text:
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Who The Hell Is Actually In Charge Of The US Patent And Trademark Office?
from the perhaps-no-one dept
Tue, Feb 7th 2017 10:59am — Mike Masnick
I recognize that many (especially regular Techdirt readers) will assume from the title above that the question is a rhetorical one in response to the latest craziness around a stupid trademark or awful patent. But, no, we mean that literally. You see, right before the Trump inauguration, it was widely reported that Michelle Lee would stay on as the Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office. That was undeniably good news. For all the complaints we have about the USPTO, Lee has done a fairly amazing job running that office, and seems to be one of the first Patent Office directors who actually understands how patents can do serious harm to innovation. Keeping her on would be a really good sign. After seeing the stories claiming that she was staying, we'd mostly moved on. However, Politico reporter Nancy Scola sent me down something of a rabbit hole after tweeting that it's basically impossible to know who's in charge of the Patent Office right now.
The USPTO's site still says it's Lee:
That seems like that should be that. However, there are conspiracy theories afoot -- mainly being discussed by Gene Quinn over at IP Watchdog. Gene and I disagree about basically everything as it relates to patents, and he's got a history of insulting me, so I have every reason to basically ignore him. But, on this, he may have a point. And the questions about whether or not Lee is actually in charge are also being asked by a much more respectable patent website, Patently-O.
The issue started when Quinn noticed that, despite the claims that Lee was staying on, the Commerce Department (which the USPTO is a part of) leadership page says the role is "vacant." Here's the latest screenshot I took:
As for the PTO's own website, Quinn rightly points out that its leadership page still lists out a number of other individuals who have announced resignations and are no longer there, but whose profiles are still on the website. The Commerce Department seems to be refusing to comment to anyone who asks (I've sent in my own question) and it's quite unclear if Michelle Lee really is the director.
If you look through the fairly long list of articles by Quinn on the subject, it's quite clear that he (as someone who is not a fan of Lee) is hoping that she's been pushed out, and is trying to drum up controversy over the possibility that she might remain. But the lack of any clarity from anyone... is bizarre. Quinn's most recent post on the subject notes that while no one seems willing to say who's running things, Lee "continues to be seen" in the building. That would certainly support the theory that she's staying. But... she's also cancelled a bunch of speaking engagements, and no one at the USPTO or Commerce Dept. seems willing to say anything. Also, in an earlier report, Quinn noted that he'd been told, unofficially, that Drew Hirshfeld is "Acting Director," implying Lee had left. But the whole thing seems to be... unclear:
Who is running the United States Patent and Trademark Office? That straightforward question shouldn't be imponderable, but it seems that the Trump Administration has chosen to sequester the Director as if he or she has gone into the witness protection program. Indeed, we seem no closer to an answer to who is running the USPTO today than we were 18 days ago. Although sources tell me that Michelle Lee continues to be seen on the 10th floor of the Madison Building, which is where the Director's Office is located.
As we begin the third week of the Trump Administration I cannot tell you with any definitive certainty who is Director, or if there is an Acting Director, or if the Commissioner for Patents is merely carrying out the responsibilities of Director without being named Acting Director, which has been the case at least once in the past.
Yes, the Trump transition has been a bit of a mess, but this seems particularly bizarre. There's a decent chance that the problem is just that something is afoot and it just hasn't been discussed publicly yet, so the Commerce Dept. and PTO are staying silent. But, as Quinn notes, there are actual, real implications of not having anyone as PTO director:
Indeed, there are many things that the law leaves to the discretion of the Director of the USPTO. While some of those decisions have been delegated out to subordinate officials within the Office, some do still remain only with the Director. For example, if you are a patent owner who believes you are being harassed by repeated post grant challenges the Director alone has the authority to provide a protective remedy. Without knowing who is Director how can patent owners appropriately seek to obtain the assistance of the Director?
Another thing that will soon become problematic is with respect to lawsuits involving the USPTO. Who should be the named party? Generally, the Director or Acting Director of the agency is named as the party on behalf of the agency. While it seems a small point, properly identifying the party is no minor matter in federal court. Are patent applicants supposed to style their appeals to the Federal Circuit as Applicant v. John or Jane Doe, Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office?
In his most recent post, Quinn further wonders if those of us who tend to think certain patents shouldn't have been issued could even use this as a way to claim patents issued recently are invalid:
Sources tell me that the USPTO was prepared last week to issue patents with the signature of Drew Hirshfeld, who is the Commissioner of Patents and seems to be currently in the position of Acting Director. At the last minute, however, a decision was made to reverted back to Michelle Lee's signature. This creates several significant problems.
First, if Lee is not currently the Director patents that are being issued with her signature are being issued in violation of §153. If we know anything about patent litigators it is that they raise every challenge possible, and it is only a matter of time before the provenance of patents issued during these first weeks and months of the Trump Administration are challenged as being invalid.
These are not unsolvable issues, once things are clarified, but it still... very, very strange. I doubt that challenging the validity of the patents would have much of a chance, but it is interesting. And while I desperately hope that Lee remains, and Quinn desperately hopes that she is forced out, I think (for once!) Quinn and I agree: whatever is happening, and whoever is in charge, should be disclosed publicly.
Filed Under: commerce department, gene quinn, michelle lee, patents, trump administration, uspto
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People With Silly Patents Would Really Like It If It Was Harder To Cancel Them
Re: Re: Re: Guess the highest bidder hasn't stepped forth yet.
That's interesting. The italics on the word "everybody" were not in my original post. Somebody (presumably with admin privileges at Techdirt) changed it.
(I don't make those kind of generalizations.)
—OldMugwump
(I've sent in my own question) and it's quite unclear if Michelle Lee really is the director.
Guess the highest bidder hasn't stepped forth yet.
OldMugwump (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 11:36am
Re: Guess the highest bidder hasn't stepped forth yet.
As someone very unhappy with much of the Trump agenda, I wish people like you would stop doing this.
There are many, many legitimate complaints that can be made about Trump's administration.
Make those complaints.
Don't make up stupid complaints completely unsupported by evidence. Everybody on the left has been doing this, and they are making themselves look ridiculous.
Worse, by going ballistic over trivial or imaginary things, they are discrediting all opposition to Trump.
More than ever, we need now a cool-headed, rational, reasonable opposition that makes valid points against Trump's follies.
So...stop doing that.
Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2017 @ 12:34pm
Re: Re: Guess the highest bidder hasn't stepped forth yet.
If you think opposition to the Trump Trainwreck hinges on thoughtful comments you haven't been paying attention very long. The left AND some on the right have appealed to rational thinking people and they fall on deaf ears to this day. Yes there is popular support that grows daily, thanks in part to Trump's actions but the real fight is in Congress. With our campaign finance laws in tatters, chances for opposition is dwindling fast. Just look at the Secretary for Education, she flat out bought her position with only 2 Republicans breaking ranks to attempt blocking her confirmatiom.
I don't know what else there is to say that can change people's minds on this debacle.
So...stop doing that
no, no, no !!
I don't like Trump either -- but it's fantastic non-stop entertainment to watch leftist heads exploding at everything Trump says or does !
Roger Strong (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 12:56pm
Re: So...stop doing that
The original comment didn't mention Trump, and wouldn't have been out of place here during the Obama administration.
It's OldMugwump's head exploding - and yours - at the lack of unspoiled unconditional love for Trump. It's actually kind of funny how you don't see that.
OldMugwump (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 12:58pm
I know - it's entertaining.
There are more important things at stake than entertainment.
These are our fellow citizens - on both left and right.
We all live in the same country and have to get along together. The alternative is civil war. If this tribalist partisanship keeps on it's present course, that's where we are going to end up.
Civil war wasn't fun in 1861, and it's not fun in Syria in 2017.
I don't want to go there.
So - please. Stop giggling at your opponent's "heads exploding" metaphorically, lest real heads belonging to real mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, boys and girls - start exploding.
Because that will happen if we don't all knock it off.
Wendy Cockcroft, 9 Feb 2017 @ 2:32am
Re: Re: So...stop doing that
Agreed. Yes, there's been some mad hysteria (I howled with laughter at the Red Scare nonsense being deployed by the liberals) about the Trump administration but this is important; who is driving the USTPO truck? It seems to be on cruise control at the moment. That's not good. Mike's post is not hysterical, it's reasonable. I've been in positions where there was a bottleneck on executive administration for particular jobs I needed doing. There was no plan for what would happen if that person wasn't there so jobs were held up till they got back and got around to dealing with it. In this case, the bottleneck is at Lee's desk. So... who is going to answer Quinn's question, and ultimately Mike's?
There is a wolf in the pasture, OldMugwump. That is why the sheep are running.
OldMugwump (profile), 9 Feb 2017 @ 3:02pm
Re: Re: Re: So...stop doing that
Thank you, Wendy, for once again showing that civil discourse is possible between people of differing viewpoints.
Actually I agree with everything you say here - Mike's post is entirely reasonable, and what is going on with the USPTO (and many other things) is indeed worrying.
My original comment was directed at the AC who snarked that the answer is "Guess the highest bidder hasn't stepped forth yet." (Certainly not at Mike, for whom I have great respect.)
My position is pretty clear from my other comments in this thread. I'm no fan or supporter of Mr. Trump.
It pains me greatly to find myself in the position of defending him against unreasonable accusations. There are plenty of reasonable accusations to attack him with - not least his positions on IP law, civil forfeiture, trade, immigration, civil rights, and authoritarianism in general.
Allowing our "collective heads to explode" is not a strategy. And we need strategy.
Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2017 @ 1:05pm
Well duh.
Just about everything says or does is head exploding stupid.
