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By accessing/using the Services, you confirm your agreement to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access/use the Services. These Terms expressly supersede prior agreements/arrangements with you. onehalal.co immediately terminate these Terms, any Services with respect to you, generally cease offering, deny access to the Services, any portion thereof, at any time for any reason. IMPORTANT: PLEASE REVIEW THE “onehalal.co Websites/Applications (the "Service"). Once you have selected the Products you wish to order from the businesses and provided the required information, you will be given the opportunity to submit your Order by clicking the "Checkout", “Place Order”, “Confirm Order”, “Pay with Card”, “Pay” buttons. It is important that you check all the information that you enter and correct any errors before clicking this "Checkout", “Place Order”, “Confirm Order”, “Pay with Card”, “Pay” buttons; once you do so we will start processing your Order and errors cannot be corrected. We offer the option to pay by credit card on the Websites/Applications. Please note that all the time users on the Websites/Applications must pay using their credit/debit cards. This helps us authenticate users and keep transactions safe. Where any payment you make is not authorized, your Order will not be processed, communicated to the relevant Business. At onehalal.co we do not store credit/debit card details nor do we share customer details with any 3rd parties. Once you have submitted your Order/s, you can not change, cancel or modify your Order. onehalal.co reserves the exclusive right to refuse, cancel any transaction/order for Businesses and services. All prices are same as Businesses set their prices. Delivery Fee, Product/Item Cost, Packaging Fee(plastic/paper bags) charges are calculated per order based on the policy of the Business, State Law/s. Tax are calculated based on State/Country Law/s. Platform Service Fee, Delivery Fee, Tax, Product/Item Cost, Packaging Fee(plastic/paper bags) charges will be displayed clearly on your Order/s. Prices are subject to change and all goods are subject to availability without prior notice. Payment for Orders must be made online by credit/debit card registered to the user/s name. If you pay by credit/debit card, you required to show the card to the Delivery Personnel at the time of delivery as proof of identification to match with the receipt data/info of the Order. Please note that from time to time there may be delays with the processing of card payments and transactions; this may result in payments taking up to thirty (30) days to be deducted from your bank account/charged to your credit/debit card. Features of the Sites/Applications, including, without limitation, the placing of orders, require you to make payments. When paid by you, these payments are final and non-refundable. onehalal.co will charge, and you authorize onehalal.co to charge, the payment method you specify at the time of purchase. If you pay any amounts with a credit card, onehalal.co will seek pre-authorization of your credit card account prior to your purchase to verify that the credit card is valid and has credit available for your intended purchase. onehalal.co reserves the right to establish, remove, and/or revise prices, fees, and/or surcharges for any, all services, goods, food, non-food, products, services obtained through the use of the services at any time. onehalal.co may also, in its sole discretion, make promotional offers with different features and different rates to any, all of our customers. Unless made to you, these promotional offers will have no bearing on your obligation to pay the amounts charged. onehalal.co will only process the order after the payment has been authorized and processed. onehalal.co does not deliver food, non-food, beverages, services to you. Delivery of your order will be done by Independent Business Service Providers/Businesses you choose to order from unless otherwise stated. onehalal.co does not take responsibilities for Independent Business Service Providers/Businesses delivers the order (via Independent Business Service Providers/Businesses Delivery Personnel) as per the order submitted by the user , Business/s fully reserves the right to deliver a similar/alternate order for reasons beyond its control and any such action shall not be deemed as bad-delivery, and harm Business/s. The user does not have the right to refuse the order at the time of receipt of the ordered items/products/services. The title and the risk of the orders is passed onto you upon respective Independent Business Service Providers/Businesses delivering the orders to you. onehalal.co is not responsible for any wrong delivery of an order based on the location given by the User/if any person imposes to be the actual recipient and takes/receives delivery of orders. If your Order is taking longer than expected or you have any other problems with your Order, you can contact us and we will do our best in order to follow up on your query. Kindly note, that an Order cannot be changed or cancelled after it has been submitted; payment has been authorized and the Business is already processed order. onehalal.co server, and/or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of the Sites/Applications; not to advertise to, or solicit, any user, restaurant, or other business to buy or sell any products or services, or use any information obtained from the Sites/Applications or the onehalal.co services in order to contact, solicit, or advertise or sell to any user, restaurant, or other business, in each case, unless specifically authorized in writing by onehalal.co; not to deep-link or frame to the Sites/Applications and/or access the Sites/Applications manually and with any robot/s, spider/s, web crawler/s, extraction software/s, automated process/s, and device/s, other means to scrape/s, copy/s, and monitor/g any portion/s of the Sites/Applications and any Materials and other content/s on the Sites/Applications, unless specifically authorized in writing by onehalal.co; not to conduct any scraping/s, indexing/s, surveying/s, data mining/s, any other kind of systematic/s retrieval/s of data/s, other content from the Sites/Applications; not to create or compile, directly/indirectly, any collection/s, compilation/s, database/s, or directory from the Sites/Applications or Materials; not to create business reviews, blog/s entries for with any commercial, other purpose/s, intent that does not in good faith comport with the purpose of the Sites/Applications; not to copy, publish, or redistribute any coupon or discount code or act in bad faith in an attempt to manipulate or gain an unintended commercial benefit from incentive offers; not to harass, annoy, intimidate, threaten any onehalal.co employees, contractors, service/s businesses, business partners and any associated business, personnel to onehalal.co; not to engage in any criminal, tortious activity, including, without limitation, fraud, spamming (including, without limitation, by email/s, instant message/s), sending of viruses or other harmful files, copyright infringement, patent infringement, or theft of trade secrets or otherwise deleting the copyright or other proprietary rights notice from any User Content (as defined below) or from any portion of the Sites/Applications onehalal.co services; not to disrupt, interfere with, otherwise harm, violate the security of the Sites/Applications, any services, system/s resource/s, account/s, password/s, server/s, network/s connected to, accessible through the Sites/Applications, affiliate/d, linked sites/applications (including, without limitation, those of our business partner/s);not to use the Sites/Applications for any illegal purposes in any way inconsistent with any and all applicable laws, rules, and regulations. You agree to comply with the above user conduct, and agree not assist, permit any person in engaging in any conduct that does not comply with the above user conduct. Further, you agree that the consequences of commercial use, re-publication of User Content, Materials from the Sites/Applications, other violation/s of the foregoing proscriptions may be so serious and incalculable that monetary compensation may not be a sufficient, appropriate remedy, and that onehalal.co will be entitled to temporary and permanent injunctive relief to prohibit such use, activity without the need to prove damage/s. onehalal.co provide you with interactive opportunities (1) on the Sites/Applications, including, without limitation, features such as user ratings and reviews, saved favorites, liked items and bookmarked businesses, user profile/s and picture/s, as well as (2) through other communication/s with you, including, without limitation, through text/s (“SMS”), multimedia/s (“MMS”) message/s ("Interactive Areas"). You represent and warrant that you are the owner of and have the right to provide all information/s, comment/s, review/s, rating/s, photograph/s and other material/s and content/s that you submit, upload, post, publish, and make available toonehalal.co through the Sites/Applications in connection with your use of our service/s, including, without limitation, information and materials provided made available in connection with any third party login (“User Content”). User Content includes, without limitation, textual, visual, audio content and information, whether transmitted via the Sites/Applications, SMS or MMS message/s. You grant onehalal.co an irrevocable, transferable, paid up, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive worldwide sub-licensable license to use, copy, display, publish, modify, remove, publicly perform, translate, create derivative works from, distribute/n, and use User Content in connection with , its partner/s, affiliate/s business/s and in all forms of media now known, hereafter invented (“Uses”) without notification to and approval by you. You further grant onehalal.co a license to use your username and other user profile information, including, without limitation, your ratings history and how long you have been a onehalal.co user, to attribute User Content to you in connection with the Uses, if we choose to do so, again without notification to and approval by you. Further, if you provide any suggestions, input, other feedback relating to the Sites/Applications, the services we provide (“Feedback”), onehalal.co shall have the right to freely and fully exercise and exploit the Feedback in connection with our business/s, the business/s of our partner/s, affiliate/s, without notice to, approval by, compensation to you. Accordingly, you hereby grant onehalal.co a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide, nonexclusive license to all rights necessary to incorporate and use the Feedback for any purpose. User Content transmitted to certain parts of the Sites/Applications, including, without limitation, business/s page/s and certain Interactive Areas, be posted in public areas on our Sites/Applications, including, without limitation, in a compilation format, and as such will be publicly visible and accessible. You further understand and agree that you may be exposed to third party User Content that is inaccurate, objectionable, inappropriate for children, unsuited to your purpose. onehalal.co and its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and each of their officers, directors, employees, successors, assigns, licensors, licensees, designees, business partners, contractors, agents and representatives ("Released Parties") will not be responsible for, and you hereby expressly release the Released Parties from, any and all liability for the action of any and all third parties with respect to your User Content, or for any damages you allege to incur as a result of or relating to any third party User Content. is unlawful, harmful to adults, minors, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, offensive, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, and racially, ethnically, and otherwise objectionable; has a commercial, political purpose;is false, misleading, and not written in good faith;infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of privacy and publicity, and proprietary rights of any person and entity;is illegal and promotes illegal activity;contains unauthorized advertising and solicits users to a business other than those on the Sites/Applications;is intended to interrupt, destroy, limit the functionality, integrity of any computer/s software/s, hardware/s, or Material/s on the Sites/Applications and other websites. We do our best to encourage civility and discourage disruptive communication on the Sites/Applications. We also do our best to discourage communications that incite others to violate our standards. onehalal.co monitor/s any and all use of the Sites/Applications, including, without limitation, interactions between our users; we are under no obligation to do so. We may manage the Sites/Applications in a manner intended to protect our property and rights and to facilitate the proper functioning of the Sites/Applications. If any User Content, conduct on our Sites/Applications violates our standards, any other terms and conditions of this Agreement; interferes with other peoples enjoyment of the Material/s, our Sites/Applications; is inappropriate in our judgment; we reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to change, delete, remove, in part, in full, any such User Content, Material/s, and we further reserve the right to terminate, suspend access to any Interactive Areas, any Sites/Applications. onehalal.co will cooperate with local, state, and federal authorities to the extent required by applicable law in connection with User Content. Before posting a Rating/s, Review/s, you must have had first-hand experience with the business within the 1-day period prior to your review; You not have a proprietary, other affiliation with either the business, any of its competitors; You not draw any legal conclusions regarding the business products, services, conduct; Your Review/s must comply with the terms of this Agreement. Any Rating/s and Review/s that we determine, in our sole discretion, could diminish the integrity of the Rating/s and Review/s, the Material/s and the Sites/Applications removed, excluded by us without notice. 3. any claims that the Indemnifying Party’s Marks infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, as long as such Marks have been used in the manner approved by the Indemnifying Party. In addition, you will indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Company Indemnified Parties from and against any and all Losses with respect to any third party claim arising out of or related to any harm resulting from your violation or alleged violation of any applicable retail food or other health and safety code, rule or regulation, except to the extent such harm was directly caused by the gross negligence or willful misconduct of Company or its employees, agents or Delivery Partners. Each Indemnified Party shall provide prompt notice to the Indemnifying Party of any potential claim subject to indemnification hereunder. The Indemnifying Party will assume the defense of the claim through counsel designated by it and reasonably acceptable to the Indemnified Party. The Indemnifying Party will not settle or compromise any claim, or consent to the entry of any judgment, without written consent of the Indemnified Party, which will not be unreasonably withheld. The Indemnified Party will reasonably cooperate with the Indemnifying Party in the defense of a claim, at Indemnifying Party’s expense. Voluntarily providing your phone/mobile number/s to onehalal.co, you agree that onehalal.co contact you by phone/mobile, SMS, MMS message/s at that phone/mobile number/s, you hereby consent to receiving communications for transactional, operational, informational, marketing purposes. You understand that message/s be sent using an automatic hone dialing/sending system/s. You can unsubscribe from receiving text message/s from onehalal.co at any time. To revoke your consent to receiving SMS, MMS message/s from onehalal.co, please follow the unsubscribe procedures described below. Users placing orders through the Sites/Applications will receive two and more order status message/s from onehalal.co about each order for your convenience to keep you updated. To unsubscribe from order-related messages, just reply "STOP" to the number sending the message/s. To resubscribe, text “START” to the same number/s from the phone/mobile number/s associated with your account. If you need assistance, text “SUPPORT”. Please note that unsubscribing from one Sites/Applications will not automatically unsubscribe you from another Sites/Applications. For example, if you unsubscribe from onehalal.co order-related message/s, you still receive order-related message/s when you place an order through onefresh.co, unless you also unsubscribe from onefresh.co order-related message/s. Additionally, Users will receive message/s from onehalal.co following receipt of a completed order soliciting feedback and information/s relating to the order/s. You can unsubscribe from all such feedback message/s by replying "STOP" to the number sending the feedback message/s. To resubscribe, text "START" to the number sending the feedback message/s using the phone/mobile number/s associated with your account. Please note that unsubscribing from such feedback texts will not prevent you from receiving texts from onehalal.co, the business, your delivery person regarding your order, its delivery unless you also text "STOP" to the number sending the order-related messages, and even in such event, you may still receive individual texts from the business, your delivery person to enable successful delivery of your order. You will receive text message/s in response to certain Customer Care requests. To unsubscribe from Customer Care messages, just reply to the message/s by texting “STOP” to the number/s sending the message. If you unsubscribe from receiving text message/s from onehalal.co through the process described above, you may continue to receive text message/s for a short period while onehalal.co processes your request/s. If you change or deactivate the phone/mobile number/s you provided to onehalal.co, you have an affirmative obligation to update your account information and the phone/mobile number/s attached to your account to prevent us from inadvertently communicating with anyone who acquires any phone/mobile number/s previously attributed to you, and any new phone/mobile number/s you attach to your account may receive onehalal.co standard SMS, MMS messages unless you also unsubscribe via the above procedures. Standard data and message rates will apply for SMS, MMS alerts, whether you send/receive such messages. Please contact your mobile phone carrier for details. Your mobile phone carrier (T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, etc.) is not liable for delayed or undelivered message/s. If you require assistance, please email our Customer Care team. We make available software/s to access onehalal.co website/s, technology platform/s, and related online and mobile service/s via a mobile device (“Mobile Applications”). To use any Mobile Application, you must use a mobile device that is compatible with that Mobile Application. onehalal.co does not warrant that any Mobile Application will be compatible with your mobile device. You may use mobile data in connection with the Mobile Applications and may incur additional charges from your wireless provider for these services. You agree that you are responsible for any charges. onehalal.co hereby grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use a compiled code copy of the Mobile Applications for one Account on a mobile device owned, leased solely by you, for your personal use. You acknowledge that onehalal.co issue from time to time upgraded versions of the Mobile Applications, and automatically electronically upgrade the version of any Mobile Applications that you are using on your mobile device. You consent to such automatic upgrading on your mobile device and agree to timely upgrade the Mobile Application in the event there is no automatic update. You further agree that the terms and conditions of this Agreement will apply to all upgrades to the Mobile Applications. Any third party code that may be incorporated in the Mobile Applications is covered by the applicable open source or third party license End User License Agreement (EULA - is a legal contract between a software application author or publisher and the user of that application.), any authorizing use of code. The foregoing license grant is not a sale of the Mobile Applications or any copy thereof, and onehalal.co, its third party partners, suppliers retain all right, title, and interest in the Mobile Applications (and any copy thereof). Any attempt by you to transfer any of the rights, duties, obligations hereunder, except as expressly provided for in this Agreement, is void. onehalal.co reserves all rights not expressly granted under this Agreement with respect to the Mobile Applications and otherwise. If any Mobile Applications is being acquired on behalf of the United States Government, then the following provision applies: The Mobile Application will be deemed to be “commercial computer software/s” and “commercial computer software/s documentation/s,” respectively, pursuant to DFAR § 227.7202 and FAR § 12.212, as applicable. Any use, reproduction, release, performance, display, disclosure of the Sites/Applications and any accompanying documentation by the U.S. Government will be governed solely by this Agreement and is prohibited except to the extent expressly permitted by this Agreement. Mobile Applications originate in the U.S, and are subject to U.S. export laws and regulations. The Mobile Applications can be exported, re-exported to any countries. In addition, the Mobile Applications may be subject to the import and export laws of other countries. You agree to comply with all United States and foreign laws related to use of the Mobile Applications and the Sites/Applications. You acknowledge and agree that this Agreement is solely between you and onehalal.co, not Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) and that Apple has no responsibility for the Apple-Sourced Software, content thereof. Your use of the Apple-Sourced Software must comply with the App Store Terms of Service. You acknowledge that Apple has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance and support services with respect to the Apple-Sourced Software. In the event of any failure of the Apple-Sourced Software to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund to you the purchase price for the Apple-Sourced Software; to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the Apple-Sourced Software, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, expenses attributable to any failure to conform to any warranty will be solely governed by this Agreement and any law applicable to onehalal.co as provider of the software. claims arising under consumer protection or similar legislation; and all such claims are governed solely by this Agreement and any law applicable to onehalal.co as provider of the software. You acknowledge that, in the event of any third-party claim that the Apple-Sourced Software or your possession and use of that Apple-Sourced Software infringes that third party’s intellectual property rights, onehalal.co, not Apple, will be solely responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any such intellectual property infringement claim to the extent required by this Agreement. You and onehalal.co acknowledge and agree that Apple, and Apple’s subsidiaries, are third party beneficiaries of this Agreement as it relates to your license of the Apple-Sourced Software, and that, upon your acceptance of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce this Agreement against you as a third-party beneficiary as it relates to your license of the Apple-Sourced Software. you acknowledge and agree that Google is a third-party beneficiary to the Agreement as it relates to onehalal.co Google-Sourced Software. SITES/APPLICATIONS, THE MATERIAL/S, AND ALL CONTENT/S ON THE SITES/APPLICATIONS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND “AS AVAILABLE” AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, UNLESS SPECIFIED IN WRITING. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE RELEASED PARTIES DISCLAIM, WITH RESPECT TO THE MATERIAL/S AND ALL OTHER CONTENT ON THE SITES/APPLICATIONS, ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. onehalal.co DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SITES/APPLICATIONS, THE MATERIAL/S AND THE CONTENT ON THE SITES/APPLICATIONS WILL BE SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED, AND ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, AND THAT THE SITES/APPLICATIONS, THE MATERIALS, AND OTHER CONTENT ON THE SITES/APPLICATIONS ARE FREE FROM VIRUSES, OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. onehalal.co DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE, THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE SITES/APPLICATIONS, THE MATERIAL/S, AND ANY OTHER CONTENT ON THE SITES/APPLICATIONS IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, CURRENTNESS, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE SAFETY, QUALITY, AND TIMING OF A DELIVERY ORDERED ON THE SITES/APPLICATIONS, AND THE FOOD, OTHER PRODUCTS DELIVERED. YOU (AND NOT onehalal.co) TAKE THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SITES/APPLICATIONS, THE MATERIAL/S, AND OTHER CONTENT ON THE SITES/APPLICATIONS. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT FULLY APPLY TO YOU. onehalal.co SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DELAY, FAILURE IN PERFORMANCE RESULTING FROM CAUSES BEYOND onehalal.co REASONABLE CONTROL, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DELAYS AND OTHER PROBLEMS INHERENT IN THE USE OF THE INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS. onehalal.co IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DELAYS, DELIVERY FAILURES, OTHER DAMAGE RESULTING FROM SUCH PROBLEMS. onehalal.co RELIES UPON BUSINESSES AND OTHER THIRD-PARTY FOOD, NON-FOOD, BEVERAGES, SERVICES PROVIDERS/MANUFACTURERS TO PROVIDE ACCURATE ALLERGEN, DIETARY, HALAL INFORMATION AND GENERAL PRODUCT SAFETY. onehalal.co DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE SERVICE/S IS ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT, ERROR-FREE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, MENUS, PRODUCTS, CATEGORIES, NUTRITIONAL AND ALLERGEN INFORMATION, PHOTOS, FOOD QUALITY, DESCRIPTIONS, PRICING, HOURS OF OPERATION, REVIEWS. ALL CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE RELIANCE ON ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICES IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, NUTRITIONAL AND ALLERGEN INFORMATION. $1,000 (WHICHEVER IS LESS). BECAUSE SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THE NEW YORK GOVERNING LAW PROVISION (TO THE EXTENT THAT YOUR RIGHTS AS A CONSUMER RESIDING IN NEW JERSEY ARE REQUIRED TO BE GOVERNED BY NEW JERSEY LAW). The Sites/Applications can contain links to website/s that are owned, controlled, developed, sponsored and/or maintained by third parties and which may be subject to additional terms and conditions ("Third Party Website/s”). onehalal.co does not review, monitor/s, operate/s and control/s the Third Party Website/s and onehalal.co makes no guarantees, representations, and/or warranties as to, and shall have no liability for, the content available on, through and the functioning of the Third Party Website/s. Providing access to Third Party Website/s, onehalal.co is not recommending and endorsing the products and services provided by the sponsors and owners of those website/s. Your access to use of the Third Party Website/s, including, without limitation, providing information, materials and content to the Third Party Website/s, is entirely at your own risk. onehalal.co reserves the right to discontinue links to any Third Party Website/s at any time and for any reason, without notice. Please send email notification to our Copyright Department. UNDER FEDERAL LAW, IF YOU KNOWINGLY MISREPRESENT THAT ONLINE MATERIAL/S IS INFRINGING, YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR PERJURY AND CIVIL PENALTIES, INCLUDING MONETARY DAMAGES, COURT COSTS, AND ATTORNEYS’ FEES. Please note that this procedure is exclusively for notifying onehalal.co and its affiliates that your copyrighted material has been infringed. The preceding requirements are intended to comply with onehalal.co rights and obligations under the DMCA, including 17 U.S.C. §512(c), but do not constitute legal advice. It may be advisable to contact an attorney regarding your rights and obligations under the DMCA and other applicable laws. In accordance with the DMCA and other applicable law, onehalal.co has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, users who are deemed to be repeat infringers. onehalal.co may also in its sole discretion limit access to the Sites/Applications and terminate the Account/s of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement. Licenses, Restrictions to Marks – TradeMarks. Subject to the “Terms and Conditions” of this Agreement, each party hereby grants to the other party and, in the case of Company, to its affiliates a limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable License during the “Term” to use the such party’s respective Marks as defined below, on a royalty-free basis, for the commercial purpose of performing any activities as set forth in an applicable Web/Mobile Platform “Order Form” or on any other actual surfaces where commercial advertising is will be used. For purposes of this Agreement, the term “Marks” will mean the trademarks, service marks, trade names, copyrights, logos, slogans and other identifying symbols and indicia of the applicable party’s. All uses of a party’s marks by the other party will be in the form and format specified or approved by the owner of such marks. Other than as specifically set forth in this Agreement, neither party will use the other party’s marks without the prior, express, written consent of the other party by email is sufficient. All goodwill related to the use of a party’s marks by the other party shall inure to the benefit of the owner of such marks. Except as expressly set forth herein, neither party shall be deemed to grant the other party any license or rights under any intellectual property or other proprietary rights. All rights not granted are expressly reserved. Your rights under this Agreement will terminate automatically without notice if you fail to comply with any provision of this Agreement. onehalal.co reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to modify, suspend, or discontinue at any time, with or without notice, the Sites/Applications and services offered on, through the Sites/Applications (or any part thereof), including but not limited to the Sites/Applications features, look and feel, and functional elements and related services. We will have no liability whatsoever on account of any change to the Sites/Applications any suspension, termination of your access to, use of the Sites/Applications. You may terminate this Agreement at any time by closing your Account, uninstalling all Mobile Application/s (if applicable) and ceasing use of the Sites/Applications and services provided herein. onehalal.co reserves the right to seek all remedies available at law and in equity for violations of the Agreement, including, without limitation, the right to block access to the Sites/Applications from a particular account, device and IP address/s. You may not assign, transfer this Agreement, your rights under this Agreement, in whole, in part, by operation of law, otherwise, without our prior written consent. We may assign this Agreement in whole, in part at any time to any entity without your notice, consent. Any purported assignment by you in violation of this section shall be null and void. You acknowledge and agree that your access to, use of the Sites/Applications, the Material/s, and other content on the Sites/Applications is subject to all applicable international, federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The terms, conditions, and policies contained in this Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (the "AAA Rules") then in effect, except as modified by this "Dispute Resolution" section. (The AAA Rules, phone number 1-800-778-7879). The Federal Arbitration Act will govern the interpretation and enforcement of this section. A party who desires to initiate arbitration must provide the other party with a written Demand for Arbitration as specified in the AAA Rules. The AAA provides a form Demand for Arbitration and a separate affidavit for waiver of fees for California residents only. The arbitrator will be either a retired judge, an attorney licensed to practice law in the county in which you reside and will be selected by the parties from the AAA's roster of consumer dispute arbitrators. If the parties are unable to agree upon an arbitrator within seven (5) days of delivery of the Demand for Arbitration, then the AAA will appoint the arbitrator in accordance with the AAA Rules. you and onehalal.co agree, the arbitration will be conducted in the county where you reside. If your claim does not exceed $10,000, then the arbitration will be conducted solely on the basis of documents you and onehalal.co submit to the arbitrator, unless you request a hearing, the arbitrator determines that a hearing is necessary. If your claim exceeds $10,000, your right to a hearing will be determined by the AAA Rules. Subject to the AAA Rules, the arbitrator will have the discretion to direct a reasonable exchange of information by the parties, consistent with the expedited nature of the arbitration. The arbitrator will render an award within the time frame specified in the AAA Rules. The arbitrator's decision will include the essential findings and conclusions upon which the arbitrator based the award. Judgment on the arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitrator's award damages must be consistent with the terms of the "Limitation of Liability" section above as to the types and the amounts of damages for which a party may be held liable. The arbitrator may award declaratory or injunctive relief only in favor of the claimant and only to the extent necessary to provide the relief warranted by the claimant's individual claim. If you prevail in arbitration, you will be entitled to an award of attorneys' fees and expenses to the extent provided under applicable law. onehalal.co will not seek, and hereby waives, all rights onehalal.co may have under applicable law to recover attorneys' fees and expenses if onehalal.co prevails in arbitration. Your responsibility to pay any AAA filing, administrative and arbitrator fees will be solely as set forth in the AAA Rules. However, if your claim for damages does not exceed $5,000, onehalal.co will pay all such fees unless the arbitrator finds that either the substance of your claim or the relief sought in your Demand for Arbitration was frivolous or was brought for an improper purpose (as measured by the standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)). onehalal.co reserves the right to change this "Dispute Resolution" section, but any such changes will not apply to disputes arising before the effective date of such amendment. Notwithstanding the provisions of the modification-related provisions above, if onehalal.co changes this "Dispute Resolution" section after the date you first accepted this Agreement (accepted any subsequent changes to this Agreement), you agree that your continued use of the Sites/Applications after such change will be deemed acceptance of those changes. If you do not agree to such change, you may reject any such change by providing onehalal.co written notice of such rejection by mail, hand delivery to Dispute Resolutions, email from the email address associated with your account to Arbitration Department, within 10 days of the date such change became effective, as indicated in the "Effective" date above. In order to be effective, the notice must include your full name and clearly indicate your intent to reject changes to this "Dispute Resolution" section. By rejecting changes, you are agreeing that you will arbitrate any dispute between you and onehalal.co in accordance with the provisions of this "Dispute Resolution" section as of the date you first accepted this Agreement (or accepted any subsequent changes to this Agreement, as applicable). EACH PARTY ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THERE SHALL BE NO DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY, CONTENT, MEDIA OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BY EITHER PARTY FOR THE OTHER PARTY PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT. Any development activities relating to any technology, content, media or other intellectual property must be the subject of a separate written agreement between One Halal and Company prior to the commencement of any such activities. B. EACH PARTY’S TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY OF EACH AND EVERY KIND UNDER THIS AGREEMENT SHALL NOT EXCEED $100,000. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES SHALL APPLY REGARDLESS OF THE SUCCESS OR EFFECTIVENESS OF OTHER REMEDIES. Any waiver by onehalal.co of any provision of this Agreement must be in writing. If any portion of this Agreement is found to be void, invalid, otherwise unenforceable, then that portion shall be deemed to be superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that matches the intent of the original provision as closely as possible except that in the event of un-enforceability of the class action waiver, the entire arbitration agreement shall be un-enforceable. The remainder of this Agreement shall continue to be enforceable and valid according to terms contained herein. This Agreement, together with any amendments and any additional agreements you may enter into with onehalal.co in connection with the Sites/Applications and the service/s hereunder, shall constitute the entire agreement between you and onehalal.co concerning the Sites/Applications and the services hereunder. en consent of such other party. ALL PAYMENTS, PLACED ORDERS DURING CHECKOUT FROM BUSINESSES BY CLICKING "CONFIRM ORDER" BY CUSTOMER/USER OF THE onehalal.co web/mobile platform ARE NON REFUNDABLE. This site is Copyright © 2017-2019 onehalal.co Owned by CGR Worldwide LLC. All Rights Reserved. All unpublished rights are reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. No claim to copyright or trademark is made to original government works or to material that is copyrighted or trademarked by any other entity. All documents on this site are protected by the copyright laws of the United States and International Treaties. Permission to copy, view and print the material contained on this site is granted provided that it is used for non-commercial and informational purposes; it is not modified; and the above copyright notice and this permission notice is contained in each document or page. Notwithstanding the above, nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring any right or license under any copyright of any owner of any copyright, of any material on this onehalal.co web/mobile platform.

2019-04-23T16:09:59Z

https://onehalal.co/page-terms-of-use

These general delivery terms (the “Terms”) form an integral part of the Accommodation Agreement (the "Accommodation Agreement" and together with the Terms, "Agreement") entered into between the Accommodation and Excurcion, Inc. (each a "Party" and collectively the "Parties"). "Best Price Guarantee" means the guarantee issued by Excurcion, Inc. (under this or any similar name) stating that Excurcion, Inc. offers the best rate for a room and that no lower rate can be found online for the equivalent room with the same check-in and check-out dates and the same booking conditions. "Excurcion.com Platform" means the website(s), apps, tools, platforms or other devices of Excurcion, Inc. on which the Service is made available. "Customer Service" means the customer service desk of Excurcion.com which can be reached at [email protected] or such other address as set out in this Agreement. "Customer Portal" means the online system which can be accessed by the Accommodation (after identification of the username and the password) through the website https://excurcion.com/<your-portal-name>/manage, for uploading, changing, verifying, updating and/or amending the Accommodation Information (including rates, availability, rooms) and reservations. "Force Majeure Event" means any of the following events affecting multiple Guests and multiple accommodations: act-of-God, volcanic eruptions, (natural) disaster, fire, (acts of) war, hostilities or any local or national emergency, invasion, compliance with any order or request of any national, provincial, port or other public authority, government regulation or intervention, military action, civil war or terrorism, (biological, chemical or nuclear) explosion, rebellion, riots, insurrection strikes, civil disorder (or the material or substantial threat or justified apprehension of any of the foregoing events), curtailment of transportation facilities, closing of airports or any other exceptional and catastrophic event, circumstance or emergency, making it impossible, illegal or preventing Guests from traveling to or staying at the Accommodation. "Guest" means a visitor of the Platforms or a customer or guest of the Accommodation. "Intellectual Property Right" means any patent, copyright, inventions, database rights, design right, registered design, trade mark, trade name, brand, logos, service mark, know-how, utility model, unregistered design or, where relevant, any application for any such right, know-how, trade or business name, domain name (under whatever extension, e.g. .com, etc.) or other similar right or obligation whether registered or unregistered or other industrial or intellectual property right subsisting in any territory or jurisdiction in the world. "Platforms" means the website(s), apps, tools, platforms and/or other devices of Excurcion, Inc. and its affiliated companies and business partners on which the Service is (made) available. "Service" means the online hotel reservation system of Excurcion.com through which accommodation providers can make their rooms available for reservation, and through which Guests can make reservations at such accommodation providers. 2.1.1 Information provided by the Accommodation for inclusion on the Platforms shall include information relating to the Accommodation (including pictures, photos and descriptions), its amenities and services and the rooms available for reservation, details of the rates (including all applicable taxes, levies, surcharges and fees) and availability, cancellation and no-show policies and other policies and restrictions (the "Accommodation Information") and shall comply with formats and standards provided by Excurcion.com. The Accommodation Information shall not contain any telephone or fax numbers or e-mail (including Skype) address or social media website/app/platform (including Twitter and Facebook), with direct references to the Accommodation or its websites, apps, platform, tools or other devices, or to websites, apps, platform, tools or other devices of third parties. Excurcion, Inc. reserves the right to edit or exclude any information on becoming aware that it is incorrect or incomplete or in violation of the terms and conditions of this Agreement. 2.1.2 The Accommodation represents and covenants that the Accommodation Information shall at all times be true, accurate and not misleading. The Accommodation is at all times responsible for a correct and up-to-date statement of the Accommodation Information, including additional availability of rooms for certain periods or any extraordinary (material adverse) events or situations (e.g. renovation or construction at or near the facility). The Accommodation shall update the Accommodation Information on a daily basis (or such more frequent basis as may be required) and may –at any time– change via the Customer Portal (i) the rate of its available rooms bookable, and (ii) the number or type of available rooms, subject to the Minimum Allocation (as defined below). 2.1.3 The information provided by the Accommodation for the Platforms shall remain the exclusive property of the Accommodation. Information provided by the Accommodation may be edited or modified by Excurcion, Inc. and subsequently be translated into other languages, whereas the translations remain the exclusive property of Excurcion, Inc. The edited and translated content shall be for the exclusive use by Excurcion, Inc. on the Platforms and shall not be used (in any way or form) by the Accommodation for any other distribution or sales channel or purposes. Changes to or updates of the descriptive information of the Accommodation are not allowed unless prior written approval has been obtained from Excurcion, Inc. 2.1.4 Unless Excurcion, Inc. agrees otherwise, all changes, updates and/or amendments of the Accommodation Information (including rates, taxes, availability, rooms) shall be made by the Accommodation directly and online through the Customer Portal or such other ways as Excurcion, Inc. may reasonably indicate. Updates and changes in respect to pictures, photos and descriptions will be as soon as reasonably possible processed by Excurcion, Inc. 2.2.1 The Accommodation shall give Excurcion, Inc. rate and availability parity ("Parity"). Rate Parity means the same or better rates for the same accommodation, same room type, same dates, same bed type, same number of guests, same or better restrictions and policies such as breakfast, reservation changes and cancellation policy as are available on the Accommodation’s websites, apps or call centers (including the customer reservation system), or directly at the Accommodation, with any competitor of Excurcion, Inc. (which includes any online or offline reservation or booking agency or intermediary) and/or with any other (online or offline) third party that is a business partner of or in any other way related with or connected to the Accommodation. Rate parity does not apply in respect to rates intended for a closed user group ("closed user group" means a group with defined limitations where membership is not automatic and where: (i) consumers actively opt in to become a member, (ii) any online or mobile interface used by closed user group members is password protected, (iii) closed user group members have completed a customer profile, and (iv) the consumer to which the rate is offered or made available has already made at least one prior booking as a member of the closed user group) provided that such rates are not (directly or indirectly) publicly (made) available. In the event that a closed user group rate is (directly or indirectly) publicly (made) available by the Accommodation, a (direct/indirect) competitor of Excurcion, Inc. or on any third party (platform) (including any (meta-) search engine or price comparison website), Excurcion, Inc. is entitled to rate parity for such rate. Availability Parity means that the Accommodation shall provide Excurcion, Inc. with such availability (i.e. rooms available for booking at the Platform) that are at least as favorable as (i) are made available on the relevant Accommodation website(s) and app(s), and (ii) those provided to any competitor of Excurcion, Inc. (which includes any online or offline reservation or booking agency or intermediary) and/or with any other (online or offline) third party that is a business partner of or in any other way related with or connected to the Accommodation. 2.2.2 The restrictions and conditions (including the room price) for rooms made available for reservation on the Excurcion.com Platform shall at all times be in accordance with Clause 2.2.1 and make sense for all parties involved (including consumers). 2.2.3 Excurcion, Inc. shall be entitled to give a discount on the room price – at its own costs up to the level of the Commission – to its closed user group members. 2.3.1 For each reservation or for any other purchase that is made on the Platforms by a Guest, Excurcion, Inc. will automatically calculate a commission (the "Commission") of 15% of the total amount charged to the Guest’s credit card and deduct this amount from the Accommodation’s available balance for any payouts. For the avoidance of doubt, Commission will also be deducted in the event of overbooking or a no-show (unless the Accommodation has notified Excurcion, Inc. of the relevant no-show within 2 business days after the scheduled date of arrival of the Guest) or a charged cancellation (cancellation in violation of the free cancellation policy of the Accommodation) and shall be calculated in accordance with the confirmed booking. 2.3.2 The Accommodation is responsible for entering the percentage of tax to be applied to each of their products via the Product Editor in the Customer Portal for any applicable taxes (national, governmental, provincial, state, municipal or local), fees, charges and levies. 2.3.3 In the event that pursuant to (amendment or entering into force of) the applicable law, rules and legislation applicable to the Accommodation, the rates must be shown to Guests inclusive of sales tax and all such other (national, governmental, provincial, state, municipal or local) taxes, fees or levies, the Accommodation shall adjust the rates through the Customer Portal as soon as possible, but in any event within 5 business days after (i) amendment or entering into force of the relevant law, rules and legislation in this respect applicable to such Accommodation, or (ii) notification thereof by Excurcion, Inc. 2.3.4 The Customer Portal shows details of all reservations made at the Accommodation through the Platforms and the corresponding Commission. On the 1st day of each month, an online reservation statement (the "Online Reservation Statement") is available on the Customer Portal showing the reservations of all Guests whose date of departure fell in the previous month. 2.3.5 In the event of a dispute between Excurcion, Inc. and the Accommodation (e.g. on the amount of the Commission), any undisputed amount of the Commission will be paid in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, notwithstanding the status or nature of the dispute. 2.4.1 All payouts of any available balance will be initiated electronically online by the Accommodation through the Financial section of the Customer Portal. (a) All payout amounts will be electronically transferred to the bank account specified by the Accommodation. (b) A payout of the available balance can be initiated by the Accommodation at any time. (c) Depending on the type of electronic transfer, Excurcion, Inc. will deduct a transfer initiation fee from the available balance to cover the cost of initiating the electronic transfer by Excurcion, Inc.’s bank. Excurcion, Inc. will bear the cost of initiating the transfer of funds from its bank. The Accommodation shall bear all other costs as charged by other banks for the transfer of the funds. The amount Excurcion, Inc. will deduct for transfer initiation fee is clearly specified in the Financial section of the Customer Portal depending on what type of transfer the Accommodation selects. Currently the transfer initiation fee ranges from $1-$30 USD. 2.4.2 The available balance is determined by the amount of settled funds. (a) Any funds charged/collected from the Guest for reservations or for any other purchase that is made on the Platforms by a Guest will become available for transfer to the Accommodation’s bank account 24 hours after the check-out time or when the transaction has settled with Excurcion, Inc.’s credit card processor, whichever is later. (b) Any funds collected for reservations or for any other purchases that are involved in a cancellation or no-show will be calculated as follows in the Cancellation & Refund Policy on the website at https://excurcion.com/corp/cancellation. 2.5.1 When a reservation is made by a Guest on the Platform, the Accommodation shall receive a confirmation for every reservation made via Excurcion.com, which confirmation shall include the date of arrival, the number of nights, the room type (including smoking preference (if available)), the room rate, the Guest's name, address and credit card details (collectively "Customer Data") and such other specific request(s) made by the Guest. For the avoidance of doubt, the Accommodation shall on a regular basis (but at least on a daily basis) check and verify on the Customer Portal (the status of) the reservations made. 2.5.2 By making a reservation through the Platforms a direct contract (and therefore legal relationship) is created solely between the Accommodation and the Guest (the "Guest Reservation"). 2.5.3 The Accommodation is bound to accept a Guest as its contractual party, and to handle the online reservation in compliance with the Accommodation Information (including rate) contained on the Platforms at the time the reservation was made and the reservation confirmation, including any supplementary information and/or wishes made known by the Guest. 2.5.4 The Accommodation shall not charge the customer any additional fees, extras and (sur-)charges concerning the already paid for and confirmed booking by Excurcion, Inc. 2.5.5 The Accommodation may use the Reservation Manager in the Customer Portal to manage any of the Guest’s directly requested changes to their confirmed booking such as changes in length of stay, changes in type of room, adding additional rooms, cancellation of rooms, or adding room services. The Manage Invoice feature of the Reservation Manager will automatically calculate any new invoice balances or refunds due based on the changes that have been made. If there is an invoice balance due the Accommodation can enter the Guest’s provided credit card information to make a payment for any invoice balance. If there is a refund due the Manage Invoice system will automatically refund the amount due back to the original credit card that was charged. 2.5.6 Complaints or claims with respect to (the products or service offered, rendered or provided by) the Accommodation or specific requests made by Guests are to be dealt with by the Accommodation, without mediation by or interference of Excurcion, Inc. Excurcion, Inc. is not responsible for and disclaims any liability with respect to such claims from the Guests. Excurcion, Inc. may at all times and at its sole discretion (a) offer customer (support) services to a Guest, (b) act as intermediate between the Accommodation and a Guest, (c) provide –at the costs and expenses of the Accommodation– alternative accommodations of an equal or better standard in the event of an overbooking or other material irregularities or complaints with respect to the Accommodation, or (d) otherwise assist a Guest in its communication with or actions against the Accommodation. 2.5.7 In the event of a valid claim of a Guest under the Best Price Guarantee, Excurcion, Inc. shall promptly notify the Accommodation of such claim and provide the Accommodation with the relevant details of the claim. The Accommodation shall immediately adjust –to the extent applicable– the rate(s) made available at the Excurcion.com Platform such that the lower rate is available for further booking(s). Furthermore, the Accommodation shall immediately adjust the rate in the reservation made by the relevant Guest in its administration. Upon check-out of the Guest, the Accommodation shall offer the room for the lower rate and shall either (i) settle the difference between the booked rate and the lower rate by charging the Guest for the lower rate, or (ii) refund (in cash) to the Guest the difference between the two rates. (c) reimburse and compensate Excurcion, Inc. and/or the Guest for all reasonable costs and expenses (e.g. costs of alternative accommodations, transportation, telephone costs) made, suffered, paid or incurred by the Guest and/or Excurcion, Inc. due to or caused by the overbooking. Any amount charged/collected by Excurcion, Inc. from the Guest will be refunded to the Guest and this amount will be removed from the Accommodation’s payout balance. 2.6.2 The Accommodation is not allowed to cancel any online reservation. 2.7.1 The Accommodation acknowledges that it is responsible for the security of cardholder data it processes within the context of this Agreement and Excurcion, Inc. acknowledges that it is responsible for the security of cardholder data it processes within the context of this Agreement. The Accommodation agrees not to specifically target Guests that have been obtained via Excurcion, Inc. in either online or offline marketing promotions or solicited or unsolicited mail. Excurcion, Inc. will provide the Accommodation with a user ID and password which allows the Accommodation to access the Customer Portal. The Accommodation shall safeguard and keep the user ID and password confidential and safely stored and not disclose it to any person other than those who need to have access to the Customer Portal. The Accommodation shall immediately notify Excurcion, Inc. of any (suspected) security breach or improper use. In the event of a Force Majeure Event, the Accommodation shall not charge (and shall repay (if applicable)) the Guests affected by the Force Majeure Event any fee, costs, expenses or other amount (including the (non-refundable) rate or the no-show, (change of) reservation or cancellation fee) for (i) any cancellation or change of the reservation made by the Guests, or (ii) that part of the reservation that was not consumed, due to the Force Majeure Event. In the event of reasonable and justified doubt, the Accommodation may ask a Guest to provide reasonable evidence of the causality between the Force Majeure Event and cancellation, no-show or change of reservation (and provide Excurcion, Inc., upon request, with a copy of such evidence). In order for Excurcion, Inc. to register any cancellation, no-show or amendment of the reservation due to a Force Majeure Event, the Accommodation shall inform Excurcion, Inc. within 2 business days after (a) the scheduled arrival date of the no-show or cancellation, or (b) check- out, the number of days actually stayed. Excurcion, Inc. will not charge any commission in the event of a registered no-show or cancellation or over that part of the booking which is not consumed due to the Force Majeure Event. (b) to use, reproduce, have reproduced, process, distribute, sublicense, display and utilize (including without limitation to publicly perform, modify, adapt, communicate, reproduce, copy and make available to the public in any manner whatsoever) the Accommodation Information. 3.2 Excurcion, Inc. may sublicense, make available, disclose and offer the Accommodation Information (including the relevant Intellectual Property Rights) of the Accommodation and special offers made available by the Accommodation on the Platforms and all such further rights and licenses set out in this Agreement via or in collaboration with (the websites, apps, platform, tools or other devices of) affiliated companies and/or third parties (the " Third Party Platforms"). 3.3 In no event shall Excurcion, Inc. be liable to the Accommodation for any acts or omissions on the part of any Third Party Platforms. The sole remedy for the Accommodation with respect to such Third Party Platforms is (i) to request Excurcion, Inc. (which has the right and not the obligation) to disable and disconnect with such Third Party Platform, or (ii) termination of this Agreement, all in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. 4.1.1 The order in which the Accommodation is listed on the Platforms (the "Ranking"), is determined automatically and unilaterally by Excurcion, Inc. Ranking is based on and influenced by various factors, including but not limited to the commission percentage (to be) paid by the Accommodation, the minimum availability stated by the Accommodation, the number of bookings related to the number of visits to the relevant Accommodation’s page on the Platform (the "Conversion"), the volume realized by the Accommodation, the ratio of cancellations, the guest review scores, the customer service history, the number and type of complaints from Guests and the on-time payment record of the Accommodation. 4.1.2 The Accommodation has the ability to influence its own ranking by changing the commission percentage and availability for certain periods, and continuously improving the other factors. The Accommodation shall not make any claim against Excurcion, Inc. regarding the Ranking of Accommodation; the Ranking system is automated. 4.2.1 Guests who have stayed at the Accommodation will be asked by Excurcion, Inc. to comment on their stay at the Accommodation and to provide a score for certain aspects of their stay. 4.2.2 Excurcion, Inc. reserves the right to post these comments and scores on the Platforms. The Accommodation acknowledges that Excurcion, Inc. is a distributor (without any obligation to verify) and not a publisher of these comments. 4.2.3 Excurcion, Inc. gives its best effort to monitor and review Guest reviews with respect to obscenities or the mention of an individual’s name. Excurcion, Inc. reserves the right to refuse, edit or remove unfavorable reviews in the event that such reviews include obscenities or mention an individual’s name. 4.2.4 Excurcion, Inc. will not enter into any discussion, negotiation or correspondence with the Accommodation with respect to (the content of, or consequences of the publication or distribution of) the Guest reviews. 4.2.5 Excurcion, Inc. shall not have and disclaims any liability and responsibility for the content and consequences of (the publication or distribution of) any comments or reviews howsoever or whatsoever. 4.2.6 The guest reviews are for exclusive use by Excurcion, Inc. and can be made available on such Platforms as from time to time made available by Excurcion, Inc. Excurcion, Inc. exclusively retains ownership of all rights, title and interest in and to (all intellectual property rights of) the guest reviews and the Accommodation is not entitled to (directly or indirectly) publish, market, promote, copy, scrape, (hyper-/deep)link to, integrate, obtain, utilize, combine, share or otherwise use the guest reviews without prior written approval of Excurcion, Inc. 4.3.1 Excurcion, Inc. is entitled to promote the Accommodation using the Accommodation’s name(s) in online marketing, including e-mail marketing and/or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Excurcion, Inc. runs online marketing campaigns at its own costs and discretion. 4.3.2 The Accommodation is aware of the working methods of search engines, such as spidering of content and ranking of URLs. Excurcion, Inc. agrees that if the Accommodation becomes aware of behavior by Third Party Platforms that breaches the Accommodation’s Intellectual Property Rights, then the Accommodation will notify Excurcion, Inc. in writing with details of the conduct and Excurcion, Inc. will use its commercially reasonable endeavors to ensure that the relevant third party takes steps to remedy the breach. 4.3.3 The Accommodation agrees not to specifically target the Excurcion, Inc. brand directly through keyword purchases that use Excurcion, Inc.’s Intellectual Property Rights. (iii) the price for the rooms advertised on the Platforms correspond to the best available price for an equivalent stay with the Accommodation and a better price cannot be obtained by a Guest making a reservation with the Accommodation directly or via another (third) party or via another medium or channel. 5.4 Excurcion, Inc. disclaims and excludes any and all liability with respect to the Accommodation which is related to any (temporary and/or partial) breakdown, outages, downtime, interruption or unavailability of the Platforms, the Service and/or the Customer Portal. (v) all claims against Excurcion, Inc. in relation to or as a result of the failure of the Accommodation to pay, (a) properly register with relevant tax authorities, or (b) pay, collect, remit or withhold any applicable Taxes, fees and (sur)charges levied or based on the services or other charges hereunder in the relevant jurisdiction (including room price and commission payments). 6.3 Except as otherwise provided for in this Agreement, the maximum liability of one Party to any other party in aggregate for all claims made against such party under or in connection with this Agreement in a year shall not exceed the aggregate commission received or paid by such Party in the preceding year or USD 10,000 (whichever is higher), unless in the event of tort, fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, deliberate non-disclosure or deliberate deception on the part of the liable Party (i.e. the Indemnifying Party), in which event the limitation of liability is not applicable for such liable party. Parties agree and acknowledge that none of the limitations of liability set out in Clause 6 shall apply to any of the indemnifications with respect to third-party claims (e.g. claims from Guests as described in 6.2) or third-party liabilities. 6.4 In the event of a third-party claim, Parties shall act in good faith and use their commercially reasonable efforts to consult, cooperate and assist each other in the defense and/or settlement of such claim, whereas the indemnifying Party shall be entitled to take over a claim and assume the defense (in consultation and agreement with the indemnified Party and with due observance of both Parties' interests), and neither Party shall make any admission, file any papers, consent to the entry of any judgment or enter into any compromise or settlement without the prior written consent of the other Party (which shall not unreasonably be withheld, delayed or conditioned). 6.5 In no event shall any Party be liable to any other Party for any indirect, special, punitive, incidental or consequential damages or losses, including loss of production, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of contract, loss of or damage to goodwill or reputation, loss of claim, whether such damages are (alleged as) a result of a breach of contract, tort or otherwise (even if advised of the possibility of such damages or losses). All such damages and losses are hereby expressly waived and disclaimed. 6.6 Each Party acknowledges that remedies at law may be inadequate to protect the other Party against any breach of this Agreement and, without prejudice to any other rights and remedies otherwise available to the other Party, each Party will be entitled to injunctive relief and specific performance. 7.3 Any notice or communication by Excurcion, Inc. of "closure" ("close", "closed") of the Accommodation on the website (or similar wording) shall mean termination of the Agreement. After termination, suspension or closure, the Accommodation shall honor outstanding reservations for Guests and shall pay all commissions (plus costs, expenses, interest if applicable) due on those reservations in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. (x) any (alleged) safety, privacy or health issues or problems with respect to the Accommodation or its facilities (the Accommodation shall at its own costs and upon first request of Excurcion, Inc. deliver the relevant permits, licenses, certificates or such statements issued by an independent expert evidencing and supporting its compliance with applicable (privacy, safety and health) laws and legislation). 7.5 Upon termination and except as set out otherwise, this Agreement shall absolutely and entirely terminate with respect to the terminating Party and cease to have effect without prejudice to the other Party’s rights and remedies with respect to an indemnification or a breach by the other (terminating) Party of this Agreement. Clauses 6, 8, 9 and 10 shall survive termination. 8.1 The systems, books and records of Excurcion, Inc. (including Customer Portal, the Online Reservation Statement, faxes and/or e-mails) shall be considered conclusive evidence of the existence and receipt by the Accommodation of the reservations made by the Guest and the amount of the commission of the Accommodation or damages or costs due to Excurcion, Inc. under this Agreement, unless the Accommodation can provide reasonable and credible counter-evidence. 8.2 The Accommodation shall upon first request of Excurcion, Inc. fully cooperate and assist Excurcion, Inc. with (and disclose all reasonably requested information with respect to) the identification of the (ultimate) owner, manager and/or controller of the Accommodation. 9.1 Parties understand and agree that in the performance of this Agreement, each Party may have access to or may be exposed to, directly or indirectly, confidential information of the other party (the "Confidential Information"). Confidential Information includes Customer Data, transaction volume, marketing and business plans, business, financial, technical, operational and such other non-public information that either a disclosing party designates as being private or confidential or of which a receiving party should reasonably know that it should be treated as private and confidential. 9.2 Each Party agrees that: (a) all Confidential Information shall remain the exclusive property of the disclosing party and receiving party shall not use any Confidential Information for any purpose except in furtherance of this Agreement; (b) it shall maintain, and shall use prudent methods to cause its employees, officers, representatives, contracting parties and agents (the "Permitted Persons") to maintain, the confidentiality and secrecy of the Confidential Information; (c) it shall disclose Confidential Information only to those Permitted Persons who need to know such information in furtherance of this Agreement; (d) it shall not, and shall use prudent methods to ensure that the Permitted Persons do not, copy, publish, disclose to others or use (other than pursuant to the terms hereof) the Confidential Information; and (e) it shall return or destroy all ((hard and soft) copies of) Confidential Information upon written request of the other Party. 9.3 Notwithstanding the foregoing, (a) Confidential Information shall not include any information to the extent it (i) is or becomes part of the public domain through no act or omission on the part of the receiving party, (ii) was possessed by the receiving party prior to the date of this Agreement, (iii) is disclosed to the receiving party by a third party having no obligation of confidentiality with respect thereto, or (iv) is required to be disclosed pursuant to law, court order, subpoena or governmental authority, and (b) nothing in this Agreement shall prevent, limit or restrict a Party from disclosing this Agreement (including any technical, operational, performance and financial data (but excluding any Customer Data)) in confidence to an affiliated (group) company. 9.4 Parties shall use commercially reasonable efforts to safeguard the confidentiality and privacy of Customer Data and to protect it from unauthorized use or release. Each party agrees to comply with all applicable (data and privacy) laws, rules and regulations of the jurisdiction where such Party is incorporated (including (if applicable) Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC (as amended) on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy). 10.1 Neither party shall be entitled to assign, transfer, encumber any of its rights and/or the obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of the other party, provided that Excurcion, Inc. may assign, transfer, encumber any of its rights and/or the obligations under this Agreement (in whole or in part or from time to time) to an affiliated company without the prior written consent of the Accommodation. Any assignment or transfer by the Accommodation shall not relieve the assignor of its obligations under the Agreement. 10.2 All notices and communications must be in English, in writing, and sent by facsimile, e-mail or nationally recognized overnight air courier to the applicable facsimile number or address set out in the Agreement. 10.3 This Agreement (including the schedules, annexes and appendixes, which form an integral part of this Agreement) constitutes the entire agreement and understanding of the Parties with respect to its subject matter and replaces and supersedes all prior agreements, arrangements, ((non-) binding) offers, undertakings or statements regarding such subject matter (including vis-à-vis the Accommodation). 10.5 Except as set out otherwise in this Agreement, this Agreement shall be exclusively governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Belize. 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The translated version of the English Terms is a courtesy and office translation only and the Accommodation cannot derive any rights from the translated version. In the event of a dispute about the contents or interpretation of these terms and conditions of this Agreement or in the event of a conflict, ambiguity, inconsistency or discrepancy between the English version and any other language version of these Terms, the English language version shall prevail, apply and be binding and conclusive. The English version shall be used in legal proceedings. 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The Agreement only enters into force and effect upon written confirmation of acceptance and approval of the Accommodation by Excurcion, Inc. By registering and signing up to the Excurcion, Inc. partner program as accommodation partner, the Accommodation agrees, acknowledges and accepts the terms and conditions of this Agreement. The Agreement does not need any stamp or seal to make it valid, binding and enforceable.

2019-04-18T17:19:00Z

https://excurcion.com/Corp/Terms-and-Conditions-Accommodation-Provider

1998-07-29 Assigned to PACESETTER, INC. reassignment PACESETTER, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: SLOMAN, LAURENCE S. An implantable pacemaker automatically verifies atrial capture and performs atrial stimulation energy assessment when atrial capture is absent. The pacemaker delivers a stimulation pulse in the atrial chamber of the heart and samples the resulting far-field signal from the ventricular chamber during a predetermined far-field interval window. The pacemaker then compares the far-field signal sample to a predetermined far-field signal recognition template. If the far-field signal sample is approximately equal to the far-field signal recognition template, then atrial capture is deemed verified; otherwise, the pacemaker performs an atrial stimulation energy determination. Optionally, the pacemaker automatically determines the timing of the far-field interval window and defines the far-field signal recognition template. The present invention relates in general to implantable cardiac stimulation devices, including bradycardia and antitachycardia pacemakers, defibrillators, cardioverters and combinations thereof that are capable of measuring physiological data and parametric data pertaining to implantable medical devices. More particularly, this invention relates to a system and method for automating detection of atrial capture in an implantable cardiac stimulation device using far-field signal detection. Implantable medical devices, such as pacemakers, defibrillators, and cardioverters (collectively referred to herein as implantable cardiac stimulating devices), are designed to monitor and stimulate the heart of a patient that suffers from a cardiac arrhythmia. Using leads connected to a patient's heart, these devices typically stimulate the cardiac muscles by delivering electrical pulses in response to measured cardiac events that are indicative of a cardiac arrhythmia. Properly administered therapeutic electrical pulses often successfully reestablish or maintain the heart's regular rhythm. Implantable cardiac stimulating devices can treat a wide range of cardiac arrhythmias by using a series of adjustable parameters to alter the energy, shape, location, and frequency of the therapeutic pulses. The adjustable parameters are usually defined in a computer program stored in a memory of the implantable device. The program (which is responsible for the operation of he implantable device) can be defined or altered telemetrically by a medical practitioner using an external implantable device programmer. Modern programmable pacemakers, the most commonly used implantable devices, are generally of two types: (1) single-chamber pacemakers, and (2) dual-chamber pacemakers. In a single-chamber pacemaker, the pacemaker provides stimulation pulses to, and senses cardiac activity within, a single-chamber of the heart (e.g., either the right ventricle or the right atrium). In a dual-chamber pacemaker, the pacemaker provides stimulation pulses to, and senses cardiac activity within, two chambers of the heart (e.g. both the right atrium and the right ventricle). The left atrium and left ventricle can also be paced, provided that suitable electrical contacts are effected therewith. In general, both single and dual-chamber pacemakers are classified by type according to a three letter code. In this code, the first letter identifies the chamber of the heart that is paced (i.e., the chamber where a stimulation pulse is delivered)--with a "V" indicating the ventricle, an "A" indicating the atrium, and a "D" (dual) indicating both the atrium and ventricle. The second letter of the code identifies the chamber where cardiac activity is sensed, using the same letters to identify the atrium or ventricle or both, and where an "O" indicates that no sensing takes place. The third letter of the code identifies the action or response that is taken by the pacemaker. In general, three types of action or responses are recognized: (1) an Inhibiting ("I") response, where a stimulation pulse is delivered to the designated chamber after a set period of time unless cardiac activity is sensed during that time, in which case the stimulation pulse is inhibited; (2) a Trigger ("T") response, where a stimulation pulse is delivered to the designated chamber of the heart a prescribed period after a sensed event; or (3) a Dual ("D") response, where both the Inhibiting mode and Trigger mode are evoked, inhibiting in one chamber of the heart and triggering in the other. A fourth letter, "R", is sometimes added to the code to signify that the particular mode identified by the three letter code is rate-responsive, where the pacing rate may be adjusted automatically by the pacemaker based on one or more physiological factors such as blood oxygen level or the patient's activity level. Modern pacemakers also have a great number of adjustable parameters that must be tailored to a particular patient's therapeutic needs. One adjustable parameter of particular importance in pacemakers is the pacemaker's stimulation energy. "Capture" is defined as a cardiac response to a pacemaker stimulation pulse. When a pacemaker stimulation pulse stimulates either a heart atrium or a heart ventricle during an appropriate portion of a cardiac cycle, it is desirable to have the heart properly respond to the stimulus provided. Every patient has a "capture threshold" which is generally defined as the minimum amount of stimulation energy necessary to effect capture. Capture should be achieved at the lowest possible energy setting yet provide enough of a safety margin so that, should a patient's threshold increase, the output of an implantable pacemaker, i.e., the stimulation energy, will still be sufficient to maintain capture. Dual-chamber pacemakers may have differing atrial and ventricular stimulation energy that correspond to atrial and ventricular capture thresholds, respectively. The earliest pacemakers had a predetermined and unchangeable stimulation energy, which proved to be problematic because the capture threshold is not a static value and may be affected by a variety of physiological and other factors. For example, certain cardiac medications may temporarily raise or lower the threshold from its normal value. In another example, fibrous tissue that forms around pacemaker lead heads within several months after implantation may raise the capture threshold. As a result, some patients eventually suffered from loss of capture as their pacemakers were unable to adjust the pre-set stimulation energy to match the changed capture thresholds. One attempted solution was to set the level of stimulation pulses fairly high so as to avoid loss of capture due to a change in the capture threshold. However, this approach resulted in some discomfort to patients who were forced to endure unnecessarily high levels of cardiac stimulation. Furthermore, such stimulation pulses consumed extra battery resources, thus shortening the useful life of the pacemaker. To address this pressing problem, pacemaker manufacturers have developed advanced pacemakers that are capable of determining a patient's capture threshold and automatically adjusting the stimulation pulses to a level just above that which is needed to maintain capture. This approach, called "autocapture", improves the patient's comfort, reduces the necessity of unscheduled visits to the medical practitioner, and greatly increases the pacemaker's battery life by conserving the energy used to generate stimulation pulses. A common technique used to determine whether capture has been effected is monitoring the patient's cardiac activity and searching for the presence of an "evoked response" following a stimulation pulse. The evoked response is the response of the heart to application of a stimulation pulse. The patient's heart activity is typically monitored by the pacemaker by keeping track of the stimulation pulses delivered to the heart and examining, through the leads connected to the heart, electrical signals that are manifest concurrent with depolarization or contraction of muscle tissue (myocardial tissue) of the heart. The contraction of atrial muscle tissue is evidenced by generation of a P-wave, while the contraction of ventricular muscle tissue is evidenced by generation of an R-wave (sometimes referred to as the "QRS" complex). When capture occurs, the evoked response is an intracardiac P-wave or R-wave that indicates contraction of the respective cardiac tissue in response to the applied stimulation pulse. For example, using such an evoked response technique, if a stimulation pulse is applied to the atrium (hereinafter referred to as an A-pulse), any response sensed by atrial sensing circuits of the pacemaker immediately following application of the A-pulse is presumed to be an evoked response that evidences capture of the atria. However, it is for several reasons very difficult to detect a true evoked response. First, because the atrial evoked response is a relatively small signal, it may be obscured by a high energy A-pulse and therefore difficult to detect and identify. Second, the signal sensed by the pacemaker's sensing circuitry immediately following the application of a stimulation pulse may be not an evoked response but noise--either electrical noise caused, for example, by electromagnetic interference, or myocardial noise caused by random myocardial or other muscle contraction. Another signal that interferes with the detection of an evoked response, and potentially the most difficult for which to compensate because it is usually present in varying degrees, is lead polarization. A lead/tissue interface is that point at which an electrode of the pacemaker lead contacts the cardiac tissue. Lead polarization is commonly caused by electrochemical reactions that occur at the lead/tissue interface due to application of an electrical stimulation pulse, such as an A-pulse, across the interface. Unfortunately, because the evoked response is sensed through the same lead electrodes through which the stimulation pulses are delivered, the resulting polarization signal, also referred to herein as an "afterpotential", formed at the electrode can corrupt the evoked response that is sensed by the sensing circuits. This undesirable situation occurs often because the polarization signal can be three or more orders of magnitude greater than the evoked response. Furthermore, the lead polarization signal is not easily characterized; it is a complex function of the lead materials, lead geometry, tissue impedance, stimulation energy and other variables, many of which are continually changing over time. In each of the above cases, the result may be a false positive detection of an evoked response. Such an error leads to a false capture indication, which in turn leads to missed heartbeats--a highly undesirable and potentially life-threatening situation. Another problem results from a failure by the pacemaker to detect an evoked response that has actually occurred. In that case, a loss of capture is indicated when capture is in fact present--also an undesirable situation that will cause the pacemaker to unnecessarily invoke the pacing energy determination function in a chamber of the heart. Automatic pacing energy determination is only invoked by the pacemaker when loss of atrial or ventricular capture is detected. An exemplary prior art automatic atrial pacing energy determination procedure is performed as follows. When loss of atrial capture is detected, the pacemaker increases the A-pulse output level to a relatively high predetermined testing level at which capture is certain to occur, and thereafter decrements the output level until atrial capture is lost. The atrial pacing energy is then set to a level slightly above the lowest output level at which atrial capture was attained. Thus, atrial capture verification is of utmost importance in proper determination of the atrial pacing energy. When an atrial stimulation pulse is properly captured in the atrium, a subsequent ventricular contraction results in an R-wave which may be sensed through an atrial lead, in patients with intact atrioventricular ("AV") conduction, as a "far-field" signal. The far-field R-wave confirms successful atrial capture because the ventricular contraction only occurs after a properly captured atrial stimulation pulse. Previously known pacemakers have ignored this useful phenomenon because previously known single-chamber atrial pacemakers and dual-chamber pacemakers programmed to operate in an atrial mode purposefully do not sense ventricular activity through the atrial lead for a particular period of time (i.e., the "refractory" period) after delivery of the atrial stimulation pulse. Furthermore, the polarization signal formed at the atrial lead electrode may obscure and/or distort the far-field R-wave signal, even if it were sensed. It would thus be desirable to provide a system and method for enabling the pacemaker to automatically and accurately perform atrial capture verification by sensing and identifying a far-field R-wave that occurs only after delivery by the pacemaker of a successfully captured atrial stimulation pulse. It would also be desirable to provide a system and method for reducing the negative effect of polarization and noise on capture verification by automatically isolating such negative effects from the identified far-field R-wave signal. It would further be desirable to enable the pacemaker to perform atrial capture verification without requiring dedicated circuitry and/or special sensors. The disadvantages and limitations discussed above are overcome by the present invention. In accordance with the invention, a system and method are provided for automating verification of proper atrial capture of pacing pulses generated by a patient's implantable cardiac stimulation device by sensing and identifying a far-field ventricular signal resulting from a ventricular contraction that follows a successfully captured atrial stimulation pulse. The system and method of the present invention compensate for effects of polarization and noise on the identified far-field signal and do not require use of special dedicated circuitry or special sensors to implement the automated procedure. All of the aforesaid advantages and features are achieved without incurring any substantial relative disadvantage. The present invention provides an implantable medical device (hereinafter "pacemaker") equipped with cardiac data acquisition capabilities. A preferred embodiment of the pacemaker of the present invention includes a control system for controlling the operation of the pacemaker, a set of leads for receiving atrial and ventricular signals and for delivering atrial and ventricular stimulation pulses, a set of sense amplifiers for sensing and amplifying the atrial and ventricular signals, a sampler, such as an A/D converter, for sampling atrial and/or ventricular signals, and pulse generators for generating the atrial and ventricular stimulation pulses. In addition, the pacemaker includes memory for storing operational parameters for the control system, such as atrial or ventricular signal sampling parameters, and atrial or ventricular signal samples. The pacemaker also includes a telemetry circuit for communicating with an external programmer. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pacemaker control system periodically performs an atrial capture verification test and, when necessary, an atrial pacing threshold assessment test, which performs an assessment of the stimulation energy in the atrial chamber of the patient's heart. The frequency with which these tests are performed are preferably programmable parameters set by the medical practitioner using an external programmer when the patient is examined during an office visit or remotely via a telecommunication link. The appropriate testing frequency parameter will vary from patient to patient and depend on a number of physiologic and other factors. For example, if a patient is on a cardiac medication regimen, the patient's atrial capture threshold may fluctuate, thus requiring relatively frequent testing and adjustment of the atrial stimulation energy. Preferably, the system and method of the present invention are implemented in a pacemaker operating in an atrial mode such as AAI, AOO or AAT. In a first embodiment of the invention, the pacemaker delivers an atrial stimulation pulse and then samples a resulting far-field ventricular signal during a predetermined far-field interval window that is centered at the expiration of a predetermined window delay. The pacemaker then compares the far-field signal sample to a predetermined far-field signal recognition template to verify whether the far-field signal sample morphology corresponds to a far-field R-wave that is expected to follow a successfully captured atrial stimulation pulse. If the far-field signal sample is approximately equal to the far-field signal recognition template, then atrial capture is deemed verified. Otherwise, the pacemaker performs an atrial stimulation energy determination procedure. This embodiment of the invention is preferably implemented in a pacemaker that is equipped with special electrodes and/or circuitry for reducing or eliminating noise and polarization signals that occur after delivery of atrial stimulation pulses. In a second embodiment of the invention, the pacemaker delivers an atrial stimulation pulse, samples a response signal in the atrium, and then samples a resulting far-field ventricular signal during a predetermined far-field interval window that is centered at the expiration of a predetermined window delay. The response sample is then compared to the far-field sample and is compared to a predetermined far-field signal recognition template. If the sample is approximately equal to the far-field signal recognition template, then atrial capture is deemed verified. Otherwise, the pacemaker performs an atrial stimulation energy determination procedure. Preferably, the window delay and the far-field signal recognition template are automatically determined by the pacemaker after initial implantation, and updated at other times as necessary or appropriate, as for example under the direction of the medical practitioner during a follow-up visit. In accordance with the invention, the pacemaker performs an AR conduction test to determine a conduction time and then stores the conduction time in memory. The pacemaker then delivers an atrial stimulation pulse, samples a response signal in the atrium, stores the response sample in memory, then samples a resulting far-field ventricular signal after a delay approximately equal to the conduction time and stores the far-field sample in memory. When a predetermined number of samples and conduction times are thus acquired, the pacemaker averages each set of samples and subtracts the response sample average from the far-field signal sample average to produce a far-field signal recognition template, which is then stored in memory. The pacemaker also averages the conduction times to determine an average window delay, centers the predefined far-field interval window at the average conduction time (window delay) and stores the position of the far-field interval window in memory. Alternately, the window delay and the far-field signal recognition template may be predefined by the medical practitioner and stored in the pacemaker memory along with the far-field interval window. The system and method of the present invention thus automatically verify atrial capture and, when necessary, automatically determine a proper atrial stimulation energy of the patient's pacemaker, without requiring dedicated or special circuitry and/or sensors. The above and further features, advantages and benefits of the invention will become apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings. It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory but are not intended to be restrictive of the invention. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention in general terms. Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the disclosure. FIGS. 4 and 5 is a logic flow diagram of an automatic far-field interval window and far-field signal recognition template determination program executed by the control system of the pacemaker of FIG. 1, in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The system and method of the present invention utilize a pacemaker's normal sensing and control circuitry to perform automatic atrial capture verification and, when necessary, an atrial stimulation energy determination test. The system and method of the present invention are intended for use in a single-chamber atrial pacemaker, or in a dual-chamber pacemaker programmed to operate in a single-chamber atrial pacing mode such as AOO, AAI, or AAT, and implanted in a patient who has intact atrioventricular ("AV") conduction. While the system and method of the invention are described by way of illustrative examples with specific reference to a dual-chamber pacemaker, it will thus be understood that the invention may instead be applied to a single-chamber atrial pacemaker, in which a sensing/pacing lead is connected to the atrial chamber of the heart, without departing from the spirit of the invention. A pacemaker 10 in accordance with the invention is shown in FIG. 1. The pacemaker 10 is coupled to a patient's heart 24 by way of leads 32 and 34, the lead 32 having an electrode 18 which is in contact with one of the atria of the heart 24, and the lead 34 having an electrode 20 which is in contact with one of the ventricles. The lead 32 carries stimulating pulses to the electrode 18 from an atrial pulse generator 16, while the lead 34 carries stimulating pulses to the electrode 20 from a ventricular pulse generator 22. In addition, electrical signals from the atria are carried from the electrode 18, through the lead 32, to the input terminal of an atrial channel amplifier 26. Electrical signals from the ventricles are carried from the electrode 20, through the lead 34 to the input terminal of a ventricular channel amplifier 28. Operatively controlling the dual-chamber pacemaker 10 is a control system 30. The control system 30 is preferably a microprocessor-based system such for example as that disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,052 of Mann, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The control system 30 may also be a state logic-based system such for example as that disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,298 of Sholder, which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The control system 30 includes a real-time clock (not shown) providing timing functionality for monitoring cardiac events and for timing the application of therapeutic pulses by the pulse generators 16 and 24. The control system 30 also includes a sampler 36, such as an A/D converter, for generating digital signals representative of cardiac activity by sampling the atrial and/or ventricular cardiac signals acquired by the respective amplifiers 26 and 28. Alternately, the sampler 36 may be implemented separately from the control system 30 and connected directly to the amplifiers 26 and 28. The pacemaker 10 also includes a memory 14 which is coupled to the control system 30. The memory 14 allows certain control parameters used by the control system 30 in controlling the operation of the pacemaker 10 to be programmably stored and modified, as required, to customize the operation of the pacemaker 10 to suit the needs of a particular patient. In particular, parameters regulating the operation of the sampler 36 are stored in the memory 14. In addition, samples acquired by the sampler 36 may be stored in the memory 14 for later analysis by the control system 30. The control system 30 receives the output signals from the atrial channel amplifier 26. Similarly, the control system 30 also receives the output signals from the ventricular channel amplifier 28. These various output signals are generated each time that an atrial event (e.g. a P-wave) or a ventricular event (e.g. an R-wave) is sensed within the heart 24. The control system 30 also generates an atrial trigger signal that is sent to the atrial pulse generator 16, and a ventricular trigger signal that is sent to the ventricular pulse generator 22. These trigger signals are generated each time that a stimulation pulse is to be generated by one of the pulse generators 16 or 22. The atrial stimulation pulse is referred to simply as the "A-pulse", and the ventricular stimulation pulse is referred to as the "V-pulse". The characteristics of these stimulation pulses are determined by pacing energy settings that are among the parameters stored in the memory 14. The control system 30 may also be programmed to operate the pacemaker 10 in a variety of pacing and sensing modes. Preferably, the control system 30 is programmed to a single-chamber atrial mode such as AOO, AAI, or AAT. A telemetry circuit 12 is further included in the pacemaker 10 and connected to the control system 30. The telemetry circuit 12 may be selectively coupled to an external programmer 100 by means of an appropriate communication link 112, such as an electromagnetic telemetry link or a remote communication link such as a pair of modems interconnected via a telecommunications link and equipped with telemetry capabilities. The operation of the pacemaker 10 is generally controlled by a control program stored in the memory 14 and executed by the control system 30. This control program typically consists of multiple integrated program modules, with each module bearing responsibility for controlling one or more functions of the pacemaker 10. For example, one program module may control the delivery of stimulating pulses to the heart 24, while another may control the verification of atrial capture and atrial pacing energy determination. In effect, each program module is a control program dedicated to a specific function or set of functions of the pacemaker 10. FIG. 2 depicts a logic flow diagram representing a first embodiment of a control program for controlling the atrial capture verification and atrial pacing energy determination procedure executed by the control system 30 in accordance with the present invention. The control program of FIG. 2 is preferably used in a pacemaker that is equipped with special electrodes and/or circuitry for reducing or eliminating noise and polarization signals that occur after delivery of stimulation pulses. Preferably, the control system 30 periodically invokes the control program to perform the capture verification test and, when necessary or appropriate, the atrial pacing energy assessment test in the atrial chamber of the heart 24. The frequency with which these tests are to be performed are preferably programmable parameters set by the medical practitioner using the external programmer 100 when the patient is examined during an office visit or remotely via the communication link 112. The appropriate testing frequency parameter will vary from patient to patient and depend on a number of physiologic and other factors. For example, if a patient is on a cardiac medication regimen, the patient's atrial capture threshold may fluctuate, thus requiring relatively frequent testing and adjustment of the atrial pacing energy. After the atrial capture verification test begins at a step 150, the control system 30 at a step 152 causes the atrial pulse generator 16 to deliver a stimulation pulse to the atrial chamber. Typically, the atrial stimulation pulse triggers a subsequent ventricular contraction resulting in a ventricular R-wave that is sensed by the atrial channel amplifier 26 through the atrial lead 32 as a far-field signal. The lack of a ventricular contraction subsequent to the delivery of the atrial stimulation pulse commonly indicates absence of atrial capture. At a step 154, the control system 30 samples the far-field signal via the sampler 36 during a predefined far-field interval window ("FFI-- WINDOW") . The FFI-- WINDOW is preferably "centered" at the expiration of an expected window delay between the delivery of the atrial stimulation pulse and generation of the far-field signal. For example, if the expected window delay is 20 ms, and the FFI-- WINDOW is defined to be 10 ms, then the FFI-- WINDOW will begin 15 ms after delivery of the atrial stimulation pulse, and will end 10 ms later (i.e., 25 ms after the delivery of the pulse). This expected window delay is approximately equal to AV conduction time. While it is expected that the far-field signal will occur at approximately the expiration of the window delay, it is possible that for a variety of reasons the far-field signal actually occurs shortly before or shortly after the delay. The purpose of the FFI-- WINDOW is thus to provide an opportunity for the control system 30 to sense a far-field signal that does not occur exactly after the expected window delay. A control program module for automatically determining the expected window delay and centering the FFI-- WINDOW at the expected window delay is described below in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5. At a test 156, the control system 30 compares the far-field signal sample obtained at the step 154 with a far-field signal recognition template ("FFS-- TEMPLATE") stored in the memory 14 to determine whether the far-field signal sample is approximately equal to the FFS-- TEMPLATE. The FFS-- TEMPLATE is preferably representative of a morphology of a typical far-field signal that occurs in the patient's heart 24. The FFS-- TEMPLATE may be supplied by the medical practitioner using the programmer 100 or, preferably, may be automatically determined by the control system 30. The control program module described below in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5 demonstrates an advantageous and preferred technique for automatically determining the FFS-- TEMPLATE. If it is determined at the test 156 that the far-field signal sample is approximately equal to the FFS-- TEMPLATE, then at a step 158 atrial capture is deemed to have been verified, and the control program ends at a step 160. If, on the other hand, the far-field signal sample is not approximately equal to the FFS-- TEMPLATE, then at a step 162 the control system 30 performs an atrial pacing energy determination procedure. Various advantageous and appropriate atrial pacing energy determination procedures are well known in the art and will not therefore be described herein. FIG. 3 depicts a logic flow diagram representing a second embodiment of a control program for controlling the atrial capture verification and atrial pacing energy determination procedure executed by the control system 30 in accordance with the present invention. Unlike the control program of FIG. 2, the control program of FIG. 3 may be used in a pacemaker that is not equipped with special electrodes and/or circuitry for reducing or eliminating polarization signals that occur after delivery of stimulation pulses. As with the previously described control program of FIG. 2, the control system 30 periodically invokes the alternative control program of FIG. 3 to perform the capture verification test and, when necessary, the atrial pacing energy assessment test in the atrial chamber of the heart 24. After the atrial capture verification test of FIG. 3 begins at a step 200, the control system 30 at a step 202 causes the atrial pulse generator 16 to deliver a stimulation pulse to the atrial chamber. When delivered, the atrial stimulation pulse triggers a response signal in the atrial chamber that may consist of an evoked response representative of an atrial contraction combined with a polarization signal and other noise. Typically, the atrial stimulation pulse also triggers a subsequent ventricular contraction resulting in a ventricular R-wave that is sensed by the atrial channel amplifier 26 through the atrial lead 32 as a far-field signal. The lack of a ventricular contraction subsequent to the delivery of the atrial stimulation pulse commonly indicates absence of atrial capture. At a step 204, the control system 30 samples the response signal via the sampler 36 and, at a step 206, also samples the far-field signal via the sampler 36 during a predefined FFI-- WINDOW. As was previously described in connection with FIG. 2, the FFI-- WINDOW is preferably "centered" at the expiration of the expected window delay between the delivery of the atrial stimulation pulse and generation of the far-field signal. At a step 208, the control system 30 obtains a far-field signal difference ("FFS-- DIFFERENCE") by subtracting the response sample obtained at the step 204 from the far-field signal sample obtained at the step 206. The FFS-- DIFFERENCE is representative of a true far-field signal without the distorting effects of an overlapping atrial response, such as polarization. At a test 210, the control system 30 compares the FFS-- DIFFERENCE with the FFS-- TEMPLATE stored in the memory 14 to determine whether the true far-field signal sample (as represented by the FFS-- DIFFERENCE) is approximately equal to the FFS-- TEMPLATE. As was previously discussed, the FFS-- TEMPLATE may be supplied by the medical practitioner using the programmer 100 or, preferably, may be automatically determined by the control system 30. The control program module described below in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5 provides an advantageous technique for automatically determining the FFS-- TEMPLATE. If it is determined at the test 210 that the FFS-- DIFFERENCE is approximately equal to the FFS-- TEMPLATE, then at a step 212 atrial capture is deemed to have been verified, and the control program ends at a step 214. If, on the other hand, the FFS-- DIFFERENCE is not approximately equal to the FFS-- TEMPLATE, then at a step 216 the control system 30 performs an atrial pacing energy determination procedure. Various advantageous and appropriate atrial pacing energy determination procedures are well known in the art and will not therefore be described herein. FIGS. 4 and 5 depicts a logic flow diagram representing a preferred embodiment of a control program module for automatically determining the expected delay and the centering of the FFI-- WINDOW at the expected delay, and for automatically determining the FFS-- TEMPLATE. After the control program module begins at a step 300, the control system 30 at a step 302 performs an AV conduction test to determine the expected delay ("CONDUCTION-- TIME") between the delivery of the atrial stimulation pulse and the sensing of the far-field R-wave signal by the atrial channel amplifier 26. As was previously described, the expected delay is equivalent to AV conduction time. Various advantageous and appropriate AV conduction time measurement procedures are well known in the art and will not therefore be described herein. At a step 304, the control system 30 stores the thereby determined CONDUCTION-- TIME in the memory 14. At a step 306, the control system 30 causes the atrial pulse generator 16 to deliver a stimulation pulse to the atrial chamber of the heart 24. When delivered, the atrial stimulation pulse triggers a response signal in the atrial chamber that may consist of an evoked response representative of an atrial contraction combined with a polarization signal. Typically, the atrial stimulation pulse also triggers a subsequent ventricular contraction resulting in a ventricular R-wave that is sensed by the atrial channel amplifier 26 through the atrial lead 32 as a far-field signal. At a step 308, the control system 30 samples the response signal via the sampler 36, and at a step 310 stores the response sample in the memory 14. At a step 312, the control system 30 samples the far-field signal via the sampler 36 after a delay, following the delivery of the atrial stimulation pulse at the step 306, approximately equal to the CONDUCTION-- TIME. At a step 314, the control system 30 stores the far-field signal sample in the memory 14. At a test 316, the control system 30 determines whether a predetermined number (hereinafter "N") of each of the response samples, far-field signal samples, and CONDUCTION-- TIMEs are stored in the memory 14. The parameter N may be selected by the medical practitioner using the programmer 100. In order to increase precision of the FF-- WINDOW positioning and to improve the accuracy of the FFS-- TEMPLATE, N should be set to a sufficient number of samples to accurately classify the conduction time (e.g., three samples or more). If N CONDUCTION-- TIMES and samples of each type have not been stored, then the control system 30 returns from the step 316 to the step 302 to perform the AV conduction test. Thus, the control system 30 repeats the steps 302 through 314 until N CONDUCTION-- TIMEs and N samples of each type have been stored in the memory 14. When N CONDUCTION-- TIMEs and N samples of each type have been stored, at a step 318 the control system 30 determines a FFS-- AVERAGE representative of an average far-field signal sample by averaging all of the stored far-field signal samples, and optionally stores the FFS-- AVERAGE in the memory 14. At a step 320, the control system 30 similarly determines an R-- AVERAGE representative of an average response sample by averaging all of the stored response samples, and optionally stores the calculated R-- AVERAGE in the memory 14. At a step 322, the control system 30 determines the FFS-- TEMPLATE representative of a true far-field signal by subtracting R-- AVERAGE from FFS-- AVERAGE. Because FFS-- AVERAGE represents the average far-field signal whereas the raw detected far-field signal may be mixed with the response signal, subtracting the R-- AVERAGE (representative of just the response signal including polarization and other noise) from the FFS-- AVERAGE results in a representation of the true far-field signal. At a step 324, the FFS-- TEMPLATE is stored in the memory 14, so that it is available for future identification of a far-field signal during atrial capture verification as described above in connection with FIGS. 2-3. At a step 326, the control system 30 determines an average expected delay value CT-- AVERAGE by averaging all CONDUCTION-- TIMEs stored in the memory 14 and, at a step 328, centers the predefined FF-- WINDOW at the CT-- AVERAGE. At a step 330, the control system 30 stores the FF-- WINDOW position to increase the capability of the atrial channel amplifier 26 to sense far-field signals that occur before or after the expected delay, and then ends the control program module at a step 332. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be practiced by other than the described embodiments, which are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and that the present invention is limited only by the claims that follow. (ii) when the far-field signal sample is not approximately equal to the predetermined far-field signal recognition template, the first control means generates a second signal indicative of absence of atrial capture. 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising sensing means, connected to the lead and to the first sampling means, for sensing the produced far-field signal through the lead. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the far-field interval window is sized so as to be of sufficient duration to accommodate sampling of the produced far-field signal when the subsequent ventricular contraction occurs within a predetermined period after the stimulation pulse is generated. (iii) defining a time interval defining the far-field interval window having a predetermined duration and positioning the far-field interval window so that the time interval is substantially centered at a time delay measured from the generation of the stimulation pulse, the delay being approximately equal to the average AV conduction time value. (iv) determining the far-field signal recognition template by comparing the average response from the average far-field signal. 6. The system of claim 1, further comprising: pacing energy determination means responsive to the first control means for determining, when the first control means generates the second signal, an atrial pacing energy in the atrial chamber. (iv) determining a far-field signal recognition template by comparing the average response from the average far-field signal. 8. The system of claim 7, further comprising sensing means, connected to the lead and to the first sampling means, for sensing the produced far-field signal through the lead. (ii) when the far-field signal sample is not approximately equal to the predetermined far-field signal recognition template, the controller generates a second signal indicative of absence of atrial capture. 10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a sensor, operatively connected to the lead and to the first signal sampler, that senses the produced far-field signal through the lead. 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the far-field interval window is sized so as to be of sufficient duration to accommodate sampling of the produced far-field signal when the subsequent ventricular contraction occurs within a predetermined period after the stimulation pulse is generated. 12. The system of claim 9, further comprising stimulation energy determination circuitry operatively connected to the controller that determines, when the controller generates the second signal, an atrial stimulation energy in the atrial chamber. (iii) define a time interval defining the far-field interval window having a predetermined duration and positioning the far-field interval window so that the time interval is substantially centered at a time delay measured from the generation of the stimulation pulse, the delay being approximately equal to the average AV conduction time value. (iv) determine the far-field signal recognition template by comparing the average response from the average far-field signal. (iv) determines the far-field signal recognition template by comparing the average response from the average far-field signal. 16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a sensor, connected to the lead and to the signal sampler, for sensing the produced far-field signal through the lead. (2) when the far-field signal sample is not approximately equal to the predetermined far-field signal recognition template, generating a second signal indicative of absence of atrial capture. 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising a step following step (a) of sensing the produced far-field signal by a sensor and through the lead. 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the far-field interval window is sized so as to be of sufficient duration to accommodate sampling of the produced far-field signal when the subsequent ventricular contraction occurs within a predetermined period after step (a). 20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of, when the second signal is generated at step (c), determining, by stimulation energy determination circuitry, an atrial stimulation energy. (h) determining, by the controller, a time interval defining the far-field interval window having a duration and positioning the far-field interval window so that the time interval is substantially centered at a time delay measured from the generation of the stimulation pulse at step (a), the delay being approximately equal to the average AV conduction time value. (p) determining, by the controller, the far-field signal recognition template by subtracting the average response from the average far-field signal. (h) determining, by the controller, the far-field signal recognition template by subtracting the average response from the average far-field signal. 24. The method of claim 23, further comprising a step of sensing after step (a), by a sensor and through the lead, the produced far-field signal. (ii) when the far-field signal sample is not approximately equal to the far-field signal recognition template, the controller generates a second signal indicative of absence of atrial capture. 26. The system of claim 25 further comprising a sensor, operatively connected to the lead and to the first signal sampler, that senses the produced far-field signal through the lead. 27. The system of claim 25 wherein the predetermined far-field interval window is sized so as to be of sufficient duration to accommodate sampling of the produced far-field signal when the subsequent ventricular contraction occurs within a predetermined period after the stimulation pulse is generated. 28. The system of claim 25 further comprising stimulation energy determination circuitry operatively connected to the controller that determines, when the controller generates the second signal, an atrial stimulation energy in the atrial chamber. Brandt, et al; Far-Field ORS Complex Sensing Via the Atrail Pacemaker Lead. I. Mechanism, Consequences, Differential Diagnoisis and Countermeasures in AAI and VVD/DDD Pacing; pp 1432-14738; Pace vol. 11. Oct. 1988. Levine, et al; Assessment of Atrial Capture in Committed Atrioventricular Sequential (DVI) Pacing Systems; pp 616-623; Pace vol. 6, May-Jun. 19983, Part 1. Levine, et al; Confirmation of Atrial Capture and Determination of Atrial Capture Thresholds in DDD Pacing Systems; pp 465-473; Clin. Prog. Pacing and Electrophysiol. 1984, vol. 2, No. 5. Levine; Guidelines to the Routine Evaluation and Follow-Up of the Implanted Pacing System; pp 19; Siemens Pacesetter; Jan. 1993.

