchers in Singapore have a predicted date for 131 countries each when novel coronavirus outbreak will end there. The researchers have pointed out at May 21-22 for the settling down on this pandemic. On April 20, the infection took a turning date and exploded. May 21 and 22 have been taken up as the reversal of the same.
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has hinted at a date in no clear terms. ICMR director Dr Balram Bhargava said, "One can say we have been able to flatten the curve."
The ICMR claimed that the positive rate has been stable around 4.5% in recent weeks and if the people stay at home and follow all the norms made by the government, the infection might subside.
Another calculation was done by a few mathematicians that by June 1, our country would've cured more than 99% cases and people would've been discharged from the hospitals. The novel corona virus will be totally wiped out from the country by July 26.
All these predictions seem to quite unachievable because the rate of positive patients in on a surge in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and various other places. On the other hand, four states though smaller in size of the population — Goa, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh — have become free of Covid-19.
The PM had a video conferencing meeting with the CMs today regarding this situation and there seems to be some news from there as well. The PM hinted at another extension of lockdown in Covid-19 hotspots after May 3. The PM also lauded the efforts made by states across India for handling the novel coronavirus pandemic situation because these are the times no one ever imagined would come. He has also asked the CMs to prepare a lockdown exit policy.
The PM said: "Efforts of states should now be directed towards converting the red zones into orange and thereafter to green zones. We have to be brave and bring in reforms that touch the lives of common citizens."
"Impact of Covid-19 will remain visible in coming months, masks and face covers will be part of life," PM Modi told the CMs.
The Vaccine And India's Role In It
See also GST compensation to states pending for Dec-March FY20
About half a dozen Indian firms are working towards the development of the vaccine against the virus. One of them is Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced and sold globally. The 53-year-old company makes 1.5 billion doses every year, mainly from its two facilities in the western city of Pune. The company exports 20 vaccines to more than 160 countries. These vaccines are exported at a very cheap rate which is why India is a major player for making the vaccine.
Now the Serum Institute of India is collaborating with Codagenix, an American biotech company, to develop a "live attenuated" vaccine, among the more than 80 reportedly in development all over the world. This vaccine is created by reducing the virulence – or removing the harmful properties – of a pathogen but keeping it alive.
"We are planning a set of animal trials [on mice and primates] of this vaccine in April. By September, we should be able to begin human trials," Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of Serum Institute of India said.
There will be a high demand for all these vaccines if they are developed on time. Here comes the phase where the Indian manufacturers will have an upper hand. Since this vaccine is being developed by an Indian firm, Indian vaccine makers have a head start over others. Serum Institute of India alone has an extra capacity of 400 to 500 million doses. "We have lots of capacity as we have invested in it," he says.
There's one more company that is making a name during this pandemic. It is Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech who has announced a partnership with the University of Wisconsin Madison and US-based firm FluGen to make about 300 million doses of a vaccine for global distribution. Zydus Cadilla is working on two vaccines, while Biological E, Indian Immunological, and Mynvax are developing a vaccine each. Another four or five home-grown vaccines are in the early stages of development.
See also Amazon's AWS launches WorkLink for secure and easier mobile intranet access from mobile phones
There have been a lot of debates about the end date of this virus and the vaccine to be made. It is safe to say that India will have the vaccines at the same rate when the world has it. They will be manufactured in out mother land so we might have an upper hand for procuring them. As far as the expiration date for the virus is concerned, no concreate date is considered to be the best owing to the current circumstances.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Just like with water, you don't want to die of thirst. But drowning isn't a great option either.
Infographics seem to have had their time. I don't see them pop up as often as they used to for some reason. Whatever the cause though, it certainly isn't because they aren't good at what they do. A well-designed infographic can display a lot of information in a dense yet comprehensible package, without making it seem crowded. Data density's at a good spot.
On the ends of the spectrum however, we have two very bad things. There's flyers and other things out there that try to cram too much information into too little space. The entire thing's covered in words and if you're unlucky, poorly designed as well. Where do you start looking at this thing? The opposite can be even more confusing, when information's laid out very sparsely. They left out some important detail you may have wanted to know.
Whenever you're designing a thing to get information across effectively, data (/information) density is something to keep an eye on. And design, of course!


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Home Reviews Concert Reviews Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra in Toronto
Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra in Toronto
Danilo Navas
Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra – Photo credit: Danilo Navas
There's something truly striking about experiencing live music interpreted by a large ensemble, a big band orchestra. Even more if it is a band that carries a cherished musical tradition and history, that keeps alive a legacy for the entertainment and enjoyment of new generations of music lovers. That's what Arturo O'Farril and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra represent. Having them in Toronto all the way from New York, and for the first time during the Luminato Festival was something to celebrate. We're talking about a very large ensemble of more than 15 musicians. Only Luminato could have made possible to have them in Toronto. In 2015 Arturo O'Farrill came with a smaller ensemble, a sextet I believe, and they performed with the Cuban "Malpaso Dance Company." The show of that troupe was very successful and the Luminato programmers decided to bring it back this year, with the added benefit of having Arturo O'Farrill with his full band, the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.