Roger Strong (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 2:26pm
And on that note...
Trump Quips He'd 'Destroy' Texas Lawmaker Who Irked Sheriff (by proposing that civil asset forfeiture require a conviction)
During a meeting at the White House with county sheriffs, Trump said he would "destroy" the career of a Texas state legislator who had proposed restrictions on seizures of property belonging to suspected criminals.
"Do you want to give his name?" Trump asked Rockwall County, Texas, Sheriff Harold Eavenson after he complained about the legislator. "We'll destroy his career."
Oh, those gosh-darned lib'rul lefties for disagreeing with Trump.
That, if an accurate report, is indeed something worth fighting over.
I'm all for fighting Mr. Trump when he proposes or advocate bad policies - as in this case.
But it is the policy that must be fought, not the man.
Not until it's time for another election.
Re: Re: Re: Re: So...stop doing that
trump is a loser, why do you defend him?
That, if an accurate report,
Seriously....? The Trump apologists are trying to declare "fake news" EVEN WHEN the news report contains video of Trump actually saying the "head exploding stupid" thing?
Next you'll equate criticizing Trump with trying to start a civil war.
Oh, wait. You're already doing that.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So...stop doing that
Roger, you seem unhappy with me even when I agree with you.
I haven't seen the video. These days I trust nothing in the media unless I see it myself.
This has become an unfriendly place for moderates. That is sad.
...Loons to the left of me, monsters to the right. Stuck in the middle with you...
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So...stop doing that
Yup - you should be wary of "the press" as they have been under reporting terrorist attacks .... like the Bowling Green Massacre.
Alternative terrorists ------ lol
It is entirely possible that the so called media is much less full of bullshit than whitehouse press releases.
Roger Strong (profile), 8 Feb 2017 @ 7:13am
It's not uncommon to hear "I'm not a racist but...." followed by something racist. Now I keep seeing "I'm not a Trump supporter but....", followed by imbecilic Trump wingnuttery.
The Trump "I trust nothing in the media unless I see it myself" excuse - about a widely reported news story reported by a traditional accredited neutral news service - with video of Trump himself saying it - and making it clear even if you don't watch the video that everyone saw him say it - is just such a case.
OldMugwump (profile), 8 Feb 2017 @ 8:10am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So...stop doing that
Actually, Roger, my "civil war" comment was in reply to the AC who enjoys watching "leftist heads exploding" (that post is now flagged, rightly so).
So if I was accusing anybody of trying to start a civil war, I was accusing Trump's defenders.
Please read the thread with a bit more care before making accusations.
Of course, it takes two to tango, so in that sense my comment does apply to both sides.
And, yes, I've got other things going on in my life beside politics and don't watch every news video. I spend way too much time posting here as it is.
Just in this thread you've talked about my "head exploding", accused me of demanding "unspoiled unconditional love for Trump", of equating "criticizing Trump with trying to start a civil war", and of spouting "imbecilic Trump wingnuttery".
Yet, also in this thread, I made clear I oppose Trump, oppose civil forfeiture, and fear "discrediting all opposition to Trump".
Elsewhere on TD (and you and I have both been here for a while) I've said I oppose Trump on immigration, trade, IP policy, and more, and that I prefered Hillary Clinton (who I despise) to Trump.
And I haven't called you any names, or insulted you.
So it seems to me that it's you who are demanding unspoiled unconditional hate for Trump, and smearing and insulting those who take an even slightly less extreme position. [See, I do know how to use markdown.]
We are all going to have to live together in this country under President Trump (ugh; pains me to say that title) for the next four, and maybe eight, years. Half the electorate voted for him (not including me).
If everyone who expresses anything other than unspoiled unconditional hate for the POTUS is an "imbecilic wingnut" then so are fully half of your fellow citizens.
I think it would be better for all of us if passions cooled a bit and we stopped calling each other names. Your opponents may indeed be wrong, but that does not make them monsters.
With that, I'll move on to other threads and topics. Have a good day, Roger.
As a person that loves my country, please explain how seeing it torn up, forced into a fascist mold, given over to the kleptocracy, and basically revoking your freedom is "entertainment".
Tax cuts? Yeah, not so much if you aren't a multi-millionaire. Seems you haven't figured that out yet.
Immigration: Yeah, not so much if you are looking to stop terrorist. Seems you haven't figured that out yet.
Education: Two Words: Nancy DeVos. Even a Trump supporter should figure that one out.
Health care: Only if you can afford it can you receive life saving care. Seems you haven't figured that out yet.
Jobs: Yeah, I just saw a bunch of co-workers get pink slips. No separation package, nothing. Seems you haven't figured that out yet.
Economy: Nice if you have money in the market. Not so nice if you work for a living or own retirement stocks in a company the President tweets "CANCEL ORDER!". Seems you haven't figured that out yet.
Foreign policy: Whatever Putin says. Seems you haven't figured that out yet.
Seems you have a lot of figuring out to do, so I'll let you go.
Please go back and read the thread more carefully.
I was replying to the other AC who said "it's fantastic non-stop entertainment to watch leftist heads exploding at everything Trump says or does !"
Yes, there is entertainment value in watching people wildly overreact.
I am not, and never have been, a Trump supporter. I voted for somebody else.
Eldakka (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 3:52pm
Don't make up stupid complaints completely unsupported by evidence.
Interesting, you've managed to do exactly what you're complaining about in your very next sentence (emphasis in original changed to bold instead of italics as markdown has made the whole quote italics!):
Everybody on the left has been doing this, and they are making themselves look ridiculous.
Supporting evidence for "everybody" on the left?
Mike Masnick (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 11:31pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Guess the highest bidder hasn't stepped forth yet.
No one here changed it. It's possible you put stars around it, and via markdown it became italicized. But I can assure you that no one here changed the comment.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Guess the highest bidder hasn't stepped forth yet.
I'll take your word for it, Mike.
If it wasn't someone at TD, then it was someone not at TD, and you should probably look into changing admin passwords (or some such).
Because it wasn't me. I know about markdown (and I didn't click the box that time), and I didn't put *stars* around it either.
Somebody, somewhere, is playing sneaky games.
You neglected to answer the question.
WTF do you mean you don't make those generalizations? Whether or not you put emphasis on the word "everybody" you still wrote it and you still generalized "everybody" on the left.
Your attempt to pivot away from being called a hypocrite by complaining about a made up person editing in italics is straight outta the Trump hand book. Get outta here with your obvious BS.
OldMugwump (profile), 11 Feb 2017 @ 2:20pm
I suppose you think only Trump supporters use sloppy hyperbole in conversation.
With the confirmation of Devos, who literally bought the position, your argument seems to be ... moot.
Apparently the comment:
"Guess the highest bidder hasn't stepped forth yet"
Is spot on
I imagine the trend will continue
If the recent trend with cabinet level positions continues, than the person chosen for leadership of this department will be a patent troll.
KeillRandor (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 11:25am
Re: I imagine the trend will continue
Paul Hansmier is looking for a job, right? :p
Anonymous Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 11:34am
I understand that RightsCorp's CEO is looking for a job, or should be. Then again, is it Trump's policy to only hire winners?
Roger Strong (profile), 7 Feb 2017 @ 11:29am
Every time I hear a story involving the US Patent And Trademark Office, I wonder "Is ANYONE running this thing?"
Baron von Robber\, 7 Feb 2017 @ 12:19pm
Line em up
Drumpf: I want to Trademark "Keep America Great!"
USPTO Dir#1: Pft! You can't.
Drumpf: You're fired! Next.
USPTO Dir#2: Are you that stupid?
USPTO Dir#3: Are you going to fire me?
USPTO Trumplethinskin Dir: Ok
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170124/23562736558/trump-campaign-wants-to-trademark-keep-amer ica-great.shtml
Baron von Robber, 7 Feb 2017 @ 12:21pm
Re: Line em up
Oh forgot to copyright, "Draining the swamp, pumping in the sewage." by BvR
I.T. Guy, 7 Feb 2017 @ 12:37pm
Dir#3 = LOL.
More likely:
Trump: "I want to trademark 'Keep America Great!'"
USPTO: "uhhhh...There is clear prior use..."
Trump: "No there is not. I was the first to ever use it."
USPTO: "Please don't vaporize me."
Could it be as easy as
calling and asking to speak with the director:
Re: Could it be as easy as
We're sorry, but unless you are a huge political donor the director is unavailable to speak with you at this time. You may leave a message and his secretary may get back to you as soon a possible.
*Who The Hell Is Actually In Charge Of The US Patent And Trademark Office?*
A baby-eating dingo, obviously!
No self-respecting baby-eating dingo would want that job.
Cpt Feathersword, 8 Feb 2017 @ 2:40am
paging Jason Leopold
Would the USPTO disclose its director's name in response to an FOIA request? If not, sue!
Cpt Feathersword, 9 Feb 2017 @ 7:16pm
Randall Rader, resigned Chief Judge of FCDC, wants the job
Today at Ars Technica: Former judge wants to head patent office, says he'll "Make Patents Great Again"
Mark Syman, 30 Jan 2018 @ 5:36am
update for the whiners
Michelle Lee has departed from the Patent Office and new Director that is no nearly as anti-patent is expected to take the position of Director in Spring 2018.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Somaliland delegation visits Taiwan
Somaliland's foreign minister described his visit to Taiwan as a milestone in relations between the two countries.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen welcomed the delegation in the presidential palace this Wednesday.
Relations between the two countries have grown closer despite objections from both China and Somalia.
"As a sovereign nation, Somaliland's right to engage in peaceful and friendly foreign relations with all other nations is enshrined in international law and all coercive or threatening measures to deny such collaboration between international partners not only represents an affront to principal, protocols and norms of which the international order is based, but does little to promote the peace and security of the region and the world require", said Dr. Essa Kayd Mohamoud, Somaliland Foreign and International Cooperation Minister.
During the visit, the African delegation also pitched Somaliland's potential as a target for investment, particularly in natural resources such as oil, gas and coal.
Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 but has failed to get international recognition for its independence.
The region has been mostly peaceful since independence contrary to Somalia marred by three decades of civil war.
Homemade flying machine competition during the "Flugtag" in Taiwan.
Victims rescued in Taiwan after earthquake
Protest in Taipei marks Tiananmen anniversary
Yellen urges swift conclusion to Zambia debt talks
Egypt, China discuss tourism cooperation in Cairo
Benin, China sign MoU on partial debt cancellation, strengthen bilateral ties


