text:
Liberals love leaders.
They shouldn't; they are supposed to subscribe to a libertarian philosophy which centres on the primacy of the individual and aims to keep the role of government of any kind to a minimum. The mere idea that society needs a strong leader to keep it on track ought to be anathema to any true believers among the heirs of John Locke and Adam Smith.
Yet the modern Liberal Party, since its formation in 1944, has depended, not just for its success but for its very survival, on the quality of its leaders, the guiding principle being the more powerful the better. When the leader has been in total control, the party has flourished; when the leader has faltered, the party has slumped.
The same has been true of other political parties, of course: a headless chook is by definition non-functioning. But the Liberals are unique, at least in Australia, in that all power is concentrated at the top; the membership, from the deputy leader down to the neophyte backbencher, from the federal president down to the humblest envelope-stuffer, has no real function, except to support the parliamentary leader. A Liberal prime minister enjoys the same status as a medieval monarch, and in many cases exercises a great deal more power.
The reasons for this preoccupation with control go back to the circumstances of the party's creation. It was, of course, the invention of Robert Gordon Menzies, who made it clear from the start that it was to be his party and nobody else's; he knew from bitter experience what happened when power was shared around. In 1944 he was already a veteran of the internecine wars that had led to the eventual collapse of the United Australia Party, the conservative conglomerate that had gained government as a result of the Great Depression and had held it uneasily into the first years of World War II.
The UAP was so loosely constituted that initially it couldn't even provide a leader of its own; it had to pinch Joe Lyons from the Labor Party to unite the brawlers in its own ranks and provide a prime minister acceptable to its coalition partners in the Country Party, whose leader, Earle Page, was an implacable enemy of Menzies. Lyons was always seen as a weak leader, not least because Menzies set out to undermine him; his wife, Enid, later a minister in her own right, warned him of what was happening, but he seemed incapable of asserting authority. When Lyons died, in 1939, Menzies took over as prime minister, but by then the coalition was in tatters and the whole conservative side in disarray.
Menzies' long absence in England - to attend meetings of the war cabinet - ensured his own demise, and with it that of the UAP: "I shall lie down and bleed awhile," he said as he made way for John Curtin and eight years of Labor government. He may have bled, but he also planned. Within three years he had picked up enough of the pieces to form what was to become the most electorally successful party in Australia's history. And it was founded on an unshakable rock: the paramountcy of the parliamentary leader.
The Labor Party, understandably suspicious about the accretion of all power in the hands of a single person, has always placed - or at least attempted to place - strict limits on what its leader can and cannot do. For a start, he cannot make policy; nor can the parliamentary party as a whole. Policy is the province of rank-and-file members, who appoint delegates to the party's national conference either through their unions or through their branches. The national conference is the supreme policy-making body, and in theory any Labor member who defies it faces expulsion, whether prime minister or backbencher.
In practice, of course, the parliamentary party and its leader have a greater or lesser amount of discretion; and if a determined leader shows the ability to gain and retain government for the party, he can demand something close to a free hand. Kevin Rudd has done exactly that. But no Labor leader can claim total independence from the organisational wing in the way a Liberal leader regularly does. The ALP considers party conferences to be important political events; for the Liberals, they're an opportunity for a bit of a gee-up from the party heavies and some serious socialising in the bar afterwards.
The other thing a Labor leader cannot do is select his own ministry. This is done by a vote of the parliamentary party, although in recent times this has amounted to little more than a rubber stamp for a list previously agreed upon by the factional leaders. Once again, a determined leader can usually insist on a couple of personal choices: Kevin Rudd demanded that room be found for Craig Emerson and Peter Garrett, and it was. But in theory, the leader's power is limited to the allocation of portfolio responsibilities. A Liberal leader, in contrast, can hire and fire at will: no need for WorkChoices here. Preferment is the sole prerogative of the chief, whose every whim is law.
In practice, there will always be a need to include certain heavyweights, however distasteful the thought; the deputy leader, an elected position, can hardly be left out. John Howard has always been stuck with Peter Costello, like it or not (and he doesn't). There is also a need to acknowledge at least a semblance of balance between the states; the Liberals still like to pretend they are a federal party, although the years have seen them become one of the most centralised organisations in Australia.
By and large, though, the knowledge that advancement depends entirely on the leader's goodwill is a mighty incentive for followers to toe the line. Mavericks can be tolerated on the backbench because they can never be inflicted on the ministry, unless the leader chooses to do so. This allows the Liberals to boast that they are not tied to a party line like their Labor opponents, that they can and do - well, occasionally - take an independent stance. But the price of that independence can be permanent political impotence.
This was pretty much the way Menzies planned it: the party was built at his direction, in his image, under his leadership. La parti, c'est moi. From the start, there was never any question of a challenge; in any case, he had already seen off his only serious rival on the conservative side, Richard Casey, by appointing him as Australia's first ambassador to Washington in the dying days of his first prime ministership. It was a precedent he was to follow with other potential rivals: in later years, Percy Spender and Garfield Barwick were also made offers of government postings that they could not afford to refuse. Even after a disastrous electoral miscalculation in 1961 which nearly cost him government (and would have, save for a handful of donkey voters in Jim Killen's seat of Moreton) there was barely a mutter of dissent.
As far as both the party and the public were concerned, Menzies was the government, the unassailable leader - so much so that when he eventually prepared for retirement, he effectively anointed his own successor. Unlike such new-fangled democratic institutions as the College of Cardinals, the Liberal Party did not really require a vote.
It is constantly said of Menzies that he left at a time of his own choosing, which he did, and that he left behind a party in good shape, which he didn't. Seventeen years of authoritarian rule, however benevolent, had been too many; any serious ambition or ability to take over had been leached out of those he left behind. The heir apparent, Harold Holt, had been in parliament for three decades (cop that, Peter Costello!) before moving into the Lodge, and it showed.
Holt wisely chose not to try and emulate his Olympian predecessor, but unwisely went too far in the other direction; rather that showing the strength needed to pull a bewildered party together, he announced that he would be primus inter pares, the formula Costello used to describe Howard's newly diminished role. It means 'first among equals', implying that the leader is no more powerful than any other minister; his job is little more than that of a chairman at cabinet meetings.
But if this was ever true in the distant past of the British Westminster system, it certainly wasn't true of Australia in the post-Menzies era. The voters were accustomed to a an avuncular but aloof presence at the top, an all-powerful figure who would lift their cares and worries from their shoulders. Holt was a nice-enough bloke, but that was where it began and ended. In the Vietnam election of 1966 he was able to beat Labor's ageing Arthur Calwell soundly, but it was all downhill from there.
The parliamentary figure who most resembled the sorely missed Menzies was actually Gough Whitlam, who was consequently loathed and reviled by the Liberals as a class traitor; if only he had been on their side, the great leadership tradition would have continued. As it was, they fell in a heap and effectively remained there until the emergence of another towering, aloof, authoritarian figure: the squire of Nareen, Malcolm Fraser.
Fraser never attained the heights of Menzies' omnipotence: where the founder was Ming the Merciless, Fraser was merely the Big Bastard, but always in tones of respect, even admiration. Fraser tolerated dissent, but not rivalry; when it became necessary, he trampled Andrew Peacock, who was admittedly pretty easy to trample. Peacock never was and never could have been the kind of strong leader the Liberals demand. As he left the last of his futile stints at the helm, he was asked if he still wanted to be prime minister. Peacock's reply, "I'm not sure I ever did," said it all.
John Howard never has and never would contemplate such introspection. Having outlasted John Hewson, watched Alexander Downer self-destruct and out-manoeuvred Costello, he was determined to take no prisoners. His mentor now was Margaret Thatcher, who gave him two pieces of advice. The first: never admit you are wrong; give your enemies nothing - and they are all your enemies, especially the ones who pose as your supporters (remember when Fred Chaney was your deputy and betrayed you). The second: while in office, make it your top priority to secure the appointments of the 600 people who really run the country.
Howard came to the job from a position of strength; as the last remaining leadership possibility, he had been drafted to the job and so held it on his own terms. And once he had led the party back to office, he was effectively invulnerable. His image was not the patrician tyranny of a Menzies or a Fraser; rather, the cocky self-confidence of a Napoleon. But it was no less ruthless for that: his first act was to slaughter a full third of the public-service heads in pursuit of Thatcher's second commandment. If the aim was to encourage the others, it worked; the bureaucracy was cowed as never before.
A similar purge of the moderates in his own ranks, apart from a few token survivors, left him in complete control, and in Peter Costello he had another Andrew Peacock, a deputy who perpetually posed as a threat without ever actually becoming one. Howard was the very apotheosis of Liberal leadership: omnipotent, invincible. And his self-assurance reflected it: people knew what he stood for, he said. In fact, they didn't; what he purported to stand for changed from week to week. But that was another example of strength. The mere fact that he was tough enough to get away with broken promises and policy flips somehow inspired confidence. When he undertook to make people relaxed and comfortable - his version of "Don't you worry about that", the reassurance proffered by another autocrat, Joh Bjelke-Petersen - it was with such conviction that people wanted to believe him, even if it was demonstrably not happening. When the polls turned against him, he was able to bounce back.
It was partly luck, but it was also a tribute to his tenacity and stubbornness. In the end, people believed in him because he never showed weakness ... until recently. Suddenly the Man of Steel is going to an election as a lame duck, forced to concede that he will retire without completing the term, in tandem with his much-loathed deputy - no longer seen as strong enough face the Opposition on his own. The leader can no longer lead.
And what is left? As in 1966, the senior players have either departed, like Peter Reith; have already proved failures, like Downer; or have displayed serious weakness, like Costello or Tony Abbott or Brendan Nelson. The whole structure has been built around the leader. Without him, it is hard to see it remaining standing. It is not really Howard's fault; he exploited the system, but he didn't invent it. Sure, he stayed too long, but even if he had left a year ago it is doubtful if Costello - or anyone else - could have filled the gap. The Howard monolith has fallen. It may be a while before the dust settles and the Liberals can find another strong leader to love.
The same has been true of other political parties, of course: a headless chook is by definition non-functioning. But the Liberals are unique, at least in...
Robert ManneSaul Friedländer's 'The Years of Extermination'
Luke DaviesWerner Herzog's 'Rescue Dawn'
Craig SherborneAt the track with Brian Mayfield-Smith
Nicolas RothwellKarel Kupka in north Australia
More in The Monthly Essays
Rebecca GiggsTaking to London's streets in lockdown, with thoughts of Orwell and Henry Miller, plagues, eels, decorative cakes and what might be done in the belly of a whale
Which jobs and what growth?
Richard DennissWe need to talk about the economy
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The glass curtain
Anna GoldsworthyClassical music's problem with women