2019-04-25T15:29:18Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US6101416A/en

Detailed coastal overviews are intended to be read alongside local area charts so that the key considerations may be noted and pencilled in well in advance. The intention is not only to make passages safer, by highlighting coastal dangers, but also to make them more enjoyable by unveiling all the Havens along the way so that the occasional coastal gem might not be overlooked. This is the primary coastal overview for vessels between the North Sea and the English Channel or vice versa, and the directions to visit the many havens along this sailing area. Today's summary tidal overview for this route as of Sunday, April 21st at 02:01. These are the tidal streams between South Foreland and Deal where the east-going stream becomes north-going and the west-going stream becomes south-going. The streams set strongly along the coast attaining a Spring rate of 2¼ knots. In the Channel, the east-northeast tidal streams off the head of Folkestone Mole turns 10 minutes earlier (HW Dover -0155) and the west-southwest going stream begins 1 hour earlier (HW Dover +0320). Sailing along the southeast coast of England has a wide range of delights and challenges. Home to the unofficial confederation of defensive coastal settlements called Cinque Ports this coastline's maritime history runs deep, but today the Cinque Ports are mostly the domain of those that can take to the mud. For deeper draft vessels there are also several places to visit such as the cosmopolitan city of Brighton, Dover with its tunnels and historical castle, and some of Britain’s most notable natural landmarks which are best seen from seaward, such as Beachy Head and the White Cliffs of Dover. Tidal planning for this length of the coast is key as the streams are particularly unusual in favouring an eastbound passage whilst being disadvantageous for those westbound. The reason for this is that an eastern Channel tide and that of the North Sea always run in opposite courses, meeting and separating in the Strait of Dover. This means that the Strait of Dover never has slack water at any time as in the strait the stream obeys first one and then the other of these tides. Likewise, the constriction of the straits cause streams to attain the maximum rates of up to 4 knots here whereas elsewhere the streams only run strong off headlands but in open water they rarely exceed 2 to 2¼kn. Outside of the straits, the limits of these two streams range to and fro as the tide rises and falls at Dover, travelling to the eastward on both tides, and at high and low water suddenly shifting sixty miles to the westward, to recommence their easterly courses with the next tide. The meeting and separation oscillate between Beachy Head and North Foreland, a distance of about sixty miles. When the water on the shore at Dover begins to fall, a separation of the streams begins off Beachy Head. As the fall continues, this line creeps to the eastward. At two hours after high water, it has reached Hastings; at three hours Rye; and thus it travels on until at four hours, by the shore, it has arrived nearly at North Foreland. East of Dungeness and as far as South Foreland there is little change in the times at which the streams change. The to and froing of the tide is highly advantageous for an eastbound vessel. Fast vessels that can maintain a mean speed over the ground of 7kn can make a passage from Selsey Bill to Dover with a fair tide almost all the way. To do this, a vessel should transit The Looe at slack water just when the east going stream commences at Portsmouth +0430 or High Water Dover +0500. From this point onward the run of just under 90 miles to Dover is supported with 11 hours of a favourable tidal stream. Unfortunately, the same system serves to disadvantage westbound vessels where a fair tide passage requires a stop somewhere in the vicinity of Beachy Head. Another unusual aspect of this coastline is the density of commercial shipping encountered, as the strait is the busiest international seaway in the world. Used by over 400 commercial vessels daily, traffic safety is a critical issue, with HM Coastguard and the Maritime Gendarmerie maintaining a 24-hour watch over the strait and enforcing a strict regime of shipping lanes. Coastal cruisers should be watchful of the limits of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) as the southwest-bound TSS lane from the Dover Strait is only 4¼ miles off the entrance to Dover Harbour and as little as 3½ miles off Dungeness. A watchful eye should also be maintained along the coast for fast ferries, traversing back and forth to France, inshore fishing vessels, and lobster pots. The coast either side of the Thames Estuary is low. North Foreland forms the southern entrance point and the seafront of the northeast side of the Isle of Thanet. Its promontory of nearly perpendicular chalk cliffs, which vary from about 20 to 37 metres in height, is usually the first point of land seen when approaching Dover Strait from the northeast. The coast, to Ramsgate Harbour, is characterised by chalk cliffs, but none as high as those in the vicinity of North Foreland. North Foreland can be identified by an octagonal white light tower, 26 metres high, which stands on rising ground about 300 metres within the edge of the cliff and behind buildings overlooking the sea. It exhibits a light Fl (5) WR 20s at 57 metres above mean high water that is visible in clear weather from a distance of 19 miles. A conspicuous radio mast stands close northward of the lighthouse. Vessels should stand well off North Foreland in strong easterly winds, because confused seas build up inshore. A ½ mile northward of the lighthouse is Kingsgate Castle, a building of flint standing close to the cliff edge on the south point of Kingsgate Bay. A very conspicuous building stands 1½ miles west by northwest of the light and, when viewed from the north, is the highest landmark in this area. The cliffy coast in the vicinity of North Foreland is fringed by rocky ledges, which extend up to about 400 metres offshore and is best given a berth of a ½ mile. The Elbow is a sandy ridge that forms the northeast extremity of the shoal bank extending seaward from North Foreland. It is marked by the ‘Elbow’ north cardinal marker, Q, moored about 3 miles east by northeast of the lighthouse. The bank is however deep and presents little concern to leisure craft in normal conditions. A mile southward of North Foreland and two miles northeast of Ramsgate lies Broadstairs, a coastal town that is one of Thanet's primary seaside resorts and is known as the ‘jewel in Thanet's crown’. The seaside town is fronted by a drying boat harbour, formed by a pier extending from the northern side of the cove that exhibits a light 2F.R (vert)7m4M. The approach lies close south of its head, and it is completely exposed to a sea driven in by easterly winds. It has 4.5 metres at the pier end at high water springs, and 3 metres at neaps but the harbour dries out at low tide. Broadstairs HM 861879. Offshore the Broadstairs Knolls, with a least charted depth of 3.2 metres, are the outermost shoal patches on the flats that front the coast between Ramsgate and North Foreland. They extend up to about 1½ miles seaward and are marked by a lighted ‘Broadstairs Knoll’ port buoy, Fl. R.2.5s, moored 1.8 miles east by southeast of Broadstairs. These should not pose any concern for leisure craft in normal conditions. Outfall pipelines extend up to a mile east-northeast from Foreness Point in the vicinity of North Foreland. Numerous submarine cables, some disused, extend seaward from the coast in the vicinity of the lighthouse and may best be seen on the chart. Ramsgate is an artificial harbour that consists of a vast outer harbour area formed by substantial breakwaters, East Pier and North Breakwater projecting into the sea. Within these enclosing arms there is an inner harbour or basin divided from the outer harbour by stone walls, and on the western pierhead, there is a notable pretty granite lighthouse, F.R.12m7M. The harbour contains the Western Marine Terminal the cross-channel ferry harbour, Royal Harbour the old commercial port, and the Inner Harbour. The inner harbour is now entirely occupied by a marina that is accessed approximately ± 2 hours of high water. In the outer harbour, there are two further marinas accessible 24 hours. The recommended crossing track is at right angles to the channel on the west side of the approach channel's No.3 and 4 buoys. The shoreline lowers south of Ramsgate, turns abruptly west for 2 miles and is bordered by a beach of shingle mixed with sand. Pegwell Bay, lying 1½ miles west by southwest of Ramsgate, is fronted by a drying coastal bank, which extends up to about 2½ miles seaward. The bay shelves gradually to provide a serviceable anchorage as the fetch from the west is too great when the flats cover at high water. Inshore the River Stour runs into this bay through drying flats of mud and sand. The historic city of Canterbury is situated on the river, as are the former Cinque Ports of Sandwich and the railway town of Ashford. The three conspicuous cooling towers, with an elevation of 135 metres, of the disused Richborough Power Station stand prominently about 0.8 miles west-southwest of the river mouth, and 3 miles west-southwest of Ramsgate. A drying channel, marked by buoys and beacons, leads through the coastal bank to the river mouth. Richborough Port, with a drying wharf, lies close inside the river mouth. Sandwich Haven, used by pleasure craft, is located about 3 miles above Richborough Port. Commercial shipping does not use the river today. A coastal fairway lies across the front of Pegwell Bay, between Ramsgate and the Small Downs, called the Ramsgate Channel. The Ramsgate Channel is situated about a mile off the shoreline and to the west of the drying sandbanks of Brake and Cross Ledge. It has about 3 metres of water on it for a distance of about 4 miles and is marked by three fairway buoys. From Ramsgate Roads, the first marker is the ‘West Quern’ west cardinal, Q(9)15s, located ½ a mile southward of Ramsgate’s breakwater. The ‘B2’ starboard mark, Fl(2)G.5s, located 1¼ miles southeast of Pegwell Bay, is the next mark and this then leads on to the port ‘Downs’ buoy, Fl(2)R.5s, at the southern end that also marks the Gull Stream. Vessels using this channel should pass all the buoys on their western sides. The small town of Deal is situated 6 miles south of Ramsgate. It extends along the shore for about 1½ miles and is marked by the ruins of Sandown Castle to the north, and Walmer Castle, surmounted by a flagstaff, standing close to its south end, which was a possible location for Julius Caesar's first arrival in Britain. The town is fronted by Deal Castle, a hospital, and a barracks, which are all prominent. A T-headed pier, alongside which berthing is prohibited, extends seaward from the shore about 0.2 miles north of the castle. A red light, 2F.R(vert)7m2M, is exhibited from the outer end of the pier. Vessels intending on anchoring in the vicinity of the pier should take note of the position of a wreck located in 4.4 metres and ⅓ of a mile northeast of Deal Pier. Formerly a 'limb port' of the Cinque Ports, a fishing, mining and garrison town, in 1278 Deal was the busiest port in England. This was because of The Downs area of sea, that lies immediately between the town and the Goodwin Sands, and which was a very important anchorage for merchant shipping during the age of sail. Ships would lie at anchor, sometimes for weeks, sheltered from the East by Goodwins and from the North by the mainland between the North and South Forelands, as they waited for a favourable wind to carry them down the English Channel to the West. The Small Downs, a mile to the north of Deal Pier and off Sandown Castle, offers a good anchorage today with shelter from the south-southwest through west to the north with good holding and moderate stream. South of Deal the coast begins to rise close south of Walmar Castle where it presents chalk cliffs to Dover. South Foreland is a bold headland faced with irregular chalk cliffs having layers of flint, in horizontal lines. A conspicuous disused white light tower, 21 metres high, stands on the summit of this headland. On its summit are two lighthouses 400 metres apart, an old lighthouse and the disused and prominent South Foreland Lighthouse. A white windmill, prominent in strong sunlight, stands 0.2 miles northeast of the disused light tower. The conspicuous Dover Patrol Memorial stone monument stands on high ground above the cliffs about 1.2 miles to the northeast of the disused light tower. Saint Margaret’s Bay, with a beacon standing at the head, lies about midway between the memorial and the lighthouses. At South Foreland the coast trends to the southwest for 1½ miles to Dover. The extensive harbour of Dover is easily identified by its breakwaters and Dover Castle surmounting the cliffs above. The harbour is enclosed by Admiralty Pier, Southern Breakwater, and Eastern Arm, which together form the west and east entrances to the port. The port is primarily used as a cross-channel terminal for ro-ro ferries but also has a very good marina. It is also possible to anchor in the outer harbour provided direct permission is obtained from Port Control, and the vessel is well clear of the extensive seasonal swim zone along the north shore in the vicinity of the Price of Whales Pier. The anchorage is exposed to winds from northeast through south to southeast. Dover Marina comprises a tidal Harbour and two non-tidal basins, Granville Dock and Wellington Dock. Vessels passing Dover should stand a mile off the entrances as the many ferries leave at speed and there can be considerable backwash. It is advisable to make your intentions known to Dover Port Control on VHF Ch. 74 before passing the harbour entrances. The primary off-lying danger along this coast is the legendary Goodwin Sands. This is a 10 mile long shifting mass of drying sandbanks, which is 5 miles wide from west to east at its widest part. It extends up to about 7 miles offshore between North Foreland and South Foreland. The area surrounding the sands is littered with the wrecks of numerous vessels, including the South Goodwin Light vessel that came upon them in 1954. Some of these wrecks are visible depending on the state of the tide. The extent of their danger has been reduced by the bank's limits being marked by an excellent suite of buoys in combination with the ‘East Goodwin’ light vessel. Large patches of the Goodwin Sands dry at low water and some areas dry up to 3 metres offering fine expanses of firm ground. Particularly so along their eastern and northern edges, that are relatively steep-to and remain uncovered for some time. When covered, the sands are in motion and are carried by the prevailing tides, which at times considerably alter the form of the shoal, though its general outline, best seen on a chart, does not greatly change. Except for The Downs, where an area of deeper water exists, all the deep water lies to the east of Goodwin Sands. The sands are divided into two divisions, each tapering to the southward. The northern division named the Goodwin Knoll is an irregular semi-circular shape, the northern or outer edge forming the curve, and the southern the base. That portion of the southern division which lies to the east is named the South Goodwin and South Calliper, and that to the west is named the Bunt and Fork. The northern part of each division is dry in many places up to 0.5 metres above low water. The bank's principal seamarks are the ‘East Goodwin’ light vessel, Fl. 15s,12m15M with a red hull, moored about 7.5 miles east of Deal, and the ‘NE Goodwin’ east cardinal marker moored about 5½ miles east of Ramsgate. Between the South Goodwin and the Fork is the deep inlet named Trinity Bay, from which there is a passage bordered by drying patches, called Kellet Gut, that leads 4.5 miles north-eastward between Trinity Bay and Goodwin Knoll. This deep and ½ mile wide channel is unmarked and subject to frequent changes. It should only be used by leisure vessels with the benefit of local knowledge because it is not regularly surveyed and is liable to change. The flood current sets north-eastward out of Kellett Gut while the ebb current sets into it. The north-eastward current is dangerous within Kellet Gut because it sets a vessel toward the sands near the time of high water. The well-marked Gull Stream leads north-eastward from The Downs, inside Goodwin Sands and outside Brake Sands to the South of Ramsgate and onward to the North Sea or the Thames Estuary. The inshore route has the least depth of 5.8 metres, close west of ‘Goodwin Fork’ south cardinal marker buoy, Q(6) +LFl.15s, at its southern entrance. For the remainder of the channel, the minimum depth is about 8 metres. This fairway frequently changes and its navigational aids, best seen on a chart, are often moved without prior notice. A watchful eye should be kept to the tides in this area, especially near high water. The tidal currents run strongly along the coast between South Foreland and Deal. East of Goodwin Sands the flood current sometimes sets north-westward with considerable velocity. Care is required south of South Sand Head where the flood current sets toward and across the southern portion of the Goodwind Sands, from about 1 hour before to about 3 hours after HW at Dover. In the bay, formed between Deal and Ramsgate, the currents are weak, mostly rotary clockwise, although the degree of rotation varies over the area. 8 miles south of Dover, and in the Traffic Separation Scheme is The Varne shoal that is 7 miles long, less than 400 metres wide, steep-to, and has a least depth of 2 metres. There are strong ripples over The Varne both at springs and neaps, and during tempestuous weather a heavy sea, which would endanger any vessel attempting to cross it. Lying almost in the middle of the international Traffic Separation Scheme of the English Channel, the bank is also a constant concern for shipping. It is marked by five cardinals and the ‘Varne’ Lanby, Fl.R. 5s12m15M. The coastal route from Dover to Dungeness is 18 miles leading in a south-westerly direction. The track passes through an Inshore Traffic Zone close north of the Dover Strait Traffic Separation Scheme. The coast between Dover and Folkestone, 5 miles southwest, is formed mostly by chalk cliffs of which Shakespeare cliff is the first chalk cliff westward of Dover. Situated about a mile southwest of Dover, it stands 103 metres high, and when seen from the east presents a conical appearance; but when seen from the south there is nothing remarkable in its features. Abbot’s Cliff, standing 2½ miles southwest of Dover, is also prominent. A conspicuous radio mast, with an elevation of 382 metres, is situated near Hougham, about 0.7 miles north of Abbot’s Cliff. East Wear Bay lies between Abbot’s Cliff and Copt Point, 2 miles southwest. Copt Point, with a conspicuous Martello Tower standing above it, is located 4½ miles southwest of Dover and is the first cliff eastward of Folkestone. Copt Rocks, formed by drying ledges of sandstone, front the point and extend up to a ⅓ of a mile eastward into the bay. The ledge uncovers to almost 2 metres at low-water springs. The Mole Head Rocks are a continuation westward of the Copt Rocks, to the vicinity of the entrance to Folkestone. They uncover at 1.1 metres. A submarine outfall extends south of the ledge and is marked, close southeast by a port light buoy, Fl. R.5s. The shore of the bay is flat and covered with large stones, which complicates landing at low water. There is good holding ground in East Wear Bay from the west, by Copt Point and Copt Rocks, and around through north. This makes it serviceable as a temporary anchorage for vessels waiting for the tide. Between this bay and Shakespeare Cliff, there is no good anchorage off the coast, as the water is deep and the ground foul. Yacht racing marker buoys are moored during the season (April to November) about 0.6 miles west-southwest of Abbot’s Cliff. Numerous wrecks, which may best be seen on the chart, lie offshore between Dover and Folkestone. Several submarine cables, which again may best be seen on the chart, extend seaward from the vicinity of Copt Point. The port town of Folkestone lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between the two cliffs of Sandgate and Copt Point, 13 miles northeast of Dungeness and 5 miles westward of the Port of Dover. Folkestone was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20th centuries when it was a terminal for cross-channel ferries, including high-speed craft. The harbour's use has diminished since the opening of the nearby Channel Tunnel and the cessation of local ferry services, but it remains in active use. It is now used mainly by small fishing vessels and recreational craft. The harbour area is divided into two parts, named outer and inner harbours, by the railway which crosses it over a swinging bridge. A ¼ of a mile long pier runs out in a south-east direction from the extremity of the horn to shelter the entrance from westerly gales. At the head of the breakwater stands the 13 metres high elegant granite Folkestone Breakwater Light, Fl(2)10s.14m22M. The harbour’s entrance dries at low-water springs, but the breakwater has depths of up to 5 metres on its outer end. All this part of the coast to Mill Point, situated ¾ of a mile eastward, is bordered by a series of rocky ledges that extend from 200 to 600 metres from the shore. Those off Mill Point and abreast Folkestone church cover at 0.5 metres flood, when they are dangerous to vessels hugging the coast, as it is not easy to estimate the correct distance from the shore. South Foreland high lighthouse open of Shakespeare cliff, clears all these rocks. Near Folkestone, where the interior hills join the coast, it is cliffy. After this, the coast between Folkestone and Dungeness, 13 miles southwest, forms a bay of which the shore is low and flat. Sandgate is situated about 2½ miles west of Folkestone. Sandgate Roads provides a sheltered anchorage in offshore winds with good holding ground, mud and clay. Two conspicuous green domes, surmounting hotels, are situated about a mile west of Folkestone and about a mile to the east of Sandgate. Hythe is situated about 2 miles west of Sandgate. It is fronted by Hythe Flat a shallow bank extending from the shore between Dymchurch and Sandgate. Depths of 2 metres are available about a ½ mile off Hythe, and a mile off Dymchurch. An outfall sewer pipeline extends 1½ miles south by southeast across the flats from Hythe. A conspicuous radio tower, with an elevation of 268 metres, stands on the North Downs Tolsford Hill, about 2 miles north of the town of Hythe. To the southwest of Hythe, the shore is low and flat with only embankments to hold the marshland in place. Dymchurch is situated 4 miles southwest of Hythe and 7 miles north of Dungeness. Dymchurch Wall, an embankment protecting the pasturage of Romney Marsh, extends along the coast and terminates in Dymchurch Redoubt, 2 miles northeast. A rifle range, with a danger area extending 2 miles seaward, is situated close southwest of Hythe. When firing is taking place, red flags are displayed by day and red lights are exhibited at night between Dymchurch Redoubt and Hythe. Range safety craft also patrol the area. Six prominent Martello Towers stand along the shore between Dymchurch and Hythe. A conspicuous red brick tower is situated at Littlestone-on-Sea, 2½ miles south-southwest of Dymchurch. East of New Romney deep draft vessels should note the Roar Bank. It is a ridge of sand with depths of 2.7 metres, runs nearly parallel with and about 1½ miles off the shore and 2 miles north of Swallow Bank. Otherwise, there are no off-lying dangers apart from Hythe firing range. The dark grey Dungeness water tower stands a mile inland at Lydd-on-Sea and 2 miles north of Dungeness. When approaching from the east it, it is important not to confuse the water tower with either of the two light towers at Dungeness. Dungeness is an enormous flat of sand and shingle which has been a hazard to shipping for hundreds of years. It is the southeast extremity of a large area of marsh, and is a very low point. It is steep-to on the southeast side but fronted elsewhere by a shingle beach which is progressively advancing seaward. Dungeness Light is shown from a conspicuous slender tower, 43 metres high, standing on the point, Fl 10s and visible for 21 miles. This tower, white with black bands, is floodlit at night. The prominent black Dungeness Old Lighthouse is situated a ⅓ of a mile west of the light. Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, with several prominent buildings, stands ½ mile west of the light and is marked by red lights at night. The roads on either side of Dungeness afford an excellent and extensive anchorage, according to the state of the wind, with good holding ground, consisting of fine sand over clay and mud. In north-easterlies Dungeness’s West Road provides a good anchorage 1.3 miles west of the lighthouse, off the Lydd Range (see below) danger area and out of the stream, but it can be subject to an uncomfortable scend from east winds. The East Road, or more appropriately Swallow Bank, provides a good anchorage sheltered from southwest through west to north, east of the old Victorian water tower at Littlestone-on-Sea. Rye Bay lies open to the south between Dungeness and Fairlight, 12 miles west. It has low marshy shores which are marked on the east side by several concrete observation towers. Some banks, including Boulder Banks, Tower Knoll, and Fairlight Knoll, lie in the west part of the bay on which the sea builds in bad weather. Fishing nets, marked by small buoys, may be encountered within Rye Bay. With northerly winds it is possible to anchor in Rye Bay slightly over a mile northward of the lighted ‘Rye Fairway’ buoy, LFl.10s, moored about 2 miles south-southeast of the harbour entrance. The Ministry of Defence operates the Lydd Firing Range to the east of Rye Harbour and in the area that extends 3 miles along the coast to Dungeness. The prohibited/danger area extends to seaward, varying in distance from 1½ miles to 2½ nautical miles, and mariners sailing to and from Rye Harbour must pass south of the Stephenson Shoal to avoid it. The area has been used for military training for over 150 years and firing occurs about 300 days a year. A low square building with a radar scanner, just seaward of several white houses, marks the western extremity of the range. When firing is taking place, red flags are displayed by day, and red lights are exhibited at night from two observation towers. Range safety craft also patrol the area when firing is taking place. The patrol boats give advice to mariners on VHF channel 73 or 13. Firing times can be obtained from the Rye Harbour Master’s office, +44 1797 225225. Rye Harbour is formed in the channel of the River Rother, at the point where it enters the sea after receiving the waters of the Tillingham and Brede, two small rivers which unite with it near the town of Rye. The town stands about 1½ miles northwest of the river mouth, near the head of the bay. It is built on sandstone rock and rises above the surrounding marshes. The Port and its approaches, that shoal out to a ½ mile from the entrance, dry. The town is one of the oldest ports in England, which declined due to siltation but has since revived. The entrance, which lies between two training walls, has a sandbar close to the heads of the piers that dries to 1.4 CD. But the large tidal ranges experienced here provide ample depth for leisure boats to pass over the bar with up to 4.7 metres of water. The No. 2 Light Beacon lies off the western training wall exhibits a light, Fl.R. 5s 7m 6M, and the No. 2 starboard beacon within has a tide gauge. The land on either side of the river mouth is flat with no landmarks. The main commercial quay, 180 metres long, is situated a mile above the entrance. Vessels take to the muddy ground at Low Water. Because it is difficult to enter and dries, the harbour is mostly used by pleasure craft that can take to the mud. Fairlight, 5½ miles west-southwest, marks the western extremity of Rye Bay. Fairlight Down, located about 1½ miles west of the village of Fairlight, is the highest land in the area and is often the first landfall made by vessels crossing the channel. To its east, the ground falls gradually in undulating fields and wooded hillocks to Rye. It may always be identified by a square stone tower built near the summit of green pasture land at an elevation of 172 metres, the tower of the nearby Fairlight Church, and the face of the grey sandstone cliff. About 3 miles westward of Fairlight and standing on the high ground is the town of Hastings, and the town of St. Leonards located close west. The two resort towns are separated by a prominent valley with buildings on each side. Hastings is fronted by a pier that exhibits a light at its head Fl.R.2.5s5m4M. St. Leonards is the continuation of Hastings in a westerly direction and consists of well-built terraces with a prominent hotel fronting the town. The coast extending close east of the town is composed of steep yellow-brown cliffs broken by grassy slopes. It is possible to anchor off Hastings during very settled weather. The best berth lies in sand and mud south of the pier. The landing stages at the pierhead may be used to land, and there are steps on the east side near the pierhead. A dangerous wreck, whose position is approximate, lies 500 metres southeast of the pierhead. Between Hastings and Beachy Head, the foreshore is composed of coarse shingle studded here and there with small rocky heads, particularly in the vicinity of Hastings and Cliffs End Point. Hastings Shoal lying about 0.8 miles south of the town, and Four Fathoms Sand Ridge lying 4 miles south of the town, are deep, but the sea builds in bad weather. The coast west of St. Leonards rises gradually to form two whaleback-shaped sandy cliffs, the second of which and the nearest cliff to the east of Bexhill is called Galley Hill. Between these hills, an outfall pipeline, marked at its outer extremity by a lighted buoy, extends about 1.7 miles from the shore. Along the coast approaching Pevensey Bay, there are drying rocky ledges or shoals extending ½ a mile offshore in places. Directly north of the outfall marker buoy are the Bopeep Rocks off St. Leopards. Several rocks rising to 0.5 metres above water lie offshore of Galley Hill. A little westward of these, at a ⅓ of a mile offshore, are several rocks awash, named Bexhill Reef, having 0.6 metres of water CD between them and the shore. To the westward of Galley Hill, and two miles westward of Bexhill Reef and off Cooden, at a ⅓ of a mile from the shore, is a reef named the Oyster that dries in several spots at low tide. Bexhill stands on the first rising ground westward of St. Leonards, 4½ miles west by southwest of Hastings. It is made conspicuous, from seaward, by having numerous red brick houses. The old town, surrounded by trees, stands on a hill, about a ½ mile inland. Pevensey Bay is a slight indentation in the coast extending between Bexhill and a low projection, marked by a light, known as Langney Point. The shore of this bay is mostly flat and desolate, except for a line of Martello blockhouse towers standing along the west side. It is best not to anchor here as the wind tends to back south in bad weather and the sea rises rapidly, and the completely protected Sovereign Harbour, available 24x7x365, provides a much better option. Sovereign Harbour is a modern, large-scale artificial development situated at the southwest end of Pevensey Bay and close north of Langney Point. It has a tidal Outer Harbour that is protected by two breakwaters, each about 250 metres long. Within this are four inner basins reached through either of two locks that offers a well-protected marina with at least 2 metres of water. However, with the wind to the north of west by southwest, a settled weather anchorage is available over sand and mud outside the entrance. The coast from Pevensey towards Beachy Head trends southwards and the land here is little above the level of the sea. An outfall pipeline extends about 1.8 miles south-southeast from the vicinity of Langney Point. A prominent gas storage tank stands about a mile west of Langney Point. Further inland, 5 miles north of Langney Point, the conspicuous dome of the Isaac Newton telescope (observatory) is visible at Herstmonceux. A conspicuous building, 81 metres high, is situated near the shore at the south end of Eastbourne, 2.7 miles off Langney Point. The resort town of Eastbourne extends about 3 miles southwest from close west of Langney Point to within 1½ miles of Beachy Head. It is fronted by promenades, large buildings, and hotels. A pier, 295 metres long, extends seaward from the town exhibiting a light 2F.R.(vert). An anchorage, sheltered from winds from west through north to northeast, may be found, in good holding ground of sand and mud, to the east of the pier. Stay clear of a dangerous wreck ½ a mile southeast of Eastbourne Pier. South of the pier is foul and dries and includes Boulder Bank, near Wish Tower on the shoreline, which dries to 0.2 metres. The primary off-lying danger in this area is the Royal Sovereign Shoals that acquired its name from H.M. Ship of that name that grounded on it in 1756. These are some rocky banks lying directly in the track of vessels proceeding between Beachy Head and Dungeness. Composed of rocky patches of sandstone the group has a least depth of 3.5 metres that lie centred, about 7 miles east of Beachy Head and directly in the path of vessels heading for Dungeness. Strong eddies develop over these shoals at springs, and the sea breaks heavily on the heads during bad weather. The port buoy ‘Royal Sovereign, Q.R, is moored at the south side of Royal Sovereign Shoals. A mile south of the shoal and 5.8 miles south-eastward of Eastbourne is the Royal Sovereign lighthouse that also marks the shoal. The remarkable 28-metre-high light structure’s distinctive form comprises a large platform supported by a single concrete pillar that rises out of the water. Standing upon the head of the pillar is a helicopter deck. Royal Sovereign Fl.20s is visible for 12 miles. The steep cliffy headland of Beachy Head stands 39 miles east of Selsey Bill. It is a remarkable headland rising to 162 metres above sea level and is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain. It is most striking when seen from the west by the uniform long line of white segmented cliffs close west called the Seven Sisters. When seen 15 miles off from an east-southeast direction, it appears like an island, the left side being chalk cliffs, with a house on it, and the middle and right side covered with verdure, terminating in the fall of the South Downs. Beachy Head Lighthouse is situated 165 metres seaward from the base of the cliffs standing on drying rocks. It shows a light from a prominent tower, 43 metres high, with a red band and head. A conspicuous watchtower (radio) is situated on the head, about a ½ mile east-northeast of the light. It exhibits a light, Fl(2) 20s at an elevation of 31 metres that is visible from a distance of 8 miles. During bad weather, vessels should keep at least 2 miles from Beachy Head to avoid the overfalls. The prominent 14 metres high Belle Tout lighthouse, Beachy Head’s original light and now disused, stands near the summit of the second cliff about a mile west of Beachy Head. A prominent hotel stands at Birling Gap a little over a ½ mile northwest, and a conspicuous water tower is situated about 1.3 miles north of it. From Birling Gap, 1.3 miles west of the Head, the Seven Sisters front the coast of the valley of Cuckmere, formerly a haven for ships, but through which only a small stream now runs. A mile westward the striking Seaford Head is often mistaken for Beachy Head by vessels proceeding eastward up the Channel when within 4 or 5 miles of the land. It rises to 83 metres 1.3 miles west of the Cuckmere River and 2.5 miles SE of the entrance to Newhaven. The heads may be distinguished by a small building on the highest part of Beachy Head; whereas on Seaford Head there is nothing on it except for a conspicuous barn that stands 0.8 miles east on South Hill. Seaford Head chalk is rust-streaked, and also has a large and conspicuous green patch on the face of the cliff just under the summit, whereas Beachy Head always has a clean white face. The town of Seaford is situated close west of Seaford Head. The coast abreast of the town is fronted by numerous groins, the larger of which is marked by beacons. The foreshore between Beachy Head and Seaford consists mainly of rocky ledges and shingle, strewn with boulders fallen from the cliffs above. Seaford Road off the village offers an anchorage a ¼ mile offshore abreast of the channel. It is sheltered from east-southeast to north-northwest with a little stream, good holding and clear of the track of cross-Channel ferries using Newhaven. About 8½ miles westward of Beachy Head is the town of Newhaven with a commercial port and ferry service to Dieppe in France. Situated at the mouth of the River Ouse the harbour is formed by the lower reaches of the river and fronted by two concrete breakwaters. Lying about midway between The Solent and the Downs, and in the track of vessels working up or down the Channel, it is a useful harbour with a marina that is accessible with care in all weathers. The harbour’s entrance is in the northwest extremity of Seaford Bay, close to the east of Burrow Head, the last of the range of chalk cliffs to the east of Brighton. The harbour may be easily identified from seaward by its outer breakwater curving from the western shore. A light is shown from a prominent tower, 14 metres high, standing on the breakwater head. A conspicuous television mast stands on high ground about 1-mile west-northwest of the harbour entrance. The harbour is used commercially, and as a cross-Channel passenger ferry terminal with services to Dieppe. Note that high-speed craft may be encountered in the approaches to the port. An outfall pipeline extends about 1½ mile south from a point on the shore ½ mile east of the harbour entrance. Another extends about 1½ mile southward from Friars Bay, about 1½ westward of the entrance and is marked by a port buoy Q.R. at its extremity. A sewer outfall pipeline, the seaward end of which is marked by a lighted buoy, Fl.Y.5s, extends about a mile south-southwest from a point on the shore about 2 miles westward. Immediately offshore in this area vessels sailing the inshore waters should keep a sharp eye out for lobster pots that are frequently placed up to a ½ mile offshore between Brighton and Newhaven. Several lighted buoys (special), which are used as recreational racing marks, are moored up to 3 miles offshore between Newhaven and Shoreham. Other temporary buoys may be moored close off Brighton, from March to October. Located between Worthing and Newhaven, at about 8 to 14 miles offshore, stands the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm that is expected to have up to 195 wind turbines generating 400 MW. Lighted buoys are anchored marking the limits around these wind farm areas. The seaside resort city of Brighton is situated 8 miles west by southwest of Newhaven. The extensive Brighton Marina, protected by two curved breakwaters, fronts the shore at the east end of the town. Roedean School, a rambling building and two spires, is situated 0.4 miles east of the marina and is prominent from seaward. A television tower stands on a hill at the east end of Brighton, about 0.8 miles northwest of the marina, and is highly conspicuous. A prominent black windmill stands near the shore at Rottingdean, about 1.3 miles east-southeast of the marina. West of the marina the houses fronting the sea present an almost continuous line of handsome buildings, churches, hotels, and other large buildings for about 4 miles westward to Shoreham. Two piers fronted Brighton, but only one remains today. Little is left of The West Pier, formerly known as Brighton Pier, which was left derelict to be eventually destroyed by a storm and a fire. The east pier, known as Brighton Palace Pier, extends about 0.3 miles seaward and is marked by a light at its head flashing 2F.R(vert) that is visible for 2 miles. Shoreham is a small commercial port situated at the mouth of the River Adur, about 20 miles west by northwest of Beachy Head. The town is bordered on the north by the South Downs, on the west by the Adur Valley, and on the south by the River Adur and fronted by Shoreham Beach. It lies in the middle of the ribbon of urban development along the coast, approximately equidistant from the city of Brighton and Hove to the east and the town of Worthing to the west. The approach shoals to a least depth of 2.4 metres, with 1.9 metres on the entrance range. The harbour is protected by extensive breakwaters and divided into two parts. A western and largly drying River Ardur arm, and an eastern arm with quite busy commercial wharves and a non-tidal basin, approached through locks, with a small marina which may have a visitor's berth. The maximum size vessel the harbour can handle by prior arrangement, is 30 metres LOA with 2 metres draught and a maximum beam of 5.5 metres for the lock. Shoreham’s three-mile sea frontage is conspicuous from seaward. A power station, with a 103 metres high chimney, located on the seaward side of the canal, about a ½ mile east of the entrance, is highly conspicuous and it exhibits lights 3 F.R(hor) at the top and 3 F.R (hor) midway up. Likewise, about a mile to the west of the entrance, the Tower and flagstaff of Saint Mary's Church stands prominent. Being about midway between The Solent and Dungeness it offers a good berth for wind-bound vessels to run for shelter with a sufficient rise in the tide to make an entrance. An anchorage can be had anywhere south of the harbour, according to draft. There is good holding ground of sand and gravel over clay, south of the entrance. A sewer outfall pipeline, the seaward end of which is marked by a lighted south cardinal marker, Q(6)+LFl.15s, extends about 1½ miles south from a point on the shore about ¾ of a mile east of the entrance. The coast between Shoreham and Littlehampton is low and backed by the South Downs. Chanctonbury Ring, a clump of trees standing on the highest part of the downs, is prominent and often the first landmark sighted when approaching the land in this vicinity. The towns of Lancing, Worthing, and Goring by Sea stand along the shore, with no break between them. Some prominent buildings stand near the shore, about 3 miles west of Shoreham. A sewer outfall pipeline extends about 3½ miles south from a point on the shore about 2½ miles west of Shoreham Harbour entrance. A conspicuous gas storage tank is situated about 4½ miles west of Shoreham, at the east end of Worthing. Worthing is fronted by a pier, with a pavilion at its outer end, that exhibits a light 2F.R(vert). The town is low-lying, distinguishing it from Brighton, which stands on a cliff. A church with a prominent spire, is situated at Goring by Sea, 4½ miles east of Littlehampton, and a gas storage tank stands a ½ mile northeast of it. Highdown Hill rises to an elevation of 80 metres about a mile northwest of the church. It has two chalk pits on the west slope and one larger pit on the east slope. Rackham Hill, with a conspicuous clump of trees, rises inland about 6 miles north-northeast of Littlehampton. A deep break in the downs, formed by the valley of the River Arun, is located 2 miles west of this hill and is prominent from seaward. A sewer outfall pipeline, the outer end of which is marked by a lighted buoy, extends about 2 miles south-southeast from a point on the shore 0.6 miles east of Littlehampton harbour entrance. Buoys (special), used as racing marks, may be moored offshore between Shoreham and Littlehampton from April to October. Littlehampton is a seaside resort, commercial port and pleasure harbour that lies at the mouth of the River Arun and was the ancient haven of Arundel. The harbour is formed by the lower reaches of the river, and the town lies on the eastern bank centred about a mile north of the entrance. The entrance, 33 metres wide, lies between two pile piers. A low training wall, covered at half-tide, extends seaward from the east pier and is marked at its outer end by a beacon. The bar fronting the entrance dries up to 0.9 metres. The entrance channel dries abreast of the east pier, where there are depths of 1 to 2 metres. There are berths for recreational craft and a marina along the west bank of the river. Littlehampton is a small resort town and harbour located on a coastal plain where the River Arun empties into the sea. It is readily identifiable from seaward by a prominent gas storage tank that stands just under a mile northwest of the harbour entrance. Closer in a conspicuous high-rise building, 38 metres high, with a white structure on top at its western end and another conspicuous building, are situated 0.3 miles east-northeast and 0.8 miles east, respectively, of the harbour entrance. At low water, the sands dry off the harbour entrance up to a ½ mile offshore. The approach dries to about ⅓ of a mile southward of the head of the West Pier. It reaches its highest drying height of 0.9 metres CD on the entrance leading line about 70 metres southeast of the pierhead. The channel above this also continues to dry, or to be very shallow, until abreast of the East Pier where depths of 1.5 to 2 metres will be found. It is best that a newcomer should arrive from High Water -2 to +1 hour. Vessels can anchor in stiff blue clay, south of the harbour entrance. The coast between Littlehampton and Bogner Regis, 5 miles west-southwest, is low. Bognor Regis, a prominent coastal resort, is fronted by an iron pier. The pier extends from the centre of the esplanade fronting the town and dries well beyond its head. It exhibits a light 2F.R(vert), and the lights of the town are conspicuous at night. Bognor Regis is fronted by several dangers. Shelley Rocks lie 1½ miles off Middleton-On-Sea, on the east side of Bognor Regis and have only 0.7 metres over them in detached patches. A mile westward the Bognor Rocks form a high and dangerous ledge, extending in a southeast direction a mile from the shore a little westward of the town. They dry sometime before low water in large detached blocks of conglomerate or pudding stone that are bold on their sea face. Their outer end, Bognor Spit, is one mile from the shore, and dries at five hours ebb, with 1.5 to 2.7 metres of water on its northeast side. In offshore winds, an anchorage can be obtained on the northeast side of Bognor Rocks, between them and the shore. South-easterly winds bring in a heavy sea. An outfall pipeline extends 1½ miles south from a point on the shore at the west side of Bogner Regis. The entire coast between Bogner Regis and Selsey Bill is fronted by an area consisting of foul ground, rocks, and shoals. This area extends up to about 2 miles seaward and vessels should keep well clear of it. The shore consists of a shingle beach with numerous groins. Pagham Harbour, an area of saltings intersected by drying creeks, lies 3 miles southwest of Bognor Regis and 2½ miles northeast of Selsey Bill. Most of this area is a nature reserve where anchoring and landings are prohibited. The Park, an anchorage area, lies between the Owers Shoals and the foul ground fronting Pagham Harbour between Selsey Bill and Bognor Regis. It is well-sheltered from westerly and south-westerly winds, but dangerous with winds from east to south. The holding ground is good, being a thin layer of gravel over stiff clay. However, a watchful eye is required because of frequent and sudden shifts in the wind and the rapidity with which the sea gets up here. From a cruising perspective proceeding westward from Selsey Bill, opens one of England’s most spectacular cruising grounds. Selsey Bill is a low projection of the coast and shows as a remarkably sharp low point when seen from the east or west. Immediately to its west, between it and Gilkicker Point, the entrance to The Solent is marked by a lighthouse, and the mainland shore is broken by deep inlets. In these inlets are the islands of Portsea, Hayling and Thorney, between which are Chichester, Langstone, and Portsmouth harbours. 11 miles westward from Selsey Bill is the Isle of Wight’s Foreland Point, its easternmost extremity. Selsey Bill is entirely foul all round out to a mile and a half with further dangers out to six miles. The tower of the coast guard station, situated 0.7 of a mile northwest of the point, is conspicuous from seaward. Several buildings stand on the point, but they can be difficult to identify. The spire of Chichester Cathedral, standing about 7 miles north of the point, is reported to be conspicuous from seaward. Selsey Bill is fronted by dangerous shoals that are collectively named The Owers. These dangers extend up to about 3 miles south, 6 miles southeast and 4 miles east of the point. It stands very much in the way of vessels passing along the low-lying Sussex coastline. The most efficient approach to passing Selsey Bill is to utilise The Looe. The Looe is a 1 mile long and 1.25 miles wide channel that runs east-west through the centre of The Owers. It has a channel marked by a port buoy, Street Q.R., and starboard buoy, Boulder Fl. G 2.5s on its narrower western entrance. It provides a convenient cut that is best addressed on a fair tide as currents within the channel attain rates of up to 2.5 knots on Springs, and its shallow waters have many lobster pots. Tidal streams in The Looe are straight-lined with the west going stream commencing at High Water Dover -0115 and the east going stream Dover +0445. The helmsman should note that the east going stream sets onto the Outer Owers. A useful waypoint for the narrower western side of the channel is as below. Vessels passing westbound through The Looe should pass close north of the East Borough Head east cardinal. Then continue west for the western entrance buoys, Red port hand buoy Q.R. and green starboard hand buoy Fl G 2.5s, situated six and a half miles away. This path passes just under a mile to the south of The Mixon beacon, 9 metres with a square cage Fl. R. 5s. The Mixon marks The Looe channels northern drying dangers situated 1.2 miles south of Selsey Bill. The Looe Channel should only be made use of in daylight so as to identify the marks and avoid any pots, and in good conditions. In bad conditions, the sea breaks heavily on the shallows of The Owers, and the western entrance is subject to overfalls. Likewise, the buoys indicating the channel cannot be relied on, and the leading marks are difficult to identify. At night, or in rough conditions, the best course of action is to pass south of The Owers. This is best achieved by passing south around The Owers South Cardinal Buoy moored half a mile south of the Outer Owers and just over 6 miles southeast of Selsey Bill. The coast from Selsey Bill to the entrance to Chichester Harbour runs nearly in a straight line for six miles and forms a low earthy bank, which is seriously encroached upon by the sea. This area is fronted by Bracklesham Bay that is foul with the drying Hounds Rock in its southeast end two miles northwest of Selsey Bill. When heading for Selsey Bill, due to a large number of shoals and dangers off the point, it is best to stand well out of Bracklesham Bay to round Selsey Bill securely with a wide berth being mindful of all marks and buoys. The mainland shore from Selsey Bill extending out 10 miles west by northwest to Horse and Dean Sand at its head, with its prominent round stone fortress, is low-lying and has many identifying features. On Portsea Island there is the highly distinctive Southsea Castle, the lit South Parade Pier, the water tower and clock at Eastney, and the two lit towers near Fort Cumberland. From Langstone, the coast is fronted by an area of shallow sands and consists of an extensive inlet occupied by Hayling Island and Thorney Island. These islands are intersected by Langstone and Chichester Harbours. Hayling Bay resides between Chichester and Langstone Harbours. The shoreline at the head of the bay is the southern face of Hayling Island and is an uninterrupted line of shingle. About 10 miles inland behind this is a range of chalk hills. Chichester Harbour has its entrance six and a half miles northwest of Selsey Bill. The entrance is encumbered by Chichester Bar that is an area of shoaling commencing half a mile south of the harbour's entrance and extending seaward for a further half a mile. The Bar is periodically dredged to achieve a depth of 1.5 metres below Chart Datum. However, shoaling often occurs after strong winds and depths over the bar may vary by up to 0.8 metres. The outer West Pole, situated 1.25 miles south by southwest of the entrance that it marks, has a tidal gauge which indicates the depth of water above Chart Datum. After severe gales, depths can change, and it is then prudent to assume a least depth of 0.7 metres below Chart Datum. The dredged channel across the Bar is approximately 200 metres wide with the western edge marked by the transit between West Pole Beacon and the Bar Beacon. Great care must be taken to enter the channel along the track of the West Pole and Bar Beacon, or Middle Pole, passing both marks about 25 metres to port. Once inside the harbour, it is a beautiful area with several berthing opportunities for visitors. The inlet is used exclusively by pleasure craft, and it is an important yachting centre and conservation area. During summer months, up to 5,000 yachts may be moored in the vicinity of the harbour. Upon entry, and passing through the narrows of the entrance, Chichester Harbour opens out above to present itself as low lying, marshy, and made up of tidal flats with deep channels running through them. At the head of the narrows of the entrance, the harbour divides into its two primary arms the Emsworth and Chichester channels. The Emsworth Channel continues northward along the eastern shores of Hayling Island. It leads to the Hayling Island Yacht Company , Emsworth before branching off into Sweare Deep for Northney Marina to which it is marked by lit buoys and perches all the way. At the commencement of the channel, immediately around Black Point and close north of Hayling Island Sailing Club, is the approach to Sparkes Marina that is accessed through a dredged channel marked by beacons. The Chichester Channel forks eastward to pass north of The Winner Bank and then past the popular East Head anchorage. It then proceeds south of the Thorney Channel that provides access to Pilsey Island anchorage and the small rural Thorham Marina is situated on the northeast side of Thorney Island. After rounding Chalkdock Point, it passes the Chalkdock Point anchorage situated a ½ mile west of Itchenor that provides details on the run-up eastern side of the harbour. If the harbour has a headquarters, then it's probably here at Itchenor. It is home to the Harbour Master's office, and the Chichester Harbour Conservancy which runs Chichester Harbour as a nature reserve, and the run up the harbour is detailed in this entry. From Itchenor the Bosham Channel leads up to Bosham Quay and the west end of Itchenor Reach. Beyond Itchenor the Itchenor Reach channel continues east by southeast to round Longmore Point into Chichester Lake. Within this largely drying expanse of mudflats are the tidal Birdham Pool Marina , Chichester Marina and finally Dell Quay that is situated within 2 miles of the cathedral city of Chichester and was once its port. The town of Chichester, located near the head of the inlet, has all the facilities of a Cathedral City. The western shore of Chichester Harbour which is the eastern side of Hayling Island, is fronted to the south and seaward by Hayling Bay. The area has the extensive East Winner, locally known as The Woolsener extending along the eastern side of the entrance to Langstone Harbour. Formed of sand it extends out almost 2 miles from the shoreline and dries off at LWS for more than half that distance. East Winnert is steep-to on its western, or Langstone Harbour entrance channel, facing side. The southern end of this is marked by the unlit 'Winner' south cardinal. Between East Winner and West Winner, known together as The Woolseners, is the approach path to Langstone Harbour . The banks extend from either side of the mouth of the harbour and run out south by southeast from the entrance. West Winner bank, formed of gravel, has largely washed away over the past decade. It is now a flat with 1.1 chart datum available 200 metres out from the shoreline. From there a plateau, with depths from 1.1 to 1.8 metres, stretches out southward for three-quarters of a mile. Charts cannot be entirely relied upon as the banks shift over time and are subject to height alterations according to the preceding winter’s gales. The approach to the harbour is marked by the 'Langstone Fairway' pile, LFl.10s7m5M. Situated a ¼ of a mile west of the head of the West Winner sandbank's steep too western edge, and approximately a mile to the south of the harbour's entrance that lies between Gunnen Point and Cumberland Fort. Langstone Bar is situated a ⅓ of a mile south-southwest of this fairway mark. It has a least depth of 1.8 metres over it. The harbour is the entrance. Within the entrance to Langstone Harbour is Southsea Marina . It lies behind a tidal gate that is approached from the harbour via the ½ mile long channel. West of the entrance to Langstone Harbour is Spithead, an area within the east part of The Solent. It is bounded by Spit Sand on the north side, Horse and Dean Sand on the northeast side, and Ryde Sand and No Man’s Land on the south side. The Horse and Dean Sand shoal is an extensive shoal comprised of coarse sand mixed with gravel and minutely broken shells. It is very flat and has from 2 to 4.5 metres as an average depth over its shallowest parts, and it affords valuable protection to the harbour area. The shoal commences on its west side at Southsea Castle, marking the eastern side of the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, and continues southwest for nearly two miles. The round stone structure of Horse Sand Fort corresponding with No Man’s Land Fort on the opposite side of the channel, offers an excellent sea bearing for this shoal and also the commercial shipping fairway that runs between the forts. Horse Sand Fort can be seen standing approximately 1.5 miles offshore at the outer edge of the shoal. Passing to the west of this avoids any shoal areas. No Man’s Land Fort has a port hand buoy situated close northeast Iso.R.2s. From the Horse Sand Fort the shoal trends rather abruptly to the south by southeast. At the distance of nearly three-quarters of a mile is the starboard ‘Horse Elbow’ buoy where the bank is steep-to. This, along with the port ‘Whis Warner’ buoy, marks the narrowest part of the channel into Spithead. From the ‘Horse Elbow’ buoy, the shoal alters its direction to approximately east, and continues straight for 2 miles when it gradually disappears. This part of the bank is known as the Horse Tail, and four buoys mark its edge and the channel to the south of it. With sufficient rise, a pair of convenient shortcuts may be made use of by cutting through one of the two passes in the submerged barrier that exists between Horse Sand Fort and the mainland at Southsea. This pass, along with all the approaches into The Solent and all the interesting sailing destinations within The Solent and the Isle of Wight are covered in the The Solent and Isle of Wight Coastal Overview . The complete course is 118.14 miles from the waypoint 'North Foreland' to 'Horse Elbow' tending in a west south westerly direction (reciprocal east north easterly). This is located ½ a mile eastward of North Foreland Light Fl(5) WR 20s at 57 metres above mean high water that is visible in clear weather from a distance of 19 miles. This the recommended crossing point for the Ramsgate Approach Channel close west of Ramsgate No. 3, Fl.G.2.5s, and the No. 4 port buoy Q.R. Cross at right angles to the channel on the W side of No.3 and 4 buoys. Take great care crossing the approach channel and if in doubt, check with Port Control [Ramsgate Port Control] on VHF Ch. 14 before doing so. 1½ miles south of Beachy Head Lighthouse, Fl(2) 20s at an elevation 31 metres that is visible from a distance of 8 miles. Stay at least 2 miles off in bad weather. Mid way between the Looe Channel's port Street buoy, Q.R., and starboard Boulder buoy, Fl. G 2.5s. At night, or in rough conditions, the best course of action is to pass south of The Owers. This is best achieved by passing south around The Owers South Cardinal Buoy moored half a mile south of the Outer Owers and just over 6 miles southeast of Selsey Bill. Close north of Horse Elbow starboard buoy, Q.G., that leads into Spithead. Depending on the movements of the jet stream, any and all of these air masses can come in over the isles, creating weather fronts where they meet, and bringing with them all types of weather. The prevailing winds for the British Isles as a whole are from the western quarter which generally blows for two-thirds of the year predominantly from the southwest. Gales from the westward are felt in all seasons, but from November to March inclusive, they are most frequent and generally last three or four days. Of these, a southwest gale is considered to be the most powerful system. The winter period is largely characterised by wind and rain. The fine summer weather of the sailing season is typically punctuated by the passage of Atlantic depressions that bring periods of strong wind and rain, and sometimes poor visibility. These gales rarely cause surprises as they are usually forecasted well in advance. Good weather windows of 48 hours are easy to predict but any longer than that there's an increasing chance of change.

2019-04-21T01:01:39Z

https://eoceanic.com/sailing/routes/46/coastal_overview_for_north_foreland_to_the_isle_of_wight

There can be no political compromise with terror. No inch conceded. No compassion shown… There are no good terrorists and bad terrorists. There is no cause, root or branch, that can ever justify the killing of innocent people. No democratic Government can tolerate the use of violence against innocent people and against the functionaries of a duly established democratic Government. For far too long, now, the political discourse on terrorism has been clouded by a wide range of misconceptions, a great deal of muddle-headedness and at least some self-serving pretensions, and these have persistently stood in the way of evolving a coherent national policy against this scourge, even as they have obstructed India's Security Forces (SFs) time and again from taking necessary action. In numberless cases, where the SFs have, at great costs and with untold sacrifices, imposed a measure of order in areas of widespread violence, the advantage has quickly been wasted by political adventurism and unprincipled deals with extremist leaderships that have restored the sway of violent anti-state groups in wide areas of the country. Political leaders at the highest levels have repeatedly propounded the false sociologies of 'root causes' and the fiction that terrorists and other extremists, who have taken hundreds of innocent lives, are best treated as 'our children' who may have 'lost their way'. At the same time, many political parties have entered into deceitful pre-election alliances to secure extremist support during the polls, against promises of a 'soft-line' in the post-poll order. Even where political leaders have, in the past, condemned terrorism, they have found it expedient to qualify their remarks with platitudes about 'wayward children', 'legitimate grievances' and the need for undefined and inchoate 'political solutions'. In a radical departure from this feckless tradition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has now articulated what can be a sound and secure basis for a national counter-terrorism strategy and internal security policy. At the Chief Minister's Conference on April 15, 2005, the Prime Minister's statement was crystalline in its clarity, sweeping aside the accumulated debris of discredited political rhetoric - much of it emanating from his own Party and Cabinet colleagues - to establish and impose the beginnings of a consensus on a fractious and opportunistic political community, as he emphasized the dangers of "terrorist groups, organized crime syndicates, drug trafficking and external forces interested in destabilizing our polity", and "urged leaders of all political parties to ensure that such forces and groups are kept away from our political processes. We need to have zero-tolerance for criminalisation of politics in our country." It is unsurprising that such a statement should come, eventually, from an economist Prime Minister, as he confronts the challenge of integrating India's economy with the emerging global order, and securing for the country its rightful place among the 'great powers' of the future. For decades, expenditure on policing and internal security has been casually dismissed by planners as 'non-developmental expenditure' and, consequently, in some sense, 'wasteful'. Instead, it has frequently been argued, massive investment in areas of strife would address the 'legitimate grievances and aspirations' of the people, and magically wipe out violence. Billions of rupees have, consequently, been poured into a bottomless pit, with no visible impact on the intended beneficiaries, even as a corrupt politicians-bureaucrat-contractor nexus has profited hugely, and substantial volumes of these funds have also flowed into the hands of insurgent and terrorist groups. At the same time, ill-equipped State Police Forces, increasingly supplemented by Central Paramilitaries and the Army, are thrown into unequal and unending wars against elements that are complicit with their own State political leaderships, and that, at least on occasion, have had supporters in the national political leadership as well. Investments are unlikely to fructify, employment is not likely to grow and educational facilities may be impaired… Delivery systems are often the first casualty. Schools do not run, dispensaries do not open and PDS (public distribution system) shops remain closed. Public service providers can now ascribe all their inefficiencies to "extremism". Recognizing that "the challenge of internal security is our biggest national security challenge today," Singh has called for urgent police reforms, efficient policing, special attention to intelligence gathering and the modernization of intelligence services and Security Forces. Clarifying another element of frequent political double-speak, the Prime Minister dismissed efforts by many to underplay the growing dangers of Left Wing extremism (Naxalism), emphasizing the "inter-State and external dimension to Naxalism today. This requires greater coordination between State Governments and between the Centre and States. We have to take a comprehensive approach in dealing with Naxalism given the emerging linkages between groups within and outside the country…" …the basic issues regarding violence and the State's obligation to curb it should be clarified at the outset, so that there are no misunderstandings or a feeling of being let down at later stages. In our country, symbols and gestures matter. Nothing should be done which detracts from the authority of the Indian state and its primary role as an upholder of public order. The State should not even remotely be seen to back away in the face of threats of armed violence. Few in India have recognized or even understood the enormous effort and sacrifice that has gone into the preservation of the 'symbols and gestures' of Constitutional Democracy. It is useful, in this context, to recall a small example of a 'routine' operation during the recent Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar - areas widely afflicted by Naxalite violence. A contingent of the Punjab Police (PP) was deployed in Chhattisgarh for 22 days on polling duties, with a large proportion of these in the Bastar area, including four of the areas worst affected by Naxalite violence: Jagdalpur, Kanker, Bijapur and Dantewada. One party of 50 PP personnel, accompanied by one local policeman, started from Bijapur to go through forests to reach a place called Sundra, to prepare a helipad so that electoral officials and materials could be brought in. This short journey was to be completed in two stages, with an overnight stop at Sagmeta. They moved from Bijapur at 07:00, and by 10:00, they were in the thick of the forest. They were greeted by as many as 19 landmine blasts, coupled with heavy firing. The commandos retaliated and used area weapons - 2-inch mortars, GF rifles (grenade launchers), Light Machine Guns and ALRs. They found that all the existing forest trails were mined, so they marched cross country, cutting a path through the forest and reached Sagmeta, just 15 kilometres from Bijapur, at 17:00, completing the journey in over 10 hours. At Sagmeta, from 23:00 to 05:00 the next morning, there was a pitched battle between the police party and the Naxalites who were surrounding them from all sides. They then received information that the route to Sundra was heavily mined. The party consequently stayed on at Sagmeta for another day. Firing on the party started again at 2200 and continued till 0500 the next morning. A helicopter was eventually pressed into service, and lifted one party - about half a platoon - who secured the ground at Sundra. The remaining policemen were then airlifted to create and secure the helipad. They came under heavy fire from the Naxalites through the night at Sundra as well. For those who have not faced fire, it is difficult to understand the enormous courage and character that it would have taken this small contingent, as they confronted a faceless enemy, although unused to the terrain, being in the area for the first time. It is a tribute to their ruggedness, their training and their experience in fighting terrorism in Punjab that, despite the fact that they took casualties, they managed to set up the polling station, and polling did take place. What they saw was often horrifying, as people with mutilated limbs lined up to cast their votes. These were the victims of Naxalite 'justice', their limbs cut off - often by their own relatives on Naxalite orders - on the mere suspicion of being 'informers'. After polling was over, the party returned, once again under heavy fire throughout the night. While details of this expedition are available to me, it was far from unique, and other parties in Kanker and other districts were also subject to organised attacks - though this was the most vicious. All Forces deployed for election duties in the area suffered casualties, and 32 SF personnel lost their lives during the elections in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Prime Minister Singh has now made it clear that "there is no place for violence and extremism of any kind in a democratic, rule based society", but translating his newly articulated vision into policy will require political will and perseverance. I have, for nearly a decade now advocated the need for a national policy that would recognize the existing and future threat-potential of terrorism and low intensity wars, and create the basis for a radical reformation of internal security forces and strategies, to create the skills, knowledge, attitudes and infrastructure necessary to confront these dangers. It is now necessary to initiate immediate processes to reform the institutional structures that impinge upon internal security management - the SFs, the justice system, intelligence agencies, the bureaucracy, and most importantly the deeply compromised political structures of this country. Unless the Prime Minister can secure these ends, his exceptional statement on terrorism and internal security would, regrettably, be just that: an exceptional statement. Forty five years ago, in December 1960, King Mahendra dismissed Nepal's first elected Government and instituted a system of absolute monarchy that was only dismantled in 1990. In its place came multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy. But the Royal coup on 1 February 2005 by his son, King Gyanendra, has once again taken Nepal back to the days of absolute monarchy. Though the King has not banned political parties as his father did 45 years ago, space for political activism is severely restricted. Tough emergency measures since 1 February have curtailed not just the political parties but also civil society, the media and development agencies. Strong condemnation of the coup within and outside the country has done little to influence the regime's policies. Two and half months later, with emergency still in force, there is little sign of improvement. Of course, two and half months are a short time to judge the performance of a new Government. But available evidence suggests that the length of time is immaterial for the simple reason that most of the present regime's policy assumptions are flawed and, consequently, point towards a continued future of violence and conflict. Politically, Nepal has never been as polarized as it is now. While the traditional ruling elite and the business and industrial lobby support the King's actions and point to the relative quiet of Kathmandu streets, the coup and the emergency have not gone down well among the majority. Recent polls have found that most Nepalis prefer multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy rather than a dictatorship imposed from the Palace. For instance, a public opinion survey sponsored by the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) and conducted by AC Nielson / ORG MARG and Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Research found "no significant support for an absolute monarchy and instead showed a great commitment to multi-party democracy and the rights it accords to the citizens of Nepal." Though the poll was conducted well before the coup, the NDI says its findings are relevant even after the coup. Another recent poll by sociologists Sudhindra Sharma and Pawan Kumar Sen, which was published in the Kantipur newspaper on March 26, found that 54 per cent of respondents supported full constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy. Only 5 per cent supported a Royal dictatorship. Militarily, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) and the other security services are still in a defensive mode, allowing the Maoists to seize the initiative at will. Recent military 'successes', therefore, are nothing more than a repulsion of Maoist attacks, and are not offensive operations in their true sense. These flawed policies stem from flawed thinking and a serious mis-reading of conditions prior to February 1. The Palace acted on the assumption that the political parties, which had made a mess of democracy since 1990, are unpopular and have little support base. Palace actions were also justified on grounds that bickering between political parties was allowing the Maoists to gain the upper hand. And there seems to have been a strong belief that international criticism could be nullified by getting Nepal's other big neighbour, China, on its side. All these assumptions have been proven faulty. It is true that Nepal's political parties have little popular appeal at this point in time. Support for the parties is practically confined to their activists and partisan civil society groups. The population at large remains indifferent to their plight. Attempts by the parties to start a 1990-style People's Movement have consequently yielded no results. This may have given the Palace a window of opportunity to act. But windows of opportunity, by definition, are temporary. If the Royal regime makes serious missteps and fails to provide a general impression of progress, that window will close fast. That can be seen to be happening now. The King's appointment of hardline Panchayat elements in his cabinet, the decision to revive hated Panchayat-era zonal commissioners, the campaign against democratic politicians through selective use of the Royal Corruption Control Commission, and efforts to constrict the role of the National Human Rights Commission by creating another parallel human rights body are all indicative of a vindictive approach towards political parties and civil society. Nepal's hapless citizens may not love the parties at this moment, but they definitely do not want a return to the past either. But reviving Panchayat era politicians and institutions has inevitably created the impression that the King is moving beyond his stated aim of establishing peace and strengthening democracy. What Nepal is witnessing today is the gradual dismantling of democratic institutions in favour of a Panchayat-style system. Even the King's announcement of municipal elections in his Nepali New Year's message on April 14 is being seen as little more than a diversionary tactics. This will inevitably erode whatever public support the monarchy may have had in the immediate days after the coup. Even in their current dismal state, the parties are well placed to take advantage of these missteps. By constraining the political parties, the King has already wiped out the buffer between the monarchy and the people, between himself and the Maoists. And since the Palace is mistrusted by a large section of Nepalis, it is only a matter of time before perceptions about the parties change. The parties can hasten this process by instituting much-needed internal party reforms that deals effectively with corruption and allow for a new rejuvenated leadership to emerge. At the moment though, such tendencies have been pushed to the backburner as the parties rally to face the threat of an active monarchy. But in the short to medium term, as public support for their protests remain lacklustre, the parties will be forced to re-think strategy and come up with reforms that help them win public support again. Ironically, King Gyanendra could prove to be the biggest catalyst for this rejuvenation of the parties. The present schism between the monarchy and parties has predictably given the Maoists a huge advantage. The Maoists have also been boosted politically since the coup because, as some western diplomats in Kathmandu note, "they have actually come off better than the Palace in the eyes of the international community." Maoist attempts to lure the mainstream parties after February 1 speaks of the opportunities they see in the current situation. But the parties are not about to fall into that trap, despite increasing calls from within by vocal student and other groups. Nepali Congress (NC) president Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepali Congress - Democratic (NC-D) president Sher Bahadur Deuba and several CPN (UML) leaders have already ruled out that possibility. Almost all the party leaders realise that striking an operational deal with the Maoists could spell doom since that will mean the Maoists will have hijacked the political opposition to the Royal regime from the parties' hands. Such a deal will also give the regime a pretext to violently suppress the parties. None of the parties want that. The parties' reluctance to join hands with the Maoists has not constrained Maoist activities. After February 1, the Maoists have been very active both in the military and political sphere. Imposition of repeated blockades and strikes, attacks on district headquarters and heavily defended military bases, speak of their continued capability to inflict damage at will. They have also managed to lure the Government into instituting policies that attracts more international condemnation, such as the village militia policy. But internal pressures within the rebel outfit also appear to be growing. There seems to be a policy tussle at the top rungs of the leadership which appear to have affected party morale to a degree. Recruitment and financial resources, already drying up before the coup, may have worsened in recent months. Interviews in the field indicate that Maoists have to rely more on threats and coercion than genuine public support to keep up recruitment in their ranks. For instance, there have been credible reports about how the Maoists coerced villagers in Rukum to participate in the deadly Khara attacks on April 8-9. There is also indication that the Maoists do want a peace interregnum to shore up their organization and finances, but are caught in their own rhetoric. A peace dialogue with the current autocratic regime will likely harm the Maoists' image by providing legitimacy to the Royal coup. The reading therefore is that no peace talks are likely in the near term. The Government also seems to have reached the same conclusions, and has, accordingly, ratcheted up the rhetoric against the Maoists. But its military policy has failed to match its rhetoric. The regime's flawed assumptions in the military sphere are obvious in the defensive nature of the war it is fighting. Before the coup, the RNA, the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police were all deployed in defensive positions. For any casual observer who has travelled through Nepal's districts, the most obvious aspect of security forces deployment was that they were guarding their own bases and perimeters. Offensive operations are rare, if any. And even those offensive actions which have been reported were no more than retaliatory or mopping up operations after a Maoist attack. The coup has not changed this dynamic. Nepal's security forces still remain in defensive formations, guarding their own bases. Of course foot patrols are sent out regularly, but they rarely venture into Maoist-controlled areas and mostly stay on or near highways and popular foot trails. The defensive posture of the security forces, coupled with the ill-thought out withdrawal of police posts from rural areas under the Unified Command concept, has given the Maoists an opportunity to extend influence beyond their traditional strongholds. The result is that, aside from urban areas and district headquarters, the Government's writ rarely runs in Nepal. If the authorities gambled that this will change after the coup, it has not happened. The RNA leadership inevitably talks of military offensives just round the corner, but that corner keeps moving away. There are several reasons for this. One is that the RNA simply lacks the manpower and training to tackle an insurgency of this kind. Force numbers are too inadequate to have any meaningful impact, much less undertake offensive actions. And now, with the Maoists frequently using blockades and strikes to disrupt daily life, the RNA has been stretched thin to defend the highways while at the same time securing their bases and towns. Besides, the strategy is also handicapped by the lack of a hearts and minds campaign as well as a political component. In early April, during a briefing to diplomats and development agency heads in Kathmandu, the RNA "talked much about how they plan to win the war, but did not even say a word about the political components that must be a part of any such strategy," says a western development agency head. The usual military modus operandi is to use helicopter gunship with dumb bombs that cause more collateral damage than Maoist kills. The flawed counter-insurgency strategy has been further exacerbated as the RNA grapples with the international arms embargo after the coup. Reliable military sources say that RNA has ammunition stocks to last just four months. If India and the West continue with the embargo, the RNA will be forced to seek military supplies elsewhere or begin manufacturing ammunition at home. RNA Brigadier General Deepak Gurung spoke bravely last month of manufacturing ammunition at home, but he did not specify whether the RNA had the capability to manufacture 5.56 mm bullets for both the Indian-made INSAS and US-made M-16 rifles. Clearly, international condemnation of the royal coup and the effective arms embargo are having an effect on the RNA. While it is premature to say that such strains have forced the RNA to seek other means of fighting the Maoists, the RNA and the Government have shown a willingness to use unconventional methods of warfare. The foremost is the use of village militias, which could have serious long-term security repercussions. Though portrayed as a spontaneous uprising by common villagers against Maoists, village vigilante groups in Kapilvastu district have wrought carnage that can only invite Maoist retribution. A field study by a group of human rights organisations found that at least 42 villagers have died there, 31 of them killed by the vigilantes on suspicion of being Maoist sympathizers. What has gone underreported is that most of these killings, which occurred in the last half of February, have taken an ethnic/communal colour, as most of the victims are said to belong to hill tribes, who had settled in the fertile Terai plains over the last few years. One observer who travelled to Kapilvastu recently said that the carnage also appears to be a result of resource conflicts, particularly between the landlords and settlers. In any case, encouragement of village militias appears to be the Government's 'secret weapon' against the Maoists. The Minister for Information and Communication, Tanka Dhakal, has announced that the Government will implement development packages in those areas where the people take "courageous retaliatory action" against the Maoists. Such inducements are likely to further fan the violence in many more villages across Nepal. In recent weeks, the RNA has used two strategies to counter growing perceptions of its failure: it has made strong attempts to fan rumours of an imminent split in the Maoist ranks, and it has also portrayed recent Maoist attacks as 'victories' for the RNA. Both are misleading. While credible reports have emerged about some sort of disciplinary action against top Maoist leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and his wife Hisila Yami, there is no concrete evidence suggesting that Bhattarai and Maoist 'supreme leader' Prachanda are on the verge of a split. Knowledgeable sources note that disciplinary action within the Maoist ranks is nothing new and point to the fact that Maoist eastern commander Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal) himself was disciplined by the party a few years ago, but was again rehabilitated. In a statement issued on April 12, Prachanda himself alluded to this fact. Bhattarai too recently clarified, "debates and differences on policy are natural in a scientific party." As for the RNA's second strategy, the Maoists did suffer heavy losses in the April 8-9 battle in Khara. RNA says that they recovered more than 150 Maoist bodies in the days after the fighting. But the operation at Khara was more a successful repulsion of a Maoist attack than an outright military victory. From a tactical perspective, this is unsurprising since the RNA has strengthened its base defences since 2003. The Maoists are no longer in a position to over-run RNA bases as was the case in 2001 and 2002. But the Khara operation highlighted that it is the Maoists who still hold the initiative. They choose the place and timing of battle rather than the RNA. And despite being unable to overrun the RNA base in Khara, the Maoists did have the satisfaction of knowing that they successfully probed and tested the RNA's defensive capabilities and tactics. Prachanda himself made this clear. Acknowledging losses on the Maoist side, he said on April 12, "the two-day Khara campaign has provided valuable experiences and lessons and will help in taking the war to a new level." Even the blockades imposed by the Maoists provide a glimpse of their capabilities. Only 10 percent of normal traffic runs on highways during blockades, and that too under heavy RNA security cover. The international community's response after the coup has highlighted the new geo-strategic realities in South Asia: no important power is willing to antagonize India over a marginal country like Nepal. The United States and United Kingdom have resolutely stood beside India in condemning the coup. Any indications that the US is willing to go it alone in Nepal was put to rest by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice during her visit to Delhi in March. Similar though subtle signals have come from Beijing. The Chinese Foreign Minister's visit to Kathmandu in late March and early April did nothing to realize the regime's hopes of material support from China. While China is content to lend moral and political support, its relations with India are too important to publicly dare Delhi by supplying military assistance to Nepal. The joint-statement issued by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart on April 11 in Delhi is indicative of the tightening relationship dynamics between the two giants. But the royal regime failed to read these signals correctly prior to and after the coup. Blatant efforts to play the 'China card' against India were based more on wishful thinking than current geo-political trends. China's interests in Nepal lie in a peaceful stable border and a firm check on the pro-Tibet activities in Kathmandu. These interests were, by and large, protected even by the party-based democratic Governments in the past. The King's coup does not change that reality on the ground except in one sense: the closing down of the Dalai Lama's office in Kathmandu four days before the coup to cultivate China. Besides this, and the reward of the "this is Nepal's internal affair" comment from China, the regime has failed to secure any material support. Misplaced hopes that the Chinese would supply arms and ammunition have come a cropper. Similar is the case of Pakistani efforts to help the regime with arms supplies. Without China's approval, the Pakistanis are not in a position to go ahead, which became awfully clear during the Kathmandu visit by a Pakistani economic delegation in late March. Nepal's three-sided conflict is clearly worsening as an active monarchy steadily wipes out the political middle ground represented by the democratic parties and civil society. A flawed counterinsurgency model, made worse by resource constraints and a lack of political initiatives, has provided advantage to the Maoists. Failure to correctly read domestic and international trends means policy is being formulated in a vacuum, devoid of a pragmatic base in ground realities. Worse, by directly governing the country and dismantling democratic institutions in favour of an authoritarian system, the Royal Government is risking a popular backlash. President General Pervez Musharraf's 'cricket diplomacy', and before that, the inauguration of the Srinagar-Muzzaffarabad bus service (opening a route that had been shut down for nearly 57 years), had, over the past weeks, once again pushed the Indo-Pak peace process into the media centre-stage. India had been guilty of the first phase of the frenetic media build-up, as both the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) State Government and the Centre enormously overplayed the 'bus diplomacy' - with a high profile inauguration by the Prime Minister at Srinagar, attended by Party Chief, Sonia Gandhi, and a phalanx of other political leaders [in stark contrast to the low-key inauguration by the 'Prime Minister' of Pakistan-held 'Azad Jammu and Kashmir' (AJK)]. Camera crews in India tediously covered "every inch of the journey" from Srinagar to the Kaman Post - the last Indian outpost on the bus route - and the newly refurbished Aman Setu (Peace Bridge) that spans the line between Indian and Pakistani control, hysterically projecting the bus service as a major breakthrough towards a 'solution' to the Kashmir imbroglio. Musharraf, on the other hand, dismissed the bus service as "a small step towards confidence building and a small contribution for the happiness of the people." In the interim, the General appeared to have been plotting his revenge, as he forced an invitation - apparently to attend a match in the ongoing Indo-Pakistan cricket series - which he tenaciously expanded into a 'mini Summit' with the Indian leadership, insisting throughout that the Kashmir issue needed to be taken up "immediately" because "we don't have time." He did not elaborate on this claim, but earlier, on March 27, he had threatened that, if 'new Kargils' were to be prevented, the Kashmir dispute would first have to be resolved. However, if he had calculated on his capacity to force the issue and secure a dramatic breakthrough or at least some major concessions from the Indian side by raising the rhetorical intensity of the media confrontation several notches before his meetings with Indian leaders and officials, the eventual Joint Statement issued by the two countries at the end of his quick tour - during which he spent a little over an hour actually at the venue of the cricket match - demonstrated his failure. Apart from the widening of CBMs along lines already established in official-level talks - greater 'people to people' contacts; more trade; and advancing of 'institutional mechanisms' to focus on various outstanding issues - nothing of significance was wrested from talks with the Indian Prime Minister, even though these extended long beyond their scheduled half hour. Reports suggest, further, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took this opportunity to reiterate his now clear stand that there would be no redrawing of the Indian map, and no 'further Partitions'. Significantly, the Indian leadership had sent out strong and clear signals in the days preceding the General's visit, prominently: on April 14 the Defence Minister accused Pakistan of pursuing a 'two-faced' policy on Kashmir, at once sponsoring terrorism and engaging in negotiations for 'peace'; earlier, on April 8, the External Affairs Minister had stated that "all options" were open "except redrawing the map of India and having a second Partition"; and finally, there was the Prime Minister's own lucid and exceptional address at the Conference of Chief Ministers on April 15, in which he articulated an utterly uncompromising vision on terrorism and its sponsors, just a day before the General's arrival in Delhi. The General's failed gambit was located in hard calculations that provoked his observation, "we don't have time." Transformations in the external and internal environment impinging on the sustainability of Pakistan's enterprise of terror, as well as on Pakistan's own future, have now demonstrated clearly that the military and terrorist adventurism of the past is no longer sustainable. To the extent that strategists in Pakistan have long been convinced - and rightly so - that without violence or the threat of violence, India will never concede anything on Kashmir, and the increasing difficulties of calibrating violence at a sufficient level within J&K, it is clear that the Pakistani strategy is running out of time. This is enormously compounded by Pakistan's rising internal difficulties. For one thing, Musharraf's efforts at political management of increasing internal discontent and strife are not fructifying. His efforts to arrive at a deal with the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader, Benazir Bhutto, appears to have fallen through (though Islamist extremist elements of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, increasingly restive with the passage of time, insist that Asif Zardari, Bhutto's husband, is being 'built up' through the orchestrated arrest of PPP cadres, and his brief detention on his return to Karachi, as part of such a 'deal'). In Sindh, again, the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) - currently a member of the ruling coalition - is straining at the leash. On April 11, Altaf Hussain, the founder of the MQM, demanded a "new constitution for Pakistan" based on "evolving geo-political and geo-strategic realities and the ground realities in the country." He also sought a review of Centre-State relations and the devolution of finances to the States, claiming that provinces other than the Punjab were being discriminated against under the present system, and further threatened that his party would walk out of the Government if military operations in Balochistan did not end, and the proposal to build new cantonments in that province were not abandoned. There are reasons to believe, moreover, that any effort to move ahead on the proposed Kalabagh Dam - essential to deal with the impending water crisis in the country - may plunge Sindh into widespread and violent protests and even the possibility of civil war. The Awami Tehrik had organised a major demonstration on March 31 against the building of the Dam, and the Pakistan Oppressed Nations' Movement (PONAM) had also called for strikes to protest the proposed Dam, the presence of the Army and the establishment of cantonments in Balochistan. Potential political strife in Sindh would overlay the extended troubles in Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province, as well as the increasing restiveness of the radical Islamist elements within and outside Government. Incidents of violence continue in Waziristan, despite the claims of a 'settlement', and Balochistan has been destabilized to a point where it became impossible to go ahead with the scheduled inauguration of the new Port at Gwadar by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao during his visit to Pakistan on April 5-9, 2005. There is, moreover, a real and increasing problem in the Northern Areas, where protests against school curricula imposing 'Sunni beliefs' on the predominantly Shia population, the demographic re-engineering of the region, and the issue of identity cards, are mounting, even as state repression intensifies, with several incidents of firing on unarmed protesters reported over the past months. Significantly, 'elections' to the Legislative Council of the Northern Areas - at best a toothless body - were held in October 2004, but a 'Cabinet' is yet to be constituted, because Islamabad will not allow even this figurehead to be constituted. It is inevitable that other issues will gradually surface in the Northern Areas - long neglected and forcibly kept out of the reach of the national and international media - as a discriminatory policy is pursued with regard to the other and relatively favoured division of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Thus, while qualified enthusiasm has greeted the Srinagar - Muzzafarabad bus link, and tentative agreement appears to have been reached regarding the "operationalisation of additional routes including that between Poonch and Rawalakot", as well as the re-establishment of the Khokhrapur-Munnabao route, there is a studied silence on the Kargil - Skardu route that would bring two-Shia dominated areas closer. The sense of discrimination in the Northern Areas is accentuated by the fact that, while Muzzaffarabad is now linked to Srinagar across the Line of Control (LoC), the road between Muzzafarabad and Gilgit - both in PoK - lies in a state of disrepair, and the journey must be undertaken via Attock or Mansehra. Overlying all these are the broader economic, social, political, demographic and resource crises looming in the near future. While Kashmir is an 'emotional issue' for the jihadis and for many ordinary Pakistanis, strategists recognize that the critical conflict is over the region's water resources. Projections suggest that Pakistan will suffer an acute shortfall of water well before 2010, unless new resources and reservoirs are made available, and, on the bounteous Chenab, these can only be safely and advantageously constructed in Indian J&K. In addition, the 'miracle' of Pakistan's projected seven per cent rate of GDP growth is widely thought of as being hollow - reflecting massive aid inflows and marginally improved utilization of existing capacities, but no creation of additional capacities or augmentation of investment flows. There has been no decline in poverty levels, and little by way of institutional reforms in critical areas such as education, which could impact positively on future growth. With one of the fastest-growing populations in the region - the country's population is expected to grow by nearly 100 million in 2020 from the 2002 level of about 148 million - Pakistan's developmental future is, at best, troubling. Finally, the external environment is also changing dramatically, and even the qualified 'tolerance of terror' extended by the US is now being diluted, as America seeks radically improved relations - military, economic and technological - with India. Similarly, there is reason to believe that China's incentives to encourage Pakistan in its mischief are being progressively diluted by growing interests in trade with India, and in regional stability, as Beijing single-mindedly pursues its goal of economic reform and expansion. These factors are now increasingly recognized by the thinking Pakistani, and are acutely confining Musharraf's room for manoeuvre. The 'Kashmir front' is no longer sustainable, as a multiplicity of 'internal fronts' open up. That is the key to Pakistan's increasing 'reasonableness'. It is a key India will do well to explore and exploit - especially if acts of terror increase with the melting of the snows in J&K. Border Security Force submits list of 190 terrorist camps to Bangladesh Rifles: The Director General of Indian Border Security Force (BSF), R.S. Mooshahary stated on April 17, 2005, that the BSF has handed over a list of 190 camps of terrorist outfits in Bangladesh to the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) during a meeting between the two Forces, which concluded in Dhaka on the same day. Mooshahary added that the BSF also handed over a list of 161 terrorists taking shelter in Bangladesh and requested the BDR to take action to evict them. He also said that the 'general secretary' of the United liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Anup Chetia, has been released from prison in Bangladesh but the authorities have not handed him over to India despite repeated requests. Assam Tribune, April 18, 2005. BSF officer killed in firing by Bangladesh Rifles personnel: An Assistant Commandant of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) was killed and two BSF personnel sustained injuries during firing by personnel of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) along the Lankabari border outpost in Tripura on April 16, 2005. "From the marks on the ground, the spot enquiry established that assistant commandant Jeevan Kumar and constable K. K. Surendran were dragged inside Bangladesh territory and attacked by the BDR, resulting in the death of the assistant commandant," said an Indian High Commission press release in Dhaka on April 17. The Hindu, April 18, 2005. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh holds talks with Gen. Musharraf: During their talks in New Delhi on April 17, 2005, Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, are reported to have committed themselves to increasing the frequency of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and commencing the Munabao-Khokhrapar railway link by January 1, 2006. While the Prime Minister described the talks as "very positive, fruitful and forward-looking," Gen. Musharraf said progress had been made in the discussions during which all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, came up. The Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, later told the media that both sides had decided to "revive" their Joint Commission, intensify work in the private sector Joint Business Council and discuss obstacles to free trade at the Commerce Secretary-level Joint Study Group on economic issues. Saran quoted Dr. Singh as saying that he was willing to travel the road to "lasting peace" with Gen. Musharraf. The Prime Minister reiterated that, while redrawing of boundaries was not possible, India was willing to take steps to bring the people living on the two sides of the Line of Control (LoC) closer, including opening cross-LoC trade and transport links. Saran also quoted Gen. Musharraf as saying that confidence-building measures should be continued between the two sides and no "deadline" or "timeline" had been imposed to resolve the Kashmir issue, which had to be addressed. The Hindu, April 18, 2005. Government open to talks with any group that shuns violence, says Prime Minister: While observing that violence will not win rewards and the Government will deal firmly with insurgency, Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said in New Delhi on April 15, 2005, that the Government is willing to conduct an honest and meaningful dialogue with any group that shuns violence and is ready to engage in talks. Addressing the Chief Ministers Conference on Internal Security and Law and Order, he also said "There are no good terrorists or bad terrorists. There is no cause, root or branch, that can ever justify the killing of innocent people. No democratic Government can tolerate the use of violence against innocent people and against the functionaries of a duly-established democratic Government." Daily Excelsior, April 16, 2005. 60 Maoist insurgents killed during clashes in Rukum district: According to the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA), at least 60 Maoist insurgents are believed to have died during clashes with the troops at Dalphing in the western district of Rukum on April 13, 2005. RNA sources claimed the clashes occurred when a group of armed insurgents attacked a security patrol in the area. Nepal News, April 15, 2005. 11 Pakistanis in Spain charged over suspected Al Qaeda links: Spanish authorities have reportedly charged 11 Pakistani nationals over suspected links with Al Qaeda operatives who carried out the Madrid train bombings in March 2004, which killed nearly 200 people. One of the eleven, Shahzad Ali Gujar, is suspected of having transferred funds to Al Qaeda cadres, including Amjad Farooqi, whom Pakistani security forces killed during September 2004 and who was implicated in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl. Investigators believe Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan received some 800,000 euros ($1 million) in funds from Spain. Mohamed Afzaal, believed to have headed the Pakistani cell in question, is suspected of sending money in September 2004 to Rabei Ousman Sayed Ahmed alias "Mohammed the Egyptian", who is currently in custody on suspicion of involvement in the train bombings. Dawn, April 14, 2005.