text:
Scoon's attorney: Police raid unnecessary, abuse of power
1 week ago ·4 min read
Event promoter Adrian Scoon's La Riva, Maraval, Chaconia Estate residence. Photo by Roger Jacob
Businessman and party promoter Adrian Scoon's position is that his brief detention and a search of his Maraval home on Wednesday were completely unnecessary, disproportionate and an abuse of power by the police.
The police were search for evidence that Scoon or his company breached public health regulations by operating a party boat contrary to regulation 4 of the public health regulations; held a public party contrary to the regulations; and had a gathering in a public place contrary to regulation 3.
They were looking for the special licence of his Ocean Pelican restaurant, company records and other documents, it was reported on Thursday.
Scoon's attorney Kiel Taklalsingh said there was no need to execute a search warrant for documents that were already in the State's possession.
He said his client had agreed to return the original licence – which was deemed null and void by the comptroller of the Customs and Excise Division – while keeping a copy, since the matter was destined for the court.
He questioned why the police would swear an affidavit to get a warrant to enter his client's premises to detain him and search for the licence when they could have simply requested it from them or from the comptroller.
"It is absolutely ridiculous," Taklalsingh said.
Newsday was told among the items the police took was a laptop belonging to Scoon.
Scoon, the son of Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon, hosted a "Seaside Brunch" event on the Ocean Pelican on December 26.
He claims he received the necessary permission to convert the vessel to a "floating restaurant" as a safe-zone establishment.
The exchange of letters between Scoon's attorneys and various state agencies involved in the issue continued earlier this week.
On Monday, a representative of the Customs and Excise Division wrote to Taklalsingh saying the two special restaurant licences issued to Scoon remained null and void and the comptroller intended to cancel both. The letter said the comptroller had the power to do so and Scoon had been invited to return them.
It said it was irrelevant that Scoon had received similar licences in the past, as they had been issued when covid19 public health regulations were not in force, so different considerations applied.
Vidyah Marcial, who wrote on behalf of the acting comptroller, Bernard Nicholas, also said Nicholas had given Scoon an explanation by phone on December 30 of why the licences were not valid.
Marcial said there was nothing arbitrary about the decision to nullify and void the licences since one (Special Restaurant Licence No 48930) applied to the sale of alcohol for the MV Ocean Pelican at 25 Queen's Park West, but "such an entity does not exist because MV Ocean Pelican is a passenger vessel and is not located at Queen's Park West and certainly was not so located on December 26, 2021."
The other special restaurant licence (No 28 of 2021), which allowed the sale of alcohol on a ship, was voided because of public health regulations.
Marcial also said before the licence was issued, the Minister of Finance had deferred his approval and had questioned if it was "permissible" under the covid19 regulations.
In response, Taklalsingh, who represents Scoon along with Stefan Ramkissoon and Rhea Khan, told the comptroller his letter was "confusing and misconceived." He said there was a difference between declaring an instrument null and void and cancelling or suspending that instrument.
"We, however, note your new assertion that the comptroller 'intends to cancel' the document, which we consider to be an admission that the licence was validly granted and therefore any actions done pursuant to that licence were and continue to be valid up until the time of cancellation.
"We thank you for your admission in that regard."
Taklalsingh also said in the conversation between Scoon and Nicholas on December 30, his client was told "for all intents and purposes it appears to have been properly issued.
DCP Jacob: We could have done better on Monday
"Mr Nicholas further stated that 'somewhere along the line our chain of procedures seemed to have fallen apart and officers who were supposed to see stuff didn't see stuff and it went straight to a typist.'"
He also said his client was only aware of the memorandum on the recall of the licence from Finance Minister Colm Imbert on December 3, when the latter issued a press release about it.
"It seems that you are attempting to create reasons to invalidate my client's licence, ab initio (from the start), as opposed to simply apologising for administrative chaos and incompetence, within the Ministry of Finance and its subsidiary beyond my client's control.
"Your new reason for cancelling my client's licence is yet another error of law and/or misdirection in law. The licence issued to my client, which can be easily seen from the face of the licence, was issued in his personal name, as is customary with licences of this nature."
Taklalsingh said the location at Queen's Park West was not the intended place of business, but, as the licence clearly listed, was the address of the licensee.
He said the licence also specifically said it was granted for a "vessel" named the MV Ocean Pelican. It would be "frankly absurd," he told the comptroller, that he or the minister thought the vessel would be sailing or anchored in Queen's Park West.
"It should be noted that all previous licences were granted in those terms and there should be no confusion that the licence was meant for a vessel on the ocean."
The attorney also said if there was concern that there was a breach of a condition of the licence sufficient to cause its cancellation, either the comptroller or the minister ought to have given Scoon an opportunity to be heard before taking a final decision.
Taklalsingh also told the comptroller Scoon will file his application for judicial review shortly, but was awaiting responses from the Finance Minister, the Attorney General and the Minister of Health.
Scoon admitted to calling Al-Rawi when the police stopped the Boxing Day event. The AG denied giving him any advice.
Imbert said he did not authorise or approve Scoon's special restaurant licences.