text:
package com.intellij.ide.codeStyleSettings;

import com.intellij.idea.Bombed;
import com.intellij.psi.codeStyle.CodeStyleSettings;
import com.intellij.psi.codeStyle.CodeStyleSettingsManager;
import com.intellij.util.containers.ContainerUtilRt;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;

import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Map;

public class NewProjectSettingsTest extends CodeStyleTestCase {
  private final static Map<String,Runnable> ourSetupMap = ContainerUtilRt.newHashMap();
  static {
    ourSetupMap.put("nonDefaultSettings", () -> {
      CodeStyleSettingsManager manager = CodeStyleSettingsManager.getInstance();
      manager.USE_PER_PROJECT_SETTINGS = true;
      CodeStyleSettings testSettings = new CodeStyleSettings();
      manager.setMainProjectCodeStyle(testSettings);
      testSettings.setDefaultRightMargin(77);
    });
  }

  @Override
  public void setUp() throws Exception {
    super.setUp();
    CodeStyleSettingsManager.getInstance(getProject()).dropTemporarySettings();
  }

  @Override
  public void tearDown() throws Exception {
    try {
      restoreDefaults();
    }
    finally {
      super.tearDown();
    }
  }

  @Override
  protected void setupProject() {
    Runnable setupRunnable = ourSetupMap.get(getTestName(true));
    if (setupRunnable != null) setupRunnable.run();
  }

  private static void restoreDefaults() {
    restoreDefaults(CodeStyleSettingsManager.getInstance());
    restoreDefaults(CodeStyleSettingsManager.getInstance(getProject()));
  }

  private static void restoreDefaults(@NotNull CodeStyleSettingsManager manager) {
    manager.USE_PER_PROJECT_SETTINGS = false;
    manager.setMainProjectCodeStyle(null);
  }

  @Bombed(month = Calendar.MARCH, day = 1, user = "Rustam Vishnyakov")
  public void testNonDefaultSettings() {
    CodeStyleSettings settings = CodeStyleSettingsManager.getSettings(getProject());
    CodeStyleSettings appSettings = CodeStyleSettingsManager.getInstance().getMainProjectCodeStyle();
    assertNotNull(appSettings);
    assertNotSame(settings, appSettings);
    assertEquals(settings, appSettings);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Exodus! Just What Are Parents Saying!
by Pat Ford — February 8, 2022
Rumour Has It:
Parents across the State, from a broad swath of Public School Districts, are burning up the phone lines, discussing a mass exodus from Rhode Island Public Schools, in advance of the March Census Date. The enrolled student population at that moment impacts the State of Rhode Island funding formula for the next school year.
Masking, Curriculum, and overall school performance have been repeatedly mentioned as the impetus for the overwhelming frustration exhibited by Parents from virtually every corner of Rhode Island life.
The Coalition has reached out to RIDE for confirmation.
We will continue to update this story as it develops.
Author: Pat Ford
Visit Author:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In the contemporary theater scene, you can still be surprised by shocking and striking pieces like Dionysos Stadt. Forget about going out on a Friday night and get wasted until dawn, we have better plans for you.
Dionysos Stadt is a play that lasts 10 hours, beginning at 8 pm, when the Greek Gods Prometheus, Troy, and Orestes began to discuss political circumstances that happen 2500 years ago but can be valid nowadays.
The democracy was founded in 5 BC in Athens where the political issues were discussed in the arena of theatre, a place of entertainment and also a meeting point. Today democracy has another meaning, and mainly capitalism and not the people decide what's going to happen in every country.
Greece was also the home for mythology, heroes and gods, like the previously mentioned ones and also Achilles, Cassandra, Elektra, Ulysses, and more. Each one with his own story of conflict, war, and fate.
The name of the performance is taken of the god Dionysos, who was the father of comedy and tragedy. That way, the play is structured in different tragedies like the Troy War and a satire about the God who gives the name of the piece. The approach of the director Christopher Rüping and the performers of the Münchner Kammerspiele gives us a contemporary perspective of the ancient world until the morning light comes.
During the intervals, attendants will taste some finger food (served by the chef Serkan Tunca and included in the admission price) and other refreshments available at the bar and reservations at Kulisse or Conviva are available during the long interval. When the sun rises, they will offer breakfast for everyone. Like a Greek fest, with their pleasures, tragedies, and comedies. Like life itself.
*There are more dates for Dionysos Stadt that don't take place at night: On the 10th of February from 12 pm to 9.30 pm, on the 2nd of March from 1.30 pm to 10.30 pm, and the 12 pm to 9.3 pm.