Arturo O'Farrill is the son of Arturo "Chico" O'Farrill (October 28, 1921 – June 27, 2001), widely regarded as one of the master architects of Afro-Cuban Jazz. Chico "was a composer, arranger, and conductor, best known for his work in the Latin idiom, specifically Afro-Cuban jazz or "Cubop", although he also composed traditional jazz pieces and even symphonic works. Born to an Irish father and a German mother, he played the trumpet early in his career. He composed works for Machito (Afro-Cuban suite with Charlie Parker, 1950) and Benny Goodman's Bebop Orchestra ("Undercurrent Blues"), and arranged for Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton, among others. In the 1990s O'Farrill led a big band that took up residence at New York's Birdland nightclub. Chico's son, pianist Arturo O'Farrill, eventually took over the band." (wikipedia)
After "Chico" O'Farrill passed away, the Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra performed its final concert at Birdland on Sunday, June 26, 2001. In 2002, Arturo O'Farrill formed the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) and until early 2007 it was a resident orchestra of Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC). They left JALC "to pursue the twin goals of developing new audiences for big band Latin jazz and creating a robust educational program for young performers. With the support of a group of prominent leaders from the worlds of jazz and Latin culture, O'Farrill launched ALJA (Afro Latin Jazz Alliance) to serve as a non-profit organization that could advance both the performance and educational aspects of this uniquely Pan-American art form." (https://www.afrolatinjazz.org/about-alja/)
On the evening of June 17, 2018, we were treated to a very spectacular rare show with Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra when they performed their debut concert in Toronto, at the Phoenix Concert Hall. They played some of the now classical tunes from the Afro-Cuban, Latin jazz songbook, like Tito Puente's "Picadillo" (a tune recorded by pianist Eddie Palmieri and vibraphonist Cal Tjader on their seminal 1966 recording, El Sonido Nuevo). "A Night in Tunisia" (a jazz standard and a signature piece composed by Dizzy Gillespie around 1942), "Wild Jungle" (recorded by Machito & His AfroCubans and written by musical director Mario Bauzá and pianist René Hernández), and the Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite, written by Chico O"Farrill.
Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Arturo O'Farrill
Luminato
Founder, Editor, Webmaster: Latin Jazz Network, World Music Report, Toronto Music Report. A passionate and committed communicator with a sensibility for the arts based in Toronto, Canada.
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The Kiss Series by C.J. Duggan Cover Reveal & Giveaway
Title: Kiss the Girls
Series: Kiss #1
Author: C.J. Duggan
The past never stays buried for long.
Charlotte 'Charlie' Taylor has only ever known one life.
Growing up in the impoverished housing commission estate in Southside was always about daily survival and dreams about a future that would never be. But when Charlie finds herself the daughter of a lottery winner, she and her single mum finally have a means to escape into a world of unimaginable wealth and privilege.
Five years on, and a now-seventeen-year-old Charlie calls Half Moon Street home, nestled in an affluent inner-city neighborhood, where tree-lined paths are overshadowed only by the pristine townhouses.
Despite the best all-girls education money can buy, designer clothes and more zeros in her bank account than she could spend in a lifetime, there is one thing that is clear: Charlie was not born into wealth and will never fully fit in with the elite. If it weren't for the unlikely friendship with her neighbour, Isabella Kincaid, Charlie would run from this foreign life. Run from all the lies she's been telling.
Until him.
Charlie has never forgotten the one and only exchange she had with Isabella's older brother all those years ago. Despite his privileged upbringing, there is an edge to Sebastian that Charlie recognises.
And now he's back, but seriously off-limits. Isabella has made that perfectly clear to her friends.
But for Charlie, who is always one to guard her emotions as carefully as she guards her heart, the question is: will the shadows of her past threaten to break her seemingly perfect world or will the forbidden boy next door?
Pre-order Link
Title: Kiss the Boys
C.J Duggan is a number one internationally bestselling Australian author of seven independent titles of her popular New Adult Summer series. In addition to her chart-topping indie novels, C.J is set to publish two titles with Hachette, Australia with her brand-new Paradise Series in 2015 (Paradise City and Paradise Road).