2019-04-26T10:53:56Z

https://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/Archives/3_40.htm

In chapter four of his book, Thomas deals with the alleged murder weapon – which of course was the Mannlicher Carcano rifle entered into evidence as Ce139. Thomas discusses four key issues with the rifle. Namely the misidentification of the rifle as a German Mauser, the spent shell casing with the dented lip (Ce543) which was allegedly discovered in the Sniper’s nest of the 6th floor of the TSBD, the accuracy of the rifle, and the spectrographic tests by FBI agent John Gallagher on the bullets and bullet fragments to determine whether they had originated from “Oswald’s” rifle. Thomas begins with a discussion of the misidentification of the rifle as a German Mauser, referring to the misidentification as “One of the many red herrings in the lore of the JFK assassination”. As Thomas explains, Dallas deputy Sheriffs Seymour Weitzman, Eugene Boone, Roger Craig, and DPD Captain Will Fritz all initially identified the rifle as a 7.65 mm Mauser. Thomas believes that the misidentification of the rifle arose due to the fact that German Mausers were also manufactured as 6.5 mm calibre rifles, and that both Mausers and Carcanos were manufactured as bolt action rifles. Thomas explains that since the MC rifle didn’t have the words “Mannlicher Carcano” stamped on it, with only “CAL 6.5” stamped on the barrel; this then led to the false reports that it was a Mauser. My own belief is that the MC rifle entered into evidence was in fact the rifle used to shoot the President from the 6th floor of the TSBD. If the conspirators were trying to frame Oswald for the assassination (as the evidence indicates) it makes no sense that they wouldn’t use the MC rifle, as Oswald allegedly ordered the MC rifle via Money order, and the so-called backyard photographs depict “Oswald” holding the rifle. As Thomas explains, TSBD employee Warren Caster had brought two rifles into the TSBD two days before the assassination. One of them was a 0.30 -06 calibre (7.65mm) Mauser. It is therefore quite possible that deputy Sheriff Seymour Weitzman had merely confused the MC rifle with Caster’s Mauser when he wrote in his affidavit the day following the assassination (here) that “This rifle was a 7.65mm Mauser bolt action equipped with a 4/18 scope, a thick leather brownish-black sling on it.” It should be noted that Caster testified before the Warren Commission that his rifles were at his home on the day of the assassination. Where were those guns [rifles] on November 22, 1963? The guns were in my home, 3338 Merrell Road. Although both Roy Truly and William Shelley confirmed during their Warren Commission testimonies that Caster had removed the rifles from the TSBD before the assassination, it is quite possible that the rifle(s) were present inside the TSBD on the day of the assassination. Realising that the presence of the Mauser had led to the misidentification of the MC rifle, the DPD and/or the FBI had likely suborned Caster, Truly, and Shelley to claim that Caster’s rifle had been removed from the building prior to the assassination. It’s important to keep in mind that photographs and film footage of the rifle on the 6th floor and outside the TSBD clearly show that the rifle is the MC rifle entered into evidence. First of all, it makes no sense that the conspirators would use a lower floor of the building for assassinating the President, as they would logically want to be higher above the ground. Secondly, the witnesses on the 5th floor of the TSBD claimed that the shots were fired from directly above their heads. Thirdly, several witnesses in the Plaza reported seeing a gunman in an upper floor of the TSBD – with none claiming that it was from a lower floor. Finally, it makes no sense that the DPD would move the spent shell casings from a lower floor of the TSBD to the 6th floor. In my opinion, the TSBD sniper was located in the South-eastern most window of the 6th floor where the spent shell casings were found. I should also point out that Dallas deputy Sheriff Roger Craig insisted until the day he died that the rifle was a Mauser. Now although I believe that Craig did see a man resembling Oswald enter a Nash rambler station wagon on Elm Street, as it was corroborated by four other witnesses, and DPD chief Jesse Curry provided indirect corroboration during this Press conference, he should not be considered a totally credible witness. For example, Craig claimed that when he heard the news of Tippit’s murder, he looked at his watch and it read 1:06 pm. However, this is contradicted by the fact that T.F Bowley claimed he looked at his watch when he arrived at the Tippit murder scene, and it read 1:10 pm (see here for a detailed discussion of the time Tippit was most likely shot). Thomas also explains to the reader that deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone testified before the Warren Commission that it was Captain Will Fritz who first identified the rifle as a Mauser. He also explains that Fritz would only admit that he “might” have identified the gun as a Mauser. Thomas also explains that the Warren Commission would not admit that Fritz; who was in charge of the investigating the assassination, would have made an error in identifying the rifle. Thomas then does a brilliant job in highlighting how incompetent (and deliberately negligent) Fritz was in his investigation of the President’s assassination. For example, Thomas explains that Fritz had no formal training in forensics, that he had failed to tape record any of his interrogations of Oswald, and that he had no interest in Rose Cheramie’s claim of a conspiracy to assassinate the President. As most researchers are aware, conspiracy advocates have argued that the dented shell casing (Ce543) could not have been dented after it was allegedly fired from the MC rifle. In his discussion of the dented shell casing, Thomas explains that the shell casing could simply have been dented by the mishandling of the shell by the DPD; inferring that there actually were three shots fired from the MC rifle. However, Thomas inexcusably omits that Bonnie Ray Williams (one of the three witnesses on the 5th floor of the TSBD at the time of the assassination) claimed in his affidavit to the Dallas Sheriff’s Office on the day of the assassination, and informed the FBI the following day, that he had heard only TWO shots fired above him (please refer to this post for more information). Thomas does what I think is a good job in explaining the problems with the chain of possession of the dented shell casing. Thomas cites the report by DPD detective C.N Dhority (here) in which Dhority claimed that Captain Fritz had given him the three spent shell casings to take to Lt Carl Day. Thomas then cites Fritz’s testimony where Fritz explained that he had kept possession of one of the shell casings, before turning it over to the FBI on November the 27th, 1963. FBI agent James Hosty wrote out a receipt concerning the shell casing which can be read here. Now, I am going to ask you to state if you know what Commission Exhibit 543 is? That is a hull that does not have my marking on it. Do you know whether or not this was one of the hulls that was found at the School Book Depository Building? It has the initials "G. D." on it, which is George Doughty, the captain that I worked under. Was he there at the scene? No, sir; this hull came up, this hull that is not marked came up, later. I didn't send that. That was retained. That is the hull that was retained by homicide division when the other two were originally sent in with the gun. Despite the fact that Captain George Doughty had marked the spent shell casings; and was Lt. Day’s immediate superior, he was never called to testify before the Warren Commission! Thomas believes that Ce543 was dented by the DPD when experimenting with chambering the spent shell casings in the rifle, and that they possibly retained it because they had damaged it. My own belief is that Ce543 contained an unfired round, from which Ce399 (the so-called magic bullet) originated. I will elaborate on this theory in a future post on my blog. Thomas also does a nice job explaining the markings on the spent shell casings. Both Ce543 and Ce545 contained a mark from the magazine follower of the rifle, although Thomas doesn’t actually mention that Ce545 contained the mark. Since the magazine follower only marked the last bullet in the clip of the rifle, both these shells had previously been loaded into the rifle and ejected. Thomas also writes that Ce543 contained three marks which indicated that it had been loaded and extracted from the rifle at least three times – possibly due to practicing with the bolt of the rifle with live ammunition. Thomas also explains that Ce543 had a deeper firing pin impression; which could only have occurred by attempting to fire an empty shell casing (see here for information on the dented shell casing). Thomas does a good job exposing the fraud of the shooting tests conducted by the US Army on “Oswald’s” Mannlicher Carcano. As Thomas notes, the 6th floor window of the TSBD was 60 feet high, whereas the three shooters enlisted for the test fired from a 30 feet tall tower, and the target was placed in a straight line from the tower instead of on an angle as was the case with the 6th floor window. The targets were also stationary, and the three shooters were all top sharpshooters, whereas Oswald had barely qualified as a Marksman in the Marines in 1959. “It is apparently difficult, but not impossible – at least with only minimal practice with the firearm used – to fire three shots, at least two of which score “kills”, with an elapsed time of 1.7 seconds or less between any two shots, even though, in the limited testing conducted, no shooter achieved this degree of proficiency”. The 1.7 second elapsed time is derived from the DPD Dictabelt recording, which allegedly proves that two shots were fired from the TSBD only 1.7 seconds apart. As Thomas explains, the MC rifle used during the testing was not the one allegedly used to shoot the President from the 6th floor of the TSBD; instead, it was a substitute rifle! The reason the MC rifle discovered in the TSBD wasn’t used was because it was in poor condition (bear in mind that the FBI determined that it required a minimum of 2.3 seconds to fire consecutive shots from “Oswald’s” rifle) . As far as I’m concerned, using a substitute rifle to prove that the shots could have been fired 1.7 seconds apart is completely and utterly ridiculous. Why anyone should believe otherwise is beyond me. Thomas then moves on to a discussion of the spectrographic tests performed by the FBI lab on the bullet fragments recovered from President Kennedy, Governor Connally, and the limousine. As Thomas explains, the FBI hid from the Warren Commission the results of its spectrographic tests. When the late Harold Weisberg filed a freedom of information suit for the release of the results, he was met by heavy residence from the FBI and the courts, but the results were eventually released. Upon their release, Weisberg discovered that the results from the analysis of the President’s clothing, the windshield of the President’s limousine (where it is purported there was a through and through bullet hole), and the Commerce Street curb where a bullet or bullet fragment had struck and the injured bystander James Tague, were missing from the released results. Thomas explains that the so-called Walker bullet; which was allegedly recovered from the home of former Army General Edwin Walker after the failed attempt on his life on April 10, 1963, had distinct metallurgical characteristics than the MC bullets fired at President Kennedy. Thomas notes that the “Walker” bullet had a lead core with Tin as its major impurity, whereas the bullets used in the assassination of the President had a lead core with antimony as its major impurity. Thomas argues that the “Walker” bullet and the “Kennedy” bullets were from different manufacturing batches; with the former being from World War 2, and the latter bullets from the post-war period. It’s important to keep in mind that Walker had informed HSCA chief counsel Robert Blakey that the bullet which was recovered from his home was not an MC bullet! Walker claimed that it was a steel jacketed bullet. The fact that the MC bullet allegedly recovered from Walker’s home had distinct metallurgical characteristics is evidence that the actual bullet recovered was not ammunition that Oswald allegedly purchased, and then allegedly tried to murder Walker with. A highly fascinating revelation made by Thomas is that the MC bullets used to assassinate the President were manufactured at the behest of the CIA! As Thomas explains, four lots of MC bullets were manufactured by the Western Cartridge company following World War 2, under contract with the U.S Marine Corp. Thomas then cites an interview which FBI agent Robert Frazier gave to David Fisher, during which revealed that he believed the CIA had provided Italy (where the MC was manufactured) with four million rounds of MC bullets, which was then sold back to the U.S since Italy didn’t use them. Thomas argues that the Government had gone to great lengths to hide the spectrographic test results, as it would reveal that President Kennedy was assassinate by bullets which were manufactured at the behest of the CIA, as part of an assassination plot directed at French President Charles De Gaulle. Now, does anyone honestly believe that the FBI and the US Government wouldn’t go to great lengths to try and hide the fact that the President was assassinated using CIA bullets? I am very grateful to Thomas for providing this information in his book. I think this is crucial information, which serious assassination researchers should not ignore, as it indirectly implicates the CIA in the assassination. After my disappointment with Chapter one, I was very pleased with what Thomas had written in the following three Chapters. Unfortunately, I was also very disappointed with some of the things Thomas wrote in Chapter five, which he entitled Photogrammetry. In this Chapter, Thomas discusses the so-called backyard photographs of “Oswald” posing with the MC rifle, the photograph taken of Edwin Walker’s home, the photographs taken of the TSBD before and after the assassination, and photographs of the infamous Grassy Knoll. Thomas begins with the so-called backyard photographs (designated Ce133-A, B, and C), claiming that the photographs are in fact genuine as lone gunman zealots have been vehemently arguing. As evidence of their authenticity, Thomas cites the determination by the FBI’s photographic expert, Lyndal Shaneyfelt, that frame edge markings unique to the Imperial reflex camera (which was allegedly used by Marina Oswald to take the photos), matched to the negative of Ce 133-B to the exclusion of all cameras. Thomas also cites the study by the HSCA’s photographic panel which came to the conclusion that the photographs are authentic. Although Thomas does inform the reader that the photographs were discovered in the home of Ruth Paine by the DPD on the day following the assassination, he apparently didn’t believe it was odd that they were not found on the day of the assassination, when Paine’s home was initially searched by the DPD. Thomas also doesn’t inform the reader that the Imperial reflex camera was mysteriously discovered by Ruth Paine, and given to Oswald’s older brother, Robert, on December 8th, 1963; instead of to the DPD or the FBI. During her testimony before the Warren Commission – after her memory had miraculously improved, she now claimed that the MC rifle entered into evidence was the "fateful rifle of Lee Oswald”! She also initially claimed that she didn’t know that Oswald allegedly used the alias, Alek James Hidell. During her testimony before the Warren Commission in February 1964, she claimed that she first heard the name during Oswald’s radio debate with Ed Butler and Carlos Bringuier (see here). Unfortunately for her claim, there was no mention of the Hidell named during the entire debate! It is also crucial to bear in mind that according to Robert Oswald, the FBI had implied (in so many words) that she would possibly be deported back to Russia if she didn’t co-operate with them! In fact, Marina Oswald herself claimed that she was advised that “it would be better for me if I were to help them.” (See here). Why anyone should believe that she actually did take the photographs of Oswald holding the rifle is beyond me. The one final point I would like to make concerning Marina’s credibility, is that the HSCA wrote a 29 page report questioning her credibility. As far as Ruth Paine is concerned, many researchers, such as Jim DiEugenio, have noted that both her sister and father worked for the CIA; and that Ruth Paine herself worked for the CIA! Dallas deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers wrote in his report to Sheriff Bill Decker (here) that “A set of metal file cabinets containing records that appeared to be names and activities of Cuban sympathizers” was discovered, after searching through Ruth Paine’s home. One must ask what Ruth Paine was doing with metal filing cabinets containing the names of Cuban sympathisers – unless of course, she was spying on them at the behest of an intelligence agency such as the CIA. It’s crucial to note that during her testimony before a New Orleans grand jury for the indictment of Clay Shaw, Marina Oswald claimed that she was advised by the Secret Service to keep away from Ruth Paine – because they believed she was sympathising with the CIA! (See here). Furthermore, in this article by researcher Steve Jones, it is stated that a friend of Ruth Paine’s in Nicaragua claimed she believed Ruth was working there in some sort of intelligence gathering capacity, since Ruth would be taking copious notes of everything she heard and saw, and that she would be asking many people inappropriate questions etc. It’s also crucial to note that Ruth Paine claimed the reason she wanted Marina to move into her home was so that she could learn the Russian language. However, as Jim DiEugenio explains in his updated book Destiny Betrayed (2nd edition), Ruth Paine had studied Russian since 1957, and she had a Russian tutor in Dallas named Dorothy Gravitis. Most importantly, Ruth Paine taught Russian at St Mark’s School for boys. Now, why on Earth would she need Marina Oswald to teach her Russian? The fact is she didn’t need her! So why would she lie; and more importantly, why would she need Marina Oswald to move in with her – if not to help frame Oswald for the assassination? As far as Michael Paine is concerned, consider the fact that his mother, Ruth Forbes Paine, was a close friend of CIA agent Mary Bancroft. Bancroft was involved in a 20 plus year affair with the notorious CIA director, Allen Dulles. There was therefore an indirect relationship between Michael Paine and the CIA. There is also evidence that Michael Paine was also some type of intelligence agent/asset. As Jim DiEugenio explains in his book, Michael Paine had accosted several students from the Southern Methodist University, at Luby’s cafeteria in Dallas. He had told them that he praised the revolution of Fidel Castro, and that he knew an ex-Marine who had returned from Russia with wife. There can be no doubt that this was Oswald. One of the students identified Michael Paine to the FBI as the man who had been accosting the students. One interpretation of this incident is that Michael Paine had been setting Oswald up for the assassination as a Marxist sympathiser. Another important point to keep in mind is that it was Michael Paine who informed the DPD that the so-called backyard photographs of Oswald holding the rifle were taken at 214 West Neely Street in Dallas. As researchers such as Greg Parker have explained, the evidence that the Oswalds actually lived at the Neely Street is simply not convincing. Finally, and most importantly, Anthony Summers wrote in his book The Kennedy conspiracy, that Michael Paine was overheard on the telephone telling his wife that he was sure Oswald shot the President, and also added: “We both know who is responsible”. Now how could Michael Paine have known who was responsible, unless he was involved in the assassination himself! It’s also worth mentioning that two friends of the Paines’, Fred and Nancy Osborn, had vouched for their innocence. Fred’s father, Fred Osborn senior, was a friend of Allen Dulles. It is my firm opinion that both Ruth and Michael Paine were involved in framing Oswald for the assassination. Shockingly, Thomas mentions none of the above concerning Marina Oswald and the Paines. Thomas also never mentions the fact that David Eisendrath, who headed the HSCA PEP fake photo panel, claimed in his report that the HSCA’s photographic panel were fooled by fake photographs he had prepared! In light of that information, it is simply ridiculous to uphold the HSCA photographic panel as being credible. Thomas also discusses the destruction of a photograph of Oswald allegedly holding the MC rifle above his head by Marina Oswald and his mother, Marguerite Oswald, allegedly done to hide evidence of Oswald’s guilt. Thomas believes that this photograph also depicted Oswald with the MC rifle. However, many researchers have explained that this was most likely a photograph of Oswald in Russia, holding a shotgun. Apparently, Thomas didn’t think it was odd that Marina and Marguerite would only destroy only one of the backyard photographs of Oswald – instead of all of them. This strongly suggests that the photograph which was destroyed was not of Oswald holding the MC rifle. Thomas also didn’t seem to think it was odd that Oswald wouldn’t destroy the backyard photographs; if he really did deliver the rifle to the TSBD. Thomas also briefly discusses the Walker shooting, and is of the opinion that Oswald did actually shoot at Walker. However, not once does Thomas mention that Walker informed HSCA chief counsel G. Robert Blakey that the bullet fired at him was not a MC bullet, but rather a steel jacketed bullet. Thomas also believes that the so-called Walker note, mysteriously “discovered” by Ruth Paine, and verified by Marina Oswald as being left by Oswald is actually authentic. Of course, Thomas believes that both Marina Oswald and Ruth Paine are credible witnesses, something which in light of everything mentioned above (and more) is utterly absurd. Thomas cites the FBI’s questioned document examiner, James C Cadigan, who claimed that the handwriting on the note was Oswald’s. First of all, handwriting analysis is not an exact science. Secondly, the handwriting could easily have been forged by someone like Ruth Paine. Furthermore, as researcher Gil Jesus demonstrated here, Marina Oswald initially denied having any knowledge of the note. It is my opinion that the photographs of the Oswald impersonator was made using a higher quality camera, with Oswald’s head then pasted into the photos to incriminate him (if you look closely at each of the backyard photographs, the head appears to be the same, with only the expression being slightly different). I believe the conspirators had enlarged the original photos with Oswald’s pasted in head, altered his facial expression with an air brush, and then took snapshots of the photographs with the pasted in head, using the imperial reflex camera. Keep in mind that the photographs of General Walkers home also contained the markings from the Imperial reflex camera. Given that the bullet fired at Walker was a steel jacketed bullet, it stands to reason that the conspirators had taken snapshots of the original Walker photographs using the Imperial reflex camera to incriminate Oswald. It is also my opinion that Michael Paine had brought the photographs with him to Ruth Paine’s house on the day of the assassination. With the DPD detectives and Dallas Sheriff’s deputies already there when he arrived, the photographs had to be discovered the following day. Let’s also bear in mind that a copy of Ce133-A was discovered amongst the possessions of George deMohrenschildt. This copy of Ce133-A contained a greater amount of background than the copy entered into evidence by the Warren Commission. It was also of a higher quality. It has been argued that this copy was made using a higher quality enlarger and a higher quality lens. The HSCA allegedly determined that this was also a first generation print from the Imperial reflex camera. Despite my misgivings with Thomas concerning the backyard photographs, I should praise him for explaining that a photograph of Walker’s home with a 57 model, two tonne, Chevrolet Bel Air sedan, was damaged to hide the identity of the license plate of the car. Thomas also discusses the apparent movement of boxes on the 6th floor of the TSBD from the time that Dallas morning news photographer Tom Dillard took his famous photograph of the TSBD, until the time that freelance photographer James Murray took his photograph of the TSBD approximately 12 to 14 minutes following the assassination. Although I tend to believe that boxes were moved, it can’t be stated as a fact that this wasn’t simply due to an optical illusion, or due to the fact that the photographs were taken from different locations. Thomas also discusses the so-called black dog man, and the so-called badge man who was allegedly shooting at the President from behind the picket fence. In my opinion, the “badge man” is nothing more than an optical illusion. As for the “black dog man”, there is compelling evidence that this was a Negroe man who was eating lunch with his wife at the time of the assassination. Abraham Zapruder’s secretary, Marilyn Sitzman, who was standing behind Zapruder on top of the pedestal as he filmed the motorcade, informed Josiah Thompson that she saw a young Negroe couple eating lunch in the area of the Grassy knoll where the black dog man figure was photographed. Thomas surmises that the purpose of the “black dog man” may have been to ensure that witnesses didn’t approach the picket fence from where a shot was most likely fired. I believe that this could have been the case. Thomas also mentions the fact that there were men in Dealey Plaza who identified themselves to DPD Officers Joe Marshall Smith, and Sgt David V. Harkness as Secret Service agents. Of course, there were no genuine Secret Service agents assigned to Dealey Plaza, and that these men were by all likelihood conspirators (please see here for my discussion of this issue). In chapter six of his book, Thomas discusses the Zapruder film. Issues discussed include the wounding sequence of President Kennedy and Governor Connally, blurring of the film, and Abraham Zapruder’s startle reaction to the shots. Thomas notes that the flapping of Governor Connally’s jacket at frame 224 of the Zapruder film establishes that this was the point in time at which Connally was shot through the chest. Simultaneously, Connally’s torso can be seen to twist slightly to the left, most likely due to the transfer of momentum from the bullet to his body. Following this, we can see a look of pain on Connally’s pain, and his right hand holding the Stetson hat flips up probably due to a reflex reaction of the bullet shattering his wrist. If you look at the Zapruder film closely, after his Stetson hat flips up, Connally moves his left hand near his right wrist where the bullet struck him. We then see Connally slump and turn to his right by Zapruder frame 236 with a look of pain on his face. It’s blatantly obvious that he has been wounded. Like many researchers, Thomas also believes that Connally’s rapid head snap to the right at Circa Zapruder frame 162, was due to his hearing a gunshot. However, Thomas neglects to mention that Dallas morning news reporter Mary Woodward and her three friends had called out to the President to look towards them. Therefore, Connally had most likely turned his head to look towards these women; just as the President had done so. Thomas also neglects to mention that none of the witnesses to the assassination recalled seeing the President wave after the first shot. He can be seen waving after Zapruder frame 160 (please see here for my own discussion of the first shot). Thomas argues that the jiggling of Zapruder’s camera at frame 227 was due to a shot from the South eastern most window on the 6th floor of the TSBD. However, Zapruder testified before the Warren Commission that he saw the President lean over and grab at himself after the first shot. These actions can be seen after Zapruder frame 224, when Kennedy grabs at his throat and leans forward and to the left. As I explained here, there is much evidence that there was a shot prior to Zapruder frame 224. Therefore, Zapruder’s testimony indicates that he didn’t hear a shot fired at circa Zapruder frame 224, and that he couldn’t have jiggled the camera in response to hearing a shot. Let me state that I think Thomas done a good job in exposing the lies and deceptions of lone gunman zealots, such as Luis Alverez, who claim that the blurring of the Zapruder film at frame 313 (the moment of the head shot(s)) was due to a startle reaction by Zapruder from a shot fired from the TSBD. Thomas explains that the sound of a shot from the TSBD sniper’s nest would have arrived at Zapruder’s location in 0.24s, and that it would therefore have not arrived in time to cause the blurring at Zapruder frame 313. However, Thomas explains that the muzzle blast from a rifle near the corner of the stockade fence, where a figure which appears to be a person’s head can be seen, would have caused blurring of Zapruder film at frame 313. The distance of Zapruder from near the corner of the fence is approximately 52 ft. The air temperature in Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination was 65 degrees Fahrenheit (as indicated by the Hertz sign on top of the TSBD), which means the sound speed of sound was about 1123 ft./s. Therefore, the sound of a shot from that location would have reached Zapruder in about 0.046 s. Thomas mistakenly writes that it would take 0.045 s for the sound to reach Zapruder, as he uses 50 ft. as the distance from the rifle to Zapruder, instead of 52 ft. However, it’s only a very minor mistake. Thomas claims that the sound of the shot (and the shock wave) would reach Zapruder 0.019 s prior to frame 313 of the Zapruder film, where it is blatantly obvious that the President has been shot in the head. However, it would actually arrive 0.020 s prior to frame 313. Thomas explains that there would have been a 0.025s to 0.040s delay for Zapruder to react to the sound. With the speed of the Zapruder’s camera at 18.3 frames per second, Zapruder would be reacting (assuming a full 0.040s delay) at circa frame 313; just as the blurring indicates. I should note that Thomas is firmly of the opinion that the head shot originated from behind the picket fence. As I explain below, it had actually by all likelihood originated from the 6th floor window of the TSBD. I nevertheless commend Thomas for demonstrating that the shot which caused the blurring of the Zapruder film at frame 313 had originated from behind the picket fence. In chapter seven, Thomas discusses the President’s neck and back wound; concluding that the back wound was caused by a bullet which then exited his throat. Contained in this chapter are some of the most startling omissions of fact which I have seen. When discussing the back wound, not once does Thomas explain to the reader that the wound was measured 7 by 4mm in diameter at the autopsy, and that it was measured as 14 cm from the tip of the right mastoid process. When discussing the throat wound, not once does Thomas explain to the reader that Dr Malcolm Perry, who had performed a tracheostomy incision on the President at Parkland hospital, informed the chief autopsy pathologist, James Humes, that the throat wound was 3 to 5mm in diameter. Thomas merely states that Perry claimed it was a “few” millimetres in diameter. Yet as Thomas explains, the Zapruder film depicts no such thing. Thomas also explains how Warren Commissioner Gerald Ford altered the description of the President’s back wound from “A bullet entered his back at a point slightly above the shoulder and to the right of the spine.” to instead read “A bullet entered the back of his neck at a point slightly to the right of the spine.” Ford would later admit to having done so “only in an attempt to be more precise”. However, this was not precise in the least, since the autopsy photo of the President’s back clearly shows the wound to be below the neck! Thomas also explains the lie by the Warren Commission that “The [autopsy] doctors traced the course of the bullet through the body”. The truth of the matter is that the autopsy doctors weren’t even aware during the autopsy that there was a throat wound, due to the fact that Doctor Malcolm Perry had performed a tracheostomy incision over the wound, during the desperate attempt to try and save the President’s life. So how on Earth could they have possibly traced the path of the bullet? The fact is they didn’t. Despite Thomas’ insistence that the bullet which entered the President’s back exited his throat, this simply can’t be true as I explain in my two part discussion of the single bullet theory here. Given that the diameter of the wound in the President’s back measured 7 by 4mm, whereas the diameter of a Mannlicher Carcano bullet is 6.8mm, it is highly unlikely that even with elastic shrinkage of the wound, it could have been caused by a MC bullet. Furthermore, as I explain here, the shot to Governor Connally was almost certainly a silenced shot which could not have originated from the 6th floor of the TSBD. Thomas explains that the reason the autopsy doctors were unable to connect the back wound to the throat, via a surgical probe, is because President Kennedy had his arms raised at the moment he was hit in the back. Given that Governor Connally was almost certainly shot in the back at frame 224 of the Zapruder film, Thomas believes this was when the President was also shot. Apparently Thomas didn’t believe that if Kennedy had his arms already raised by frame 224 – then he was almost certainly already hit by a bullet. I mean, why else would he have his arms raised? My own belief is that the President was hit in the back by a fragment from a MC bullet which deflected upwards off the road. This would explain why the President’s back wound had an upwards abrasion collar, why the wound was an irregular oval shaped wound, and why the wound was shallow and did not penetrate to the throat. In the autopsy report prepared by FBI agents James Sibert and Frank O’Neill, it is claimed that the bullet had entered the back at a 45 to 60 degree downward angle (although Thomas neglects to mention this to the reader). If the back wound was caused by a bullet fragment from the road, then it would surely have entered at an upwards angle of 45 to 60 degrees. I believe the autopsy doctors knew this, and lied to Sibert and O’Neill by telling them that a bullet entered at a downward angle. I should note that my experimentation with raising arms has shown that the skin in the area of the back, where President Kennedy’s wound was located, is pulled slightly upwards. However, keep in mind that witnesses to the autopsy, such as Paul O’Connor and James Jenkins, claimed that a surgical probe had penetrated two to three inches into the wound. Now in order for Thomas’ theory to be true, the hole in the back muscles would have to be at the same level as the hole in the skin at the time the wound was inflicted; and during the autopsy when Kennedy’s arms were not raised, but by his side. Thomas doesn’t cite any evidence to support this claim. However, I don’t think that such a theory should be ruled out completely. Following his discussion of the back and throat wounds, Thomas moves onto a discussion of the President’s massive head wound. Thomas claims that this was a wound inflicted by a bullet fired from behind the picket fence on top of the infamous Grassy knoll area. Thomas believes the bullet entered Kennedy’s right temple near the hairline (with an angle of approach of about 50 to 60 degrees), where a small hole was discovered, and where assistant White house press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff indicated to reporters where the bullet had allegedly entered. Thomas believes that upon sharply deflecting to the left, the bullet then blew out a large hole from the right rear of the skull. However, the laws of physics, and a close examination of both the Zapruder and Muchmore films reveal that this can’t possibly be the case. First of all, we should keep in mind that in his discussion of the acoustics evidence, Thomas claims the rifle fired from behind the picket fence had a muzzle velocity of approximately 2350 to 2550 ft./s. Yet for his calculation of the flight time of a bullet fired from that location, he had assumed a muzzle velocity of only 2,200 ft./s. For the sake of this discussion, let’s use the conservative velocity of 2,200 ft./s. Thomas claimed that the impact velocity of the bullet fired from behind the picket fence with a muzzle velocity of 2,200 ft./s, would have been 1,900 ft./s. In order for the bullet to deflect to the extent that Thomas would have us believe, a large amount of force would have been exerted on the bullet upon impact, towards the direction of the Grassy knoll. According to Newton’s third law of motion; every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, the impact of the bullet would have spun and knocked the President’s head violently to the left, and would likely have also snapped his neck. However, such reactions can’t be seen in either the Zapruder or Muchmore films. There is also no evidence that the President’s neck was broken. To support his deflection theory, Thomas cited a study by Karl Sellier in which Sellier had come to the conclusion that deflections of up to 65 degrees were obtained in experiments with bullets striking metal plates. Thomas should know as well as anybody else that the President’s head wasn’t made of a metal plate, but rather human bone; and wasn’t fixed into place, but allowed to pivot on his cervical vertebrae. As far as physics is concerned, Thomas’ deflection theory simply cannot be true. Thomas begins his discussion of the head wound by explaining that the HSCA and Clark Panel were unable to locate the bullet wound discovered during the autopsy, which was 2.5 cm and slightly above the EOP (External occipital protuberance). However, as I demonstrate here, the wound can be seen! The autopsy doctors weren’t alone in their claim that the wound was located near the EOP. Four other witnesses to the autopsy; autopsy photographer John Stringer, Secret Service agent Roy Kellerman, Lt. Richard Lipsey, and mortician Tom Robinson also indicated that the wound was near the hairline where the EOP is located. In fact, as Pat Speer explains on his website, Tom Robinson claimed that he saw the autopsy doctors insert a surgical probe “near the base of the brain in the back of the head” and that he also recalled seeing “the tip of the probe come out the tracheotomy incision in the anterior [front] neck”. As Speer further explains, the HSCA’s medical report stated the following concerning Richard Lipsey’s recollections of what transpired during the autopsy “He [Lipsey] also concluded the entrance in the rear of the head corresponded to an exit in the neck”. I discussed the issue of the bullet exiting the throat in this post. Speer also explains that despite popular belief amongst conspiracy advocates that the back of the President’s head was blown out, in actual fact, it wasn’t! I concur. Although Thomas does believe the right rear of the skull was blasted out, he also believes the autopsy photograph taken of the back of the head doesn’t depict a hole because the scalp was pulled back by one of the autopsy doctors when the photograph was taken. There have been all sorts of theories pertaining to the head wound, with lone gunman zealots arguing that the entry wound to the rear of the skull was actually 4 inches higher in the cowlick region. The most credible (and only) explanation in my opinion is Pat Speer’s argument that a bullet fired from the 6th floor window of the TSBD struck the President tangentially on the top right of his head. Speer cites several key pieces of evidence to support his claim, which I will discuss briefly here. First, there is no back spatter of blood from the rear of the President’s head seen in the Zapruder film, where the bullet which allegedly caused the massive gaping head wound had entered the skull. As a bullet enters the skull, the transfer of energy from the bullet to the inside of the skull pressurises the brain and blood matter, resulting in the spattering of the blood from the entry hole. The fact that no back spatter is evident from the rear of the President’s head is strong evidence that the bullet which caused the gaping hole did not enter the back of the head. As most researchers are aware, a piece of the President’s skull referred to as the Harper fragment was discovered in the Dealey plaza lawn to the front and left of the President’s position at the time of the headshot. Ironically, it was discovered by a medical student named Billy Harper. At Zapruder frame 313, the Harper fragment can be seen shooting upwards and slightly forwards from the top of President Kennedy’s head as a white streak. When the HSCA asked Dr Lawrence Angel, a world renowned Forensic anthropologist, to identify the location of the Harper fragment on President Kennedy’s skull, he drew a diagram showing it to be immediately anterior to the large cracks seen posterior to the large gaping hole on the lateral skull X-ray. Speer explains that the underside of the Harper fragment shows internal bevelling (associated with entrance wounds) towards the back, with external bevelling (associated with exit wounds) towards the front. The presence of both internal and external bevelling in the Harper fragment is evidence that the bullet struck the top of the President’s head tangentially from rear to front. Furthermore, Speer explains that a greyish discolouration on the outside of the Harper fragment; caused by lead from the core of a MC bullet, suggests that the bullet broke up whilst entering the skull; and not whilst exiting the skull. It is readily apparent from photographs that the base of the bullet has been sheared off. It is also easy to imagine that as the nose portion strikes the top of the head, the bullet will start to deflect slightly upwards, and shear apart due to the upwards force exerted on the bullet from the top of the skull. The downwards force exerted by a bullet striking the top of the head will undoubtedly cause the head to move downwards. As Pat Speer demonstrates on his website, this is precisely what is seen between frames 312 and 314 of the Zapruder film! In my opinion, this is positive proof that the bullet hit the top of the head. Speer also explains that the discovery of skin on the nose fragment of the bullet is positive proof that the bullet struck the President’s head tangentially (see here for a discussion of the discovery of skin). Speer cites Dr Vincent J.M DiMaio’s book Gunshot wounds (here, page 46) in which it is claimed that skin is the least commonly encountered tissue on bullets. If the bullet did actually enter the back of the skull, it makes no sense that skin would remain attached to its nose as it travelled through the brain. Furthermore, it makes little sense that skin from an outward exploding exit wound would attach itself to the nose of the bullet. However, if the bullet did strike tangentially, it makes sense that the nose of the bullet would scrape off skin from the scalp as it broke off. It is crucial to bear in mind that Dr William Kemp Clark, the chief neurosurgeon at Parkland hospital, had informed reporters that he believed the head wound “could have been a tangential wound, as it was simply a large, gaping loss of tissue." Clark confirmed during his testimony before the Warren Commission that he did in fact believe the head wound was a tangential wound. What, if anything, did you say then in the course of that press conference? I described the President's wound in his head in very much the same way as I have described it here. I was asked if this wound was an entrance wound, an exit wound, or what, and I said it could be an exit wound, but I felt it was a tangential wound. I think the fact that the chief Neurosurgeon of Parkland hospital believed the wound was a tangential wound is quite significant. According to the HSCA’s medical report, Richard Lipsey informed the HSCA that “He [Lipsey] believed the massive defect in the head represented an entrance and an exit when it was only an exit”. Whilst lone gunman zealots will undoubtedly argue that Lipsey was mistaken, or even lying, FBI agent Frank O’Neill drew a diagram for the HSCA in which he wrote the words “entrance” and “exit” on opposite sides of the diagram depicting the head wound. In other words, O’Neill was depicting a tangential wound. Finally, in a book co-authored by legendary Forensic scientist Henry Lee entitled The real World of a Forensic Scientist, it is claimed: "[The] shot entered Kennedy's right temple and exited through his skull.", therefore implying the wound was of a tangential nature. For those of you interested in the truth behind the President’s head wound, I strongly recommend you take the time to carefully read over everything Pat Speer has written on his website. The one final issue I would like to address is Thomas’ claim that the bullet fragments found inside the limousine were not associated with the head wound, but rather with Governor Connally’s wounds. In chapter nine, Thomas explains that the bullet broke in two when it struck Governor Connally’s rib, and then one of the fragments struck his right wrist shattering the radius bone. In the first place, the bullet did not break in two. As explained above, Ce567 was identified as the nose portion of the bullet’s copper jacket, Ce569 as the base portion of the copper jacket, with the middle section missing. Therefore, the bullet broke into at least three fragments. Pat Speer’s analysis of the shooting has demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that the shot(s) to Governor Connally was fired by a rifle equipped with a silencer/suppressor. Also, Thomas ignores the crucial testimony of Secret Service agent Roy Kellerman, who claimed that he heard a “flurry of shells” come into the car after he observed the President clutching at his throat. Without a doubt, Kellerman was referring to the nose and base fragments of the bullet which damaged the interior of the limousine. The fact that “numerous small bone fragments” were found in the container where the President’s brain was fixed, strengthens the case that the head wound was a tangential wound. Think about it, with the bullet striking the top right of the head tangentially, it would shatter the skull into small fragments, with the fragments being carried downwards into the brain. Besides, it makes no sense that tiny bone fragments would be carried into the brain if the large gaping hole was an exit wound, since the fragments would logically be blown outwards.

2019-04-23T16:30:59Z

http://jfkthelonegunmanmyth.blogspot.com/2013/04/hear-no-evil-by-don-thomas-part-2.html

His introduction on the soap opera saved it from cancellation and initiated five years of wonderful stories, of which his character of the reluctant vampire was most often the centerpiece. It was his choice to make the vampire terrifying but also tortured by guilt, and in doing this he became the heartthrob of thousands of housewives across the country watching him over their ironing. They longed to be bitten! My personal association with Jonathan was life changing. I had been in New York just over a week when I auditioned for the part of Angelique on camera with Jonathan, doing the scene in which I tearfully entreated him to love me and not my mistress Josette Of course my head was spinning but he leaned in before the red light went on and said, “You know, she’s a witch.” Without that bit of information, I might never have put the evil spin on the moment that snagged me the role. How fortunate for me that he was there! He also whispered in my ear, “I hope you get it,” which sent my confidence soaring. I played countless scenes with Jonathan, and as is now well known among the fans, he often forgot his lines. He famously told us that once when he performed Shakespeare in a college production, he found himself saying lines from Hamlet in the middle of Richard III! When he “went up” on camera during a scene with me, I could tell by the panic in his eyes that he had lost his way, and I often had to get him back on track. We were, as you all know, taping 'live' with no opportunity to cut and start over, or to edit, and I always worried that his performance would suffer. But, the following week when we watched the show and that moment would appear on the screen, I was amazed! He was mesmerizing. His dreadful actor’s dilemma became Barnabas’s dilemma, and Jonathan’s anxiety made Barnabas all the more convincingly troubled. He had that rare quality as an actor to bring his own inner truth to the moment. When Jonathan returned to the Dark Shadows festivals in his eighties he was always received with a standing ovation. He was beloved by the fans! It was hard for him to maintain his high standards in the festival environment, but he always assumed that jovial attitude and made his audience laugh with his generous wit, When he did his readings of Poe or Shakespeare, he always gave a rich and layered interpretation, putting to use his wonderful classic actor’s voice and bearing. What a treat for us all. Often, after someone dies unexpectedly, it is easy to look back and see that the signs were there. Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Selby and I went to London to film cameos in the new Tim Burton/ Johnny Depp movie, and undoubtedly, we would not have been asked to come if Jonathan had not been willing to join us. It was difficult for him. He was disoriented and felt helpless away from his house in Canada. The second morning we were there, he packed up his bags early and went down to the lobby. There he demanded a taxi to the airport and told the concierge that he wanted a plane ticket back to Hamilton. It was as though he yearned for that refuge where he was embraced by all that was familiar, where he could feel safe. Temperament and pride were still a vital part of his character, and he was still holding on to that rage, I think now, against the dying of the light. But on the way back to the hotel he said again, “Where are we? Am I on the island?” as if he had a sense where he would be going. I am heartbroken that Jonathan could not see the movie he journeyed so far to be in. I was looking forward to a big hug and kiss this summer at the festival, and another set of self-deprecating, witty remarks to his adoring audience where the love in the auditorium was always palpable. I will miss him so much. I am grateful to have known him. Take care, Jonathan, now that you have reached your island. Hopefully it looks like Hamilton. Our love goes with you. Lara, I just wanted to express my condolences to you on the loss of your dear friend, Jonathan. He will live forever in so many hearts. That's a wonderful tribute to Jonathan, Lara. I recently read your piece about the trip to London in RETURN TO COLLINWOOD, and that told me right there that he was probably at the limit of his endurance. It is sad he won't be able to view the new movie, but seeing him in it will certainly be a treat for the rest of us. Condolences for your personal loss. I'm sure you have many, many treasured memories of him. What a beautiful and heartfelt tribute! The last part is such a lovely sentiment; it sparked yet another round of tears for me on this very sad day. Thank you so much for sharing this, Ms. Parker. It was with shock at first and then sadness when I heard that Johnathan Frid had passed away. He along with all of the cast members of Dark Shadows are very near and dear to my heart because they are all part of my childhood and I consider them my friends. He will be missed very deeply by me. Rest in Peace my friend. I agree Delvin. I and my sisters watched Dark Shadows growing up as well. I watched the full 5 years twice in the later years. Each time I'd think that they are again like guests in my home. It was so good to welcome them and listen about their life. I'm thrilled that at least four of them could get shots in the new movie. The new movie doesn't live up to the greatness of the real DS TV show. You Lara you were and still are very beautiful. Everyone on the DS set was so good looking and wore such pretty clothes. Each one of you were great actors and actresses. Hollywood realy missed out not hiring all of you to play other roles. Today when a friend told me that Jonathan had passed we talked a long time about DS. She'd hurry home after work to watch the show in the 60's. He lives on in our hearts. Thank you so much for this. I just found out that Jonathan passed and I am heart broken. You guys gave us such pleasure! I myself have been a DS fan since 69, I got to see Jonathan in Dallas I think it was 84 & I have never tired of it. I was looking forward to the film, but I am very afraid they messed it up, but I will go just to see you all. I was hoping for Charlize Theron to play your Angelique, she is the only one that comes close to your beauty & charm. I hope one day to get to go to another DS convention. You take care & my God bless. So sad to hear of Mr. Frid's passing. As a kid I was a Dark Shadows fan and hearing about the new Tim Burton film just started watching all the old episodes from S1:E1 this past weekend. I will be looking forward to his cameo in the new film and a hopefully a dedication or remembrance in the credits. That was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful actor and a very nice gentleman. I grew up watching Dark Shadows, and I have so many wonderful memories of watching Mr. Frid and you work your magic on the screen as Barnabas and Angelique. I thank you and him and all of the actors and people that were involved with Dark Shadows for giving me some of my fondest childhood memories. I remember when I lost my mother to breast cancer in 1992. People practically wanted to beatify her. But as her only son, I wouldn't have it. To do so would be to rob me of that diamond-in-the-rough that was her true persona. At the memorial service, I wanted to tell them about her volatile side, about the part that shined through the time we drove through the McDonald's drive thru and they'd forgotten to put the straws in the bag -- how she'd raced back to the restaurant the moment she'd noticed they were missing and demanded to speak with the manager. That imperfect, complicated mom was the one I knew and loved. Thanks for giving such an honest recollection of Jonathan. It captures his true, lovable nature much moreso than any number of fawning tributes could ever hope to. Douglas, I heartily agree with your genuine and frank comment. What Lara did with her wonderful tribute will, I hope, help fans (who may not have known Jonathan until the last several Festivals) have a better understanding of the difficulties that he was enduring. I had heard from some fans who had met him (in the last several years) of their disappointment with his sometimes abrupt or grumpy demeanor. If people would realize that this was a man in his late 80s, very likely not feeling his best in a situation where he was dazzled by new faces with every step that he took, and if they would compare his situation with that of their own elderly parents (as you do here with the story of your dear mother) it would hopefully help ease hurt feelings and/or dashed expectations. Jonathan could be seen by many as larger than life. But to some who got to know him at an earlier time, he was deeply human, which can mean potentially flawed but also with an equal potential for great love for his fans, to which I can personally attest. Thank you, Douglas and again, thank you Lara! So beautiful and moving, Lara. With your words here and your performances back then, you magnified him. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your tales of Mr. Frid. I had the pleasure of seeing him on stage and seeing how he could "fill" a vast space. Thanks for your kind words Lara. The tears have been flowing all day and your words help. Thank you so much for your lovely comments, your cherished memories. I've been watching the 1897 episodes (I adore Count Petofi) this past week, and had no idea that Mr. Frid had passed away until this morning when some few Facebook friends informed me. I had been spending the past couple of days defending the original series to other Facebook friends who insist that it was terrible. I was enchanted by the series as a kid in high school, and it enchants me still, and fills my old age with Gothic joy. Thank you for your warm and generous post regarding Mr. Frid. I concur with you and others who have said that his tragic romantic character saved the show. I must also say, with all due respect to Jonathan,that you were my favorite actor. The b*tch fights between Angelique and Laura were the most delicious scenes of all! I wish you nothing but joy and success in your endeavors. What a beautiful, kind tribute to a man who inspired so many of us. I live about 20 minutes south of Hamilton, and Spring arrived early this year for us, meaning that Jonathan got to enjoy the reawakening of the trees and the most beautiful time of the year here in Canada one last time. Thank you for your lovely words and for all you have given to the Dark Shadows family over the years. and, with us, another while go on? your gentle, gifted presence not to know? How are we to let you go? This is a wonderful post. I've admired you and Kathryn and Jonathan and many others over the past two years as I've watched every episode of Dark Shadows for the first time (even though it was around when I was 10 years old). And I always respected Jonathan so much for being direct, kind, honest, humble and professional. I wish I had known him but he lives on through his legacy. Thank you for your tribute, Lara. And thank you, and the others, for being there to help and support Jonathan during the cameo. What a great lasting tribute, that he was able to be in this movie, and that you helped him have this come to pass. Beautifully said! I noticed that Jonathan didn't look his usual spry self in the publicity photos. I was pleased to meet him at one of the first festivals in 1984 and to thank him for the years of entertainment he gave us. Thank you, too! Rather than a curse, this heartfelt remembrance was a blessing. After all these years, you are finally Jonathan's heroine. You didn't have to dig deep into your wonderful persona to find that, Lara. We, the fans, adore you as well. Thank you for this touching display of love. Thank you for such beautiful words about this remarkable actor and human being. I've been to many Festivals to see the two of you and could always see the incredible bond between you and your fellow players. You have given all of us one of the most amazing entertainments ever. Lara-what a beautiful tribute to Jonathan, I have to admit I get a bit weepy eyed as I read through this. Though I've never been to a Dark Shadows convention, and though I just recently re-discovered this show that I watched after school in my early grade-school days-the love that you reference in the audience is as palpable in your words as it is in our visions of this iconic character and man. I am glad you remembered the irascible side of Jonathan. It was part of what made him what he was, the fire the burned inside of him that came out on stage and on film. I am grateful that you, Jonathan, Kathryn and David went to do that cameo. It is going to mean all the more to us now. You have blessed me personally by your generous compliment to me after my costume gala performance at my first Fest in 2006. You bless Jonathan's memory with what you have written here, and I thank you. I am truly at a loss for words and filled with overwhelming sadness at Jonathan's passing. You two were truly one of TV's first supercouples and your scenes together were nothing less than electric - how fortunate you were to be part of this iconic show and your portrayal of Angelique was no less iconic than Jonthan's portrayal of Barnabas. You were absolutely magic together and that's how I will remember Jonathan. As we bid him farewell I wish to thank you and the rest of the cast for filling our eyes with wonder, our TV screens with suspense, fear, and romance, and our hearts with love and affection for the iconic characters you created. RIP Jonathan - we will miss you so much. That was a very beautiful tribute. It brought more than one tear to my eye. Thank you for sharing it with us. I know its been comforting to me to hear memories and sentiments shared from the rest of the Dark Shadows cast. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart. That was a great tribute, to a man who was loved by all of the Dark Shadows fans, although I don't think the upcoming movie will do him, any justice, because it looks like a comedy instead of the gothic classic, Dan Curtis created. Johnny Depp could and will never be as good as Jonathan. I met him at one of the conventions, he was a very nice gentleman. I as well as the true fans will truely miss him! I'm not sure what it is, my soul perhaps, which feels a connection to your tribute. You didn't have to share it but I'm glad you did. When my time comes I too will look for that island of happy reunions - the last mystery glimpsed by the mind of Jonathan Frid. Thank you. Thank you so much for this tribute. I've always appreciated your honesty and as others have stated, am particularly grateful for your candid remarks detailing your experiences with Mr. Frid on the set of the new movie. We feel so sad at his passing. He was great! Thank You.......Lara, for the special words in homage to Mr, Jonthan Frid. You & Him was the hole show. What a wonderful and thoughtful farewell you have written for your friend. We, the fans, feel the loss but celebrate the work left behind for it will stand. Our condolences to you for the loss of your friend. There is an old show business toast, taught to me, many years ago by an elderly actress named Maggie: "I HAVE LOVED YOU DARLING, BUT THE SHOW CLOSED" (my Father had died during one production and her words seemed the proper farewell and allowed me to focus on the production at hand) The show closed, but the love continues. Again, thank you for your words about Mr. Frid. I was lucky enough to have met him many years ago and I treasure that moment. What a feisty man to re-join the DS festivals in his mid 80s. 2006-2010 were probably the best of those later years. His website diaries indicated great interest and enthusiasm during that time period. Yet, as one gets older, time and people do appear differently, almost dream like. Often there is a sudden turning point, and 2011 must have been that turning point, suspected but unbenknownst to us who followed his site closely. I just wanted to feel his presence and know he was there. I think I may have deluded myself with wishful thinking, especially when his site became more active beginning in the fall. News of his passing was a shock because I had decided he would live well into his 90s, frail but sound. He must have wanted to go to England, or perhaps he did it for his fans, or his fellow cast mates; he has never said that I know of, but he sure appeared calm and in control in the video and this gave me hope. Now that this was not the outcome, and as I said in another post, his was a life well-lived. So here's to you Jonathan. This day has been spent grieving and trying to come to terms like so many of you here. Way too much is made of line flubs. Most of the actors messed up their lines frequently, making the same sorts of mistakes. A few were close to flawless in their delivery. To me Jonathan was incredible and it had nothing to do with the biting of necks, but rather that his soul was turned inside out and you could read emotion in his facial expressions and in his voice and it was just wonderful. No other soap opera acting comes anywhere close to the quality performances by Dark Shadows actors, in my opinion. It was stirring. Forgive me. The healing process is slow and makes me go on a bit. Thank you, Lara. You were part of something very unusual and very special as a leading Dark Shadows actor. What a beautiful tribute to Mr Frid. It is beautiful because it is written with love and honesty. He fought the good fight in those last months. Now,it is time for him to rest, surrounded by love and peace. I hope that his good friends and his family are comforted by their memories. RIP, Mr Frid. You are a class act. So sad to hear about Jonathan's death. I grew up watching Dark Shadows and was thrilled when the Science Fiction channel picked it up as an anchor show when it debuted. It gave me the chance to watch the entire show from start to finish. Barnabas and Angelique were my favorite characters and I absolutely loved the way both were portrayed by you two. I look forward to seeing the new movie and all of the cameos from the original Barnabas, Angelique, Maggie and Quentin. That was so sweet Lara. I would not have visited this site if Mr. Frid had not just passed away. He was such an icon for my childhood as were you. I am so touched to see your beautiful post about him. You are still beautiful too! Thank you for sharing this, Lara. I have enjoyed your novels based on Dark Shadows, very much! As a fan of Jonathan's work and and the entire cast, it is so nice to see the lifelong friendships you have developed and maintained over the years. I'm glad you got to work with Jonathan one more time. The movie will be bittersweet, but it is something that all of us will treasure. I met Jonathan three times on his Readers Theater show tours and his kindness and willingness to chat with fans is something that I will never forget. The first time I met him was at Marietta College in 1993. I want to share this but I am sure there is nothing unusual about it as everything I have read concerning Jonathan's passing has said what a warm person he was. On this occasion, I arrived at the theater early as I had driven quite a way to see the show and he was the only one there sitting alone in the audience seats. However, I wasn't sure it was him until he got up from his seat, I assumed it was someone who was also attending the show. He was very friendly. I mentioned I had driven a ways to attend the show, was not familiar with the campus and wanted to make sure I found the right venue and to get something to eat before the show. He shared directions with me to the coffee shop. I did have something to sign, but he said he would do that after the show at the autograph session. He recognized me after the show and we chatted a little for a short time. I don't recall the exact conversation, but I was pleased that he remembered me coming into the theater earlier. Of course, I was somewhat awed concerning who I was talking to, but his friendly and down to earth manner the entire time was something that I will never forget and always treasure. To see the love you all the cast members have expressed is very helpful to all of us who admired both the man and his work and feel a great loss at his passing even though many of us did not know him personally. What an incredible story. I am really glad you shared this bit of Jonathan's history. I agree that his death has hit some of us very hard. He has such a unique gift that I swear he is part magician and part alchemist. It is great that you got to three of his shows! Meeting him is something I will always treasure. I'm not a "fan girl" of a lot of things, but his work and the show in general have remained one of my top interests for years. Thank you for sharing your beautiful memories. Thank you Lara for this great tribute. Jonathan will be missed so much by all of whom he influenced in both large and small ways. I was one of those many who "ran home" to watch DS at 4PM every day. I attended his final DS Festival last year, which was a sudden decision - and it was distressing to see that he indeed appeared very frail. However, his strong speaking voice during the Festival belied his physical appearance. That temperament and pride Lara mentioned was evident as I caught his eye in the hotel hallway [a well-deserved break: escaping the crowds of fans] as he was sneaking into a side room. He gave a me an annoyed look, and quickly shut the door. This memory of him I will always treasure. We fans are so lucky to have experienced such a class act. thanks, Lara, for that beautiful and heartwarming trubute....i'm so fortunate to have been part of that original audience, the memories of running home from school to watch all of you is as fresh as ever...best wishes. I have just herd about his death on the Classic Horror films Board website! I haven't herd about this yet anywhere on the news! I have seened Dark Shadows only a few times but enjoyed watching it! My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Jonathan Frid! May he Rest in Peace! am planning on attending my first DS festival at Tarrytown in July, and I was really looking forward to meeting Mr. Frid and you and Ms. Scott. I'm sure it will be a truly different festival without his presence, but I know that he will be well remembered for all of the great times that he gave us. I watched you guys all through college, having to fight 65 other guys in my fratenity, for a seat in our tv room. Dark Shadows was truly the best show ever. May he rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon him. I'm so tremedously saddened to know Jonathan Frid is no longer with us. As I told him in a message once, his vampiric influence greatly enriched my childhood and I now find his spirit in every stroke of my brush, in every note of my music, in everything I create. I'm glad I had the chance to tell him thanks. Also, thank you so much, Lara, for providing me this opportunity to say a few words. Reading these comments is wonderful. I was struck by your remark about music especially. If music is sooting, gentle and beautiful, he comes right to mind as if he is composed of beautiful notes and materializes out of them somehow. Suspense, intrigue, and more fun in one half hour than you could have at two Barnum and Bailey circuses, three Disneylands, and a thousand little league games. Monday through Friday. 4:00 P.M. Kel, Very much enjoyed your comment about circuses, Disneylands, and little league games not matching up to DS. I think as far as entertainment, goes it was the best show ever and your description says it well. And Ms. Parker thank you for pointing out that Jonathan was staggeringly charismatic. That certainly says it in a nutshell. Plus your vignette about your audition and how Jonathan, gave you that little boost "by telling you to dig deeper." There must have been a very deep resevoir for him to dig into to come up with his powerful scenes, ones that kept us so interested and wrapped up in the character of Barnabas Collins. We loved you and Jonathon, Angelique and Barnabas. At times, we hated you, too!! I have never been able to express how dear the characters and cast were to me, how those goofs on camera made me love you all more. I often thought of it as local theater, although you were all professional throughout. There was something even more endearing as you worked hard to present the twisting plots despite the limits placed by the live TV, the daily pressure, the early special effects. Jon made me appreciate acting in a way no one else did. It was not effortless, it was hard work, and we cheered you all on every day. Thank you for all you did, for your kindness to the fans, for loving Jon. I am so sorry for your and the rest of the cast's loss. Jonathan Frid was am amazing talent who will never be replaced. I also ran home after grade school. I was short, but I was quick when properly inspired. I could made in home from school 4 blocks away before the end of the opening credits. To you, the rest of the cast, crew and especially the writer--thank you for inspiring me as a writer and film maker. You may have driven us all nuts at the time, but you also taught me the importance of cliffhangers. Since I believe in miracles, I am still hoping that we will work together someday. Greetings from Memphis! Thank you for your lovely words about Jonathan Frid. His sensitive interpretations completely changed vampire lore for all time, from the classic Bela Lugosi vampire character in the 1930s to the modern interpretations in the Twilight series in the 2000s; few actors have had such influence upon characters that span well over 70 years. While I know the new 2012 Dark Shadows film will be a mere caricature of the classic series, I remain a longtime fan and will look forward to seeing you and Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Selby, and Jonathan Frid in your cameo roles. And in your appearance, I hope we will get a glimpse of "the look" that you do so well! With gratitude, David O. My wife and I just finished the entire DS series late last night (4/23/2012)...the last episode was aired 4/2/1971.. I grew up as a child in the sixties (born in '56) watching Dark Shadows. My wife and I started watching the entire series in January 2010. I introduced her to Dark Shadows not knowing how she would take to it...she fell in love with the show. It took us 2 1/2 years to complete the viewing. I felt a great sense of loss when we finished seeing the series...and it is with a great sense of loss at the passing of Jonathan Frid. So many times my brother and I used to mimic being vampires because of Dark Shadows and Jonathan. To Lara and all the remaining actors/actresses...God Bless You! I have been greiving for the past few days. Even though I didn't know Jonathan Frid personnaly, he, as well as the rest of the cast, came into our homes every afternoon for years. We grew to love the charactors and missed them so very much when the show ended. It is like losing someone you have cared about. And it's like losing a part of my childhood. RIP Jonathan. Lara, although Angelique was my favorite character on Dark Shadows, Barnabas too was a intricate part of what made the show so successful. I have many episodes and they have been edited to really just his scenes with you. That was a wonderful tribute to him from you. Though he is gone of this world, Angelique and Barnabas will live forever in our hearts and memories. Beautiful tribute, Lara. Myself and my friend Wally Wingert were glad to have met Jonathan the couple times when we did. We enjoyed meeting you all at the various festivals both in Los Angeles and in New York. This deeply saddened me to hear the news of his passing. Wally had texted me while I was at work. I did all I could to not cry at my desk. Jonathan will live on in that special place in all our hearts. Your letter was amazingly written and is so very touching. I was an avid Dark Shadows fan as a little boy and never missed an episode after school. We all ran from school as though it was going to be our last breath taken. You, Jonathan and the rest of the cast were amazing and influenced so many around the world. Thanks for playing a wonferful part as Angelique in the show, and thanks for sharing your beautiful letter to our best friend, Jonathan, since some of us were kids. Rest in peace dear friend, Jonthan Frid aka Barnabas Collins. Some of that is painful to read. And yes, it is sad that he wasn't able to view this next incarnation of DS. Thanks for filling us in, LP. R.I.P. JONATHAN SADLEY MISSED MY ALL OF YOUR FANS. AND MY HEART GOES OUT TO JONTHANS FAMILY. AND THE CAST OF THE MOST LEGEND SHOW THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER SHOW LIKE DARK SHADOWS. AND ALSO I WOULD LOVE TO SAY THANK YOU JOHNNY DEPP FOR BRINGING IT BACK TO THE BIG SCREEN FOR JONATHANS LAST PROFORMANCE R.I.P. BARNABAS. You were my favorite on Dark Shadows, and I was only twelve years old when I started watching, but I saw every season, and almost every episode. Never dreamed we'd have a vehicle for communicating this way, or any other way for that matter! Your tribute to Jonathan Frid was deeply moving. So very sorry for your loss! It's fitting that he was able to walk through the doors of "Collinwood" one last time with his old friends (and onscreen foes ^_^). I was very saddened to hear of Jonathan's passing, I like a lot of people watched Dark Shadows from the very begining to the end. He and you were my favorite characters on the show, I even named my first daughter after Angelique because I though you were so pretty as a witch. I would like to know how you all feel about the new movie, I am here to say that I have been very disappointed in the previews of the becoming a comedy. The show does not deserve this. Thanks again for your blog on "Barnabas" he is dearly missed. Barnabas has gone to another parallel time and we hope to see him there. Thank you Angelique, Quentin, Maggie, Professor, Julia, and the rest of those residents of Collinsport for the memories. What a lovely tribute to a fine man and actor. Like many teenagers, I couldn't wait to get home from school to watch "Dark Shadows." I hated Wednesdays because I had a piano lesson after school. The first thing I did afterward was call a friend to find out what had happened on Dark Shadows. Barnabas and the gang became my friends -- I wanted the Collins family to be real. Thanks for all the memories -- and Angelique's laugh still gives me the creeps! Mr. Frid was hardly the conventional leading actor. Others were taller, clean-cut, more handsome, etc. But what other actor could have kept the enchanting and quite formidable Angelique from stealing the show ? Indeed, he so fulfilled the role, that without either titan the show would have been terminally unbalanced. Saw the new movie recently and I loved it. It inspired me to re-watch the original series on Netflix again after decades. Seeing some of the old series I've got to say, you and Frid looked so beautiful together, and had such chemistry, I wish we could have seen the day where Angelique and Barnabas could have loved each other after so much atonement. Sorry for your loss of Frid. Though he did not get to see the new movie, at least we got to see him one last time. He gave so many memories to so many, and so have you. My condolences on the loss of your friend, Mr. Frid. What a lovely remembrance of him -thank you for sharing. I am amazed he even attempted to travel so far to do that cameo in his condition. So many elderly can become very disoriented away from home and get upset by it. Hopefully it was overall a happy experience for him...and for you to be with him one more time. I hope the East Coast DS Convention was great! I'm looking forward to pics and a newsletter about it. I'm eagerly awaiting your book in Oct? Here's another poem for you about intense infatuation..albetit love? It is funny reading how you felt you had to be kept from being too much of a heroine type, and guided into being more of an evil villainess because I think that this combination unintentionally worked to give us a character who felt more real than many of her types played by others in the same role or in similar-type roles did. Most of the time the actresses playing the role of evil villainess with an obsessive love, comes across as just insane, mentally unstable, twisted, or drama-queen-without-a-justifiable-cause. But somehow your characterization of Angelique comes across as cruel, sadistic, vengeful (and all those traits traditionally assigned to Angelique) yet at the same time we felt she truly did love Barnabas. It made her into a conflicted character rather than just a sick, twisted one. There are some aspects of your Angelique to which many can relate. I could never relate to the Joan Collins, Glenn Close or Demi Moore trouble-maker ex-lover types, their motives were not understandable. But your Angelique came across as the woman who had a grand/first love, loved so deeply, gave her all, planned around him, and thought she had found her true love/soul-mate. Of course she wanted to marry him, build a life with him, be intimate etc. But, no matter what the rejection did to Angelique, she still couldn't help loving him and it showed in the way you played her. I think many people can relate to that character. I also believe that the mixture of your wanting to be a heroine combined with the role of necessary villain to create the characters believability and one we could relate to in spite of all her evilness. She was conflicted, evil yet still loving perhaps conveyed because you were conflicted on how to play the role at times as well. I have watched D.Shadows on the second rerun I was to young to understand it the first time in 1966 heck I was not but in the 3rd grade. I remember my mom watching it and when we were older we talked a little a bout it and that how I met my school friend she was a bit older than I and she explained it to me and we been friends for 48 years and she died this summer so has my om now I am going to have to find a chat board to post with other D.S. fans now. I miss all that have pas on from the show its like heck were ll dieing!!!! whats going on and I am 54 and truly I have to say I do wish they would put it back on TV for this Generation to watch and relies they did not have the computer tech. to make Angelic fly through the air and burn in flames like no and all Mr Curtis and the rest had was just know how. Ms. Laura I love your books just bought a new one this month for my on birthday gift. My next one will be Ms Scot's an I have your new book on pr-order. May Mr Frid RIP I miss him so greatly. To see him come through the doors of the new movie it was a bittersweet moment to see him I was laughing and crying at the same time. Just remember your always be those cast members in the show/movies that you were, in our hearts. Well off to find a place to talk to oother D.S. Fans. Bye to you and all the others. Oh I am going to miss you Mr Frid. I tried to meet you but could not get to the D.Shadows Conventions. I tried but maybe one day we shall meet on that "ISLAND" you spoke of were you there yet. Love to the rest of you all. He is now at rest. I have 3 small dogs and each one is named after a persons name on the show and I truly have ran out of names over the years I had a Labrador called Barnabas, a cat call Angelique "she showed her claws LOL" right now I have a cocker named Maggie and a Bishion named Ms Stoddered. There has only been on person who has figured out my pet names over the years and she works at my vets office. oh yeas a poodle named Josette. People say hummm thats a strange name I just say like Mr Frid would....If I have to explaine it you would not understand. Your now at peace on that green covered grass........ I can not type out the whole poem I will cry. Its on the CD. Its going to be read at my on funeral and my family thinks I have lost it LOL. sorry for so many typos I am in a hurry. This will be read at my on funeral by Mr Frid through the CD I have and they now ave a copy to play. I have already made my on reservation with the funeral Director so everything is on file even whats to be sung and said, It takes he pain to away from your children. so to speak and typed out this poem and I know I will be happy to hear it read. I believe Mr Frid feels the same. Also Hi to the rest and lets keep up with you all like David Hennessy I dont know whats going on with him. Thank you Ms Laura for keeping us all posted on whats going on and who is doing what. I just wanted to get that part of the poem right I messed it up on the first I wrote. I right now cant type to much I cry and can not see the key board. OK I truly got to go. I saw Mr.Frid in my hometown when he came to do his readings in 1991.After the show he was giving autographs,& I told him if Gene Roddenberry offered him the role of a Vulcan in a Star Trek franchise,I suggested it in a fan letter.He asked if I suggested he get a million dollar paycheck.He was a great actor,& evidently a good man.His talent was underutilized & much missed.BTW,I also suggested to Roddenberry to cast both you & Jerry Lacy as Klingons.