text:
The Murgatroyd Diary and Resources
Deep Thoughts from The North and More Serious Materials
Other Writing….
Presentations and Papers (The Serious Stuff)
The Centre for Strategic Foresight
January 1st 2020
All went well with our New Years eve dinner party – lamb tagine with couscous, roasted bok choy in ginger soy and a nice caramel like pudding with middle eastern flavours.
Our friends discussed the coming decade – Boris, The Donald, Trudeau and the general state of the world – as well as good places to eat here in Edmonton. There are lots of good places now, not like when we moved here in 1986. It is a real restaurant renaissance and it is good to see. Beira was our discovery in 2019.
Lazy day today as we start to gear up for re-entering the world of work.
If one can have a literary hero – someone whom one admires and sees as a legend – then my choice would be Alan Bennett. In part this is because he is a fellow Yorkshireman (I am from Bradford and Alan is from Leeds), but more it is about the fact that he found an authentic and clear literary voice early in his life and has developed and matured that voice, so that now it is clear and focused.
Each January for the last many years, Alan publishes a diary in the London Review of Books (listen to Alan read it or read it yourself here). Droll, full of the dry humour I love from the North and insightful.
His plays are an inspiration. Whether we look at the Madness of King George, Kafka's Dick, Allelujah!, A Question of Attribution, The Habit of Art, The Lady in the Van, or The History Boys, we are talking about a major British playwright here. As he would say, not Shakespeare, but close to a Breakspear.
Alan has also written marvelous biographies, all of which I have. He came close to dying from cancer and in 2019 had open heart surgery and suffers now from arthritis. But he is still with us and still making me smile. His large volume – Untold Stories, published in 2005 – provides in depth insights into his character, approach to writing and a strong account of his upbringing. Many aspects of his childhood and early life parallel mine.
Alan and I met in Harrogate in 2002. He was doing a reading from his work for a charity event which I had something to do with. We had dinner at a wonderful Harrogate hotel (The Crown) in which he had filmed (many years earlier) a brilliant piece in which he speculated why some of the people who took lunch and afternoon tea were there. This was also the hotel that Agatha Christie retreated to during her disappearance.
One his achievements is a series of seven one person monologue pieces with some acting which he wrote for television – Talking Heads. With great actors like Thora Hurd and Patricia Routledge, it was a smash success and also an excellent series of short stage pieces.
In person Alan is exactly the same as he is in any TV or radio interview – what you see is what you get. He is blunt and focused. For example, he writes extensively in Untold Stories about turning down both a CBE and a Knighthood. On the CBE he turned it down because the Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher and he "didn't want anything from that woman's handbag"!.
Now 85 and getting less agile, he his still writing and still thinking and seeing. Let's hope there is at least one more great stage piece to come.
Today would have been my mothers 93rd birthday. She is no longer with us in person, but will never leave me in spirit.
She was an inspiration – a creative, smart women who never once got in my way if I was engaged in learning, creating, inspiring. The only time she was angry with me was when I was wasting time, doing nothing when I could have been reading, listening to music, playing the violin or not engaging in meaningful conversation or doing something that created laughter or connections with others.
She was not politically active in the sense of being a member of the Labour Party as I was growing up, but she was acutely aware of politics and social events. On the day Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, she came home from work (the public library in Bradford) crying and shared what she felt this event meant for us all – a loss of hope, of imagination in government, of social change.
She had her challenges. Mother suffered from mental illness for many years and was, on a cycle, hospitalized and subject to treatment which we referred to as "the shocks". She would get depressed, disoriented, angry (but never violent) and did not respond to the (rather pathetic) drugs the doctor prescribed. Her eventual cure was education and achievement – she fulfilled her life-time ambition of securing a degree and a teacher qualification, taught as a supply teacher and rarely had but a moment of mental health challenges again.
She was also funny. She loved to laugh and, like her mother, had a wry sense of humour.
She died, as she wanted, in her own home of a massive heart attach. My brother found her when he visited and her life was over all too soon. She leaves my brother, sister and I with wonderful memories and many aspects of our character. All three of us miss her. All three of us cherish her memory.
I dont know why, but we always watch the Golden Globes and The Oscar ceremonies. It is certainly not because I want to hear a bunch of rich people lecture me on climate change, Donad Trump or Borish Johnson – I can lecture myself. But it is more becuase I want to discover movies or TV that may be worth watching.
For example, until last night at the Golden Globes I had not heard of Dolomite is My Name with Eddie Murphy or Bombshell with Charlize Theron. But I will find them and watch.
I have already watched Judy (excellent), Knives Out (fun), The Irishman (good, long and in need of an edit), The Two Popes (really excellent work), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (fell asleep), Booksmart (yawned and gave up half way), JoJo Rabbit (hilarious). I am still waiting to see The Joker, Marriage Story, Parasite, The Farewell, Little Women and 1917 – the latter especially.
James Martin (the chef whom I admire and follow on Twitter) reports that The Gentleman with Hugh Grant is also a "must watch" fun gangster movie.
One problem with the host of these events is that they get in the way – Ricky Gervais was essentially obnoxious, but we all know (and really hope) that this was the last (and 5th) time he was doing this. He wasn't wrong about some of the things he said, though I suspect the next time he's on Graham Norton's couch sitting next to Dame Judy Dench she'll punch his lights out! The speeches are also always disappointing. Phoebe Waller-Bridge (picture above), who won 2 awards, was smart and there were one or two focused pieces, but by and large a mess. Brad Pitt was funny – he wanted to bring his mother, but he is reported to be dating anyone he stands next to and thought a picture of him stood next to his mum could be "awkward!". Olivia Coleman was on her way to being pissed (again).
But I will watch next year. And probably the year after…you never know…
Let's take a walk around the world and see what is happening..
Iran admits it shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet with fifty seven Canadian's onboard, including many from Edmonton. Tragedy, made worse by the fact that the Iranian's were acting following the murderous action of an out of control President of the United States. The victims are victims of a phony war between the US and Iran – they were innocent. All in this city will take quite a while to grieve.
Also grief world-wide over the continuing fires across Australia, with now well over three quarters of a billion animals dead as well as at least twenty-eight humans. With many friends in Australia, the suffering of all on a daily basis (especially those with breathing related illnesses like asthma) is unbearable. All made worse by a governments whose attitude to climate change is beyond stupid. The price of big coal buying a government is death, destruction and dismay. Australia is now a totally different place from the place I visited in May 2019 and passed through briefly in December.
Meantime, Megan Markle is starring in a soap opera. It's a cross between Days of Our Lives, All My Children and East Enders. Some say that Megan wants out of her royal duties so that she can play herself on The Crown. Others than she is following in the fine footsteps of Princess Margaret and Diana. While yet others think she is the new Wallace Simpson or Yoko Ono, breaking up the truly hypnotic dynamism of the Windsor's (not). The reality is that Harry, Megan and Archie are getting out before they become growingly irrelevant and trying to do something really useful with their lives. Some hope they will live in Canada for part of the year (Tim Horton's have already offered free coffee for life, which would push me to live in LA – worst coffee you can actually buy) while others have suggested that Harry and Megan are eying up property in LA. Charles has already made clear he wants a slimmed down royal family if Elizabeth ever passes away (she is 93) and William, George are already lined up for succession. Harry and Megan have no real place in this pantomime.
Speaking of pantomime (we enjoyed Cinderella in Edmonton), we are getting near some actual voting in the US primaries. Jo Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Peter Buttigieg (with a growing interest in Tom Steyer) will soon experience reality in the Iowa caucuses. Voting is on February 3rd and I am as excited as a rabbit in a stew.
Vladimir Trumpkin continues to show signs of dementia, aided by Moscow's Mitch McConnell. As we approach the new Washington pantomime, not starring John Bolton or Mick Mulvaney, Mitch is preparing to play Ugly Sister. Ivanka is not cast in any part other than fly-by-night wannabe someone important but can't quite make it. Her husband, Jared Cushionmaker, who is responsible for the US's middle-east peace strategy (seems to be going well, don't we all think?) is off on a new project designing handbags for the Oscar celebrations (he might as well be). The villain is being played by Nancy Pelosi.
As we come to the end of the pantomime season over here, Brexit is happening over there. Borish Johnson has got his Brexit Bill through the commons and it is now in the Lords, who will no doubt mess with it, send it back to the commons who will simply ignore the Lords and the deal will be done. Britain will be out of the EU by the end of the month and then all the bullshit will start all over again focused on the trade deal. Meantime, almost going unnoticed, Northern Ireland's assembly (Stormont) is back in business after a three year hiatus. Sinn Fein and the DUP finally agreed to settle their differences and start working together again. Thank goodness.
The Golden Globes came and went and largely went by without too much fuss. Ricky Gervais was obnoxious but right, Joaquin Phoenix (outstanding in The Joker) was rambling but right, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge was right and nice while Olivia Coleman was on her way back to the bar. All in all a pointless, but fun night – more panto with better costumes.
The Queen (93), Prince Charles (71), Prince William (37), Prince Harry (35), Megan Markel (38), six corgis (7,9,11,and 12) and various onlookers and courtesans agreed that Harry and Meg's can live in Canada for part of the year and begin to transition to become tax payers in both countries, which will be welcome as both the UK and Canada need to have more revenue to pay down growing debts. Megan will be looking to buy property and is keeping an eye on real estate in Toronto, Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Muskoka. Tim Horton's is offering free coffee for life and Prime Minister Just-in-time Trudeau is offering to pay for their security. What can go wrong? A lot said Prince Phillip (98), who is known to angry at these developments – so angry in fact that he is thinking of taking up driving again. Phillip has offered to drive the couple to Heathrow.
The impeachment trial of President Trump is getting nearer the start-up gate, as Nancy Pelosi (80) is about to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Moscow Mitch McConnell (78) has promised the Donald, his Lord and Master, that all will be well and that he will not be impeached. Donald wants the whole thing done with and is suggesting that the Senate simply dismiss the case as having no evidential base. The President faces two charges – abuse of office and obstruction of justice. Apparently, it is not an offence to lie on a daily basis, belittle veterans or be a dangerous idiot.
McConnell is an interesting character. He has been an elected official since 1977, following his discharge from the army reserve as being unfit to serve for medical reasons (poor vision). Many think this is a good description of his time as Senator for Kentucky – he is unfit for service and has poor vision – and he faces a real challenge in the election in November from within the GOP. Kentucky ranks 44th in the US for healthcare, 38th for education and 39th for economic growth (45th for fiscal stability). It hasn't changed much since Moscow Mitch became a Senator.