C.J lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. When she isn't writing books about swoony boys and 90s pop culture you will find her renovating her hundred-year-old Victorian homestead or annoying her local travel agent for a quote to escape the chaos.
The 'Summer Series'
The Boys of Summer (December 2012)
Stan (October 2014)
An Endless Summer (July 2013)
Max (February 2015)
That One Summer (December 2013)
Ringer (March 2014)
Forever Summer (December 2015)
The 'Paradise Series'
Paradise City (April 28th, 2015)
Paradise Road (November 22nd, 2015)
The 'Kiss Series'
Kiss the Girls (2016)
Kiss the Boys (2016)
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This is a luxury sports boat specially designed for excursions. Its interior has wide spaces both in bow and stern, so the passengers can enjoy their trip comfortably. In addition, its "v" shaped helmet facilitates navigation, making for a safer and more pleasant trip.


Calls cost 7p per minute, plus your operator's access charge. This is a call forwarding service, you can also contact Miss Pap using the official number/website or via social media.
Miss Pap is a one-stop shop for tomorrow's fashion today. The brand is rising to the top of the affordable online fashion retailer chain, with more bloggers and reality TV stars wearing the brand than ever before. Miss Pap is an online affordable clothing retailer. The company aims to take inspiration from celebrity style and the latest trends to bring them to the fast fashion market. It competes with the likes of Missguided, Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing in terms of target audience and the price points of the products.
Looking for the phone number for the Miss Pap customer service team & other departments such as complaints?
Here at ContactHelpline we are dedicated to helping you to get in touch with the various companies located across the UK.
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The Miss Pap helpline can be busy during peak hours, the Miss Pap head office deal with all types of customer enquiries via phone and post, whatever your issue you can contact the customer service team today by calling the contact number listed.
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During peak hours the customer support team at Miss Pap deal with a high volume of calls, you may prefer to call during less popular hours, try again later on, or even contact them via post if the problem is not urgent.
Miss Pap currently only provides fashion for women. You will find dresses, coats, jackets, knitwear, loungewear, bodysuits, jeans, playsuits, tops, jumpers, trousers, skirts, shorts, gymwear, lingerie, nightwear, swimwear and shapewear. There is also a footwear and accessories collection. You can shop clothes by the individual categories or by collection i.e. Sonic Youth, blogger style, winter warmers or metallic hues.
Miss Pap clothes are available in sizes 4-16, but are generally set out in small, medium, large and extra large. In the event that an item you are seeking is sold out, you can sign up for a stock alert and you will be informed when the item has been restocked.
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Gunston offers interscholastic athletics in the following areas: boys' soccer, girls' soccer, boys' basketball, girls' basketball and co-ed tennis, wrestling, cheerleading, diving, swimming and track. Students must try out for soccer, basketball, cheerleading and tennis and must pass a deep water test for diving and swimming.
In order to participate on any interscholastic team, a student MUST be in good academic standing and have a current physical form (pdf) on file in the school clinic. Current is defined as May 1, 2016 or later.
The season for each sport runs approximately 7 weeks with practices generally every day after school from 2:30-4:10 (except for diving and swimming which practice 3 times per week).
Both Arlington middle and high school athletes are required to complete an annual VHSL physical form for middle and high school athletic participation. This includes tryouts and practices. APS uses this form for middle school athletics to create consistency between grade levels. If you have any questions, please contact Luis Matos.


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Misdirect
Beverly Nault/ Misdirect
ISBN: 978-1546430803 | Format: Softcover and Kindle | Page Count:250 | Genre: Christian Suspense| Price: $9.99 Paperback, $2.99 Kindle|
A mission failure has confined CIA covert operative Eve Parker to desk duty and she's left to pick up the pieces of her broken personal life. But when her daughter's fiancé is taken hostage, Eve must return to the Middle East armed with rusty tradecraft, and dubious credibility shrouded in her peers' skepticism. Will she get it together in time to thwart the biggest threat to America since 9/11, or will her old-fashioned ways cause her to fail again?
And if a suspected mole, a missing thumb drive, and a camel ride through the desert weren't challenging enough, a young Muslim boy with questions about God cause Eve to struggle with her own faith. As the most important assignment of her life draws near, events unfold to demonstrate that, particularly in espionage, things are not always as they seem.
Join Eve Parker as she confronts her past, a national threat, and a crisis of faith in this spy thriller layered with intrigue, suspense, and surprise ending from an award-winning author reviewers call "a master storyteller."