text:
'Naked' scanners fooled by creased clothing
16 Nov, 2010 Updated Tue 16 Nov 2010 12:18 CEST
Controversial "naked" body scanners currently being tested at Hamburg's airport are constantly malfunctioning due to folds in passengers' clothing, broadcaster NDR reported on Tuesday.
The public radio station said the trial of the body imaging security scanners has been plagued by serious problems. The units, which have been in use since September, are apparently unable to tell the difference between foreign objects and such things like pleated clothing.
The scanners use millimetre-wave technology to produce outline images of bodies, with each scan lasting less than three seconds.
While some passengers are being asked to remove thicker clothes such as jumpers, NDR reported that the devices are regularly malfunctioning due to creases in lighter clothes such as blouses and skirts.
Although use of the scanners remains optional, every passenger must now also be patted down and pass through a metal detector, whether or not they have been scanned.
The extra security checks are causing delays, resulting in longer lines and irritated passengers.
New software due to be installed to solve at least part of the problem is not yet ready for use, NDR reported.
The scanners has previously been criticised by civil liberties campaigners the world over, mostly due to fears of how the images would be stored.
Plans to fast-track tests of the controversial body scanners were announced in January following the foiled "underwear bomb" attack in Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. The trial period is due to run until the end of March 2011.
The Local/rm
#security #Terrorism #Hamburg


text:
L'esdeveniment d'Azolla fou un refredament global que tingué lloc a principis de l'Eocè, fa uns quaranta-nou milions d'anys, quan la falguera d'aigua dolça Azolla va cobrir tota la superfície de l'oceà Àrtic durant uns 800.000 anys.