In Alberta, teachers and unions expressed disappointment and anger (but not surprise) at a wage arbitration which gave them zero wage increases for the next two years. This means that teachers, over a ten-year period, have received no wage increases for nine years and in just one year (2015) secured a 2% rise. In this same period inflation in Alberta has been around 12%. Simple math: the buying power of a teachers take home pay has fallen significantly. Meanwhile, oil and gas workers who have been able to retain their jobs (and we all recognize many have not, as companies seek to reduce labour costs and invest in technology or exit Alberta), have been able to stay 9% ahead of the cost of living. Teachers matter. They change lives every day. We need them to support and develop one of the best educational systems in the world.
The Oscar nominations are out and already there are complaints about the lack of diversity – no women directors, too few black actors, not enough LGTBQ2+. I also noticed a real absence of Welsh language films, not enough tap dancing and a total absence of films about toilets. Really. The Oscars used to be about the recognition of quality, irrespective of gender, colour, religion or sexual orientation. We will soon have a conversation about quotas. What those complaining need to recognize is that the decision for the Oscars (unlike the Golden Globes) is a peer review process. If you want to change, then the very people you all work with need to change. There are some excellent films around this year, 1917 is one of them. Little Women as a film is a bit of a mess, despite some quality performances.
Prime Minister Trudeau has grown a beard. It's a multi-colour experience, with hints of grey, black, brown and beaver. It's a sign of him trying to be serious. For many, especially the Wexiteers (Western Canadian's seeking to separate from Canada – I know, even I can't believe this is a thing, but they are a registered Federal (no irony) political party), it makes no difference. For these people, he still talks nonsense. In fact, the beard makes it more difficult for the Wexiteers to take him seriously. Nonetheless, he was statesman like and showed real leadership this week in his measured response to the downing of the aircraft which killed so many innocent people, many from Edmonton.
Let's take a walk around the world and see what is happening…
It has been very cold in Edmonton, with some days at -50c. We don't stop doing things – we have the underwear – but no one needs this kind of cold. A seven-day spell of this is enough. Meantime, in Nannup Australia, a small town in Western Australia some 175 km south of Perth, forty Emu's have taken over the town. Wish they were here – it would be a sign that things are warming up.
In Russia there has been an unusual coup. This time led by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin (67). He is basically working to stay in full control of government after his fixed and last term as President ends in 2024 (he has basically been in control since 2000). He wants to be Big Boss for Life and has already been in power for more years than Stalin. He is reengineering government to permit this. The government of Russia resigned en masse this last week, which is a rare event in any country, so as to make way for the reforms he wants to implement. Let's hope Trump is not paying attention. The President of China is now there for life – we don't want this trend to catch on.
Speaking of regime change, the British Labour Party (remember them?) is in the midst of a leadership election. Five candidates are vying for the top job – Lisa Nandy, Rebecca Long Bailey (currently running second in the polls, but only just), Sir Keir Starmer (the bankers choice and leading in the polls) and a lawyer (former Director of Public Prosecution for England)), Jess Phillips and Emily Thornbury. The final voting is on February 21st. The issue is whether or not the new leader will champion the same policies as Jeremy Corbyn or whether we will see a new version of the Labour Party. Long-Bailey is a Corbynista (and a solicitor and a Catholic) and Starmer isn't – he's a kind of new Blair-like character. I joined the party in 1965 – the current version is not the party I was a member of. I left in the 1970's to join Plaid Cymru as a political advisor – much more fun.
Staying in Britain, Megxit (the tabloid's press term for Harry and Megan's exit from the royal family duties) continues to preoccupy a lot of pages in the gutter press. Megan may face her father in court in a law suit she brought over the publication of a private letter from her to her dad. Looks like her dad sold it to the media. Oh dear. Megan is in Victoria, Canada with Archie and Harry is still negotiating their departure in London. Rumours abound. My favourite is that the Meg-Harry Duo will become King and Queen of Canada – just what we need! A close second is the rumour that British potato geneticists are working on developing the Sussex Royal potato – rivaling Jersey Royals. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spent just six hours in the county of Sussex. They also will not be moving to Sussex, New Brunswick.
Brexit is days away. The big debate – should Big Ben ring out its big bongs to indicate that the deal is done. It will cost quite a lot of money (£500,000) and will be heard by very few – just the thing Brexit was intended to stop.
All new version of The Apprentice – The Impeachment Boondoggle starts on Tuesday in Washington. A new cast with the same focus: Donald Trump. We can expect wall-to-wall coverage of this, despite the fact that it will be as dull as ditchwater and as exciting as a bucket of rhubarb peelings. One phrase which we will not hear in this edition is "you're fired!". I am thinking of taking up knitting.
The year of the rat begins tomorrow (I know some of you think it was November 2016 when Donald Trump was elected President of the USA), but significant cities in China are locked down because of the outbreak of the coronavirus which has already killed twenty-six people, with many more under treatment. The virus cannot be caught from drinking six bottles of Corona, but can be passed from one human to another. It is a variant of the SARS virus, which we Canadians happen to know a lot about. Let's hope it doesn't become a world-wide scare, as SARS did.
Next week is Brexit Bye-Bye week. The legislation has completed its passage through parliament and received royal assent. It has also been signed by the EU President. While Big Ben will not ring out the event on 31st January, people across Britain will celebrate (or not) in their own way – some will cook kippers, others will have Black Pudding Festivals and no doubt some will roll a cheese down a hill and chase after it.
Staying in Britain, a team of researchers based in Leeds has been able to reconstruct the voice box of an ancient mummified Egyptian priest and reproduce the voice he would have used. His first words spoken after 3,000 years of silence were "you can't be serious! Brexit! WTF!!" – well that's what we think he said: he spoke in hieroglyphs.
The Director General of the BBC, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, is stepping down early so he can compete in Strictly Come Dancing. Despite strong public support, I will not be offering my services. But I nominate Dr. Sir Lenny Henry – the comedian, philanthropist, Open University graduate, documentary maker and actor – to take over and bring back fun and joy and get rid of the political correctness and "wokeness" which now permeates the BBC.
Meghan and Harry are back together with Archie and, according to reports, are looking at a property in Kitsilano on the waterfront in Vancouver. Good luck to them. Reports that Harry is training to be a Barista at Delany's on Denman Street have been denied by official sources, though Meghan is back with her voice coach. They are having significant legal problems over their attempts to trade mark and protect the Sussex Royal brand and may in fact have to rebrand – perhaps MegHarry or No-One-Really-Cares-But-Here-It-Is or Just Royal Stuff may work, who knows.
The Apprentice (Senate Version) is underway in Washington and, as predicted, is about as exciting as pouring second hand gravy into a sink filled with bacon-bits. Trump's thumbs are receiving treatment as he tweets up a storm, but meanwhile Ivanka is looking serene having spent a few days at Davos wasting everyone's time talking nonsense – a skill she learnt from her father. At Davos, Trump rubbished climate change and, as he is a stable genius (according to him), no one took his ideas seriously. As it becomes clear that the US is rapidly becoming a third world country with more poor people now than China and a rapidly expanding divide between rich and poor, Trump's "economic miracle" would not get past the Vatican Miracle Commission.
In the Vatican, there has been a fuss over a book published by Cardinal Robert Saraha (74) – who is amongst those who could succeed Francis – which he claims was co-authored by Pope Benedict XVI. The book champions priestly celibacy and appears at a time when Pope Francis (so many Popes..) is considering permitting priests to marry in regions with dramatic shortages of clergy. Benedict's private secretary has said that, while the Pope Emeritus did contribute to the book, he is not the co-editor of the collection of papers it contains. Fuss, scandal and intrigue. It's all about positioning. Cardinal Sarah is Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (a.k.a Catholic Thought Police) and a very conservative voice amongst the College of Cardinals. He is a member of Dignitatis Humanae – the right wing of the Church.
This week Pope Francis – who only has one lung (one was surgically removed when he was a teenager) – met Vice President Mike Pence. Pence was raised Catholic but switched to being an Evangelical Protestant when he calculated there were more votes to be had with this label. Pope Francis gave Pence a copy of his encyclical Laudato Si, which demands that the world deal with climate change. The irony was lost on Pence, but not on the rest of us.
In Canada, Prime Minister and Beard Grower Justintime Trudeau bought Doughnuts in Winnipeg. He got s**t for it. He bought "luxury" doughnuts from "Oh" Doughnuts ($47/ dozen) rather than shitty doughnuts from Tim Hortons ($10/ dozen) which taste like cardboard and are a perfect match to the coloured water they sell as coffee. He bought from a local Canadian company. While Tim Horton's has its HQ in Toronto, it is actually owned by a Brazilian investment company (hedge fund) and is part of the Burger King empire who are a pretty poor employer, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The parent company did not help franchise holders offset minimum wage increases, which help stimulate the Canadian economy and take employees out of poverty. Well done Prime Minister – support good Canadian owned companies and don't eat poor quality food.
Greta Thunberg is a smart young lady who gets up the nose of stuck-up alpha male politicians like Steve Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary. At Davos he said that she should get a degree in economics before talking about climate change. This kind of nonsense comes from a man who is among those presiding over the decline of the US as a super-power, driving families into poverty, creating a class of super-rich and driving the US into the biggest deficit and debt levels it has ever seen – the US government debt rising by $3 trillion since Trump became President and he treasury secretary. He should be asked to give his BA in Economics from Yale back, since he clearly does not understand the real economy of the country he helps govern. He should also recognize that climate change is more than an economic problem – it's a problem for humanity. We are all qualified.
Soon it will be Brexit Day – the day the UK officially exits the EU, kind of. There is a period of agreed hanging around and waiting to see what happens next (the transition period). But celebration – nah. It's one of those events like having a boil pierced or a bunion removed or waiting for a cake to rise.
In Britain, the Labour Party leadership election convulsion continues. One candidate – Jess Phillips – has dropped out, realizing that rational policies that people may want to vote for are not what the party faithful seem to want. Since it became a cult, the party now is determined not to be in power for at least a generation. The policy platform is about as practical as the Catholic church taking over the licenses for strip clubs around the world. Sir Keir Starmer remains front runner by a "long-mile" and Rebecca Long-Bailey is a distant second though she has gained the support of Britain's largest Trade Union. Sir Keir has been asked to step aside so that an woman can win.