About Beverly Nault:
Misdirect is Beverly Nault's tenth book, and has already earned five star rave reviews from Reader's Favorite, and was awarded the Books Go Social Gold Quality Mark for excellence in writing style and editing. Bev's previous books include Kaleidoscope, a romantic suspense which finaled in the San Diego Book Awards and earned the InD'Tale Magazine Crowned Heart "must read." Fresh Start Summer, a small town cozy, earned the San Diego Christian Writer's Guild Excellence in Writing and was named one of Real Simple's Top 21 Summer Reads upon its release. Reviewers and fans call Bev a "master storyteller," and Misdirect has already earned accolades such as "seriously engaging," "full of plot twists" and "written with layers of intrigue and suspense."
Connect with Beverly at:
Website: http://beverlynault.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/beverlynault
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BevNault
Order your copy of Misdirect on Amazon.


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sexual objectification
Creating a #MeToo era James Bond: Don't sanitise 007's sexism, confront it
How do we bring the British agent up to speed?
Monica Germanà, The Conversation
Apr 10, 2018 · 07:30 pm
Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci in Spectre | Eon Productions
Director Danny Boyle has recently said he wants to bring James Bond up to speed with "the modern world". He was responding to a question about the impact of the current #MeToo and Time's Up campaigns on the new Bond film due to be released in November 2019 – and the expectation that this will affect the portrayal of the obligatory "Bond Girl(s)" in the forthcoming movie.
Accusations of sexism against 007 are far from new – and far from unfounded. But in the light of rekindled feminist activism, dismissals of female agency in the Bond film franchise display a deeply conservative approach to the representation of female sexuality and oppression in the arts industry.
Take the villainous Fiona Volpe in the 1965 adaptation of Thunderball, who chastises Bond's sexual arrogance and establishes herself as a woman to be reckoned with. In a post-coital moment she delivers this withering put down:
"I forgot your ego, Mr Bond. James Bond, who only has to make love to a woman and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents and immediately returns to the side of right and virtue. But not this one. What a blow it must have been, you having a failure."
Fiona's pungent sarcasm is a fit riposte to Bond's sexual innuendos and patronising attitude to women. It is her desire that threatens Bond – he previously tells her "she should be locked up in a cage" – rather than the other way around.
In GoldenEye (1995), Xenia Onatopp's assertive sexual preferences – "Straight up, with a twist", she says when Bond asks her how she takes it (her Vodka Martini) – mean that her satisfaction frequently comes from sadistic violence and, in particular, her ability to strangle men with her powerful thighs.
Silly names, skimpy clothing
In response to Boyle's statements, The Daily Mail's suggestion that "Movie spy's women will now be written 'with the modern world in mind' rather than with 'silly names and skimpy clothing'", draws a simplistic link between the display of the female body and sexism. But to associate the display of beauty with oppression denies women any form of agency. Bond Girls do not "primarily exist to look sexy and impressed", as Barbara Ellen suggests in The Observer. On the contrary, they dress to impress (and kill).
In a 1975 seminal study, British film scholar Laura Mulvey proposed that in classic Hollywood cinema the male gaze controls and reduces on-screen female presence to a passive object of desire. In response to this position, British Film theorist Pam Cook has argued that in Mulvey's argument: "Display is seen as passive; it is simply a reflection of the male protagonist/spectator's obsessive anxieties focused on the female body."
Thinking, instead, of female exhibitionism in active terms grants female actors and characters – as well as women across the world – more agency than any sartorial censorship.
Him too? James Bond to become less of a seedy, sexist dinosaur, says director Danny Boyle - https://t.co/3gnWUKxFUW https://t.co/rmj9HK2S1O
— Dinosaur watch (@Dinosaurwatch) March 17, 2018
Nasty books, nastier films?
Australian feminist writer Clementine Ford comments that Bond's women "are beautiful, intelligent, often duplicitous – and all highly discardable". But the fact that some have to die – directly or indirectly – at Bond's hands is further proof of 007's profound anxiety about, rather than being a dismissal of, women's sexual emancipation.
Violence and sadism may in fact alert female spectators to the manipulative ways in which patriarchy can and does oppress women. Discussing misogyny in Hitchcock's films, American scholar Tania Modleski argues: "Insofar as....films repeatedly reveal the way women are oppressed in patriarchy, they allow the female spectator to feel an anger that is very different from the masochistic response imputed to her by some feminist critics."
For instance, in relation to the Bond films, in 2005 American sociologist Linda Lindsey claimed that: "In four decades of James Bond films...women are depicted enjoying rape." Such a statement relies on a dubious notion that rape can ever be an enjoyable experience beyond the realm of sexual fantasy and does not take into account the complexity of female desire.
Lindsey is not alone in drawing attention to the violence of the Bond cultural products. In his influential 1958 article, "Sex, snobbery and sadism", Paul Johnson famously called Fleming's Dr No "the nastiest book I have ever read".