A mesura que les plantes s'enfonsaven al fons marí, incorporant-se als sediments es va produir una disminució de la quantitat de diòxid de carboni a l'atmosfera terrestre. Aquest fet contribuí a un refredament de la Terra des d'un estat de Terra hivernacle fins a una Terra glaçada que ha estat des d'aleshores.

Azolla

Azolla és una falguera d'aigua dolça que flota i que actualment es troba en climes temperats i tropicals de tot el món. És una de les plantes que creix més de pressa i forma una relació de simbiosi amb els cianobacteri Anabaena azollae. Aquest bacteri és capaç de fer la fixació del nitrogen i Azolla li proporciona protecció i una font segura de carboni. L'únic límit per la utilització del nitrogen atmosfèric per Azolla és el fòsfor.
A l'inici de l'Eocè el clima era relativament càlid i als Pols de la Terra hi havia a l'estiu al voltant de 20 h de llum al dia podent així Azolla duplicar la seva biomassa en un parell de dies.

Al contrari que en l'actualitat, durant l'Eocè la configuració del planeta estava disposada de manera que l'Àrtic es trobava gairebé completament aïllat dels altres oceans i els corrents actuals no existien i l'oceà formava una columna d'aigua estratificada similar a la de l'actual Mar Negra.

Les altes temperatures i els intensos vents fomentaren l'augment de l'evaporació, cosa que va fer elevar la densitt de l'oceà, i les elevades precipitacions provocades, subministraren grans quantitats d'aigua dolça menys densa, donant lloc a molts ius que reduïren la salinitat de l'oceà. Això va provocar la formació d'una capa d'aigua dolça de menor densitat sobre la superfície oceànica.

Expansió i fossilització
Com que Azolla només necessita uns pocs centímetres d'aigua dolça per a sobreviure, aquesta falguera colonitzà ràpidament l'oceà Àrtic. A més l'espessa capa dAzolla que es va formar provocà una important manca d'oxigen en les fondàries i per això es va reduir les concentracions de compostos de ferro i van proporcionar més disponibilitat de fòsfor, que era l'element que limitava el creixement dAzolla,

Quan les falgueres moriren i van quedar sepultades al llit marí l'oxigen va ser escàs. i la descomposició de les falgueres sepultades en els sediments es va veure dificultada i va passar a fossilitzar-se enterrant el seu carboni sota el sòl dels oceans

Final de l'esdeveniment
L'esdeveniment va acabar amb l'extermini progressiu d'aquestes falgueres, causada principalment per la intrusió de l'aigua dels mars i oceans adjacents. Això va fer augmentar la temperatura a l'Oceà Àrtic en uns 10 °C durant l'esdeveniment i fins a 13 °C després d'ell, amb això augmentà la salinitat matant les falgueres. També va augmentar la temperatura per un increment temporal del transport de calor des del sud i en les concentracions de gasos hivernacle, l'fecte es va incrementar per la retroalimentació.

Proves geològiques

El subsòl de l'Oceà Àrtic té un sediment d'uns 8 metres de gruixi s'aprecia el corresponent a Azolla dns pocs mil·límetres corresponents a l'Eocè mitjà.

S'ha estimat la durada d'aquest esdeveniment en 800.000 anys. Coincideix exactament amb una dràstica disminució delsnivells de diòxid de carboni des de les 3500 parts permilió a inicis de l'Eocè fins a les 650 ppm durant l'esdaveniment.

Efectes mundials
Aquesta planta envaí una extensió de 4.000.000 km² d'oceà durant 800.000 anys, i va reduir el 80% del diòxid de carboni de l'època la qual va iniciar un refredament progressiu des de 13 °C a l'inici de l'Eocè fins als -9 °C de l'actualitat, i la resta del planeta va tenir disminucions similars de la temperatura. Probablement va ser la primera vegada que la Terra va tenir capes de gel en tots dos Pols.

Referències

Paleoclimatologia
Canvi climàtic
Eocè

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Insomnia Sufferers More Likely to Suffer a Stroke, Study Finds
ActiveBeat Author
It's well known that a good night's sleep is good for our health. A new Taiwanese study emphasizes this fact by pointing to insomnia, which reportedly leaves sufferers more susceptible to stroke.
The study, which has been published in the American Heart Association's medical journal Stroke, is the work of two of Taiwan's top medical institutions. It involved examining 64,000 people over a four-year period. The study's most significant finding: adults who suffer from insomnia are 54 per cent more likely to suffer a stroke than people who do not suffer from the sleep disorder.
Insomnia is a widespread problem. It's estimated that roughly 30 per cent of the United States population suffers from the disorder, which can be caused by a number of factors including stress, use of psychoactive drugs, pain, mental disorders, or various medical conditions (like hyperthyroidism and rheumatoid arthritis). Certain behaviours, like watching television or using a computer in bed right before attempting sleep, can also result in insomnia.
The Taiwanese study says that people suffering from short bouts of insomnia (lasting a few days or weeks) are less at risk of stroke than people dealing with a prolonged struggle with the sleep disorder.
Insomnia affects people of all ages but is most visible among older people — the group most susceptible to stroke. But the Taiwanese study shows that even young people — or individuals in their 20s and 30s — can suffer a stroke after dealing with long-term insomnia issues.
"We feel strongly that individuals with chronic insomnia, particularly younger persons, see their physician to have stroke risk factors assessed and, when indicated, treated appropriately," noted Ya-Wed Hsu, one of the study's researchers.
Activebeat is dedicated to bringing readers all of the important news and information in the world of health. From recalls and outbreaks to fitness, nutrition and studies, we cover every aspect of health news, every day.
Tired of Being Tired? It Could Be Idiopathic Hypersomnia
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Signs You're Eating Too Much Sugar


text:
package org.jetbrains.idea.svn.commandLine;

import com.intellij.execution.process.CapturingProcessAdapter;
import com.intellij.execution.process.OSProcessHandler;
import com.intellij.execution.process.ProcessEvent;
import com.intellij.execution.process.ProcessOutputTypes;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.Key;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.SystemInfo;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringUtil;
import com.intellij.util.containers.ContainerUtil;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
import org.jetbrains.idea.svn.SvnUtil;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;

/**
 * @author Konstantin Kolosovsky.
 */
public class TerminalProcessHandler extends OSProcessHandler {

  // see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code
  private static final String NON_CSI_ESCAPE_CODE = "\u001B.[@-_]";
  private static final String CSI_ESCAPE_CODE = "\u001B\\[(.*?)[@-~]";

  private final List<InteractiveCommandListener> myInteractiveListeners = ContainerUtil.createLockFreeCopyOnWriteList();
  private final CapturingProcessAdapter terminalOutputCapturer = new CapturingProcessAdapter();

  private final StringBuilder outputLine = new StringBuilder();
  private final StringBuilder errorLine = new StringBuilder();

  public TerminalProcessHandler(@NotNull Process process) {
    super(process);
  }

  public void addInteractiveListener(@NotNull InteractiveCommandListener listener) {
    myInteractiveListeners.add(listener);
  }

  @Override
  protected boolean processHasSeparateErrorStream() {
    return false;
  }

  @Override
  protected void destroyProcessImpl() {
    final Process process = getProcess();
    process.destroy();
  }

  @Override
  public void notifyTextAvailable(String text, Key outputType) {
    terminalOutputCapturer.onTextAvailable(new ProcessEvent(this, text), outputType);

    text = filterText(text);

    if (!StringUtil.isEmpty(text)) {
      StringBuilder lastLine = getLastLineFor(outputType);
      String currentLine = lastLine.append(text).toString();
      lastLine.setLength(0);

      currentLine = filterCombinedText(currentLine);