The Coronavirus continues to worry us all. New cases have now occurred in Canada, UK, France and the US and many other cases have been reported in a variety of countries. The death toll is rising. When wandering around Vancouver, one sees more and more people wearing face masks and some are seeking fashionable hazmat suits. Even in Thunder Bay last week there were a few people at the airport wearing face masks – the most exciting thing to have happened in Thunder Bay since someone there started baking Persians (a cinnamon bun with pink icing, not people from Iran). A pandemic has not yet been declared by the World Health Organization, but one suspects such a declaration is just days away. What can we do to protect ourselves? Nothing. Stay healthy is the key strategy here. SARS killed 800 people world-wide and dramatically affected travel and trade, especially in Canada. This looks similar.
Donald Trump continues to lie, cheat the world and act as a Mafia boss while also playing his role as President of the United States, Tweeter of the Month and the Kremlin's Employee of the Year. The US Senate, demonstrating its inability to take itself seriously, will soon see off his impeachment in a coming partisan vote that even General Franco would have been proud of. It is a sign of the real decline of common-sense and democracy in that country. All made worse by those he has surrounded himself with – lackey's, cronies and ambitious men with no sense of guilt. All the adults in the cabinet room have left the building. Only the delinquents are left.
Meghan and Harry have gone quiet. Living in British Columbia does that to you. You are so busy been seen to be busy while not actually doing much that it wears you out. No doubt they are sushi hunting, whale campaigning and bacon bashing.
In tennis the wonderfully talented teenager Coco Gauff (15) was defeated in the fourth round of the Australian open by Sofia Kenin. Coco played really well (even winning the first set in her game with Kenin), showing all the skills she demonstrated in her remarkable run at Wimbledon last year. In her run in Melbourne she defeated Naomi Saka (the defending champion) and Venus Williams. She is my real hero of the week – resilient, focused, skilled and determined. With good mentoring and coaching, she will be the new champion in the women's game in the years to come.
Staying with sporting heroes, Kobe Bryant (41) died tragically when his helicopter crashed in California killing him and all on board. A smart man, he played 20 seasons with the Lakers and did great work in health and education. One of the greatest players of all time and certainly the greatest of his generation. RIP Kobe Bryant.
Each year around 3,500 Canadians die of the flu. In the US the number is around 12,000 and in the UK the figure is app. 13,000. One major cause: too few people get the flu jab. Some of the people now really concerned about the Coronavirus have not had the flu jab, yet the flu is a much bigger threat than this new virus. The anti-vac's movement has much to answer for (like most of Gwyneth Paltrow's claims, the anti-vac's rationale is based on total nonsense and magical thinking) – they pose a threat to us all, especially children. Get the vac's and wash your hands frequently. If you're sick (especially coughing a lot), stay home. Rant over.
In the US, President (at the moment) Trump and Israeli Prime Minister (at the moment) Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to give large parts of the Middle East to Israel and to grant a number of non-adjacent spaces for use by the Palestinians in exchange for $50 billion and the Palestinians agreeing to be subject to apartheid from their controlling government – the State of Israel. No one took this seriously, except the two indicted leaders and Jared Kushner. The "deal of the century" was dead on arrival and will go down in history as a folly aimed at distracting the world from what is really happening. Sadly, it will make matters worse in the Middle East rather than better. The big thing missing from the plan is Palestine.
On the US border with Mexico in California, part of the brand-new border wall ("beautiful border wall – the best ever in the history of border walls – a wall better than any wall builtby any President anywhere") fell over in a windy breeze and fell on the Mexican side. The Mexican's who found it are selling it for scrap.
In Canada the Progressive Conservative Party (which is very conservative and not at all progressive) is seeking a new leader. They are looking for someone who could defeat Justin Trudeau and someone who does not have a beard. The most likely person to defeat Trudeau – Rona Ambrose – has made clear she is not interested. We are left with the second, third and lower tiers. Peter McKay is the front runner. First elected to parliament in 1997, he left in 2015 to focus on his new family and getting rich. He doesn't speak French (or Welsh or Spanish), despite the fact that he has dedicated much of his life to federal politics and has no particular views, policies or ideas of any kind. He will fit right into the Tory party leadership. He is not very studious – more of a hockey player than a reader; more of a "just heard this in the coffee shop" than a policy wonk; more of a Tim Horton's doughnut's guy than someone who would support a Canadian company. The party's last leader was a US citizen and "fuzzy" about his past work experience. No change here then.
In Alberta we are getting ready for the real first big austerity budget from our United Conservative Party (UCP) government. Be prepared for more nonsense and stupidity. More cuts to health, education and social care. More "Give Away's" to oil and gas. More attacks on nurses, teachers, doctors, social workers and public servants. More blaming everyone for the growing deficit and debt which the UCP are directly responsible for. More privatization – coded in health and education in terms of "choice". This is a truly neo-liberal populist party which has not an ounce of understanding of the impact of the decisions they make. No compassion, no tolerance for risk, no attempt to engage in meaningful dialogue and no economic sense. To say that many in Alberta are shocked at the level of nonsense and crassness the UCP demonstrate on a regular basis is an understatement. One person who voted for the UCP said, as she lost her medical benefits due to a UCP decision, "I voted for them to make cuts, but I never expected any of the cuts to affect me!". Well precisely.
Nicholas Parsons, the actor and broadcaster who hosted BBC Radio 4's "Just a Minute" for what seems like 300 years has died at the young age of 96. Gifted, swift witted and insightful, he also made this program one the great listening experiences of any weekend. When Humphrey Littleton hosted "I am Sorry I Haven't a Clue" – without doubt the funniest show since Monty Python – and Nicholas had his show, weekends were complete. Add in a series of re-runs of "Round the Horn" and the BBC radio 1978 version of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy narrated by Peter Jones with and you were in heaven.
balance the Provincial budget, by which they mean only spend the "revenues" they secure through taxation, royalties and other means. The second, linked to the first, is to better align government spending by Department with the spending levels seen for those services in other Provinces, no matter that Alberta's economy is different and that GDP per capita and taxation levels are different. The third is, as rapidly as possible, privatize significant sections of the currently public services offered to citizens.
In pursuing these strategic intentions, the government is happy not to engage in any meaningful consultations and dialogue with those who may be impacted by these strategies or with those who have policy alternatives. They are also unwilling (some may say incapable) of looking at an evidence-base which shows that these strategies are either likely to fail or based on a poor (yet deliberate) misunderstanding of the situation Alberta faces. Finally, they expect sections of the public service to engage in industrial action – work to rule or strike – in response to their actions. Indeed, they are hoping for a full-on confrontation since this will accelerate their move to privatization and, in their view, garner support for union busting.
These three strategies come directly from the neo-liberal new public service playbook and are proven failures all over the world.
So as to balance the budget any sensible government would do two things: (a) maximize revenues; and (b) control spending. This government dramatically reduced revenues through tax breaks and the removal of the carbon tax and is not considering increasing revenues through either a sales tax or increased royalties from natural resources licenses. The government is pursuing "trickle down" economics – something even the IMF accepts does not work. When we look at revenues, Alberta has by far the lowest government revenues of any jurisdiction in Canada at just 13.6% of GDP (BC is at 18.9%, Ontario at 17.6%).
Alberta's net debt is currently $43.7 billion – an increase of $7.09 billion over the previous year. Our net debt to GDP ratio is projected to be 11.8% – by far the lowest in Canada by any calculation. Our net debt per capita is also low at $8,379. As a comparator, Ontario's net debt to GDP ratio is 401% and net debt per capita is $24,282. We do not really have a debt problem when these numbers are compared either to other jurisdictions in Canada or to competitor jurisdictions around the world. It is true that our spending on government programs looks to be higher than other Provinces (except Newfoundland and Labrador) at $12,915 per capita (BC spends $10,947) but then our wages for all employees in Alberta are higher. The real number to look at is progamme expenditure as a percentage of GDP and here we spend less than any other Province (15.7%).
The idea that we have to balance budgets is a ploy and a manufactured problem. We do need to manage spending and be efficient, but we also have to respond and meet social needs. Corporate largesse and tax breaks for the rich and already wealthy will not lead to job creation as employment numbers clearly suggest. What is needed is a revenue increase through a sales tax, an increase in oil and gas royalties and higher corporate taxes.
On the spending side, spending needs to be reduced on non-core functions (war rooms, overseas travel to "attract investors", task forces and advisory panels) with more money going to services which Albertan's value – health care, senior care, care for those with disabilities, education and infrastructure. Alberta's population is still growing and investments in people, support for those in need and the payment of a decent wage do more to stimulate and grow an economy than tax breaks for the already wealthy.
So as to reduce economic risk and ensure the effective management of public expenditure, Alberta needs to halt all talk of privatization in health, education and social services. Study after study shows that privatization both increases costs, reduces efficiency and increases social risk. Further, laying off public service personnel in favour of private providers who will walk away if profits fall poses a real economic threat and risk to service quality. Sweden rapidly privatized parts of its K-12 system in the name oif school choice. Not only did quality fall (as measured by PISA and Sweden's own testing system), the private players "gamed" the system by manipulating and inflating the performance of their schools. When profits fell, the private players walked away, leaving the Government to pick up the pieces. Similar things have happened in the US and the UK. In healthcare, privatization leads to loss of cost control, increased wait times in the public system and poorer systemwide outcomes.
In short, the Alberta government is intent on pursuing strategic intentions which have been shown as failures elsewhere in the world all on the basis of a misunderstanding of the challenges Alberta faces. To make matters worse, the Government of Alberta is systematically disengaging from public debate or real engagement with those who disagree with their steamroller approach to public policy, as all who have tried to have authentic policy conservations with Ministers and MLA's will attest. We don't actually have "government by the people for the people", we have a government of selected interest steered by the few for the few.
@stephenmurg
Author, imagineer and creative consultant, Stephen was Dean of the School of Business at Athabasca University and creator of the world's first online MBA. A prolific writer, frequent broadcaster and keynote speaker, Stephen lives and works from a base in Edmonton, Alberta.
Why I Write a Diary
I love diaries. James Lees Milne and Alan Bennet provide role models for these notes, which I began in December 2016. I do not claim any special status for thee thoughts - I am a writer who also keeps a diary.