There are many uncomfortable moments in the films, too. In order to gain their insider knowledge, Bond hits Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love (1963) and Tracy di Vincenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). Villains frequently display sadistic tendencies. Jill Masterson's gold-coated corpse in Goldfinger (1964) is later echoed in Strawberry Fields' body covered in crude oil in Quantum of Solace (2008). In Moonraker (1979), Corinne is brutally killed by Hugo Drax's dogs; in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), it is a shark that graphically devours Stromberg's assistant.
Challenge misogyny
Ben Child has recently argued in The Guardian that the negotiation of the darker side of Bond "would be much easier to accept...if the dapper secret agent were not sold as the epitome of British suavity and a role model for young men". But while the avoidance of its glorification seems crucial, the elimination of violence from the films is not.
When Skyfall was released in China (in 2013) and references to prostitution and torture were cut to comply with the country's censors, it is less likely that this was done in aid of women than to hide a damaging image of Chinese treatment of human rights.
In fact, a politically correct Bond movie would be detrimental to the pursuit of gender equality. Thriller writers including Sarah Hilary and Val McDermid have recently displayed concerns about the newly launched Staunch Prize, awarded for a thriller novel not featuring any violence against women. As Sophie Hannah puts it: "Ignoring brutality may sound like a good idea but it won't make it go away – we should challenge prejudice, not celebrate it."
That's exactly what the next Bond film should do.
Monica Germanà, Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing, University of Westminster.
This article first appeared on The Conversation.


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The COVID-19 Show on hiatus as ratings plummet and people leave their homes
By William K. Wolfrum on Mon, 05/04/2020 - 1:38pm | Health, Humor & Satire
Despite stellar early ratings and a cast of guest stars that included Tom Hanks and Idris Elba, The COVID-19 Show is being put on hiatus due to dwindling viewership and a general lack of interest in the ongoing pandemic. Producers of the show will now retool it's format, but promise that the deaths will continue.
"We feel that we can get interest in this virus back to where it was in the beginning," said producer Michael Bay. "People are still in grave danger, but the plot just isn't pulling people in."
The controversial program was starting to come together and the industry was seeing the results of a cast of millions working together. The show had drawn a strong fan base of people unwilling to die or kill someone else via transmission. That unfortunately wasn't enough to for the show to continue being transmitted
As Americans flood out of their homes into the streets, shopping malls, movie theaters, churches and Chuck E. Cheese pizza parlors, The COVID-19 Show is looking for a new structure and new characters to work with series star Donald Trump.
Previously, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, Mike Pence and a supporting cast of hundreds of thousands of sick people were featured on the show, but a shake-up seems to be in the horizon. Bay said the producers are looking to add a baby to the cast, as many shows have done over the years. Rumors are circulating that Jared Kushner is being considered for the part of the baby.
"The baby character will most likely get the virus and die an awful death," said Bay. "We're hoping dead babies get people more interested than dead grandparents."
The question remains – will the public once again get interested in The COVID-19 Show, after so obviously getting bored with it? Or will interest continue to wane? Bay said he's hoping for the best, but with a fickle public, it remains to be seen.
The show appeared on all major cable news stations, seven days a week. Nearly 70,000 Americans died on the program, and more will continue to die whether people watch or not, said Bay.
"For so long I've heard that people would rather kill themselves than watch a movie or TV show I produced," said Bay. "But this is the first time they are actually doing it."
--WKW
William K. Wolfrum's blog
More singing - "Live and Let Die" was a brilliant start with its icy ironic humor, even if a bit Okay Boomer - plus tension builders like the "Act Natural" episode (featuring a socially awkward fundamentalist who calls his wife "Mother" and walks around shaking peoples' hands in a pandemic - think Peter Sellers meets Anthony Perkins).
No place for this show to go but up.
What's astonishing about this is that it's playlist from Trump's rallies. The White House must have picked it themselveshttps://t.co/KUnQoCQ93a https://t.co/Gqf4QGaxXl
— Zach Purser Brown (@zachjourno) May 5, 2020
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 05/06/2020 - 5:36am
Nice illustration work on Rick Wilson's latest column forThe Daily Beast which sort of addresses "what kinda show is being offered up lately?"
"The Gipper was an avatar of America's dreams. The Donald's brand is American weakness and decline, and the preposterous idea that he alone can fix it. Reagan was in better spirits after being shot than Trump is even on his best day." New @TheRickWilson https://t.co/Py9ZzG822Q
— Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) May 6, 2020
by artappraiser on Wed, 05/06/2020 - 9:14am
The Branch Covidians clustered tightly around their Prophet as he pried off the lid of the Fifth Seal with a spork.