      // check if current line presents some interactive output
      boolean handled = false;
      for (InteractiveCommandListener listener : myInteractiveListeners) {
        handled |= listener.handlePrompt(currentLine, outputType);
      }

      if (!handled) {
        notify(currentLine, outputType, lastLine);
      }
    }
  }

  private static String filterCombinedText(@NotNull String currentLine) {
    // for windows platform output is assumed in format suitable for terminal emulator
    // for instance, same text could be returned twice with '\r' symbol in between (so in emulator output we'll still see correct
    // text without duplication)
    // because of this we manually process '\r' occurrences to get correct output
    if (SystemInfo.isWindows) {
      currentLine = removeAllBeforeCaretReturn(currentLine);
    }
    return currentLine;
  }

  private static String filterText(@NotNull String text) {
    if (SystemInfo.isWindows) {
      // filter terminal escape codes - they are presented in the output for windows platform
      text = text.replaceAll(CSI_ESCAPE_CODE, "").replaceAll(NON_CSI_ESCAPE_CODE, "");
      // trim leading '\r' symbols - as they break xml parsing logic
      text = StringUtil.trimLeading(text, '\r');
    }
    return text;
  }

  private void notify(@NotNull String text, @NotNull Key outputType, @NotNull StringBuilder lastLine) {
    // text is not more than one line - either one line or part of the line
    if (StringUtil.endsWith(text, "\n")) {
      // we have full line - notify listeners
      super.notifyTextAvailable(text, resolveOutputType(text, outputType));
    }
    else {
      // save line part to lastLine
      lastLine.append(text);
    }
  }

  private static String removeAllBeforeCaretReturn(@NotNull String line) {
    int caretReturn = line.lastIndexOf("\r");

    while (caretReturn >= 0) {
      if (caretReturn + 1 < line.length() && line.charAt(caretReturn + 1) != '\n') {
        // next symbol is not '\n' - we should not treat text before found caret return symbol
        line = line.substring(caretReturn + 1);
        break;
      }
      caretReturn = line.lastIndexOf("\r", caretReturn - 1);
    }

    return line;
  }

  private static Key resolveOutputType(@NotNull String line, @NotNull Key outputType) {
    Key result = outputType;

    if (!ProcessOutputTypes.SYSTEM.equals(outputType)) {
      Matcher errorMatcher = SvnUtil.ERROR_PATTERN.matcher(line);
      Matcher warningMatcher = SvnUtil.WARNING_PATTERN.matcher(line);

      result = errorMatcher.find() || warningMatcher.find() ? ProcessOutputTypes.STDERR : ProcessOutputTypes.STDOUT;
    }

    return result;
  }

  @NotNull
  private StringBuilder getLastLineFor(Key outputType) {
    if (ProcessOutputTypes.STDERR.equals(outputType)) {
      return errorLine;
    }
    else if (ProcessOutputTypes.STDOUT.equals(outputType)) {
      return outputLine;
    }
    else {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown process output type " + outputType);
    }
  }

  public String getTerminalOutput() {
    return terminalOutputCapturer.getOutput().getStdout();
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Buy Ooty Masala Tea Powder Online at SweetKhana.com for best price. Free delivery all over India. For more information read below.
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The dream team of Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson will not be together in 2019 as Hendrick Motorsports will be splitting them up.
Johnson and Knaus are in the midst of their 17th season working together, making them the longest-running crew chief-driver combination in the garage. The pair won a record-tying seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championships together.
Johnson will instead will be led by Kevin Meendering, who has currently crew chiefing for Elliott Sadler in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at JR Motorsports. In three seasons together, Meendering has led Sadler to three wins, 38 top-five's, and 73 top-10's. Meendering is not new to Hendrick Motorsports, having spent 16 years there beginning with a high-school internship in the chassis department.
Knaus, meanwhile, will be partnered with William Byron for his sophomore campaign in the No. 24 Chevrolet. Knaus has a history with the No. 24, as he was part of the original Rainbow Warriors team from 1993 to 1998 under the direction of Ray Evernham.
Byron's current crew chief Darian Grubb will be promoted to technical director, an executive leadership role supporting Hendrick Motorsports' engineering and vehicle development resources.


text:
The Helicopter
Community Need
The diverse communities commonly affected by such disasters are normally unable to afford the Benefits of a helicopter. Cost factors associated with owning and maintaining a helicopter for their normal local requirements is prohibitive. Communities that are fortunate enough to have a law enforcement helicopter program often find their aircraft tasked fully in their mission and unable to cover the needs of all the responders and relief organizations.
During times of large scale disasters, Federal and State aircraft respond to the call, but are limited to the procedures and guidelines for their request and usage. The limiting factors associated with the use of such Governmental aircraft most often include a delay in their deployment while the requests are being made. The delay created can range from many hours to several days.
Meeting the Need
The requesting agencies will no longer have to make a choice between cost and the saving of lives. During times of natural or man-made disasters our helicopter will be available to all agencies to aid and assist based on the level of greatest need. the helicopter will be available to any recognized Emergency or Humanitarian agency within an operational area East of the Rocky Mountains at no cost through the donations of the sponsors of the project.
By making available such a helicopter, dedicated in large part to being the eyes and ears of the first responders and Emergency Management officials, HELP's life saving mission is to enable those agencies to bring rescue and aid to more victims in a shorter period of time. HELP enhances situational awareness and improves interagency coordination during a disaster.
Our mission is to help ensure that victims of future disasters never feel forgotten.
Disasters effect people of all ages and from all walks of life. Some experts believe that certain populations - the impoverished and minorities, especially the elderly, women and children - live in circumstances that render them especially vulnerable to the impact of disasters such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes.
The first responders and emergency relief agencies tasked with the saving of lives during a disaster benefit from the use of the latest technologies in their response efforts.
Please Contact: Scott Luttrell
s.luttrell@helihelp.org (314) 537-6905
This website currently Undergoing an update
Helicopter Emergency Lifeline Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Humanitarian Organization. © Copyright 2011-2017. All Rights Reserved


Since we started again the courses in the jail of Madrid, 50 ladies got realization. We meet every Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. 20 ladies finished their sentence and are released.
That's for me a tremendous gift to participate to the transformation of these persons. These inmates are really motivate to change their life.
3 of the released ladies wrote us a letter to the address of other inmates. They had to say good bye on this way because they knew one day before the date they would go.


text:
French Male Bus Drivers Wear Skirts To Work To Protest 'Sexist' Hot Weather Uniform
By Kieran Corcoran: French bus drivers have started wearing skirts to work in protest against a sexist dress code which has left them sweltering in a heat wave.
Public transport network employees in Nantes, western France, mounted their protest this week as temperatures surged as high as 34C (93F).
They donned skirts after being told that shorts – their preferred alternative – were against the company dress code.
However, the same set of rules allows female employees the far breezier option of wearing a skirt.
Determined to make a point about equality, a group of male drivers put the skirts on and posed for local news cameras on Tuesday:
Transgender Lesbians Going Their Own Way
Turd Flinging Monkey:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine"
Posted by Angelo Agathangelou at 8:17 pm 1 comment: Links to this post
The Judeo-U.S. Economy Is A Perverted, Neo-Feudal, Rent-Seeking Abomination
By Michael Krieger: The bankster bailouts of the 2008/09 period changed my life forever. I was working on Wall Street at the time, and the way in which the government rallied around the financial institutions that torched the world and left its victims in the dust threw my entire delusional worldview into disarray. Prior to that, I had bought into the absurd assumption that I was financially successful at a young age primarily because I was hard-working and talented. The ensuing bailouts and the government's emphasis on obsessively rescuing some of the most degenerate people in our society made me realize once and for all how completely rigged and sleazy the U.S. economy really is. As you might expect, it only got worse under Obama's oligarch-coddling policies and will surely continue to deteriorate under Trump (Goldman Sachs is not your friend).
Ever since I left my cushy financial services job to do the challenging and often draining work of chronicling our ongoing crime scene, I've spent the vast majority of my free time trying to further educate myself on exactly how this system works. What I've discovered over and over again is that it is far more abusive than even I imagined.
Teaching Students To Snitch
StudioBrule: Professor Fiamengo highlights the alarming emergence of an East German Soviet Jewish style snitching culture on North American university campuses.
'Initial Coin Offerings'
'Initial coin offerings' and the 'IPO' target on their back as the SEC may want to defend its bureaucratic turf. Max interviews Chris Blasi about the PMC ounce, precious metals and crypto currencies.
MiLLeNiaL FaRM... + He Who Knows - William Banzai7
Was Otto Warmbier An American Student Or Another Israeli Spy?
Reported by Gilad Atzmon: For a few days we have been perplexed by the story of Otto Warmbier and his tragic death.
Today, pretty much, out of the blue, the Jewish press announced that Warmbier was a Jewish boy, active with Hillel at the University of Virginia.
Three Arrested Over Genital Mutilation Of Nottingham Boy
"I dread my son growing up and learning what happened to him."
BBC Nottingham: Three people have been arrested by police investigating the circumcision of a three-month-old boy.
A 61-year-old man, believed to be the witch doctor who carried out the procedure, has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm with intent.
The boy's mother complained to police, saying her son was circumcised without her consent while staying with his paternal grandparents in July 2013.
A 44-year-old man and a woman, aged 47, have also been arrested.
Nottinghamshire Police said they were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
All three people have been released pending further investigation.
Updates on this story and more from the East Midlands
The doctor previously told the BBC: "It would be inappropriate to comment whilst any investigation is ongoing."
ICMI17, Bettina Arndt's Keynote Speech
Mike Buchanan: Bettina Arndt trained as a clinical psychologist before becoming well known as one of Australia's first sex therapists. She then became a respected social commentator focussing mainly on gender issues and was invited onto government advisory committees including many on family law. Bettina's day job is currently online dating coaching but she's still campaigning for the cultural dialogue in Australia to include proper focus on men's issues.
French Male Bus Drivers Wear Skirts To Work To Pro...
The Judeo-U.S. Economy Is A Perverted, Neo-Feudal,...
MiLLeNiaL FaRM... + He Who Knows - William Banzai7...
Was Otto Warmbier An American Student Or Another I...
Three Arrested Over Genital Mutilation Of Nottingh...