2019-04-20T00:53:02Z

https://laraparkersite.blogspot.com/2012/04/jonathan-frid.html

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): May I apologise for the Secretary of State’s absence from questions today and thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving him leave of absence? The whole House will be aware of the happy reasons for that absence. We anticipate that the broadband delivery framework contract will be signed with suppliers in mid-April, and we expect the first three projects to enter procurement using the framework immediately after. We have set a target for all broadband procurement to be completed by the end of 2012, so that delivery can be completed by 2015. Julian Smith: I thank the Minister for that answer. Rural north Yorkshire is already benefiting from the Government’s investment in broadband, and after yesterday’s Budget cities will, too, but at higher speeds. How do we avoid a continued digital divide between rural and urban areas, but at higher speeds? Mr Vaizey: My hon. Friend has been a doughty champion of his part of the world in securing superfast broadband. All the country will benefit from superfast broadband, but it is quite right that we continue to invest in higher speeds, particularly for cities, to maintain our global competitiveness. Karen Lumley: Will the Minister congratulate Worcestershire county council, which has set aside £8.5 million in these difficult times to secure superfast broadband? In Redditch we have a £300,000 project to enable residents to stay at home and work instead of travelling into cities. What can the Government do in these times to help local authorities further? Mr Vaizey: We continue to invest a substantial amount in broadband roll-out, and I am happy to join my hon. Friend in congratulating Worcestershire county council on investing alongside the Government. It is a great testament to the scheme that we have put in place that we have secured private funding and local government funding alongside central Government funding. Caroline Nokes: What progress has been made to overcome the issues of state aid in unlocking the rural broadband fund, which will help in counties such as Hampshire? Mr Vaizey: We have applied for a UK-wide scheme for state aid approval. We believe that we are close to approval, and we continue to work closely with the European Commission on the issue. Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab): The cumbersome and expensive Broadband Delivery UK process appears almost to have eliminated competition, which ought to have had a very important role in it. Ministers made a big strategic error in supporting superfast broadband at county level, rather than regionally. Does the Minister recognise that it will be a scandal if the outcome of the process is that, in the end, all the money is just handed over to BT? Mr Vaizey: I am surprised that the right hon. Gentleman, as a former telecoms Minister, does not understand that, if we had had a national or a regional scheme, competition would have been even harder to secure. As it is, three major competitors remain in play in terms of broadband roll-out. Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab): How, in rolling out broadband, will we ensure that the people who undertake installation in different regions—rural areas as well as urban—do not simply move from London and then take their skills back to London, and that a skill repository is left among the work force where broadband is installed? Mr Vaizey: I cannot guarantee that the engineers who lay broadband will stay in the areas in which they work, but the key point about broadband roll-out is to ensure that all parts of the country benefit from the infrastructure so that we can base companies with high skills all over the country. still without broadband, and Labour pledged to guarantee 2 megabits to almost every household by 2012, but this Government will not achieve that until after 2015. Why are Ministers so unfair in their treatment of rural Britain? Mr Vaizey: I certainly reject the accusation that we have been unfair on rural Britain, and my glass, unlike the hon. Lady’s, is half full not half empty. I look forward to going on a tour with her to Belfast, Cardiff, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and so on and telling people that they are getting unfair treatment from the Government because we are investing in their broadband networks. Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): Rural Britain, in the shape of the small town of Bradford on Avon in my constituency, welcomed the news this week that it is to have superfast broadband with the conversion of its exchange. [ Interruption. ] In the Budget yesterday the Government announced pilots, including one in Wiltshire, for rural growth networks to address the barriers to economic recovery. Will funding from those networks be available to increase the roll-out of superfast broadband in rural areas? Mr Vaizey: I did not hear the entire question because of the continued carping from the Opposition at our support for our major and smaller cities. I will happily work with the hon. Gentleman to ensure that all broadband funding is used as effectively as possible in his area. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): We have now approved the local broadband plans for Durham, Warwickshire, Northumberland and Staffordshire project areas, which means that 24 of the 45 plans received by the 29 February deadline have been approved; that is more than half. All submitted plans, including Greater Manchester’s, will be approved by the end of April 2012. We anticipate that the contract for the broadband delivery framework will be signed with suppliers in mid-April and expect the first three projects to enter procurement using the framework immediately following the contract’s being signed. We have set a target for all broadband procurements to be completed by the end of 2012. Mr Nuttall: Will there be any scope for transferring funds from the moneys announced for Greater Manchester —the city region—to fill in the gaps in rural broadband? Mr Vaizey: I will happily discuss that issue with my hon. Friend. I take his point—unlike the Opposition, he welcomes the investment in Greater Manchester. contact, if any, does the Minister have with the Scottish Government about how services are being developed north of the border? Mr Vaizey: I have regular contact with the Scottish Government, who have welcomed the funding and are putting in their own funding to support broadband roll-out in Scotland. Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen) (Con): It was once said that the entire empire hung by Lancashire’s thread. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Lancashire county council on prioritising superfast broadband? The entire county now hangs from its fibre optic cable. Mr Vaizey: I am happy to join my hon. Friend in congratulating Lancashire on its superfast broadband. It is a very innovative and go-ahead authority, which has also been particularly pioneering in libraries. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): The Leveson inquiry was established by the Government last July and will make recommendations to my Department about reform for the system of press regulation. The closure of the Press Complaints Commission is a matter for the industry, but the new structure will apply to all newspapers, local or national. Jim Sheridan: My local press are watching with interest to see what replaces the PCC. What measures are in place to defend or protect the general public when taking redress against, mainly, the national newspapers? Will the Minister share with the House how many meetings, if any, his Department has had with national newspaper editors or proprietors? Mr Vaizey: I do not have the details of meetings with national editors, but I am happy to share them with the hon. Gentleman by way of a letter. The Press Complaints Commission mediation procedures will continue during the transit to a new arrangement. Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The Press Complaints Commission is engaging in a pretty ludicrous example of shenanigans at the moment; it is trying to bounce Leveson into some new plan that it is trying to put forward. Will the Minister make it absolutely clear that the only thing that the Government are interested in is what Leveson comes up with—not some shoddy deal struck by the editors? inquiry, Lord Leveson has made it clear that he wants the press to begin to make moves to get their house in order while he considers all the evidence. Ms Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham) (Lab): The harrowing evidence at the Leveson inquiry from victims of phone hacking and other abuse by the press means that we all want a new press complaints system, which must be independent of politicians and editors and able to enforce its rulings on all newspapers. Does the Minister recognise that the proposals being put forward by Lord Hunt, chair of the Press Complaints Commission, fail to meet either of those tests? Until they do, they will amount to nothing more than a change of name and business as usual. That will simply not be acceptable. Mr Vaizey: Lord Hunt has put forward his proposals and I urge the right hon. and learned Lady to work with him if she thinks that they are not adequate. The Minister for Sport and the Olympics (Hugh Robertson): Before I answer, I am sure that the whole House will want to join me in sending our best wishes to Fabrice Muamba for a full and speedy recovery. In their response to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry, the football authorities have proposed plans for a smaller FA board, a club licensing system, the establishment of an FA regulatory authority and a closer working relationship between clubs and supporter groups. I welcome all those moves, and I would like football to implement them as soon as possible. Lindsay Roy: May I, on behalf of the whole House, endorse the sentiments expressed by the Minister about Fabrice Muamba? I thank all the medical and club staff for their timely intervention in saving Fabrice’s life. The unity of support from fans across the country has been impressive and demonstrates the best of British values. What action will the Minister take if the working parties recommend that further powers are needed to remove barriers to the co-operative status of football clubs? Hugh Robertson: We have decided to pass the initial report generated by the DCMS Committee back to it for further consideration and ask for its recommendations. I would not want to give the hon. Gentleman a firm commitment before I have seen the Committee’s recommendations, but I am absolutely determined to ensure that supporters are better represented and have a more central role in the running of their clubs. in some cases, to identify the ultimate owners of clubs or to protect communities from the impact of a club’s insolvency? Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab): Fans’ organisations are concerned that the response from the governing bodies does not go far enough. We will have achieved nothing if we do not create greater opportunities for fans to become involved in the governance of the game. Football’s governing bodies have indicated that they are prepared to co-operate and work positively with the Government’s expert working groups. When does the Minister intend to set up those working groups and when does he intend to have them report back by? Hugh Robertson: I think that the debate has moved on as a result of the football authorities’ response in terms of a licensing system and an explicit commitment to supporters’ liaison officers. There has been a very considerable movement as a result of the Select Committee’s work. As I said, I want to wait to see what the Committee has to say. We will absolutely take on board its recommendations and also look at means to incentivise club owners to make shares available to fans. 14. David Wright (Telford) (Lab): The key issue is supporter ownership of clubs, which is absolutely crucial. At AFC Telford United, we have a superb model of club ownership by supporters. What more is the Minister’s Department going to do to model, with clubs and owners, new structures for supporter ownership of clubs? Hugh Robertson: I pay tribute to the work done at AFC Telford, which is a model of that sort of scheme. This is not an entirely easy problem to grapple with, because no two club ownership models are the same. Unlike, for example, the Spanish model and many other European models, the models in English football are very different from club to club and from division to division. We have to find ways to incentivise owners to place their shares in public ownership. animation and high-end TV production sectors. The UK has some of the world’s most successful creative industries, and yesterday’s Budget will ensure that they can continue to grow and support jobs up and down the country. The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) is almost as loud as his tie. Alun Cairns: I am grateful to the Minister for his answer and welcome yesterday’s statement by the Chancellor in support of the creative industries. The advertising industry is one of the most creative and innovative in the UK economy, and it is worth £7.8 billion. Does the Minister accept, though, that constant threats of regulation and red tape can stymie that innovation and creativity, and that the pendulum might have swung too far and there could well be a need for a review of some of the regulations? Mr Vaizey: I never lose an opportunity to praise the advertising industry in the UK, which is one of the most successful, or its regulatory system under the Advertising Standards Authority. Mary Macleod: I welcome yesterday’s announcement from the Chancellor about games tax relief. Does my hon. Friend agree that it will benefit companies such as Sega in my constituency, establish the UK as a world-leading games maker, and stop the brain drain of talented games developers to overseas? Mr Vaizey: I never lose an opportunity, when I drive over the flyover, to look at the huge headquarters of Sega in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Not only will that proposal stop the brain drain; it will create a brain import scheme. James Morris: Birmingham and the black country have a very creative software and hardware development industry, but it often finds it difficult to recruit the skilled people it requires from the region. What support can the Minister give to local centres of excellence, such as the Aston and Wolverhampton science parks? Mr Vaizey: We continue to focus on skills. The higher apprenticeships scheme will help to provide talent for the UK’s IT industry. May I take this opportunity to praise Ian Livingstone and Alex Hope for their “Next Gen.” report, which has led to a revolution in the computer science curriculum in schools? Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab): I welcome the Government’s U-turn on support for the creative industries, but I note that there is less talk today about this being a “Downton Abbey” Budget. I wonder why that is. Will the Minister explain the exact difference between the support that he has announced for the video games industry and the support that the Labour Government introduced two years ago, which his Government scrapped in their first Budget? Mr Vaizey: The difference is that the new support includes help for television drama and animation. Fundamentally, the difference is between the ambition of the Government and the poverty of ambition of the Opposition. Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP): The Minister will know that the Hargreaves review of intellectual property and the Intellectual Property Office consultation continue to exercise and concern our creative industries. Does he believe that having the maximum number of exceptions to copyright helps or hinders our creative industries? Will he come and give evidence to the inquiry of the all-party parliamentary intellectual property group in the next few weeks? Mr Vaizey: The hon. Gentleman has been a doughty champion for rights holders and the protection of intellectual property. As he knows, I ensure that rights holders’ views are expressed regularly during the Hargreaves consultation. I have not yet received an invitation to give evidence to the all-party parliamentary group, but I look forward to receiving it. Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab): The Government want philanthropy and corporate giving to replace public subsidy for the arts. However, the excellent Nottingham Playhouse tells me that sponsorship and donations are falling due to the flatlining economy. Does this funding black hole not threaten the future of our regional theatres? Mr Vaizey: The hon. Lady is quite wrong. We do not want philanthropy to replace Government support for the arts; we want there to be a partnership between philanthropy and Government support for the arts, which is extraordinarily generous. Stephen Williams (Bristol West) (LD): Hundreds of my constituents who work for Aardman Animations, Europe’s largest animation company, were delighted by the reference to Wallace and Gromit in yesterday’s Budget. Does my hon. Friend agree that the extension of film tax credits to the TV and animation industries is important not only for maintaining British talent and ingenuity in Bristol and other places in our country, but so that children grow up watching programmes that are made in Britain and sound as though they are made in Britain? Mr Vaizey: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I was privileged to visit Aardman’s headquarters. I gather that it has just held the premiere of “The Pirates!”, its new film. Those in the House with young children may want to go and see it. He is right that the proposal is about keeping talent in this country. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): Following a request from the inquiry, the Secretary of State will submit evidence as part of the elegantly named “module 3”, which is considering the relationship between the press and politicians. In addition, my Department is working constructively with the Leveson inquiry by providing background information where possible. John Cryer: In that evidence, will the Minister at least say that the replacement for the Press Complaints Commission should be politically independent and independent of what used to be Fleet street? Mr Vaizey: As is well known, the desire is to see independent self-regulation that is independent of the press and independent of the Government. The Minister for Sport and the Olympics (Hugh Robertson): The new £130 million tourism campaign to showcase Great Britain in 2012 aims to deliver an additional 4.6 million visitors, £2.7 billion of extra spend and the creation of about 60,000 job opportunities. The UK is already benefiting from the games, with 98% of the £6 billion-worth of contracts for the “big build” and 90% of the £1 billion-worth of contracts for staging the games going to UK businesses. If we add to that the £1 billion boost to British business that is expected through trade and investment, it amounts to a strong economic legacy from the games right across the UK. Brandon Lewis: Some of us will have already had the good fortune to see the fantastic work that has been done at the Olympic park, and millions of visitors to this country and British residents will see the work done by British companies, workers and engineers to develop and produce that fantastic park. What more can we and the Government do to ensure that we get the message out that it is British engineering and British construction workers who have delivered such a fantastic venue? Hugh Robertson: The answer is the GREAT campaign, which targets our 10 major markets around the world. It goes out to them on the back of the success of the Olympic park and tells them to come this country, do business and drive our tourism industry. Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab): After the Olympics and Paralympics, will the Department continue to play a role in the legacy arrangements, or will that pass to the Department for Communities and Local Government or the Mayor of London? What structure will there be for overseeing the continuing delivery of the Olympic project? Hugh Robertson: That is a very good question and quite a difficult one to answer, because much of the park will of course pass to the mayoral development authority, so much of the area around the hon. Gentleman’s constituency will come under the ambit of the Greater London authority. The DCMS will continue to have overall responsibility, but each Department will have particular responsibilities for the part of the legacy related to its work. the length and breadth of the country, so that they can use it for future advertising? Will he work with me to ensure that the International Olympic Committee allows the BBC to make that footage available? Hugh Robertson: Yes, of course we will. The Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose), who is responsible for tourism, tells me that both VisitBritain and VisitEngland have access to a large number of images already, which we clearly want to promote on the back of London 2012. We will do all we can. Tessa Jowell (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab): Nearly 1,500 businesses from across the UK have built the Olympic park and will equip the Olympics. That is a great British achievement. Does the Minister therefore share my concern that those businesses, which have done so well, are too tightly constrained by the marketing rights protocol, which prevents them from publicising the part that they have played? Would not every Member, including my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman), whose constituency hosts one of those businesses and who has talked to me about the issue, want to promote, praise and thank those businesses for their efforts? Does the Minister agree with me, with the “Building 2012” campaign and now with Sir John Armitt, the chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority, that we should seek from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and from the IOC the necessary concessions to ensure a national celebration of our great British businesses that built the Olympic park on budget and on time? Hugh Robertson: The right hon. Lady makes an extremely good point. She knows, as I do, that those regulations date back to the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 and were put in place to give us the best possible chance of raising as much sponsorship as possible from the private sector. The result, of course, was that the organising committee was extraordinarily successful in raising £700 million of sponsorship, which brings with it intellectual property issues. That said, I absolutely recognise the issue that the right hon. Lady has itemised. Because the process has been such a success, we want the country and individual businesses to go out and tell that story. The regulations, of course, apply only until just after the games, and we will do all we can to ensure that they work. communications and media sectors aimed at providing a thriving environment for growth and innovation in the UK. Elizabeth Truss: I was delighted to read earlier this week that Britain leads the world in e-commerce, with 10% of all business taking place online. However, I am concerned about getting more young people involved in the industry, given that the number of people studying computer science is lower now than it was a decade ago and the proportion of women doing computer science has gone down to only 14%. What are we going to do to get more young people involved in the industry? Mr Vaizey: I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. As she is probably aware, e-Skills, the sector skills council, had a specific computing for girls scheme to encourage girls at school to study computing, but the Secretary of State for Education’s important speech on revolutionising the computer science curriculum in January shows that this Government are committed to ensuring that more people study computer science. We are working with industry to ensure that more children choose that option. Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab): Why is superfast broadband being delivered in Morocco by 2013 and in Britain by 2015? Mr Speaker: Order. I am sure that that is an immensely amusing and informative reply and we are grateful, but the House will want to hear Mr Weatherley. Mike Weatherley (Hove) (Con): Will the Minister welcome with me and the digital economy in Hove the news yesterday that Hove will be included in the next round of superfast broadband bids? Mr Vaizey: May I say, if you will indulge me, Mr Speaker, that I find it odd that Opposition Members have such distaste for Morocco? What is wrong with Morocco getting superfast broadband? Why is that seen as some kind of weird phenomenon? [ Interruption. ] Perhaps I am channelling my inner Boris. May I congratulate my hon. Friend on how well he has campaigned for superfast broadband in his part of the world in Brighton and Hove? We will ensure that we work with him to ensure that the generous Government funding that is available supports his constituents. about the sale of London 2012 tickets to guide those who wish to purchase them and will make public a full breakdown after the final tranche of tickets is sold. Mr Speaker: Order. We all want to hear this answer. Hugh Robertson: I will not even attempt to defend that one. However, as a result of the campaign run by Mumsnet, the organising committee is considering that exact issue. The situation the right hon. Lady describes is clearly an absurdity and a solution will be found. The Minister for Sport and the Olympics (Hugh Robertson): The Olympic Park Legacy Company aims to create a thriving commercial district on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic park that will generate several thousand job and training opportunities. In January, it announced a shortlist of three organisations from the fashion, technology and leisure sectors as potential long-term tenants of the press and broadcast centres. It aims to appoint those tenants later this summer. Meg Hillier: In reference to the Minister’s previous answer, I hope the Department retains an interest in this matter even though it falls under the legacy company, because my constituents and the many businesses in my constituency are keen to see incubator and creative business spaces. Given that two of the bidders may now join forces, leaving only two, I hope that the Department is vigilant to ensure that we get that creative business thread running through the new Olympic park. Hugh Robertson: To correct the hon. Lady, the responsibility for this matter will pass to the mayoral development corporation when it comes into being. It will have responsibility, and she will therefore have direct access to it through local councillors elected to the Greater London authority. Mr Speaker: The appetite has been exhausted. T1. Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab): If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities. European hockey championships, the first such event on the park. This is in addition to the Commonwealth games, the rugby league, rugby union and cricket world cups, a world athletics championship, world championships in triathlon, gymnastics and canoeing, and bids out for a youth Olympics, rowing, swimming and eventing championships. It is an extraordinary success story for British sport and a hugely positive legacy from London 2012. Kevin Brennan: Google is failing to enforce privacy rulings online, dragging its feet when told to take down offending material and prioritising websites that carry illegal, unlicensed content at the top of its search results. When will Ministers act to ensure that Google prioritises legal sites over illegal sites? Hugh Robertson: We have regular discussions with Google on all these issues. It is better than the hon. Gentleman suggests at taking down illegal material, and those discussions will continue. T2. Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con): We, the taxpayers, have spent £9 billion on the Olympics and we are very proud of them. But everybody I talk to, including myself—I occasionally talk to myself—[ Laughter. ] Calm down, calm down. Will the House come to order, please? Nobody has actually got a ticket, apart from a chap I was talking to last night who had applied for £8,000-worth of tickets. He is the only person I have met recently who has got a ticket. I have raised this before with the Minister and it is a serious point. The Minister has told me in the past that he has to satisfy the corporate people because they have put in hundreds of millions of pounds, but we have put in billions of pounds. What more will he do to get tickets to ordinary people so that this becomes a people’s games? Hugh Robertson: The problem to which my hon. Friend alludes is caused by the simple fact that 6.5 million tickets were available and 26.5 million applications were made. The fact is that demand massively outstripped supply. Some 75% of those tickets have gone to the general public, and a full breakdown will be available as soon as the next tranche of ticketing is over. The advice to him and everyone else who wishes to apply for tickets is to apply in the next tranche, which will go exclusively to those who were involved in the process earlier. Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab): Given the recent presentation by the WI of a 70,000-signature petition against library closures, demonstrating the strength of public support, and with no vision, no strategy and no urgency from a Minister who is fast becoming the Dr Beeching of libraries, does he share my view that he has a responsibility to act as a champion for libraries across government? If so, how would he assess his performance to date? The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): The trouble is that the hon. Gentleman has no view. When I was in opposition I gave my view on Wirral. What is his view on Labour-controlled Brent closing libraries? Has he got a view? When he gets a view, he can start talking about libraries. T4. Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con): All local authorities in England, bar one, and certainly the Conservative local authority in Wales, publish details of invoices in excess of £500. I raised the matter with the BBC as I believe it should do the same, and Mark Thompson rejected the idea on the basis of the benefits of confidentiality and competitive tension. Does the Minister agree that it is time that the BBC followed the example set by others? Mr Vaizey: My view is that the BBC is quite rightly independent from Government, but my hon. Friend may wish to take that point up with Mr Thompson’s successor who should be appointed some time later this year. T5. Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green): The Minister will not be surprised that I am delighted that a cross-party campaign has resulted in the announcement of £50 million for a competition for small cities, such as Brighton and Hove, for ultra-fast broadband. When will we get the bid information and what timetable does the Minister have in mind for the competition? So that we might welcome him for the second time and the Secretary of State for the first time to see first hand what Brighton and Hove’s digital cluster is already achieving, will they accept an invitation to come to Brighton’s digital festival in September? Mr Vaizey: We will publish our consultation on this issue as soon as possible, and that will detail the chronology for awarding the £50 million. I am so pleased that the hon. Lady welcomes this funding, unlike the Opposition, who continue to carp about it. Of course I will come to Brighton, for the second time, for this wonderful digital festival. T6. Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con): In north-west England, we have BBC Radio Merseyside, BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Lancashire, but no BBC Radio Cheshire—it is an outrage. Furthermore, the community station, Cheshire FM, has recently closed down. What are the Government doing to encourage local stations and other local media to flourish and succeed? Mr Vaizey: I could be here for hours talking about the success of local television, community radio, BBC local radio and commercial radio, but I will address the specific point about BBC Cheshire. The BBC is independent of Government and my hon. Friend may wish to take the matter up with the successor director-general when they are appointed later this year. T3. Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab): I am sure that by now the Minister has seen the recent “Dispatches” programme “The Great Ticket Scandal”. If he and, in particular, the Secretary of State have not, they can have my DVD copy. It makes for good watching and I recommend that he watch it. As he knows, the programme provides the most damning proof yet that consumers are being ripped off—or at least priced out of cultural events —on an industrial scale. Will he now please commit to examining the secondary market again with a view to ensuring that we put fans first? Hugh Robertson: The hon. Lady and I have debated this issue for many long hours in this Parliament. The matter raised in the programme to which she refers is now the subject of an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading, so I had better be careful. I simply say what I have said before: during the last Parliament, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee and the previous Government looked into the matter, and we have looked at it again. I think we are satisfied with the position as it currently sits, but should further evidence of criminal activity come forward, we will certainly reconsider the matter. T8. Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con): Leaving aside the special rules relating to the Olympics, does the Minister agree that it is not the place of the state to interfere with the freedom of an individual or company to resell tickets for sporting or cultural events? Hugh Robertson: The position at the moment is that we grant a ban on ticket touting for major events where it is a requirement of bidding for those events. That has become the settled position under successive Governments and as a result of the work of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. Until there is evidence of widespread criminal activity, that will remain the position. T7. Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab): Last year, Arts Council funding was cut by £71 million, local authority funding was slashed and investment in the arts by private business fell by almost £10 million. Would the Minister like to have another go at providing a credible answer to Nottingham arts organisations about how to fill the funding gap that his Government have created? Mr Vaizey: Overall funding for the Arts Council will be reduced by less than 5% because we have given it back the lottery money that the Labour party robbed from it to pay for the Olympics. The answer for Nottingham Playhouse is to have an MP who champions its work and talks it up, not down. Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con): Would the Minister be surprised if I joined other Brighton Members in saying that Brighton and Hove would be an excellent place for ultra-fast broadband and that we look forward to bidding as soon as possible? Mr Vaizey: Indeed, and I again congratulate the work of all the Brighton MPs, but particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mike Weatherley), on their campaigning skills. Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab): In Manchester, as in Morocco, a digital economy requires a digital infrastructure, but more than 2 million people are excluded from that because they live in rural areas. Will the Minister reassure the House that he recognises the importance of geography by reinstating Labour’s universal broadband pledge? Mr Vaizey: The hon. Lady mentioned Morocco. It is an interesting fact that Morocco has less than half the population of the United Kingdom. Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con): Now that BT has lost its challenge to the Digital Economy Act 2010, when will the Government publish the initial obligations code and statutory instrument? Mr Vaizey: We will publish it as soon as possible. Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab): There has been lots of bombast this morning, but does the Minister appreciate that for working-class children, two to three libraries closing a week, the withdrawal of arts education in our schools and a £71 million cut to the Arts Council are significant? Does he understand the intrinsic value of the arts to young people in this country? Mr Vaizey: Okay, the right hon. Gentleman has thrown down the gauntlet. Let me tell him a few facts. First, two or three libraries are not closing. Fewer than 100 libraries have “closed”, and many of those have been transferred to communities. More than 40 libraries are opening, but Labour does not talk about that. We have just published our cultural education plan, the first such plan this country has ever had. Overall arts funding will be reduced by less than 4% over the next four years, so the right hon. Gentleman should stop talking down what is happening in the arts and talk about the huge success we are having. Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD): The parents of young people suffering from eating disorders are often distressed to find a hoard of press and magazine articles with graphic images and details of low weights and tiny amounts of food eaten, which have been used as inspiration. The media are rightly very careful when reporting on suicide. In a similar way, will the Minister urge media outlets to take cognisance of the media guidelines created by the eating disorder charity B-eat, to avoid the sensationalism of this illness, which can be very damaging? Mr Vaizey: My hon. Friend has campaigned vigorously on this important issue. Magazine editors take their responsibilities extremely seriously, but I would be happy to meet her to discuss her campaign and also to work with her to engage with magazine editors. Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab): The Minister said that competition is still in play for superfast broadband procurement, but as he knows, many of the projects have only one bidder, BT. As far as I know, only one other bidder in the whole country is still in the frame for those projects. Will he confirm that, and say why he thinks the exercise has been so unsuccessful in engaging the degree of competition that we would all have wanted? Mr Vaizey: We engaged a great many companies, but we cannot invent competition. However, at least three organisations are still involved in the bidding, and I firmly believe that the way we went about it—ensuring that local government had a say and that the contracts were awarded across local government areas, rather than regionally or nationally—promoted competition and offered up the opportunity for community broadband providers, for example. many online betting businesses that are currently offshore will come back onshore, and how many jobs will come back with them? The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (John Penrose): I am delighted to have a chance to answer at least one question. Unfortunately, the answer is that I do not know, because this is an issue for the Treasury. Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): None the less, could the Minister, who is responsible for tourism, please have a word with the Minister responsible for broadcasting and arts, the Under-Secretary, the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey), and explain to him the geography of Morocco? It is twice the size of this country, and when it comes to expanding rural broadband, it is the size of the country that matters. Not very many people live in Blaenrhondda or Blaencwm, which are a long way from cities, but they are the people who really matter if we are to get our economy going. John Penrose: I am enjoying busking this one. The short answer is that the population of Morocco, I am told by many people on the Benches behind me, is only half that of the UK—it is also economically smaller—and as I am sure everybody will appreciate, the density of population is also relevant when it comes to connecting people to broadband. Mr Speaker: It sounds to me as though there is plenty of scope for an Adjournment debate on the matter. Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con): Whitefield’s tabernacle is Kingswood’s only grade I listed building and has important religious significance in the history of non-conformism, yet it is in a severe state of disrepair, despite featuring on the TV programme “Restoration” several years ago. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how best to preserve this precious building? John Penrose: The short answer to that one is yes. The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath): It is our intention to publish a Green Paper containing draft measures on parliamentary privilege before the end of the Session. Mark Lancaster: Which particular aspect of the current system of privilege does the Minister feel is in most need of reform and why? Mr Heath: I am going to have to say to the hon. Gentleman that he will need to read the paper that we are producing, because it will, I hope, be a comprehensive survey of everything that relates to privilege and ask some pertinent questions about whether reform is necessary and whether it would be helpful to Members of this House in going about their business. He will have to be patient and wait for the paper, which we hope to publish before the end of the Session. Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): I hope that whatever the Government produce will indeed be a “green” paper, because there is one key issue that has to be resolved before we move any further, and that is: should we be putting anything about parliamentary privilege into statute? The danger is that the courts would then choose to interpret our actions and proceedings in this House, which would rather undermine the Glorious Revolution. Mr Heath: For once, I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman. The Green Paper will ask the specific question whether the case has been made for legislation. We have approached this issue with an open mind, and we want to seek the views of both Houses on whether legislating further on parliamentary privilege is either necessary or desirable. The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath): The Government intend to introduce a legislative programme in the next Session to deliver deficit reduction, boost growth, support aspiration, reform public services and implement the priorities in the coalition agreement. Duncan Hames: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. That same coalition agreement described the introduction of a groceries code adjudicator as a “first step” in protecting the interests of consumers and farmers, not least those in the hard-pressed dairy industry. I do not know of any Member who represents as many dairy farmers as my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath), so will he use his influence with the business managers to ensure that a Bill to introduce a groceries code adjudicator makes its way into the next Session? Mr Heath: Obviously I cannot pre-empt what will be announced on 9 May, but the Government remain committed to introducing the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill. I am pleased that the draft Bill has received pre-legislative scrutiny and that it has been warmly received across the House. As my hon. Friend rightly says, I have a clear constituency interest in the progress of that particular piece of legislation. legislation through the Commons, as they did with the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, and that there will be sufficient time for debate? Mr Heath: The House of Lords (Amendment) Bill is a constitutional Bill, and it is normal that the Committee stages of such Bills are taken on the Floor of the House. I have no reason to suppose that this Bill will be an exception. We will of course provide adequate time for debate. Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con): May I propose a change for the Government when they are considering their legislative programme for the next Session? Will they bear it in mind, just for a change, that they are in coalition with the Conservative party? Mr Heath: I doubt that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House ever forgets that fact. The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath): The Government conducted an experiment with a public reading stage on the Protection of Freedoms Bill. Following an evaluation of the experiment, we intend to conduct trials in the second Session to determine the best ways for members of the public to comment on specific details of legislation. My right hon. Friend the Leader of the House and I will update the House on our detailed plans early in the next Session. Stephen Metcalfe: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Will he tell the House from whom he will seek advice on how best to push this measure forward? Mr Heath: It is very important that, before we undertake further pilots of public reading stages, we have an opportunity to reflect on any improvements that could be made to the technology and the processes involved. That will involve talking to many people. Hon. Members may have seen the recent announcement that Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has agreed to advise the Government on improving open government, and we will want that work to influence how we proceed with public reading stages. Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD): I welcome what my hon. Friend says about improving public engagement, particularly with regard to public reading stages. Does he agree that we need to make it easier for the public to follow Committee stages of Bills, too, once the public reading stage is over? Will he have discussions with Jimmy Wales and others, particularly those involved in social media and online engagement, on how we can demystify the legislative process in this country, so that more members of the public can contribute their views? understand how we go about our business and how they can influence the progress of legislation, the better. I can certainly give her a commitment that we will be looking at that. We will be looking at a variety of innovative ways to help the public to understand the process of legislation and the legislation itself, when it is presented to the House and to the public. The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath): The Government recognise the value of parliamentary scrutiny of legislation. We have ensured that Bills have adequate time for proper scrutiny in the House. The Government are also committed to publishing more legislation in draft to enable pre-legislative scrutiny. Brandon Lewis: For how many Bills have the Government allowed two days on Report ? Mr Heath: In this Session, five Bills have had a Report stage taken over two days. Indeed, both the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill and the Finance (No. 3) Bill were considered over three days. This is more than in any Session of the previous Parliament, when there were none whatever in the first and last Sessions. Mark Menzies: How many Bills had pre-legislative scrutiny in the last Session, and how did that compare with this Session? Will the Deputy Leader of the House make a statement on plans for the future? Mr Heath: The Government have published nine draft measures this Session, and are committed to publishing more measures in draft in the next Session, with a view to pre-legislative scrutiny. Further specific announcements will be made at the start of the new Session. In the last Session under the previous Government, two Bills—just two—were published in draft. Andrew Stephenson: Will the Deputy Leader of the House say more about the Government’s plans for post-legislative scrutiny? Mr Heath: Like their predecessor, the Government are committed to reviewing every Act of Parliament three to five years after it has passed. Government Departments publish Command Papers, allowing Commons Committees to decide whether or not to conduct further post-legislative scrutiny of each Act, when it is appropriate to do so. Forty-four of these memorandums have been published since this system was introduced in 2008. We welcome the work undertaken so far by Select Committees to examine such memorandums, but it is up to the Select Committees to decide whether they wish to do more. Henry Smith: I am a member of the European Scrutiny Committee which receives a thick bundle of policies and proposals from the European Union each week. What measures can be taken to ensure that more of these can go before departmental Select Committees, as they cover the whole vast area of UK national policy? Mr Heath: Of course I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concerns. The Government are keen to explore possible ways further to improve the effectiveness with which this House deals with European legislation. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe is in discussions with Select Committees and others about possible changes. Graham Evans: The effectiveness of scrutiny of legislation is important, and so is the cost of the effectiveness of such scrutiny. One mechanism that arguably assists with that scrutiny is that of early-day motions. I congratulate the Government on reducing the annual cost of early-day motions by 38% since 2010, but I hope my hon. Friend will join me in welcoming the Procedure Committee’s announcement that it will carry out a fresh review of early-day motions in the near future. Mr Heath: I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s remarks and the fact that he recognises that the House of Commons Commission is looking across the House to establish where savings can be made. The interest of Members in the hon. Gentleman’s recent Adjournment debate, to which I responded, highlighted the variety of views on this issue. It is quite right that, if there is a swell of opinion for further reform in this area, it would be appropriate for the Procedure Committee to consider the issue of early-day motions. Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab): Further to the question put by the hon. Member for Crawley (Henry Smith), will the Leader of the House look again at establishing permanent membership of European Standing Committees? The ad hoc approach, frankly, does not work. Mr Heath: Again, I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern. The Government are continuing to explore ways to improve scrutiny, and there remain areas that we need to explore. One issue to bear in mind is whether hon. Members would be willing to serve on such a Committee. If that is the case and if we can make satisfactory arrangements, we will of course bring them to the House. answers? A recent EDM suggested that the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr Blunt), gave a parliamentary answer that reached a new low “in evasiveness and vacuity”, and recommends that in future Ministers should read the question before answering parliamentary questions. Mr Speaker: Order. I am sure we are talking about these matters with reference to the scrutiny of legislation. Mr Heath: Yes, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman’s question was about the scrutiny of legislation. I have already set out our position on EDMs. We recognise that they have value, but sometimes some can, shall we say, come close to an abuse of the House in terms of their cost compared with their benefit. On the subject of questions to Ministers, the hon. Gentleman knows that if there are deficiencies in the responses Members receive, I and my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House are always happy to take that up with the Departments and Ministers concerned. David Wright (Telford) (Lab): What plans does the hon. Gentleman have to extend the time available for the consideration of Bills on Second Reading? It has become traditional for Second Reading debates to be considered on a single day. May we extend the time available, as many Members, especially Back Benchers, want to contribute on Second Reading? Mr Heath: First, let me make the important point that the scrutiny of legislation is an essential part of the business of this House. People often talk about Government time as if it were unrelated to the business of the House when, in fact, it is Parliament’s time in order to scrutinise legislation. I merely make the observation that the more time that is eroded from so-called Government time by consideration of other matters that are no doubt of enormous importance—such as urgent questions and emergency debates—the less time is available to the House to scrutinise legislation properly. The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young): I welcome the announcement by the Minister for political and constitutional reform, my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), of the terms of membership for the commission, and I will be following its work closely. Although I have no plans to submit evidence to the commission myself, it will no doubt wish to take account of the authoritative works and voices on this issue, and I hope that my hon. Friend will be among them. Harriett Baldwin: When in opposition, the Leader of the House produced a distinguished pamphlet on the topic that the McKay commission will be studying. Does he propose to send that work to the commission? Also, does the commission intend to take written evidence, and to meet in public to take oral evidence? Sir George Young: The commission will be meeting in public and it has asked for evidence. My hon. Friend is too kind about the work of the democracy taskforce to which I contributed when I was on the Back Benches, but I am sure this exchange will have drawn the commission’s attention to the existence of that important work. Lothian question for Scotland to become a normal, independent, self-governing nation? Sir George Young: “Bring it on” is what we on the Government Benches would say. That particular issue is beyond the remit of the commission, but I hope the hon. Gentleman will do what he can to bring forward the date when we can resolve it once and for all. Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op) (Urgent Question): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on whether he will instigate a Budget leak inquiry, in view of the accurate pre-reporting of a number of the detailed proposals in his Budget statement, including one of the matters that was agreed under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act. The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke): As with every Budget, we have seen a vast amount of speculation, and, as ever, a vast amount of it has proven to be unfounded. As the Chancellor has said, a Budget produced within a coalition is different. The days of the Chancellor coming up with a Budget in secret are gone. This was not a Conservative or a Liberal Democrat Budget; it was a coalition Budget. In the course of coalition Budget negotiations, various proposals were raised, discussed and debated. That occurred more widely than in the past, when the Chancellor told the Prime Minister what was in the Budget the day before or, as in even more recent days, when the Prime Minister told the Chancellor what should be in the Budget the night before. The Treasury does make announcements throughout the year. For my own part, people will have seen the work on tax transparency and personal tax statements, which was in response to a consultation on this very issue laid before the House in November and subject to a ten-minute rule Bill from my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Ben Gummer). On the specific question, it is a long-established practice of the Treasury not to comment either on whether a leak inquiry has been established, or on its conduct or outcome. There will be ample opportunity to debate the Budget over the coming days. Today is the second of four days of debate on the Budget. It is perhaps an unfortunate consequence of this urgent question that this is being delayed, and so is delaying the shadow Chancellor, from whom I am sure the House is eager to hear. There have been clear and flagrant violations of this crucial principle. It is a significant insult to the primacy of Parliament and this House of Commons, to whom the Chancellor should be accountable. It is a shame he was not able to come here to answer for himself on this matter. Our constituents expect that Members of Parliament should be the first to hear and question policy announcements from the Chancellor, and hold him directly to account. The Chancellor is treating Parliament as a peripheral afterthought, and that is totally unacceptable. But this is not just about the sovereignty of Parliament; if the Chancellor and his acolytes are prepared to pre-brief and leak key information about very sensitive tax changes, that risks handing privileged information to those who can take advantage of any advance knowledge. The ministerial code is enforced by the Prime Minister, who should instigate a leak inquiry if the Exchequer Secretary refuses to do so. He did not say whether he was or was not going to have an inquiry—at least he could leak that little bit of information for us today. It is also necessary, of course, to include an investigation of conversations between the Chancellor’s special advisers and the civil service and the media. Of course, civil servants are guided by the civil service code. It is unlikely that newspapers will reveal their sources, but Ministers and special advisers should be interviewed and asked who they spoke to, when the conversations occurred and who sanctioned those conversations. If information was released pre-Budget without approval from the Chancellor and was leaked, it is a very serious breach of security and of the civil service code. “more of a newspaper review than a Budget”. It might be quicker to list what the papers did not publish before the Budget, but for the benefit of the House I shall list some of those measures that did come out: the reduction in the 50p rate appeared in The Guardian last week and in the Financial Times; the changes to the personal income tax allowance appeared on ITV News on Tuesday night, when the exact figure was given; the stamp duty land tax changes appeared very precisely in the Financial Times and in basically all the newspapers on Wednesday morning; the changes to stamp duty land tax on residential property associated with capital gains tax changes appeared on the “Andrew Marr Show” at the weekend; and the North sea oil and gas commissioning certainties appeared in the Herald Scotland on Saturday 17. “inevitably the days when the Chancellor dreamt this all up in secret, shared it with the PM 48 hours before he delivered his speech...are gone”. Well times are not so different that they give licence to the Chancellor to fling around the contents of the Budget red box to any passing journalist, regardless of the consequences. Mr Speaker, we have heard the usual dismissive indifference from the Minister to these serious concerns, so perhaps I need to ask you, as a point of order, for general guidance about how the rights of this House, and the public’s expectations of orderly policy announcements, can be protected? Can you take steps to ensure that the Chancellor does not treat Parliament and the wider public with such utter contempt in the future? public knowledge that the Chancellor had commissioned HMRC to undertake a report on the 50p rate and how much that tax was raising—an issue that I am sure the hon. Gentleman does not want to debate for very long. In that time, it was very clear that the Chancellor was going to make a statement, but what did we see in the press? We saw stories that it was going to stay at 50p, be cut to 45p or be cut to 40p. We saw press reports that it was going to happen this year or next year. There were at least five different versions of what was going to happen on the 50p rate, so it is not surprising that one of them turned out to be correct. However, it is also the case that four of them turned out to be incorrect. The hon. Gentleman asked about sensitive numbers. I can assure him that the numbers on the stamp duty land tax—the increase to 7%—which I am sure he welcomes, certainly did not come from the Treasury, and neither did the exact number regarding the personal allowance as far as I am aware. We also heard from the hon. Gentleman that in days past these things did not happen. May I remind him what happened when he was last a Government Minister? In the 2005 Budget there was a leak about tax credit increases that turned out to be correct, a leak about alcohol duties that turned out to be correct, a leak about fuel duty that turned out to be correct, a leak about inheritance tax that turned out to be correct and a leak about stamp duty that turned out to be correct. There were also leaks about council tax refunds and the winter fuel allowance, all of which were entirely correct. I could look at more recent announcements such as those about VAT in 2008, about the green bank, the youth jobs package, fuel duty and schools, all of which turned out to be accurate. I am sure that Government Ministers would then have said that that was speculation and I am sure that in many cases they were absolutely correct. It is difficult to give full credit to the hon. Gentleman given that detailed information about Budgets has been put into the public domain by previous Governments for many years, but he has only now suddenly become very upset. I am not surprised that the Labour party wants to focus on an issue of process rather than on the substance because this Budget is going to get the country growing again and is reforming the tax system in a sensible and growth-friendly way. Mr Speaker: Order. There is extensive interest in this subject, which I am keen to accommodate, but that requires brevity, a great example of which can now be provided by Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg. Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con): I wonder whether my hon. Friend notices the incongruity of those who oppose openness in the Budget but were all in favour of it in terms of risk registers. Does he agree that the criticism is either muddled or synthetic? Mr Gauke: In the interests of brevity, Mr Speaker, I agree. Chancellor of tax avoidance as “morally repugnant”, will the Exchequer Secretary now ensure that all Ministers’ tax arrangements are published? Mr Gauke: We do not have a tradition of politicians publishing their tax affairs, but I have to say that for a Labour politician to say that in the context of the current mayoral election takes some nerve. Mr Speaker: Order. May I remind the House that this is a narrowly focused urgent question seeking a leak inquiry? It is a matter of great importance, but it is on that matter that exchanges should be focused. This is not a rerun of the Budget debate, which will be continued, but is about the subject of the urgent question. Mr David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that there will obviously be wild speculation before any Budget, much of which turns out to be wrong, and that we do not need any lectures from Opposition Members, who leaked everything all the time when they were in government? Mr Gauke: I do not think that we can draw a conclusion that there has been a decline in the standards of journalism just from the fact that in 2005 the predictions of what was in the Budget were more consistently accurate than in 2012. Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab): Surely a leak is an unauthorised or inadvertent publication of restricted and confidential information. On that basis, this could not have been a leak, because it was clearly not inadvertent and it was clearly authorised. It was none the less in severe conflict with the ministerial code, and that surely is what the Prime Minister should investigate. Mr Gauke: I am not sure that there was a question there, but I thank the hon. Gentleman for his views. The Government clearly authorised some information to be put out in advance of the Budget. For example, there was a speech by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister makes speeches from time to time; I am not sure that people should be getting upset about that. Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD): Does my hon. Friend agree that it is rank hypocrisy on the part of Opposition Members to accuse this Government of leaking? Can my hon. Friend remember how many times the Labour Government held inquiries into leaks about their Budgets? Mr Speaker: Order. Let us be absolutely clear about this. The hon. Lady can make a general charge. She cannot and will not make a personal charge against an individual Member in any part of the House. I trust that the hon. Lady is not accusing the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) on the Opposition Front Bench of hypocrisy. Mr Gauke: I, too, want to be very careful and not accuse the hon. Gentleman of hypocrisy, but there are dangers of inconsistency. Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab): On Monday the Home Secretary came to the House and confirmed that there would be a leak inquiry into the Hillsborough media reports. Why is it that the Home Secretary has that grace, but the Minister does not? Mr Gauke: Let me repeat what I said earlier. It is a long-established practice of the Treasury not to comment on whether a leak inquiry has been established or on its conduct or outcome. Mr Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman will resume his seat. I made the position clear. This is a set of exchanges about a specific and narrowly crafted urgent question. It may be about many things within that context, but it is not about 1947. We will leave it there. Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con): The previous Labour Government leaked worse than the Titanic. Does my hon. Friend agree that, whatever the Labour party’s budgetary policies may be—we are not quite sure—they would be an equal disaster? Mr Gauke: Within the constraints of the question, I will just say yes. John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne) (Lab): Will the Minister concede that the Chancellor has shot himself in the foot with such widespread leaks, because all that he had to announce yesterday was the tax grab on grannies, which he hoped people would not notice? Will he concede that the leak inquiry that may or may not be going on now in the Treasury should consider the leaks of Office for Budget Responsibility judgments, and that now is the time to put the OBR on a proper independent basis similar to that of the Office for National Statistics? Mr Gauke: Of course the OBR is independent, and that may be some irritation to Opposition Members, given its conclusions about the failure of the 50p rate. George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that the only possible explanation for the general hypocrisy on the Opposition Benches, given their own leaking of this urgent question before the Speaker’s Office announced it, is their desire to avoid the good news of GlaxoSmithKline’s investment announced this morning? Mr Gauke: I am interested to learn that this story was apparently briefed before any decision emerged. [ Interruption. ] I understand that that is incorrect and that it was not announced on Twitter before your decision, Mr Speaker. If it was, I am sure that there will be an internal Labour party inquiry. the ministerial code and the accurate and extensive reporting of what was in the Budget across the media the morning before the Budget statement. That is the difference, and that is what we want to be investigated. Are we going to have an investigation or not? Mr Gauke: I have answered the hon. Gentleman’s first point. I should also reiterate that we have a coalition, which means that there are negotiations and discussions involving both sides. It also means that the Budget tends to be finalised some days in advance of the Budget speech. That is quite a contrast to previous years, when revisions were made, documents pulped and decisions taken at the last minute. I think that we have a much better process, thanks to the discussions within the coalition and the involvement of the Office for Budget Responsibility. John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): Does the Minister believe that the Opposition would improve by getting some consistency on whether information should or should not be released? Mr Gauke: We can hope for consistency, but I am not an optimist on that front. Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op): Leeks are normally very popular in Wales, but given that only 4,000 people in Wales pay the 50p rate of tax, compared with 94,000 in London, taken alongside the regional pay leak, this represents a massive transfer from poorer people in Wales to richer people in London. Does the Minister not agree that spreading that sort of fear through leaks ahead of the Budget announcement is disgraceful, and has he not admitted that he has given leaks by referring to our alleged leaks? Mr Gauke: I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman’s analysis is wrong, because the rich will of course be paying five times the amount as a consequence of the Budget measures. I am afraid that his analysis is no better than his jokes. David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con): Will my hon. Friend accept that he made a mistake in saying that part of the Budget was leaked by the Labour Government in 2005? In fact, the whole Budget was leaked to the Evening Standard . Mr Gauke: I suspect that my hon. Friend is right and apologise to the House for getting that wrong. Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab): One of the reasons why Budget leaks are particularly serious is that they facilitate tax avoidance. When the Budget speech was leaked in 1984, Lord Howe instituted a police inquiry and everybody working on the Budget was interviewed by the police. Why does the Chancellor of the Exchequer not do the same? at midnight, people still have the opportunity to exchange contracts in the interim period, as indeed was the case when previous Governments raised stamp duty. Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con): I was an avid reader of pre-Budget commentary in the newspapers and found that there was plenty of new content in the Chancellor’s presentation yesterday that had not been covered at all and plenty that the media had got wrong. Is this not a complete waste of parliamentary time, and will my hon. Friend ensure that none of his official time is wasted in the pursuit of this phantom leak? Mr Gauke: If the intention is to keep the shadow Chancellor’s speech off the lunchtime bulletins, I suspect that it will succeed, and who would blame the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) for wanting to do that? Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab): Would the Minister describe it as a coincidence that the £3 million stealth tax on pensioners was one thing that was not leaked? Mr Gauke: I am not sure whether we are now getting complaints that we are briefing too much, or too little. Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con): Clearly, the most difficult job in Parliament is to respond to the Budget speech. If everything was leaked in advance, why did the Leader of the Opposition get it so spectacularly wrong? Mr Gauke: There is a theory that we might have wanted to help him, but I can assure my hon. Friend that that is not the case, although I can see the argument why the Leader of the Opposition might have wanted that help. Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab): By describing the systematic and orchestrated leaks as somehow an accident, does the Minister not realise that he and the Chancellor remind people of Captain Renault in “Casablanca” when he goes into Rick’s place and is shocked to discover gambling going on, even as he collects his own winnings? Is this approach not simply amoral, and should Ministers not have a higher standard around the Budget? Mr Gauke: I am afraid that if we were looking at the previous Government we could round up the usual suspects there, because there was plenty of leaking under them, but we heard none of the synthetic outrage from the Labour party then. Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con): I have a dream in which the Budget is merely the confirmation of ideas that have been fully consulted on and people can actually understand what the tax regime will be in advance. I commend the Minister for his work in trying that, rather than worrying about this flim-flam. in the Budget yesterday were the culmination of a long process of consultation, for example the reforms of controlled foreign companies, which have been widely welcomed. As a corporate tax regime, ours is increasingly recognised around the world, and I am delighted that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) pointed out earlier, we had the announcement from GlaxoSmithKline this morning. Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op): How does the Minister explain the headline on Wednesday morning in the Financial Times—it could have been any of the major newspapers—which stated: “Osborne in tax grab on top-end property”? The article went on confidently to assert that the duty would be 7% on properties priced at £2 million and above. Surely that was a leak. If it was not, what was it and what will he do about it? Mr Gauke: I do not believe that the figure of 7% came from the Treasury, but we also ought to recognise that in last year’s Budget the Chancellor made it clear that we were looking at getting more money from those owning high-end properties, so it should not have come as a complete surprise that there was an announcement along those lines in the Budget yesterday. Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con): It was widely reported in the press before the Budget, and in fact before Monday, that on Monday morning the quad would meet for a final sign-off of the Budget. Surely anything that was in the papers about the Budget before that point would have been complete speculation? Mr Gauke: There is a lot of speculation, but one of the aspects of Budget policy making under this Government is that it is much more orderly and systematic and decisions are reached in a proper way, unlike the chaos that reigned under the previous Government. Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab): The Liberal Democrats were briefing extensively in the past few days, and I just wonder whether the Minister would like to investigate why they seem to have preferential access to information before Parliament does. Mr Gauke: It is only to be expected that coalition parties will want to make their arguments and to set out their case, and we do have a Budget that is formed by a coalition, but it is a Budget that is good for the country. Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth) (Con): My hon. Friend mentions the consultation work that the Treasury does in order to reach final positions on the Budget. One of those was shown yesterday, with the new regime for oil and gas and decommissioning—something that the industry very much welcomes and which will provide a great boost. Does my hon. Friend agree that such consultations lead to speculation but are vital in terms of getting into the Budget the right result for people? Mr Gauke: My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and our progress on oil and gas will be welcomed throughout the country and, especially, in Great Yarmouth. the time that such reports were in the newspapers and the Budget announcement, and into how much that cost the hard-pressed British taxpayer and pensioners who are having to pay the granny tax? Mr Gauke: On the general point about leak inquiries, I have said what I have to say on that, but we have to bear in mind that identifying a property of more than £2 million, reaching a conclusion on negotiations and exchanging in the course of one morning is somewhat ambitious. Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con): If the Minister is ever tempted to go down the route of a leak inquiry, will he at least commit to backdating it to 1997? Mr Gauke: My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Presumably, the Labour party would be very supportive of, and co-operative in, any such venture. Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op): The Minister has said three times now in his responses that the Treasury was not responsible for leaking the stamp duty changes. The first time that he said so, he added, “as far as I know.” Is not the point that he should know and, therefore at least on that point, that a leak inquiry should be instituted immediately? Mr Gauke: I have absolutely no evidence that the Treasury briefed on the 7% stamp duty announcement, but none the less an announcement was made in the morning, and the measure came into effect at midnight last night. We also ought to make the point that that measure, on stamp duty land tax, is going to get more money out of the wealthy, and much more successfully, than the Labour party managed with its failed 50p rate. Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con): Does the Minister agree that the fact that the Opposition have tabled an urgent question today on media management is further evidence that the Budget was a good Budget and Labour has nothing to say on growth or jobs? Mr Gauke: I agree. The focus on process not substance is very revealing. Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab): I congratulate the Minister on some excellent press management this morning, and on the headlines, which have been very helpful to us. But I want to be helpful, so that he can be specific about the area of suspicion. Can he now say that no Treasury Minister directly, or special adviser indirectly on their behalf, gave information to the press about any Budget measures prior to the Budget yesterday? Mr Gauke: Just to be clear, I will give the hon. Gentleman a Budget measure that was confirmed yesterday: personal tax statements. Ministers were aware that we were going to inform the press about personal tax statements, so the question he asks is extremely broad. There were measures announced yesterday in which Ministers were involved, but I am not aware of any Minister being aware of the briefing of market-sensitive information. “Alastair Darling is set to deliver his first budget to the House of Commons tomorrow…but in reality, much of it has already been trailed”? Mr Gauke: Some things are not entirely new. The Labour party really does have to think back to its time in government and to the behaviour undertaken then. What is remarkable is that Opposition Members managed to brief some of their announcements, given that most were decided only at the very last minute. Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab): Will the Minister clarify whether he expounds the virtues of advance notification and discussion because we have a coalition, or whether he thinks that it is a bad thing to leak? Was the one thing that he did not share with his coalition partners perhaps the granny tax? Mr Gauke: All Budget decisions were agreed by the Government as a whole, and the quad was heavily involved at all stages in that. People in a coalition will always make their arguments and set out their case, and some of that will be done in private, some of it in public, but it is a far more orderly process of Budget policy making than we have seen for many years. Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con): In the context of coalition government, there will inevitably be much pre-Budget discussion and much greater media coverage. Does my hon. Friend agree that such coverage is bound sometimes to be right, and that it is ridiculous to interpret it as leaks? Mr Gauke: I refer my hon. Friend to, for example, the 50p debate, which the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) mentioned. In the days before the Budget there were five different versions of what was going to happen. One turned out to be correct and four turned out to be incorrect. Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab): We heard almost more information and detail on the Budget on Tuesday evening than we did on Wednesday evening. Was that due to the Liberal Democrats, was it due to the Conservatives, or were they simply all in it together? Mr Gauke: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor set out yesterday a Budget for growth and for working people. There was an awful lot of information in it. It was an ambitious Budget, and one of which this Government are very proud. Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that Budget leaks are to be deplored, as indeed is the alleged break-in at the Leader of the Opposition’s office, purportedly to find his Budget policies? I can inform the House that the would-be thief left empty-handed. Mr Gauke: It would be a very foolish thief whose motivation was to find policies from the Leader of the Opposition. Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op): Does the Minister agree that, if any profiteering took place due to leaking the announcement on stamp duty land tax, it would be morally repugnant? What action will he take if his secret leak inquiry finds evidence that it took place? Mr Gauke: We ought to put the matter into proportion. The idea that someone would be able to identify a property and exchange contracts in the course of a morning is highly unlikely. As I have said, I have no reason to believe that the Treasury was in any way involved in briefing that particular item, but there was a lot of speculation that there would be something on properties, and that speculation turned out to be correct. Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con): Does the Minister agree that such discussion as that which took place between the coalition parties leading up to the Budget is more healthy—more open and transparent—for our democracy than leaving things all in the hands of one, lone control freak? Mr Gauke: I certainly agree that we do not want to return to the days when a Chancellor, in close co-operation with his special adviser, worked in a sort of secret bunker, not sharing any information with anyone, including the Prime Minister. That is not healthy, and, as we saw, it did not result in sensible tax policy making. Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab): Is not the most serious aspect of leaks the further degradation of ministerial code reform? The Public Administration Committee has been told by the previous independent adviser on the code that the Prime Minister himself is in breach of the code. If the Committee decides unanimously that the present adviser on the code is not fit to hold office, should Sir Alex Allan resign? Mr Gauke: That is clearly not an issue for the Treasury. The Government will respond to the points that the hon. Gentleman has raised in due course. Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con): I would not dream of accusing anybody on the Opposition Benches of hypocrisy, but the last time I saw more assembled piety than there is on those Benches today was when I visited a Catholic convent in the southern Philippines in 1985. Has it occurred to the Minister, as it has occurred to me, that this urgent question is simply a distraction from the debate on a Budget for jobs and growth that helps working people? That is what my constituents in Gloucester want to hear us debate today. Mr Gauke: I understand concerns about there being a debate before the Budget, but now Opposition Members do not seem to want a debate on Government measures after the Budget. I think we should have that debate. Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con): Given that the centrepiece of the Chancellor’s Budget yesterday was an increase in the personal tax allowance that gives a tax break to 24 million people on low and middle incomes, and given that that was in the coalition agreement, does the Minister agree that a journalist would not need to be Sherlock Holmes to speculate that that increase would be in the Budget? Mr Gauke: My hon. Friend is absolutely right; that is in the coalition agreement. We have always said that we wanted to make progress on that, and I am delighted that we did yesterday. George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth) (Con): Does the Minister agree that it is typical of Labour Members to be obsessed by media headlines and spin when they ought to be doing what we do on the Government side of the House—make good policy? Mr Gauke: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Yesterday’s was a Budget of substance, this is a Government of substance and we will continue to get the country out of the mess that we inherited. Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con): The hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) based his case on different speculation in the newspapers about the future of the 50p rate. Does the Minister not recall that when the 50p rate was introduced by the previous Government, the first news of it came from a newspaper, not the Dispatch Box? Mr Gauke: I am sure that my hon. Friend is absolutely right. My only query is that I thought it might have been on the television; but if he says it was in a newspaper, I am sure that he is right. Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con): In 2005, the Evening Standard covered details of the entire Budget; in 2008, the Daily Mail covered the details of VAT and The Daily Telegraph had details on fuel; in 2009, The Observer covered details on youth jobs; in 2010, there were details on the green investment bank. Would my hon. Friend welcome at least some consistency in policy and practice rather than the lack of constructive opposition that comes from Labour Members? Mr Gauke: I would welcome that consistency, but I do not expect it. “Urgent Question in the House this morning @ChrisLeslieMP calling for a Budget leak inquiry”. Yet I understand from your office, Mr Speaker, that the urgent question was not officially announced to the House until exactly 10 o’clock. Will the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) now call for a leak inquiry on that urgent matter? Mr Gauke: Earlier this morning, the hon. Gentleman denied it. [Interruption.] He is shaking his head now, so he is clearly denying that that is the case. Presumably, it is reasonably easy to work out what time a Twitter post was made and to know what time the urgent question was announced. But it is not for me to lecture the Opposition; I am sure that they would be very concerned if there had been such a leak and they would be cracking down on it straight away. the day by my colleagues and me, and the disclosure of the result of the request to the interested parties. All was done—I know the hon. Member for Kingswood (Chris Skidmore) will be satisfied that it was—in an absolutely orderly way on this occasion as it is on every other. Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): Has the Minister discussed this matter with his colleague the Chief Secretary to the Treasury? I have found the earliest published source of information on the Budget. It was written by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary—on the front page of the Liberal Democrat election manifesto nearly two years ago. Mr Gauke: And it was all going so well. I confess that I have not spoken to my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary this morning and that I have not read all that manifesto. But I would say that the Budget has Liberal Democrat policies and Conservative policies. It is a coalition Budget that is good for the whole country. Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab): Will the Leader of the House please give us next week’s business? Monday 26 March—Conclusion of the Budget debate. Tuesday 27 March—Motion relating to assisted suicide. The subject for this debate has been nominated by the Backbench Business Committee. Colleagues should be reminded that the House will meet at 11.30 am on Tuesday. Monday 16 April—Second Reading of the Finance (No. 4) Bill. Tuesday 17 April—Consideration of Lords amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. Wednesday 18 April—Consideration in Committee of the Finance (No. 4) Bill (day 1). Thursday 19 April— Consideration in Committee of the Finance (No. 4) Bill (day 2). Ms Eagle: I thank the Leader of the House for his statement. Last week, I recommended to the Cabinet horses that they could back at the Cheltenham festival. Well, the verdict is in, and I have to announce that I will not be giving up the day job. Palace Jester, the horse that I recommended for the Deputy Prime Minister, was much talked about before the race and entered the field with high expectations, but it failed to live up to its overblown hype—it wilted at the first sign of pressure and ended up nowhere. That just proves that Palace Jester was exactly the right horse for the Deputy Prime Minister. I have been forced to conclude that I am about as successful at tipping horses as the Chancellor is at managing the economy. Yesterday, the Chancellor made a rare appearance in the House to present his millionaires’ Budget. Although an appearance from him at the Dispatch Box is always a pleasant surprise, the content of the Budget certainly was not. In future, the Government could dispense with the Budget Red Book altogether and just publish a collection of newspaper clippings; instead of delivering a Budget speech from the Dispatch Box, the Chancellor could just review last week’s papers. Will the Leader of the House undertake to update the House at next business questions on how the leak inquiry is going? Since then, the economy has stalled, unemployment has risen and he is borrowing £150 billion more than he planned. What fuel has the Chancellor been using? After the lamentable record on growth, what was needed yesterday from the Chancellor was a Budget for jobs. Instead, we got a Budget that will be remembered for giving a huge tax cut to the richest 1%. We were all astonished to learn from the Chancellor this morning that he was not a top rate taxpayer. The hunt is now on for the name of his accountant, who will surely find himself in spectacular demand. Given that the Chancellor has answered the question, surely the rest of the Cabinet should now do so too. Will the Leader of the House arrange for a note to be placed in the House of Commons Library listing which members of the Cabinet have benefited from the cut in the 50p rate? Yesterday’s ideological Budget gave a £40,000 tax cut to the richest 14,000 people—wrong choice. Yesterday’s Budget introduced a stealth tax on pensioners to pay for that—wrong choice. Cuts to tax credits in April mean that 200,000 households will now be better off on the dole than in work—wrong choice. With VAT increased, fuel duty going up and child benefit cut, this is a Budget that leaves families £253 a year worse off—wrong choice. Having scoured the dictionary, I have to report to the House that I could not find a definition that excluded the top 1%, so will the Government be writing to the Oxford English Dictionary to ask it to correct its definition? Were the Leader of the House to find time for a debate on the phrase, “We’re all in this together”, the Deputy Prime Minister could lead it, because he has claimed that this was a “Robin Hood” Budget. The Deputy Prime Minister had a very expensive education at Westminster school; what did they actually teach him? In my more modest school, we were told that Robin Hood took money from the rich and gave it to the poor, not the other way round. Every time I have asked the Leader of the House to find time for a debate on fairness, he has ignored my request, and now we know why. This was a Budget that was neither fair nor progressive and built unfairness on top of economic policies that have failed. Will the Leader of the House finally find time for a debate on fairness? This week, Government Members waved their Order Papers for tax cuts for the richest 1% and the Cabinet banged the table when the Health and Social Care Bill was passed. Wrong choices; wrong philosophy; wrong ideology: same old Tories. Sir George Young: It is perhaps unfortunate that the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle) began by apologising for her tips on horses and then accused us of making all the wrong choices—not a good start. She apologised for her tips; I think she is going to have to start apologising for some of her jokes. The hon. Lady asked a whole series of questions about the Budget. We have four days’ debate on the Budget. When we come back after the Easter recess, we will have a debate on the Floor of the House on the Finance Bill, and then two more days’ debate on the Finance Bill, as well as a debate on the Financial Services Bill. She asks me for time to debate these issues, but it seems that we are debating very little else over the next week or so. She and her hon. Friends have criticised us for taking a gamble with the Budget, but they took the gamble when they were in government by spending money they did not have and racking up debts that could not be paid. On the hon. Lady’s comments about fairness, what was fair about selling off the nation’s gold at a record low price? What was fair about giving pensioners an insulting 75p a week increase in the state pension? What was fair about abolishing the 10p tax rate? What was fair about leaving this country with the biggest budget deficit in our history? Labour set back fairness in this country, not the coalition. Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con): Will the Leader of the House kindly consider making time available for a debate on the Olympic legacy, with particular regard to the regions outside London and the south-east? In Erewash, Long Eaton United football club has recently been awarded £50,000 by Sport England—a very exciting investment that demonstrates how we must continue to provide support all round the country. Sir George Young: My hon. Friend rightly draws attention to the benefits throughout the country of our hosting the Olympics. A firm in my own constituency is making tents for some of the Olympic sites. There is not only the spin-off impact of the purchasing but, as she says, the money that is being distributed by Sport England via the national lottery to promote sporting organisations in all our constituencies. Only last week, I was at two events where cheques for £50,000 were handed out to clubs in North West Hampshire; that is part of the Olympic legacy. Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab): Given the number of occasions on which the House has discussed the situation in Sudan, does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it was a great pity that it took George Clooney to remind the international community that the situation there is getting worse and worse, day by day? May we have another debate of the whole House so that the Prime Minister can explain what actions he has taken, including whether he raised the matter with President Obama during his recent visit to America? Sir George Young: The right hon. Gentleman rightly draws attention to the problems in Sudan. I commend the publicity that was generated last week in the United States. I cannot promise a debate in the near future, with the House rising next Tuesday for the Easter recess, but the right hon. Gentleman might like to apply to you, Mr Speaker, for a debate in Westminster Hall or on the Adjournment so that we can address this urgent matter when we return. Company was not having tax deducted at source. The Government subsequently initiated an inquiry across all areas of the civil service, but that did not include the BBC. Having submitted a freedom of information request to the BBC, this week I received a reply indicating that 41 non-talent-based members of its staff are being paid over £100,000 a year and are not having tax or national insurance deducted at source. Will the Government find time for a debate on the abuse of tax regulations in the public sector? Sir George Young: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The Government have made the position clear in so far as the civil service is concerned. As he will know, the BBC is an independent organisation, but I am sure that his question will have been heard by those at the BBC and that they will want to respond to the points that he made in the light of the FOI request that he has recently had answered. Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab): My constituents in Bruntsfield and Morningside are becoming increasingly concerned about the proliferation of mini-supermarkets, which are having a significant impact on local traders. May we have time allocated for a debate on the number of mini-supermarkets in our local communities and the detrimental effect that that is having on local traders? Sir George Young: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising a key issue. I think that the Backbench Business Committee held a debate in January on the subject of the future of the high street and the Mary Portas inquiry. The Government have said that they will respond to that inquiry in the spring. I hope that it might be possible, perhaps with the assistance of the Backbench Business Committee, then to revisit this issue to see whether we can get the balance right between the supermarkets and the imperative to have a flourishing high street full of smaller shops. David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con): Will my right hon. Friend tell the House when he expects the remaining demonstrators to leave Parliament square and when he expects the road works outside Derby Gate to be completed, as apparently it has taken three months for two valves to be put on to a defective water main there? Sir George Young: I will make inquiries about the last matter. I commend my hon. Friend’s work over many years in campaigning for Parliament square to be restored to its traditional glory. He will know that all but one of the encampments have been removed. I believe that the last remaining encampment is subject to an injunction that is to be heard quite soon. On the works on Parliament street, he will know that that is a matter for Westminster council, and I will raise it with the council. I am grateful to him for his initiative in ensuring that the road surface opposite the House of Lords is now much flatter, which is of great assistance to those of us who go on two wheels.

2019-04-21T16:53:33Z

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120322/debtext/120322-0001.htm