Manasi Parekh Gohil is an Indian actress and singer. She made her debut in acting with the serial Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi. She rose to fame with Star Plus's popular show Gulaal. After that she appeared in shows like Remote Control, Kuch Toh Log Kahenge, ITC – Ashirvad Aata and Ishq Kills. Currently she is seen in Star Plus new show Sumit Sambhal Lega.
Manasi Parekh was born on 10 July 1986 in Ahmedabad. She has trained in classical music under the tutelage of Shrimati Madhubala Chawla and Shri Shrikant Waiekar. She also learnt Folk music from Shri Purushottam Upadhyay. Manasi pursued a degree in English Literature at the St.Xavier's College Mumbai, a haven for creativity. This is where her love for acting began and she started participating in college productions as an actor-singer. Manasi has been a part of the Indian Television Industry ever since she was in college.
Pretty and talented actress Manasi Parekh made a comeback to television with Star Plus' much awaited show Sumit Sambhal Lega. She is seen essaying the character of Maya Walia in Sumit Sambhal Lega.


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Greek flag at half mast in honor of Glezos
April 1, 2020 01.04.2020 • 10:09
The Greek flag on the Acropolis flew at half mast in honor of World War II resistance hero Manolis Glezos who was given a state funeral at the capital's First Cemetery on Wednesday.
At a service for the veteran leftist, Archbishop Ieronymos described him as "a symbol of the National Resistance at a time of tribulation for our nation."
Glezos died of heart failure at a central Athens hospital Monday. He was 97. Respected across the Greek political spectrum, Glezos was most famous for climbing the walls of the Acropolis in 1941 to take down the Nazi flag.
He was sentenced to death in absentia. Politically active until the end, he strongly campaigned against austerity during the debt crisis. In 2012, he was elected MP with leftist SYRIZA and gained a seat in the European Parliament two years later.
In a post on social media on Monday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the gesture was a tribute to a "great Greek."
Coronavirus death toll in Cyprus rises to 8
Greek scientists hopeful warmer weather can slow spread of coronavirus
Signs discipline flagging at halfway mark
Athens residents urged to help keep capital clean
New Greek coronavirus cases include ship crew and migrant mother
Extra measures for five municipalities