text:
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In the House of Oshugbo: Critical Essays on Wole Soyinka
by Henry Louis, Jr. Gates (Editor)
Wole Soyinka, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, is one of the most respected of the modern African playwrights. This collection of essays on his plays, poetry and poetics brings together an international list of drama critics including Richard Gilman, Eric Bentley and Robert Brustein, and such literary figures as Raymond Williams, Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed and Imamu Baraka.
In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today
by Aleks Sierz
A definitive look at a brash and provocative genre of contemporary British theater. In the 1990s, British theater audiences were shocked to see blatant portrayals of physical and psychological violence, murder, rape, incest, adultery, drug abuse, and homosexuality onstage. These confrontational and aggressive plays, written by young, honest, and uncompromising playwrights, came to be known as in-yer-face theater. With their use of obscene language, nudity, and even the performance of actual sex acts onstage, the playwrights in this genre intended to force people to think about and question their own desires and impulses.
The Joint Stock Book: The Making of a Theatre Collective (Methuen Theatrefile)
by Rob Ritchie (Editor)
Joy Ride: Show People and Their Shows
by John Lahr
Joy Ride throws open the stage door and introduces readers to such makers of contemporary drama as Arthur Miller, Tony Kushner, Wallace Shawn, Harold Pinter, David Rabe, David Mamet, Mike Nichols, and August Wilson. Lahr takes us to the cabin in the woods that Arthur Miller built in order to write Death of a Salesman; we walk with August Wilson through the Pittsburgh ghetto where we encounter the inspiration for his great cycle; we sit with Ingmar Bergman at the Kunglinga Theatre in Stockholm, where he attended his first play; we visit with Harold Pinter at his London home and learn the source of the feisty David Mamet's legendary ear for dialogue. In its juxtaposition of biographical detail and critical analysis, Joy Ride explores with insight and panache not only the lives of the theatricals but the liveliness of the stage worlds they have created. "Lahr creates a book worthy of its title: It is a living celebration of theater itself." — Caryn James, New York Times Book Review
Mapping South Asia through Contemporary Theatre: Essays on the Theatres of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka
Ashis Sengupta (Editor)
Probes the overlap of theatre, society and politics in contemporary South Asia, approaching theatre primarily in politico-aesthetic terms and locating it in the simultaneity of local, national and regional discourse. While re-mapping the region by examining enduring historical and cultural connections, the study discusses multiple traditions and practices of theatre and performance in five South Asian countries.
Mark Ravenhill (Routledge Modern and Contemporary Dramatists)
by John F. Deeney
Mark Ravenhill is the first book to provide a detailed analysis of the work of arguably the most important dramatist to have emerged from the British theatre over the past twenty years.
Millennial Stages: Essays and Reviews 2001-2005
A major figure in the world of theater as critic, playwright, scholar, teacher, director, actor, and producer, Robert Brustein offers a unique perspective on the American stage and its artists. In this wise, witty, and wide-ranging collection of recent writings, Brustein examines crucial issues relating to theater in the post-9/11 years, analyzing specific plays, emerging and established performers, and theatrical production throughout the world. Brustein relates our theater to our society in a manner that reminds us why the performing arts matter.
The Musical: A Concise History
by Kurt Ganzl
The Musical Theater of Stephen Schwartz: From Godspell to Wicked and Beyond Hardcover
by Paul R. Laird
The National Theatre Story
by Daniel Rosenthal
Draws on Daniel Rosenthal's unprecedented access to the National Theatre's own archives, unpublished correspondence and more than 100 new interviews with directors, playwrights and actors, including Olivier's successors as Director (Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn and Nicholas Hytner), and other great figures from the last 50 years of British and American drama, among them Edward Albee, Alan Bennett, Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, David Hare, Tony Kushner, Ian McKellen, Diana Rigg, Maggie Smith, Peter Shaffer, Stephen Sondheim and Tom Stoppard.
Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops
by Ken Mandelbaum
From such legendary catastrophes as "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Carrie" to the failures of Alan Jay Lerner and Rodgers and Hammerstein, this hilarious account of some "lost" theatre history provides stories of nearly 200 musical flops that played from 1950 to 1991. Framed by the 1988 megaflop Carrie , which theater buffs still speak of in hushed tones, the shows are presented thematically rather than chronologically, thus better underscoring the reasons for failure. While Mandelbaum can be scathing about mediocre material, he carefully analyzes each show, pointing out both problems and strengths, and demonstrates a keen insight into Broadway musical history. Brief synopses and fascinating backstage gossip combine with intelligent criticism and well-chosen illustrations to make this study a required addition to all theater collections. "As befits the subject, 'Not Since Carrie' is full of entertaining backstage reportage . . . The illustrations are also fun and wittily chosen, whether embarrassing production photos or sadly hopeful posters and advertising." –Frank Rich, The New York Times/WQXR.
The Oberon Anthology of Contemporary American Plays: Volume Two
by Mark Subias (Editor)
The second volume in this series brings together some of the best new writing from contemporary American playwrights. Each play is introduced by critically acclaimed writers themselves. The volume includes: "The Edge of our Bodies" by Adam Rapp, introduced by AM Homes, "The Coward" by Nick Jones, introduced by Marsha Norman, "The Book of Grace" by Suzan-Lori Parks, introduced by Oskar Eustis, "What Once We Felt" by Ann Marie Healy, introduced by Paula Vogel.
Opening Nights: 25 Years of the Manhattan Theatre Club
by John W. Pereira
Orphans' Home: The Voice and Vision of Horton Foote
by Laurin Porter
A Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, an Emmy-winning television writer, and an Oscar-winning screenwriter of such notable films as To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies, the amazingly versatile Horton Foote has been a force on the American cultural scene for more than fifty years. By critical consensus, Foote's foremost achievement is the Orphans' Home Cycle-a course of nine independent yet interlocking plays that traces the transformation of a small-town southern orphan, Horace Robedaux, into a husband, father, and patriarch. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including interviews with Foote, Laurin Porter demonstrates why the author's masterpiece is a unique accomplishment not only in his personal oeurve but also in the canon of American drama.
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre
by Gerald Bordman
The Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre
by L.W. Conolly (Editor), Eugene Benson
The Oxford Companion to the Theatre
by Phyllis Hartnoll (Editor)
The Oxford Dictionary Of Plays
by Michael Patterson
The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre
by John Russell Brown
Peggy to her Playwrights: The Letters of Margaret Ramsay, Play Agent
by Colin Chambers and Peggy Ramsay
Peggy Ramsay (1908-1991) was the foremost play agent of her time. Her list of clients shows her to have been at the centre of British playwriting for several generations from the late 1950s on. To her remarkable array of clients, her letter writing was notorious, marked by searing candour, both a wondrous motivation and an unforgiving scrutiny to be feared. "Peggy judged by the most exalted standards and lashed her writers when they failed to meet them. Her force of personality made her well-nigh irresistible. The letters she wrote to her writers and to producers are extraordinary documents, filled with all these qualities, and indiscreet, blasphemous and saucy to boot." – Simon Callow
The Penguin Dictionary of the Theatre
by John Russell Taylor
The Playbill Broadway Yearbook
by Robert Viagas (Editor)
Playwrights of Color
by Meg Swanson, Robin Murray
Plays Of Beth Henley: A Critical Study
by Gene A. Plunka
Elizabeth Becker Henley is a present-day dramatist whose 12 complete plays, three of which have been turned into films, have achieved worldwide production. At age 29 she produced her first full-length drama, Crimes of the Heart, which attained Pulitzer Prize status and garnered three Academy Award nominations as a film. Her Mississippi upbringing and her penchant for the eccentricities of southern culture, however, have caused critics to categorize her writing as a kind of southern gothic folklore inspired by feminist ideology. This book, the first critical study of Henley's complete plays, attempts to dispel the common stereotypes that associate Henley's work with regional drama and sociological treatises. It argues instead that Henley can best be perceived as a dramatist who delineates an existential despair manifested in various forms of what Freud calls the modern neurosis. The book maintains that Henley's plays must be understood as universal statements about the angst of modern civilization, and Henley's characters are assessed in light of Freud's proposition that cultural restrictions create neurotic individuals.
Poetics, Politics And Protest in Arab Theatre: The Bitter Cup And the Holy Rain
by Mas'ud Hamdan
Right Brain Vacation Photos: New Plays and Production Photographs
from the Omaha Magic Theatre 1972 – 1992
by Jo Ann Schmidman, Sora Kimberlain, Megan Terry
Rise Up!: Broadway and American Society from 'Angels in America' to 'Hamilton'
by Chris Jones
Penned by one of America's best-known daily theatre critics and organized chronologically, this lively and readable book tells the story of Broadway's renaissance from the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, via the disaster that was Spiderman: Turn off the Dark through the unparalleled financial, artistic and political success of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton.
She Also Wrote Plays: An International Guide to Women Playwrights from the 10th to the 21st Century
by Susan Croft
Looking for plays by women to produce, perform, or read? She Also Wrote Plays is a comprehensive international guide to women playwrights and their work. In an attempt to make visible those who have often been obscured, the entries included herein provide biographical details on over four hundred writers, summaries of their major plays along with a list of other works, and a complete publication history, as well as an extensive, supplemental bibliography. The author, Susan Croft, includes writers whose work demonstrates the diversity and development of dramatic writing in English-speaking countries over the millennia. This diverse collection spans the tenth to the twenty-first centuries; the Americas to the Far East; and covers the works of well-known writers, such as Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman, alongside the lesser-known dramatic adaptations of Jane Austen and Harriet Beecher Stowe and hard-to-find manuscripts, such as the unpublished translations of leading Finnish playwright Hella Wuolijoki. An essential tool for playwrights, performers, producers, and students, She Also Wrote Plays is for anyone interested in the cultural legacy of women in the theatrical world.
Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution
by Todd S. Purdum
"Affectionate and richly researched . . . Something Wonderful offers a fresh look at the milieu and circumstances that contributed to the creation of some of the musical theater's greatest and most enduring treasures . . . In giving us access to the world that gave birth to them, Purdum's authoritative and ultimately moving book brings these masterpieces to life with bracing clarity." — The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice). "A fresh and revelatory look at the personalities of these legendary figures, their relationship with each other, their creative process, and their groundbreaking innovations….Full of illuminating anecdotes about the biggest stars of the day….A celebration of the lives and legacy of one of the most iconic partnerships in artistic history, sure to please anyone who loves musical theater." — Broadway World
Theatre Directory
by Theatre Communications Group
Tony Kushner: New Essays on the Art And Politics of the Plays
by James Fisher (Editor)
11 scholars explore the works of Tony Kushner across his career. Several address Angels: one explores the presentation of homosexuality by Kushner compared to that of Tennessee Williams, who wrote in a less tolerant era; another places Angels in the contexts of Hegel's concept of freedom and the gay revolution; a third discusses the play in terms of queer theory and politics. Homebody/Kabul is examined in two essays, one analyzing media reaction, the other exploring cultural and economic differences, religious fundamentalism and the "West's luxurious predominance in the world."
Understanding Lillian Hellman (Understanding Series)
by Alice Griffin, Geraldine Thorsten
Unleashing Britain: Theatre Gets Real, 1955-64
by Jim Fowler
Re-creating this era of constant flux, author Jim Fowler draws on the London Theatre Museum's rich archive, celebrating a generation that reshaped British culture, including Harold Pinter, Peter Hall, Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, and Dudley Moore. The result is a telling portrait of a key period in modern theater, the influence of which can still be felt around the world.
Video Versions: A Guide to Plays Available on Video
by Thomas L. Erskine (Editor), et al
Many of our favorite films began as plays — some as well known as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and some not so well known as You've Got Mail's origin, a 1937 play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo. Video Versions identifies nearly 300 films and their theatrical origins, providing readers with an overview of the films and highlighting similarities and differences to the source plays. Perfect for teachers, students, and anyone interested in theater and film, it is the most complete resource available for video versions of plays.
Wendy Wasserstein: Dramatizing Women, Their Choices And Their Boundaries
by Gail Ciociola
Although Wasserstein calls herself a humanist, her works reflect a political rhetoric, if cloaked in humor, that she herself could not imagine to be anything but feminist. Shaped by literal, cultural, and materialistic feminist theory, Wasserstein illustrates the impact of the women's movement on the lives of her female characters. The five major works, with their near-sequel effect, let us see her characters' college years, mid-twenties, mid-thirties and middle age. Through the use of a newly devised critical context called fem-en(act)ment, or textual or performance drama that is guided by feminist disposition thematically and stylistically, the author here allows for a fresh reading of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
Women's Theatre Writing in Victorian Britain
by Katherine Newey
The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Europe (Vol. 1)
by Don Rubin (Editor)
The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Americas (Vol 2)
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In California and Cyberspace, More Democracy Not Always Better
Proposition 8, a recent example of Californian direct democracy.
Social media played a critical role in moving Egypt and Tunisia toward democracy by keeping people informed about protest movements and encouraging them to join. Yet a special report in The Economist this week about the dysfunction of direct democracy in California gives further evidence of how more democracy is not always better. When is democracy too much and how might digitally-assisted democratic processes be different than their analogue predecessors?
California: a Dismal Failure of Increased Democracy
California added the direct democracy processes of referendum, recall, initiative, and proposition to their constitution in the early twentieth century (see below). The initiative – called a proposition once on the ballot – is the most radical in that it allows citizens to make law that cannot be undone by the elected representatives of the legislature. It was an institutional change that greatly increased the power of citizen groups (and later individuals) to make public policy.
As the report shows, this experiment in direct democracy has been a miserable failure for California. Elected representatives have little to legislate about since initiatives like Proposition 13 have tied their hands regarding raising taxes, and 70-90% of the annual budget has become non-discretionary.
Moreover, the initiative process, meant to allow groups of citizens to balance the power of elites, has backfired entirely. Because of the industry of petition-collectors and others that can carry out the logistics of an initiative for the right price, it has actually become a useful tool of the rich elites whose power it was intended to offset. Karen Bass, a former Democratic speaker of the state assembly, notes in the article that "any billionaire can change the state constitution. All he has to do is spend money and lie to people."
Is Cyberspace Like California?
Like California's direct democracy, digital activism is a result of a structural change in the political environment. In California, new politically processes were created as amendments to the state constitution, creating new political affordances and constraints. In the digital world, cheap and tremendously effective communication tools were built for economic reasons, but ended up creating political affordances and constraints as well. It in now much easier to share information globally and much harder to create an information vacuum. It is also much easier to track individual communication and much harder to maintain privacy.
If one judges by the reactions of repressive governments, it would seem that they at least view this digital infrastructure as a net gain for democracy – or at least a threatening form of people power. It is repressive regimes that control digital content and services most forcefully, which indicates that they see these services as a threat to their own power. (Though some repressive governments are seeking to use the Internet as a tool in their repression by increasing their online surveillance capacity or propaganda efforts, the first tactic of most repressive governments is to limit and censor the Internet rather than use it to their own advantage.)
Though the sources of their power are different, both Californian direct democracy measures and digital activism have the effect of making citizens more politically powerful and more likely to successfully challenge government power.
In California the result has been poor quality legislation that serves special interests in the short term and is tremendously detrimental to the common interest in the long term. California is frequently crippled by budget crises and, since the initiative free-for-all began in the late seventies, has seen its stellar AAA credit rating has dip to A-, "the worst among all 50 states and not much better than 'junk'."'
People Power ? Democracy: The Problem of Factions
By making it easier for citizens to cheaply and easily share their political views with others, create relationships with like-minded people, collaboratively plan actions as a result of those shared beliefs, recruit others to the cause, and mobilize those supporters to action, digital activism also increases democracy in a very basic way: it makes the people – the "demos" – more powerful, the same intent as the California measures.
Yet more powerful people does not mean better democracy. First there is the problem of factions. In Federalist 10, one of the creators of American democracy, defined factions broadly:
By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.
A faction is not just a special interest minority but also a majority which seeks to dictate to a minority. Unfortunately, digital technology facilitates both.
First, it facilitates the growth of cohesive minority groups as demonstrated by Nicholas Negroponte's theory of the "Daily Me", Cass Sunstein's theory of echo chambers, and the "divided they blog" thesis of Lada Adamic and Natalie Glance in their 2005 paper on US political bloggers.
Though the network can also break across group boundaries and increase mutual understanding and xenophilia, through trans-cultural communication methods like "bridge-blogging", the fact that digital technology eases the creation of groups, which may have narrowly-focuses interests – remains a real problem. Even when digital technology brings together a majority, this majority may still not have the common interest at heart, as Madison noted. In this way, cyberspace suffers the same problem as California by increasing the power of special interests.
Decoupling Money from Power in Cyberspace
Yet there is one way in which digital technology provides a different kind of democratic empowerment than state institutions: it largely decouples money from power. In the case of California, one of the great failings of the direct democracy measures is that their mechanisms – collect signatures, convince voters – can be achieved by hiring petition-management and marketing firms. In fact, lacking the money for such services, as would be the case of a true citizen initiative, would put that initiative at a significant disadvantage. In California, the mechanisms of direct democracy empower the super-rich.
It is different in cyberspace, where near-free communication infrastructure means that the difference in influence between the the rich and the rest is much more muted. The influential voices online come from blogs and (in Egypt) Facebook groups. These platforms are accessible to anyone, and a mix of compelling message and good strategy can lead to influence even without money.
Of course, this does not mean that the rich do not have influence over cyberspace. Cyberspace is populated by people, and these people consume multiple types of media and are the object of multiple online and offline influences. The overwhelming influence of certain special interests on cable TV and talk radio will seep into cyberspace through the content creators whose opinions they influence. It's a complicated and highly intermixed media environment.
As a structural change in the political opportunity structure, digital technology has a complex and often contradictory effect. While is soothes some political ills, like the communication power of the resource-rich, it exacerbates others, like the ease of faction creation. The final effect of digital technology on democracy is uncertain yet malleable. It is important that we better understand its current effects so that we can make interventions to nudge the political effects of the Internet in a direction that is beneficial for democracy.