Why pay for CIBIL Score? Get Credit Score and Report for FREE. We give you advice on improving your credit score, enhancing debt burden carrying capacity, smart repayments, and about best buying deals for debt settlement. Mistakes are said to be the best teachers. One does learn from the mistakes but in some cases the mistakes can turn out to be quite expensive. No one would disagree to the fact that avoiding mistakes and taking proactive steps that lead to avoiding difficult situations is the best policy. But agreement and implementation are two different things. Can bad credit score impact your business too? Just like one would have trustworthiness among friends, folks and colleagues, one needs to have credibility with the lending institutions as well. As the trustworthiness among the worldly people would help in personal growth, the credibility among the lenders would aid achievement of financial objectives. Akin to trustworthiness that would help in professional growth, the credibility with banks will give seamless access to funds that would be needed for both personal and business. Is it Good for Your Cibil Rating to Have Your Cards Completely Paid Off? Your credit rating is based on several factors one of which is credit cards usage. If your debt is low and you pay your bills on time, then you can expect a high credit score. However, repaying the debt in full and then not using plastic money ever isn’t the best thing that you can do for the rating. To understand why, let’s first take a look at how different credit card activities affect your rating. Awareness about credit rating, the calculation process and its importance is still low in India, however now it is catching up. People are beginning to understand why it is important to be credit healthy and what can be done to improve one’s credit health. Thus it is very important that you look at your credit report from time to time and also understand it so that you are able to figure out what makes your credit score good or bad. Below we discuss simple ways that can help you in understanding your credit report better. Will Employers Dig into Your Credit Report Before Offering You a Job? Your credit report plays a big role when you apply for loans and other forms of credit. For instance, if your score is low, then you may not get standard interest rates on home loans, personal loans, etc. You may not even qualify for a loan in the first place if your score is too bad. However, does your credit report also affect your employment opportunities? Do employers check the credit reports of the candidates they interview for jobs? Let’s find out. Managing personal finance isn't easy. However, young professionals who don’t have a lot of experience in that often make mistakes that cost them a lot (no pun intended). With the year drawing to a close rapidly, it is time once again to start setting new year resolutions for the year ahead. How about this year you make resolutions that will help you improve your credit health and your overall financial well being as a result? Here are five ideas of how you can go about improving your credit health in the ensuing year. There are a lot of things which determine if your behavior and we tend to work a lot towards it. An excellent behavior gives you respect in the society and is good for mental health. There are many other behaviors which are important but are not obvious to the naked eye. Let's take financial behavior here as an example, your financial behavior is really important for maintaining a good standard of living and also for your mental peace. For most part of our adult lives, we find ourselves worried about finances. After all, there are million things to take care of, and even after working hard, you may find it difficult to achieve financial stability. You may be telling yourself that financial stability can be achieved when you earn a higher salary or simply when your cash flow increases. The truth however is you can achieve financial stability even with your present income. Here are five ways in which you can assess your financial stability. Is it Possible to get perfect Credit Score Of 900? As the famous saying goes, "nothing is perfect under this sun". When it comes to the credit score, it means that one would never be able to attain the perfect score of 900, if the saying was to be believed. While attaining perfection on the credit profile still may be doubtful, but one can definitely get to a point where the scores will be perfect for him. Many events in life can lead to an urgent requirement of funds. In such instances, what one looks towards is access to loans, advances and credit. However, the seamless access to credit is while depended upon one's repayment capacity, one’s credit health has a bigger role to play. Despite having the required income to service the loan, the applicant may not be able to get approval on loan application if the credit health is not up to the mark. This may lead one into desperate state of affairs in case the funds were needed for meet an exigency. The Indian banking system is expanding as more and more people are becoming a part of it. This in turn means more people are seeking loans to fulfill their dreams and aspirations; the lenders unlike before now rely on more objective ways of deciding whether to sanction the loan to an applicant or not. Thus the credit rating of the applicant is crucial whenever he/she applies for a loan. This is true for individuals whenever they want to apply for a loan but what about business owners? A friend in need is a friend indeed! This is such an old saying. And true too. It's good to help people. But, when it comes to financial helping, specially when it is signing something officially, there are a few precautions that are better to be taken! Let's talk about a loan guarantor. There are a few cases where the loan is not directly approved because of the following option. Your credit score may look like an innocuous three digit number, but it packs quite a punch! This score is based on the assessment of your credit behaviour or how diligent you are in handling your loans and credit cards. As a result, it is mandatory for all lenders to refer to this score as a part of your credit assessment process when you apply for a fresh loan or credit score. If your score is poor because of your past credit behaviour, it can stand in the way of you getting access to cheap and timely credit. Why maintaining good CIBIL Score is tough but important? Increasingly Indians are becoming aware of the importance of health. We can see a lot more individuals hitting the roads or gyms or going for various activities like Yoga and swimming to maintain their physical wellbeing. Just like physical health, one needs to manage good financial health as well. Just like one would sweat out to maintain physical fitness, one would constantly need to work on the varied financial aspects to be able to have an economically stable life. Just started working? How to Create Good Credit score? Awareness among today's youth is unparalleled. Never in past the youth who have just started to work understood the importance of financial well-being so effectively. Their aspirations are to buy a property, a car and to take an international holiday. What is more important is their understanding that to achieve all this they need to be on right side of credit bureau. You go on a holiday and splurge on shopping using your credit card. You are travelling and miss to pay your car loan EMI. You settle an old credit card account. There is a family emergency and you need urgent funds to fulfill it. You seek financial help from friends and family and you get empty responses. In the mean while you get a suggestion from your friend that you can apply for a loan and immediately think of banking on the idea. Few late payments are hurting my score. But wait. They are not mine! Imagine this. You apply for a home loan after you have made all arrangements for the down payment and have set your heart on the dream house. You have all your papers in order and go to your chosen bank's branch to submit your application. You wait with bated breath for your loan to get approved. 5 Common Credit Score Questions Everyone Has! Your credit score affects a number of aspects of your financial life. It is necessary to be clear about what this number is, how it is calculated and what you can do to raise your score. Here are answers to 5 common credit questions that everyone has! Parenting is the toughest job. However hard a parent may try, but shall not be able to cover everything. And in the end the missed lessons that the child missed learning from parents could turn out to be a vital one when he is faced with the challenges of the world. A credit report plays an important role when you try applying for a loan at urgent situations. Not only when applying for a loan but whenever you are trying to make any lending transaction with the bank, the credit score is always verified. How Many Times Should I Check My Credit Score In A Year? Credit score is a very tricky attribute. One needs a lot of patience and a systematic approach to keep the score intact or in a growing phase if it is not upto that level. You need to start making timely payments of the credits which are due. So here, the credit refers to any kind of loan you have taken from banks or financial institution or any person and if they are listed with the credit bureaus. With that, it also is consists of the credit cards. How Much Can My Credit Score Drop In A Month? There are a lot of things in life which until not needed, we do not bother to have information of. The same goes with credit score. Not many of us know what is a credit report, how does credit score impact one's life, what is the importance of maintaining a good credit score, until you do not come to a stage where you desperately need a loan or a financial product. Accessing credit has become easier than ever before owning to a large number of financial institutions that offer credit for various purposes in the form of credit cards or loans. So be it the dream of owning a vehicle or that of higher education or weekly shopping there is some kind of credit available for all requirements. Despite lenders advertising how easy the process of borrowing is and how easy the terms are, a borrower needs to be aware fully of what he/she is doing so that they can avoid mistakes when accessing credits which can cost them dearly. How private is my credit score? In today's digital world we are all over the Internet via social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. We share our thoughts, what we are doing, where are we going to our friends via social media, but then there are some things which we like to keep private from everybody. Like if someone posts he or she has got a new job, do they post their annual CTC as well? The same way if someone shares, they are blessed with a baby; do they share their medical expenses? But are they really private? I am Unable to Fetch My Free Credit Report, Please Help! Keeping a tab on your credit score is the key to financial security and easy loan approvals, etc. To create awareness about the credit reports and help people realize the importance of their credit profile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked all the credit information bureaus to offer one free CIBIL report or credit report per year to all individuals who have a credit history. According to a recent study by the Financial Protection Bureaus that's based on 200,000 credit files from three of the biggest credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, 1 in 5 consumers is likely to receive a credit score that's different from the one used by their lender. A personal loan can help you manage your small debts; help you manage a marriage or any other sudden circumstances. This type of loan falls in the category of unsecured loan, as one does not have to keep collateral security to get the loan sanctioned. Because of no collateral in place you will need to pay a higher interest rate as compared to other loans that are available in the market. What Do I Do When My Credit is Dismal? Often people may discover about their dismal credit scores when their loan application is rejected or they are unable to get a credit card. A credit score above 700 is thought to be good and anything below that might raise problems for the applicant who is seeking credit. How serious the problem is will depend on how bad the score is, is it just a little low or is it dismal? Reasons for a dismal score could be different but whatever they might be it is almost certain that you will need to put in some serious effort and have patience if you want to better it. There are several factors that impact your credit score. Even if you on your part think that you are doing everything right to keep up a high score, errors and discrepancies can impact your score otherwise. Because of the large amount of data and information that is exchanged between lenders and credit bureaus every day, it is not uncommon for errors to enter your report. If you do not keep a periodic check on your credit report, these very errors will be responsible for pulling down your CIBIL score. Does the Way Student Loans Are Reported, Hurt Your Credit? Loans are not good or bad, it's the way the borrower treats them makes all the difference. So irrespective of the kind of credit one has whether in the form of loans or credit card borrowings their treatment impacts the way they are reported which in turns forms the basis for the credit score. Education loans are given on easy terms so as to ensure that no deserving student misses a chance to get higher education due to lack of funds. I Closed an Account. When Will It Disappear From My Credit Report? You started planning your finances and are thinking that you have too many credit cards which you don't need and the cards are giving you a hard time. When you first opted for a credit card it was just a need for emergency situations and you promised yourself, you will use it only when you need it. We are living in a world where there is rampant credit usage. However, to access credit at competitive rates of interest, one needs to have a good credit score. To build and maintain credit from an early stage in life is thus of utmost importance. Not only should we strive to improve our own credit score, we inculcate good financial habits in our children right from the start. If you have children who are in their teens or are in the cusp of adulthood, you can in fact help them build a good credit score from scratch. Here is how to do it. A person is made out of his habits and we all have our own preferences and conducts that impact our lives. Now these habits can affect our lives in a positive or in a negative way. Till the time these habits contribute positively it is fine but if the same have negative influence it is a cause of concern and needs to be changed. Especially when these habits are impacting our financial lives. It has been about 17 years since the first Credit Information Bureau of India, popularly known as CIBIL was established. However, even after 17 years of existence, Indian populace merely has topical understanding on how it works and what should one be doing to manage a good score on their credit report. When people are not even aware that CIBIL is not the only bureau, there are three more that extend credit scores, namely, Equifax, Experian and Crif Highmark. Expectation on understanding of objectives of the bureau, how they function and factors that impact one's credit score seems to be farfetched. Indians are increasingly getting exposed to credit and are also getting to know about the importance credit holds in the process of meeting their financial objectives. Also, as per the second survey carried out by Credit Sudhaar on awareness of credit score, the number of people being aware on the credit bureaus, credit score and credit report has increased multifold over last two years. The general perception is that the CIBIL rating, as people call it, if is over 750; leads to assured approval of loan application. But this may not be true and people with over 750 credit score may also get rejected. Let us find out the reasons. If you happen to take a quick headcount of people around you, you would find 9 out of 10 people using credit in some form or the other. Credit usage is omnipresent today and thus to have a good credit score is of primary importance. A good credit score is indicative of good financial health and opens up doors for you when you are in need of credit. Credit Bureaus such as CIBIL, Equifax, and Experian keep up to date information about your financial activities such as pending loans, credit card payments, etc. So, if you have ever taken a loan in the past or used a credit card, then it is likely there is a credit report under your name in at least one of the most popular credit bureaus of India, even if you are not aware of it. Some people were asked the last time they checked their credit report. Less than 10% admitted to have checked it once in the last six months. Most of them confirmed they had not checked their report ever because "they didn't feel there was a need for it". Monitoring your credit score is extremely important to ensure that your creditworthiness stays intact. And to make that possible your credit report or CIBIL report can be of great help. How Do Late Payments Impact Your Credit Score? Missing a payment can happen to anyone, unless you are a software programmed to repay every instalment. Don't let that give you sleepless nights; it is merely a human oversight. Lenders and underwriters, too, are human beings and they understand if you have been late once or twice. But if you have been late more than a few times, then be prepared to face consequences. Stuck With a Low Credit Score? Credit score - It can be an asset for some while a source of tension for others. It all depends on where your number lies between the range of 300 to 900. A credit score is derived from the information in your credit report which shows the various loans that you hold with different banks, your repayment behaviour, outstanding dues and other credit related activities. Good credit habits and timely repayments of debts lead to a good score. Before the banks consider lending money to the borrowers, they evaluate them on the credit score parameter to judge their defaulting risk. While a high score strengthens one's ability to obtain funds, a low score is a sign of trouble. If one wants to have access to credit modern times they need to be creditworthy; lenders like to assess the creditworthiness of an applicant before they agree to lend to him or her. Whenever one applies for a loan the first thing the prospective lender does is check their Credit Report. Based on this and many other factors the loan would be sanctioned or rejected. Often self employed find it hard to build their credit worthiness as compared to those employed in regular jobs. Why errors on your CIBIL report can be devastating? "Mistakes are a part of life. But it is the response to the error that counts." says Nikki Giovanni a famous American writer and activist. Quotes such as the above are meant to inspire the human race and encourage them to learn from mistakes and errors in life and treat them as stepping stones to success. But what if an error is not your fault? What do you do in such cases? The reason we bring this up today, is to tell you that if errors and discrepancies creep into your CIBIL report, it can have devastating consequences despite the fact that you had little to do with it. If you are stuck in a vicious circle of debt and are struggling hard to exit then possibly an option to "settle" dues with the lender would sound enticing. Don�t ever make the mistake of "settling" loans as its harsh effects will reverberate far into the future. When you are new to the world of credit, you need trade lines (loans in general term) to demonstrate that you are a responsible buyer and build your credit score. But access to loans and other credit instruments might be an uphill task. So where and how do you begin your journey? Thankfully there is a way out. Here are some tips that will help you build your CIBIL score from scratch. Recently we met Rajesh Kumar. His was a clear cut case of misreporting in CIBIL. This is what he had to say, "My personal loan application was denied as my CIBIL report showed that I had settled a Standard Chartered Bank loan in 2005. Till date I have never had any relationship with Standard Chartered Bank. It is completely false and baseless. What can I do to correct it?" When Does Bank Ask For A Guarantor? Dilip Doshi still shudders remembering the day when he agreed to sign as guarantor to an ex-colleagues personal loan application. Little did he know that in doing so he was risking his own credit health. When his colleague started missing payments, the bank approached Dilip to repay the debts as he had guaranteed the loan, something Dilip was not prepared for. Even after selling the principal borrower's assets to recover the loan, Dilip had to shell out over a lakh of rupees to settle the loan completely. An experience such as this can leave any one with a bitter taste in the mouth. Is a high CIBIL score a fad? In recent times, there has been a surfeit of information about credit usage and the need for a high CIBIL score. Whether it is financial institutions, the banking and finance industry at large and even regulatory bodies, we find most messages emanating from these sources underlining the need to maintain a high credit score. Will Getting a Free CIBIL Score a Year help Indians? RBI, in its game-changing decision, has mandated Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL) to provide individuals with one free credit report every year. Till now individuals could buy their CIBIL score and CIBIL report from CIBIL upon a payment of Rs. 550/- per copy. Ex-RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan, stood by the decision because he believed it will help people review, rectify and maintain error free reports. It is your credit score. You must know it. Not for nothing is it believed that a credit score can make or break your financial health in today's times. Let us take a simple example wherein two people with a similar requirement for a home loan make an application, but only one of them is sanctioned the loan they had asked for, while the other individual's loan application is downright rejected. Neelam had set her hopes high on her job application with a software giant. She had cleared all the rounds of screening and was expecting a call any day now. She was so sure of being selected that she had spent a large sum on her credit card knowing she would be able to take it on in the following month.Alas, she received an email from the company telling her she hadn't been selected. It brought her whole world crashing down around her. She had considered herself as the ideal candidate, with the right amount experience and the perfect academic background. Then what went wrong? The most shocking revelation - her poor CIBIL score was the reason for rejection. Will Getting A Free Credit Report From Bureaus Help Indians? In the absence of knowledge you are practically living in the dark. You are not sure of what to do, which path to take and where to go. But with knowledge comes the guiding light that brings clarity and enables you to take decisions that are right for you. In short, you cannot be misguided because you have the knowledge on how to handle things. If you own a credit card or if you ever took a loan, you must be aware that a credit score is an important instrument used by the lenders to evaluate your creditworthiness. Your past financial history is a strong reflection of how you are likely to meet your future debt obligations. If you have a sound track record of on time payments of EMIs you will have a healthy score and you can easily secure loans in future too. Do I really need a CIBIL score of over 800? A CIBIL score in today's times is virtually your ticket to good financial and credit health, hence it becomes very important to ensure that you always have a good score, one that will see you through when you want to avail of a fresh line of credit. In today's times everyone faces the risk of a break-in. It is nearly impossible to shield one's private information from identity bandits. Cases of identity theft are rising unrestrained and are affecting more and more number of people every year. Does that mean we must just accept their presence and reel under a cover of fear waiting for an incident to happen to us? No. Identity theft is a serious offence and there are some simple ways by which you can protect yourself. In the year 2005, the Credit Information Companies (CIC) Act was formulated to provide the basic structure for the functioning of credit information companies and to streamline records of credit distribution that had thus far been the domain of banks alone. The primary objective of this Act was to help financial institutions make a correct assessment of the creditworthiness of prospective borrowers. The Act came at a time when lending institutions were looking alternative credit assessment methods and was thus considered a timely move. The CIBIL score is that all-important deciding factor when it comes to your financial health, and making sure it is 'good' - and remains so - is something you always want to ensure. It can be the differentiator between a low rate of interest and the most competitive one, when you decide to avail of finance by way of a loan or credit card. Do keep in mind that to increase CIBIL score you need to be diligent when it comes to your finances. How Is A High Credit Score Related To Happiness? Just like having a healthy body, mind and soul are germane to one's growth and happiness, having a healthy credit profile is analogous to one's financial freedom, sense of security and growth. In the absence of stress, a person is calm and happy. Money cannot buy happiness. But what money can buy makes us happy. With more money comes more power. And everyone wants more power. Either you earn more money or save more, either ways your disposable income increases. A higher credit score lets you save more money and therefore brings greater happiness. Let us elaborate. Credit Score is important for individuals today for reasons that go beyond taking a loan. Credit Rating is an indicator of individual's creditworthiness, it gives a comprehensive picture of one's financial health and in a lot of instances can form the basis for an applicant getting a job or not. No credit score? Do not panic! Some of us have been in a situation where we have applied for a credit card as a fresh jobber, but found out much to our surprise that the application has been rejected. Sounds familiar? If the reason for decline is the lack of credit history, do not be too surprised. And instead of hitting the panic button let us see what you can do to remedy the situation. Did you miss out on planning your CIBIL score? Getting a line of credit, be it a loan or credit card may be a tad easier than it ever used to be, owing to a larger number of willing lenders as compared to earlier, but it also comes with a caveat. While banks and financial institutions do look forward to lending, they also look at lending to the right customer profile. One of the first things that a lender would want to ascertain is the creditworthiness of a borrower, that is the likelihood of the loan going 'bad' or the customer defaulting on loan repayment on disbursal. It is important for a woman at every life stage to give a thought to her financial health. Whether investing in one's business or looking to bolster personal finances, it is imperative to explore various investment options, make a savings plan and more importantly, stick to it. More than a third of women while contributing extensively to the family coffers invariably lag behind in critical aspects such as wealth creation, and having a long-term investment plan. Why does India Need Free CIBIL Scores? Remember the revered year 2002? It was then that incoming calls to mobile phones were made free revolutionising the Indian telecom industry. Making incoming calls free was like a drop in the water as its ripple effects brought a boom in the segment. Soon, every person, no matter what economic strata, was carrying a cell phone. The time has come to make scores available for free and revolutionize the credit world. Does marriage affect your CIBIL rating? Life doesn't remain the same after marriage. It brings about significant changes in the lives of both the partners. The decision to take vows not only brings lifestyle changes but it affects one's financial life as well. You start thinking about savings, investments, and insurances more seriously than ever. You think about taking joint financial decisions. But does marriage affect your credit history records as well? Does it affect your CIBIL rating? What are the implications if one partner has a good CIBIL rating and the other does not? Let's explore. The world around us is accelerating at an overwhelming velocity and sometimes it becomes difficult to keep up with it. We constantly endeavour to bring the latest updates for our readers. Though some people would argue that CIBIL score itself is an alien concept, surely it would be surprising to all that the market is gradually transitioning towards newer score models. That's true. Lending institutions are considering "non-traditional" scoring models alongwith the conventional credit scores, as they believe it gives them a deeper insight into a person's characteristics as a borrower. You've often heard the saying, "There is no such thing as a free lunch". Absurd? Not really. Life has a way to even out the "freebies". You will end up hosting your hosts for lunch one day, or find a way of repaying their kindness. Hence, no free lunch. The proverb is all the more true when you step into the world of hard-core finances. If an offer of a free credit card, without the need for any documentation, seems tempting, re-think your instinct to own one. Or, at least be better informed about this "free" bargain before you decide to line your wallet with a shiny new card. What Accounts Reflect in Your CIBIL Report? Mr. Arun Gupta, like any dotting parent had made several plans for his daughter's marriage. His dreams were shattered the day his loan application was rejected. It broke his heart when on the same day he found that his younger brother and another colleague had got a loan from the same bank. What was it that was hurting his credit aspirations? Something on his report may be. Do Cheque Bounces Affect My CIBIL rating? The person who seeks to draw credit in future for building up a home or buying a car, CIBIL score is a very prized possession. They ought to take steps that help build credit rating. However at times, unforeseen events such as an EMI cheque bounce or outstanding credit bill, or default by a co-applicant, misreporting in CIR as "settled account" and many such events come as real shockers of life. You have no choice but to access the damage and begin the mending work. Here in this post, we will take up how cheque bounce ruins your CIBIL rating. Summer holidays are sheer bliss. Everyone looks forward to taking a break during summer and why not! Since childhood, the summer break means no more sticking nose in books and scratching brains for homework. It practically spells into lazy mornings, catching up on old friends & new, going for movies, learn something new, travelling and holidaying with family. It is also the perfect time to overdo your budget. Yes! We may not realise it in the excitement but often after the holidays are over when we sit down to go over the expenses, the bitter truth sets in. How to remove my name from CIBIL blacklist/defaulter's List? When one approaches a bank or any other lender for a loan the first thing that the prospective lender will do is get the Credit Information Report (CIR) of the person. Based on the CIR the bank will decide whether accept the loan application or not. The CIR has the CIBIL score which is a three digit number and it also has detailed information about all loans, personal details of the borrower, employment details etc. Generally a score above 750 is considered good enough to get a loan sanctioned but again it is on the discretion of the lender. CIBIL issues no directives for sanctioning or not sanctioning a loan to a particular person; it only collects the information about all borrowings of a person and presents it in a concise manner in the form of a Credit Report. Retirement is one important inevitable stage of life. It is time to give up on your official obligations and hang up those boots. A lot of people like to take up this segment of life with a bang. Some would sell their possessions to take a tour around the world which they couldn't go for in their prime, some would splurge on some very expensive gifts while others have no clue what they will do with all their retirement fund. What they forget is that for as long as you live, you need money to survive. Perhaps, even more because of the increased expenditure on health related issues. While you need to plan for your retirement very early in life, let's say right from your first job, yet it is never too late. The first thing we noticed about Mrs. Neetu Verma and her husband, Mr. Ashish Verma, was that they were a merry lot. If that wasn't enough to awe us, their near stellar scores of 875 and 850, respectively, made us applaud. We urged them to share their secret. This article is based on what they brought to the table. CIBIL Data Not Updated? What to do? You have recently found out that the personal loan you were banking on has been declined. Perhaps, your crooked CIBIL report played a role in it. While a rejected loan application is disquieting in itself, the idea of reforming your CIBIL report may bedevil you even more. Loosen yourself up because here�s the good news. This self-help guide will walk you through on how you can have your report fixed and set it straight. How to Remove Late Payments from your CIBIL Report? Late payments or missed payments are the biggest cause of poor credit health; repayment history has a 35% weightage in the credit score calculation. Sometimes the issue can be due to an actual delay by the credit report holder or sometimes due to an error by the reporting bank. Whether the default is due to the borrower having forgotten to pay on time or it is due to a willful default the lending agency will report it to the credit bureau (irrespective of the reason) which will update it as a default in your Credit Information Report (CIR). Credit cards have fast become a preferred choice of payment for users the world over, with over 72 percent of consumers holding credit cards. Closer home, India boasts of over 3 crores of credit cards users, and the numbers only continue to rise. Where consumers initially held only one card, today the average number of cards per person is close to 4. This means that cards have become more competitive as the usage has increased, leading to its own share of pros and cons. A personal loan is one of the easier forms of personal finance to avail of, and can be used for myriad reasons, right from renovating your house to going on a long overdue vacation or to even make a purchase, be it white goods or anything else. They are also a good way to consolidate debt, if you want to avail of one loan to clear away several smaller dues that you may have, be it on credit cards or any other loan(s). When it comes to credit scores, it has become increasingly important not only to build a good score but also maintain it and enhance it over time. This is because not just globally but closer home, even in India credit scores are fast gaining significance in one's financial life. "I am a guarantor to my brother's loan. He has now defaulted on his last three EMIs. Due to this the bank has asked me to pay his dues. I have very humble means of living. How can I pay his debt of lakhs?" "..Can the bank attach my ancestral home to clear dues on a loan to which I am merely a guarantor and not an applicant?" ".. Why is my CIBIL affected? I have not defaulted on my payments. I have not applied for the loan. I only guaranteed a personal loan of my colleague. Where am I at fault?" "With great power comes great responsibility" said Ben Parker, a fictional character and the famed Uncle Ben of none other than a favourite superhero Spiderman. Uncle Ben could have well been talking about credit usage, that is relevant to all us today. If you have been bestowed with the "power" of credit, it is your responsibility to service your credit well and on time. That is the one recipe for success when it comes to increase your CIBIL score. Your CIBIL score is a three digit numeric between 300-900 that will decide your fate when you make an application for any fresh credit. Why India needs free CIBIL score? With lenders jostling with each other to get more and more customers onto their books, almost every individual around us is a credit user. People all around you may have taken home loans, vehicle loans or are seen brandishing two or credit cards in the very least. But ask these people about how many of them access their CIBIL scores in a year, and most of them are likely to draw a blank! Even if they do know about CIBIL, they are likely to tell you that they are not ready to "pay to access their own CIBIL score"? Is this logic justifiable? Or is this just another sign of irrational consumer behavior? Let's take a closer look. Why should I finance my wedding with a personal loan? With the average wedding costing upwards of Rs. 20 lakhs (or more!) these days - and that's not including the honeymoon! - it is no wonder that personal loans are increasingly popular to fund the wedding of your dreams. While a wedding should be a joyful occasion, it can be stressful for the couple and their families to put the whole thing together, often stretching finances beyond what had been budgeted. To avoid this strain, an increasing number of people are choosing to opt for personal loans, simplifying things and at the same time going all out to celebrate. Whose loan is on my CIBIL report: Not mine! Most of us when reading the above statement will be intrigued (I was as I thought that does not happen but a little research shows it does) while some who may have witnessed a similar situation may nod in agreement. So coming back to the situation at hand, it is possible that due to some error or oversight you may have a loan in your statement that is not yours or you feel is not yours. This not only has the potential to impact your CIBIL Score, but has the potential to adversely impact the underwriting decision when you apply for a credit facility. Is it necessary to check CIBIL score while applying for a loan? Planning to go on vacation? Buy a new house? Have business expansion plans? If the answer is yes, and you are looking for finance to meet these needs, there are various loan options available in the market today. When you apply for a loan, be prepared for various checks that the financer will conduct, primary among which is a CIBIL score check. Credit information companies or credit bureaus provide a credit report (of which the score is an integral part) that lenders call for when you apply for a fresh line of credit, be it a loan or even a credit card. In the world that we live in today, it is very important to have a good credit score, as it is a measure of your financial health. Not just lenders, but even potential employers have now begun to refer to your CIBIL score to assess whether or not you will turn out to be a trustworthy and responsible employee. You should therefore always be in a pursuit to increase your CIBIL score, and keep it at a level of 750 and above (out of 900). Credit counselling is an effective way to understand and manage your finances better. Additionally, it also educates individuals on how to control and manage debt. Credit Sudhaar is India's premier credit health management company. Founded in 2010, it has grown significantly since then, contributing to making the country credit healthy. The company has its presence across various locations and offers a range of services for individuals. It is registered as an NBFC with the Reserve Bank of India. We all have heard the common adage "a stitch in time saves nine" but nevertheless tend to forget it when we overlook small things erroneously or deliberately. Building a credit score takes time, both small oversights and big blunders tend to impact your credit score negatively. Once you credit score has been spoiled for whatever reason it pays to remember that it can be restored but the keywords are "patience" and "time"; after all nine stitches will take time!!! How to find out your credit score? This is the most common question for any person intending to take a house loan, car loan or personal loan. It is a priority because the terms of loan approval largely depend on what's in your Credit report and score. Know Your Financial and Credit Health � Register to Get your Credit Report Today! Planning to buy your "Dream Home" or a "Vehicle" that you have been passionate to own or Get a "Credit Card" to help you purchase on credit or expand your "Business Venture"? Wishing for Your Dreams to Come True? Now that you have decided to Live Your Dreams, have you done a check on your personal / Company's Credit Worthiness? Know well how to keep a track of the Credit alerts? It is really very important to keep a track of your credit and then use it responsibly. The best way to keep safe from identity thefts and frauds, is to keep a regular check on the credit report and that of the credit score. This can be done if you activate credit alerts for your benefit. How well do you know your credit score? As great potentials of Indian money markets are tapped, we have a lot of foreign investments, taking place in Indian economy. Besides with an overall increase in standard of living, the demand for money is increasing as well. At such times, people are resorting to borrow money under the "Credit" term to fulfil their needs. Although presently Indian markets are flooded with number of creditors, it's often been seen that when need arises, people are not able to get through credit process on time. Credit Monitoring services alert individuals about changes to their credit report instantly- either via email, the instant message on mobile phones or by phone calls. Many people use credit monitoring services to help them watch their credit histories and to increase their ability to recognize a fraudulent activity.

2019-04-19T14:37:34Z

https://www.freescoreindia.com/credit-advice.php

In the beginning there was the marketer. There are certain truths you come to understand the more time you spend making money online - or trying to. Witness the evolution of marketing online. Whether you are new to the net game or an experienced pro, there is one thing you will have in common if you are moving towards entrepreneurial success. As you read this article you will realize what you have in common with all the other million dollar earners online, and what you're missing that can take you from where you are to where you want to be. - Hosting: a place to put your site, if you're planning on making money - find a paid solution so you look like a credible business and you cut back on high traffic crashes. - A website: your image your presence and your marketing message, don't get pulled into the trap I see everywhere of trying to put too many choices on your website. Maximize on the effectiveness by only giving one purpose to a page. For example if you want to build a list - focus all your efforts and copy on that singular focus, if you want your site to sell a product, then only put that focus on your site. You'll also need a good editing program, and an ftp software to get this up and moving. - A merchant account: If you have something to sell, people will need a way to pay you. There are a ton of great providers out there, but there are a specific few that give your visitors the security to pull out a credit card with assurance. - An Autoresponder: This is a real necessity if you want a business and not just a hobby. When you have a family to support this is a real no brainer. This is your email follow up service. You get a name added to your list and this is where they go. You will use this to stay in touch and build relationships with your customers and soon-to-be customers. - A help desk: in the beginning when your business and sales are small you can handle all the little questions and emails yourself. One of the things that will keep a small business is small is thinking "I can do that myself" if you want to truly grow; you need to share the workload (petty tasks) and focus on what you truly want to do creatively for your business. - Membership Site software: once you're addicted to the internet marketing lifestyle, you will realize this oh-so-simple fact, it's great to make a sale, but it's even better to make a sale once and get paid for it every month. Continuity is king. - Teleconferencing software: If you want an easy way to create and crank out high ticket products, audios and a transcript is an easy to make, high-value product. Blogging is a concept that started in late 90s. It used to be a way to comment an existing webpage, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out one's opinion on the said page. What started as a single-sentence commentary has evolved into pages of personal take on just about anything and everything under the sun. As it continues to move forward, online advertising has tapped into the blog's potential. Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as an Internet marketing tool. 1.Blogging is simple. The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging. No skills are necessary… an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse. It's like having a virtual piece of paper and you just write your ideas, experiences, new products, and hope that the truth behind your articles comes out and entice your reader to also try your product. If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn't?) then you can blog and advertise. 2. Blogging is authentic. In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters' claims. However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising. Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience. You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product. -By using your e-mail. Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail's popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market. In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site. Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site. If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site. -By joining a blog network -A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc. Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject. Clearly, more bloggers are better than one. The Webmaster Resource Library is going to take a couple of weeks off from posting in order to enjoy the winter holidays. We'll be on vacation from Monday, December 22 for two weeks, and will resume posting on Monday, January 5. We'll continue updating the Cheap Web Hosting Report during this time. We hope all of you have a very safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! AdSense has become a very popular method for making money with a website. The reason being it's simple to incorporate. Just copy your AdSense code and paste it in your website and you're good to go. There's no need to create a product, no need to worry about product fulfillment, no need to worry about choosing the right ads and no need to even entice people to purchase anything. All it needs to start making money is for someone to click on the ads. The secret to making money using AdSense is to create an AdSense website that offers relevant ads. The only way people will click on the ads is if they are interested in it. So, the ads have to match the content of the website as close as possible i.e. they have to be relevant. 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The ads will be based on both keywords and content, so again, making sure your site is optimized is a crucial part of building a successful AdSense website. And most important of all, track and test your progress. Change your ad layout, for example, and see how it affects your AdSense earnings. That's it, your quick guide to creating an AdSense website. How Can I Advertise My Website On A Small Budget? When I first started out, there were so many ways I tried to advertise my website, I quickly got lost and confused, and almost gave up. Fortunately I persevered and was gradually able to ditch the things that didn't work so I could concentrate on those that did. I discovered the huge range in cost … from substantial, for which you need a serious budget and a track record in effective marketing, to no cost at all. Before I even thought about how to advertise my website, I had to produce the kind of web content my visitors would find incredibly useful. I had to help them solve a problem quickly and easily. In some cases, depending on the product or service I was advertising, the content needed to be updated regularly to give visitors an incentive to return. Content also had to be search engine friendly. In other words, it had to comply with what the search engines deem is good quality information about the market products and services are being designed for. One tactic involved contacting lots of website owners in related markets to mine and asking if I could exchange links to our respective sites. This is something the search engines view as positive evidence that a site contains good, compelling content (see above). I needed to be careful about whom I approached. All the sites that contained a link to mine needed to contain good content and it goes without saying that they needed to be convinced about the content on my site too. One of the most effective ways to advertise my website was getting visitors, or better still, happy paying customers, to endorse my site through recommendations and testimonials. Of course, the best recommendation is the completely spontaneous expression of admiration from a satisfied customer. But I also offered incentives for testimonials as well, like a free report, or entry into a prize draw. Although this method cost me a small amount of money, it became an extremely effective way to advertise my website when I started to use ezines that were related to my target market. Initially, because each ad. was so cheap, I placed them in all kinds of ezines, some of which were pretty remote from the products and services I was selling. Then I wondered why I wasn't making many sales from these particular ads. So you need to do your research before placing any advertisements. Pick the ezines that are the best fit for the specific products and services you're advertising. Eventually I learned that the closer the fit between the ezine and my market, the more sales I made. Developing your own affiliate program for your own products and services can be a hugely powerful part of your advertising campaign. I used this strategy to advertise my website and couldn't believe the difference it made to my sales figures. And when I tweaked the program to improve it, for example, by offering more generous commissions and including resources for my affiliates to use in their campaigns, my profits went through the roof. This technique does involve some expense. You will need affiliate software to track the activities of your affiliates, and there will be other expenses such as the design and creation of promotional materials for your affiliates to use. But the results will be well worth the investment. These are some of the free, low cost and cost effective methods I used to advertise my website when I started out. They are all quite easy to do when you've learned a few basic lessons about internet marketing. Re-investing your profits from early successes into more sophisticated advertising campaigns can take you from a small time business to huge profits over a period of time. But you do have to be smart enough to choose the tactics that work best in your market. I hope these few paragraphs help clear your mind a little about the best and most cost effective ways to make your website work for you. If you have your own product, service or affiliate product, making web pages that are Search Engine friendly, resulting in more web traffic, does not need to be complicated. What you need to do is make each page of your site a unique entity and use the right keywords. Make sure the keywords you select meet your marketing criteria. Do not use words which are too general. Use words that are more specific, this will result in a higher ranking for your site. It is also important you choose words which are suitable to your website, web page, product or service. A lot of people building a website will use either inappropriate names or their company name in the page's titles. The best thing you can do is include appropriate keywords in your title. This is they way people carry out searches on the Internet, they type keywords into the search engines. For each page of your site, include the appropriate keywords within all the page's tags. Also, take time to go over the Meta description that you use. Any description you use should be alluring and interesting to those who are visiting your website. Include keywords within it wherever possible. There are many search engines around today which use the Meta description as the thing that will be displayed in their search results. Make sure you include keywords in the content of your website and web pages as well. But remember keyword density. If you overuse the keywords, this will be classed as keyword spamming and your page may be discounted by the search engines. Making a website search engine friendly is a key factor for its success. One of the key ways in which to rank well with search engines is by optimizing the visible keywords on the pages. But in order to be successful in your keyword strategy campaign, you should use the following two steps. Determine what your pages are offering and which words that your potential visitors might use when searching for the pages of your site. Create keywords which are based on those words. For the full optimization of keywords on your site, It is recommended by many that you should use between 3 to 5 keywords on the appropriate pages. It is vital that you start using them from the top left and then down. Many times you will find that this will be the first 200 words on each page of your site which will include the title tag, headings, abstract etc. So the closer to the top left of your page the keywords are placed then the more weight they will be given by Google. Often, visitors will view your site in the same way that the search engine spider's do, so emphasizing your keywords from the top left and down is a good way to design a site. When selecting keywords, you need to determine whether the keywords are too popular or competitive. If during your research, you find many sites already competing for high rankings using your chosen keywords, then you may need to select more specific keywords instead. This can also be said for keywords which have several different meanings as well. It is important that you look how users will search for your pages, and which specific questions the content of your pages actually answers. So whenever possible, refine the keywords that you use in order to answer these questions. Remember, when you are refining your keywords, keep in mind that many searches carried out on the net contain three words or more (long tail keyword search). So someone searching for answers on the Internet will often phrase their search term as a question. Optimize your pages to their full extent, and try to think like the person who is searching. A great way of getting ideas is to check out the competition. Just carry out a search using keywords that you already know, and that you would like to target. Click through the top sites that come up in the results. Then once on the site, view their source HTML code and view the keywords that they have in their Meta tags. But it is important that you remember to use those keywords which relate to your site or page. It is easy to view a sites HTML code, all you do is click on the "View" button at the top of your web browser page and then select "Source" or "Page Source".If you develop a list of keyword phrases, you should be able to optimize each and every page of your site for the search engines. John Leigh is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher, with a passion to help others. An affiliate product page can be very useful in that it can serve a number of purposes. It can promote one or more of your affiliate programs and really get your visitors to focus on your affiliate products. Find a problem: If you want your affiliate product page to be successful you will need to focus on a particular problem your chosen market has and choose the affiliate product that will solve it for them. You can do this by means of a landing page. This page will draw potential customers to your sponsor's website. It will focus on a special problem that is popular with your market. Your affiliate product page will pre-sell the affiliate product to resolve the problem and have a call for action to click onto your sponsor's sales page. Targeting your special market: Always remember to target your affiliate product page to your particular niche market. This is very important because if you aim for a general market you will not make much money. Pre-sell do not sell to your potential customer: Selling is your sponsor's job. Driving warm ready to buy leads to your sponsor's sales page is your job. • A single affiliate product page can be a review or article pre-selling a particular affiliate program. As discussed above you can write an article about a specific problem and introduce your product with a call for action. • All your products on one page: A different way to sell your products is to have an affiliate product page. This will put multiple related affiliate programs on one page. Visitors can see at a glance what you are offering and feel free to make their own choices. It is rather like an offline department store. • Blogging : blogging is a fun and popular way to promote different areas of your site. You write a short article that will attract your specific market and then add a link to your product page. You need to blog everyday and keep it concise and interesting to your readers. As your readership grows your visitors will increase. • Article distribution: This is one of the most powerful ways to promote your affiliate product page. You will write articles on subjects that interest your niche market and include a link to your affiliate product page with your bio. • Search engines: optimize your affiliate product page and submit it to the search engines. Once you are ranked with them you can expect some great traffic to your affiliate product page. • Google Adwords: This is one of the fastest most targeted promotions you can do. Be careful to read the tutorials carefully and not spend too much money in bids. Also remember to monitor your campaigns in detail. How Sticky is Your Website? The stickiness of your website is determined by how often visitors come to your site and how long they stay. If the majority of your visitors are coming once and leaving in 30 seconds or less, your website is not very sticky. But more importantly you are not building a relationship with your visitors. Here are some ways you can make your website stickier with content and build a relationship with your visitor. Provide good, fresh content. Content really is king and will keep your visitors on your site longer and keep them coming back again and again. Update your content on key pages. Most of all make it useful and free. Update your blog frequently-daily is preferable-and give your visitors lots of original, useful content in your blog. Your blog is an outstanding way to drive repeat visits to your site. If what you write is interesting your visitors will keep coming back to see what you are going to write about next. Also, allow your visitors to leave comments on your blog. Visitors like being able to interact with you this way. They will start asking you questions as well as making comment. You will be perceived as someone they can trust, who gives them useful answers. They start to feel they have a relationship with you. Provide visitors with useful content in your newsletter. Give them helpful advice, links to other sites they would find helpful, make sure the information is new, not the same old thing they have already read in a dozen other newsletters. Make it easy for your visitors to sign up for your newsletter by requiring minimal information-just their name and email address. Put the sign up for your newsletter on every page of your website, not just your homepage. Encourage them to tell their friends about the newsletter. Determine how often you will send the newsletter and let them know that when they are signing up. For instance, my newsletter sign up box says it is a bi-weekly Marketing Tips newsletter. So my visitors know how often they are getting it and what it is about before they sign up for it. If you were asking someone a question, what time frame would you expect an answer in? I expect one in 24 hours and that is what I tell my visitors they can expect from me. I want them to know they are important to me and I value their time so I am not going to make them wait a week to hear from me. Chances are if I do, I will never hear from them again. Responding quickly shows your visitors you care about their problems and want to help them. Make finding what they want easy for your visitors. Do not make them click multiple times to find what they are searching for. Visitors come back to easy to navigate web sites. Have a friend test your website. You may find it easy to navigate because chances are you put it together in what was a logical sequence for you. That may not even be close to how your visitor thinks it should work. Be open to suggestions for changing it and making it more user friendly. Implementing just a few of these suggestions will help increase the stickiness of your web site and start you on your way to building long lasting relationships with your visitors. Which Affiliate Marketing Network Program To Look Out For When Promoting? There are many horror stories about affiliate marketing network programs. People have heard them over and over again, that some are even wary of joining one. The stories they may have heard are those related to illegal programs or pyramid schemes. Basically, this kind of market does not have real, worthy product. You do not want to be associated with these schemes. It is obvious you want to be with an affiliate marketing network program that offers high quality product that you will readily endorse. The growing number of those who have joined already and are succeeding immensely is proof enough that there are reliable and quality affiliate marketing network programs out there. Why participate in an affiliate marketing network program? It allows you to work part-time. It gives you the opportunity to build a generous residual income. And it makes you an owner of a small business. Affiliate marketing network programs have already created lots of millionaires. They are the living testimony of how hard work; continuous prospecting, motivating and training others pay off. 1. An affiliate marketing network program that you like and have interest in. One of the best ways of knowing if that is the kind of program you wish to promote is if you are interested in purchasing the product yourself. If that is the case, chances are, there are many others who are also interested in the same program and products. 2. Look for an affiliate marketing network program that is of high quality. For instance, look for one that is associated with many experts in that particular industry. This way, you are assured that of the standard of the program you will be joining into. 4. The program that is catering to a growing target market. This will ensure you that there will be more and continuous demands for your referrals. Make inquiries. There are forums and discussions you can participate in to get good and reliable feedback. 5. An affiliate marketing network program with a compensation plan that pays out a residual income and a payout of 30% or more would be a great choice. There are some programs offering this kind of compensation. Look closely for one. Do not waste your time with programs that do not reward substantially for your efforts. 6. Be aware of the minimum quotas that you must fulfill or sales target that is too hard to achieve. Some affiliate marketing network program imposes pre-requisites before you get your commissions. Just be sure that you are capable of attaining their requirements. 7. Select one that has plenty of tools and resources that can help you grow the business in the shortest possible time. Not all affiliate marketing network programs have these capacities. Make use you decide on one with lots of helpful tools you can use. 9. The program that is offering strong incentives for members to renew their membership each time. The affiliate marketing network program that provides continuous help and upgrades for its products have the tendency to retain its members. These things can assure the growth of your networks. Have a thorough and intensive knowledge about the affiliate marketing network program you will be promoting on. Knowing the kind of affiliate marketing network program you are getting yourself into will make you anticipate and prevent any future problems you may encounter. What Makes a Good Church Web Design? The most important factor that your church website should have is the right and complete information about your church. This is the main thing you should consider when making your church web design. It should contain all the vital and necessary information that visitors should know so they could get to know your church better. This is the major reason why people like you set up a website for your church. All you need to put in the homepage is a little introduction of your church and include some instructions on how visitors could learn more about different aspects of your church by using the navigation buttons on your church website. Church web designs with just the basic information in the homepage persuade visitors to explore more areas using different navigational buttons so you have to make sure that your church web design has easy to use and easy to understand navigational options. Make sure that you church web design has a main menu located either in the homepage or a separate page. This will give visitors easy access to whatever information they need to get. All the major aspects of your church should have their own spot in the main menu like mass schedules, history, and other services. This will let visitors go directly to their desired information. Never forget to add a link or button that will give visitors your contact information in case they would have any further questions. Make sure the contact information is updated and still exists. You should be available to answer their questions through these contact information. Avoid putting long introductions because this will bore the visitors and they are more likely to click away from your church website. You should opt for a short and direct to the point introduction for your church web design. Church web design must be simple and must suitable for a serious and respectable church like yours. Your church web design should be pleasing but it must be done in a tasteful and proper way. The church web design should have a professionally made web header. The header could consist of graphics and images that will reflect your church. Avoid flashy graphics as they are not suitable to use on a church website. You could also include some banners in your church web design. You could use these banners to advertise your church website. Talk to your web designer to make sure that he will only use appropriate text font and color for your church website. Your church web design should be simple but catchy in a way that it will catch visitors' interest and make them want to know more. You can do this by putting good content in every page. At the end f the page, you could put a little glimpse of what information they could see on another page. This will convince them to search your website more. If you are not that good in writing content, you could hire a content writer to handle the job for you. A good church web design attracts visitors and keeps them in the site as long as possible until they have covered almost every area of the church website. All it takes is finding a good web designer that will create and design your church website. Lynne Gabriel is the owner of TheChurchWebsiteDesigners.com - a church website design company based in Houston, TX. TheChurchWebsiteDesigners.com build visually-appealing, user-friendly, and easy-to-manage custom church website design. The word blog comes from the phrase "web log". A blog is simply an online journal that people post to on the Internet for others to read and make comments. Such a blog is often used by an Internet user to write about a topic of interest. Blogs can be of any nature -- personal, religious, political, business. If you have a business website, you can use blogs to show your products and services to the world. Blogs are great marketing tools. You can start a blog for free. You don't have to have a website to get started. Attracting a consistent flow of visitors to your blog will require that you keep the content on your blog interesting and fresh. If you own a business, you can keep your customers current on the newsworthy items that relate to your industry. It's not just the visitors to your blog who will appreciate fresh content; the search engines will too. If you keep your blog updated frequently, you will keep your visitors happy and the search engines satisfied. You will be viewed by both as an expert in the field, resulting in a higher search engine ranking. If the visitors to your blog enjoy the content you, provide they will most likely add a link to your blog from their social networking sites, websites, and blogs. This will increase the ranking that you receive from the search engines. You are allowed to advertise your business with blogs. Blogs are a great way to inform your existing customers of any updates to your products and services. A blog will allow your customers to leave comments as well. This feedback will help you to take into consideration any problems your customers have and provide future customers with a great testimonial to your business. You can usually get a blog going at no cost. There are sites online that offer free blogging services. These blogging sites will make it very simple for you to get started blogging in no time. Your blog can use templates, which will give it a very professional appearance. You should receive plenty of traffic if you have fresh, original content on your blog. You will be able to put advertisements on your blog to take advantage of the traffic you are generating. There are many forms that the advertising can take like banners and links. You can use Google's Adsense program to have the ads placed right on your blog with little effort on your part. Adsense will make sure that the ads are related to the content on your blog and you will earn money every time a visitor to your blog clicks on the ad. You can also check out affiliate programs that allow you set up a link on your blog to the company's website. If a visitor to your blog clicks on the affiliate link and buys something , you will get be paid by the company. It's easy to get started blogging. There really is no reason why you should wait any longer. There are millions of businesses that are using blogs to promote their businesses. Your business could be among them. With the Internet's availability along with extensive resources, making money from your computer can be easier than you think with a solid affiliate marketing strategy. If you have a blog, or a company website, you may be missing an opportunity to make money. If you do not have a product or a service to sell, affiliate marketing is just for you. How much a person can earn with web-based affiliate programs depends a great deal on several factors, including a well-thought-out affiliate marketing strategy, savvy and picking the right programs. Each affiliate program wants something from its affiliate associates in return for the money they will bring them. For many the "thing" they want is a sale, which means that if a potential buyer clicks to their site from yours via a banner ad, but that visit does not result in a sale, then nothing is paid out. Even if the same buyer goes back to their site, averting yours, and buys the next day, normally there is no pay out to you. Take some time to browse the affiliate programs available and choose one or two that meets your own criteria, such as profit per unit, ease of selling, etc. Once you have read the companies affiliate program information, which will tell you what they expect in order for you to join the program, you can then design a site specifically around those programs. For instance, there is one program that sells an eBook on how to write a book in two weeks that offers an affiliate program. If you were to research this and decide you wanted to use this as your focus, you could build your site around the product. Purchase it yourself, read it, perhaps even write the book it states you can write, and then talk about it on the site. Become an advertisement for the product, and, naturally, include plenty of easy-to-find links to their sales-front. Once you have your product and your site designed around it, you would market your own website by submitting it to search engines, going to link exchanges, adding it to the signature line of your emails; anything you can do to get people to visit your site. It really is a numbers game; the more visits to your site, the more changes someone will really like what it has to say and follow your links to the product. Take a good long look at your current web-presence. What kinds of goals are you hoping to gain with affiliate marketing? Do you want to make six figures a year? Do you want to make a few hundred bucks a month? Do you want to make enough to cover the costs of running your web site, and no more? Once you have answered the above questions, take time to visit affiliate directory sites; be aware that many of these are doing exactly what you are hoping to do by turning your visit into a sale. Most, however, do provide a healthy directory of programs for you to research. Locate the affiliate programs that make the most sense for your web site and take some time reading their rules for partnership. Select the ones that pass your criteria and sign up! Michael Warren is a successful internet marketer, and the owner of Newbie Web Marketing 101. He helps people promote their online business by offering his expertise in proven internet marketing strategies. Learn Three Legitimate Ways to Make Money Online Right Now! With millions of blogs posts fighting for readership online and with thousands more being created every day. You need to make yours blog postings stand out above the rest. Here are some suggestions for making your blog posts stand out from the crowd. 1. The first thing someone reads is the post title so write each post title that grabs the reader's attention. Your title should both wet the reader's interest and be informative. Do not write "Blog Writing Advice"; instead, say "The Best Kept Secret to Improving Your Blog Writing." The longer titles have the advantage of describing in detail what your post is about. 8 to 12 words work best. 2. Keep sentences short and clear. A little goes a long way. Readers are busy people and they will not spend hours-reading fluff. Use strong language. Start a new paragraph every few sentences, and limit each post to 250 words, if possible. If you cannot write it in under 250 words, split it into two entries. 3. Break up the text. Use numbered lists, bullet points, and subheadings to make your posts easy to scan. A lot of white space on the page is a good thing, It allows your reader to take mental breaks and lets the knowledge soak in. This technique puts some distance between your writing and all those distractions like the constant clutter of banner ads and side text. 4. Keep current. No one wants to read old news. Your job is to keep up to date so your readers do not have to themselves. Read newspapers. Search the web for references. If you write a blog about blogging, subscribe to Google News Alerts using keywords related to the field, such as blogs, podcasting, instant messaging, business letters, memos, and business reports, so you will always be well informed. Posting items from last month or last year will lose your reader's interest. 5. Be bold. Being timid is an easy path to anonymity. Do not be afraid to create and state your opinions. There are some situations in which objectivity rules. But you have to give people a reason to read your blog and not the person next door. Be accurate. If you make a statement, be prepared to back it up. Know what your sources are and quote them accurately. Do not post misinformation. 6. Contribute to the conversation. Links are great but then what? Do not just post links to the same tired sites, offer your reader something new. Contribute to the conversation. Your goal is to be the site to which everyone else is linking so you had better have something to say. 7. Stay focused. Once you have defined the theme of your blog, stay on it. A blog about sky diving has no business posting about the latest innovation in swimming. Such a deviance will only confuse your readership and destroy your virtual authority. 8. Use key words liberally. Keywords are key. They harness your blog's search engine potential when you fill your title and post with effective keywords that helps interested readers find your page in the amongst all the others. 9. Be consistent. Keep a schedule and stick to it. Post frequently at least several times per week if you want to increase your potential of attracting new readers. If you let your blog languish for weeks without updates your audience will move on to fresher blogs. Maintaining an informative blog that people want to read takes hard work and good writing skills. Find what makes your writing unique and flaunt it for all it is worth. 1.Do not sell upfront. - With a safelist, you seldom expect purchases on the spot. Instead, you can provide free information that will rouse your prospects' curiosity and encourage them to visit your site or see what new products or services you have available. It is also your key to finding long term customers. 2.Use a catchy or attention-grabbing email subject. - Unless you have a subject that will rouse their interest, most people will not bother opening their emails. This is related to what most gurus say about safelist being a waste of time. Therefore, be creative and make them an irresistible offer. 3.Highlight the benefits to the customer. - Focus on how your product or service can help improve your customers' lives. Appeal to their emotions, but make sure that it sounds genuine. 4.Avoid excessive links. - A link to your website or your affiliates' site should be enough. Online marketers often wonder how they fail to get positive results despite of tremendous efforts on building a safelist. What they fail to realize is that gathering a list is not enough, there are several factors to consider. Poor safelist performance result from untargeted lists. Even if your subscribers receive emails from your company, if it is not of the recipient's interest to avail of your product or service then you cannot expect to generate sales. Therefore, when gathering email addresses, you have to make sure that the people on your list are possible customers. The same goes with the volume of emails you send. Do not flood your subscriber's inbox with tons of emails that they will not read anyway. Instead, send them substantial emails that include all the information they might find useful and provide the necessary links. Also, refrain from sending the same email content more than once. Creating a safelist is a cost-efficient way of promoting your products, as well as that of your affiliates'. As long as you take note of the tips above, you will be able to maximize the list of emails you have gathered and spread the word about your business. Once you've learned how to use a safelist effectively, you can bring in more traffic that can be converted to sales but without the expensive advertisement costs. Blog and website owners have many tasks on their plate and tons of new features and tips to mull over. One of the basics for blogging and webmastering for success is remembering the way real estate works when designing and adding value to your site. You can't just pile on the widgets and backlinks and forget them just like you can't just buy a home and not keep it up, maintain it or update it. Frequent house cleaning is required and you need to periodically check that all those links and widgets are still active and up to date. You'll do your site harm if you're linking to dead links or sites where content has changed beyond your set standard. Your sidebar is your driveway and sidewalk. Your sidebar will typically be filled with color, many different advertisements and widgets. Just like walking onto a property for the first time, people judge the rest of your home/site by how they are greeted on the approach. Tone it down. Keep it minimal if possible and if not, organize your space so that the ads mesh well together and there's nothing offensive to your site or content. PURPLE - feminine, luxurious, eccentric, royal, dreamy. BLUE - success, sincerity, trust, professional, power, truth, respect, seriousness. ORANGE - cheap, young, vacation, comedy, celebrating, fun. WHITE - safe, simple, clean, conservative, inhibition, innocent, pure. PINK - teen, youth, party, fun, baby, maternal, feminine, soft, sweet. GREEN - eco, outdoors, money, winning, animals, life, serene, global, political, healing. BLACK - attitude, seriousness, negative, dark, gloomy, cover up, secret. BROWN - earthy, homey, eco, nature, simple, safe, emotional, warm. YELLOW - loud, action, seasonal, youth, fun, questioning. GREY - business, safe, calm, trustworthy, neutral, reserved. RED - bold, loud, statement, call to action, attention, adventure, definite, passionate, danger. Keeping it simple is a nightmare but necessary. After having a website or blog for years, you've accumulated widgets and social networking buttons galore. You're becoming a Realtor's worst nightmare, a pack rat. We don't like selling homes that are cluttered and it's one of the hardest things to get the owner to recognize. We're all guilty of buying new gadgets, adding new shoes to the closet and new buttons and features to our sites. It's time to declutter. What do you absolutely not need on your sidebars? What hasn't brought you an eyeball in months? What site that you're required to link to can fit on the very bottom of your page tucked away from eyes? Ticking clocks and calendars are a waste of space. You may think they look great and while they might, get rid of them. Thanks for the redundant reminder, but everyone online has a clock and calendar on their taskbar. Walking into a property or website should positively land that first impression. If you walk into the front door and there's an odor or seventeen vases of fake flowers poking you, you're already wanting to leave. If you arrive on a web page and there's an overwhelming feeling of panic attack, it's time to step back and reevaluate. Pick someone's style you trust and ask them to critique your homepage honestly and brutally as you would your home. Listen to the ideas and criticism. Get a few more opinions and compare them. Look at your header. Is it too large to see content? Do your viewers have to scroll for miles beyond Adsense and widgets to get to the purpose? Do you have your favorite country song on loop hoping your visitors like it as much as you? What about ads or pop-ups asking them to sign up? I don't care how great of a writer you are or how lovely your homemade jewelry is, a good portion of your guests will be exiting. Hopefully they're not tripping over the pornographic dating ads in the driveway as they pick up speed. Choosing your site's (location, location, location) is actually up to you. Many site owners or bloggers complain about the mighty three search engines not liking them. They like you, you just haven't chosen the location you want on the first page. See what the top ten are doing and have done to get there. Pick a few phrases you want to rank high for and evaluate the competition. Get an idea of what they're doing to achieve their results. Ultimately, if you want to get to where they are you need to write keyword and keyphrase rich content that has the proper percentage and range within your posts or articles. Properly adding a noticeable accent color to a room is the same with keyword placement. If you repeatedly use the accent color to the point of annoyance, it's no longer an accent but a forced theme. If you use the same keyword or phrase so many times that it's no longer reader friendly, the search engines and your guests aren't happy about it. Spreading out your desired words/phrases within the text creatively, the same with an accent color will provide a perfect harmony. It's noticed but not obvious. Not too much, not too little. A well placed writer on the search engines writes with both Google and their reader in mind in everything they do. Making offers and negotiations are encouraged. If you're trying to step up your marketing campaign and shell out a few bucks for monthly or yearly advertising, shop the top sites that are ranked well and make them an offer. Don't be intimidated by their asking price or industry standard rates. Make them a fair offer and preferably long term so that the price is higher and they're foolish to decline. Don't insult but don't give too much. There's a fine line and negotiating is an art. Start with 10% off their asking price and contact them respectfully, enthusiastically and seriously. You can save enough over a few sites to get one for free. That's an additional backlink. Depending on the site it's on, it could tip you over the edge in the location department and increase your click through eyeballs. Entertain and make guests feel at home on your website. Doing this properly will ensure they miss you and want to come back. Being rude to your guests by forcing them to see and hear things they didn't ask for and not designing or keeping up with your site, is a mistake. It's my opinion that established websites and blogs in the future will have a higher value than today. More and more companies and bigger pockets will want sites that are already prevalent and have readership and earnings. If you build it right and keep making your visitors and advertisers happy, you may end up experiencing appreciation and be able to cash in on a future hot market. Invest wisely now and take proper care of your virtual real estate. For more information and other articles, visit my Ohio Relocation and home buying website/blog. Cecilia Sherrard is a full time Cleveland Real Estate agent. Her website and Ohio real estate blog offer useful tips, information and articles pertaining to all things home. From buying, selling, investing or financing, the Cleveland Real Estate team is ready to assist.

2019-04-22T22:28:55Z

http://webmasterlibrary.cheapwebhostingreport.com/2008/12/

ACLU drug and sentencing reformer and racial justice fighter Vanita Gupta is nominated to lead the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. Latest Poll Has Oregon Legalization Initiative Up By Nine Points. An Oct. 8-11 survey taken for Oregon Public Broadcasting has the Measure 91 legalization initiative at 52% of the vote with 41% opposed. If these numbers hold true, even if all undecided ended up voting "no," the initiative would still pass. NJ Weedman to Lead Legalization March Saturday in Trenton. New Jersey marijuana activist Ed Forchion, also known as the NJ Weedman, is leading a legalization march this Saturday in Trenton. Click on the link for more details. Americans for Safe Access Launches "Vote Medical Marijuana" Campaign. The medical marijuana defense and advocacy group aims to educate voters ahead of next month's elections with a new 30-second online TV advertisement that will air on Sunday cable news programs in Detroit, Philadelphia, South Florida, and Washington state. The campaign also includes an interactive online voters' guide at VoteMedicalMarijuana.org. Check it out at the links. Another Poll Has Florida Initiative Coming Up Short. A new Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/UF Bob Graham Center poll has the Amendment 2 medical marijuana initiative at 48% of the vote with 44% opposed and 7% undecided. Because the initiative is a constitutional amendment, it needs 60% to win. This is just the latest in a series of polls showing the initiative failing to reach that mark. Click on the link for more poll details. Obama Nominates ACLU Attorney with Strong Drug Reform Record to Head Justice Department Civil Rights Division. The Obama administration has nominated ACLU attorney Vanita Gupta to head the Justice Department's civil rights division. Gupta has been a stalwart drug reformer, working to obtain justice for the victims of racially biased drug enforcement in Tulia, Texas, currently leading the ACLU's National Campaign to End Mass Incarceration, and speaking out frequently about drug war injustices and against mandatory minimum sentencing. "The war on drugs has been a war on communities of color," she wrote in 2011. She is also a strong supporter of marijuana law reform, including legalization. Unprecedented Swarm of Overdoses at Vancouver Safe Injection Site -- But No One Died. Vancouver's InSite safe injection site has seen 31 overdoses in two days, a record for the facility. The ODs came on Sunday and Monday, and speculation is that a particularly strong batch of heroin, perhaps laced with fentanyl, is responsible. It's worth noting that no one died in the InSite overdoses, where medical attention is at hand. In fact, no one has ever died of an overdose at InSite. The batch of heroin has claimed at least one life, though -- a 20-something woman who died in a hostel on the Downtown East Side. There was no medical attention on hand for her. "Heroin overdoses don't need to be fatal," said Gavin Wilson of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which runs InSite. "They're reversible if caught in time." Guatemala Weighing Softer Drug Punishments. President Otto Perez Molina has told Reuters that the country is considering reducing drug sentences for small-time offenses as part of its push to liberalize its drug policy. "We have 17,000 prisoners in our jails. Many of them are linked to drug trafficking. Some of them are indeed criminals. And there are some who are in for minimal amounts of consumption or possession," Perez said. "So I think there are steps we could take time to analyze," he added, when asked about the possibility of easing sentences to lighten the strain on Guatemala's overstretched penal system. The government received an interim report from a commission studying possible drug policy changes last month, and Perez said final recommendations would be ready sometime in the first half of next year. He also said that his government is considering regulating medical marijuana and opium poppy production for medical purposes. Dutch Court Refuses to Punish Marijuana Growers. A court in Groningen has found two people guilty of growing marijuana, but refused to punish them, instead criticizing the government's policy that criminalizes pot growing but allows its sale in the country's famous cannabis coffee shops. "The court finds the suspects guilty, but no punishment will be applied," the court said in its ruling. "Given that the sale of soft drugs in coffee shops is tolerated, this means that these coffee shops must supply themselves and so cultivation must be done to satisfy these demands. The law does not state how this supply should be done," the court said. The Groningen growers had been open about their activities, and the court found they had acted within the spirit of the marijuana laws, acting "in the interests of public health and so as to not disturb the public order." The State Department's point man on international drug affairs signals a new flexibility in US policy, Bolivia's coca farmer President Evo Morales wins reelection, the DC initiative wins more endorsements, the Florida medical marijuana initiative is in danger, and more. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement William Brownfield says some surprising things. DC Initiative Picks Up Labor, Working Families Endorsements. DC's Measure 71 marijuana cultivation and possession legalization initiative has been endorsed by two labor unions and a District-based activist group. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the United Commercial Food Workers (UCFW) have come on board, citing the elimination of racially discriminatory enforcement and the removal of barriers to job opportunities. So has DC Working Families, a progressive social justice activist group. Northern California Marijuana Summit Being Planned in Advance of 2016 Effort. Aware that a well-connected California marijuana legalization initiative is coming in 2016, some Northern California counties are laying the groundwork for a regional summit on the issue. Mendocino County CEO Carmel Angelo told county supervisors last week that the impending legalization initiative had led her to have discussion with other county CEOs about forming a Northern California Cannabis Summit next year. The proposed meeting would discuss possible economic, regulatory, taxation and policy implications to prepare for 2016 legalization. Latest Poll Has Florida Initiative at 52% -- It Needs 60% to Win. A new poll with a large sample and small margin of error has the Amendment 2 medical marijuana initiative coming up short. According to the SaintPetersBlog poll, a slim majority (52%) supports the initiative, but that's not enough because, as a constitutional amendment, it needs 60% of the vote to pass. The poll sample consisted of 3,128 Florida registered voters who said they were planning to vote in the election and has a margin of error of +/- 1.8%. The poll is roughly in line with other recent surveys that have shown Amendment 2 polling in the 50s. State Department's Drugs Point Man Signals US Flexibility on Drug Reform. In a speech last week at the United Nations, Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield, the head of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs ("drugs and thugs"), made it clear that the US is willing to embrace flexibility, up to and including drug legalization in other countries, in the face of rising calls for international drug reform. Brownfield succinctly laid out the US approach: "First,... respect the integrity of the existing UN Drug Control Conventions. Second, accept flexible interpretation of those conventions. The first of them was drafted and enacted in 1961. Things have changed since 1961. We must have enough flexibility to allow us to incorporate those changes into our policies. Third, to tolerate different national drug policies, to accept the fact that some countries will have very strict drug approaches; other countries will legalize entire categories of drugs. All these countries must work together in the international community. We must have some tolerance for those differing policies. And our fourth pillar is agreement and consensus that whatever our approach and policy may be on legalization, decriminalization, de-penalization, we all agree to combat and resist the criminal organizations -- not those who buy, consume, but those who market and traffic the product for economic gain. Respect the conventions; flexible interpretation; tolerance for national polices; criminal organizations -- that is our mantra." Click on the link to read the entirety of his remarks. Houston Mayor Calls for "Complete Rethinking" of Nation's Drug Laws. Ten minutes into an interview with Dean Becker of the Drug Truth Network Annise Parker (D) unloaded on drug prohibition: "I agree with you that we need a complete rethinking of the nation's drug laws," she told Becker. "We have seen over and over again that outright prohibition doesn't work. We saw that in the '20s when the prohibition in this country fueled the rise of organized crime. At the same time we don't want in any way to send a message that illegal drugs are approved or appropriate, but we need to figure out a way to go to managing these drugs rather than simply saying, 'Don't do it or we are going to treat all illegal drugs the same.'" There is more; click on the title link to hear the whole thing. Bolivia's Coca Farmer President Cruises to Easy Reelection. Coca farmer union leader Evo Morales has easily won reelection to an unprecedented third term as Bolivia's president. He won 59.5% of the vote, more than doubling the vote total of his nearest challenger in a five-man field and obviating the need for a runoff election. Although it remains one of the hemisphere's poorest countries, Bolivia's economy has flourished under the rule of Morales and his Movement to Socialism (MAS). The US has criticized Bolivia over its coca policies, but that didn't seem to be much of an issue in the elections. Polls Split on Alaska Initiative. The fate of Alaska's Measure 2 legalization initiative remains up in the air. Polls this week commissioned by the opposing sides had differing results. A Dittman Research poll sponsored by the "Big Marijuana, Big Mistake, Vote No on 2" campaign has the measure losing 44% to 53%. But the Alaska Survey poll, in which the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol paid for a marijuana policy question to be asked, had the initiative winning 57% to 39%. Both polls claimed a +/- 4% margin of error, but even so, both of them can't be right. The split in polls has been evident throughout the campaign. Stay tuned. More Than 6,000 Illinoisans Have Applied for Medical Marijuana Cards. The Department of Health reported Wednesday that some 6,300 state residents have applied for permission to use medical marijuana, with cancer, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injuries being the most common health conditions mentioned. But the department also noted that the vast majority of applications were incomplete; only 800 have submitted complete applications, which include a doctor certification form and background check information. People whose applications are incomplete will be notified and then will have 21 days to complete them. Guam Election Commission Seeks to End Legal Challenge to Medical Marijuana Initiative Vote. The commission has asked the US District Court on the island territory to dismiss the petition for a writ blocking the vote filed by local attorney Howard Trapp. Trapp has argued that the legislature cannot send an initiative to the voters, but the Election Commission and the Guam Supreme Court have already rejected his claim. Drug Czar Claims Marijuana Legalization Undermines Fight Against Opiates. In a speech yesterday in Maine, acting head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP -- the drug czar's office) Michael Botticelli argued that the trend toward marijuana legalization is making the fight against more serious drug problems, such as the abuse of prescription opioids, more difficult. He said that early use of marijuana increases the likelihood that users will develop dependency on other drugs. "It's hard to say at one level that we want to think about prescription drug abuse and heroin abuse without looking at how to prevent kids from starting to use other substances from an early age," he said. Four Northeastern States Create Anti-Heroin Task Force. Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania officials Wednesday announced the formation of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Heroin Task Force (NEMA-HTF) in "an unprecedented law-enforcement collaboration to combat the growing problem of heroin distribution and abuse in communities throughout the region." Attorneys General from the four states will work together to try to repress the heroin trade. "For too long, drug organizations have tried to outmaneuver law-enforcement agencies by crossing state lines. This task force will ensure that our borders do not become our boundaries," said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. "By joining together, we can prevent defendants from using state borders as a shield from law-enforcement and allow us to shut down the pipelines and cut off the heroin supply." Why Are We Freaking Out About Heroin? Wonkblog Asks. The Washington Post's Wonkblog has an insightful piece about the level of heroin use in the country and the public policy response it has engendered. The piece notes that "hardly anyone uses heroin" and is full of crunchy numbers and thoughtful commentary. "Overall, it's important for the public -- and particularly the media -- to keep some perspective when it comes to the numbers on heroin," the piece concludes. "It doesn't make a lot of sense to speak of 'epidemics' when use rates continue to hover somewhere between 0.1 and 0.5% of the total population. And kneejerk legislating will only make the problem worse." Click on the link for the full piece. New York City Conference on Psychedelics This Weekend. The eighth annual Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics conference will be held at Judson Memorial Church and The New School in Greenwich Village on October 11 and 12. Horizons focuses on contemporary research into the applications of psychedelics, providing an invaluable forum for experts to share ideas, insights, and to rethink the future of these drugs in science, medicine, culture, and history. This year, professors, researchers, writers and practitioners from the United States, England and Switzerland will be presenting findings and insights in the fields of neuroscience, terminal anxiety disorder, depression, hard drugs addiction, sexual orientation and identity, and more. Click on the links for more information. Canada's Largest Addiction Center Calls for Marijuana Legalization. In a report issued today, Canada's largest addiction center calls for marijuana legalization with a strict regulatory approach. The recommendation is based in harm reduction principles. The Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto made the call for legalization in its report CAMH's Cannabis Policy Framework. It comes after an in-depth analysis of the health, social, and legal implications of marijuana use, as well as an examination of comparative marijuana policy, by CAMH scientists and policy experts. "Canada's current system of cannabis control is failing to prevent or reduce the harms associated with cannabis use," said Dr. Jürgen Rehm, Director of the Social and Epidemiological Research Department at CAMH. "Based on a thorough review of the evidence, we believe that legalization combined with strict regulation of cannabis is the most effective means of reducing the harms associated with its use." Myanmar Moving Toward Reducing Drug Penalties. Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Brigadier General Kyaw Kyaw Tun has told members of parliament that the government is preparing to review sentences for drug use, which currently range from five to 15 years in prison. "Officials from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, the Union Attorney-General's Office and the Union Supreme Court are drawing up an amendment law," the deputy minister said. The Myanmar government has been moving to shift drug penalties since 2012. Dallas to Quit Arresting People for Small-Time Marijuana Possession. Starting in January, police in Dallas County, Texas, will only ticket -- not arrest -- people caught in possession of two ounces or less of marijuana. But those cited will still face misdemeanor charges, a fine of up to $2,000 and up to six months in jail (though that is rarely the case). The state legislature in 2007 voted to allow jurisdictions to implement cite-and-release, but only a handful of locales in the state have exercised that option. Legalization Initiative Campaign Kicks Off in Lewiston, Maine. The campaign to legalize marijuana locally through ballot initiatives in Lewiston and South Portland, Maine, kicked off its final month of electioneering with a rally today in Lewiston. The effort is led by the Marijuana Policy Project and is part of a plan to legalize the herb statewide in the near future. Portland, the state's largest city, passed a similar initiative last year. Rick Steves Hits the Road for the Oregon Legalization Initiative. The charming and mild-mannered PBS travel show host is kicking off a 9-stop tour in support of Measure 91. Steves, who lives in next-door Washington state, also played a critical role in that state's successful 2012 legalization initiative. DC Council Votes to Strengthen Law to Seal Records for Past Marijuana Arrests. The DC Council voted unanimously today in favor of a bill that would improve the process by which a person can seal criminal records pertaining to conduct that has since been decriminalized or legalized. The council is expected to take a final vote on the bill in late October and it will then go to Mayor Vincent Gray for his review. The council decriminalized marijuana possession earlier this year, and the Measure 71 possession and cultivation legalization initiative appears poised to pass in November. Colorado Governor Says Voters Were "Reckless" to Legalize Marijuana. Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) said during a campaign debate with Republican challenger Bob Beauprez that Colorado voters were "reckless" for voting to legalize marijuana. "Any governor that looks at doing this before we see what the consequences are, I would view it as reckless," he said. But what about voters who voted for it? "I think for us to do that without having all the data, there is not enough data, and to a certain extent you could say it was reckless. I'm not saying it was reckless because I'll get quoted everywhere, but if it was up to me I wouldn't have done it, right. I opposed it from the very beginning. In matter of fact, all right, what the hell -- I'll say it was reckless." Hickenlooper may call voters "reckless," but he has overseen the good faith implementation of the voters' will. Beauprez opposes marijuana legalization. Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Bill Appears Stalled in House. The state Senate last month passed a restrictive medical marijuana bill, Senate Bill 1182, but even that appears to be too much for the Republican-controlled House. Spokesmen for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny County) said the body wants to carefully study the bill, including holding public hearings. That means there is virtually no chance it will come to a vote this session. But some Democrats have some legislative maneuvers planned, including trying to attach it to another bill, so stay tuned. Grand Jury Fails to Indict Cops in "Baby Bou Bou" Georgia SWAT Raid. A grand jury in Habersharm County has decided against charging any police officers in a botched drug raid in which a toddler was severely injured by a flash-bang grenade thrown by a SWAT officer. "Baby Bou Bou" Phonesvanh's nose was nearly blown off his face and he spent weeks hospitalized after the raid, in which no drugs were found and no one was arrested. The county has also refused to pay the child's medical bills. Look for a civil suit to come. DEA Agent Set Up Fake Facebook Page in Woman's Name Without Her Consent. A DEA agent investigating a drug case took over a woman's identity, creating a fake Facebook page in her name and posting racy photos from her seized cell phone. The woman was a minor player in a drug case and didn't know her identity had been commandeered until friends asked her why she was posting racy photos. The woman hadn't even set up a Facebook page of her own. DEA Agent Timothy Sinnigen set up the fake page and used it to communicate with at least one drug suspect. Now, the Justice Department is arguing in federal court that it was perfectly okay for him to do so. Click on the link to read the whole sordid tale. Ten Percent Drop in Federal Prison Sentences of a Year or More. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University reports that the number of federal prison sentences of a year or more has dropped by 10% over the past five years. Only about one in four people convicted of federal crimes received sentences of greater than a year. Drug offenders accounted for nearly one-third (32.4%) of them. The TRAC data doesn't specify whether this figure has gone up or down in the past five years. New York Times Endorses Alaska, Oregon, DC Legalization Initiatives. The editorial board of the New York Times endorsed all three initiatives in a Sunday editorial. The newspaper of record noted that all three entities had already legalized medical marijuana, and it "makes good sense" to go the rest of the way. "Opponents of legalization warn that states are embarking on a risky experiment," the newspaper said. "But the sky over Colorado has not fallen, and prohibition has proved to be a complete failure. It's time to bring the marijuana market out into the open and end the injustice of arrests and convictions that have devastated communities." Oregon Legalization Campaign Gets Another $300,000 Donation. The Drug Policy Action Network, the campaign and lobbying arm of the Drug Policy Alliance, has kicked in another $300,000 for the Measure 91 legalization campaign. That means the group has now donated nearly a million dollars to the campaign, which has raised nearly $3 million overall. Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Pilot Program Gets Underway. Three children's hospitals and the Department of Health are doing a research study on the use of CBD cannabis oil in children. The project, announced in May, is now underway. A broader, but still restrictive, medical marijuana bill has passed the Senate and awaits a vote in the House. Poll Finds Most See Drug Addiction as Moral Failing. Most Americans consider drug addiction a personal vice rather than a medical condition, according to a new poll from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Respondents were much more likely to approve of helping people with mental illness than with drug addictions, the poll found. "While drug addiction and mental illness are both chronic, treatable health conditions, the American public is more likely to think of addiction as a moral failing than a medical condition," study leader Colleen Barry, an associate professor in the department of health policy and management, said in a Hopkins news release. "In recent years, it has become more socially acceptable to talk publicly about one's struggles with mental illness. But with addiction, the feeling is that the addict is a bad or weak person, especially because much drug use is illegal," she added. FDA Responds to Critics on Zohydro. Responding to months of criticism over its decision to approve the prescription opiate pain reliever Zohydro ER, a trio of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials have written a piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association saying approval of the drug was warranted and criticism of the agency was misguided. Concentrating on one drug during a time of heightened concern over opiate misuse does not address the underlying problems of widespread misuse and physician overprescribing, they write. "The problem of opioid overdose demands well-informed policies. The actions taken by FDA may help to reverse the epidemic," they wrote. "Policies that focus on a single drug can divert focus from broader, further-reaching interventions… The concerns over Zohydro ER should be seen in the greater context of the opioid epidemic. Singling out one drug for restrictions is not likely to be successful." British Liberal Democrats Approve Drug Reform Platform. The Lib Dems, junior partners in a coalition government with the Conservatives, Sunday approved a drug policy plank that calls for the decriminalization of drug possession and for the tightening of laws allowing police to stop and search people suspected of drug crimes. That puts them at odds with their coalition partners. The Lib Dems have presented their drug policy platform within the broader context of reducing crime, which has been going down, and reducing re-offending. Poll Finds Most British Think Drug War a Huge Failure. A new Guardian poll finds that 84% think the war on drugs cannot be won, with 39% supporting the decriminalization of drug possession and a slight majority (52%) supporting marijuana legalization initiatives like those in Colorado and Washington. Click on the poll link for much more detail and discussion. Ecuador Freeing Thousands of Drug Mules. Under a law that went into effect in August, Ecuador has begun quietly freeing thousands of people convicted of low-level cocaine smuggling offenses. The new law retroactively reduced jail sentences for drug mules, with some 500 already freed and at least another 2,200 to follow. The sentence reductions come only after a court hearing, which the prisoner must request. President Rafael Correa's father spent three years in a US prison as a drug mule. UNODC Head Says Drug Legalization Could Cause More Deaths. Yuri Fedotov, head of the UN Office on Crime and Drugs (UNODC), said today that drug legalization could lead to increased consumption and more deaths. He was responding to a report last month from the Global Commission on Drug Policy that called for "experiments in legally regulating markets in currently illicit drugs," which he rejected. "I believe that such experimentation certainly will make drugs more available and (cheaper)," Fedotov said. "It means that we may face increased consumption of psychoactive substances which may result in more death and more suffering of individuals (and) their families." On Monday, a survey found that 5% of adult Californians have used medical marijuana. The survey from the Public Health Institute in Sacramento, which will appear in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review, also found that, contrary to popular belief, it mostly is sick people using medical marijuana: "It is clear that (California law) is helping people who are sick and use medical marijuana to treat serious medical conditions… Our study contradicts commonly held beliefs that medical marijuana is being overused by healthy individuals… under the pretense that they have a serious medical condition and that they 'need' marijuana to treat it." On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court heard a patient's wrongful firing lawsuit. The state Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the case of Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic who worked for the Dish Network until he was fired four years ago for testing positive for marijuana. Dish Network argues that even though medical marijuana is legal under state law, it is still illegal under federal law, and the firing was thus justified. Last week, dispensaries finally opened for business. The state's first licensed grower sent its first shipment this week to dispensaries, which promptly began selling it to qualified patients. All six dispensaries in the state should be open this week. Last Thursday, a SurveyUSA Poll had Amendment 2 at 53%. The latest SurveyUSA poll has the Amendment 2 medical marijuana initiative with 53% of the vote, but since the initiative is a constitutional amendment, it needs 60% to pass. That's a slight drop from the last SurveyUSA poll, which had support at 56%. Importantly, while only 53% said they would vote for it, only 31% said they would vote against and 15% were undecided. If the undecideds split evenly, the initiative will squeak out a victory. On Monday, a Guam attorney sought to block the pending medical marijuana initiative. Voters in Guam are set to vote on a medical marijuana initiative submitted by the territorial legislature next month, but a Guam attorney asked the US District Court there to block the vote. Howard Trapp argues that the legislature can't legally "pass the buck" to voters, even though the island's Supreme Court said it could in an August ruling. The election commission has until October 7 to respond to the filing. Last Wednesday, state officials said more than 350 people had applied for medical marijuana business permits. Some 158 people applied as potential cultivation centers, while 211 applied to operate dispensaries. The state will grant 21 grow center permits and 60 dispensary permits by year's end, with the first legally obtainable medical marijuana available by spring 2015. Last week, the first Illinois patients got their registration cards. Jim Champion, an Army vet who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was apparently the first Illinois patient to get his medical marijuana card. His came last week. He is the first of more than 2,000 Illinois residents who have applied under the state's new law. Last Friday, the governor asked the Justice Department to allow the state to obtain medical marijuana from other states. Last Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General David Cole asking the Justice Department to extend a narrow, time-limited exception to federal law to allow the importation of certain strains of medical marijuana from other states for use by children in New York with severe forms of epilepsy. The letter follows a similar letter sent last month by the Cuomo administration to Attorney General Eric Holder. On Monday, the state's two US senators joined the call. US Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) and Charles Schumer (D) Monday sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) request for the Justice Department to allow the state to import high-CBD cannabis oil from out of state. "As members of Congress whose constituents suffer from these illnesses, we feel that the federal government ought to do what it can to help these children," the senators wrote. "Therefore, we are requesting that you provide the state of New York with a waiver that would prohibit federal prosecution for the importation of cannabidol in the rare cases where medical marijuana is imported between two states with legalized medical marijuana, and the amount is small, finite and prescription-based." Last Wednesday, the state Senate approved a restrictive medical marijuana bill. The state Senate approved Senate Bill 1182, after amending it to remove the ability to vaporize the plant and removing a large number of qualifying medical conditions. The bill now goes to the House. This coming Saturday, it's the second annual Rhode Island Medical Marijuana Festival. The Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition is hosting the festival to celebrate the eighth year of the state's medical marijuana program. Click on the link for more details. On Monday, activists targeted obstructionist lawmakers with billboards. Sick and tired of seeing bills blocked in the state legislature, medical marijuana activists are targeting two key opponents, Republican state Sens. Mary Lazich and Leah Vukmir, in a newly unveiled billboard campaign. The billboards urge readers to call the two senators and ask them why Wisconsin patients have no access to medical marijuana. Click on the link to see the billboard. For extensive information about the medical marijuana debate, presented in a neutral format, visit MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org.].