Nothing sells the protest against social distancing better than kicking starting the Apocalypse.
by moat on Wed, 05/06/2020 - 5:13pm
Let's face it, the virus is the problem. Deadly microscopic pseudo-organisms aren't scary enough for modern audiences. They should recast COVID-19 as an Islamic terrorist or a T-Rex or a black dude.
by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 05/06/2020 - 6:27pm
Michael, why do you always have to be so divisive? Why not a Nation of Islam rap-tor artist? Welcome to the terroristdome as the pandem anthem? One small step for man, 1 large hip-hop for mankind? Even SoCal distancing for the old school rap wars. We can do this - who needs T-Rex when we got streamed TV (all the young dudes, carry the news...)
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 05/08/2020 - 11:15am
Wolfrum parody not so very far from reality:
Man is cable news broken:https://t.co/EMloaCJs5l pic.twitter.com/XUT7Kk4ek3
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) May 7, 2020
by artappraiser on Wed, 05/06/2020 - 10:43pm
Paul Waldman of WaPo agrees, he's dreaming of a really big shew. Yuge:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/06/trump-knows-exactly-how-save-his-reelection-with-show/
But George Conway just thinks it's way past time for the loony bin (maybe he knows for sure from pillow talk?)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/06/george-conway-trump-lashed-out-me-twitter-its-because-he-knows-truth/
by artappraiser on Fri, 05/08/2020 - 2:10am
Trump weaponized
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/new-claim-that-enemies-o...
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 05/08/2020 - 3:30am
Ladies and gentleman, the President of the United States. https://t.co/pPKIgtqhQF
— Peter F. Jackson (@pjackson_nl) May 12, 2020
by artappraiser on Tue, 05/12/2020 - 7:57pm


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From Two Bulls, Nine Million Dairy Cows
Just two Y chromosomes exist in a huge population of U.S. Holsteins; researchers want to know what traits have been lost
By Maureen O'Hagan, Undark on June 20, 2019
Credit: Cole Burston Getty Images
There are more than 9 million dairy cows in the United States, and the vast majority of them are Holsteins, large bovines with distinctive black-and-white (sometimes red-and-white) markings. The amount of milk they produce is astonishing. So is their lineage. When researchers at the Pennsylvania State University looked closely at the male lines a few years ago, they discovered more than 99 percent of them can be traced back to one of two bulls, both born in the 1960s. That means among all the male Holsteins in the country, there are just two Y chromosomes.
"What we've done is really narrowed down the genetic pool," says Chad Dechow, one of the researchers.
The females haven't fared much better. In fact, Dechow—an associate professor of dairy cattle genetics—and others say there is so much genetic similarity among them, the effective population size is less than 50. If Holsteins were wild animals, that would put them in the category of critically endangered species. "It's pretty much one big inbred family," says Leslie B. Hansen, a Holstein expert and professor at the University of Minnesota.
Any elementary science student knows that genetic homogeneity isn't good in the long term. It increases the risk of inherited disorders while also reducing the ability of a population to evolve in the face of a changing environment. Dairy farmers struggling to pay bills today aren't necessarily focusing on the evolutionary prospects of their animals, but Dechow and his colleagues were concerned enough that they wanted to look more closely at what traits had been lost.
For answers, the researchers have begun breeding a small batch of new cows, cultivated in part from the preserved semen of long deceased bulls, to measure a host of characteristics—height, weight, milk production, overall health, fertility, and udder health, among other traits—and compare those to the modern Holsteins we've created. The hope is that they might one day be able to inject some sorely needed genetic diversity back into this cornerstone of livestock agriculture, and possibly reawaken traits that have been lost to relentless inbreeding.
"If we limit long term genetic diversity of the breed," Dechow says, "we limit how much genetic change can be made over time."
In other words, we could reach a point where we're stuck where we're at. There will be no more improvement in milk production. Fertility won't improve. And if a new disease comes along, huge swaths of the cow population could be susceptible, since so many of them have the same genes.
HOLSTEINS TODAY are responsible for the vast majority of milk we drink and much of our cheese and ice cream. For at least the past century, these animals have been prized for their voluminous output. Over the last 70 years or so, humans have introduced a variety of methods to ramp up production even further. In 1950, for example, a single dairy cow produced about 5,300 pounds of milk a year. Today, the average Holstein is producing more than 23,000. In 2017, a prize-winning cow named Selz-Pralle Aftershock 3918 cranked out 78,170 pounds of milk—more than 200 pounds every single day.
"These cows are real athletes," says Hansen.
This benefits consumers by keeping food prices low. It benefits farmers because they save on costs when fewer cows produce the same amount of milk. It also benefits the environment because a cow's digestive system produces considerable amounts of methane and waste. (Although high-producing Holsteins consume more energy and generate more waste per cow, researchers estimate that the efficiency gains result in significantly reduced environmental impacts overall.)