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Tompkins Cortland Advantage
What is a Community College
Dual Degree - Global Connections
Virtual Partnerships
ESL Programs
We are Tompkins Cortland: A leader in global education.
Tompkins Cortland Community College, a member of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, was established more than 50 years ago, and now offers more than 40 degree programs and certificates, including programs at the TC3 Farm, as well as a comprehensive farm-to-bistro program.
Our campus is located in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, which is a thriving and progressive region known for its rich history, cultural offerings, and outdoor wonders. Situated in the center of New York state, it is just four hours from New York City, four hours from Philadelphia, and three hours from Niagara Falls. Nearby, the City of Ithaca is home to both Ivy League institution Cornell University and Ithaca College, and the City of Cortland is home to the SUNY Cortland campus. Tompkins Cortland's 220-acre campus is located in Dryden, a tranquil village in the middle of a busy region.
The community that exists at Tompkins Cortland goes beyond academics – we give you the full college experience. We offer a full range of support and activities for all of our students, including on-campus childcare, mental health counseling, a well-equipped gymnasium and fitness center, sports facilities, inclusive campus events, and on-campus housing.


Amy Hardin has been in the dental field since 2001 where she worked as a registered dental assistant, treatment coordinator, and marketing specialist. After receiving her bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, she returned to the dental field and joined the team of Carestream Imaging Application Specialists in 2015.
Amy and her husband love taking their yorkie for walks, going to the Colorado River, and enjoying time with friends and family.


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Julianne Pierce is an Australian new media artist, curator, art critic, writer, and arts administrator. She was a member of the groundbreaking group VNS Matrix. She went on to become a founding member of the Old Boys Network, another important cyberfeminist organisation. She has served as executive director of the Australian Dance Theatre and is Chair of the Emerging and Experimental Arts Strategy Panel for the Australia Council. Pierce was executive director of the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) from 2000 to 2005, based in Adelaide, and was Executive Producer of Blast Theory from 2007 to 2012, based in Brighton in the UK.

On cyberfeminism
As documented in Hawthorne and Klein's  1999 book Cyberfeminism, VNS Matrix is often credited with inventing the term cyberfeminism and Pierce argues that the term emerged spontaneously in a number of places at once.

Julianne Pierce is a regular commentator on the early work of VNS Matrix and cyberfeminism new media art. "Cyberfeminism was about ideas, irony, appropriation and hands-on skilling up in the data terrain. It combined a utopic vision of corrupting patriarchy with an unbounded enthusiasm for the new tools of technology. It embraced gender and identity politics, allowing fluid and non-gendered identities to flourish through the digital medium. The post-corporeal female would be an online frontier woman, creating our own virtual worlds and colonising the amorphous world of cyberspace."

Curated works
Future Languages (Adelaide Festival, 1994)
Code Red (ANAT/Performance Space national tour, 1997)
Biomachines (Adelaide Festival, 2000)
Spectrascope (Biennale of Sydney, Performance Space, August 2000)

References

Further reading
Pierce, Julianne. "Info heavy cyber babe." First Cyberfeminist International Reader, Hamburg: Old Boys Network (1998).
Pierce, Julianne. "Australian new media: an active circuit." Artlink 21.3 (2001): 14.
Pierce, Julianne. "Guest Editorial: New Media-New Collaborations." Dance Forum. Vol. 15. No. 2. Australian Dance Council, 2005.
Tofts, Darren. "Writing media art into (and out of) history." Re: live: 161.

Living people
Australian women artists
New media artists
People from South Australia
Year of birth missing (living people)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


36 arrows at - 100 yds. 36 arrows at - 80 yds. 36 arrows at - 60. Yds.
36 arrows at - 80 yds. 36 arrows at - 60 yds. 36 arrows at - 50. Yds.
36 arrows at - 60 yds. 36 arrows at - 50 yds. 36 arrows at - 40. Yds.
36 arrows at - 50 yds. 36 arrows at - 40 yds. 36 arrows at - 30. Yds.
36 arrows at - 40 yds. 36 arrows at - 30 yds. 36 arrows at - 20. Yds.


This afternoon was our first Boot Camp, which focused on Office Basics. We had two separate events at two different schools. They were mildly successful. The speakers were both pretty good, and I thought they covered some very good material. It is difficult to get the students to stay after school for the events, which is perhaps a learning lesson for next year. Headed to the Teen Center this evening and then had some pizza at 'Tarps.
On my way to work today I saw this Goose family hanging out near the sidewalk.