2019-04-19T19:07:28Z

https://stopthedrugwar.org/taxonomy/term/254?page=5

2019 Alaska Yukon Challenge: The 12th Annual AYC will be held Friday June 14th @ 6-10PM & Saturday June 15th 9AM-6PM in Anchorage Alaska at the Arctic Rec Center. FOUR Events: 1) Under 1000 rated Singles, 2) Open Singles, 3) Under 1000 rated TEAM and 4) OPEN TEAM groups. All events will feature a unique HANDICAP scoring based on "RATINGS" of individual players. SKILL GROUPS: Under 1000 Division formerly known as the NOVICE group. For new and less experienced players. And the OPEN DIVISION for top skilled players and players "rated" above 1000 ratings of all entrants will be established by AYC committee with input from region representatives. IE: higher rated players will start with MINUS points at start of each game. An match up example: a 1700 rated player faced a 1500 level player, the 200 point difference adjusts the 1700 player to start at (MINUS 4) to ZERO for the 1500 level player. A value of (MINUS 1) for each 50 rating point difference applies to the higher rated player. So a 1800 level player facing a 1400 rated player, 400 point difference, then the 1800 level player starts at -8 to 0 for the 1400 level player. All matches are best 2 of 3 games to 11 points. A true "Challenge" for the higher skilled and rated players. After the first day of singles competition, the AYC committees reevaluates on any individual player whom exhibit higher or lower skill than their original "ratings" or "estimated rating". Any adjustments made will be based on scores from their singles results. Those players ratings will be adjusted for the TEAM event on Saturday. Results from the AYC committee is final. This handicap format carries over to the TEAM division. Teams of 2 players will compete in best 3 of 5 matches against another 2 player team. Consisting of 2 singles, 1 doubles and 2 singles match up. Singles is completed the same as the singles handicap format with each match up. But in the doubles match the 2 team players rating numbers are added together to form a Team Average Rating (TAR). That is compared to the opponents TAR and the handicap rule applies. So if an 1800 level player pairs up with a 1400 rating player the total of their ratings is 3200. To obtain their TAR divide that total by 2 equals a TAR of 1600. They play a doubles team with a 1500 and a 1400 rated player their TAR is 1450. Thus the 1600 TAR doubles team starts at -3 to 0 for the 1450 TAR doubles team. A difference of 150 rating points. Format is preliminary ROUND ROBIN POOLS of 3-4 playes or teams. Top 2 from each pool advances to a single elimination bracket. CASH PRIZES in all events. Teams from Fairbanks, Anchorage, Whitehorse and other Alaskan cities to be competing in this unique handicap scoring tournament. Big cash prize money with donations from FITT, AKTTC, Whitehorse and Mega Reporting. Entry forms available soon, Entry Deadline is Wed. June 5, 2019. Late entries accepted based on space available. Sat. Dec 29, 2018 from 9AM to 4PM held at the Arctic Rec Center. Limited to 20 total players. Minimum entry of 16 players. Cost is $49. All ages and skills welcome. or Call or Text Karl Augestad for more info: 907-360-4276. The morning starts with DOUBLES play at 9:55AM. Doubles is great fun and new for many participants. Some B division participants can self partner with other. B, C or D players. But top A division players must partner with C or D skilled players, not allowed to partner with A or B players. Thus evening skills in doubles doubles pairs. Doubles will be a Single Elimination event with first round losers playing again for a consolation division playoffs. Thus all entrants get 2-3 matches in doubles. A good way to warm up and get moving. Singles will start at 11:25AM, This Double Round Robin format will feature 4-5 pools of 4 players in the preliminary round of matches. With 4 players in each pool this allows everyone 3 matches. A mixture of skilled players in each pool will give all participantss the opportunity to a 2nd round of playoff matches in A, B, C & D division. This format allows the playoffs to group players of similar skill level together for more evenly matched action. Playoffs estimated to start about 1PM with awards and clean up about 3:30PM. Spectators welcome for free. Volunteers needed!! 2018 Alaska Yukon Challenge: The 11th Annual AYC will be held Friday & Saturday June 15-16, 2018 in Dawson City, Yukon Canada. Details soon. Teams from Fairbanks, Anchorage, Whitehorse and other Alaskan cities to be competing in this unique handicap scoring tournament. Big cash prize money with donations from FITT, AKTTC, Whitehorse and Mega Reporting. Saturday June 9 & 10, 2017 at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks Patty Center. $1,300 in prize money and the traveling trophies. higher rated players spot their opponents 1 point per 50 points different in the ratings. matches more competitive and fun for all players regardless of skill level. Carol Johnson, from Fairbanks, 11-2, 11-5. games in long, looping rallies 11-9, 11-8. On Saturday, players competed for the Team Championships and the traveling trophies. Johnson and Aporn Stein, of Fairbanks. Fourth to Play On: Ruby Baxter and Vince Murlott. Whitehorse Team of Ryan Bachli/Daniel Li. 13, 4-11, thus claimed the Open Team Title for the Klondike Smashers. the score he ends up on. Congratulations Scott! Event. Congratulations Betsy! Thank you Ryan Bachli for making this award possible. The 10 th annual Alaska-Yukon Challenge Table Tennis Tournament was held Friday andSaturday at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks Patty Center.Twenty-two Fairbanks Interior Table Tennis players teamed up with two players fromAnchorage to make up the Alaska Team. The top 4 players from Whitehorse joined the top4 players from Dawson City to collaborate for the Yukon Team. Athletes competed for over$1,300 in prize money and the traveling trophies.Ten hours of play and 134 hard fought matches later, the Canadians rose victorious in boththe &lt;1000 Division and the Open in this unique handicapped event. In this tournament thehigher rated players spot their opponents 1 point per 50 points different in the ratings.Starting the match with a negative score for the advanced players tends to make thematches more competitive and fun for all players regardless of skill level.On Friday evening in the singles event each match was played best two of three games towin the match.In the &lt;1000 Singles of three round robin groups, Dennis Hedgecock, Carol Johnson, andGerard Parsons advanced out of their group with Jane Parrish drawing the Wild Card forthe semi-final round. Carol Johnson was victorious over Dennis Hedgecock 11-9, 10-12, 11-6. On the neighbor table Gerard Parsons over came Jane Parrish 11-2, 5-11, 12-6. In thefinals Gerard Parsons, from Dawson City, took the Championship over second place finisherCarol Johnson, from Fairbanks, 11-2, 11-5.In the Open Singles, players fought through four round robin groups to fill the semi-finalspots with the top player from each group. In the semi-finals Ryan Bachli, fromWhitehorse, took the match from Dave DeMay, from Eagle River, 12-10, 12-5. The othersemi-final match saw Daniel Li, from Whitehorse, victorious over Oleg Sheynfeld, fromFairbanks 11-7, 5-11, 11-9. The finals were set for the showdown among the Whitehorseplayers; Ryan Bachli spotted Daniel Li 6 points/game. Daniel took advantage of the spot inthe first game winning 11-2. However, Ryan rose to the challenge and took the next twogames in long, looping rallies 11-9, 11-8.On Saturday, players competed for the Team Championships and the traveling trophies. In the &lt;1000 Division, five teams went head-to- head in round robin format playing twosingles matches and one doubles match, which is call a Tie. The team winning two of thethree matches wins the Tie. The Dawson Duel: Gerard Parsons and Emily Gaw, of DawsonCity, went undefeated to take the Championship. Girls of Pong: Ava Partyka, Fairbanks, andErin Sivitz, Anchorage, were 3-1 taking second. Third place went to the Fair Ladies: CarolJohnson and Aporn Stein, of Fairbanks. Fourth to Play On: Ruby Baxter and Vince Murlott.Fifth place went to Herb Sivitz from Anchorage, Betsy DeMay from Eagle River, and DennisHedgecock.In the Open Teams the matches were extremely even as no team went undefeated. Movingon from the two round robin groups, of five teams each, was the first place team in eachgroup. Third place was a tie with FITT Team of Dave DeMay/Vikas Sonawalkar and theWhitehorse Team of Ryan Bachli/Daniel Li.Playing off in the Finals were the mother/son team of Party Pong: Doron and Eric Partykaof Fairbanks and the Klondike Smashers: Sam Crocker/Ethan Gaw of Dawson City. Theformat for the finals was best 3 of 5 matches/tie and 2 of 3 games/match. The first roundof singles matched Doron with Ethan with Ethan edging the win 8-11, 11-9, 11-7. Thesingles match of Sam and Eric was also tight with Sam taking the match 7-11, 11-8, and 11-6. That setup a must win situation for the Party Pong. Party Pong took the first game 11-8and the Klondike Smashers the second 11-7. In the third game, both teams traded point upto the tie at 7-7. The Smashers dominated the next three points to lead at 10-7. However,the Party Pong dug deep and worked their way back to duce at 10-10. Party Pongcontinued their streak winning the next two points and the match at 12-10, whichdelighted the Alaska Team to see more matches. With the Canadians leading 2 matches to1, the last two singles matched took the stage. Doron matched up with Sam, which she won8-11, 11-7, and 11-4. The final match was also close with Ethan winning over Eric 11-5, 11-13, 4-11, thus claimed the Open Team Title for the Klondike Smashers.The “ Jerry Smith Spirit of the Game” Award was presented in Memory of Jerry Smith whopasses away in February of 2009. Jerry loved Table Tennis and was a Co-Director of thefirst Alaska Yukon Challenge in Fairbanks 2008 and the 2009 winner of the &lt;1000 TeamTrophy. This year this special award went Scott Kennedy. Scott’s love of Table Tennis andhis giving heart to help others is noteworthy. We are grateful for Scott’s help moving tablesand equipment as well as setup. His efforts helped make this tournament a success. Eventhough Scott fights hard for every game point, he is a top sportsman no matter what side ofthe score he ends up on. Congratulations Scott! Ryan’s Woodworking of Whitehorse contributed a Special Award this year. His artfullydesign Cutting Board with over 20 different hardwoods was presented to Betsy DeMay ofEagle River. Betsy was an eager volunteer for the Tournament, demonstrated outstandingsportsmanship, and stepped forward to make sure everyone was able to play in the TeamEvent. Congratulations Betsy! Thank you Ryan Bachli for making this award possible.Mark your calendar as the 2018 Alaska-Yukon Challenge is being planned for June 15-16 inDawson City, Yukon. Friday April 14, 2017, Girdwood Paddle Battle, The fund raiser for Girdwood School students for trips to Washington DC and New York was a success with about 35 students and 18 adults entering. LOOK for 2018 as this will be an annual event. Silent auction, door prizes and cash prizes for top players. Two divisions: 7th and 8th Graders started at 23:30 and ended about 6P. Then at about 6:30PM the ADULTS started., Alaska Safety and AKTTC donated items and table tennis equipment. Club members Paul Richards, Karl Augestad and Chidi volunteered to help. Double Round Robin Event format, All skill levels & Ages. LIMITED to 20 PLAYERS. First preliminary round will mix various level players in 4 or 5 pools of 4 players. Then results will sort results in to 4 playoff groups so 1st place finishers will advance to A pool, 2nd place finishers in to B pool, Etc. So 4 playoff pools will gather athletes of similar skill level. Cost $42/per person. All players will play 6-7 matches. Sign up SOON to secure your spot. Entry deadline EXTENDED to 4/10/17 at 10PM or when 16 players signed up or optional increase to 20 players if demad is great. Entries after 4/12/17 accepted based on space available and additional late fee. Update 4/10/17: 16 have signed up and paid. Now wait list of 4 added players for a total of 20. SIGN UP NOW, Contact Karl, text/call/FB messenger his number above. June 9-10, 2017, Alaska Yukon Challenge, UAF Gym Fairbanks, Alaska. Teams from Anchorage, Fairbanks and Yukon, Canada will compete in this unique handicap tournament. June or July 2017 (New date pending) Alaska Open Table Tennis Championships, The Center, on Arctic Blvd. B/C doubles is U2800* level combined & no player over 1700* level) *USATT rating level. If you do not have an official USATT or estimated AKTTC club rating, see Karl Augestad to establish a club rating. July, 2017 Summer Ping Pong Tournament (PROPOSED, awaiting approval) Bear Paw Festival Table Tennis Tournament in Eagle River, Alaska, Anyone interest? Let me know who would come on out. Contact: Zack Johns to EXPRESS your interest NOW. Sept. 2017 (PROPOSED) Fall Open Table Tennis Tournament, Anchorage. Location may be The Center, O'Malley Sports Pavilion or TBD. Opportunity for post summer activites play some competitive Table Tennis. October 2017 Huntsman World Senior Games, St. George, UT Alaskans likely attending from Fairbanks, Juneau and Anchorage. 50 Yrs and older in 5 year increment divisions. Rating, Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, Mixed Doubles & Random Doubles. Nov. 24-26, 2017 Washington D.C. NATT Teams: Featuring The Alaskan Assassins: (Proposed 2017 Team) Kyle Yan, Karl Augestad, Paul Elliott & Ken Leiu. On August 22-23, 2015 "The Alaskan Six" entered the Seattle Open in Bellevue, WA. A four star USATT sanctioned tournament sponsored by Butterfly North America and Seattle Pacific Table Tennis Club featuring 20 various divisions in singles and doubles. It was a great event with exciting matches and long sessions each day. Alaskans participating are: Kyle Yan, 26, Karl Augestad, 56,Chidi Nwokori, 46, Mike Mann, 48, Johann Donath, 27, Zackary John, 22. Events Alaskans competed in U1250, U1400, U1550, U1700, U1850, U2000, U2150, U2300, U2450 & Open Singles, Plus U4200 & Open Doubles. About 180 participants from Canada, WA, OR, CA, AK and other nearby states. UAA Table Tennis Tournament, Feb. 24, 2015. 20 participants competed in the open singles for the Winterfest TT tourney on Tues. Feb. 24th. Help from the AKTTC members, Mike Mann, Mark Weissler and Karl Augestad assured the event went smoothly. An excellent diversity of players from Sweden, Norway, Korea, China, Honduros, Thailand, South and North America. PHOTOS (CLICK HERE) First round grouped a variety of skill levels in match play. With top 2 finalist in the 3 pools advancing to the the A division playoffs. Remainder shifted to B/C pool playoffs. B and C division were combined to one large RR playoff division. Herb Sivitz, 2-1, 2-4 overall Random doubles allowed players with similar combined ratings to offer competitive matches. Everyone played 2-3 matches. Aaron Desmond, 2-1, 2-4 overall Aporn Stein came from Fairbanks to join the action. Her great spirt and sportsmanship was evident in her supportive and coaching between matches. This tournament is a fun and exciting event for participants to get plenty of matches against a wide range of skilled opponants. Each player will receive 6 to 8 matches over the course of the 2 rounds of singles match play. In this double Round Robin (RR) format 4 to 5 players will be placed in a series of RR preliminary pools. With each pool consisting of skilled players from novice to open level. The results will place the first place finishers from each preliminary pool in Group A in the playoffs. And the 2nd place in to Group B, 3rd to Group C, 4th place to Group D and the 5th place finisher to Group E. Thus resulting in similar skill levels matched in close competitive action. Top two finishers will be awarded cash prizes for A & B groups and trophies for C to E groups. This double RR is limited to 25 players. So sign up today. Space is limited. Entry Deadline is Friday Jan. 2nd at 11:59PM and events on Sunday Jan. 4th start at 9:55AM. With practice and check-in from 9AM to 9:45AM. See entry form form lots of additional information. ENTRY FORM HERE Limited to 25 participants, Cash prizes and Trophies. With special drop-in practice session for Sat. Jan. 3rd from 8-11PM. * Alaska Yukon Challenge 2015 in Whitehorse, Yukon Canada, date likely in May 2015. More info soon. Participants and volunteers in the 2014 Alaska Yukon Challenge in FairbanksThe Fairbanks Interior Table Tennis club hosted one of the best tournament in Alaska. A well organized and attend tournament featuring the Alaska Yukon Challenge Team and Singles in Novice and Open divisions. A unique handicap tournament hosted in rotation in Fairbanks, Whitehorse and Anchorage. Next year in 2015 will be Whitehorse. Thanks to sponsor Mega Reporting, Inc. from Whitehorse for the $1000 donation and the Alaska Table Tennis club in Anchorage for the $200 donation. Jerry Smith Spirt of the Game Award: Presented to Chirk Chu. Chirk Chu and Diann Darnall Thanks to all your hard work and volunteer time to make this the best AYC ever! As treasurer and co-tournament director Chirk was in many places and countless hours of work to make this a truley memoriable event. From moving equipment, control desk, accounting and score recording. Chirk sacraficed his play to help make the Alaska Yukon Challenge a truely memorable event. Congratulations. Finals Tie went to Tail Spin 3 matches to 0. Tournament on Fri. 5-9PM & Sat. 9AM-6PM April 4-5, 2014 in Fairbanks. Click the link here for the Results and Daily Miner Newspaper article "Hoover takes 3rd Table Tennis Crown" March Open Tournament Results: March 1, 2014 Open Singles Champion, Kyle Yan compete against Karl Augestad at the AT & T Sports Pavilion. A great gathering on a busy March weekend in Anchorage. With the Iditarod Sled Dog Race starting that morning there was a "woof" in the air on this cold and clear day. With several first time tournament players and Alaska's top rated player in attendance it was sizing up for an howling great tournament. Three of the eight members of the Arctic Winter Games Team Alaska participated. This event was a good preparation event for the international AWG competition set for March 15th - 22nd in Fairbanks, Alaska. In the A/C Doubles participants are paired based on skill level. An A or open level player would be matched up with a C or B level player. This provied the best pairing for nearly all 5 teams. Alaskan juvenile female member Erin Sivitz was paired up with Alaska's top rated player active player, Rendy Tan. Their pairing proved challenging with Erin gaining much experience with Rendy's strong serves and consistant play. Fellow juvenile male members Jimmy Gao and Lian Lincoln were teamed up again like in the February tournament. This time new groupings gave them a much more difficult test in their preparation for the upcoming AWG. Top seeded Karl Augestad and Mark Weissler swept undefeated in several close fough matches. Mark's blocking and upredictable hits along with Karl's top side spin gave early teams a test. Strong play from Jose Martignon and Corbin Sawyer as they fought agressively and matched Gretchen Wehmhoff and Kyle Yan with a 2-3 record. But head-to-head Martignon and Sawywer came out on top with a close 13-15, 11-8, 11-9 victory. Arctic Winter Games juveniles, Lian Lincoln and Jimmy Gao battle in the A/C Doubles. The C singles started the day with some exciting rallies as players competited in a round robin pool. UAA student and new tournament player Zachary John had a great time. Eager to play he has been playing at the UAA Student Union hall on the sole table downstairs. His strong play earned him first in the C singles without losing a game. And a respectable 3rd place in the B singles. Tennis player and past AWG team Alaska Table Tennis coach, Bill Cotton took 2nd with great mid court coverage. That tennis footwork pays off. The B Singles was a tough to seed players going in to the tournament. With several long time player making their appearange against several strong regulars. Mark Weissler's dedicated practice prior to the event proved enough to top the field with a 4-1 record. Tieing top seeded Corbin Sawyer with a matching result. But in their head-to-head matchup, Mark came up victorious with a 11-6, 5-11, 11-4, 11-9 win. 3. Corbin Sawyer First time AKTTC tournament player Zachary John comes up with 1st place in the C Singles. Group shot of the players in the March 2014 tournament. Many participants had little tournament experience and this smaller event was good prep for the Big one in October 2014. * Mon-Thurs. October 6-9, 2014 , Huntsman World Senior Games Huntsman World Senior Games, St. George, UT. Alaskan seniors ages 50+ from Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks and Eagle River comptete for gold, silver and bronze metals. * Fri. & Sat. October 24 & 25, 2014: Alaska Open Table Tennis Tournament,Anchorage, AK. 8-10 Tables. Events: Skill Singles (Open, A, B, C), Doubles (Open & B/C), Women's Singles, Open Hardbat and Seniors 40 & over. * Sat. & Sun. Nov. 1 & 2, 2014 Pac Rim Tournament, Portland, Oregon. Tuwalitin Rec. Center. 20+ divisions, Trophies & Cash prizes. Top Canadian and players from WA, CA, OR and Alaska attend. * Fri.-Sun. Nov. 28-31, 2014 North American Team Championships, Washington, DC (Formerly in Baltimore & Detroit) Teams of 3-5 players in various skill divisions based on ratings. Americans best team tournament and one of the largest team tournaments in the world! The Alaskan Assassins have competed several years dating back to 1989. Alaskan Andy Hutzel is in Washington DC for the Andy at Westchester TT club in upstate New York, Nov. 2013 North American Teams over the Thanksgiving weekend Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2013. Learn more about North America Table Tennis and the NA Teams (Click Here) Full Tournamernt schedule for 2014 coming soon. A 3 day team tournament that several Alaskan players have participated in since 1989. Andy is on a 4 person team called the "Westchester Barbarians" in division 8. A team sponsored by our recent guest to Alaska, Will Shortz owner of the Westchester Table Tennis Club in upstate New York. Alaska's Team "The Alaskan Assassins" best result was 2nd place, division 7 in 2006 with teammembers Hathaim Salman, Jorg Heger, Andy Hutzel and Karl Augestad. Sat. October 19, 2013 Open and B/C doubles started out the day and juniors battled on the backcourts. 10 Adult and Junior divisions in Singles & Doubles. Cash prizes for Open Championship Singles & Doubles. Trophies for Women's Singles, B/C doubles, juniors, juveniles and A, B & C skill division singles. ENTRY FORM HERE here at AKTTC website. Call Karl Augestad for more info: 907-360-4276 or email: [email protected]. Jane Parrish and Carol Johnson of Fairbanks battled it out in the 65-69 Division with Jane taking the Silver Medal and Carol the Bronze Medal. Yoko Wilcox of Englewood, Co took the Gold. Jane and Carol teamed up to take the Gold Medal in the Women’s Doubles 65-69 Division. Johnson partnered with Bob Janes of Juneau to ease out the Bronze Medal in the 65-69 Mixed Doubles. Over Jane and Jamo Parrish who finished fourth. Diann Darnall of Fairbanks took the Silver Medal in the Women’s Singles 60-64 Division. Yali Carpenter of Peoria, AZ took the Gold. In Women’s Doubles 60-64 Darnall partnered with Carpenter to take the Gold. In Mixed Doubles 60-64, Darnall partnered with Tim McLeod of Juneau to finish with a Bronze Medal. The Gold Medal went to Dennis Keppen of Sun City AZ and Yali Carpenter of Peoria, AZ. The team of Ray Mack of Rochester, NY and Carolyn Adams of Dunedin, Fl took the Silver. Diann Darnall won six straight matches to make it to the finals in the Rated Singles 1400-1599. Darnall finished with the silver in a 3-2 game match with Allan Ferrenberg of Reno, NV. Tim McLeod of Juneau took the Bronze Medal in the Rated Singles 1200-1399. The Alaskans warmed up for the Huntsman Games by participating in the Nevada Senior Games Table Tennis Tournament. Jane Parrish took the Gold in Women’s Singles 65-69 Division. Jane teamed up with Carol Johnson to take the Gold in Women’s Doubles. Jane and Jamo Parrish took the Bronze in the Mixed Doubles 65-69 Division. Diann Darnall took the Silver Medal in Women’s Singles 60-65 Division behind her doubles partner Yali Carpenter. Darnall and Carpenter took the Gold in Women’s Doubles. Darnall and Dave DeMay of Eagle River took the Gold Medal in the Mixed Doubles 55-59 Division. Carol Johnson was delighted with her first Table Tennis Tournaments out-side of Alaska. She enjoyed meeting new friends, improving her skills, and inviting athletes to come to Fairbanks for the 2014 Alaska International Senior Games next August. The Huntsman World Senior Games hosts over 10,000 athletes 50+ for a two-week period in October each year. Participants compete in 27 athletic events and come from Japan to Sweden and from Alaska to Australia, where peace among nations is fostered through friendly competition. For more information of the Huntsman World Senior Games go to www.seniorgames.net. To find out more about the Alaska International Senior Games go to www.Alaskaisg.org. Anchorage Park Foundation 1st Annual Ping Pong Tournament Finals featured Karl Augestad vs. local tennis pro/coach, Aaron Haines. Thanks to the Anchorage Park Foundation for hosting the first annual Minnesota Park Outdoor Ping Pong Tournament on Monday August 19, 2013. Held to celebrate the new concrete ping pong table at (you guessed it) Minnesota Park on (you guessed it) Minnesota Drive. In a "Final Four" type bracket 32 players braved the elements to play not only against their opponent, but also against Mother Nature. RAIN! Yes it was wet but fun. Several substitutes filled for no-show players. Plenty of players showed up to fill the wet shoes. Including Paul Elliott from the AKTTC. The first round of matches took just over an hour with a single game to 11 point, serving rotation every 2 points and swapping sides at the first to 5 points. Alaska Table Tennis club members, Paul Elliott, Mark Weissler and Karl Augestad made the Elite 8 in the competition. Activates starts Friday May 10th at 4PM, See Schedule on ENTRY FORM. Action will begin with Novice Singles at 5PM & Open Singles at 5:30PM. Finals later that evening. Saturday May 11th doors open at 9AM & Teams event start at 9:30AM. Unique handicap rating score system allows all participants a great opportunity against various skill level matchups. Teams from Whitehorse Yukon Canada, Fairbanks, Soldotna, Homer, Anchorage and hopefully Juneau will compete for the coveted Birch Wood Bowl Trophy. Novice Singles for U1000 USATT rated and Open Singles for Over 1000 USATT rating. 2012 Open Team winners Canadians Kevin Murphy and Ryan Bachli. See 2012 AK Yukon Challenge results and article lower on THIS Tournaments Page. Volunteers needed for scorekeeping, control desk and runners. Spectators welcome. Entry information soon. Contact Karl Augestad at: [email protected] or cell (907)360-4276. Anchorage Open Table Tennis Tournament March 16, 2013 Jose Marginon attacks vs. Mark Weisser & Philip Pugnay. Jose's partner Chao Vang outside frame left. Timing applies to multiple aspects of the sport of table tennis when competing in a tournament. Arriving on time, warming up in a timely manner, contact with the ball in the precise spot and taking your time when rallying in a match. The sport is fast and your timing is important. Practice, preparation and patience helps address the timing these aspects. Chidi, Show me the money! First in Singles & Doubles. PDF entry form (CLICK HERE). Contact Karl Augestad for more information & questions: (907)360-4276 & [email protected]. All ages and skills welcome, 18 trophies and $190 in cash prizes in singles & doubles. Alan Hoover takes third table tennis crown. The USATT National Tournament held December 18-22 in Las Vegas Nevada hosted 790 athletes from throughout the country in over 60 Table Tennis events. Fairbanks Interior Table Tennis (FITT) member, Dave DeMay, lead Team Alaska at the 5 day competition. DeMay is bringing home the Gold Medal and the1500 Hardbat Championship Trophy back to Alaska. Dave's first match was against the No. 1 seeded Albert Blatt from Florida. After losing the first game 21-15, Dave rallied and won the next two close games and the match. Dave moved into the Semi-final Round and faced two-time National Champion Tim Wright from Arizona. After dropping the first game 21-11, and trailing 8-2 and 13-6, Dave found Tim's weakness and began to catch up. Behind 19-16, Dave used a combination of spinny serves and solid defense to tie the game at 20-20 and take the win at 22-20. Dave's defense was rock solid again in the third game, varying the spins on his chops and serves taking the final game of the match at 21-9. In the finals, Dave faced Roger Keely of California and won a close first game at 21-18. Roger came back with a strong backhand kill shot and won the second game 21-14. The third game was a close defensive battle all the way until 18-18 when Dave dominated the next three points for the championship. DeMay also won his round robins in the rating classes of 1800, 1700, 1600, and advanced to the quarter finals in the 1600 Seniors. Other FITT members of Team Alaska playing in the National Tournament were Jane Parrish, Jamo Parrish, and Diann Darnall. Diann's strongest finish was in the 1400 rating class making it to the round of eights. A dozen of UAA students signed up for the regular semester event held at the Student Union Hall on Nov. 29, 2012. A mixture of students competed at the campus kThe Alaska Table Tennis Club donated use of 3 premium Butterfly TT tables, net sets, barriers and score boards and tables. Help from 5 time UAA TTT champion Kyle Yan and top rated AKTTC member and Mark Weissler of the AKTTC club in organizing the round robin and final divisions. 50-54 Men's Singles Bronze medal: Karl Augestad (Anchorage). An international field of players participated in the Alaskan Women Singles 3rd place Kris Abegge, Champion Mary Nomoni and Finalist April Ward Alaska Open Tournament on Sat. Sept. 29, 2012 at the AT & T Sports Pavilion in Anchorage, Alaska. A full lineup of events in singles & doubles. Twenty Two players were allowed to enter up to 2 singles events and one doubles. Saturday, September 29, 2012. A strong field of players participated in the first state open tournament in nearly 3 years. 22 players competed in 7 events in Open Doubles, Open Singles, B Singles, C Singles, Juniors 17 & under, Seniors 50 & over and Woman's singles. Alex Hoffman and Chidi Nwokorie Finals action. Close 5 game match. Tues. August 7, 2012 from 6-10PM at the AT & T Sports Pavilion. Open to members of the various Korean Community Churchs in Singles, Doubles, Women's Singles and Overall Team Events. Spectators Welcome. Diann Darnall (president) (907)479-5421 AISG Phone: (907)-978-2388 April-Sept. See Photos from the 2008 Alaska International Senior Games in Fairbanks. The Alaskan Assassins battled against a strong field of players in Haitham Salman on the attack Rockford, IL over Memorial Day. Team members: Haitham Salman 47, Andy Hutzel 64 and Karl Augestad 52 faced players from 9 years to 70 years old in the Robo-Pong & Killerspin sponsored event benefiting the Rockford Boy's & Girl's club. A well organized event held at the Clock Tower Resort Tennis Facility with 32 Killerspin tables spread over 8 indoor tennis hard courts. Great lighting and space yet the humidity was unbelievable. Industrial Air Conditioning piped in to the facility Althought they provided an industrial supplemental air conditioning system piped in to the venue many of us were constantly toweling off. The format of this team event is like the North American Team Championships held in Baltimore during Thanksgiving. Teams consist of 3 to 5 players in various divisions based on the top 3 players combined USATT Rating. With 36 teams there were 4 divisions of 9 teams. When competing against another team each team must choose 3 teammates to face the other team. Karl taking on Dr David Feerst from "East Meets West" In a round robin pool each team plays another in what is referred as a "TIE". Thus over 2 days we played all 8 opponents with one bye round. All singles matches these "ties" becomes a race to 5 wins out of the possible 9 matches. With only 3 members the Alaskans played in every round through out the tournament. Yet a 4 or 5 person team can rotate players for each of their "ties"allowing them to pick the 3 teammate to face off against each team. A specially designed ABC vs. XYZ match card presents a bit of a strategy. A coin toss chooses the winning captain to fill their choice of side in the roster. Then blindly the opposing team captain fills out the opposite side with their roster then reveal the head-to-head pairings. We chose to remain consist an by issuing Haitham the opportunity to play all of his matches first then allowing Andy & myself to pull out a pair of wins "assuming" out strongest player would handle his opponents. The Alaskans were grouped in the lowest spot in the B division for the 2 round preliminary cross-overmatches starting at 9AM Saturday morning. Karl, Haitham and Andy With 9 in a division and seeded bottom of the B group we issued a bye in the first round not facing an A division team. But at 11AM we were paired against the top seeded C team. The umpire wanted us to start on the first set of tables after our opponant finished their early match up. Facing a bye in the first round may have been costly as the "Four Horsemen" chose their top 3 stallions against a cold Alaskan trio. Haitham started out strong and played up to his top rating. Karl and Andy were faced with pulling out a couple of wins against a divers team of experienced players. Karl played streaky with mentally challenged battles. Struggling in close match ups needing only one win to advance. Close yet came up but only won one match and lost 2. Andy faced players most above his rating but he relied in is crafty hardbat play to offer a diverse matchup. He was blanked 0-3. Thus the team match up was 4-5. With the loss of the preliminary crossover matchup the AK Assassins were banished to the C division and were seeded 1st in a strong field of 9 teams. Right out of the gate on Saturday morning the Alaskans faced the "The White Eagles". Although they were seeded 9th at the bottom of the division, they came to play and send their strongest players at the Alaskans. Which included an UnRated player, with a huge backhand loop drive. A very unpredictable component that proved to one of the differences in the matchup. Again battling all 9 matches for nearly 2 hours. The Alaskans managed to comeback from down 4-2 to tie up at 4-4. Haitham held his own and swept 3-0 and Andy was 2-1 with a big win in the 8th matchup after coming back from 0-2 deficit. But Karl struggled in the 9th as he was up 2 games to zero. And then the "Mental" aspect of the sport came in to play. Feeling the pressure and playing conservatively relying on the opponents errors and a tentative backhand. Overall the Alaskan Assassins ended up 5-4 in team match play in the prelims and playoff round robin pool. Team Schnitzel won the C division with powerfull pressure and consistent play from Rajeev Sharma, Nicole Schmid and 9 year old fenom Michael Tran. The 5th Annual Alaska Yukon Challenge took place in Whitehorse on May 11 & 12th 2012 with three Fairbanks players making the journey to represent Alaska in three international events: the Random Doubles, Open Team, and Open Singles. All three events are run on the handicapped system, which is based having the higher rated player start with a -1 point for every 50 points difference in the players rating. On Friday evening, Stefan Krist, an UAF student from Austria, drew Ryan Bachli from the Yukon in the Random Doubles and finished 2nd. Diann Darnall, also from Fairbanks drew Canadian, Taras Yurkiv and finished in 4th place. Rick Robertson, from Fairbanks, finished 5th with his partner Kyle Gonder. The main event was the Open Team. Teams play a Tie, which is a doubles match and two singles matches. The Team winning two of the matches wins the Tie. The top two teams in each of the round robin groups moved on to the semi-finals. The Alaskan Team of Rick Robertson and Stefan Krist finished second in “Group A”. The International Team of Diann Darnall, of Fairbanks, and Myrna Bruns, swept “Group B” to move on. Both these teams met in the semi-finals, with Robertson & Krist sweeping all the matches sending them to the finals. Meanwhile, the Canadians battled it out to see who would meet Robertson & Krist in the Finals. The highest rated team of Kevin Murphy and Ryan Bachli won the Tie over Mernoush Mahdvi and Kyle Gonder. Murphy and Bachli were also victorious in a tight battle over Robertson and Krist to take the coveted titled in the Open Teams. Robetson and Krist finished 2nd. After losing the doubles match, Darnall and Bruns pulled out a stunning wins in each of the singles matches over Mahdvi and Gonder to capture third place. In the Open Singles the Canadians went one, two, three. Kevin Murphy, defeated Ryan Bachli for first place, and Mehrnoush Mahdavi capturing third over Stefan Krist. The Jerry Smith Spirit of the Game Award was awarded to Dave Stockdale of Whitehorse, Yukon. This Award started in 2009 is given in the memory of former Fairbanks Table Tennis Player, Jerry Smith. The Award recognizes players for Sportmanship, Fair Play, and Love of the Game. For more information on this award or to find out about Table Tennis in Fairbanks, check out www.fitt_club.net. The 2013 Alaska Yukon Challenge is scheduled to be held in Anchorage next spring. "The Alaskan Assissins" team consisting of: Andy Hutzel, Haitham Salman and Karl Augestad will be participating in the America's Team Championships Memorial Day weekend in Rockford, IL. This Alaskan team 2nd Place in division 7 up in 2006 in the North American Teams in Baltimore, Maryland. USATT Sanctioned tournaments require current memberhip to participate. Fees $25-$49 for one year membership. See USATT MEMBERSHIP for more details. For New or Renewal membershp help the Alaska Table Tennis by a small compensation by joining at an Alaska sponsored tournament. So help out the group. Membership benifits include: Players receive national rating based on results from competition, Table Tennis magizine subscription, entry to sanctioned tournaments through out the US, Decal, membership card . Join USATT at registration for each event or sign up at USATT.ORG Alaskans who sign up at the events contribute a small fee to Alaska Table Tennis courtousy of USATT. 2012 Alaska Hardbat Championships RESULTS Alan Hoover, 2 time Alaska Open HardBat ChampionAlan Hoover defended his title at the FITT Club hardbat tournament in Fairbanks, Alaska March 30-31, 2012. Various divisions in singles and doubles. Hardbat play in utilizing the classic scoring of games to 21 points best 2 of 3 games. Utilizing pimpled rubber rackets with rallies lasting longer, more chopping and flat pick hitting shots. Exciting action. Check out the great results and article at the FITT website. See detailed article here. Flash back UAA Tournament 2008 ! Arctic Winter Games 2012 Flashback Arctic Winter Games Table Tennis... 1970'sResults from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The Alaskan Table Tennis Team traveled by charter coach buses from Anchorage & Fairbanks. Team Alaska coaches were: Bill Cotton and Gretchen Wehmhoff. Need some more PHOTOS from the AWG Table Tennis. Jan. 24, 2012 UAA Singles Tournament Results: 16 students participated in the Winter Semester tournament at the UAA Student Union Hall. Four pools of 4 players competed in a round robin preliminary group on 4 tables. With the top 2 players in each pool advancing to a single elimination playoff. Next UAA tournament proposed in March 2012. Sponsored UAA Table Tennis club & the Student Union Info Desk. Two Butterfy tables & tournament equipment provided by Alaska Table Tennis. Juvenile Females: Zoe, Erin & EmilyeA fun and exciting day of Tryout featuring the Arctic Winter Games Team Alaska Tryouts. 17 junior & juvenile male and females participated to capture the 8 spots representing Alaska in March 4-10, 2012 in Whitehorse Yukon, Canada. Players from Homer, Fairbanks, Juneau, Wasilla, Eagle River and Anchorage. Team Alaska Table Tennis coaches Bill Cotton and Gretchen Whemhoff provided information on the tryout process. Outlined expectations and experiences of what the athletes chosen would have on their international adventure. Wed. Nov. 9, 2011 from 2PM to 6PM, Student Union cafeteria just outside the Subway Sandwich in the large open area. 4 TT tables, Round Robin prelims and single elimination playoffs. 3. Slava Teodorovich/ RomanBylkow Doubles winners: Jake and Jamie20 players participated in the UAA Fall Table Tennis tournament held at the Student Union Hall. A wide range of players came out for the fall event with 4 tables in a well lit and spacious area in the Student Union hall. Food and drinks for the players provided by UAA Student Union Info Desk. Organized by the UAA Table Tennis Club and Student Union Info Desk. Tournament director was Mike Mann. Assistant from the Anchorage Table Tennis Club for the use of the Butterfly tables, nets, scoreboards and barriers. Look for another Singles tournament held later this semester. Entry Deadline: Monday Nov. 8, 2011. As of Monday morning 16 players have entered. Open to current UAA Students, Singles & Doubles events. Prizes and awards. Sponsored by the UAA Table Tennis Club with help from the Anchorage Table Tennis club.

2019-04-25T14:57:56Z

http://akttc.squarespace.com/tournaments/

Simulcast Journal Club is a monthly series inspired by the ALiEM MEdIC Series. It aims to encourage simulation educators to explore and learn from publications on healthcare simulation. Each month we will publish a case and link a paper with associated questions for discussion. We will moderate and summarise the discussion at the end of the month, including exploring the opinions of experts from the field. Cath was sitting enthralled in the SIM control room watching a heated argument occurring through the glass in front of her. All told it had been a fairly tumultuous sim with the team making a number of surprising decisions. Despite the critical hypotension and positive FAST scan, the group had elected to take the patient to CT to find the source of his intra-abdominal bleeding. The airway doctor Dale had also nearly come to blows with the drugs nurse Madge. With her priorities arranged, Cath rushed to the debriefing room to catch the participants as they walked out. “So,” she said, “How did that feel?”. As passionate instructors we often have strong opinions on what our learners ‘Need to Know’. Simulation participants, on the other hand, may have an entirely different set of learning objectives that they have identified while being in the scenario. In this month’s article from Simulation in Healthcare, Cheng et al explore the continuum of teaching styles between ‘Learner Centred Debriefing’ and ‘Instructor Centred Debriefing’. In doing so they advocate for a more Learner Centred approach to debriefing, while still acknowledging that there are benefits to an Instructor Centred approach in certain circumstances. Please comment below on your thoughts and reflections on the article. Where do you think you sit on the continuum between Learner and Instructor Centered Debriefing? Has reading this article changed your stance? Do you find it challenging to relinquish control of the learning objectives to your learners? Conversely, it may be difficult for some Learners to share responsibility for the debriefing outcomes! What strategies have you found useful to assist you in collaborating with your learners in the Simulation setting? As clinicians, it can be hard to learn to critique an educational paper like this. What are your thoughts about the structure and methods of this article? The article is well worth reading and outlines some really useful strategies and pointers to reflect on where you sit and where you want to sit. The continuum of leaner centred vs instructor centred is an interesting one, and like all good questions it is probably best answered with the phrase “it depends on…”. I can certainly identify with many of the strategies outlined for maintaining learner centred debriefing. I often find myself with one group over 3 months, or alternatively one group intensively over 3 days of a course. A transition occurs from mid zone to higher learner centred over the course of time. By the end of a 3 day debriefing this course of high end specialists this can be very apparent. “What do you want to talk about?” or “Is there anything you want to see on the video?”. Sit back and stay silent. The art of course is finding the balance between one individual in the group with a strong agenda not in line with the main group. Not sure if the article really addressed this. I loved the fact that the authors did address the timing aspect of debriefing because this is a major influence of topic shifting, closing and pacing, especially any centre running two streams that cross. It would almost be an article in itself. So much of what you convey about giving up control necessitates skills in body language, tone etc. There is no point saying that you are sharing control if the first time someone disagrees with you your body language shows annoyance. Again that balance relies on knowing and understanding the knowledge gradient between you and the particular group, and working out whether they are after your expertise or exploring their own. Sometimes you are the expert, and the learners want your knowledge. ” I am an adult learner and I’m telling you I want you to tell me the bloody answer”. As I said at the start. It depends…. Keep up the good work. Thanks. Hope this helps. Thanks so much for your thoughts Ian, and thanks for being first responder! I agree that our learners are also on their own journey, and their abilities to identify and advocate for their own learning objectives will improve with experience. In contrast to your debriefing experience, I often work with a random group of learners who may never work together again, and sometimes with junior learners such as med students and junior doctors, I feel like maybe they are at more of a stage of pre-contemplation with their learning, and they don’t have the maturity to necessarily reflect appropriately on what they need to learn. It must be really satisfying to watch a long term group of learners transition ownership of their debriefing and reflection over a period of time. Thanks. I am indeed fortunate and yes, it is satisfying. I suggest you try it on your more junior group too. Seems to work but with tweaks. They do know their knowledge gasps and are often very open about them. Others thoughts please? Also VB described this article as contentious. Why? Hi Ian, I’ll let Vic speak for herself but I think for me I feel like sometimes the Learner Centered model is overly esteemed as the ‘ultimate’ in education in academic circles and certainly from a clinical standpoint, a lot of junior learners come with significant blind spots that they are completely unaware of. If I’m teaching a bunch of med students or adult emergency trainees about a paediatric emergency, there will be times where I’ve had to temporarily pause debriefing all together and move to a didactic model because the group is so uncomfortable and uncertain that they can’t work themselves through the clinical problem. This article takes a pro learner centered stance although it graciously acknowledges many of the benefits of didactic or instructor centred teaching as well. At the same time, when I read terms like ‘Sage on the Stage’ vs ‘Guide on the Side’ I certainly interpret (rightly or wrongly) an implication that the ‘Sage on the Stage’ is a slight object of derision or mockery. The terms may well have just been chosen because they’re catchy, rhyme and give a good idea of the concepts at hand, but I’ve learned a lot from instructor centered debriefing and teaching and I think in the junior learner who needs a baseline level of knowledge to begin reflecting upon, it can be very useful. I think as a clinical educator time pressure and lack of resources are also frequent demons to battle against, and maximising the team hitting their learning objectives for a specific simulation requires a less open ended approach. One of the tables also discusses cultural differences in debriefing, which I’d be interest in others’ perspectives on. My discussion with one educator from Hong Kong is that a lot of Asian learners will struggle with moving to a learner centred approach, being much more culturally comfortable being told ‘what the did wrong and right’. In summary, Learner Centred Debriefing appears to be a wonderful learning utopia, but I’m not sure it’s always actually achievable or appropriate to veer entirely to that side of the continuum. It takes a certain level of skill and knowledge to prepare a simulation, understand the events that are intended to take place, and to be ready to provide further information based on the plan. This level of skill can be quite significant, and this ‘baseline performance’ quite challenging to achieve. It takes a greater level of skill and knowledge to respond effectively to questions and concerns that are not part of the plan, for two reasons: the understanding of the simulation content needs to be wider and deeper (to cope with the various contingencies that may arise), and a parallel skillset (managing a learner-centred debriefing session) is also required. It’s not hard to think of someone who is a master of the subject matter being ‘pulled off course’ because a learner asks a question about a fascinating tangent, and then doesn’t leave enough time to attend to information that would have a bigger impact on performance outcomes. It’s also not hard to think of someone who doesn’t have a strong understanding of the subject matter, and is only able to address the content that is in the plan. Neither of these hypothetical instructors will perform well when attempting learner-centred debriefing. If, as a learner, I have a burning question that I’m desperate to have answered, then I may have difficulty attending to anything that doesn’t obviously address my question. If my question can be addressed in a satisfying way, then I become more receptive to taking in other information. Also, learners have an intuitive understanding that learner-centred debriefing requires a greater breadth and depth of skills; establishing the instructor as someone who has that breadth and depth enhances their authority and credibility. The paper includes the following statement in the ‘learner-centred’ column: “Instructor facilitates… allowing students to make their own meaning out of it.” In my view, this is flawed in a subtle but meaningful way. In general, a person who is equipped to establish the meaning of an event is equipped to be the instructor. Therefore, in an environment where the instructor is worthy of the title, they have a responsibility to ensure that students arrive at meanings which promote professional development. Failure to properly construct meaning is one of the leading causes of dysfunction in organizations – a well-intentioned but naive meaning for an event (eg “I need to work harder”) can undermine professional performance, while a more enlightened meaning can incorporate the instructor’s hard-earned wisdom. I’d much rather say that the instructor “Assists students to create meanings that promote their professional development.” The work of creating the meaning is a valuable skill in itself, and debriefing provides an opportunity for learners to practice that skill. However, it’s a skill that is most relevant to those who work unsupervised, or who supervise others; therefore, it’s unlikely to be worth a significant time investment outside of a leadership development curriculum. Do you find it challenging to relinquish control of the learning objectives to your learner? I think that, with all things, balance is required. For example, in this scenario the instructor seems worried about being able to fit in time to discuss the trauma-respond that the learner seems to be prioritizing. However, I’ll note that in this case (and in many similar ones), I do not find that the item the learner is most interested in addressing will be time consuming to discuss. The learner’s questions regarding the trauma respond are fairly direct and if brought up in a learner-center style could (ironically?) be addressed with a very instructor-centered response (telling him how the trauma respond works). As that seems to be his main concern, I suspect that he will not mind if this issue isn’t delved into deeper by inquiring about why he didn’t activate the trauma. I also think that, if given the floor, the learners will actually identify the issues that the facilitator has also prioritized. Conversely, it may be difficult for some learners to share responsibility for debriefing outcomes! What strategies have you found useful to assist you in collaborating with your learners in the Simulation setting? As outlined above, I don’t think learner- and instructor- centered strategies are mutually exclusive. Advocacy-Inquiry is a debriefing technique that I think can allow the instructor to influence the true priorities of the learner. What are your thoughts about the structure and methods of this article? I believe the methods are mostly described in a single sentence: “The article is a critical reflection, review of the literature, and synthesis of discussions.” From one perspective, that could certainly be held against the article as it is unclear what specific search methodology and type of qualitative analysis went into building the article. However, I think the article was clear with its 5 objectives and they were each addressable in this commentary style. As a result, I do not think this article provided proof about anything. It did, however, provide a compelling background and argument that I suspect will inspire research protocols in the future. Thanks for joining in Brent, and thanks to others for interesting comments. I do think the article is contentious! For me the archetypes are laid out with a clear favourite by the authors- the LCT. The ‘critical reflection, literature review’has resulted in a fairly selective presentation of the evils of ICT 🙂 versus a superior LCT approach. That said, of course i agree that approaches that ‘nurture active meaning makers’are ideal. I just think that can still be achieved by a decent level of ínstructor control, direction and structure. (and if i am honest i think the authors mean that too) The comments and tables related to balance were the strength of the article for me. There are risks of LCT approaches – many along the lines of learners not knowing what they don’t know….and learners and instructors being influenced by what learners like, which may or may not be what’s most effective for their learning. So – as usual in debriefing – context is everything, and having the awareness and conversational skills to be able to match our methods to the situation is reinforced by this paper. This has been an incredibly timely and helpful discussion to read as our Sydney HEMS Induction Course Faculty has been agonising over optimal debriefing styles these last few days!! Thanks Cliff. Knowing the pace at which Clare’s mind works, I am guessing she has coming up with four or five potential options. Have you come to a collective stance on what is optimal for your setting? Induction/orientation is a tricky time for education – I tend to think of most scenarios as having dual intended learning outcomes – those for the participants (educational and constructive); and those for the facilitators/organisation (evaluative/diagnostic). In my opinion the debrief moves somewhat between completely learner-centred and completely instructor-centred depending on the weighting/criticality of the intended learning outcomes. Maybe a gross over-simplification, but a way for me to have my own mental model. I am learning so much from the responses to this Journal Club. Great work by Ben Symon to take this from email list to open blog format. We haven’t found the right balance yet but the point on the learner-instructor orientation spectrum needs to vary according to the phase of the induction, the experience of the participants, the learning objectives of the scenario, and the performance of the team. It’s further complicated by the fact that a single team is composed often of a total prehospital novice with a lifelong prehospital expert, and if they’ve both demonstrated learning needs we need to find the best way to debrief quickly and provide it in a very short time frame. We have deliberately opted for more sim time at the expense of debrief time, anathema to expert doctrine, but we want the novices to get hands on in an immersive setting as much as possible. Hence the agonising. This is currently the most painful and difficult part of an otherwise very painful and difficult but amazing course to be part of. I am learning a great deal from the comments of all. Thank you. Balance, and “all things in moderation” seems a consistent theme. Ideally we would have a mastery of a variety of techniques and be able to use the one most appropriate at the time, flexing across the continuum of lCT vs LCT to suit. Cliff, that’s an interesting and challenging set of debriefing construct requirements you have come up with. I look forward to hearing your solution because you face the same set of challenges we are grappling with at a reconstruct of ACME (Advanced and Complex Medical Emergencies) so we will probably have an overlap of solutions. What sort of time do you have in mind to debrief a complex scenario? How much consistency do you want between the style of individual debriefings and how much will it change between start and end of the course or between individual facilitators? We often evolve over the course but there is a variety of techniques being used which has its strengths too in that the participant’s get a exposed to a variety of style (although hopefully not of quality). To what extent (if any) do you want the participants to understand the debriefing techniques being used so that they might be able to use them later in your stressful pre-hospital setting where I assume they might want tools to run their own debriefing? In which case +/delta works for many of your objectives, certainly speed, and higher end learners can drive the process allowing your pre-hospital experts to shine, especially towards the end of your course after “meatier” debriefs have been used. Anyway good luck and please let us know what you come up with. I don’t have well thought out answers at this stage but you have given us more food for thought. Would love to hear more about the ACME process. It’s an ACEM sponsored/owned 3 day course high fidelity Sim in ED environment with focus on human factors, complexities of ED environment, CRM as well as procedures. Participants ED physicians, final year registrars and senior emergency doctors. Mainly run at St V Melbourne, Auckland and Waikato Centres. Is ripe for the picking for you to come and observe/assist and help us redesign! Next one Melbourne Dec 7-9. All the same challenges as you are describing hence my interest in your dilemma and solutions. Brilliant fun to be part of faculty as we always learn heaps. My point about teaching high end participants some debriefing knowledge and making a structure overt at some stage (I choose +/delta for this part) is that we are exposing this very senior group to repeat exposures of debriefing often for the first time- potentially a useful experience triggering reflection on if/how they do it after an event themselves. It also engages the expert who might switch off from the “doing” but reengages with the “teaching/caring” side. Seems to work, strong feedback at lunch time chats. If you want to discuss and pass on your ideas give me a call through St Vincent’s switchboard. Would love to hear. This novel method utilizes direct feedback and prioritizes opportunities for learners to “try again” over lengthy debriefing. Would seem suited to some of what i understand of your context? I think it’s very difficult to address the learning needs of experts when there are novices present. Feedback relevant to an expert’s performance can be counter-productive if attempted by a novice. To some extent, there’s an amount of value in modelling ‘how to help novices improve’, but that’s tricky as well, because ‘having concerns about novices’ is a tricky topic to raise in front of novices. Part of the work I’m doing is investigating ways to separate technical training & practice (how to perform a procedure) from contextual training & practice (how to talk about a procedure). Our initial work has focussed on juniors and residents in an emergency department – we’ve found a way to put the simulation focus onto coping skills and communication strategies. This has been successful enough that we’re now ready to look at the needs of people entering a consultant role. Thanks Ian. Look forward to catching up. Nick- cool stuff. Sounds like really useful training. Vic – funny you should say that… We introduced rapid cycle deliberate practice (based on that paeds paper) in August 2014. Our first round of sims (on day 2 of our course) follows that structure, before we then go into full immersion. I presented something on it at the London Trauma Conference in 2014 in this talk: https://sydneyhems.com/2015/01/16/prehospital-trauma-education/ – I have a bit of a rant about debriefing at the 31’39” mark if anyone’s interested in fast forwarding to there. Thanks for linking your ‘rant’ Cliff, I really enjoyed it and couldn’t agree more with the importance of knowing where your learners are in their journey and adjusting debriefing appropriately. A transition from rapid cycle to advocacy and inquiry over a few days of a course sounds like a great way to follow that journey from skill acquisition to reflective practice. Another educator was discussing this article the other day, and they mentioned the ‘Hidden Curriculum’, which I think is a really interesting point regarding Learned Centered Debriefing. There is this fundamental dichotomy between a well designed Simulation with clearly defined learning objectives, and then asking the learners to come up with their own after participating in the sim. Does this not set up a little bit of subconscious ‘guess what I’m thinking’? If they hit different learning objectives all together, has my course delivered on its aims? Sure they might have learned something, but if it’s not what they paid to learn, am I just providing a platform for reflection about medical practice in general? For example, a Paediatric CRM course I teach on aims to focus on discussing communication during resuscitation. The cases are designed fairly simply in an attempt to minimise a focus on medical management, but invariably a large part of each debrief is devoted to differences of opinion on medical management. At the end of the day, I feel like the course sometimes isn’t hitting its goals as well as it could be. They came to learn about CRM, but they walk away wondering if they should’ve intubated that asthmatic. I’m not sure that’s a job well done, and trending more towards an Instructor Focused Debrief may be needed. Also, thanks for putting up the video – as a trainer, I loved your anecdote about the preschoolers. Know your audience! Ben – Your point about ‘The Hidden Curriculum’ is excellent. Every time an instructor plays the ‘guess what I’m thinking’ game with me, I find myself angry. If you (the instructor) think you know the answer to a question, then I think it’s normally best to give the answer. While facilitated exploring can be useful, excessive reliance on an individual tool (such as facilitated exploring) is always a mistake. You also touch on ‘simulation as a tool for training’ versus ‘simulation as a tool for exploration’. If you have specified learning objectives, you have to know what you’re going to deliver, you have to have a plan for how that’s going to happen, and you have to use the plan to make sure it happens. (This doesn’t always mean ‘follow the plan’.) If your objective is to explore (perhaps in order to identify the most pertinent learning objectives), then a much more learner-centred approach becomes relevant. When it comes to teaching communication, I think that my lack of medical competence really helps me. It is impossible to draw me in to a highly-technical tangent regarding a fascinating medial oddity, because I don’t understand anything beyond a second-year undergraduate level (which is when I dropped out of health science). Micah Endsley reported a similar phenomenon – much of her ability to improve cognitive performance in pilots came from the fact that she couldn’t fly a plane & therefore she had a laser-like focus on cognition. So one option would be ‘bring in a communication expert and make sure they focus on communication’. Alternatively, greater discipline (most sustainably achieved via more structure – ie, yes, instructor-focussed) is what you’ll need. Sorry–this was originially sent by email when I was too clueless to come here! Once again a great article. Thanks! So, I was initially most struck by the idea that while we all might ascribe to being learner-centered, the hidden curriculum may actually tilt much more to instructor-centered. We’re at least really working to try to achieve a balanced approach, largely because of the key issue in the top of Table 2—time. To be completely learner-centered would require more time than we have in our specific program. We do however, as they suggest, really try to use the reaction phase to guide our learner-centered aspects of the debrief. Part of that comes back to discussion from last month’s article and whether or not participants really talk about “feelings” or, we have found, are more likely to identify the content they really want to discuss. We actually jot those down on a board to make it clear that we’re coming back to them. This was in response to feeling like just asking for feelings, but then not immediately addressing the content issues raised, left us all hanging. We then add to that list some ICT items we’d like to cover. One thing that I think promoted LCT during the debrief is to have folks actually look stuff up that they wish they knew during the sim. We don’t have easy access to computers where we do our debrief, but they do have their code and PALS cards and we encourage them during this “activated learning” phase to actually go find the dose of naloxone for example if they are frustrated they couldn’t find it during the scenario. And we’re certainly working hard to get curious and explore learners’ rationale as noted. I think using the “take aways” in the summary phase not only ends in a LCT fashion, but it also helps you as the debriefer to realize if your own take-aways match or not. I always find that a useful piece of feedback to me as an educator. Lastly, one thing that has helped us try to be learner driven during the debrief is knowing that we have a one page “key learning points” and an associated article for each case. These are emailed out to the participants after the sim, in the hopes that they are particularly motivated to read more at that time. It frees the instructor from feeling bound to have to cover topic A, B, C, and to instead focus first on topics the participants raised, then adding any key other parts they observed and perhaps not covering everything. As I say many times in many setting, moderation is the key to many things in life. So it is, I think with the balance between LCT and ICT. I appreciate the reminder that even when we feel balanced, we’re likely tipping toward ICT and that mindful tipping the other way is most likely to keep the see-saw balanced. Thanks so much Shannon, I love the idea of capturing the learners ‘acute motivation’ post sim by sending out appropriate learning resources in the week after simulation. Do you get much feedback that they have read it? The article is an excellent article for enhancing debriefers’ skills in conducting effective simulation based education. It clearly delineates the difference between and the advantages of using instructor-centered teaching and learner- centered teaching. The authors listed out three important factors, namely time, knowledge and experience of learners, and national culture, a debriefer should bear in mind in achieving a balance between Learner-Centered Debriefing and Instructor-Centered Debriefing. As a Chinese, I would like to add my opinion on the cultural factor that will affect the integration of Learner- and Instructor-centered debriefing. Generally speaking, in the Chinese culture, we are taught to respect our teachers and revere their teaching. Therefore, we are quite “obedient” in following the teaching designed by our teachers and seldom express our needs, let alone of challenging our teacher to meet our need. Our obedience is nearly absolute when we are fresh and inexperience. Even when there is a clear discrepancy between our learning needs and the teacher designed learning objective, learners will just keep silent to show respect to our teacher. This sort of behavior will jeopardize the flow of the debriefing process and the result of which is a monolog type of teaching from the instructor. But in our heart, we want our teacher respects our learning needs too. First, the establishment of the basic assumption (everyone participating in the simulation is intelligent, capable and is trying to do their best to learn and improve) helps create an environment conducive to learner-centered teaching. The instructor should point out learner should express their needs to more the learning more effective. Second, in the reaction phase of the debriefing, the instructors should verbally acknowledge topics on the learner agenda, this validates these learning needs and further empowers learners to take responsibility for their own learning. Third, the instructor should summarize the learner agenda before transitioning to the analysis phase, instructors assure learners that these topics will be explored, thus engaging the learners in preparing for reflective learning. By doing so, the instructor can demonstrate to his learners that he treasures his learners’ input in the learning process. I think the about ways help learners know that their instructor also respects their learning need. The above techniques might help break down the cultural wall and preventing the debriefing from becoming an instructor’s monolog. I will try them in my next debreifing. Thanks Ben for sharing this interesting article. Thanks for your thoughts MC, I was really fascinated when we originally chatted about the cultural differences in asian cultures and western cultures in debriefing practice. What really struck me by your comments was that you mentioned that culturally your learners take a much more submissive role in the debriefing environment, but that you feel that actually they would very much like to be more engaged. Do you find with regular simulation that your learners open up? Or are the cultural boundaries so strong that this makes your learners uncomfortable and disengage? My response comes from a paramedic lecturer teaching primarily 1st and 2nd year students (but also a bit of 3rd year). I work as an Intensive Care Paramedic for Wellington Free Ambulance and teach at Whitiriea NZ. My feeling is that we slowly move up the continuum from learner to instructor centered as they progress through the degree on a bit of a curve rather than a linear increase. 1st and 2nd year are heavily instructor centered partly because they have very little knowledge but also little context. We also have the complication of using simulation as a key summative assessment for each semester. Therefore as you can imagine there is a significant focus of the students on our opinion! We generally structure a practical/simulation ‘push’ after a few weeks covering relevant theory. The students then take part in 5 very structured sessions with a 6:1 student:tutor ratio. They do one and observe 2 simulations each session. Each simulation has a specific learning objective ranging from a specific treatment pathway, a differential process etc etc so they learn just as much observing the other simulations. While we sometimes use a LCT based on discussion initiated by our students the ICT model dominates. Our 3rd year class is actually run by distance with two block courses per semester. Due to resource constraints scenarios are often actually run by and debriefed by students. Is this the extreme end of LCT if it doesn’t involve an instructor? I’m still unsure of this approach and whether it really is appropriate for pre-employment students. I’m not convinced the LCT approach is the better approach and it really depends on the who the students are and what they are trying to achieve. Cheers Callum, sounds like an impressive program. Do you get feedback on how the 3rd year students feel about running their own scenarios? Thanks to all for your comments, I am currently completing formatting of our summary for the month. Please continue to feel free to comment, however further contributions won’t be included in our pdf summary.

2019-04-26T12:48:08Z

http://simulationpodcast.com/simulcast-journal-club-august-2016-debriefer-knows-best/

A familiar section of parashas Beshalach is Shiras HaYam (the Song of the Sea). These famous verses were sung by the Jewish people after they witnessed the great miracles of the sea splitting and their Egyptian pursuers drowning. Our Sages instituted these verses in our daily tefillah (prayer) of Pesukei DeZimra (verses of singing praise). We refer to Shiras HaYam a second time during morning tefillah, just before we recite the Shemoneh Esreh (the eighteen-blessing, silent prayer). Throughout the generations, rabbinic authorities attested to the special power of Shiras HaYam. Rabbi Eliezer Meizlish lists many potential blessings one may receive by singing Shiras HaYam aloud with joy, one of which is forgiveness of one’s sins. He mentions many other merits, including tikkun (rectification) of one’s body and soul in general, tikkun of one’s thought processes, the merit to see the Mashiach (Messiah) and the merit to sing shirah in Olam HaBa. Rabbi Dov Yaffe also recommends reciting Shiras HaYam with proper intention to earn pardon from transgressions. He writes that, based on the Zohar, joyous recitation of Shiras HaYam aloud replicates the righteous actions of our forefathers standing on the seashore, and opens channels of repentance. As mentioned above, we allude to Shiras HaYam immediately before the Shemoneh Esreh saying, “Moshe uvnei Yisrael lecha anu shirah besimchah rabbah (Moshe and the Children of Israel raised their voices in song to You with great joy).” Not only should Shiras HaYam be said with joy, but it should be said with “simchah rabbah (great joy).” Joy seems to be a defining feature of it. Let us take a journey through sea and song, trying to answer the following questions: First, what is the unique power of Shiras HaYam enabling it to have a potent effect on those who recite it many generations later? Second, why is it so important that it be sung “besimchah rabbah?” Addressing these two questions will enable us to answer a third: Why is the mention of the Shiras HaYam a fitting introduction to Shemoneh Esreh? To approach these questions, we need to – figuratively speaking – leave the “land of make-believe.” Honest introspection reveals, surprisingly enough, that we spend most of our time in this “land.” Meaning, our perceptions of the world are mostly superficial; we often do not grasp the deeper spiritual reality. So let us journey away from that place to the “land of real-believe,” and define different levels of our perception of reality. Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler describes four levels of understanding cause and effect in how this world operates. The lowest level is the belief that there is a specific design built into the natural order of creation. Level-one believers view the laws of nature as just that – laws. For example, a military group that trains extensively to be the strongest army will win in battle. Crops planted in proper environmental conditions and properly tended will grow well. Of course, there are always chances of unforeseeable circumstances. Even the strongest army could be struck by a flu outbreak and a bizarre snowstorm could destroy fields of produce. To prevent those instances, level-one believers will turn to G-d. After all, He controls nature, so they beseech Him constantly and fervently: “Please don’t let me get sick.” “Please don’t let there be a storm today.” “Please don’t make the stock market drop.” Hashem is asked to not to “interfere” with what the laws of nature would dictate. What’s wrong with this picture? Rabbi Dessler describes a person who looks through a small hole in a wall and sees a pen writing on a piece of paper. In his mind, the pen writes on its own. Due to his limited view, he doesn’t see the person sitting at the table, holding the pen in his hand. Level-one believers think that nature operates itself, and G-d merely has the ability to intervene. Praying “please don’t let me get sick,” implies that if Hashem didn’t involve Himself in the person’s life, he would naturally stay well. Please don’t let there be a storm today! Does that mean that if G-d doesn’t interfere, the laws of nature would govern the weather? Please don’t make the stock market drop! Do we rely on the laws of economics and only pray that G-d won’t steer the economy off-course? These are the prayers of level-one believers; they request Hashem not to interrupt the natural, predictable course of events. When a person sees any process as being independent of Hashem, he lives in the “land of make-believe.” Even if he is certain that Hashem could intervene at any time, he still operates under misconceptions. We often create this fantasy land because predictability is reassuring and comforting; human beings need to feel in control of the world. We imagine cause and effect to be natural processes that we can manipulate to get our desired results. If we recognize that Hashem has ultimate control, but still view the process as independent, then we just have to ask Him not to interfere with the process. This false impression, says Rabbi Dessler, has a shade of avodah zarah (idol worship) in it, because it attributes power to something besides Hashem. Level-one believers think human efforts make things happen, independently of Hashem. The next level, Rabbi Dessler explains, is the knowledge that all the events of nature are entirely within Hashem’s control. Level-two believers have a fuller view and see the person writing with the pen. Nothing happens unless G-d wills it to happen. An army wins only because G-d gives strength to the soldiers’ limbs and puts winning strategies in the officers’ minds. Gardens grow because G-d makes the rain fall and causes the sunlight and water to produce the nutrients the seedlings need. While this is a big improvement, level-two believers still have one foot in the “land of make-believe.” Why? They think the world is conducted through a partnership between Hashem and nature. The very statement that “G-d is in complete and direct control of nature” demonstrates a belief that G-d and nature are separate. The very action of identifying a specific subject controlling a direct object, means that one is distinguishing between the subject and object, and seeing them as separate entities. Level-two believers might believe that Hashem ultimately controls nature, but they still distinguish nature as its own force. The pen is identified as an instrument in the hand of the writer. So how do we get to the “land of real-believe?” Let us explore Rabbi Dessler’s third level. Level-three believers understand that the laws of nature are neither independent of G-d nor simply in G-d’s direct control, but instead a direct manifestation of G-d Himself. This perspective is much closer to reality. We say in our daily tefillos that “Hashem Echad (G-d is One)” and “ein od (there is none other).” These phrases do not simply mean that Hashem is the only G-d and there are no other gods. Hashem is One – He is all that exists! Everything that we can perceive (and everything we cannot) stems from the Oneness, the Unity and the Existence of Hashem. Nature may appear independent of G-d, but this is a mere illusion. Hashem manifests Himself in this mysterious way to give us free choice. We may choose to be deluded by the natural world or we may choose to perceive the truth. All world events – from the largest to the smallest – are a manifestation of Hashem’s Oneness. They are just disguised so that we can choose to see the reality. At this level, there is no difference between the natural and the miraculous. Everything is “miraculous,” because everything is a direct manifestation of Hashem. This is a true perception of reality. We mentioned that there are four levels. How can we possibly progress from here? Individuals that internalize that everything is a manifestation of Hashem know that all occurrences result from a spiritual cause. Therefore, the higher level conclusion should be as follows: it is illogical to do human hishtadlus (efforts) to get desired results. If the whole existence of physical hishtadlus is a disguise for reality, why should involvement in a disguise, in hester (concealment), result in positive outcomes? What we consider miracles, the world operating according to the laws of spirituality, should in fact be the most natural. Such was the level of Moshe Rabbeinu, who remained on Har Sinai for forty days without eating or drinking. Why should ingesting tangible food, which is only hester, lead to life? It should lead to death! Refraining from physicality should sustain life! It might seem abstract to us, but Moshe Rabbeinu was on that level. He lived in the “land of real-believe,” never once deceived by the illusions of this natural world. Now equipped with new distinctions between illusory and real worldviews, let us return to Shiras HaYam. Rabbi Simcha Broide recounts the Midrash detailing the fantastic miracles experienced by the Jewish people at Krias HaYam (the splitting of the sea). Not only did the sea split, but it split into twelve paths, one for each of the tribes. In addition, fruit-bearing trees blossomed and fresh water fountains flowed, so that the Jews would enjoy nourishing sustenance while they crossed. Surprisingly, these supernatural occurrences are not mentioned at all in the Shirah. Instead, Bnei Yisrael sang about the more natural events, such as “sus verochvo ramah vayam (a horse and its rider He cast into the sea),” “markevos Paroh vecheilo yarah vayam (the chariots of Pharaoh and his army He threw into the sea),” and “tehomos yechasyumu yardu vimtzolos kemo aven (deep waters covered them, they went down in the depths like a stone).” Through these unsophisticated events, they perceived Hashem’s “exaltedness,” “His right arm,” and exclaimed “Who is like You?” Realistically speaking, these details don’t appear to be the most notable. On the contrary, phenomena that defy the laws of nature usually make the most impressive show. The sea crashing down would obviously drown the Egyptians, who were in its path. Why were Bnei Yisrael so moved by this natural event? Rabbi Broide explains that Shiras HaYam demonstrated the level that Am Yisrael reached at that time. They saw with clarity how nature itself is a manifestation of Hashem, just like miracles. The flashy, supernatural phenomena (as detailed in the Midrash) did not impress them any more than the natural events did. They beheld the natural events with wonder and awe. To them, it was all a miracle. Bnei Yisrael understood the “natural” drowning of their enemies as a direct manifestation of G-d’s Will. They saw Hashem’s Hand and burst into song. The Maharal expounds the Torah’s use of az (then) as the first word of the Shirah. “Az yashir Moshe uVnei Yisrael (then Moshe and the Children of Israel sang).” Az is composed of two letters: aleph – which has the numerical value of one, and zayin – which has the numerical value of seven. The Maharal quotes a Midrash that interprets az as a code word for “echad rochev al shivah (the one that rides on seven).” What does that mean? In Judaism, digits represent much more than their simple numerical value. As clarified by Rabbi Chaim Friedlander, the number six signifies a complete object, which has six sides: top, bottom, right, left, front and back. The number seven, therefore, symbolizes moving beyond a unified whole into many disparate objects. Seven, then, signifies individual parts. The number one is the Only One. It represents the Highest Unity, the all-encompassing Unity of Hashem. The az of Shiras HaYam means that the Divine One “rides on” and dominates the separateness of seven, the seemingly independent natural events. When Hashem turned the sea into dry land, the Jews perceived with clarity that Hashem is the Source of everything and all apparently separate objects are contained within His Unity. The general use of the word az in Hebrew also hints to this unity. The Maharal notes that az can refer to a past or a future event. One could say, “Then I went to the park” as well as “then I will go home.” The word az in its essence refers to a time beyond time, in which there is no distinction between past, present and future. Az is an appropriate word to praise Hashem, whose Unity is beyond time. Rabbi Chaim Friedlander expands on the Maharal’s idea to explain how specifically at Kri’as Yam Suf (the splitting of the Sea) the Jewish people attained clarity of Hashem’s Unity in time. He utilizes a mashal (parable) from Rabbi Dessler to explain the concept of time. Imagine a map with many different cities. In your mind, take a piece of posterboard and cut out a small square from the center. Now place the remaining posterboard over the map. Only one city is visible through the square. If you move the posterboard, you can’t see that city anymore, but you know that it’s still there. So too, the system of time is one of hester. Just like we only see one city, we only experience one point of time at any given moment. Other times exist only in our memory or in our imagination. The past and future are not as vivid as the present, just like the remaining cities are concealed under the posterboard. Rabbi Friedlander explains that Hashem established the system of time to be one of hester to enable us to function as physical beings. If all of the most beautiful, exciting, and joyous moments of our lives were experienced simultaneously, we would be overwhelmed. Likewise, if we were to constantly relive all of our painful and challenging moments all at once, the burden would be too great. Hashem, with great kindness, gave us the gift of chronological order: past, present, and future. We only need to manage the present and the rest is muted by the hester of time. While this hester is necessary for human function, it puts us at a disadvantage by giving us a limited perspective. We perceive events as disconnected from one another. We don’t understand why things happen. Many doubts surface, and we may ask questions about Hashem’s Providence. If we just saw the whole map – the entire past, present, and future – everything would be clear and our uncertainty would dissipate. But the full picture is hidden from us. We therefore experience seemingly separate and unrelated events throughout our lives and judge them emotionally as either bad or good for us. On the other hand, as faithful Jews, we try to intellectually convince ourselves that “it’s all for the best.” The phrase coined for this concept is “gam zu letova (this is also for the good).” The idea is that while we cannot fully understand why bad things happen, we believe that there is a hidden fuller picture. We have faith that Hashem conducts the world for our ultimate good. “Gam zu letova” is illustrated well in the following children’s story. Sometimes stories for children are even more meaningful for the adults, as we will soon see. There was once a man named Feivel. One day he ran into his rabbi’s study and cried, “Rabbi, it’s terrible! My ox died and I can’t plow my field. Isn’t this the worst thing that could possibly happen to me?” “Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t,” the rabbi answered cryptically. Feivel was baffled by the response. That is so silly! Of course this is the worst thing that could happen to me! The next day, Feivel’s luck changed. He ran into the rabbi’s study, joyously exclaiming, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful! Yesterday on my way home, I found a horse! With this horse, I plowed my field twice as fast as I used to with my ox. Isn’t this the best thing that could have happened to me?” “Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t,” answered the rabbi thoughtfully. The reply confused Feivel yet again. That is so silly! Of course this is the best thing that could happen to me! The next day brought new circumstances for Feivel. “Rabbi, it’s terrible! My son fell off my new horse and broke both his legs! The poor boy is is in terrible pain! Isn’t this the worst thing that could happen?” “Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t,” echoed the familiar reply. Feivel again thought, That is so silly! Of course this is the worst thing that could happen to me! The next day the king’s soldiers arrived in Feivel’s village. They forcibly drafted all the boys into the king’s army. Only Feivel’s son was left behind. His two broken legs disqualified him from service. Now Feivel understood the rabbi’s wise responses. Our perspective is limited. Everything Hashem does is part of a larger plan, but we may not understand it at that moment. In this whimsical story, Hashem’s plan is revealed in three days. In our lives, the larger truth might take months, years, or even a lifetime to unfold. At Kri’as Yam Suf, the Jewish people understood the whole Divine plan. The posterboard – the hester – was removed. They viewed a complete timeline and saw clearly how enduring all the years of slavery and suffering was a preparation for the ge’ulah (redemption). Bnei Yisrael now fully appreciated the intricate Divine orchestration of events. Circumstances which had caused them pain were now understood as custom-designed pieces of Hashem’s puzzle. Pharaoh, for example, had repeatedly refused to release Bnei Yisrael, causing them much heartache and doubt. Later this same stubbornness prompted Pharaoh to doggedly pursue the liberated Jews with his army, leading the Egyptians to meet their demise in the sea. This is why Shiras HaYam begins with the word az. Am Yisrael’s new vision was timeless, recognizing the past, present and future as a whole. The Jewish people understood how “echad rochev al shivah”: all the disparate elements of the physical world and time are really controlled by Hashem. It is all a manifestation of Hashem’s Unity, waiting to be revealed. The Jewish people appreciated Hashem’s masterful orchestration of the world and expressed it. Shiras HaYam is when they burst into song to articulate “ein od milvado” – nothing exists but Hashem. Why was song the most appropriate expression for this level of understanding? Rabbi Akiva Tatz comments that the beauty of music is how each individual note contributes to the harmony of the entire piece. Let us apply the analogy of music to what we have learned about hester. The musicians in an orchestra play the notes of their personal sheet music; simply put, they only play their part of the song. They don’t hear how their notes contribute to the piece’s harmony – until the orchestra plays it all together. At Kri’as Yam Suf, the Jewish people caught a glimpse of the conductor’s score, on which every instrumental part is written. They heard everyone playing together and understood how each musician – each individual event – contributed directly to the whole piece, the Master Plan for the world. They heard the harmony of history’s song and, therefore, expressed their heightened awareness of Hashem through song. According to our Sages, from the time that Hashem created the world until the Jews crossed Yam Suf, no one ever sang shirah to Hashem. This statement seems shocking. Can it be that generations of our ancestors passed, including great individuals like our Avos and Immahos (patriarchs and matriarchs), and not one of them sang praises to Hashem? Rabbi Gedalyah Schorr clarifies that the Sages’ statement above does not imply that no one ever sang Hashem’s praises, but rather it shows that the songs preceding Kri’as Yam Suf did not express the essence of true shirah. Rabbi Schorr explains that true shirah demonstrates the Glory of Hashem in the world. Many people had sung shirah to praise Hashem, but they only focused on the positive: the open display of chesed, the miracles, or the salvation from hardship. No one sang about the hardship itself – until Kri’as Yam Suf. The spiritual achievement of Kri’as Yam Suf included appreciating how the suffering was an integral part of Hashem’s goodness. The affliction was also a revelation of His Glory. Shiras HaYam was the essence of shirah – expressing how all the individual notes, even the ones that sound sour when played alone, create beautiful harmony when played together. Our Sages comment on the personification of the sea in the pasuk (verse), “Hayam ra’ah vayanos (the sea saw and fled).” What did the sea see? “Ra’ah arono shel Yosef yoreid layam (it saw the coffin of Yosef coming down to the sea).” The Slonimer Rebbe explains the deep connection between Yosef and Kri’as Yam Suf. Yosef’s paradoxical life was characterized by both luxury and hardship. He began as the family prince, his father’s favorite. This preferential treatment provoked his brothers’ jealousy, and they cast him into a pit. Later they sold him as a slave. Then he was framed by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison. A bizarre turn of events landed him in the comforts of the Egyptian palace. This was quite an emotional roller-coaster ride for Yosef! Every turn along the path of Yosef’s life had been part of Hashem’s design to elevate him through the ranks of Egyptian royalty. Hashem carefully executed His plan to turn Yosef into Pharaoh’s right-hand man, so he could save the entire Jewish people from the famine. The dramatic trials and tribulations of Yosef’s life were a supreme revelation of Hashem’s master plan. This same revelation was present at Kri’as Yam Suf, when the Jewish people in retrospect saw the Hand of Hashem in all the hardships of the Egyptian slavery. Let us now address our initial questions. Why does saying Shiras HaYam specifically “besimchah rabbah” have so many potential segulos (mystical benefits), and why do we introduce our Shemoneh Esreh by mentioning Shiras HaYam? We’ve seen how Shiras HaYam expresses the perspective of absolute clarity that Am Yisrael had during Kri’as Yam Suf. They saw how “one rides on seven” – how all the disparate parts and events in the world are a manifestation of Hashem’s Will. Sins are the result of disconnecting from reality. After all, if we really understood that everything is from Hashem, would we ever go against His Word? Singing Shiras HaYam reconnects us to the reality of Hashem’s world, and our sins can be forgiven, as the Zohar writes. This connection also re-establishes a wholeness of body and soul. All physical events are really a manifestation of the spiritual – the world of the soul. Shiras HaYam, then, can heal us on all levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. Once our minds are in harmony with Hashem’s reality, then all of our foreign thoughts are blocked. We can see the world with the same clarity that will be present in the times of Mashiach and Olam HaBa. It is logical that proper recitation of Shiras HaYam gives us the merit to see that final revelation. In Olam Hazeh we recite the berachah of HaTov VeHaMetiv (He is Good and does good) when hearing joyous news and the berachah of Dayan HaEmes (He is the True Judge) when hearing sad news. Our Sages teach us that in the future, in Olam HaBa, we will “bless the good in the same way we bless the bad.” We will see that it is all good and recite the berachah of HaTov VeHaMetiv for every occasion. When we sing Shiras HaYam “besimchah rabbah,” we tap into the joyful perspective of our forefathers and we transport ourselves to the “land of real-believe.” But why is simchah (joy) such a critical element? Simchah is not just happiness or satisfaction. The Slonimer Rebbe explains the Jewish idea of simchah in his essay discussing “mishenichnas Adar, marbim besimchah (when the month of Adar enters, one increases joy).” He identifies Jewish joy as the defining quality of a truly rich person, as described in Pirkei Avos – “same’ach bechelko (happy with his portion).” According to the Slonimer Rebbe, being besimchah means appreciating how Hashem has directed one’s life, with all its ups and downs. It might appear ironic that simchah of this kind is best illustrated by the Purim story – the quintessential story of hester. How could this story, throughout which Hashem’s presence is hidden, demonstrate the concept of simchah? After all, the events of the narrative progress painfully from bad to worse: Achashverosh’s rule, coercion of Esther to become his new queen, Haman’s rise to power, the subsequent death sentence for the Jewish people … it seemed utterly hopeless! But all along, Hashem designed every detail for the purpose of our salvation. This appreciation of Hashem’s constant Divine Providence, even when He appears hidden, is being same’ach bechelko – feeling true simchah. But practically speaking, we are not always in a state of same’ach bechelko. How then can we genuinely recite Shiras HaYam besimchah rabbah? A paradoxical quality of Shiras HaYam is that, on one hand, the simchah is a prerequisite but on the other hand, higher levels of simchah can be the outcome. A second analogy to Megillas Esther will help us explain this abstract concept. Our Sages ruled that the recitation of Hallel (verses of praise chanted on joyous holidays) is omitted on Purim, because Megillas Esther is read in lieu of reciting Hallel. How could reading Megillas Esther possibly be tantamount to reciting Hallel? Recounting the whole story, and appreciating Hashem’s Hand in it, arouses true simchah. The story itself retroactively becomes our Hallel, our joyous praise to Hashem. So, too with Shiras HaYam; the verses themselves have the power to inspire true simchah retroactively. In challenging times, reciting Shiras HaYam can be a powerful tool for refocusing our perspective and inspiring us to reach higher levels of simchah in the service of Hashem. A question remains: why do we mention Shiras HaYam before the Shemoneh Esreh? As we prepare to stand directly before Hashem, we need clarity. Beyond recognizing that Hashem runs the world, we need to remember that He is the world. Everything is a direct manifestation of Him. If we have an accurate perspective, we can achieve a deeper communication with Hashem. We can pray with the proper mindset. Shiras HaYam is not some magic formula we recite to get close to Hashem. We can’t merely imitate the song and simulate the simchah of our forefathers, imagining that we have clarity, while keeping a foot in the “land of make-believe.” Shiras HaYam needs to be a genuine expression of our truthful perspective of the world. Finding clarity is challenging. Even when we know intellectually what we should believe, it is difficult to internalize it in our hearts and to change our perspective at its roots. The illusions of the natural world are powerful and supported by many cultural influences around us. We live in a very superficial world – in which “seeing is believing.” So how can we get past that? How can we overcome these influences and find clarity to see the harmony of Hashem’s world, even in difficult circumstances? A key pasuk describing Kri’as Yam Suf reads as follows: “UVnei Yisrael halchu vayabashah besoch hayam (and the Children of Israel walked on the dry land in the middle of the sea).” Why does the verse include both details of “on dry land” and “in the middle of sea?” Doesn’t one phrase suffice? Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk explains that these phrases represent different ideas. “On the dry land” symbolizes this physical world and the natural course of events. “In the middle of the sea” symbolizes a fantastic, openly miraculous event like Kri’as Yam Suf. A deeper understanding of this this pasuk is that Bnei Yisrael grasped parallel levels of Hashem’s greatness in the natural (on dry land) and the supernatural (in the sea); the mundane and the miraculous were equally awesome in their eyes. The Slonimer Rebbe explains that many people are aware of Hashem’s direct intervention in their lives only when they experience open miracles. But at the time of Kri’as Yam Suf, Bnei Yisrael saw the Hand of Hashem in everything. Our goal is to reach that level now. Rabbi Elimelech’s encouraging words assure us that this awareness was not exclusive to Bnei Yisrael at that time, but is attainable by people in every generation. G-d-consciousness is a mindset we can develop. With a little concentration, we can become aware of Hashem’s wonders in the details of everyday life. If we just lift our heads out of the daily routine, we can walk down the street and feel “roka ha’aretz al hamayim (He stretches out the earth over the water).” The fact that the ground doesn’t start shaking beneath our feet is a revelation of Hashem. (Residents of regions prone to earthquakes can relate to this personally!) Each natural event in our lives that we take for granted – waking up, talking, breathing – is a manifestation of Hashem’s greatness. Our Sages tell us that a person’s livelihood is as “difficult” as Kri’as Yam Suf. Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pincus draws our attention to our daily sustenance. When we open the refrigerator and it is full of food, it is the direct manifestation of Hashem! Our Sages make the same comparison when it comes to the functions of our bodies and finding a spouse. These seemingly natural events involve the direct Hand of Hashem, no less than Kri’as Yam Suf. We can live on “dry land,” in the physical world, but still experience life as if Hashem is taking us through the sea. It takes practice to open our eyes and see wonder after wonder, revelation after revelation. The more we consciously try to see the real world, the closer we come to living in the “land of real-believe,” the land of “az yashir.” We need to acclimate ourselves to this approach with the small, positive things in life – like having daily sustenance, clothing, and a functioning body. This practice will prepare us to see Hashem’s Hand even when we experience painful events, internalizing that Hashem is always HaTov VeHaMetiv. Rabbi Simon Jacobson explains in the name of the Lubavitcher Rebbe that we can only relate to the meaning and purpose in bitter hardship before or after we experience it. A person in the moment of suffering is often deaf to the voices of reason. Rabbi Jacobson alludes to Yosef’s dream, in which he prophesied that during the first seven bountiful years, Egypt needed to prepare for the subsequent seven years of famine. This symbolizes how we must see Hashem’s Hand in the good times (years of plenty) so that we are better trained to see Him when we are suffering (years of famine). This is reaching the level of true shirah, the level of Bnei Yisrael as expressed by Shiras HaYam. How else can we strive to reach this level? We glean an important lesson from the second appearance of the word az in Shiras HaYam. “Az nivhalu alufei Edom, eili Moav yochazeimo ra’ad, namogu kol yoshvei Chena’an (then the chieftains of Edom became stunned; the powerful ones of Moav were seized with trembling; all the inhabitants of Cana’an melted).” This is the az of the other nations. They also experienced a revelation of Hashem during Kri’as Yam Suf, but what did they do with it? Rabbi Yisroel Belsky elaborates on their reaction; they became frozen, numb, and paralyzed. The nations of the world witnessed “bigdol zero’acha (the greatness of Your Arm),” but instead of singing shirah, “yidmu ka’aven (they will become silent like a stone).” The Jewish people had an intense emotional experience and harnessed it to enhance their avodas Hashem. The other nations, by contrast, did not channel their intense emotional experience towards G-d. Of course, it might have been natural for the other nations to react with intense shock, instead of unbounded joy. On the other hand, our Sages teach us that people are capable of channeling any emotional experience, positive or negative, to service of G-d. For example, “one who sees the sotah (woman suspected of adultery) in her disgrace should distance himself from wine.” Seeing the fate of a sotah was certainly not a joyful experience. Still the intensity of that shocking experience was supposed to inspire greater avodas Hashem. Rabbi Jacobson explains how grief is an opportunity for introspection and self-evaluation. The Rambam encourages a mourner, in his time of pain, to reflect on his life’s direction. The trauma to the other nations during Kri’as Yam Suf should have inspired them – but they fell silent. This silence – this other az – speaks loudly to us. We have emotionally intense experiences throughout our lives. Do we let the experience pass and return to life as usual, or do we channel these emotions to bring us closer to Hashem? Powerful moments, both traumatic and uplifting, are often brief glimpses at the bigger picture. Hashem gives us these gifts to guide us. He is our Loving Parent, occasionally giving us a hearty push on the swing in the playground of life. To keep on going, we, as His children, need to pump our legs on our own with determination. Rabbi Akiva Tatz offers the mashal of a man who is lost in complete darkness. Suddenly, a flash of lightning lights up the sky. He sees the path for only an instant, and then the darkness returns. But the light of that moment re-orients him. Now he must follow the path on his own. Inspirational experiences give us direction and a vision of how far we can go. Our job is to work hard to get there. Even after the intensity fades, we need to persevere. We can practice seeing Hashem’s Hand in the mundane things we normally take for granted. We are aware through our experiences -both positive and seemingly negative – that all of these life events are manifestations of Hashem’s Will. Through this awareness, we move ever closer to Him. We sing shirah. May we merit seeing the revelation of Hashem in everything. May we burst forth in song with the arrival of the ge’ulah. Shirah Al HaYam, p. 7. Le’ovdecha Be’Emes, Elul, Yamim Nora’im, p. 53. Michtav Mei’Eliyahu, vol. 1, p. 180-183. Michtav Mei’Eliyahu, vol. 1, p. 181. Sam Derech, Shemos, p. 336. Sifsei Chaim, vol. 2, p. 416. Shmuel Blitz, My First Book of Jewish Stories, p. 31. Sifsei Chaim, vol. 2, p. 417. Ohr Gedalyahu, Shemos, p. 76. Nesivos Shalom, Shemos, p. 116. Nesivos Shalom on Purim, p. 5. Gemara Chullin 139b quoting the Biblical source for Megillas Esther: “Ve’Anochi haster astir panai (I will surely have concealed My Face)” – Devarim 31:18. Noam Elimelech, Likutei Shoshanah, p. 223. Nesivos Shalom, Shemos, p. 114. Tiferes Shimshon, Shemos, p. 143. Toward A Meaningful Life, Rabbi Simon Jacobson, p. 128. Einei Yisrael, Shemos, p. 129. Toward A Meaningful Life, p. 121. Rambam, Mishnah Torah, hilchos aveilus 13:12.