Part of this success story has to do with changing the way Holsteins are raised and managed. But the biggest change has been in the way cows are bred. Long ago, farmers would bring in bulls from other farms to get their cows pregnant—a way of ensuring genetic diversity, or "stirring the pot," as Hansen says. In the 1940s, they began to use artificial insemination. This way, a single dose of bull semen could be used to impregnate a whole lot of heifers. Soon, technology allowed the semen to be frozen, which meant a bull could father calves for decades, even long after he was dead. Meanwhile, the dairy world was keeping very detailed records, so the bull studs who sell the semen could tell which bull went on to produce the best offspring—and by the best offspring, they meant the daughters who produced the most milk.
By this point, a highly sought-after bull would sire thousands of daughters. Carlin-M Ivanhoe Bell, a bull born in 1974, had more than 80,000 offspring. Most bulls have fewer, though their progeny still number in the thousands. By the 80s, it was clear inbreeding was increasing significantly.
In the early days of artificial insemination, bulls would have to prove their merit in real life. That is, they'd sire 100 daughters, then when those daughters calved and began producing milk, their output was measured. The better the output, the more marketable the bull. This "progeny testing" was a valuable process, but it took several years to determine if a bull was any good.
In 2009, new technology came along: big data and genomic selection. Today, a bull's marketability is determined by a computer. A complex algorithm analyzes the bull's genetic makeup, taking into account the health of his offspring, their milk production, the fat and protein in the milk, and other traits, to come up with figures that rank him against other bulls. The key figure is called lifetime net merit. It represents the average amount of money a farmer can expect to earn over the offspring's life by choosing this bull over another one.
While this allowed farmers to more efficiently evaluate animals across many key traits, the process also led to even higher rates of inbreeding. The "inbreeding coefficient" for Holsteins is currently around 8 percent, meaning an average calf gets identical copies of 8 percent of its genes from its mother and its father. That number is in comparison to a baseline of 1960—and it continues to increase by .3 or .4 every year.
"Inbreeding is accumulating faster than it ever has," Dechow says.
But is 8 percent too much? Dairy experts continue to debate this. Some argue that Holsteins are doing their job, producing a lot of milk, and that they're a relatively healthy bunch. Hansen, however, notes that if you breed a bull to his daughter, the inbreeding coefficient is 25 percent; in that light, 8 seems like a lot. He and others say while inbreeding may not seem like a problem now, the consequences could be significant.
Fertility rates are affected by inbreeding, and already, Holstein fertility has dropped significantly. Pregnancy rates in the 1960s were 35 to 40 percent, but by 2000 had dropped to 24 percent. Also, when close relatives are bred, it's more likely for cows get two copies of unwanted recessive genes, where serious health problems could be lurking.
"Something needs to change," Hansen says.
For Dechow, the concern is the rate of increase and what that means for the future of the breed. "Imagine you've got a cow who has 100 really good genes and 10 really horrible genes. You eliminate that cow from your breeding program because she's got 10 horrible genes," he says, and "you've lost her 100 good ones, as well. You're losing long-term genetic potential."
DECHOW GREW UP ON a dairy farm, so long before he knew the ins-and-outs of the cow's genome, he could see some of what was happening.
Holsteins look very different than they did 50 years ago. For one thing, they've been bred to have longer and wider udders, rather than deep ones. A deep udder can touch the ground, making it much more prone to infection or other problems, so that's a change for the better. But other changes could be problematic. For example, modern Holsteins are bred to be tall and thin, to the point of boniness. That thinness is a byproduct of milk production, because "they're directing the energy they consume towards milk," Dechow says.
But it's also something of an aesthetic choice. The ideal Holstein cow—at least in the view of people who judge these things—is "feminine and refined." That means thin and angular. The problem is, a tall, thin cow isn't necessarily the healthiest cow and shorter and rounder cattle are more likely to get pregnant.
A few years ago, Dechow and others started to wonder, just how significant was the inbreeding and loss of diversity? In the early 50s, there were about 1,800 bulls represented in the population. They knew there were fewer today, but they had no idea how few. Dechow and his colleagues Wansheng Liu and Xiang-Peng Yue analyzed the paternal pedigree information of nearly 63,000 Holstein bulls born since the 1950s in North America.
"We were a little bit surprised when we traced the lineages and it went back to two bulls," he says. They're named Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation and Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief. Each one is related to about half the bulls alive today. Essentially, Elevation and Chief outcompeted every other bull on the market. Even Select Sires, a company that is in the business of selling bull semen, was surprised by the findings. Charles Sattler, a company vice president, sees the news as a bit of a reality check, but not a cause for alarm. "Probably the biggest concern is, are there any really valuable genes we may have lost along the way that we could make use of today?" he wonders.