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The first woman painter: 9 facts about Lavinia Fontana
On the list of famous Renaissance
The Renaissance is the period that began around the 14th century and ended at the late 16th century, traditionally associated primarily with the Italian region. The ideas and images of the Renaissance largely determined the aesthetic ideals of modern man, his sense of harmony, measure and beauty. Read more
artists, Lavinia Fontana comes after Sofonisba Anguissola. But, unlike her older colleague, she was commissioned to make not only portraits, but also paintings on religious and mythological subjects, which sometimes included female nudes. Fontana was the first woman artist to paint female nudes, and possibly the first female to use live nude
The nude is the genre focused on the aesthetic aspect of the naked human body. The term traces its origin to the Latin nudus ("naked, bare") and is cognate with the French nudité ("nudity"). Read more
female models. A devout Catholic, a mother of many children, a favourite artist of the Popes, a friend of noblewomen and an academician — these 9 facts will help you to understand how she managed to achieve such success.
1. Lavinia Fontana worked within the same sphere as her male counterparts outside of a court or convent. Yet, it is unlikely that she would have reached such a position without her father's support. Prospero Fontana was a famous artist in Bologna, and it was he who encouraged his daughter's interest in painting — otherwise she would not be able to take it up.
Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait with the Spinet Accompanied by a Handmaiden (1577). Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome
2. Lavinia Fontana studied not only painting. She also received an academic education. It is known that the artist played spinet (a smaller type of clavichord) and could read Latin. Before Fontana got married, she painted Self-Portrait with the Spinet Accompanied by a Handmaiden, in which she presented herself both as an elegant lady and as a professional painter. The first guise is emphasized by Lavinia's lavish clothing, a musical instrument and a servant with the sheet in her hands, and the second one — by an easel by the window.
3. Another person adding to Lavinia Fontana's success was her husband. Gian Paolo Zappi was a son of a wealthy grain merchant and a disciple of Prospero Fontana. It was Lavinia's father who arranged her daughter's marriage with a young man, realizing that a woman outside of a court or convent needed a spouse for a public career. In a departure from tradition, Zappi even moved to his wife's house. Thus, he allowed her to continue learning from her father, and his father-in-law — to receive income from selling her paintings.
Judith with the head of Holofernes
XVII century, 175.9×134.1 cm
4. Lavinia Fontana's husband was considered to be her colleague, but he didn't have the faintest scintilla of talent and, according to historian Laura M. Ragg, was a simpleton. Still, Zappo's devotion to his wife, admiration for her successes, understanding of the difficulties of the profession, caring and the fact that he took over the supervision of their children and house, allowed her to pursue her artistic career. At times, Lavinia allowed him to paint some of the drapery and background, but never allowed working on more important details of her paintings.
5. Lavinia Fontana was a devout Catholic who obeyed the Church's injunctions all her life. She gave birth to 11 children (though only three of them outlived her), wore modest clothing and even found a solution to the contradiction between her career and religious canons. Lavinia said she intended to explore "the modern awareness of the value that culture might have for women, provided that it was kept within the order of norms." The morality of her patrons was always of the utmost priority to the artist.
Portrait of Bianca degli Utili Maselli with her six children
1605, 99×133.5 cm
"Bianca degli Utili, who was of Florentine origin, married the Roman Cavalier Pierino Maselli, and died in September 1605 at the age of 37 after giving birth to her nineteenth child. […] The boy upper left is shown with a colorful bird tied to a little chain (the bird might be a goldfinch symbolizing the Passion of Christ, which allows us to assume that the child was destined for a spiritual career). His brother below him holds an inviting plate of fruit, the second brother, upper right, holds a medallion with the figure of a knight, and the third one — a pen and inkpot. The objects probably allude to their future professions. Though Bianca is shown here with five of her sons, particular attention seems to be drawn to the little girl…" - the painting description on Arthive
6. Lavinia Fontana's relationships with her upper-class female clients were often unusually warm. Her gender may have made women more comfortable sitting for her. She represented them in every life moment: from betrothal, to pregnancy, or even to mourning at the passing of a spouse. Some of the women who sat for portraits painted by Fontana, such as the Duchess of Sora Constanza Sforza Boncompagni, later served as namesakes or godmothers for her children. She glorified two of her patrons, Eleanor de' Medici and Isabella Ruini, through allegorical myths that furthered their beauty and their morals simultaneously.
In her painting The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon (1600), Lavinia Fontana depicted her patroness Eleonora de' Medici in the guise of the Queen of Sheba. The duchess' maids of honour stand behind her, and her husband, Vincenzo I Gonzaga, is depicted as King Solomon.
7. It was Lavinia Fontana's father who brought rich noble clients to his daughter. Many of Fontana's early paintings were given away or sold at extremely low prices, a strategy that boosted her popularity and was devised by her father. In 1584, the artist received several major commissions from the church, and her married state, erudition, academic education and the initially modest prices of her work also drew in the elite of Bolognese society. Fontana had a lot of noble clients and painted them as they wished to see themselves — wearing embroidered silk, jewellery and lace. Her paintings are an invaluable source of information for fashion historians.
Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of a Lady with a Dog (1590s) Auckland Art Gallery
Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of Costanza Alidosi (1594). National Museum of Women in the Arts – Washington, DC
8. Lavinia Fontana received many honours during her career. Fontana and her family moved to Rome in 1603 at the invitation of Pope Clement VIII, who died two years later. The next Pope Leo XI, nicknamed "Lightning Pope" (due to his short term) served only 26 days as the head of the Catholic Church and died of fatigue and cold he experienced during the ceremony of his own enthronement. His successor Pope Paul V also patronized the artist and was among her sitters. In 1611, sculptor Felice Antonio Casoni cast a bronze portrait medallion of Fontana's image. In recognition of her talent, she was elected into the Accademia di San Luca of Rome.
A portrait medallion of Lavinia Fontana's image cast by sculptor Felice Antonio Casoni in 1611. The British Museum, London
9. Some of Lavinia Fontana's paintings have been wrongly attributed to Guido Reni. Chief among these are Venus; The Virgin lifting a veil from the sleeping infant Christ and The Queen of Sheba visiting Solomon. There are over 100 works that are documented, but only 32 signed and dated works are known today. There are 25 more that can be attributed to her, making hers the largest oeuvre for any female artist prior to 1700.
The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria
1581, 109.2×88.3 cm
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Author: Vlad Maslov
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Tags: #biography #facts from life #lavinia fontana


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Related Post "Party City Halloween Costumes Adults"


A URL, informally termed a web address, also known as Uniform Resource Locator is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. URLs are most commonly used to reference web pages (http). Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
A URL in the form http://www.example.com/subfolder/page.html, has several parts & they are explained below.
top-level domain in the domain name www.example.com, the top-level domain is "com". Also known as domain name extension (ie, .com is the extension) also known as suffix.
A sub-domain is a domain that is part of a larger domain name in DNS hierarchy. DNS hierarchy consists of the root-level domain at the top, underneath which are the top-level domains, followed by second-level domains and finally subdomains.
sub-domains. For example, in the domain name webopedia.internet.com, "webopedia" is a sub-domain of the larger second-level domain "internet". A second-level domain (SLD) is the portion of the domain name that is located immediately to the left of the dot.
Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com. While index.html is a particular page (or html file) in the website.
For diagram above, the bottom level or third level domain for sales.google.com, sales would be a sub-domain of google.com.
Root domain would be google.com. The child domains below are also considered sub-domains.
Also, see another post for more on sub-domains.