2019-04-25T03:04:23Z

https://www.ou.org/torah/parsha/torah-tapestries/beshalach-noteworthy-notes/

When you dig through skating history, you never know what you will unearth. In the spirit of cataloguing fascinating tales from skating history, #Unearthed is a once a month 'special occasion' on Skate Guard where fascinating writings by others that are of interest to skating history buffs are excavated, dusted off and shared for your reading pleasure. From forgotten fiction to long lost interviews to tales that have never been shared publicly, each #Unearthed is a fascinating journey through time. Today's gem, entitled "An Evening On Dutch Skates", originally appeared in "The Badminton Magazine Of Sports And Pastimes" in 1898. It was written by Ethel Brilliana Tweedie, a prolific British travel writer and historian. In the cities of Holland more people probably skate at night than during the day. This, of course, does not apply to country districts where frozen canals form the chief highways through the skating months, and where the people naturally convey their goods to the nearest market while daylight lasts. In the towns this is different; night skating is for pleasure and not for business. Thousands of young folk who are employed all day in shops, warehouses, post-offices, etc.: free in the evening to enjoy themselves to the best of their ability; to take as much exercise as they can, accompanied by amusement; and therefore it is that after eight o'clock the frozen waterways are a teeming mass of human life. They become, in fact, one huge fair. Chattering men and joyous maidens, elderly fathers and fat, round mothers, small children who for the nonce are allowed to stay out of bed, all wend their way, skates in hand, to the canals and enjoy an hour or two of healthful exercise in the dim light of evening before returning home for the night. The scenes are gay and animated, and most marvellously picturesque. Here and there a booth has been erected whereat tea or steaming potatoes and sausages are sold, or a 'kop' of coffee, thoroughly stewed, as all Dutch coffee is, temptingly invites the passer-by to partake of light refreshment. This booth is lighted by various blazing beacons placed in those iron stands which we in this country politely designate 'devils.' The booth itself is often a very primitive structure, made with four poles thrust into the ice, covered with brown canvas, and adorned perhaps by a little paling, so that it looks more like a gipsy's tent than an ordinary booth at a fair. The table inside is very unpretentious; but the planks on trestles serve the purpose of holding the boiling urns and the cups and saucers. A few chairs placed round the fire give a cosy look to the interior ; and as the skater flits past, the effect of light and warmth, merriment and joy, emitted from the tiny shed is very pleasant - the lurid glare from the blazing fire casting a rosy hue on the occupants whose forms throw quaint shadows on the canvas walls. Here and there at intervals along the ice other fires are kindled, not so much for warmth, perhaps, as to shed a shimmering glow of light upon the frozen surface; for so many skaters flying hither and thither in darkness, at the terrific speed they practise in Holland, would be very dangerous but for these flaring beacons. The charm of Rotterdam is not its museums or its pictures, but its waterways, its queer corners and endless bridges. Leaving the hotel on the quay, designated by the awful name of Do Boompjes, which literally means trees - for there are some small specimens planted along its edge in the form of an avenue - we sally forth to skate. It is a strange thing to find the best hotel of the town standing on a quay, literally in the midst of the docks, before which steamers of all kinds are held fast in the ice, while on the embankment are piled up cases of goods, with here and there enormous cranes such as denote shipping life. Yet this is the most fashionable part of Rotterdam. There are some fine private houses on De Boompjes besides hotels, and it is altogether the aristocratic as well as business quarter of a town where it is the custom for families to live over the office. Market, the enormous cheese market with its terrible and awful smells, and the hall where fish is sold, are worth a visit; they are intensely Dutch, these fat women in short skirts made so full at the waist that the wearers appear broader than need be, while the pretty muslin caps studded with golden pins seem the very essence of a living Dutch doll. All these kindly, round-faced folk are, alas no better looking than they were in the days of Gerard Dow, Van Ostade, Teniers, etc. Strangely enough, in all the pictures of that time the Dutch women, even when out of doors, generally appeared gowned in low dresses! The fish at the market are complacently swimming about alive in huge tanks placed in rows, our idea of dead fish shops being considered by the thrifty Dutchman simply ridiculous. We had arranged to skate from Rotterdam to Gouda; but before doing so we decided to have a trial trip with Dutch skates on the canals of the town. It is a delightful journey from Rotter-dam to Gouda, and from Gouda to Amsterdam. Leaving Rotterdam one skates over the ice through the Hague, Leiden, Haarlem, to Amsterdam; or from Leiden to Utrecht by the Rhine. Man proposes, God disposes/ however ; and although we arranged our plans and made everything ready to skate to Amsterdam the thaw came, and that particular expedition was frustrated. For any length of journey, it is absolutely necessary to use Dutch skates. These are from sixteen to twenty inches long, and the turn-up of the toe allows the blade to skid over the ice, instead of hitting it. These Dutch skates are made of wood and are very shallow, the feet being raised little more than an inch from the ice. The funny part of them is they are not secured to the boot at all, but are merely attached by cord, which stretches from the heelstrap across the foot, and is tied in a big bow over the toe. The cords are generally bright yellow, and give a fantastic appearance to the foot-gear. The reason for wearing things so easily adjusted is to be found in the fact that when skating great distances one often has to cross a tract of land or walk along a bit of road, when it becomes necessary to stoop down, untie the bow, and, skates in hand, trudge along to the next piece of ice. Therefore in the country one often sees the market folk bend down, untie their cord, kick off their skates, and march along for five or ten minutes till they reach the canal they want, when they slip their feet back into position and in a moment are skating away again. When it is a matter of merely crossing a road or walking a short distance, they do not take off their skates at all. ice is almost impossible, and the large tracts of frozen waterways become very rough by reason of the wind, which blows the newly formed ice into little ridges, and the snow which collects upon its surface into small hummocks. It is because of this roughness on the surface of the ice that these long bladed skates are necessary, for they will carry the wearer over anything, cracks included. frosty night air, the old women with baskets of bright-skinned oranges, and those delicious shades of red and brown that seem to pervade everything in Holland. everyone tries to tear along as quickly as he or she possibly can, their arms going like windmills. It is not a graceful style of performance, but it serves the purpose, and the ice on which they skate practically prohibits outside edge and suchlike artistic performances. We were quite alarmed by some of the gymnastic feats of the youngsters, and, after a sudden and unexpected blow from a whirling arm, panting and gasping we hired a chair, and sat down free from the hustling of the seething crowd, in order quietly to regain our breath, and quietly contemplate the passers-by. That they enjoyed themselves there is no doubt, for never did youth seem more gay. arranged like onions on a stick, when away they wildly flew, their feet moving in unison as the great black mass tore from canal to canal, or rushed madly under and out of bridges. We learnt that this peculiar style of entertainment had arisen in consequence of the frequency of east winds in the Netherlands in winter. Had all those people been skating abreast each would have had to contend with the blast. As matters were, the first one only had to withstand the piercing wind, the others sheltering behind him and each other. As the lead is, therefore, more anxious and tiring, members composing the party change now and again, the one who was formerly in front being put for a change behind. first bursts of amusement on the part of the bystanders, they were very kind to the old soul - picked her up, put her on her feet again, and did what they could to restore the shattered fragments to her market basket. It was certainly a quaint evening's entertainment for us, as well as a cheap one. Beyond paying twopence to have our skates put on, it had cost us nothing. Occasionally we came across parents trundling in front of them box-like perambulators containing little rolled up bundles of humanity; or sometimes we saw a baby, enveloped in a woollen hood, sitting in a common wooden box, attached to a string, and dragged along by a young brother or sister. how to push their burden in front of them, and it is wonderful to see the little sledge, laden with milk cans, carcasses of meat, tubs of flour, or the hundred and one things used in commerce, propelled perfectly evenly over miles and miles of frozen waterways, dammed up by those wondrous dykes, many of which were made three hundred years ago. These dykes are peculiar to Holland, for they are merely sand piled up against a well-driven wooden paling over which a rough sort of grass is grown - a kind of bent, in fact, such as one finds by the sea shore in Scotland, which the Highlanders plait into mats and baskets. Edam are absolutely built on shifting sand, as is very evident from the leaning appearance of many of the houses. Indeed, whole streets possess rows of houses out of the perpendicular, and props from the ground to the house wall are quite common. To a stranger the sight is alarming, for the angle is sometimes as great as that of the famous tower at Pisa, which makes one giddy to look at; but the Dutch do not mind, and dwell in slanting homes as happily and contentedly as we do in our straight ones. Iceboat sailing and skating are the two amusements which rouse a Dutchman to the greatest enthusiasm, but while money is required for the first, one and all can enjoy the second - and they certainly manage to do so. There is no doubt about it that a very indifferent skater may have a good time in Holland when the canals are frozen; for once there comes a frost, the ice generally lasts for some weeks, and, provided the east wind is not too strong, Holland may then practically be traversed from end to end on skates. double and treble the distance on the long, low Dutch blades. Travelling in Holland is not expensive; in fact, in some of the out-of-the-way places, and especially in Friesland, it is cheap. But there is one drawback to seeing the country by this means: this is that not a single soul outside of the towns can understand anything but Dutch, and the natives do not show great adaptability at jumping at conclusions or comprehending the gesticulations of the unhappy traveller. With a good map much may be done, and, indeed, the entire route planned before leaving the chief hotels. Still it is worth mentioning the fact that some difficulty may be encountered in connection with the language; for several times, even in our small way, we came across instances of dense stupidity on the part of the natives. At least, we thought so - perhaps it was our own dullness and inability to make ourselves understood. One lad, more enterprising than the rest, replied to some inquiry, 'Oui, Madame,' whereupon we repeated the question in French, when he again answered ' Oui, Madame.' This was so satisfactory that we asked for further information. ' Oui, Madame,' replied the grinning lad. His manner was a little exasperating, but we still persevered. ' Oui, Madame,' he persisted. The little wretch had not understood another word. ' Oui, Madame ' was all he knew in any language but his own ! In little out-of-the-way hostelries in the smaller villages there is one great recommendation, and that is their wonderful cleanliness. The Dutch are a nation of washers! They are always scrubbing or cleaning something; and even in quite little inns clean rooms and spotless beds are always to be found, so that many might do worse than pack up their traps, and be off to Holland with the beginning of the frost; for they will probably have a good time, see much that is interesting, and thoroughly enjoy themselves at a small cost. Almost every house we passed as we drove borne had looking glasses at the sides of the windows to enable the inhabitant see who was passing along the street. Does this imply that Dutch are a very curious people, or that their lives are so as to make them herald any little excitement with joy ? The thaw began that night, and a couple of days later the ice was very much cracked and covered with water. Luckily we had no spills, which would have meant a veritable bath. not slow to take advantage of its advent, and make every possible use of it, both for business and pleasure, as long as it lasts. The Hub Trio. Photo courtesy Mary Anna Paquette. From 1916 to 1918, three young men were born in Manchester, New Hampshire who would go on to greatness. Leonard 'Len' and Kenneth Mullen were born in 1916 and 1918 - just two of the seven mouths that James and Sarah (Keough) Mullen had to worry about feeding on the modest wages of a loom fixer at a cotton mill. Edmond 'Eddie' Raiche, the youngest son of Amedee and Angeline Raiche, was born in 1917. His background was equally modest - selling wood and coal was the family business. Len and Kenneth Mullen with Gene Autry. Photo courtesy Jared Hergenrader. It was Len and Kenneth Mullen's older brother Fred that taught them how to skate. Fred was a wiz at acrobatics, tap dancing and ice skating and would take Len and Kenneth Mullen, along with their younger brother Russell, to Dorr's Pond. In between skates, the Mullen boys learned how to do backflips in the snow next to the pond. They also took lessons with George Nissen, the inventor of the trampoline, in an effort to perfect the stunt. In 1942, Eddie gave up his job at a paint store, Len stopped working as a surveyor and Kenneth quit being a photo engraver. They joined the cast of the brand new Ice Capades tour, going by the name The Hub Trio. Len and Kenneth were billed as 'the Mullen twins', even though they weren't twins at all. They were instant hits with audiences, including the backflip in their acrobatic act to "Anchors Aweigh" and "We Join The Navy", sporting sailor suits. As Adele Inge also performed the backflip on skates in 1942 or 1943, it is extremely difficult to say who was the first, but The Hub Trio were definitely one of the first acts to include the crowd-pleasing trick in their programs. Kenneth Mullen's grandson Jared Hergenrader asserted that her grandmother knew Skippy Baxter, and claimed that Kenneth performed the backflip before him. In 1944, Len and Kenneth Mullen joined the navy. The Hub Trio returned to the Ice Capades and Ice Cycles after the War, appearing for a time as the Hub Duo minus Eddie. They appeared on The Art Linkletter Show and gave a performance before the Royal Court in England! Len and Kenneth Mullen (left) and Kenneth Mullen (right). Photos courtesy Jared Hergenrader. Two of the three members of the Hub Trio married skaters from the Ice Capades cast. Kenneth's wife Carmel and Eddie's wife Voline were both Ice Capets. Len's wife Eleanore was a singer who performed with the Malena Sisters Trio. The Hub Trio. Photos courtesy Jared Hergenrader. After they hung up their skates, Len worked as a surveyor for U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh, Kenneth acted as the sales and catering manager at the Hacienda Inn in Fresno and Eddie sold ice cream before opening a drive-in restaurant in Fresno. Len passed away on February 8, 1981, Kenneth passed away on September 22, 1985 and Eddie passed away on June 22, 2010. Though history may not have given them much credit, these back-flipping acrobats from New Hampshire were pioneers of one of figure skating's most popular tricks! Between the sinking of the Lusitania, the Spanish flu pandemic, the Eastland disaster in Chicago, the White Friday avalanches in Italy, the Halifax Explosion and the deaths of tens of millions in the Great War, the years 1914 through 1918 were some of the bleakest in the twentieth century. During an era when the first priorities of men and women around the world were service and survival, it would seem obvious that something as relatively insignificant as figure skating would take the back burner. The reality is that against all odds, skating not only survived the War... but in some parts of the world, it thrived. I would like to preface this project by clarifying that the research I'm presenting focuses solely on skating between July of 1914 and November 11, 1918, the date of the Armistice of Compiègne which ended fighting on land, sea and air at the end of the Great War. Excluded are details of the aftermath of the war and the subsequent revival of the Olympic Games in 1920 and European and World Figure Skating Championships in 1922. - Elaine Hooper, Matthias Hampe and Benjamin T. Wright - whose encyclopedic knowledges of British, German and American skating history never cease to amaze me. - Lesley Hall, Archivist of the Wellcome Library - for her insight into life on the home front in Great Britain during the War. - Mihály Orendi, Director General of the Hungarian Skating Federation - for his valuable insights into skating in Hungary during this period. Divided pond with behind Main Street in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia with areas blocked off for hockey and figure skating, circa 1961. Photo courtesy Tatamagouche Heritage Centre. Do you know what's a good time? History. Do you know what's an even better time? Food. Today, we will blend the two with a brief look at the history of The Tatamagouche Figure Skating Club and a selection of delightfully eighties Nova Scotian recipes from the 1985 cookbook "Cherished Recipes Of The Tatamagouche Figure Skating Club". Back in 1971, plans were drawn up to build a multi-purpose arena in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. By 1973, the first phase of the project - a natural ice rink enclosed by a fence - was completed. In 1975, the North Shore Recreation Centre officially opened an indoor rink in a steel building with an artificial ice plant. That winter, Dr. Austin Creighton called a meeting of local citizens interested in developing a skating club and the Tatamagouche Figure Skating Club was born. At the club's first Annual General Meeting in April 1976, Mrs. Marjorie Hatherly reported that the club had been registered with the CFSA and had two hundred and fifty members. Skaters from Halifax came to Tatamagouche that year to reproduce their carnival and the following year, Susan Crowell arrived from Truro to provide the skaters with professional instruction. In the years that followed, Doris Byers organized a series of annual carnivals consisting primarily of local talent and classes were held for both beginner and intermediate skaters. By the late eighties and early nineties, many of the club's skaters joined the competitive skating arena... and in 2009 John Mattatall became the first skater from Tatamagouche to win a senior medal at the Canadian Championships. Now that you have had a quick primer on the club's early history, without further ado, a taste of Tatamagouche from the pages of a tried, tested and true skating club fundraising tradition... the cookbook! In a large skillet, barely cover haddock with water. Simmer gently till fish flakes with a fork, 12-15 minutes. Drain. Break fish into large chunks; set aside. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook onion in 2 tbsp. butter or margarine till tender, but not brown. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Add 1 c. of milk, all at once. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat. Add cheese, stir till melted. Use remaining 1/2 c. milk, add sour cream, cheese sauce, fish, peas and mushrooms. Turn into casserole dish. Melt remaining 2 tbsp. butter, toss with bread crumbs to combine. Bake, uncovered at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Layer chicken and onions in Dutch oven. Mix together rest of ingredients and pour over chicken. Bake for 2 hours at 375 degrees (covered). Stir around a bit after an hour. If too much liquid, leave uncovered for the rest of baking time. Mix in the order ingredients are given. Drop on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees. Nuts and raisins may be added if desired. Combine first 8 ingredients. Form into small balls. Fry in oil until light brown. Combine pineapple juices, soya sauce, vinegar and brown sugar. Bring to boil, add 1/4 c. corn starch which has been blended with water. Cook and stir until thick and clear. Add meat balls, pineapple and green pepper. Heat about 3 minutes. The Peace Bridge Arena. Photo courtesy Fort Erie Public Library. Built in 1928 and owned by wealthy philanthropist and industrialist Frank Burkett Baird, the Peace Bridge Arena in Fort Erie, Ontario was really an answer to the members of the Buffalo Skating Club's prayers. Prior to the rink's construction, members had practiced once a week (weather permitting) on natural ice at the Nichols School Indoor Skating Rink. On the artificial ice at the Peace Bridge Arena, figure skating flourished in the late twenties and early thirties. Ormonde B. Haycock, a former Canadian Champion, was hired as the new club professional and ice time expanded from one day a week to three days. The Weigel sisters - Mary, Estelle and Louise - each won U.S. novice or junior national titles in the early thirties and brought considerable attention to the club, which had been in existence since 1921. The 1935 Buffalo Skating Club carnival, held in conjunction with the Niagara Falls Skating Club at the Peace Bridge Arena was a complete sell-out and the social event of the winter season. The March 18, 1935 issue of "The Niagara Falls Gazette" boasted, "For several days before the affair was scheduled tickets couldn't be had for love, money or influence. Society for miles around, skating enthusiasts and hundreds who had never before enjoyed the colour, rhythm and skill of the great performance simply jammed the big arena." The Buffalo Bisons hockey team. Photo courtesy Fort Erie Public Library. Then, just as figure skating in Buffalo was at the height of its popularity, it all came crashing down... literally. With a huge roar, the roof of the Peace Bridge Arena collapsed at 9:30 AM on March 17, 1936. Under the weight of thirteen inches of heavy, wet snow during a freak St. Patrick's Day blizzard, huge steel girders came hurtling down seventy feet to the ice surface, side walls tumbled down and a part of the front of the rink was forced forward. No employees were in the arena at the time of the disaster, however members of the Buffalo Bisons, an International Hockey League team, were just arriving for their morning practice session. The March 18, 1936 issue of the "Syracuse Port Journal" reported, "One player, Jarvis, was dressed and ready to step on the rink when the roof buckled under a load of snow." Miraculously, many of the hockey players preparing for the practice hadn't arrived yet and those who had all escaped without serious injury. The incident harkened back to a similar incident twenty one years prior in Port Colborne, Ontario. A play-off hockey game that ran late was so packed that the rink didn't clear out completely until midnight. Only two hours later, the rink's roof collapsed under a heavy snowfall. The Peace Bridge Arena after collapsing in 1936. Photo courtesy Fort Erie Public Library. The afternoon of the disaster, members of the Buffalo Skating Club held a special meeting. For you see, the 1936 Buffalo Skating Club carnival had originally been slated to be held on March 21. 1936. As it was an Olympic year and figure skating was at the height of its popularity with the Sonja Henie craze, ten thousand tickets had already been sold for the carnival and a who's who of North American skating had been invited to participate. Had the collapse happened only four days later during the carnival, thousands of people would certainly have perished. Among those who would have been in attendance were the show's director Gustave Lussi, Ormonde B. Haycock, the Weigel sisters, Audrey Peppe, Eleanor and Margaret Wilson of the Granite Club and the Toronto four... Mrs. Spencer Merry, Elizabeth Fisher, Hubert Sprott and Ralph McCreath. Despite having lost their rink - and nearly their lives - the members of the Buffalo Skating Club persevered. A history of the club penned in 1971 through material submitted by Mrs. Bryant Glenny, Mrs. Beryl Poutie Wilkinson, Mrs. Edward Weigel Atwill, Rita Lowery, John R. Smith and The Nichols School noted, "The Carnival was rescheduled for April 1 at the Niagara Falls, Ontario Arena. During the two week interim, rehearsals for the show were held at Mr. William W. Weigel's private skating rink at Pratt St., which was the first artificial rink built in Buffalo. Following the 1936 season the club suspended operations for a year and a half, though some members carried on their skating at the Weigel's private rink and at Niagara Falls. In the Fall of 1937, a group of club members coordinated with The Nichols School in equipping their rink with artificial ice making facilities. The compressors came from the old Broadway Auditorium and are still being used to make ice at the Dann Memorial Rink, in addition to an artificial compressor needed for a much larger ice surface." Although the perseverance and 'the show must go on' attitude of the Buffalo Skating Club's members was incredibly admirable, the Peace Bridge Arena collapse could have certainly been one of the biggest tragedies in figure skating history. It's certainly a reminder that when it comes to skating... timing is everything. Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating and archives hundreds of compelling features and interviews in a searchable format for readers worldwide. Though there never has been nor will there be a charge for access to these resources, you taking the time to 'like' on the blog's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard would be so very much appreciated. Already 'liking'? Consider sharing this feature for others via social media. It would make all the difference in the blog reaching a wider audience. Have a question or comment regarding anything you have read here or have a suggestion for a topic related to figure skating history you would like to see covered? I'd love to hear from you! Learn the many ways you can reach out at http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/p/contact.html7. Born September 9, 1856 in New York City, George Dawson Phillips was the son of James and Mary (Seguine) Phillips. He practically grew up on the ice and on December 1867 at the age of eleven won his first skating title - a one mile speed skating race - on 46th and 5th Avenue, the future site of the grand Windsor Hotel which burned to the ground in a devastating fire on St. Patrick's Day, 1899. Like that fire, George raced through his early skating career, dominating American speed skating competitions for twenty years from 1867 to 1887. He competed against Norway's Axel Paulsen, won the Championships Of America in the two hundred and twenty yard, five, ten and twenty five mile distances and set records which remained unbeaten until the late nineteenth century. In his book "How To Become A Skater", writer Frederick Toombs recalled, "During 1883 and '84 G. Phillips created a furor by sprinting one hundred yards in '10 3-58, 220 yards in 22 3-58, and a quarter mile in 44 1-5s, from a running start and without wind." At only five foot five and between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty five pounds, George earned himself the nickname 'The Spider'. In 1886, near the end of his speed skating career, George reinvented himself as a figure skater. Acclaimed for his cross-cut vines, he finished third at the Championships Of Canada in February 1890 behind Louis Rubenstein then tied with him at the 1891 Championships Of America. In 1892, he claimed the American title with a fifty one point lead over his closest rival. "Harper's Weekly" noted that he gave a "very clever exhibition" at the event but that without Rubenstein in attendance the event "was something of a disappointment". He returned to win the Championships Of America in Hoboken in 1895 and at the St. Nicholas Rink in New York City in 1897. However, his third win was shrouded by controversy. On January 27, 1897, The New York Tribune reported, "It was learned last night that one of the contestants will challenge Phillips. This man maintains that Phillips managed the Ice Skating Palace last winter, and therefore is a professional. Phillips asserts that his only relation to the Palace was as a broker in getting a loan for it. The protestant, however, will tonight exhibit two receipts, which purport to have been given by Phillips for salary paid him as a manager." A businessman by trade, George was also an accomplished oarsman with the Hudson Boat Club and long time member of the New York Athletic Club. An 'old time fancy skater' through and through, he prided himself on precision and strong technique and looked down upon the trend for 'showiness' amongst skaters around the turn of the century. In "Harper's Weekly", he wrote, "There is no recognized sport in which in the fine points are so little understood by the general public as in figure skating. This is proven by the applause which frequently follows the exhibitions of showy skaters as compared to finished and methodical competitors. In many of our amateur championship competitions this has been the case, and reporters of our daily papers have been the worst offenders, often putting their ideas in print when they have been in direct opposition to the judges' decisions." Further evidence that George resisted the trend for 'showy' skating presented itself in the January 30, 1901 issue of "The New York Daily Tribune". They reported, "Something new appeared at the local rinks last night, and while the performance was going on George D. Phillips, the old-time figure skating champion, and Dr. A. G. Keane, the present champion, fairly held their sides. Everybody else who saw the contortions of the skater were convulsed. Somebody said. 'Ragtime stunts on ice.' and the onlookers accepted the expression as the proper thing under the circumstances. At the end of the hockey game at the St. Nicholas Rink there was the usual scramble by the men. women, boys and girls to get upon the ice and enjoy skating themselves. Then an innovation appeared in the form of a youth of probably seventeen years. He wore skates of the old fashioned Dutch rocker sort, with short iron plates and with regular sleigh runner twists In front. Possibly the skates had something to do with the gyrations, and then again it may have been a nervous twitch of the muscles, combined with an erratic temperament. Whatever it was. the performance was one of the most remarkable ever seen on the ice. Cross-cuts were made backward and grapevines sideways. A spread eagle would suddenly turn into pirouettes, and hoops and ringlets were made as they were never made before in the memory of the oldest fancy skater. The young fellow did not mind the attention he created, but continued to cut those queer capers on the ice until it was time to close the rink. Several of the experts who tried to imitate him nearly broke their necks." By the late nineteenth century, George finally retired from competitive skating. After the death of his first wife Charlotte Berry Corbett, he married Kentucky born Julia Biddle Coakley on April 29, 1905 and got in the ice manufacturing business. Julia got in the business of inventing space saving furniture. George also became involved with the International Skating Union of America, helping develop a committee for the Eastern Skating Union. In November 1928 at the age of seventy two, George was honoured for his skating achievements by the Amateur Athletic Union at a gala banquet in New York City. He passed away on May 7, 1933 in Manhattan, New York at the age of seventy six. During his heyday "The Weekly Transcript" claimed, "In athletic circles, particularly skating, George D. Phillips is, without a doubt, one of the best known men in America." On January 5, 1959, George's wife Julia passed away the age of eighty eight. In her will, she left a bequest of ten thousand dollars to one Norman Thomas with a special provision: that the money be used "to promote peace and love among the people of the world and destroy hatred." A beautiful end to a fascinating story if there ever was one. A black cat crossing your path, spilling salt, walking under a ladder, opening an umbrella indoors and breaking a mirror are are all sure signs of bad luck to the superstitious among us. Those in search of good luck rarely walk down the aisle without something old, new, borrowed and blue. They have lucky rabbit's foots, horseshoes and pennies, break bottles over the bows of new ships as they are launched and cut the hair from a dog that bit them. Not all superstitions are as 'simple' as the signs of good and bad luck. There are those who make the trek to Ireland to kiss the Blarney Stone, in hopes of earning the gift of eloquence. There are shopkeepers that refuse to sweep the sidewalk in front of their stores before the end of the day, lest they sweep away the day's trade. Centuries ago in Ireland, many believed that if you didn't make the sign of the cross and close your baby's mouth before they yawned, the Devil could rush into their body. According to old English lore, stirring your tea 'widdershins' (from right to left) foretold a fight, and if two women drank tea from the same pot, one of them would become pregnant. Many actors refuse to use real flowers on stage or peek through the curtain at an audience before a play. They say "break a leg!" instead of good luck and never mention the exact number of lines they have, for fear they'll forget some. They never refer to the play "Macbeth" by its name, opting to call it "The Scottish Play" instead... for fear of death. Though actors have historically earned a reputation for being some of the most superstitious folks out there, they really have nothing on figure skaters! Long before figure skating competitions were 'a thing', residents of Utah always placed their skates on top of something solid after carving out fancy figures on a pond. They feared that if their skates were hung from a hook, they would fall through the ice and drown the next time they skated. Not long after skaters began competing, the superstitions really began. Tropes like "a poor practice means a good competition to come" and "it's bad luck to draw first in the starting order" have been around since the days of Ulrich Salchow and Gillis Grafström. Three time Olympic Gold Medallist Sonja Henie once claimed a paper cutter, with a blade as sharp as her skates - brought her the good luck to win her first World title in Oslo, Norway in 1928. During her competitive career, the media went bananas with stories about how - although she brought many pairs with her - she just had to wear her 'lucky skates'. In reality, they were simply the pair she was using at the time. In her autobiography "Wings On My Feet", she lamented, "Much more was said about the fact that father took special care of them for me than was mentioned about my technique or skating background." Later, during her professional career, she refused to wear new laces in her skates when she started working on a new film. She once quipped, "Superstitions give your courage such a nice fake boost." One of Sonja Henie's rivals, Cecilia Colledge, wanted to wear a green satin dress for her free skating performance at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Though she always felt she skated best in the green dress, her mother insisted she wear silver. Not even her 'lucky zoo' of stuff animals saved her from finishing the event in second place. One of Cecilia's successors, Daphne Walker, started wearing a green elephant talisman at the age of eight for good luck and collected over three hundred elephant ornaments. Like Cecilia, she often wore green dresses in competition, flying in the face of the superstition that green was an unlucky colour. Jack Dunn and Sonja Henie. Photo courtesy Minneapolis Historical Society. Interestingly, two of Great Britain's top men's skaters during the thirties tragically passed away in their twenties... their deaths both linked to 'cursed' objects. Freddie Tomlins was killed over the English Channel while serving with the Royal Air Force in 1943. In 1937, he had been presented with an eighteen carat gold watch by Adolf Hitler. It was inscribed with the words, "To our dear Freddie Tomlins in remembrance of his skating in the Berliner Sports Palast, March 29 to April 4, 1937". Jackie Dunn, a 1936 Olympian who had gone to America in hopes of finding success on the silver screen, contracted tularemia, a rare disease spread by rabbits, and passed away after wearing a supposedly cursed ring once owned by Rudolph Valentino. He had been set to play Valentino in a film. The professional skating boom during World War II wasn't without its superstitious skaters. Canadian Champion Norah McCarthy, who toured with the Ice Follies, wouldn't take the ice unless she was wearing her lucky yellow anklets. Backstage at the Center Theatre, coffee was nowhere to be found. Freddie Trenkler, one of the ice clowns who starred in the show, recalled drinking coffee the first time he took a nasty spill and insisted that only tea was drank by the cast. Joan Hyldoft, who skated with Freddie at the Center Theatre, had a bad habit of whistling in the dressing room. Her Irish dresser, Kitty, would send her outside and make her say two curse words before she would let her back in... to drive away the bad luck. In 1946, Patricia Molony, the first Australian woman to compete at the World Championships, wouldn't take the ice unless she was wearing a bracelet of Australian charms and a New Zealand tiki. She always wore the same red socks (inside out) in her boots and - like Cecilia Colledge and Daphne Walker nearly a decade prior - considered green her lucky colour, wearing it for both figures and free skating when she competed. Some believed that Barbara Ann Scott's appearance on the cover of "Time" magazine on February 2, 1948 would 'jinx' the young skater's chances at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, but the Canadian darling proved them wrong when she won Canada's first Olympic gold medal in figure skating. Barbara Ann was one of the most superstitious skaters in history. She thought it was bad luck to whistle in the dressing room and to place skates anywhere but on the floor when they were not in use. She had a lucky stuffed koala bear named Junior and some ivory elephant figurines she took everywhere with her. Her mother also bought her a good luck gnome in Stockholm, which she described as a "little carved wooden man, the ugliest little man I've ever seen, with a great long nose and a funny little hat on." She too considered green her lucky colour. In her book "Skate With Me", she recalled, "I have, I think some reason for being superstitious about the number five, because several times when I was growing up I came in fifth in a competition the first year I entered and then, the next time the competition was held, went back and came in first. And I like to draw the number thirteen, because I think that is lucky for me. My armband at the Olympic Games was Number 13 and I skated on Friday the 13th in the World Championships in '48." Barbara Wagner was superstitious about the number thirteen. An article that appeared in "Imperial Oil" magazine in October 1957 noted, "When she started school, she came home with a 13 for her mother to sew inside her coat and she graduated from St. Clement's girls' school last June 13. In most competitions she manages to find a 13 either on a hotel room or a street number. Always on the watch for her lucky number, Barbara was happy when she found out she had been assigned no. 58 in the World Championships in Colorado Springs. 'After all,' she points out, 'eight and five make 13, don't they?'" Maribel Vinson Owen's daughter 'Little Maribel' won the U.S. pairs title in 1961 with Dudley Richards and perished in the Sabena Crash shortly thereafter. She carried a silver four leaf clover with her wherever she went. Olympic Gold Medallists Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill had more than the same coach in common. They both tied their left skate first. One of Dorothy's competition rituals involved setting up a collection of stuffed animals on the boards when she competed in school figures - a koala, a troll and a monkey. After the figures at 1976 World Championships, her good luck charms disappeared. She took it as a sign her childhood was over. Toller Cranston. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library. During his competitive career, Toller Cranston was obsessed with numbers, believing for instance that if the went through a ticket wicket at an airport numbered five, he'd end up fifth at his next competition. In his book "When Hell Freezes Over", he recalled, "Throughout my skating life, I was haunted by the frightening sense that everything I did - how I got on the ice, my numerical starting position, the colour of my costume, the way I laced my skates - was fraught with earth-shattering importance. If I made the wrong choice, everything would blow up in my face. I was tap dancing on a volcano. One wrong tap might activate the lava flow." In 1986, he changed hotel rooms in Paris because the first room number "didn't add up to the right number." He also had a lucky costume he used for ten years and once quipped, "In a pinch, I will always go to that costume. I swear it jumps by itself and never falls down." Robin Cousins had a four leaf cover sellotaped to his skate bag, given to him by a fan at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. John Curry and Dorothy Hamill were also both given one at the same time. Tai Babilonia has long worn a lucky crescent moon pendant given to her by Stevie Nicks. She received it in the mail a month before the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, and wore it every day leading up to the pairs competition. Concerned it may become unfastened during her performance with Randy Gardner, coach John Nicks asked her to take it off. That same day, bad luck befell the pair and they were forced to withdraw due to Randy's groin injury. For years, Jayne Torvill always wore the same pair of socks in every major competition. After they became so disintegrated she couldn't wear them anymore, she continued to carry them around with her. Christopher Dean had a pair of lucky pants... and a thing about skate guards. He always placed he and Jayne's guards parallel on the boards and would keep watch to make sure no one disturbed them. Katarina Witt needed Jutta Müller to pat her on the back of the hand before she skated. She also had three stuffed animals given to her by friends that she carried in her skate bag for good luck. One was an angel. In her book "Only With Passion", she explained, "The angel always had to lose both of its wings every season. One of the wings had to come off at the European Championships, and the other wing had to come off at Worlds. Believe me, in an Olympic year we had a dilemma: three competitions and only two years. Then every year I sent the angel to be repaired so the wings could be ready to fall off the next year. It was tricky, because my therapist wasn't allowed to pull the wings off. They had to fall off by themselves, with a little encouragement. She had to be rough on the angel, to loosen the wings, but not too rough." Liz Manley always had a superstition about cleaning and organizing before any competition. Even at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, when she was sick as a dog, she did all of her laundry and tidied her room as if she'd never been there before going out to perform the free skate of her life. Brian Boitano would carry a bent nail from the stage at the San Francisco in her skate bag for good luck. Brian Orser wouldn't allow family members attending his competitions to sit together. He would always put his left skate on first and had to have a walk before he competed. He kept a certain stuffed animal in his skate bag for ten years, given to him by a skater who he helped pass a dance test. He also believed it was a good omen if a friend from Orillia showed up at the last minute and let him know he was in town. Kurt Browning carrying the Canadian flag. Photo courtesy Library And Archives Canada. There was a superstition in the nineties that Canadian athletes who served as flag bearers at the Olympic Games were jinxing themselves in their quest for medals. In 1992, decathlete Michael Smith was forced to withdraw from the Summer Olympics in Barcelona due to injury, and Kurt Browning - who was flag bearer at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer - finished off the podium. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Charmaine Crooks placed a disappointing eighteenth in the 800 meters. Ironically, Kurt was actually the only Canadian figure skater in history who served as flag bearer at the Olympics and didn't win a medal. The honour proved to be a good luck charm for Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Brian Orser, Karen Magnussen, Bob Paul and Norris Bowden. Kurt Browning's good luck charm was a pair of skate guard covers. Elvis Stojko's was a necklace given to him by his mother, with a charm added by his aunt and uncle. On one side of the charm was the Olympic logo, on the other it read "Elvis, you're number one!" Fellow nineties stars Michelle Kwan and Jennifer Robinson also had lucky necklaces. Jennifer's had a photo of her future husband inside, and Michelle's was a dragon necklace with special family significance. Tara Lipinski always would step on ice with right foot first; Oksana Baiul her left. Both skaters won gold medals in the nineties in their first trips to the Winter Olympics. Oksana claimed her lucky number was three, and that was the number she drew in her group's starting order in the women's free skate at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Since 2000, skaters haven't let up a bit in their superstitions. Evgeni Plushenko never shaved on the days he competed. Irina Lobacheva had a doll she'd put on the boards while competing. Joannie Rochette's mother would always put a prayer necklace in her skate bag. Jamie Salé put her left skate on first and would take off her lucky necklace, touch it and say a little prayer before she competed. Sasha Cohen had to be first on the ice for every warm-up. Marina Anissina wouldn't take the ice without a cross made my partner Gwendal Peizerat's grandmother around her neck. Yuna Kim always wore a rosary ring. She forgot to bring it to the 2010 World Championships, and went out and bought one just for the competition. Scott Moir often wore new socks for every event and Tessa Virtue would always sit her water bottle on the same place on the boards. Barbara Fusar-Poli always put her blades in the same position in the dressing room to dry. In a March 23, 2001 article in "The Province", Maurizio Margaglio was vague about his superstitions, only revealing he always tied his skates the same way before every performance. He joked, "We have [superstitions], of course - every skater has... I think it's psychological, and in Italy, we have a little bit of superstitions. But I'm not taking red peppers in my pocket or anything like that." Skaters competing today aren't any less superstitious. Nathan and Karen Chen are both members of the 'left skate first' club, Kaetlyn Osmond has to have a glass of orange juice before she takes the ice and Yuzuru Hanyu's famous lucky Pooh Bear almost pales in comparison to his elaborate pre-competition rituals. Whether an attempt to ward off bad luck or bring good luck from the Skate Gods, the rituals of skaters serve as reminders that no matter how hard you train, the ice is slippery... and a little bit of superstition isn't always a bad thing. From January 30 to February 2, 1958, Zimný štadión in Bratislava played host to the first post-World War II European Figure Skating Championships to be held entirely on indoor ice. A whopping seventy entries from eleven countries participated. The event, organized by the Czech State Committee For Physical Training And Sport, marked the first time the Europeans were held in Czechoslovakia since 1948, ten years prior. Vladislav Cáp, a Czechoslovakian engineer who competed at the 1948 European Championships, designed the event's emblem - the letter 'E' with a skate blade. Alain Giletti, Karol Divín and Alain Calmat in Bratislava. Photo courtesy Archív TASR. Considering the anti-German sentiment and post-War expulsions of Germans in Czechoslovakia following World War II, the West German contingent of skaters was treated exceptionally well. Heinz Magerlein recalled, "The reception [in Bratislava] was very touching when, after a long journey, the German team got out of the passenger train shortly before midnight and delegations from sports clubs and companies had arrived. Poems and welcome speeches were recited in hard German, and from the Gesidern the joy shone, that we had come. In the shop windows of the prisoners we saw everywhere indications of the ice sports event, sculptures made of dough, fabric decorations, etc. However, the very spacious sports hall had a drawback: from an open piece of the roof soot fell on the ice and had left a fine layer that looked like emery and damaged the expensive ice skates badly." Let's take a look back at how things played out on the ice in Bratislava! Nineteen men from ten countries competed in the men's event. Karol Divín defeated Alain Giletti in a four-three split of the judging panel in the school figures. British Champion Michael Robert Booker placed a strong third. fittingly managed to do it in his home country... defeating the defending champion in the process. Norbert Felsinger of Austria placed fifth and a trio of West Germans finished sixth through eighth. Tilo Gutzeit, the top skater of the bunch, received second place ordinals in the free skate from the Czechoslovakian and Soviet judges. Manfred Schnelldorfer, who placed seventh, suffered a wardrobe malfunction. Heinz Magerlein recalled, "In the freestyle, Manfred picked again, as so often, the starting number one. I had fastened Manfred's silver-shimmering tie with a small safety pin on the high waistband of the coat trousers. His spinning spurred the spectators on to hurricane applause. The tie had come loose from the attachment and struck him in front of his eyes, his nose, his mouth... In between it wrapped itself once or twice and around his neck and it did not wiggle. What was worse: looking for me or skating for Manfred? He did not fall, but he fought a desperate fight with the tie, which shook his sight and direction. One could see that he was close to bursting.... I blamed myself and decided to check everything out ten times since and have kept that tie to this day." Hanna Walter and Ingrid Wendl. Photos courtesy Bildarchiv Austria. Defending champion Hanna Eigel had turned professional, leaving the European women's title up for grabs. Eight judges had her compatriot Ingrid Wendl first in figures, while the Italian judge tied her with Hanna Walter, who finished second. Joan Haanappel was a unanimous third. France's Dany Rigoulot earned ordinals ranging from fourth to seventeenth in figures... highlighting the nightmarish judging that was to come in the free skate. Left: Dany Rigoulot. Right: Joan Haanappel. Photo courtesy Dutch National Archives. Ingrid Wendl decisively won the free skate with seven first place ordinals but that was about the only thing the judging panel could seem to agree on. Six judges had Hanna Walter in the top three; the Swiss judge had her eleventh. Jidrinka Kramperova had ordinals ranging from second to fifteenth. Five judges had Karin Frohner in the top three; the Czechoslovakian judge had her eleventh. The West German judge had Regine Heitzer in a tie for first, while the Polish judge had her a tie for eighth. Strangely enough, when the overall marks were tallied all but one judge had Wendl first, all but one judge had Walter second and every judge had Haanappel third. Yet Jana Docekalova of Czechoslovakia, who earned two first place ordinals in the free skate, finished eleventh overall. More than fifteen thousand spectators showed up for the pairs event... and the bizarre judging continued! Though Věra Suchánková and Zdeněk Doležal defended their title unanimously, no less than eight teams received top three ordinals. Nina and Stanislav Zhuk, Joyce Coates and Anthony Holles and Marianna and László Nagy, who placed second through fourth, were three of those teams. The Zhuk's and Coates and Holles' medal wins were both considered surprises as they had only finished fifth and sixth the year prior at Europeans. Another team earning a top three ordinal was Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler, who one judge tied for second and another placed thirteenth. Heinz Magerlein recalled, "They had left the hotel in good time with car, but a railway barrier had considerably delayed the journey. Since they had pulled start number 1 - which also had their share in fifth place! - of course, they were resented in the rink, which was filled to capacity... Lacking concentration and still under the impact of the annoying [delay] they milled about the ice, and their performance fell short of their potential." Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, who received no first place ordinals, were tenth with scores ranging from fourth to thirteenth. It was the young Soviet couple's first appearance at the European Championships. Perhaps most dramatic were the scores of the Austrian team who finished eleventh. The British judge had them second, while the Polish judge had them fifteenth and dead last. One has to doubt whether any of the ice dancers complained when only five judges sat rink side to judge them instead of nine. In contrast to the women's and pairs events, the judging in dance was somewhat less controversial... at least near the top. To no one's surprise, defending champions June Markham of Durham and Courtney Jones of Bournemouth were the unanimous winners of both the compulsories and free dance. In his book "This Skating Age" Howard Bass recalled, "The cost of travel and accommodation for two people from London to [Bratislava and Paris - the site of the 1958 World Championships] can be reckoned at well over one hundred pounds. The sum actually allowed them by the N.S.A. was twenty pounds each. So patriotic Britons must thank the fact that Courtney and June happened to be able to raise sufficient money themselves to pay for the privilege of winning these titles for their country! As their compatriot, I feel like hiding my head in national shame. How humbling, how utterly humiliating!" teams who placed fifth through seventh each received ordinals ranging from fifth through tenth. European Championships. They placed dead last.

2019-04-24T10:58:02Z

http://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2018/08/

The Sycamore Twp Fire Department is threatening to sue the people of Sycamore due to the elimination of 14 full-time firefighter positions and 70 part-time positions. The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3907 threatened suit against the township aimed at the trustees—who in fact are the representatives of the tax payers for violation of the union contract. This is an old game and these public sector unions were warned that if Issue 2 was repealed in last years election that this would be the result. There were going to be layoffs of public employees, and trustees and school boards needed to have the option to eliminate jobs that allowed them to balance their budget instead of reducing their work force from the bottom up by seniority. This is the exact same problem that we have in our school systems, where employee costs and job security is the primary concern of the unions. In the case of the firefighters of Sycamore, they want to see the trustees go to the public with another tax levy, which is how many of these fire fighting positions have ended up paying over $60K per year exceeding what’s reasonable. The union contracts pushed off on administrations represented by the tax payers do not account for changing economic conditions, and in the case of Sycamore and many other townships, home values have plummeted, incomes have dwindled, and state money has been cut. The looter unions of the public sector expect their contracts to be honored by someone, they don’t care who, so they can continue to breeze through life playing video games between emergencies and having plenty of disposable income to live by. In this case the friendly neighborhood labor unions of IAFF are threatening with coercion action that would force yet another tax increase against the community or they will take the money from the community with a law suit, but they fully intend to get their money one way or the other. This reminds me of a line I read from The Fountainhead recently, where the villain of that fantastic novel stated, “We’ve fixed the coin, heads—collectivism, tails collectivism. Fight the doctrine which slaughters the individual with a doctrine that slaughters the individual.” What that means is that no matter which decision is made, individuals will be crushed by the will of collective salvation. This is the motive behind the labor movement—one which the average worker has no idea they are participating in, yet they are there, part of that double sided coin to invoke pressure against a community for the aims of international communism, and it’s all done with American flags flying from the back of the fire trucks and the illusion of patriotism. This may come as a shock to many, but the IAFF 3907 has a very recent past. It was founded on January 5th, 1999. Prior to this move by fire departments to move into the international union backed by the AFL-CIO fire houses were backed by volunteers from the community. These days they still maintain that illusion, but since the 9/11 tragedy firefighters have been placed on a pedestal as heroes because of the valiant acts of those involved in the terror attacks of the World Trade Center. Promoted to the level of the military careers of soldiers, firefighters were given a free pass socially to do as they pleased, and for an entire decade during the Bush years, fire, police, and education levies were passed without public refusal driving up the labor costs of those employees to a level unprecedented in American history. Nobody questioned the union push by the progressive oriented AFL-CIO during this period because of “No Child Left Behind” as no politician wanted to be called anti-education, and certainly no politician wanted to go against the heroes of 9/11, the firefighters and police. So the two sides of the two sided coin of collectivism was played against the American people to arrive at a time where the tax payers can no longer afford the mentioned public employees, because those employees simply expect too much financial compensation. This is all by design. The roots of every labor union, as are the roots of the ACLU, many newspapers, and most large organizations that have sprung up in the United States during the last 100 years of progressive influence, are openly rooted in communism. Not the kind of communism that became the USSR, or Red China, but the kind that started those countries on their current path. The influences of communism were also spreading in America due to the books by Karl Marx from the period just prior to the Civil War. Keynesian economics from England rooted in European socialism took political hold in the United States which greatly advanced communist thought in a capitalist society. It took some time to take hold, but by the turn of the last century, it was spreading. The way you can see its influence is by the term, “workers rights,” which is taken directly from the work of Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Many of the firefighters in the IAFF 3907 in Sycamore won’t understand this history—they’ll say they are not communists, they are—–capitalists? But they have forgotten, or do not understand the meaning, and thus serve the evil of communism without knowing it. By virtually every chart viewed, public employees since they were granted collective bargaining rights in 1983 to today have increased their tax burdens on society dramatically. From the time of these public union formations of firehouses like the IAFF 3907 in 1999 to now, a very steady increase in the cost of public employees has taken place, particularly during the Bush years because of the conditions mentioned above. Communists disguised as political progressives layed in wait until a major crises before unleashing the full force of their social intentions—which is the complete socialization of education, police and fire departments so to fulfill the aims of communism as small encroachments over time gradually replacing American capitalism with world-wide socialism, which is the doorway to complete communism. Of course much of this talk is too sophisticated by a population that has been deliberately reduced intellectually to conceive of these thoughts, so they will simply rationalize their social positions by calling people like me “old-fashioned” and an extreme right-winged radical. But consider this, if Walt Disney was alive today and he and I were talking, he would agree with virtually everything I’m saying right now. It is not people like me who are wrong, it is those who have allowed their perception of reality to be swept so far to the political left that even the political right is left of center compared to the foundation of America. I use Disney as an example, because even to this day, his company is considered a mainstream company, his amusement parks are still the top destination in the world for people who want to get away from their daily lives. What do you think people are trying to get away from? Disney World is as close to pure capitalism as there is on earth right now and look at it. Costco, the store, is a very close second. My ideal society would be the world of the Epcot Center, in Florida. There communism is a distant thought and freedom of thought is encouraged. But we’re not talking about amusement parks; we’re talking about the difference between communism and capitalism and the slow erosion that has been injected upon our culture and how people forget their history and have changed over time because they have been individually destroyed by the two-sided coin of communism. My position is to reject the coin flip all together. I reject both options presented to me by the communist infiltration of public employees and their mentality. I don’t want their service, and I don’t wish to pay for them under any circumstances. I could personally do better or organize a better system without the union “professional.” I reject the union end game of gradual communism and social supervisors. They can keep their double-sided coin of which they always win. The best way to win is simply not to even flip the coin. Communism is the root of this mentality and you can tell who they are by those who say, “Worker rights.” Those are the dirty rotten communists of our day, the parasites who offer a coin flip of which they win either way—if they can trick you into playing their game—which most do. My advice to the people of Sycamore is to not allow the coin flip, to not allow themselves to be pulled into an emotional argument that allows fear to drive the logic of the tax payer. The way to get rid of an international union from your neighborhoods is to cut off the head of the beast and let it die of starvation. And if you have a fire, or emergency, take care of it yourself or with a volunteer group that you form yourself in your neighborhoods. Save your money for your own use, and never commit to higher taxes, because they will never stop asking, until you are simply broke and overcommitted. Playing the coin toss game with communists will always lead to a failure because the communist will cheat to make their point every time, and their overall strategy is to end your way of life using your friends and family to carry out the attack. I am sorry to shatter the world of many of my readers with this revelation, but as promised upon the announcement of Andrew Brietbart’s death I would get into the “conspiracy theory” side of that sudden death. Upon revealing this information which hard facts are nearly impossible to come by, it is more important to study what observable conditions we do know to understand the surroundings that led to Andrew’s death. Before getting too far into these thoughts that I will reveal to you here you will need to understand a technology called Nanorobotics and you can read about that at the below link for a basic understanding. Alex Jones thinks the way I do about this issue. While those who point at Jones, and me as advocating dangerous conspiracy theories, it wasn’t us who did anything wrong. But the circumstances around Brietbart add up logically to an assassination if the facts are observed rationally. The same methods that first discovered black holes in the darkness of space can be used to ascertain the murderers in this case. When black holes were discovered they were noticed by what they didn’t show to a telescope by eating light and bending space around them. And the death of Brietbart can be understood by seeing what is being covered up. Have a listen to Alex. Within hours of the death Media Matters was very conciliatory, quickly offering a statement that bridged political differences. On the surface this seemed appropriate, but under the surface, it was a bit too quick for a group that has displayed so much hatred for people like Brietbart. That’s not to say that it was Media Matters who ordered the hit, but that they were following the orders of the company line which came straight down from its owners who also have their hands into the executive branch of our current government. The push recently from the progressive media empire has been in 2012 to hit back at the liberty groups and Brietbart was a large, symbolic target. His recent speech at CPAC was the push that took Brietbart over the edge and called out the hit. Since 2012 was ushered in it was on New Year’s Eve that the President of the United States signed into law the NDAA act that was the offensive launched by these progressive tacticians to bend the world into their direction. Fox News has come under vicious attack to water down their content focusing almost exclusively on the details of the Republican candidates for president, while quite sinister news has transpired unreported by the media. Just two weeks ago the highly respected Judge Napolitano had his show FreedomWatch cancelled as other media personalities have found themselves suddenly fired from large companies that are publicly traded on the New York Stock exchange. “He who has the gold rules,” is what a very evil, and vile man once told me as he sold me out to the political machine to save his own skin nearly two decades ago. His decision very nearly ruined my life, and put me on a path that was intended to kill me many times over. And if I did not die, then I would rot away in jail for the rest of my days. The only thing that saved me was my brain. So I know a lot about what I’m talking about here. The evil man was right, whoever has the gold does rule, and large companies publicly traded will pull the plug on controversial people so they can be removed as a threat, and this has been happening in abundance. It’s a global push, not a local one. Many people locally have seen it in newspapers being shifted around, coverage being a bit different on their nightly news, and radio stations taking noticeably “neutral” positions. The employees of these organizations don’t know what’s going on. They are simply responding to corporate memos. And those memos come from those who hold the gold. People like Andrew Breitbart, Glenn Beck, and Alex Jones have learned to carry the news without putting the control in such hands, and this has infuriated those with the gold. That’s why people like Jones are particularly dangerous to the gold rulers, because they have lost editorial control over such media personalities. In my 2004 book The Symposium of Justice I put into fictional context what years and years of being followed, wire tapped, and harassed by every legal mechanism available could muster. My simplified conclusion in that book was a government organization called “The System” had developed a mind control device which affected the pituitary gland in the human brain with a radio wave activating it in a similar fashion as a brain wave does. This would cause people to become overly sexed, and impulsive consumers—and made them easy to control. The villain in the novel was named the Magic Man, because he had a unique way of making people disappear. Killing people with a gun or another Hollywood type of assassination is a crude way to remove enemies. A bullet has traceability, and actually touching a body has fingerprints and DNA that can be left behind, so the modern assassin must find ways around these traditional assassinations. If you haven’t read The Symposium, I’d encourage you to pick it up. I keep the Amazon link off the right of the page. I wrote it to get people thinking about the improbable, and to give them hope. The money is used to fight back against these progressive losers so it’s for a good cause. That book comes to my mind because 10 years ago it was obvious to me that this type of assassination was going on and I wanted people to understand how the game was played against them. And the game is quite serious. America is under attack—not directly, but indirectly. Just listen to the remainder of Alex’s broadcast. These days it’s not subtle mind control being employed through television broadcasts, radio waves and public relations conditioning. Now for those rich enough to afford them, the modern assassins have nanobots. Nanobots are real, but are very expensive so you won’t find them at Walgreens. Nanobots are not science fiction and a thing of conspiracy theory. They are machines that are built at a molecular level and can be so small they would be undetectable with anything but a powerful microscope. So a coroner performing an autopsy would have to look in the specific region of the damaged tissue upon death to even see a nanobot. A nanobot could be programmed to attack a specific region of the body, such as a heart and weaken the cellular structure that supports the organ. This could be done through the nervous system or actually by breaking down the actual tissue. Once the target is assassinated and death is prescribed, the nanobot could then move to another region of the body and hide so that it will not be detected by the autopsy when tissue samples are taken and sent to the lab. Based on my personal experiences with law enforcement, big business, and politics, I can say with confidence that if I were hired to perform a high-profile assassination I would not use poison, because it’s detectable in an autopsy. I would not use a gun, because that is simply too messy, predictable, and has way too much traceability. The only reason one would use a gun is to take credit for the kill. Not good for such a high-profile assassination. I would use a nanobot if my client had the money to supply them. And in Andrew Brietbart’s case, the enemy clients do have the money and access to technology. When I heard that Andrew Brietbart just collapsed after walking his dog in the middle of the street subsequent to being invited to a Superbowl party at Bill Ayers house where a known terrorist had cooked for Andrew it was the very first thing I thought of—nanobots. There is means, there is motive, there are all indicators that this was a homicide. The only reason such a statement would be regulated to conspiracy theory is because nanobots are not widely known to the science community yet, and they certainly are not part of the forensics world at this time. There are probably only a handful of people on the entire planet who even have access to them. Of course twenty years from now when nanobots are mainstream science and are being used to repair organs, damaged nerves and severely broken bones, this murder case of Andrew Brietbart will have long been forgotten. The murder weapon will have dissolved away into nothing along with the natural body decay and there will be no trace left. For all practical purposes, such a murder until that time will be considered science fiction. But remember where you heard it. And know that I will be there to remind everyone that I told you so. Because the death of Andrew Brietbart was not by natural causes, it was made to look that way by a progressive movement who will stop at nothing to achieve their objectives. You can see their movements by observing the vacuums left in their wake, at what isn’t there. Once you stop looking for an actual entity, they are easy to see in the shadows they create throughout society. Andrew’s assassin was probably nowhere near the death when it happened. The murder weapon was probably ingested in food that Andrew ate at a restaurant or even at someone’s house—maybe even during a party. And once in the body it worked its way near the heart where it began to weaken the tissue there over the last couple of weeks disguising itself to the body as just another cell. Until out in the street for everyone to see, he just died. It was meant to look like natural causes, but more than that it was meant to be a warning to all who oppose the regime of progressivism currently attempting to rule the world. In public we dare not utter such theories otherwise we might be called kooks by the same assassins who do these killings. But deep down inside we all know that this was a warning kill, that war is declared and there will be more death. Alex Jones knows it and many like him. I certainly know it without even being there. Because the wake around the killing reeks with motive, means, and a vast network that intend to rule the world at any cost, even innocent lives. The weakness of this case is in a crime investigation that does not yet know or accept evidence of technology that is not yet known to the general public. But it will be, and until then how many countless thousands will be terminated in the same fashion? For those who doubt what I say here, consider how the NDAA was passed and what it means. (If you’ve forgotten already CLICK HERE for a review.) The people involved have no love or morality for the average American, and they have shown they are willing to kill if necessary to protect their intentions. And that is the strongest evidence at play in the death of Andrew Brietbart. The assassins know that nobody in the legal system will pursue such a murder, because they don’t want to have the same thing happen to them. They know like the rest of us do, that “he who has the gold—rules.” If you want to find the murderer, follow the gold and you’ll have your man. But nobody in the legal community has the courage to take on the ruler…sadly. So this death will be pronounced “natural causes,” and life will go on as usual with more mysterious deaths to follow. So we will remember Andrew Brietbart for all the things he did for liberty and that long fight out of this very black hole. He can be seen in his finals days at the link below where I have his CPAC speech up to watch again. And remember when you see it, that the contents of it led to his death. So don’t let it go in vain. To see a primitive test of a nanorobot, you can see one here moving across the surface of a dime. Welcome to the modern age of assassin technology. After three years of work, my latest book, Tail of the Dragon is almost complete. As of this writing the novel is at the copy editor and art departments at American Publishing and galleys are soon to follow. The release of this novel still appears to be during the summer of 2012. The press release below is close to how the final document will look and I am putting it up here at this time to share with my readers as they have followed the process along for many months now. Eschewing authority, one man’s desperate search for freedom evolves into the greatest car chase in American history. It all started with a race to the White House. In the exhausting presidential-election process, the American people are subjected to candidates’ self-serving hyperbole that threaten freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution. The Occupy Wall Street movement, the Tea Partiers, and ordinary voters from every walk of life all want the same thing: freedom from a dishonest government. Nicknamed “The Tax-killer” for his work in fighting tax increases, author Rich Hoffman uses his own frequent altercations with the law to explore that very question. His latest fast paced novel, Tail of the Dragon, chronicles NASCAR-loving everyman Rick Stevens in his quest for freedom after a mundane lifetime of playing by the rules. One man–who challenges authority and incites the government’s wrath all the way to the White House–will discover the true meaning and price of freedom. For an author interview, contact Jeff at [email protected]. Hoffman is experienced in all forms of media and is sure to liven up your venue with wit, knowledge, and large doses of entertainment. I’m excited about the release of this long-awaited book. The work has certainly been worth it. After reading the book about twenty times now I can honestly say that readers will be in for a unique treat that I’m happy to supply. But to quench the thirst that is building for the book’s official release I am putting links to many of the articles that I have written about Tail of the Dragon during this process to make it easy to review the material that has led to this amazing story. The Levy Freaks Have Built a Damn: Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom readers are the Taliban? I personally believe you are all as radical as the Taliban and as anti-American. I would never consider living in, near or allowing my children attend Lakota because of these types of elements on this site. You are all very ignorant and hopefully you are teaching your offspring Chinese since they will be bearing the slaves for the Chinese people in the future. With that note, the woman listed there, not related to me, lashed out at all who read my Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom articles. It took me a moment to figure out where I had heard her name before. Then at our last No Lakota Levy meeting, one of our guys reminded me who the woman was, she used to work at the Pulse Journal and was moved to the Carolina’s recently. It’s obvious that Anne is still following closely the events happening in the Lakota School system by reading this website, and she doesn’t like what she is sees. Her comments are specifically startling in that she was a former employee of the Pulse Journal and it shows a definite pro levy bias and confirms what many fear, that there are elements in the media who are bought and paid for by the organized labor elements involved in these tax increases. I can report with honesty that all reporters for the Pulse Journal are not levy sympathizers, but are honest reporters who cut the news down the line and are not the types who lean in favor of organized labor and the emotion of school funding. It is difficult for the sensitive reporter to put on blinders to the common extortion tactic used in public education and see the situation for what it is. We have been seeing this with the recent levy attempt at Forest Hills in Anderson Township. They are putting up a levy and held a pep rally over the weekend to use school spirit and community pride to sell the true extortion and lack of management utilized in public education to the public. The tactics used now for their March election are the same used everywhere in the state of Ohio, and it is a sickening enterprise to see how manipulative they are. Reporters must use logic to see beyond these veils of emotion, and it is very difficult to do. And people like Anne Hoffman are guilty of being seduced by the evil of extortion. That is their sin against their communities. As I write this I have no doubt that the labor movement of southern Ohio is clapping as Doc Thompson will no longer be on 700 WLW and is returning back to his show in Richmond, Virginia. Doc and I did many hours of radio coverage exposing how this game is played and southern Ohio is waking up from the nightmare of extortion that public education has employed for two decades now in part because of those broadcasts. So without question the traditional education advocates are happy that Doc Thompson is leaving. I also know that there are many of those same types who are happy that Steve Mathews of the Pulse Journal has been moved from covering Lakota to covering Middletown, in a maneuver that has separated the two of us from a productive working relationship. In all the interviews I had with Doc Thompson or Steven Mathews, we never mislead anyone. In fact, we excelled in telling the truth. It is the truth that these public education advocates fear, and it is in their hope of hiding the truth that they applaud the move of Mathews to a different market, and Doc Thompson to a different city. So why does Anne Hoffman want to call me and the readers here names by saying we are equal to the Taliban, known extremist terrorists? Do the words written here dictate such an accusation? Because it is those like Anne, and others who naively advocate tax increases who fear the truth from not just becoming public knowledge, but from becoming known to their own minds. Levy advocates do not want to know the truth. They don’t want to hear it on the radio, they don’t want to read it in the paper, and they don’t want it to be seen here. I have first hand knowledge that there were many letters and phone calls made by levy radicals to remove the voices in the Pulse Journal from interviewing me so often. I know that 700 WLW has also been pummeled with requests to boycott the station and silence the voices who are making people everywhere hear the truth behind this extortion game that goes on using our children as tools to pass school levies. And with all the protests, there have been small successes along the way. The levy freaks have managed to convince some members of management in various news organizations to put on the blinders and not cover the truth, and if the reporters don’t tow the company line, those reporters find themselves reassigned to the applause of the establishment. Well, I am sorry to inform those clapping despots; your successes are short-lived. You don’t like this website and consider me and my readers to be terrorists because we wish to undo your empire, and we will have it. Doc may be in a different city, but I have all those recordings available here for all interested to listen to again and again. The facts have been already displayed and they are preserved here for posterity. And if something tragic were to become of this website, the plans are already in place that if this information should be taken away as a free service to the public that my backup systems will offer them again and again in cyberspace for all eternity. And if that fails we will offer the research here in hard cover form as a book, or a series of books. But one way or the other, the information will be provided to the public. It must also be remembered that before Doc Thompson and I illuminated all of Cincinnati with the truth involved in public education, it was Scott Sloan who first put me on the radio to advocate that truth. And Darryl Parks and I have also had many conversations on the radio, and still do, so you might want to hold your clapping, because this whole thing is far from over. In fact, I’d say the momentum is irreversibly moving in a direction not to the liking of the levy freaks. Those in the media like Anne Hoffman can wish all they want that they can hush the voices of people like me in an effort to preserve their extortion. But it’s too late. The education has already happened, and it’s available for all to see. The message is already out and cannot be reversed. The attempts by the levy apologists are akin to a single person trying to stick their fingers in a cracking damn, as they stick their fingers in every hole from which water pours out. Yet the cracks are visibly climbing up and around the damn and more and more sprouts of water are seeping through, and there aren’t enough fingers to plug all the holes. The water in this case is made up of the truth, and the truth will seep through every crack, every void and probe every weakness looking for a way to free itself. And for those members of the media who have made themselves the damn which holds back all this truth, you cannot escape the fate that is evident. The damn is breaking, and all who are in the way of the truth that rushes forth will find themselves crushed by the force of all that pent-up mass. When that happens it won’t be Rich Hoffman, the readers of Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom, Steven Mathews, or Doc Thompson that will be to blame. It will be those who built the damn in the first place and maintained it with constant upkeep on the backs of children. All a person like me has to do is crack that damn, which has already been done. The rest will happen on it’s own by the force of nature and is at the point of no return which gives me great joy in the midst’s of a heavy heart. As that damn comes down, I have to smile at comments like Anne Hoffman’s. A terrorist? I suppose that is relative to a point of view, and to those who have used terror to scare tax payers into higher taxes, anything that robs the levy freaks of this method would be considered bad—or evil—-to them. So I take comments like the opening note as evidence that I’m on the right track, and will keep doing it until every last remnant of that damn is down. It is obvious that the current school board after moving around the bodies a bit have no intention to do what is required to meet their budget parameters, which are driven exclusively by excessive wage expectations by the school employees. And the public school, just like in the federal government uses the neurosis of a few out-of-touch parents to justify millions of dollars in waste in a subtle campaign to expand the reach of the public school and its reach into the sanctity of the American family. As Lakota attempted to reconcile some of its staggering cost overruns driven by very high wages negotiated under a union contract, the superintendent has proposed to re-organize Preschool responsibilities with the Butler County Educational Services Center which could eliminate 42 teaching positions at Lakota and create a savings of $1.2 million dollars. So parents, upset with this announcement are speaking out. They want this “Head Start” program intact for their children ages 3 to 5. To make matters worse, the parents want teachers to possess B.S. or M.S. degrees to perform basically a day care task. These parents want these things because they don’t have to pay for them, but instead were told by their real estate agents upon buying their homes that Lakota offers all these services, so the expectations are there in these young parents. As I consider what people like Holly Emch mentioned in her interview with Channel 9 News I have to wonder how Lakota got into the business of teaching pre-school kids in the first place. I didn’t think public education began until a child turned 5 and went to kindergarten. Lakota can save $1.2 million dollars just by merging with basically another day care service? Why are tax payers required to pay for day care? Shouldn’t the burden fall on parents like Holly to care for their own child? Don’t these “head start” programs skew the numbers required to provide a community’s kids with a proper education? YES! Hey, it’s nice to be able to provide day care for parents like Holly. But it isn’t so nice if the cost comes at the expense of the elderly, or those who are barely hanging on to their home. Or a business owner who is trying to figure out if they have to increase their prices to cover their taxes. The schools are pretentious in believing they are the most important characteristic of a community. In fact, they are so arrogant that distinguished members of the school system who also sell real estate for a living, have filed complaints against members of our tax fighting group No Lakota Levy to the Board of Realtors in hopes that the BOR would force those tax fighters to withdrawal their support, and shut their mouth. Real Estate agents who are pro levy, and there are many who are close to the pro tax increase push behind Lakota, want the easy sale. They want to tell a potential home buyer, “There’s nothing wrong with Lakota. All is good. Buy the house. Great schools, great community support, and there is pre-school care for your child.” These real estate agents won’t tell the potential buyer that Butler County had the highest foreclosure rate in the state of Ohio in 2011. Those types of people are the ultimate looters. They care nothing for what happens to their customers once they buy a home they can’t really afford once they find out the taxes on their property will put them out of the house within five years. Those real estate looters will be in a Florida condo 5 years from now, so they don’t give a damn what happens down the road from their looting nature. But if No Lakota Levy messes with their easy money, they will do everything in their power to bring down those individuals, as is evidence by the complaints at the BOR. I see all these members as disgustingly parasitic. They are leeches to our community and I see the work of combating these looters as a benefit to the wealth of our district of Lakota. I see fighting these moochers as preserving that wealth for the future, because if we yield to them we will end up as screwed up in our communities as the federal government is, and we don’t want that. Upon this announcement The Cincinnati Enquirer interviewed me for my comments. I gave a frustrated response to the questions which can be read here. The answer to Lakota’s budget trouble is rather easy. The school board members, the superintendent, the real estate agents who work to push for another school levy will all say that it is the federal government that has given them the legal requirements to supply programs like “Head Start” and many other mandates. But as they make such statements Lakota is targeting the 14.6% of kids in the preschool programs that are possibly eligible for federal Head Start dollars, so it is the money grabbing efforts such as this which put the federal government into the ear of the administrators and take away their ability to manage their costs. Between the labor union and the federal government, the school administrators find themselves drifting on a rudderless boat down a swift moving river, completely unable to control their direction as proven in these actions. Even when Mantia and company attempt to control their costs, their efforts to obtain more federal money, and cut immediate costs with this merge with the Butler County Educational Services Center, the union still has final say on everything that happens. For proof all one has to do is examine the Preschool Program Proposal provided by Lakota and study appendix C of that document. On that list even with the proposed cuts the union demands 11 positions be filled totaling $339K per year that must be staffed by their people. Ultimately this is the real villain of public education and the element that must be removed from it before a district can ever have a serious discussion about funding public education. At some point Ohio will have a Right-to-Work amendment to our Ohio Constitution which will break up the union monopoly forever. This will happen because Indiana is going to get it, and Ohio will have to follow to remain competitive economically. Once the unions no longer run our public schools, we can then see how much money education will really costs. But not until that time should any additional funds be allocated for public education under any circumstances. Because it is obvious that the school board and administrations have no control or courage to even ask the labor force to take a 5% cut to save those 42 jobs that are in jeopardy. I know a portion of the teachers of Lakota are willing to take a pay cut, because I asked one of them on 700 WLW, and they said in the affirmative, “Yes I would take a pay cut to save the jobs of teachers.” Listen for yourself. Yet the school board and superintendent won’t even ask the question—why? The answer is that it is the union who runs the Lakota School District, not the administrators, not the school board, and certainly not the superintendent. It is the union who controls the employees, our children and our property values. They are like a cancer that if removed too suddenly might kill our bodies so we find ourselves blasting ourselves with chemotherapy in an attempt to rid ourselves of the increasing taxation of costs driven exclusively from a parasitic labor union. Cutting early child care programs that are actually the responsibility of the parents are suddenly a crisis to the neurotic mom so busy in her life that she expects the community to raise her child. And to garner tax increase in 2012 rather than deal with the real costs, the Lakota School System would rather disguise a cleaver extortion tactic, which is what all this amounts to, in a campaign effort to gain more revenue for their looting tendencies. For all these reasons and more articulate why I am disgusted. It saddens me to know that I am much more correct in all my accretions than even I fantasized about in speculation. Because the actions of this school board show clearly what the real intentions truly are for the Lakota School District in 2012, and that is simply to ask for more money to cover their lack of management ability, and courage in sticking up to the unions and protecting the taxpayers. Each one of them acting in this fashion should be ashamed of themselves for knowingly playing this dangerous game that will prove detrimental and short-sighted to the greater community surrounding these public schools and how their lack of courage and skill will affect the lives of thousands.