Not too long ago, there was another Y chromosome represented, that of Penstate Ivanhoe Star, born in the 1960s. His decline demonstrates one problem with all this inbreeding. In the 1990s, dairy farmers around the world started noticing calves being born with such serious vertebrae problems, they didn't survive outside the womb. Around the same time, calves were being stillborn with a condition called bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency. It turns out Star, and his prolific son, Carlin-M Ivanhoe Bell, had problematic recessive genes that didn't come to light until a few generations of inbreeding.
After this discovery, farmers stopped breeding cows to Star's descendants and that problem was resolved. But could other problems be lurking within the chromosomes of our remaining Holsteins? What had been lost with all this inbreeding? These questions troubled Dechow enough that he began searching out some of those old genes.
That required digging into the archives of the National Animal Germplasm Programin Fort Collins, Colorado. It's like a seed bank, except it collects ovarian tissue, blood, and semen from domesticated animals, and it holds about 7,000 cocktail-straw-sized semen samples from Holstein bulls.
Dechow's team found two that weren't related to Chief or Elevation, so they took those samples, got eggs from top-notch females, and created embryos to implant into surrogate Penn State heifers. The idea was to combine the half-century-old Y genetics with DNA from females who are among the finest examples of modern-day milk production. Over the course of 2017, the animals wound up giving birth to 15 calves, seven of them male. The oldest of these animals are about two and two now have calves of their own.
Every parameter in the development of these cattle will be measured, and their DNA is being analyzed and compared to the general population. It turns out that not a lot is known about the Y chromosome, so this is an opportunity to use this newly-introduced variation to understand it better.Semen samples were also taken from the bulls and sent to the germplasm bank in Colorado. Dechow can already see a difference on the ground in the way these cattle look. They're a bit shorter than most Holsteins, and also heavier. They're also a little less docile than average.
Select Sires has collected semen samples from the bulls and run them through its grading program to so-so results; they came out in the middle of the pack. They've offered some of these samples for sale to dairy farmers, but sales so far have been minimal. Dairy farmers today are already struggling financially, and it's not easy to convince them there's a benefit to getting DNA from average bulls.
Dechow is still hopeful that there will be more to gain from this research once the cattle mature.
"My pie-in-the-sky dream," Dechow says, "is that we'll able to show these old genetics still have something to offer."
This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article.
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Home > School Sports > Playoffs or Bust
Playoffs or Bust
By: Max Kershner
The 2018 Hills East Baseball team is hoping to find themselves back in the playoffs and possibly even bring home a County Championship. The T-Birds will be led by seniors Matthew Hogan (committed to Vanderbilt University), Joseph Litchhult (committed to Cortland University), and Jacob Brigati, along with juniors Reis Henderson and Michael Defillippo. After being league champs and making a strong playoff run last season, the Thunderbirds have a lot to achieve which may be tough due to the loss of crucial seniors from the class of 2017, including Kevin Cavataio, Michael Palazzolo, and Patch Dooley (each of whom continued their careers at the collegiate level).
Coming off a shaky junior year due to back injuries, the Vanderbilt commit Matthew Hogan is destined for the season of his life. Hogan, who is now fully healed, is ready to prove the haters wrong. When asked about the upcoming season, he explains, "We have a lot to prove after losing all of our seniors. However, I have faith in myself and in my teammates that we can bring the county championship to the Hills East community for the first time since 1967. We all love playing together and are very close off the field. We're all hungry for the championship. Our potential is through the roof. We all just need to do our part in order to win. " Hogan is working to win the Carl Yastrzemski Award, which goes to the best public high school player in Suffolk County. The last person to win the award from Half Hollow Hills was Rob Rizzo. Hogan is also looking forward to the MLB Draft in June, where he seems to be high on many scouts' lists. He is most definitely a player other teams should be afraid of.
The T-Birds will also show their dominance in the outfield, which consists of Nick Gavilla, Jacob Brigati, and Matthew Hogan. Junior Reis Henderson has a big spot to fill as he takes over at shortstop, filling the void left by Michael Palazzolo last year. Henderson's ability to smoothly field ground balls should make it easy for him to fill the role. However, Hills East may have a tough time against the powerhouse Smithtown East this year. Their dominant pitching staff and lineup depth will be a lot for the T-Birds to handle.
The boys begin their season and journey back to the playoff against Smithtown East. Expect big things from your Hills East Baseball team this year as they are destined for success and hungry for a championship.
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