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Cold cases blog (unsolved homicides, missing, and unidentified persons), wrongful convictions, cold case database by Alice de Sturler
Cold Cases 101
How to search for cases
Cold Case Database
Case of the Month: Alana Kela
You are here: Home / Forensics / A 19th Century Coffin revolutionized 20th Century Forensic Science
A 19th Century Coffin revolutionized 20th Century Forensic Science
October 13, 2014 By Alice
A 19th Century Coffin revolutionized 20th Century Forensic Science is a guest blog post by Dolly Stolze.
Dolly is a writer and has a Masters in Forensic Anthropology from California State University, Los Angeles. Though her first love is Forensic Anthropology, she also enjoys writing about macabre history and the weird things that happen to human remains.
You can follow Dolly on Twitter. Her excellent blog Strange Remains is here.
The Fisk Mummy
Almond D. Fisk was granted the first patent for a cast iron coffin, called the "Fisk Airtight Coffin of Cast or Raised Metal," in 1848 (scroll down for an image). Known as the "Fisk Mummy," this metal coffin was a little eerie because it was shaped like a corpse wrapped in a burial shroud and had a glass window to view the face of the cadaver, which could be covered with a metal plate when the coffin was ready for burial. Fisk added accents like drapery, rosewood, and silk fringe to lessen its disturbing impact on prospective customers.
The design and materials were chosen because of their ability to protect the body and prevent decomposition so that it could endure transportation or delayed internment. According to Fisk's 1848 patent, "From a coffin of this description the air may be exhausted so completely as entirely to prevent the decay of the contained body on principles well understood; or, if preferred, the coffin may be filled with any gas or fluid having the property of preventing putrefaction."
In 1849 Fisk's foundry on Long Island in NY burned down, and Fisk died on October of 1850 from an illness he contracted while helping fight the blaze. Fisk's company produced 3 models before 1854 but stopped at some point in the 1850's.
Other companies, like Crane, Breed, and Co. of Cincinnati and W.M. Raymond & Co. of New York and Chicago, were granted licenses to produce the cast iron coffins. These companies introduced modified versions that replaced the sarcophagus shape with a rectangular casket and simplified the design so it could be mass-produced. Eventually, these metal coffins became popular among wealthy families during the Civil War because of its ability to deter grave robbers and preserve the corpse during transportation.
Colonel William Shy courtesy of the Tennessee Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans
The Case of Colonel William Shy
William Shy was a colonel in the 20th Tennessee infantry of the Confederate military. He was killed on December 16th 1864 when his unit was overrun during the battle of Compton Hill at Nashville. During the battle he was shot at point-blank range with a .58 caliber minie ball to the head. Shy's family had his body embalmed and buried in a cast iron metal coffin in a small family cemetery on their property. Unfortunately he would not rest in peace.
On December 24th 1977 Ben and Mary Griffith had recently purchased an antebellum estate called Two Rivers in Franklin, TN. On the grounds of the property was an old family graveyard where eight members of the Shy family were buried in the 1800's and 1900's. While Mrs. Griffith was showing the mansion and grounds to a friend on Christmas Eve she noticed that one of the plots has been disturbed. The grave's headstone bore the following inscription:
"Lt. Col. Wm. Shy, 20th Tenn. Infantry, C.S.A., Born May 24, 1838,
Killed at the Battle of Nashville, December 16, 1864."
The Griffiths immediately called the Sheriff's department. Since the sheriff didn't consider this an emergency, because he believed that would-be grave robbers dug up the plot to steal Civil War memorabilia, he waited until after the Christmas to investigate further.
When the Sheriff returned on December 29th and inspected the grave he discovered a headless, decomposing body dressed in a formal black jacket, a pleated white shirt, and white gloves. The investigators at the site agreed that this was the body of a recent homicide victim in an advanced state of decay. Their theory was that a murderer (or murderers) had attempted to hide the victim's body in plain sight by burying it in a used plot, but got scared off by Mrs. Griffith and her guest in the middle of disposing of the corpse.
Since the sheriff's department needed help identifying the body and estimating the time since death, they asked forensic anthropologist Dr. William M. Bass of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to help with the recovery and analysis of the remains.
Col. William Shy's cast iron coffin. Note the large hole to the right, presumably made by a tractor mounted post-hole digger which was used to probe the grave. Photograph courtesy of the Tennessee Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans.
As Bass excavated what was left of the body he found a small hole in the top of the coffin, possibly caused by a pick or a shovel. When Bass looked inside the metal coffin he found nothing but sludge, which didn't surprise him. He had exhumed a 19th century cemetery in Tennessee and found little more than small bone fragments.
Bass examined the bones back at his laboratory. According to his osteological analysis the remains belonged to a white male, in his mid 20's to early 30's, and was about 5'10". Due to the presence of pink tissue and decomposing tissue Bass believed that this person had only been dead between six and twelve months.
Sherriff's investigators recovered 17 fragments of the cranium and mandible during additional inspection of the coffin. When Bass glued them back together he found that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head with a large-caliber gun at close range. The entrance wound was in the forehead right above the left eye, and the exit wound was near the base of the skull (check here for photographs)..
Dr. Bass began to suspect that he had made a huge error in the time since death when the teeth and clothes were examined. When he examined the teeth he discovered that many of them had cavities, but there were no signs of modern dental care, such as fillings. Then a technician from the crime lab who examined the clothes found that there were no synthetic fibers or labels, things that are typically seen in modern garments.
Bass realized his mistake. This body belonged to William Shy and it had been pulled out through the small hole in the lid while looters were trying to robbing the grave.
Dr. Bass reflected on how he could have miscalculated the time since death by more than a 100 years. Though embalming does preserve human remains, a body will not stay uncorrupted forever because embalming fluids only delay the inevitable process of decomposition.
Colonel Shy's corpse was protected from oxygen and insects inside his hermetically sealed coffin. The cast iron coffins of the 19th century were constructed to be air tight to prevent bacteria, a necessary part of putrefaction, from flourishing. The metal coffin also protected the body from insects, which can burrow through wood coffins and feast on human remains.
This case and its errors made international headlines and lead to an innovation in forensic anthropology.
Fundamentally, Bass believed that this error was caused by a lack of understanding of what happens to the body during decomposition. So it was the Colonel Shy Case that motivated Dr. Bass to start the Anthropological Research Facility at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, better known as the Body Farm.
The Research Facility opened in 1980, behind the University of Tennessee Medical Center, to provide a setting for forensic anthropologists to document postmortem changes and to experiment with factors that affect time since death estimates. The Body Farm received its first donation in 1981, and over 1,000 bodies have been donated since. After the cadavers are studied at the Research Facility, the skeletons are stored as part of a skeleton collection and are used for years afterwards.
Today there are six "body farms" in the United States: University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Texas State University, Sam Houston State University, and Southern Illinois University, and Colorado Mesa University, and California University of Pennsylvania. Earlier this year Fox Valley Technical College in Wisconsin announced that they would open their own outdoor research facility.
Collections and Research. Retrieved on October 5th 2014 from: http://fac.utk.edu/facilities.html
Crane and Breed. Retrieved on October 5th 2014 from: http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/c/crane_breed/crane_breed.htm
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Filed Under: Forensics, Guest Bloggers Tagged With: Body Farm, Dolly Stolze, Dr. William M. Bass, Forensics, guest bloggers
DCC by Alice de Sturler
As a true crime writer, I raise awareness for old cases from the pre-DNA era that need renewed media attention. I do not actively investigate cases. I leave that to the professionals. My posts are about old unsolved homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these old cases. I also review books but only true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction/mysteries. My database has more than 275 cold cases listed by the victim's last name. All case suggestions for writing are added to my to-do list in the order in which they were received. If you have questions about my website please first check the FAQ page, the about page, and the the tabs in the green menu bar. If you cannot find the answer there, please contact me.
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On March 31, 2016, an evidentiary hearing was held to request touch DNA testing. On July 18, 2016, Judge Whitehead denied that request.
On November 23, 2016, an appeal was filed with the Florida Supreme Court. On April 21, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court denied the request for touch DNA analysis.
On May 8, 2017 a motion for a rehearing with the US Supreme Court was filed. It was denied November 13, 2017.
Richard Lapointe
In March 2015, the Connecticut State Supreme Court ordered a new trial. On Oct 2, 2015, International Wrongful Conviction Day, Richard Lapointe was set free. The judge ruled that he cannot be retried.
We close this wrongful conviction aspect of the file but now we must work on it as a unsolved murder case. In 1987, someone killed Bernice Martin. I hope that she will not become a forgotten file.
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Amongst the top most things, while preparing for the trip to this Vietnam place is also getting the Visa Vietnam on arrival, which has to be gained in less time and efficiently. The sites that help in this process are in existence for promoting the Vietnam to all their international friends by offering the free services of consultancy too and facilitating the tourist with all procedures of entering and exiting the Vietnam place. It is also something which holds the great command of Vietnam culture, the regulations and legal system related to the Vietnam Visa. The online facilities for obtaining them is even much convenient and cheapest option which comes with the smart services, that meets well criteria of the secure and simple, timely and reliable, achievable and mannerly things.
Fill in form of visa online: you are required to fill up the whole form with appropriate details including the name, gender, DOB, arrival date and others. After filling up all details, make sure you go through it again so as to be assured as all info has been updated correctly. In case, the wrong information goes in the form, the visa gets denied by the concerned department.
Confirm and pay: they also provide the secure payment options online through different credit cards. One can even select the PayPal or one pay for making the payment.
Get approval letter by the email: as soon as you submit the Vietnam visa application and the payment, they start processing the visa. Soon after the two working days, you can get the approval letter through email. You just have to get it print and get your two passport size photos.
Get the visa stamped: on the arrival at the airport of Vietnam in Hanoi, ho chi minh or Danang, present the approval letter, photos, passport and pay the Vietnam visa stamp fees without any problem.
For getting the Vietnam visa, you need to pay two fees as, service fees and the stamping fees. The service fee is basically the fees which you pay for all the paperwork to submit the visa application and for processing of the visa approval letters. Other one is the stamping fees which are paid directly to the immigration officer in cash mode at arrival airport of Vietnam, to get your visa stamped on the passport. The fees also get collected further by immigration officer and it is compulsory for all people who make use of the visa on arrival methods.
Is It Not Time You Visited Australia?


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Patrick Gower: Dropping 'Vic' from Vic Uni is arrogant, reckless and wrong
Patrick Gower
Photo credit: Victoria University
OPINION: The plan to change the name of Victoria University to Wellington University is one of the most breathtakingly stupid ideas I have ever seen.
I actually did a double-take when I realised this week that the powers-that-be of my old uni were so close to trashing the good name Vic because of a "branding issue".
It is disappointing because Victoria University of Wellington seems more than good enough already.
Victoria University might change name to the University of Wellington
It is gutting because 'Vic' is a cool nickname - it is an institution in so many ways.
It is appalling because the idea to replace it is so lame - plain old 'University of Wellington'.
And it is a disgusting waste of money from taxpayers and student fees that will go on the re-branding - millions and millions of dollars will be spent changing signs and letterheads.
It will cost many millions more for decent rebranding campaign, locally and internationally.
Reinforcing a new brand in a global market will cost an absolute fortune.
And there is no proof changing the name will work - that is reckless.
As the cliche goes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
The Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and University Council need to realise it is not their university, and it is not their money to throw away.
The name belongs to everyone - the students and teachers both past and present and to the good people of Wellington.
To change the name is just arrogant.
The University appears to have done no 'stakeholder-engagement' - in human terms, it has not talked to people, it has not built a case.
It is not changing the name for colonial reasons based around Queen Victoria, there is no big push for a Māori name.
The University is just doing it because apparently it would get more international students and donations if it was called Wellington Uni. That is just lazy.
Well, the counter-factual is if some of the money intended for changing the name was put on a professional marketing campaign the current brand could be enhanced and reinforced.
The solution seems to be to make 'Brand Vic' stronger: embrace Victoria University of Wellington, deepen the clear pride for 'Vic' as a secondary brand, and incorporate a strong Māori name.
The Government needs to look closely at whether the University's management it has appointed is up to the job.
The Vic name is not broken, but the management may be. It could be time to fix that.
Patrick Gower is Newshub's National Correspondent and a Victoria University of Wellington alumni


Lao Tzu was a Chinese Philosopher and author of Tao-Te-Ching, the book exemplifies his philosophical thoughts and can be translated "Old Man" or more correctly Old Teacher".
The Founder or one of the main philosophers of philosophical Taoism pronounced as "Daoism" that advocates living a simple life, historians are not quite sure if he developed alone.
One of the most famous passages from of the book clearly illustrates the route according to ancient history website: "Yield and overcome, Empty and become full, Bend and become straight." The passage has awakened many studies and schools of anti-authoritarian minds as a way of solving conflicts in a peaceful way. The sentences remind of "The Middle Way" in Buddhism and illustrate order and disorder in nature which a wise man refuse to interfere with the natural flow of things in every way.