2019-04-23T13:58:43Z

https://overmanwarrior.blog/category/national-debt/

For the last five days the armies of the Crown Prince have been attacking Verdun with increasing intensity. Their offensive extends over a front of forty kilometres; the bombardment has been of unprecedented violence. This is the most tragic moment since the Battle of the Marne, perhaps the most decisive of the war. The recent elevation of Monsignor Pitirim to the Metropolitan See of Petrograd has made Rasputin the absolute master of the Church. As proof of this, he has just compelled the Holy Synod to bow to his will, and solemnly ratify the canonization of the "Servant of God," John of Tobolsk. His friend, the cynical Bishop Varnava, never anticipated so swift and striking a victory. To crown everything, he has just been promoted to the dignity of archbishop. If health is nothing but the smooth working of all the functions, the harmonious co-operation of all the organs and the co-ordination of action of the vital forces, it must be admitted that the Russian colossus is very sick, for the body politic is revealing enormous dissonances and incongruities. In 1897 the Government started on a general census of the population, in accordance with the highly detailed rules of modern statistics. It was the first time that so vast and methodical an operation had been undertaken. Hitherto the authorities had confined their efforts to certain local, summary and merely approximate censuses. The census officials everywhere met with profound distrust and frequently open resistance. Strange rumours spread abroad and alarmist myths gained a firm hold: the tchinovniks were bent on an increase of military obligations, a requisition of corn, additional taxation, agrarian revision for the benefit of landlords, perhaps even the restoration of serfdom. In all quarters the moujiks exchanged anxious glances and muttered: "It's an omen of great evils... . Nothing good can come of it... . It's the work of the devil!" Of course the tchinovniks did not fail to prey upon these childish fears with a view to extorting bribes. The abyss between the two castes was deeper than ever. One of Korolenko's novels, The Eclipse, gives us a vivid description of the attitude of fierce, sly suspicion which the Russian peasant adopts towards the representatives of the upper classes, and all who are above him by virtue of official authority, wealth, knowledge or education. The scene is laid in a small town on the Volga. Astronomers have come to observe an eclipse of the sun. The presence of these strangers, their mysterious preparations and curious instruments, immediately alarm the little place. A rumour spreads at once that they are sorcerers, agents of the devil, emissaries of Antichrist. A suspicious and murmuring crowd gathers round them and they have great difficulty in protecting their telescopes. Suddenly the eclipse begins and the sun hides itself. The fury of the crowd then breaks forth. Some of them cry out against the impiety of the astronomers in daring to question Heaven: "God will give them their answer by thunder!" Others shriek out like maniacs: "It's the end of the world! We're all about to die! Lord, have mercy on us! " But the sun soon reappears. The agitation dies down. The spectators congratulate each other on having escaped so dire a peril "Let us thank God that we are still alive! ... " Not less significant are the popular outbreaks which habitually accompany the famines and epidemics which are so frequent in Russia. Whenever there is a famine the same charge is spread abroad "It's the officials and landlords cornering the grain!." Or else: "The tchinovniks and barins have arranged the extermination of the people in order to seize their land." When there are epidemics the suspicions of the peasants are invariably turned against the doctor, who in their eyes is the agent of the authorities: "Why does he use incomprehensible words? Why these unfathomable looks and strange actions? Who can doubt that it is he who spreads cholera; he is poisoning the poor moujiks by order of the Government!" And away they go and burn ,the hospital, smash up the laboratory, and insult or beat the doctor, sometimes even kill him! In this respect the novelist Veressaiev, always a model of accuracy in his descriptions of Russian life, has not exaggerated in the least in his story of the heartbreaking experiences of Dr. Tchekianov. The doctor, a youthful enthusiast, who is obsessed by a desire to be of service to the poor, exhausts himself in prodigies of self-sacrifice during an epidemic of cholera. But that does not prevent him being regarded as a poisoner by the ignorant brutes he is sent to help; insulted, abused and ultimately half beaten to death. On his bed of pain he reflects bitterly. But instead of bearing his torturers any ill-will he feels infinite pity for them and writes in his diary: "I have been beaten! Beaten like a mad dog because I came to help them and devoted all my knowledge and strength to them. Only to-day I realize how much I loved them. I have not succeeded in winning their confidence. I had almost brought them to believe in me; a few glasses of vodka were enough to thrust them back in to their mental darkness and reawaken their primitive savage instincts. And now I feel I am going to die. But why have I struggled? In what cause am I dying? Obviously all this was inevitable. The moujiks have always regarded us simply as strangers. We despised and avoided them. We never tried to know them. A terrifying abyss separated us from them... " For several months the Russian people were inclined to sneer at the military assistance of France. In spite of our great propaganda work through the Press, illustrated papers, lectures, and the cinema, people had not realized the intensity of the struggle on the western front. More than once I have had to draw the attention of Sazonov, Goremykin and General Sukhomlinov to the unfair and discourteous criticisms of certain papers. The Battle of Verdun has changed all that. The heroism of our army, the skill and coolness of our High Command, our enormous resources in matériel and the splendid attitude of our public opinion are admired by everyone. The President of the Duma, Rodzianko, called on me to-day to bring me the congratulations of the Assembly. In the streets, and mainly in front of the newspaper posters, I have several times heard moujiks talking of Verdoun. Philippesco, formerly War Minister in Rumania and head of the francophile party at Bucharest, has just arrived in Petrograd to take stock of the situation. He has had a very kind reception from the Emperor and Sazonov, but while confirming the highly favourable disposition of his country towards the allied cause he has confined himself to generalities. He has asked Diamandy to tell me that he would be glad to have a talk with me, and would have called to see me before had he not been confined to bed with a cold. I immediately handed this telegram to Sazonov, who seemed more than surprised, in fact rather annoyed. "It is not the Emperor but the King of Rumania to whom the President of the Republic should be writing. It's not, as Monsieur Poincaré seems to think, simply a question of divergence of views between the Russian and Rumanian staffs as to the theatre of operations, inasmuch as there have not even been conversations, notwithstanding my efforts. It is not any particular strategic conception which is at stake; it's the very principle of co-operation. When I question Diamandy and tried to draw him on to practical ground, he invariably replies that he is without instructions and has not the slightest idea of his Government's intentions. When our military attaché, Colonel Tatarinov, arrives in Bucharest, armed with full powers and all information necessary to open negotiations, Bratiano tells him that the day of Rumania's abandonment of neutrality is far away, and we have plenty of time to make our joint plans. And now, when M. Philippesco calls on me, and I try to get him to talk, he gives me nothing but evasive replies." "I can understand that you lose patience with Bratiano's methods, but the matter is too serious for you not to do your utmost to win over Rumania definitely to our cause. The President of the Republic's telegram gives the Emperor a very timely opportunity of announcing his intentions; your allies will be all the stronger for it when it comes to taking action in Bucharest." The Russian Government persists in remaining silent about the restoration of Poland. Paris, where the Polish committees of Switzerland are carrying on a very energetic and skilful propaganda, is getting anxious about it. At this end I neglect no opportunity of pointing out that the Imperial Government is making a grievous mistake in delaying to establish the autonomy of Poland on a broad basis; it risks being forestalled by the Teutonic powers. Of course, I am obliged to be very diplomatic, as Russian nationalism has not yet forgotten the events of 1863. "Be careful! Poland is a dangerous quarter for an ambassador of France." Poland and her King are full of precipices. But the diplomacy I have to display towards the Imperial Government in the Polish question is only a difficulty of detail. The main obstacle to a speedy decision is the conflict of opinion it arouses in the Russian world. There can be no doubt that the Emperor himself has been won over to the principle of a generous autonomy. Provided that Poland remains under the sceptre of the Romanovs, he would concede most of the Polish claims. Sazonov shares his views and bravely exhorts him to adhere to them. On the other hand, public opinion in Russia, taken in bulk, simply will not hear of Poland ceasing to be included in a united empire. The opposition does not come merely from nationalist circles and the bureaucracy; it is seen in the Duma and all the parties. The result is that the proclamation of Polish autonomy by legislative act is impossible, so I imagine that the question cannot be solved otherwise than by a motu proprio of the Emperor, a coup d'état of his sovereign will. I am told that this is Sazonov's idea and that he has already suggested it to the Emperor; but he has against him Sturmer and the whole "Potsdam Court," who are clever enough to see that 'the Polish question is the best weapon for a reconciliation with Germany. This afternoon I had a long talk with Philippesco, who received me at the Rumanian Legation; he could not come to the embassy, as he is still an invalid. In spite of his physical exhaustion, he has a depth of conviction and warmth of tone which he betrays the moment he speaks. "You know my feelings for France; it's my second country. And you know how impatient I am to see our army take the field. Nor can you be unaware that I am not a political friend of our President of the Council, and in fact he reckons me among his opponents. But I won't conceal the fact that I think M. Bratiano is right in refusing to launch our country into the war before the time for a general allied offensive has come, and the Russian army is ready to enter the Dobrudja. The dispatch of a Russian army south of the Danube is not merely indispensable from the strategic point of view; it is necessary to make the breach between Russia and the Bulgarians definite and irreparable. As soon as these conditions precedent are fulfilled we shall enter Transylvania. But I doubt whether the Russian Government and General Staff will agree with our point of view." "I have no reason to assume that the Russian General Staff would not agree to send an army to the Dobrudja. As to whether a Rumanian contingent should or should not support the movements of that army, that's a detail which will be governed by the plan of campaign. In any case you needn't think that the Russian Government is trying to be gentle with the Bulgarians. Russia is a loyal ally. As long as the French and the English Salonica armies have the Bulgarian army to fight, Russia will show Bulgaria no mercy; I'll promise you that." Philippesco seemed to me quite impressed by my firm language. More than once he glanced inquiringly at Diamandy, who was listening to our talk in silence, and replied with a nod. "Why does M. Bratiano evade all negotiations?" "Because he's taking a shabby line! He doesn't find the market good enough! So he's letting the best opportunities slip by. By delaying the decision on which all Rumania insists, he'll make us the vassals of Germany! ... " "The decisive hour may strike much sooner than M. Bratiano imagines. You must remember that a military convention always takes a long time to negotiate - two or three weeks at least. Then there are the preparations to give effect to it. The railways have to be adapted, all the transport assembled, supplies and depots prepared, etc. In the case of the Russians, who are such bad organizers and have such defective notions of space and time, this task is slower and more difficult than elsewhere. If Germany issued an ultimatum to Rumania to-morrow, M. Bratiano would be caught utterly unprepared. For argument's sake I'll admit that he is reluctant to undertake to declare war by a fixed day. But what objection can he find to the Russian and Rumanian General Staffs entering into a convention which, necessarily, would have no executory validity until ratified by the two Governments? Is he afraid of something leaking out, perhaps? Why, hasn't Rumania long been compromised in the eyes of the Central Powers by her agreement with the Allies on the subject of Transylvania? Isn't that agreement notorious?" "I think I shall hasten my return to Bucharest." Philippesco repeated our conversation of yesterday to Sazonov. The latter said to him: "I entirely endorse everything Monsieur Paléologue says." As soon as Philippesco is well again, he will return to Bucharest. The fighting around Verdun is raging with redoubled ferocity. The Germans are attacking with large forces on both sides of the Meuse. Our line holds firm in spite of the intensity of their fire and the violence of their assaults. " I'm very glad you've spoken so frankly," he said. I've already reaped the benefit of it here and am taking the best impressions away with me. The moment I get to Bucharest I shall put pressure on M. Bratiano in the sense of your views, which I entirely share." Taking advantage of the Emperor's visit to Tsarskoe Selo I have asked him for an audience to discuss Rumania and the general situation; he will receive me to-morrow, with the customary ceremonial. But yesterday evening he very kindly informed me that a series of cinematograph films of scenes from the French front would be shown to his children to-day, and he asked me to be present, quite privately and informally, my official audience remaining fixed for to-morrow. I reached Tsarskoe Selo at five o'clock. The apparatus was placed in the large rotunda drawing-room. In front of the screen were three armchairs and a dozen or so small chairs. The Emperor and Empress entered almost immediately, accompanied by the young Grand Duchesses and the Tsarevitch; they were followed by the Minister of the Court and Countess Fredericks, the Grand Marshal of the Court and Countess Benckendorff , Colonel Narishkin, Mlle. de Buxhoevden, the Tsarevitch's tutor, Gilliard, and some of the minor palace officials; groups of servants and chambermaids thronged all the doorways. The Emperor was in field uniform, the Empress and her daughters in woollen dresses, as plain as possible; the other ladies were in walking dress. It was the Imperial Court in the ungarnished simplicity of its daily life. The Emperor made me sit between the Empress and himself. The lights were put out, and the performance began. I was greatly moved by this long series of pictures and episodes, such truthful, vivid, pathetic and eloquent expressions of the French effort! The Emperor was lavish with his praises of our army. He kept exclaiming . "Isn't it splendid! What wonderful dash your soldiers have! How could anyone face such a bombardment? What a mass of obstacles in the German trenches!" But he always confined himself to vague general terms. Not one specific comment or professional observation or criticism did he make; nothing to reveal any personal experience of the military art, or technical sense of war. Yet he is the Commander-in-Chief of all the Russian armies! The Empress said little, as usual, though she was as pleasant as possible. But how forced was her slightest compliment! What a wry twist there was in her smile! I was alone with her during the interval of twenty minutes or so when tea was served, and the Emperor went off to smoke a cigarette in the next room. An interminable tête-à-tête! We talked about the war, its horrors, our inevitable victory, etc.; the Empress replied in short jerky phrases, invariably agreeing with me, as if she were an automaton. The fixed and distant gaze made me wonder whether she was listening to me, or indeed heard me at all. I was horrified to think of the omnipotent influence this poor neurotic woman exercised on the conduct of affairs of State! The second part of the performance added nothing to my previous impressions. "I'm glad to have had this trip to France in your company. To-morrow we'll have a long talk together ......" At two o'clock I returned to Tsarskoe Selo, but this time in full uniform, with the usual ceremonial. At the gates of the palace I met a party of officers who had just presented the Emperor with the Turkish standards captured at Erzerum on February 15. "I'm told that the coolness and skill of General Joffre have enabled him to husband his reserves. So I hope that in five or six weeks' time we shall be able to take the offensive simultaneously on all the fronts. Unfortunately, snow has been falling uninterruptedly for several days, and it prevents us from fixing any shorter period. But the moment my army is in a position to move, you may be certain that it will attack with the greatest possible vigour." I pointed out in turn that the Battle of Verdun marks a critical date in the war, and the decisive phase of the operations cannot long be delayed; the inference I drew was that the Allied Governments must hasten to agree upon the great diplomatic questions outstanding, so that they can impose their solutions when the hour for peace strikes. "That is why I direct Your Majesty's attention to the agreement the French and British Governments have just negotiated on the subject of Asia Minor; M. Sazonov is to discuss it with you to-morrow. I have no doubt that your Government will examine the legitimate claims of the Government of the Republic in the most generous spirit." I gave him a general outline of the agreement. He immediately brought up the future constitution of Armenia. "It's an exceedingly complicated question," he said: "I haven't yet discussed it with my ministers. Personally, I'm not contemplating any conquests in Armenia, with the exception of Erzerum and Trebizond, the possession of which is a strategical necessity for the Caucasus. But I won't hesitate to promise you that my Government will bring to its examination of this question the same friendly spirit which France has displayed towards Russia." "When peace comes, the hands of the Allies will have been enormously strengthened for dealing with Germany if they have settled in advance all the questions which might possibly divide them. The problems of Constantinople, Persia, the Adriatic and Transylvania have now been solved. We should make haste to solve the problem of Asia Minor." "I hope Asia Minor won't make your Government forget the left bank of the Rhine." Rumania did not detain us long. The Emperor repeated what he had telegraphed to the President of the Republic on March 3, and his statements were so spontaneous and categorical that I could not ask him for more. As he then rose, I concluded that the audience was over. But he took me to the window, offered me a cigarette and resumed the conversation before a marvellous vista of sun and snow, which seemed to lay a mantle of diamond dust over the garden. He spoke in an intimate, confidential and frank tone he had never adopted with me hitherto. "What great memories we can share together, my dear Ambassador!" he said. " Do you remember the first time I saw you, on this very spot? You told me that you felt the war coming and we ought to prepare. You also told me of the strange revelations of the Emperor William to King Albert; it struck me very much, and I immediately repeated it to the Empress... " With perfect accuracy of memory, he successively recalled the banquet on board the La France on July 23, and our evening walk on his yacht at sea after the President of the Republic had left then the tragic week which began the very next morning the scene on August 2 in the Winter Palace, when he made me stand at his side while he took the solemn oath of 1812 on the Gospel; the unforgettable ceremonies at Moscow; then the whole series of our talks together, grave talks but always frankness itself. His tone grew warmer and warmer with this long recital, which was almost a monologue, for I did no more than occasionally add a finishing touch to some of his memories. "I often, very often, think of Your Majesty, your heavy task and the whole burden of cares and responsibilities on your shoulders. And once, Sire, I deeply pitied you." "When was that? I like you to talk like this... . When was that?" "When you took command of your armies." "Yes, that was a terrible moment for me. I thought God had deserted me, and a victim was necessary to save Russia. I know you understood my action, and I haven't forgotten it." "I'm sure that in times like those it is the memory of your glorious father from which, after God, you draw your greatest inspiration." I pointed to a large portrait of Alexander III which hung prominently over his table. "Yes, in difficult moments - how many there are! - I always consult my father and he is always my inspiration. I'm afraid we must separate now, my dear Ambassador. I'm lingering here, talking to you, but, as I return to the Stavka to-morrow, I've still a lot to do." At the door he shook me warmly by the hand. From this audience, which lasted more than an hour, I brought away an impression that the Emperor is happy and facing the future confidently. Otherwise, how could he have dwelt with such obvious pleasure on memories which the war has enabled us to share? Secondly, I observed several characteristics of his temperament - simplicity, gentleness, capacity for sympathy, good memory, excellent intentions, mysticism, lack of self-confidence, and therefore an eternal hankering after support from outside or on high. Nicholas II was inspired by a happy and touching notion when he founded the Narodny Dom, or "House of the People," in 1901. Behind the Petropavlovsk Fortress, on the bank of Kronversky Canal, rises a vast building which comprises concert rooms, theatres, cinemas, promenades and restaurants. It is severely plain. The architect's object, and sole object, was to create large roofed spaces ingeniously distributed: everything is subordinated to convenience of arrangement and suitability for its purpose. The Tsar's idea was to enable the lower classes to procure amusement for a very small sum in a secluded and well-warmed place; he regarded it also as an unostentatious means of fighting the demoralizing influence of the public-houses and the pernicious effects of drink; vodka is not allowed in the building. The undertaking has been a remarkable success; the place has even become quite the fashion. The most celebrated actors, leading virtuosi and the best orchestras regard it as an honour to appear in the Narodny Dom, so for twenty kopecks the lowly may familiarize themselves with the finest expression of the musical and dramatic arts. A few boxes and several rows of stalls are available for two or three roubles to the wealthier classes. The public go there in ordinary dress. The hall is always full. This evening the wonderful Shaliapin sang Massenet's Don Quixote. To my box I had invited Princess Sophie Dolgoruky, Madame Polovtsev, the Countess de Robien, wife of my secretary, and Sazonov. I had heard Don Quixote here several times before. No doubt the work is not one of Massenet's happiest inspirations; one is too conscious of the shortcomings of the ageing master, haste and artificial and commonplace development. But in the misadventures of the hidalgo Shaliapin finds an opportunity of carrying to their highest point his art of combination, breadth of style and dramatic power. On each occasion I have observed the intense interest which the public takes in the character of the hero and the action. I wondered why. At first sight there is nothing Russian about Cervantes' story, that masterpiece of good temper, sound sense, wisdom, mockery without bitterness and scepticism without disillusionment. But on reflection I have discovered several features which cannot fail to please Russians - generosity, warm-heartedness, pity, resignation to misfortune, and above all the attraction of the chimerical, the persuasive power of the idée fixe, the perpetual interplay of hallucination and cold reason. "It's perfectly beautiful, sublime! It's almost religious." Sazonov tells me that the Imperial Government approves of the agreement reached between the cabinets of Paris and London on the subject of Asia Minor, except as regards Kurdistan, which Russia wants to annex in addition to the regions of Trebizond, Erzerum, Bitlis and Van. In return, he is suggesting that France should take the regions of Diarbekir, Karput and Sivas. I have no doubt that Briand will acquiesce, so that this matter is now settled. I asked a few musical enthusiasts to dinner this evening - that fine painter and critic, Alexander Nicolaïevitch Benois, the young composers Karataguin and Prokofiev, the singer Madame Nazmanov, and the habitués of the embassy. In her rich, warm voice, palpitating with sustained emotion, Madame Nazmanov sang us songs by Balakirev, Borodin, Moussorgsky, Liapunov and Stravinsky. Whether elegiac, soothing or pathetic, all these songs betray their popular origin. It is through the songs, born in the long evenings in the isbas or the infinite space of the steppes, that the melancholy of the Russian soul has found expression throughout the centuries, a melancholy which is usually dreamy and irresolute, but sometimes rises to fierce despair. Maxim Gorky has given us a powerful description of the mournful intoxication into which music plunges the Russian peasants. Between Madame Nazmanov's songs one of my guests, who has lived among the peasants a good deal, confirmed the accuracy of an incident in a novel of this bitter and powerful writer with which I was much struck. One evening, two moujiks, a cripple and a consumptive, met a loose woman in a smoke-laden tavern; all three were worn out with misery. "Let's have a song!" said the cripple. "There's nothing like sadness to enliven your spirit. If you want to set it on fire, sing it a sad song." He began to sing as if he were sobbing, and the words were suffocated in his throat. His companion echoed him in a deep, moaning voice, "giving the vowels alone." Then the woman's contralto rose, dreamy, palpitating and burdened with woe. Once started, the three singers did not stop: "They sang as if hypnotized by their voices, which rang forth now gloomy and passionate, now like to a sigh of repentance, now soft and plaintive as the crying of a child, now heavy with anguish and despair like all fine Russian songs. The sounds quivered and wept; at times it seemed as if they were about to expire, but they immediately revived, took up the dying refrain, tossed it in the air, where it fluttered for a moment and then fell. The shrill voice of the cripple accentuated this horror, and the prostitute sang, the consumptive wept and the dreadful song seemed as if it would never end... "Suddenly the consumptive cried: "Enough! Enough! In Christ's name, stop! I can't stand anymore! My heart's burning like a live coal! ... " To conclude the evening's entertainment Karataguin and Prokofiev played selections of their works. Very learned music. The time has gone by when Russian composers could be charged with ignorance of the technical side. The younger school, in fact, errs through excessive preoccupation with theory. Karataguin strikes me as a mediocre disciple of Scriabin; the things he played to us to-night were empty, complicated, prolix and pretentious. Prokofiev, on the other hand, is full of ideas, but they seem to be crushed out of existence, so to speak, by his eternal pursuit of novel modulations and unexpected sonorities. But I liked his suite, Les Sarcasmes, for their wealth of intellect, colour and delicate feeling. The imperial commission, set up by the Emperor to investigate General Sukhomlinov's responsibility for the munitions crisis and the confusion in the military administrative departments, has completed its task with a report that the former War Minister should be brought before a court-martial. Nicholas II has just approved that decision. General Sukhomlinov's name has now been removed from the Council of Empire. The epic of Verdun is arousing among all classes here an enthusiastic admiration of which I get direct evidence every day. But, mingled with it is a feeling which becomes increasingly tragic and humiliating, a realization of the impotence to which the Russian armies are reduced. To satisfy the demands of the public conscience, the Emperor has just ordered a serious offensive south of the Dvina, in the direction of Vilna - notwithstanding the adverse weather conditions. Fierce fighting is taking place day and night between Lake Narotch and Lake Vizniev. Yesterday the Germans lost several villages. The Emperor instructs me to ask you to convey to the brave 20th Corps an expression of his warmest admiration and regard for its brilliant bearing in the Battle of Verdun. His Majesty is firmly convinced that under the command of its valiant leaders the French army, faithful to its glorious traditions, will not fail to break the will of its barbarous enemy. I personally am happy to express to you my immense admiration for the courage shown by the French army in these violent and trying encounters. The whole Russian army is following the great deeds of the French army with the closest attention. It sends it the best wishes of a brother-in-arms for a complete victory, and is only awaiting the order to join in the battle against the common foe. I was at the Narodny Dom again this evening to hear Shaliapin in Boris Godunov, which is his great part. Pushkin's lyrical inspiration, Mussorgsky's genius for realism and Shaliapin's dramatic power combine so perfectly that the spell cast on the spectator is complete. The terrible adventure of the false Dimitry is revealed in a succession of tableaux, the relief and colour in which are astounding: it is the wholesale synthesis of an epoch. The audience thinks itself transported into the very period and milieu of the drama; it shares, as it were, the emotions of the characters , their pangs, fury, weaknesses, apprehensions, infatuation and hallucinations. In the death scene Shaliapin revealed himself the equal of the greatest artists, as he always does. When the bells of the Kremlin tell the Muscovites that the autocrat is dying, and Boris, haunted by the phantom of the martyred tsarevitch, with haggard eye, trembling steps, twitching limbs and convulsive gestures, orders his servants to bring him the monk's robe which dying tsars must wear, the highest pitch of tragic horror is touched. During the last act Madame S - -, who was in my box, pointed out very pertinently the important part which Mussorgsky assigns to the action of the masses. The picturesque crowd which moves around the protagonists is not an indifferent and passive multitude or a mere troop of supers and dummies; it takes an active part, intervenes in all the shifting phases of the scenario and is always well in the foreground. "You may be quite certain that in this theatre there are several hundred, perhaps a thousand, people watching these scenes but thinking solely of current events; they already have the approaching revolution before their eyes. I was a very close spectator of our agrarian disorders in 1905; I was at my country house near Saratov. It is not political and social ideas which interest and excite our masses in a revolution; they don't understand them at all. It is the dramatic spectacles which send them crazy - processions with red flags, ikons and hymns, shootings, massacres, public funerals, scenes of drunken fury and destruction, lootings and fires, particularly the fires, which make such a wonderful effect at night... ." "We're a theatrical race ... too imaginative, too much the artist and musician. It will do us a bad turn someday." She lapsed into silent thought, with a look of horror in the depths of her great blue eyes. 1. The telegram was worded as follows. I ask pardon for drawing Your Majesty's attention to the vital importance the Government of the Republic attaches to Rumania's approaching decision. It would mean a grave peril to the Allies if that Power sooner or later yielded to the pressure of Germany. It would also be a moral and military defeat for them if she persisted in her neutrality to the conclusion of hostilities. France is prepared to do everything in her power to bring Rumania into the field. The main object of the forces she maintains at Salonica, notwithstanding the formidable effort the Germans are now making on the French front, is co-operation with Russia, England, Serbia and Rumania. I have no doubt that Your Majesty realizes the very great importance of Rumanian assistance. Your Majesty gave a very striking proof of your feelings when the question of Rumania's territorial claims was examined. Now that these delicate points have been settled and it only remains to decide upon the plan and conditions of military operations, I am sure that in these fresh negotiations Your Majesty will exert your powers of mediation so that the Russian and Rumanian armies shall have assigned to them a task and sphere of action in which each can make its maximum effort for the greatest good of the common cause. It is not surprising that Rumania should wish to operate mainly in regions assigned to her by diplomatic agreements, and it seems desirable that the Rumanian army, supported by the stronger and more experienced Russian army, should be inspired by its rôle of liberator in a theatre in which it will join hands with its racial brothers. Your Majesty has no doubt pondered all these considerations before myself, and I firmly hope that, thanks to your high and far-sighted authority, the difficulties which still prevent the conclusion of a military convention will be overcome. I take this opportunity of renewing my warm wishes for Your Majesty and Russia. Tsarskoe Selo, March 3, 1916. Since the war began, the Russian Government, attaching great importance to Rumanian help in the cause of the Allies, has never ceased in its efforts to conclude a military convention with Rumania. No doubt the Government of the Republic has already been advised of the dispatch to Bucharest of Colonel Tatarinov, G.S., to inform Rumania of the help that Russia is prepared to give her, and to devise with the Rumanian General Staff the plan and terms of joint operations. The Rumanian Government, however, does not seem disposed to define its standpoint on the question of military co-operation, and has reserved its decision without even consenting to open negotiations on this subject. I can assure you, Monsieur le Président, that Russia has done, and will continue to do, everything in her power to smooth over the difficulties which prevent the conclusion of the military convention with Rumania, and it is not her fault if that Government still defers taking action. I am following with admiration the heroic resistance of France to the enemy's formidable assaults at the present moment. Hoping with all my heart that those assaults will be broken against the unshakable. barrier opposed by the valiant French army, I take this opportunity, Monsieur le Président, of renewing the assurance of my high regard and unfailing friendship.

2019-04-18T16:40:57Z

http://www.alexanderpalace.org/mpmemoirs/2_7.html

There is limited understanding of the relationship between physical activity and use of screen-based media, two important behaviors associated with adolescents’ health outcomes. To understand this relationship, researchers may need to consider not only physical activity level but also physical activity experience (i.e., affective experience obtained from doing physical activity). Using a sample predominantly consisting of African and Latino American urban adolescents, this study examined the interrelationships between physical activity experience, physical activity level, and use of screen-based media during leisure time. Data collected using self-report, paper and pencil surveys was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results showed that physical activity experience was positively associated with physical activity level and had a direct negative relationship with use of non-active video games for males and a direct negative relationship with use of computer/Internet for both genders, after controlling for physical activity level. Physical activity level did not have a direct relationship with use of non-active video games or computer/Internet. However, physical activity level had a direct negative association with use of TV/movies. This study suggests that physical activity experience may play an important role in promoting physical activity and thwarting use of screen-based media among adolescents. U.S. adolescents have a high incidence of physical inactivity and spend a large portion of their free time using screen-based media such as TV, cellphones, and video games (Strasburger et al., 2010, 2012; Kann et al., 2016; National Physical Activity Plan Alliance, 2016), which may contribute to various health problems. According to the most up-to-date U.S. physical activity data measured by accelerometers (2005–2006 NHANES), only 7.5% youth between the ages of 12–15 and 5.1% youth between the ages of 16–19 meet the U.S. physical activity guidelines (Katzmarzyk et al., 2016). In the meantime, more than two thirds of youth (ages 12–19) fail to meet the screen-time recommendation by American Academy of Pediatrics (National Physical Activity Plan Alliance, 2016). This is particularly true for Latino and African American adolescents, many of whom are from families of low socioeconomic status. For example, Latino and African American students of 9th through 12th grade have a lower rate of meeting the U.S. physical activity guideline than White students (Kann et al., 2016). In addition, Latino and African American adolescents on average spend more time on screen-based media such as TV and videogames than their White counterparts (Rideout et al., 2010; Murphey et al., 2014; Common Sense Media, 2015). To prevent these potential negative health consequences, one needs to be concerned with adolescents’ physical activity (PA) as well as their unhealthy use of screen-based media (Kruger et al., 2007). However, there is no guarantee that increased physical activity will lead to decreased sedentary activity, like screen-based media use. Recent studies found these two types of behaviors may co-exist among certain adolescents (Liu et al., 2010; Taverno Ross et al., 2016). This is not surprising because adolescents normally have the freedom and enough time to do both types of activities. Furthermore, if adolescents do not enjoy physical activity, but participate due to internal or external pressure (i.e., controlled self-regulation; Moller et al., 2006; Baumeister et al., 2007b), they may deplete their willpower, and as a result, become even less likely to refrain from doing certain sedentary activities, such as playing video games (Schmeichel and Baumeister, 2004). This implicates the role of positive physical activity experience in promoting adolescents’ physical activity and thwarting unhealthy sedentary activities, which has not been vigorously studied. Furthermore, the study of physical activity experience may be particularly important to Latino/African American adolescents living in disadvantaged communities as it is usually more difficult for them to obtain positive physical activity experience due to lack of supportive physical and social environment (e.g., lack of physical activity programs and facilities, insufficient parental support, maintenance and safety issues at physical activity locations; Duke et al., 2003; Dahmann et al., 2010). Thus, this study aims to examine the interrelationships between leisure time physical activity experience (PA-E), leisure time physical activity levels (PA-L), and leisure time use of different types of screen-based media (UM; i.e., TV/movies, computer/Internet, and non-active video games), using a sample predominantly comprised of Latino and African American urban adolescents. Affective experience is powerful in guiding human behavior, and in many situations, has a stronger impact on individuals’ behavior than cognition (Edwards, 1990; Breckler and Wiggins, 1991; Lavine et al., 1998). This is particularly true for adolescents. Recent studies in neuroscience found that compared to adults, adolescent decision making/behavior was more influenced by their affective state (Giedd et al., 1999; Yurgelun-Todd and Killgore, 2006; Casey et al., 2008). In the area of physical activity and sports, positive affective experience, such as physical activity enjoyment, has been found to be positively associated with physical activity participation among children and adolescents (DiLorenzo et al., 1998; Sallis et al., 1999; Dishman et al., 2005). In addition, the positive experience derived from physical activities may include other affective states, such as feeling of pride. Therefore, in this study we included multiple positive leisure time physical activity experiences such as enjoyment, sense of accomplishment, and feeling of being absorbed (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Caldwell et al., 1992; Mannell and Kleiber, 1997; Moore et al., 2009). In line with the above-mentioned studies, we posit that positive physical activity experience will increase adolescents’ physical activity levels during leisure time. When adolescents participate in leisure time physical activity, they may spend less time on different types of screen-based media. However, the relationship between the two may be complicated by a number of factors. First, adolescents usually have sufficient amounts of leisure time, and because of that, increasing leisure time physical activity does not necessarily require adolescents to reduce their use of screen-based media. If adolescents do not obtain positive experiences from physical activity, they may seek desirable experiences from screen-based media such as video games or TV. Second, according to self-regulation theory (Baumeister et al., 2007a), when adolescents engage in physical activity due to the feeling of external pressures (e.g., playing sports because of parents’ requirement) that contradicts their values, beliefs, or desire (i.e., controlled self-regulation; Moller et al., 2006; Baumeister et al., 2007b), they may deplete their willpower and become temporarily less capable of resisting the subsequent temptation from certain screen-based media (Schmeichel and Baumeister, 2004). Third, if adolescents strive to finish their physical activity goals or requirements, they may feel more justified or deserving to use the screen-based media later, a phenomenon called “licensing effect” (Merritt et al., 2010). These theories seem to suggest that although leisure time physical activity participation may to some extent reduce adolescents’ leisure time available for screen-based media, leisure time physical activity experience seems to play an independent, and probably a more critical role in pulling adolescents out of the screen-based media. In summary, the purpose of this study is to investigate the interrelationship between leisure time physical activity experience (PA-E), leisure time physical activity level (PA-L), and leisure time use of screen-based media (UM) including TV/movies, computer/Internet, and non-active video games. We posit that PA-E will have a positive effect on PA-L, which in turn will affect different types of UM. In addition, we expect that PA-E will have a direct negative effect on different types of UM. Furthermore, we explored potential gender differences in these relationships since male and female adolescents may differ in socialization (Hill and Lynch, 1983; Priess et al., 2009) and affect/emotional regulation and internalization (Chaplin and Aldao, 2013). Data for this study come from a larger study aimed at developing self-report physical activity measures and assessing attitudes, motivations and values adolescents have about physical activity. The study sample consists of 305 students (46.8% female) from 7th and 8th grades in four schools located in an urban, under-resourced area within a city in the Northeast United States. Ninety to ninety-five percent of students in the participating schools were African Americans or Latino Americans, with approximately 80% of the students being eligible for free or reduced price lunch. The students were recruited to participate in the study during homeroom classes. Data were collected using self-report, paper and pencil surveys. Surveys were administered during scheduled homeroom hours in Spring 2010. The study was approved by the institutional review board of the Pennsylvania State University. Opt-out consent was obtained from students’ parents. Parents provided written affirmation if they did not want their children to participate in the study. Only students who had parental consent and provided written assent participated in the study. Physical activity experience was conceptualized based on previous research on positive adolescent leisure experience and physical activity enjoyment (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Caldwell et al., 1992; Mannell and Kleiber, 1997; Moore et al., 2009). The construct consists of five items, which address enjoyment, sense of accomplishment, feeling of pride, and absorption. Sample items read: “When you are doing physically active things in your free time, how often do you enjoy it/does it give you a sense of accomplishment?” (1 = Never; 5 = All the time). Physical activity level was assessed using self-report measures that were developed based on a review of existing physical activity literature (Sallis and Saelens, 2000; Treuth et al., 2003, 2005; Wong et al., 2006; Welk et al., 2007). The survey questions shared similar contents and format with Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A; Kowalski et al., 1997) and were specifically modified to gather physical activity information from minority adolescents in an urban environment. Participants were asked to recall the amount of time they usually spent on walking, running, and other physical activity in the last 7 days during six leisure time periods, including two periods during school days: (1) after school (until 6 pm), (2) evenings of school days (after 6 pm); and four periods during weekend: (3) Saturday morning, (4) Saturday afternoon and evening, (5) Sunday morning, and (6) Sunday afternoon and evening. Each question addressed one type of physical activity during one period. Walking and running during school days was assessed using the following questions: “During the past 5 school days, how much time [SPECIFIC PERIOD], did you usually spend [SPECIFIC PA] each day?” To assess weekend walking and running, participants were asked “How much time [SPECIFIC PERIOD], did you spend [SPECIFIC PA]?” (1 = “0 min” to 7 = “60 min or more,” in increments of 10 min). Other physical activity during school days was evaluated using the following procedure. First, participants were asked “During the past 5 school days, if you did any of the following physical activities [SPECIFIC PERIOD], circle the ONE activity you did most.” The response list include of 13 activities such as baseball, cheerleading, dancing, riding a bike, and lifting weights, in addition to “other” and “I did not do any of these.” Then, participants were asked “How many days did you do this activity [SPECIFIC PERIOD]?” (1 = “0 day” to 6 = “5 days”). For weekend, the same question was used to identify participants’ most frequent physical activity during each period. Then participants were asked to indicate the amount of time they spent on the activity during each period (1 = “0 min” to 7 = “60 min or more,” in increments of 10 min). The scores of two items measured on the six-point scale were converted to the seven-point scale as the rest of the items using Little’s (2013, p. 19) procedure. It should be noted that our goal was not to estimate total physical activity time for the participants, but to use three types of activities during different times of periods as indicators of how physically active participants were (i.e., physical activity levels). To make a more concise representation of each type of physical activity, we averaged the scores for (1) afterschool period and evening during school days, (2) Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon/evening, and (3) Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon/evening. As a result, PA-L was measured by nine items: walking, jogging, and other physical activity during three periods: afterschool, Saturday, and Sunday. Participants were asked to recall the amount of time they usually spent per day on watching TV/movies, using computer/Internet, and playing non-active video games in the last 7 days during two leisure time periods: (1) after school and evenings of school days; and (2) Saturday and Sunday. Six questions were used with each question addressing one type of screen use during one period. UM during school days were measured using the following questions: “During the past 5 school days, how much time did you usually spend [SPECIFIC MEDIUM USE] after school (and evening) each day?” (1 = “None” to 8 = “4 h and more”) UM during the past weekend were measured using the following questions: “How much time over both days did you spend [SPECIFIC MEDIUM USE] on Saturday and Sunday?” (1 = “None” to 10 = “7 h and more”) The scores on the 10-point scale were converted to the 8-point scale as the rest of the items using Little’s (2013, p. 19) procedure. Then, a composite score was created respectively for each type of media by averaging the measures for the two periods. Parceling refers to pairing and aggregating individual items of a latent construct to form a smaller number of indicators (i.e., parcels) for the construct. It is a common technique used in structural model testing when a large number of variables load on a single latent construct (Graham et al., 2000). Parceling stabilizes parameter estimates and improves goodness of fit (Rogers and Schmitt, 2004) and is used in estimating structural models with non-normal variables and/or a relatively small sample size (West et al., 1995; Little et al., 2013). In this study we parceled PA-E and PA-L. PA-E had five items, and all loaded on one single dimension in exploratory factor analysis (Cronbach’s α = 0.85). In this situation, items with the highest and lowest factor loadings were aggregated into the first parcel, followed by the aggregation of the items with the second highest and second lowest factor loadings, and lastly, the remaining item was the third parcel (Little et al., 2013). PA-L had nine items: walking, jogging, and other physical activity during three periods (afterschool, Saturday, and Sunday). For each type of physical activity, the items of three periods had a good level of internal consistency, with the Cronbach’s α being 0.76, 0.85, and 0.73 for walking, jogging, and other physical activity, respectively. To maintain the conceptual meaning of the parcels, we adopted an internal consistency parceling approach and created three parcels by average the items of three time periods for each type of physical activity. Parcel#1 – Walking, included afterschool walking, Saturday walking, and Sunday walking. Parcel#2 – Jogging, included afterschool jogging, Saturday jogging, and Sunday jogging. Parcel#3 – Other Physical Activity, included afterschool other physical activity, Saturday other physical activity, and Sunday other physical activity. Multiple-group structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the structural relationships between PA-E, PA-L, and UM for female and male adolescents. We built a separate structural model for each type of screen-based media (see Figure 1). Prior to that, multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the measurement invariance, which involved comparison of the model fit of two measurement models: (1) a configural invariance model in which the factor structure was fixed as the same across the two groups and then (2) a nested model (i.e., factor loading invariance model) where factor loadings were constrained to be equal across the two groups (MacCallum et al., 1994). The goodness of fit indices of the first model indicated how well the same factor structure fit the two groups, while the difference in goodness of fit between the second and the first model was used to assess factor loading invariance (i.e., measurement invariance). FIGURE 1. Standardized path coefficients in the structural models. ∗p < 0.05; ∗∗p < 0.01. After ensuring measurement invariance, the relationships between PA-E, PA-L, and UM (i.e., path coefficients) were examined between the two groups (Bollen, 1989). First, a baseline model was estimated in which all path coefficients were freely estimated for the two groups. Then a nested model was estimated in which all path coefficients were constrained to be equal across the two groups. The Chi-square difference between the two models was used to assess the overall path coefficients invariance. In situations where the Chi-square difference for the overall test was significant (p < 0.05) or marginally significant (p < 0.10), the equality constraint was put on each individual path coefficient to find out the one(s) that vary across groups. LISREL 9.20 was used to perform the Multiple-Group CFA and SEM. Full information maximum likelihood (FIML) approach was used to handle the missing data (4%) in model estimation. The sample size was considered sufficiently large given that it was more than 10 times of the number of estimated parameters in the study models (Kline, 2011). Overall male and female adolescents’ mean scores differed for all constructs (Table 1). On average, males had higher levels of PA-E (Mmales = 4.08 vs. Mfemales = 3.76, p < 0.01) and PA-L (Mmales = 4.00 vs. Mfemales = 3.36, p < 0.01). In terms of UM, females on average reported higher levels of TV/movie watching (Mmales = 4.47 vs. Mfemales = 4.94, p < 0.05) and use of computer/Internet (Mmales = 3.51 vs. Mfemales = 4.33, p < 0.01), while males on average spent more time on non-active video games (Mmales = 3.72 vs. Mfemales = 2.04, p < 0.01). TABLE 1. Descriptive statistics of the constructs. For all three models, the measurement model achieved an acceptable fit when the same factorial structure was specified for males and females [TV/movies model: χ2(24) = 47.91, p < 0.01, RMSEA = 0.081, CFI = 0.968, NNFI = 0.943; computer/Internet model: χ2(24) = 42.01, p < 0.05, RMSEA = 0.070, CFI = 0.975, NNFI = 0.956; video games model: χ2(24) = 50.54, p < 0.01, RMSEA = 0.085, CFI = 0.964, NNFI = 0.936]. When the factor loadings were constrained to be equal between males and females, the change in model fit was non-significant for all three models [TV/movies model: Δχ2(4) = 3.88, p = 0.42; computer/Internet model: Δχ2(4) = 3.96, p = 0.41; video games model: Δχ2(4) = 3.73, p = 0.44]. These analyses suggested measurement invariance between males and females. For each model, all the factor loadings were highly significant and larger than 0.65 (p < 0.001; Table 2), indicating good convergent validity of the measurement (Cole, 1987). In terms of construct reliability, the score for PA-E and PA-L were above 0.75 for males and females in all three models. This indicated that overall the measurement models had good construct reliability (Hair et al., 2006). Finally, the average variance extracted for PA-E and PA-L exceeded their maximum squared between-construct correlations for both genders in all three models. This result indicated that the discriminant validity of the measurement was established (Hair et al., 2006). TABLE 2. Standardized factor loadings in confirmatory factor analyses. When the path coefficients were freely estimated for males and females, all three models (i.e., the baseline models) had an acceptable fit [TV/movies model: χ2(28) = 51.79, p < 0.01, RMSEA = 0.075, CFI = 0.968, NNFI = 0.952; computer/Internet model: χ2(28) = 45.97, p < 0.05, RMSEA = 0.065, CFI = 0.975, NNFI = 0.963; video games model: χ2(28) = 54.27, p < 0.01, RMSEA = 0.078, CFI = 0.964, NNFI = 0.946]. After all the path coefficients were constrained to be equal across the two groups, a marginally significant change in Chi-square was observed for the video games model [Δχ2(3) = 7.75, p = 0.051], while the model fit change was non-significant for the other two models [TV/movies model: Δχ2(3) = 2.96, p = 0.40; computer/Internet model: Δχ2(3) = 0.31, p = 0.96]. Subsequent analyses showed that males and females only significantly differed in the relationship between PA-E and use of non-active video games [Δχ2(1) = 5.99, p < 0.05]. Therefore, in the final estimation for the video games model, the PA-E – video games path was estimated freely for males and females, while the other path coefficients were fixed as the same between males and females. Table 3 and Figure 1 showed the final results of model estimation. For the TV/movies model, PA-E had a significant positive effect on PA-L (β = 0.292, p < 0.01), and PA-L in turn had a significant negative effect on UM-TV/movies (β = -0.255, p < 0.01), indicating that the effect of PA-L on UM-TV/movies was mediated by PA-E (MacKinnon et al., 2002). This conclusion was also supported by the significant indirect effect. After accounting for PA-L, PA-E had a non-significant negative direct effect on UM-TV/movies (β = -0.026, p > 0.10). With respect to the computer/Internet model, PA-E had a significant positive effect on PA-L (β = 0.300, p < 0.01) and a significant direct negative effect on UM-computer/Internet (β = -0.177, p < 0.01). PA-L, however, had a non-significant negative effect on UM-Computer/Internet (β = -0.014, p > 0.10). Lastly for the video games model, PA-E had a significant positive effect on PA-L (β = 0.294, p < 0.01), while PA-L had a non-significant negative effect on UM-video games (β = -0.054, p > 0.10). PA-E had a significant direct negative effect on UM-video games among males (β = -0.217, p < 0.05), but a non-significant direct positive effect on UM-video games among females (β = 0.118, p > 0.10). TABLE 3. Estimation of path coefficients, total effects, and indirect effects. Using a sample predominantly comprised of urban Latino and African American adolescents, we found that physical activity experience was positively associated with physical activity level, which was consistent with previous studies (Sallis et al., 1999; Dishman et al., 2005). After accounting for physical activity level, physical activity experience had a direct negative relationship with use of non-active video games for males and a direct negative effect on use of computer/Internet for both genders. Physical activity level did not have a direct relationship with the use of these two media. However, physical activity level had a direct negative relationship with use of TV/movies, while the relationship of physical activity experience to use of TV/movies was fully mediated by physical activity level. These results support that physical activity experience may have a unique impact on use of certain screen-based media. In this study the unique impact of physical activity experience was reflected with the use of computer/Internet and non-active video games, but not the use of TV/movies. One possible reason is that these three types of media offer somewhat different types of experiences, and as a result, they are differentially substituted by physical activity experience. This is generally consistent with use and gratification theory, which suggests different media offer different experiences and that individuals deliberately choose media that will satisfy different needs (McQuail, 2010). For example, TV/movies normally provides passive entertainment, while use of computer/Internet and non-active video games usually requires more active engagement (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Since physical activity also offers experiences that require active engagement, it is possible that physical activity experience is more effective in substituting experience offered by computer/Internet and non-active video games than the experience offered by TV/movies. In addition, compared to TV/movies, computer/Internet and video games may provide adolescents certain social (e.g., social networking) and achievement (e.g., accomplishing tasks in video/Internet games) experiences. These types of experiences are also likely to be gained from doing physical activities (Fox, 1999; Washington et al., 2001). To test this speculation on experience substitution, researchers may need to collect data on adolescents’ experience from using different screen-based media. In addition, although the physical activity measure in this study included different types of positive experiences (e.g., enjoyment, sense of accomplishment) obtained from physical activity, results of factor analysis showed that they all loaded into one dimension. It is possible that different types of positive experiences are highly correlated at early adolescence. In late adolescence, however, those experiences may emerge as distinct dimensions and may have somewhat different association with physical activity and screen-based media use. The findings also suggest that the relationship between physical activity level and use of screen-based media is complicated and may vary for different types of media use. The non-significant relationship of physical activity level to use of computer/Internet and non-active video games does not necessarily mean that physical activity level does not affect adolescents’ use of these two media, but may indicate that physical activity level affects these media use through multiple mechanisms with opposite directions (Shrout and Bolger, 2002). On one hand, when adolescents participate in more physical activities, they may have less time available for screen-based media. On the other hand, doing more physical activity may make adolescents feel more justified for using screen-based media (i.e., licensing effect) or more difficult to resist the temptation of screen-based media (i.e., reduced self-regulation resource; Schmeichel and Baumeister, 2004). In addition, parents may feel more comfortable to let adolescents use screen-based media when the adolescents participate in physical activity. Therefore, future research should investigate these possible psychological and behavioral mechanisms. The path coefficients in the structural models were generally similar between male and female adolescents, except for the relationship of physical activity experience to use of non-active video games. Physical activity experience had a significant negative relationship with use of non-active video games for males, but a non-significant positive relationship for females. This may suggest that males and females had different behaviors and experiences related to use of non-active video games. In addition to the fact that males played video games much more frequently than females (Mmales = 3.72 vs. Mfemales = 2.04), the two gender groups may play different types of video games and therefore gain different types of experiences from video games. This study has a few limitations. First, the data are cross-sectional. Although the data were useful in revealing associations between constructs, we were unable to test causal relationships. Therefore, future research should adopt experimental design and/or longitudinal data analysis. In addition, researchers may use qualitative approaches such as in-depth interviews to better understand the experiences adolescents obtain from leisure time physical activity and screen-based media, and improve measurement models based on the qualitative finding. Second, adolescents’ use of screen-based media may have changed since the data were collected approximately 7 years ago. For example, more children and adolescents now have the access to smart phones and tablets (Common Sense Media, 2013; Influence-Central, 2016), which makes it more convenient to watch TV/movies and play videogames. As a result, today’s adolescents may be more likely to resort to screen-based media in the absence of positive physical activity experience (i.e., a stronger relationship between physical activity experience and use of screen-based media). Therefore, researchers may use more current data to examine if some of the relationships in our model have changed. Third, this study only included positive physical activity experience. Future research should also examine the impact of negative physical activity experience, which may represent a separate dimension from positive physical activity experience. This study suggests that positive leisure time physical activity experience is associated with higher leisure time physical activity levels and has a negative association with use of non-active video games for male adolescents and use of computer/Internet for both male and female adolescents after controlling for physical activity levels. These finding suggest avenues for developing interventions to promote leisure time physical activity. For example, during an intervention or education sessions researchers or practitioners should consider promoting adolescents’ positive physical activity experience or adolescents’ competencies in creating positive physical activity experience, instead of solely focusing on increasing adolescents’ physical activity levels. Promoting positive physical activity experience may be particularly important to urban Latino/African American adolescents, many of whom are from families of low socioeconomic status. On one hand, it is more challenging for these adolescents to obtain positive physical activity experience due to limited resources and opportunities for physical activities (Dahmann et al., 2010). On the other hand, these adolescents tend to have lower self-regulation skills (Raver, 2012) and less monitoring and support from parents (Rideout et al., 2011). As a result, they may be more likely to be stuck with screen-based media when they do not obtain optimal experience from physical activity. In addition to highlighting the importance of leisure time physical activity experience, this study calls for future studies to refine relevant measurement and examine the determinants and developmental outcomes of physical activity experience. HX, JS, and LC: substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published; agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. This research was funded by NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Grant #1R21HL087763-01. Baumeister, R. F., Schmeichel, B., and Vohs, K. 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Columbia, SC: National Physical Activity Plan Alliance. Pine, J., and Gilmore, J. (1999). The Experience Economy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Rideout, V., Foehr, U., and Roberts, D. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year Olds. Menlo Park, CA: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Rideout, V., Lauricella, A., and Wartella, E. (2011). Children, Media, and Race: Media Use among White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian American Children. Report for the Center on Media and Human Development School of Communication Northwestern University. Latrobe, PA: The Fred Rogers Center. Schmeichel, B. J., and Baumeister, R. F. (2004). “Self-regulatory strength,” in Handbook of Self-Regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications, eds R. F. Baumeister and K. D. Vohs (New York, NY: Guilford Press), 115–130. West, S. G., Finch, J. F., and Curran, P. J. (1995). “Structural equation models with nonnormal variables: problems and remedies,” in Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications, ed. R. H. Hoyle (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage), 56–75. Copyright © 2018 Xie, Scott and Caldwell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

2019-04-25T16:24:16Z

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02317/full

2006-07-28 Assigned to MOBILE SATELLITE VENTURES, LP reassignment MOBILE SATELLITE VENTURES, LP ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: KARABINIS, PETER D. 2008-04-18 Assigned to BANK OF NEW YORK, THE reassignment BANK OF NEW YORK, THE SECURITY AGREEMENT Assignors: MOBILE SATELLITE VENTURES LP, MSV FINANCE CO. A satellite radiotelephone system can include a space-based component and a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components. The space-based component is configured to provide wireless radiotelephone communications over a satellite radiotelephone frequency band. The plurality of ancillary terrestrial components are configured to terrestrially reuse at least one of the satellite radiotelephone frequencies, at least some of the ancillary terrestrial components terrestrially reusing the at least one of the satellite radiotelephone frequencies in a staggered sectorization. Related methods are also discussed. This application claims the benefit of priority as a continuation-in-part application from U.S. application Ser. No. 10/353,308 filed Jan. 29, 2003, which claims the benefit of priority from provisional Application No. 60/393,287, filed Jul. 2, 2002, entitled Staggered Sectorization For Terrestrial Reuse Of Satellite Frequencies. U.S. application Ser. No. 10/353,308 also claims the benefit of priority as a continuation-in-part application from application Ser. No. 10/074,097, filed Feb. 12, 2002, entitled Systems and Methods for Terrestrial Reuse of Cellular Satellite Frequency Spectrum which claims the benefit of priority from provisional Application No. 60/322,240, filed Sep. 14, 2001, entitled Systems and Methods For Terrestrial Re-Use of Mobile Satellite Spectrum. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/353,308 also claims the benefit of priority as a continuation-in-part application from application Ser. No. 10/180,281, filed Jun. 26, 2002, entitled Spatial Guardbands for Terrestrial Reuse of Satellite Frequencies, which claims priority from Provisional Application No. 60/347,173, filed Jan. 9, 2002, entitled Spatial Guardbands for Terrestrial Reuse of Satellite Frequencies. The present application thus claims the benefit of priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 10/353,308 filed Jan. 29, 2003, from U.S. Application No. 60/393,287 filed Jul. 2, 2002, from U.S. application Ser. No. 10/074,097 filed Feb. 12, 2002, from U.S. Application No. 60/322,240 filed Sep. 14, 2001, from application Ser. No. 10/180,281 filed Jun. 26, 2002, and from Provisional Application No. 60/347,173 filed Jan. 9, 2002. All of these applications are assigned to the assignee of the present application, the disclosures of all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety as if set forth fully herein. According to some embodiments of the present invention, a satellite radiotelephone system may include a space-based component configured to provide communications using frequencies of a satellite frequency band, and a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components. The plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may be configured to provide communications over a service region using at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a staggered sectorization pattern. Moreover, the space-based component may not provide communications over the service region using the at least one first frequency, and an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction may be less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. The space-based component may be configured to provide communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using at least one second frequency of the satellite frequency band that is different from the at least one first frequency. Moreover, the space-based component may be configured to provide down-link communications over the service region using the at least one second frequency. The space-based component may be configured to provide communications over a second service region not including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency. The at least one first frequency may be used by ancillary terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. Each of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may include n directional sectors and the at least one first frequency may be used by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components so that an aggregate radiated power transmitted by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in a direction may be limited to approximately 1/n of a total radiated power transmitted by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. The at least one first frequency may be further used by radiotelephones to provide up-link communications, and n may be equal to 3. The plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may also include a plurality of frequency reuse clusters, and each frequency reuse cluster may use the at least one first frequency no more than once. According to some other embodiments of the present invention, a satellite radiotelephone system may include a space-based component that is configured to provide communications using frequencies of a satellite frequency band, and a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components. The plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may include a plurality of frequency reuse clusters. A first frequency reuse cluster may transmit at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a first direction, and a second frequency reuse cluster may transmit the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a second direction. The space-based component may not provide communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency and an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction may be less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. The space-based component may be configured to provide communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using at least one second frequency of the satellite frequency band that is different from the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band. The space-based component may be configured to provide down-link communications over the service region using the at least one second frequency. The space-based component may be configured to provide communications over a second service region not including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components, and the space-based component may provide communications over the second service region using the at least one first frequency. The at least one first frequency may be used by ancillary terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. Moreover, each of at least some of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may include n directional sectors and an aggregate radiated power transmitted by the at least some of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in a direction may be no greater than approximately 1/n of a total radiated power transmitted by the at least some of the ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. More particularly, n may be equal to 3, and/or each frequency reuse cluster may use the at least one first frequency no more than once. According to some more embodiments of the present invention, a method of operating a satellite radiotelephone system may include providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band. In addition, communications may be provided from a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components over a service region using at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a staggered sectorization pattern. The space-based component may not provide communications over the service region using the at least one first frequency and an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction may be less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. Providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band may further include providing communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using at least one second frequency of the satellite frequency band that is different from the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band. Providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band may further include providing down-link communications over the service region using the at least one second frequency. Providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band may further include providing communications over a second service region not including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency. The at least one first frequency may be used by ancillary terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. Moreover, each of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may include n directional sectors and the at least one first frequency may be transmitted by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components so that an aggregate radiated power transmitted by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in a direction may be no greater than approximately 1/n of a total radiated power transmitted by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. The at least one first frequency may be further used by radiotelephones to provide up-link communications. Moreover, n may be equal to 3, and/or the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may include a plurality of frequency reuse clusters wherein each frequency reuse cluster uses the at least one first frequency no more than once. According to some additional embodiments of the present invention, a method of operating a satellite radiotelephone system may include providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band. Communications may be provided from a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components including a plurality of frequency reuse clusters. A first frequency reuse cluster may transmit at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a first direction, and a second frequency reuse cluster may transmit the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a second direction. The space-based component may not provide communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency and an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction may be less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. The at least one first frequency may be used by ancillary terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. Each of at least some of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may include n directional sectors, and the at least one first frequency may be used by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters so that an aggregate radiated power transmitted by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters at the at least one first frequency in a direction is no greater than approximately 1/n of a total radiated power transmitted by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters at the at least one first frequency. In addition, n may be equal to 3, and/or each frequency reuse cluster may use the at least one first frequency no more than once. According to yet other embodiments of the present invention, a radiotelephone system may include a plurality of terrestrial components including a plurality of frequency reuse clusters. At least one terrestrial component of each frequency reuse cluster may include a plurality of directional sectors, and at least first and second frequency reuse clusters may provide communications by transmitting at least one first frequency of a satellite frequency band in respective first and second directions. A space-based component may provide communications using frequencies of the satellite frequency band and may refrain from providing communications over a service region that includes the plurality of terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency. In addition, an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction may be less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. The at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band may be used by terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. Each of at least some of the plurality of terrestrial components may include n directional sectors, and the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band may be used so that an aggregate radiated power transmitted by the at least some of the plurality of terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a direction may be no greater than approximately 1/n of a total power transmitted by the at least some of the plurality of terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band. In addition, n may be equal to 3, and each frequency reuse cluster may use the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band no more than once. The at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band may be further used by radiotelephones to provide up-link communications. According to additional embodiments of the present invention, a method of operating a radiotelephone system may include using a radiotelephone frequency by a plurality of terrestrial components to provide radiotelephone communications. The plurality of terrestrial components may include a plurality of frequency reuse clusters with at least one terrestrial component of each frequency reuse cluster transmitting from a plurality of directional sectors. A first frequency reuse cluster may transmit the radiotelephone frequency in a first direction, and a second frequency reuse cluster may transmit the radiotelephone frequency in a second direction that is randomly oriented relative to the first. The radiotelephone frequency may be used by terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. Each of at least some terrestrial components transmitting from a plurality of directional sectors may include n directional sectors, and the radiotelephone frequency may be used by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters so that an aggregate radiated power transmitted by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters at the radiotelephone frequency in a direction may be no greater than approximately 1 In of a total radiated power transmitted by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters at the radiotelephone frequency. In addition, n may be equal to 3. Each frequency reuse cluster may use the radiotelephone frequency no more than once, and/or the radiotelephone frequency used by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters may be within a band of satellite frequencies transmitted by a space-based component. According to still more embodiments of the present invention, a method of providing communications may include using a radiotelephone frequency by a plurality of terrestrial components to provide radiotelephone communications for a plurality of terminals. Use of the radiotelephone frequency by the plurality of terrestrial components may be randomized. The plurality of terrestrial components may include a plurality of frequency reuse clusters with at least one terrestrial component of each frequency reuse cluster including a plurality of directional sectors. Moreover, randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency may include using the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a frequency reuse cluster and in different directions over respective different frequency reuse clusters. Randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a frequency reuse cluster may include using the radiotelephone frequency so that a direction of at least two directional sectors using the radiotelephone frequency is staggered therebetween. The radiotelephone frequency may be used by terrestrial components to provide down-link communications, and/or the radiotelephone frequency used among the plurality of terrestrial components may be within a band of satellite frequencies transmitted by a space-based component. According to yet more embodiments of the present invention, a communications system may include means for using a radiotelephone frequency among a plurality of terrestrial components to provide radiotelephone communications for a plurality of mobile terminals. In addition, means for randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency among the plurality of terrestrial components may be provided. The plurality of terrestrial components may be grouped into clusters of terrestrial components with at least one terrestrial component of each cluster transmitting over a plurality of directional sectors, and the means for randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency may include means for using the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a cluster of terrestrial components. The means for randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a cluster of terrestrial components may include means for using the radiotelephone frequency so that a direction of at least two directional sectors using the radiotelephone frequency is staggered therebetween. The radiotelephone frequency may be used by terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. The radiotelephone frequency used among the plurality of terrestrial components may be within a band of satellite frequencies transmitted by a space-based component. Moreover, the radiotelephone frequency may be further used by radiotelephones to provide up-link communications. According to yet more embodiments of the present invention, a satellite radiotelephone system may include a space-based component configured to provide wireless radioterminal communications using frequencies of a set of frequencies authorized for space-based communications. A plurality of ancillary terrestrial components may be configured to communicate with radioterminals by terrestrially using frequencies of the set of frequencies authorized for space-based communications. At least some of the ancillary terrestrial components may terrestrially use at least one frequency that is authorized for space-based communications in a staggered sectorization pattern. FIG. 15 schematically illustrates staggered sectorization for terrestrial reuse of satellite frequencies according to some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of cellular satellite radiotelephone systems and methods according to embodiments of the invention. As shown in FIG. 1, these cellular satellite radiotelephone systems and methods 100 include at least one Space-Based Component (SBC) 110, such as a satellite. The space-based component 110 is configured to transmit wireless communications to a plurality of radiotelephones 120 a, 120 b in a satellite footprint comprising one or more satellite radiotelephone cells 130-130″″ over one or more satellite radiotelephone forward link (downlink) frequencies fD. The space-based component 110 is configured to receive wireless communications from, for example, a first radiotelephone 120 a in the satellite radiotelephone cell 130 over a satellite radiotelephone return link (uplink) frequency fU. An ancillary terrestrial network, comprising at least one ancillary terrestrial component 140, which may include an antenna 140 a and an electronics system 140 b (for example, at least one antenna 140 a and at least one electronics system 140 b), is configured to receive wireless communications from, for example, a second radiotelephone 120 b in the radiotelephone cell 130 over the satellite radiotelephone uplink frequency, denoted f′U, which may be the same as fU. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 1, radiotelephone 120 a may be communicating with the space-based component 110 while radiotelephone 120 b may be communicating with the ancillary terrestrial component 140. As shown in FIG. 1, the space-based component 110 also undesirably receives the wireless communications from the second radiotelephone 120 b in the satellite radiotelephone cell 130 over the satellite radiotelephone frequency f′U as interference. More specifically, a potential interference path is shown at 150. In this potential interference path 150, the return link signal of the second radiotelephone 120 b at carrier frequency f′U interferes with satellite communications. This interference would generally be strongest when f′U=fU, because, in that case, the same return link frequency would be used for space-based component and ancillary terrestrial component communications over the same satellite radiotelephone cell, and no spatial discrimination between satellite radiotelephone cells would appear to exist. As is known to those skilled in the art, GPS receivers may be extremely sensitive since they are designed to operate on very weak spread-spectrum radionavigation signals that arrive on the earth from a GPS satellite constellation. As a result, GPS receivers may to be highly susceptible to in-band interference. ATCs that are configured to radiate L-band frequencies in the forward satellite band (1525 to 1559 MHz) can be designed with very sharp out-of-band emissions filters to satisfy the stringent out-of-band spurious emissions requirements of GPS. To increase or maximize forward link throughput in data mode, data mode TDD carriers according to embodiments of the invention may use a more spectrally efficient modulation and/or protocol, such as the EDGE modulation and/or protocol, on the forward link slots. The return link slots may be based on a less spectrally efficient modulation and/or protocol such as the GPRS (GMSK) modulation and/or protocol. The EDGE modulation/protocol and the GPRS modulation/protocol are well known to those having skill in the art, and need not be described further herein. Given an EDGE forward/GPRS return TDD carrier strategy, up to ( 384/2)=192 kbps may be supported on the forward link while on the return link the radiotelephone may transmit at up to ( 115/2)≈64 kbps. In other embodiments, it also is possible to allocate six time slots of an eight-slot frame for the forward link and only two for the return link. In these embodiments, for voice services, given the statistically symmetric nature of voice, the return link vocoder may need to be comparable with quarter-rate GSM, while the forward link vocoder can operate at full-rate GSM, to yield six full-duplex voice circuits per GSM TDD-mode carrier (a voice capacity penalty of 25%). Subject to this non-symmetrical partitioning strategy, data rates of up to (384)( 6/8)=288 kbps may be achieved on the forward link, with up to (115)( 2/8)≈32 kbps on the return link. is a monotonically decreasing function of the independent variable p. Consequently, in some embodiments, as the maximum ATC power increases, the carrier frequency that the ATC uses to establish and/or maintain the communications link decreases. FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a piece-wise continuous monotonically decreasing (stair-case) function. Other monotonic functions may be used, including linear and/or nonlinear, constant and/or variable decreases. FACCH or Slow Associated Control CHannel (SACCH) messaging may be used in embodiments of the invention to facilitate the mapping adaptively and in substantially real time. Thus, according to embodiments of FIG. 9, if a radiotelephone is being served within the outer-most ring of the cell, that radiotelephone is being served via frequency fO. This radiotelephone, being within the furthest area from the ATC, has (presumably) requested maximum (or near maximum) power output from the ATC. In response to the maximum (or near maximum) output power request, the ATC uses its a priori knowledge of power-to-frequency mapping, such as a three-step staircase function of FIG. 8. Thus, the ATC serves the radiotelephone with a low-value frequency taken from the lowest portion of the mobile L-band forward link frequency set, for example, from as close to 1525 MHz as possible. This, then, can provide additional safeguard to any GPS receiver unit that may be in the vicinity of the ATC. According to other embodiments of the invention, embodiments of FIGS. 8-10 can be combined with embodiments of FIG. 11. Furthermore, according to other embodiments of the invention, if an fI carrier of FIG. 9 or 10 is underutilized, because of the relatively small footprint of the inner-most region of the cell, it may be used to support additional traffic over the much larger outermost region of the cell. Other embodiments may be based on operating the ATC entirely in reverse frequency mode compared to the SBC. In these embodiments, an ATC transmits over the satellite return link frequencies while radiotelephones respond over the satellite forward link frequencies. If sufficient contiguous spectrum exists to support CDMA technologies, and in particular the emerging Wideband-CDMA 3G standard, the ATC forward link can be based on Wideband-CDMA to increase or maximize data throughput capabilities. Interference with GPS may not be an issue since the ATCs transmit over the satellite return link in these embodiments. Instead, interference may become a concern for the radiotelephones. Based, however, on embodiments of FIGS. 11-12, the radiotelephones can be configured to transmit GSM since ATC return link rates are expected, in any event, to be lower than those of the forward link. Accordingly, the ATC return link may employ GPRS-based data modes, possibly even EDGE. Thus, return link carriers that fall within a predetermined frequency interval from the GPS band-edge of 1559 MHz, can be under loaded, per embodiments of FIG. 11 or 12, to satisfy GPS interference concerns. By providing a spatial guardband, some terrestrial reuse of satellite frequencies may be obtained. Moreover, an interference reducer, such as the interference reducer of FIG. 1 or 2, may not need to be used. The complexity of the system therefore may be reduced. Alternatively, when interference reducers according to embodiments of the invention are used, a satellite radiotelephone frequency also can be used terrestrially within the very same satellite cell, with reduced or no interference, but at the potential expense of system complexity. In some embodiments, in response to the received signal levels and/or the information content of the satellite BCCH carriers, the ancillary terrestrial component serving a given geographic area, or a subset of the ancillary terrestrial components, can determine the satellite band frequencies that they may deploy with reduced or minimum interference impact to the satellite communications. In some embodiments, satellite band frequencies that are associated with the weakest satellite BCCH carrier that is received, may be deployed by the ancillary terrestrial components with highest priority, followed by those corresponding to the next weakest BCCH carrier, etc. Thus, the entire ancillary terrestrial network that may be serving a particular geographic area may configure and reconfigure its frequency plan and, in some embodiments, in real time, in response to monitoring of the satellite network BCCH emissions. According to some embodiments of the invention that were described above, satellite frequencies may be terrestrially reused, and various embodiments may be used for reducing, minimizing or eliminating interference by the terrestrially reused satellite frequencies with the satellite frequencies that are used for satellite communications. Embodiments of the present invention that will now be described can be used separately or in connection with any of the above-described embodiments, to allow further reduction, minimization or elimination of interference by terrestrially reused satellite frequencies. These embodiments also may be used in conventional cellular radiotelephone systems to reduce, minimize or eliminate interference with other radio systems. In particular, FIG. 15 illustrates a frequency reuse pattern by an ancillary terrestrial network comprising a network of ancillary terrestrial components (ATC). FIG. 15 may be contrasted with FIGS. 13 and 14, which illustrate satellite frequency reuse plans. Thus, in some embodiments, the network of ATCs shown in FIG. 15 may all be included within a satellite radiotelephone cell. In other embodiments, the network of ATCs may be spread over a plurality of satellite radiotelephone cells. It also will be understood that fewer or more ATCs may be used. Moreover, the network of ATCs shown in FIG. 15 may be used in the absence of a satellite radiotelephone cell. In addition, the network of ATCs shown in FIG. 15 may be included within a satellite radiotelephone cell such that one or more frequencies used by the ATCs shown in FIG. 15 are not used by the satellite system in the satellite radiotelephone cell in which the ATCs of FIG. 15 are located. For example, one or more frequencies used by the ATCs shown in FIG. 15 may be used by the satellite system in other satellite radiotelephone cells not including the ATCs shown in FIG. 15. FIG. 15 illustrates an ancillary terrestrial network of ATCs that uses a four-cell frequency reuse pattern, wherein the ancillary terrestrial network reuses the satellite frequencies that are used in a geographically overlapping and/or non-geographically overlapping satellite radiotelephone cell. It will be understood that, although FIG. 15 illustrates a four-cell frequency reuse pattern 1510, smaller or larger cell frequency reuse patterns may be used. The four-cell frequency reuse pattern 1510 is outlined in a thick line in FIG. 15. As also shown in FIG. 15, each ATC may distribute its terrestrially reused frequencies in its geographical area of coverage in a plurality of sectors, similar to the sectorization that is used in the base stations of conventional cellular radiotelephone networks. In FIG. 15, each ATC comprises three 120° sectors labeled 1, 2 and 3. The use of sectors in a radiotelephone base station, for example, is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,074 entitled Base Station And Method For Covering A Cell Of A Cellular Mobile Radiotelephone System, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,780 entitled High Capacity Sectorized Cellular Communication System, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. It will also be understood that fewer or more sectors also may be used, and/or that a number of sectors at each ATC within a network may be the same or different. As shown in FIG. 15, according to some embodiments of the invention, staggered sectorization is used. Thus, over the plurality of four-cell reuse clusters of FIG. 15, frequency reuse of a particular frequency or set of frequencies, for example a frequency or set of frequencies F1, is staggered over different ATC sectors as it is reused over different four-cell clusters. More particularly, staggered sectorization for the frequency or set of frequencies F1 may be provided such that the use of the frequency or set of frequencies F1 in different reuse clusters may be staggered in different directions using directional sector antennas as shown in FIG. 15. In particular, referring to FIG. 15, ATC 1520 a reuses a particular frequency or set of frequencies in sector 2, as shown by arrow 1530 a. ATC 1520 b reuses the same frequency or frequencies in sector 3, as shown by arrow 1530 b. ATC 1520 c reuses this same frequency or frequencies in sector 1, as shown by arrow 1530 c. Finally, ATC 1520 d reuses the same frequency or frequencies in sector 3, as shown by arrow 1530 d. Other staggered sectorizations of the same frequency are shown by other arrows in FIG. 15, but are not labeled for the sake of clarity. When viewed globally from the perspective of a device, such as an airplane and/or other airborne vehicle, in any given direction, only one third of the total deployed reuses of a particular frequency or set of frequencies are radiating maximum or nearly maximum power in the given direction. Accordingly, the effective energy that is radiated by the ancillary terrestrial network at a given frequency in any given direction may be reduced. A given airborne device will therefore be exposed to only approximately one third the radiated power in the given frequency than may otherwise be the case if sectorization was maintained uniform across the ancillary terrestrial network. It will be understood that in some embodiments of the invention, not all of the ATCs may need to stagger the reuse of a given satellite frequency or frequencies. In particular, in some embodiments, only some ATCs may stagger a reused frequency. Moreover, in other embodiments, staggering may be performed for some satellite radiotelephone frequencies but not for other satellite radiotelephone frequencies. Finally, as was already noted, staggered sectorization may be used in the base stations of conventional cellular radiotelephone systems, for example in a manner shown in FIG. 15. According to embodiments of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 13-15, a satellite radiotelephone system can include a space-based component(s), such as one or more satellites, configured to provide wireless radiotelephone communications over a satellite radiotelephone frequency band. The space-based component(s) can provide communications for a plurality of satellite radiotelephone cells (also referred to as coverage areas) such as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 13 or FIG. 14. More particularly, the satellite radiotelephone cells can be used to provide reuse of satellite radiotelephone frequencies so that the space-based component(s) reuses the same radiotelephone frequency or frequencies for radiotelephone communications in different geographic areas while reducing interference therebetween. As discussed above, FIG. 13 illustrates a seven cell reuse pattern of satellite radiotelephone frequencies in satellite radiotelephone cells, and FIG. 14 illustrates a nine cell reuse pattern of satellite radiotelephone frequencies in satellite radiotelephone cells. A plurality of ancillary terrestrial components can be configured to provide an ancillary terrestrial network with each ancillary terrestrial component providing terrestrial radiotelephone communications for a respective terrestrial network cell. Moreover, the plurality of terrestrial components may be configured to terrestrially reuse at least one of the satellite radiotelephone frequencies within the satellite radiotelephone frequency band used by the space-based component, and the at least one of the satellite radiotelephone frequencies reused terrestrially may be reused in a staggered sectorization within the cells of the ancillary terrestrial network. As discussed above, a satellite radiotelephone cell may have a diameter on the order of hundreds of kilometers, while an ancillary terrestrial network cell may have a diameter on the order of ten kilometers or less. A satellite radiotelephone cell, for example, may thus provide satellite radiotelephone communications over a relatively broad geographic area including a plurality of cities, while each city within the satellite radiotelephone cell may be serviced by a different terrestrial network with each terrestrial network including a respective plurality of ancillary terrestrial components such as base stations. Stated in other words, a plurality of separate ancillary terrestrial networks (with an example of a single ancillary terrestrial network being illustrated in FIG. 15) may provide terrestrial radiotelephone communications within a single satellite radiotelephone cell of a satellite communications network including a plurality of satellite radiotelephone cells such as illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 13 and 14. More particularly, the satellite radiotelephone network may provide reuse of satellite radiotelephone frequencies within the satellite radiotelephone frequency band such that adjacent satellite radiotelephone cells do not use the same satellite radiotelephone frequencies. Moreover, components of an ancillary terrestrial network within a satellite radiotelephone cell may use satellite radiotelephone frequencies within the satellite radiotelephone frequency band other than frequencies used by the satellite radiotelephone cell for satellite communications within which the ancillary terrestrial network is located. Moreover, satellite radiotelephone frequencies used by the ancillary terrestrial network can be used by the space-based component to provide radiotelephone communications in other satellite radiotelephone cells not including the ancillary terrestrial network. Accordingly, interference between ancillary terrestrial networks and satellite radiotelephone cells using frequencies within the same satellite radiotelephone frequency band can be reduced and/or eliminated. With a satellite communications network, such as illustrated in FIG. 13 or FIG. 14, one satellite radiotelephone frequency or a set of satellite radiotelephone frequencies can be reused in commonly numbered satellite radiotelephone cells. For example, a first set of satellite radiotelephone frequencies from the satellite radiotelephone frequency band can be reused by each of the satellite radiotelephone cells identified by reference number 1 in FIG. 13 to provide radio links for transmissions to/from a space-based component from/to radiotelephones in the satellite radiotelephone cells identified by reference number 1. A second set of satellite radiotelephone frequencies from the satellite radiotelephone frequency band can be reused by ancillary terrestrial components of an ancillary terrestrial network located within one of the satellite radiotelephone cells identified by the reference number 1 in FIG. 13. The ancillary terrestrial network of FIG. 15, for example, can be located within one of the satellite radiotelephone cells identified by reference number 1 in FIG. 13. More particularly, the first and second sets of satellite radiotelephone frequencies can be mutually exclusive so that interference between transmissions to/from the space-based component in the satellite radiotelephone cell and transmissions to/from ancillary terrestrial components of the ancillary terrestrial network in the satellite radiotelephone cell can be reduced and/or eliminated. Moreover, satellite radiotelephone frequencies of the second set can be reused to provide transmissions to/from the space-based component in satellite radiotelephone cells other than the satellite radiotelephone cell(s) including an ancillary terrestrial network(s) using the second set of satellite radiotelephone frequencies. In an alternative, a satellite radiotelephone system may be authorized to use a set of satellite frequencies, and the set of satellite frequencies may be partitioned into first and second substantially mutually exclusive (non-overlapping) sub-sets. The first sub-set of satellite frequencies may be allocated for use by ancillary terrestrial components of the ancillary terrestrial network, and the second sub-set may be allocated for use by one or more space based components (such as one or more satellites) providing satellite radiotelephone cells. The sub-set of satellite frequencies used by the ancillary terrestrial network may be used according to a staggered sectorization pattern as discussed above with respect to FIG. 15. An example of reuse of one or a set of the satellite radiotelephone frequencies of the second set used by the ancillary terrestrial network is illustrated with the arrows of FIG. 15. As shown, at least a portion of the ancillary terrestrial components can be divided into n directional sectors and one or more of the radiotelephone frequencies of the second set can be reused by the ancillary terrestrial network m times. Moreover, the ancillary terrestrial components can be grouped into reuse clusters or patterns indicated by the thick lines defining the reuse patterns 1510 discussed above. The arrows represent the reuse of one or a set of the radiotelephone frequencies no more than once in one directional sector of one ancillary terrestrial component in each reuse cluster. Moreover, the directions of the arrows are staggered to reduce an aggregate power of reused frequencies transmitted by the ancillary terrestrial network in any one direction. As shown in FIG. 15, for example, a portion of the ancillary terrestrial components can be divided into 3 directional sectors (i.e. n=3), and one or a set of the radiotelephone frequencies can be reused 18 times as indicated by the 18 arrows (i.e. m=18). Moreover, the radiotelephone frequencies are shown as being reused 6 times in directional sectors pointing to X degrees, 6 times in directional sectors pointing to X+120 degrees, and 6 times in sectors pointing to X+240 degrees. In other words, an aggregate of radiated power transmitted by the ancillary terrestrial network at the reused frequency or frequencies in any direction in the example of FIG. 15 is no greater than approximately 1/n of a total radiated power transmitted by the ancillary terrestrial network at the reused frequency. As the directional sectors may not necessarily be aligned from ancillary terrestrial component to ancillary terrestrial component within an ancillary terrestrial network, an aggregate of radiated power transmitted in any direction may actually be less (or more) than 1/n of a total radiated power transmitted by the ancillary terrestrial network at the reused frequency or frequencies. Additional reductions of aggregate radiated power in a particular direction may also be obtained by selectively rotating orientations of the ancillary terrestrial components such that directional sectors of ancillary terrestrial components are intentionally misaligned. In an ancillary terrestrial network including ancillary terrestrial components divided into three 120 degree sectors, for example, a first half of the ancillary terrestrial components may be aligned so that the directional sectors point to 90 degrees, 210 degrees, and 330 degrees, and a second half of the ancillary terrestrial components may be aligned so that the directional sectors point to 30 degrees, 150 degrees, and 270 degrees. It also will be understood that techniques other than sectorization may be used to obtain randomization of the direction of frequency reuse and/or directional diversity in at least portions of the ancillary terrestrial network. For example, beam forming techniques may be used to randomize the direction of frequency reuse for beams that are reused in a given sector of the ancillary terrestrial network. Moreover, directions of frequency reuse may be randomized in ancillary terrestrial systems with terrestrial components divided into different numbers of sectors. For example, not every terrestrial component in terrestrial networks according to embodiments of the present invention must be divided into sectors, and those that are divided into sectors may be divided into different numbers of sectors. According to embodiments of the present invention, providing communications can include reusing a radiotelephone frequency among a plurality of terrestrial components to provide radiotelephone communications for a plurality of mobile terminals. Moreover, reuse of the radiotelephone frequency can be randomized among the plurality of terrestrial components. In addition, the plurality of terrestrial components can be grouped into clusters of terrestrial components with at least one terrestrial component of each cluster transmitting to a plurality of directional sectors, and randomizing reuse of the radiotelephone frequency can include reusing the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a cluster of terrestrial components. Moreover, the clusters of terrestrial components may comprise clusters of adjacent terrestrial components. Randomizing reuse of the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a cluster of terrestrial components can further include reusing the radiotelephone frequency so that a direction of the directional sectors reusing the radiotelephone frequency is staggered. As discussed above, the radiotelephone frequency can be used to provide downlinks from respective terrestrial components to receiving radiotelephones. In addition, the radiotelephone frequency reused among the plurality of terrestrial components can be within a band of satellite frequencies transmitted by a space-based component. Stated in other words, the radiotelephone frequency reused by the terrestrial components can also be used for satellite radiotelephone communications. Similarly, a communications system can include means for reusing a radiotelephone frequency among a plurality of terrestrial components to provide radiotelephone communications for a plurality of mobile terminals, and means for randomizing reuse of the radiotelephone frequency among the plurality of terrestrial components. The plurality of terrestrial components can be grouped into clusters of terrestrial components with at least one terrestrial component of each cluster transmitting to a plurality of directional sectors, and the means for randomizing reuse of the radiotelephone frequency can include means for reusing the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a cluster of terrestrial components. The means for randomizing reuse of the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a cluster of terrestrial components can also include means for reusing the radiotelephone frequency so that a direction of the directional sectors reusing the radiotelephone frequency is staggered. The radiotelephone frequency can also be used to provide down-links from respective terrestrial components to receiving radiotelephones. a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components configured to provide communications over a service region using at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a staggered sectorization pattern, wherein the space-based component does not provide communications over the service region using the at least one first frequency and an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction is less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 2. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 1 wherein the space-based component is configured to provide communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using at least one second frequency of the satellite frequency band, wherein the at least one second frequency is different than the at least one first frequency. 3. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 2 wherein the space-based component is configured to provide down-link communications over the service region using the at least one second frequency. 4. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 2 wherein the space-based component is configured to provide communications over a second service region not including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency. 5. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one first frequency is used by ancillary terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. 6. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 1 wherein each of at least some of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components comprises n directional sectors and the at least one first frequency is used by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components so that an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in a direction is limited to approximately 1/n of a total radiated power transmitted by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 7. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 5 wherein the at least one first frequency is further used by radiotelephones to provide up-link communications. 8. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 6 wherein n=3. 9. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components comprise a plurality of frequency reuse clusters, wherein each frequency reuse cluster uses the at least one first frequency no more than once. a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components comprising a plurality of frequency reuse clusters, wherein a first frequency reuse cluster transmits at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a first direction and a second frequency reuse cluster transmits the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a second direction, wherein the space-based component does not provide communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency and an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction is less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 11. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 10 wherein the space-based component is configured to provide communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using at least one second frequency of the satellite frequency band, wherein the at least one second frequency is different than the at least one first frequency. 12. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 11 wherein the space-based component is configured to provide down-link communications over the service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one second frequency. 13. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 11 wherein the space-based component is configured to provide communications over a second service region not including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components, wherein the space-based component provides communications over the second service region using the at least one first frequency. 14. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 10 wherein the at least one first frequency is used by ancillary terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. 15. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 10 wherein each of at least some of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components comprises n directional sectors and an aggregate power radiated by the at least some of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in a direction is no greater than approximately 1/n of a total power radiated by the at least some of the ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 16. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 15 wherein n=3. 17. A satellite radiotelephone system according to claim 15 wherein each frequency reuse cluster uses the at least one first frequency no more than once. providing communications from a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components over a service region using at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a staggered sectorization pattern, wherein the space-based component does not provide communications over the service region using the at least one first frequency and an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction is less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 19. A method according to claim 18 wherein providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band further comprises providing communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using at least one second frequency of the satellite frequency band, wherein the at least one second frequency is different than the at least one first frequency. 20. A method according to claim 19 wherein providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band further comprises providing down-link communications over the service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one second frequency. 21. A method according to claim 19 wherein providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band further comprises providing communications over a second service region not including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency. 22. A method according to claim 18 wherein the at least one first frequency is used by ancillary terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. 23. A method according to claim 18 wherein each of at least some of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components comprises n directional sectors and the at least one first frequency is transmitted by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components so that an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in a direction is no greater than approximately 1/n of a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 24. A method according to claim 22 wherein the at least one first frequency is further used by radiotelephones to provide up-link communications. 25. A method according to claim 23 wherein n=3. 26. A method according to claim 23 wherein the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components comprise a plurality of frequency reuse clusters wherein each frequency reuse cluster uses the at least one first frequency no more than once. providing communications from a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components comprising a plurality of frequency reuse clusters, wherein a first frequency reuse cluster transmits at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a first direction and a second frequency reuse cluster transmits the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band in a second direction, wherein the space-based component does not provide communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency and an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction is less than a total power radiated by the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 28. A method according to claim 27 wherein providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band further comprises providing communications over a service region including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using at least one second frequency of the satellite frequency band, wherein the at least one second frequency is different than the at least one first frequency. 29. A method according to claim 28 wherein providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band further comprises providing down-link communications over the service region using the at least one second frequency. 30. A method according to claim 28 wherein providing communications from a space-based component using frequencies of a satellite frequency band further comprises providing communications over a second service region not including the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency. 31. A method according to claim 27 wherein the at least one first frequency is used by ancillary terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. 32. A method according to claim 27 wherein each of at least some of the plurality of ancillary terrestrial components comprises n directional sectors and the at least one first frequency is used by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters so that an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters at the at least one first frequency in a direction is no greater than approximately 1/n of a total power radiated by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters at the at least one first frequency. 33. A method according to claim 32 wherein n=3. 34. A method according to claim 32 wherein each frequency reuse cluster uses the at least one first frequency no more than once. a plurality of terrestrial components comprising a plurality of frequency reuse clusters, at least one terrestrial component of each frequency reuse cluster comprising a plurality of directional sectors, wherein at least a first and second frequency reuse clusters provide communications by transmitting at least one first frequency of a satellite frequency band in respective first and second directions, a space-based component provides communications using frequencies of the satellite frequency band and refrains from providing communications over a service region that includes the plurality of terrestrial components using the at least one first frequency and wherein an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in any direction is less than a total power radiated by the plurality of terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 36. A radiotelephone system according to claim 35 wherein the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band is used by terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. 37. A radiotelephone system according to claim 35 wherein each of at least some of the plurality of terrestrial components comprises n directional sectors and the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band is used so that an aggregate power radiated by the at least some of the plurality of terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency in a direction is no greater than approximately 1/n of a total power radiated by the at least some of the plurality of terrestrial components at the at least one first frequency. 38. A radiotelephone system according to claim 37 wherein n=3. 39. A radiotelephone system according to claim 37 wherein each frequency reuse cluster uses the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band no more than once. 40. A radiotelephone system according to claim 36 wherein the at least one first frequency of the satellite frequency band is further used by radiotelephones to provide up-link communications. using a radiotelephone frequency by a plurality of terrestrial components to provide radiotelephone communications wherein the plurality of terrestrial components comprise a plurality of frequency reuse clusters with at least one terrestrial component of each frequency reuse cluster transmitting from a plurality of directional sectors and wherein a first frequency reuse cluster transmits the radiotelephone frequency in a first direction and a second frequency reuse cluster transmits the radiotelephone frequency in a second direction that is randomly oriented relative to the first. 42. A method according to claim 41 wherein the radiotelephone frequency is used by terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. 43. A method according to claim 41 wherein each of at least some terrestrial components transmitting from a plurality of directional sectors comprises n directional sectors and the radiotelephone frequency is used by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters so that an aggregate power radiated by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters at the radiotelephone frequency in a direction is no greater than approximately 1/n of a total power radiated by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters at the radiotelephone frequency. 44. A method according to claim 43 wherein n=3. 45. A method according to claim 43 wherein each frequency reuse cluster uses the radiotelephone frequency no more than once. 46. A method according to claim 41 wherein the radiotelephone frequency used by the plurality of frequency reuse clusters is within a band of satellite frequencies transmitted by a space-based component. randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency by the plurality of terrestrial components. 48. A method according to claim 47 wherein the plurality of terrestrial components comprise a plurality of frequency reuse clusters with at least one terrestrial component of each frequency reuse cluster comprising a plurality of directional sectors wherein randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency comprises using the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a frequency reuse cluster and in different directions over respective different frequency reuse clusters. 49. A method according to claim 48 wherein randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a frequency reuse cluster comprises using the radiotelephone frequency so that a direction of at least two directional sectors using the radiotelephone frequency is staggered therebetween. 50. A method according to claim 47 wherein the radiotelephone frequency is used by terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. 51. A method according to claim 47 wherein the radiotelephone frequency used among the plurality of terrestrial components is within a band of satellite frequencies associated with a space-based component. means for randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency among the plurality of terrestrial components. 53. A communications system according to claim 52 wherein the plurality of terrestrial components are grouped into clusters of terrestrial components with at least one terrestrial component of each cluster transmitting over a plurality of directional sectors wherein the means for randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency comprises means for using the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a cluster of terrestrial components. 54. A communications system according to claim 53 wherein the means for randomizing use of the radiotelephone frequency in no more than one directional sector of a cluster of terrestrial components comprises means for using the radiotelephone frequency so that a direction of at least two directional sectors using the radiotelephone frequency is staggered therebetween. 55. A communications system according to claim 52 wherein the radiotelephone frequency is used by terrestrial components to provide down-link communications. 56. A communications system according to claim 55 wherein the radiotelephone frequency used among the plurality of terrestrial components is within a band of satellite frequencies associated with a space-based component. 57. A communications system according to claim 56 wherein the radiotelephone frequency is further used by radiotelephones to provide up-link communications. US628919A (en) * 1899-01-11 1899-07-18 Gustav A Brachhausen Governor mechanism. FR2956745A1 (en) * 2010-02-19 2011-08-26 Thales Sa coating process of a signal from a set of satellite signals collections.

2019-04-24T18:59:23Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20060252368A1/en

It is important, therefore, that the food service industry addresses these issues at the supply chain and industry economics levels. It is difficult to change the nutrition value of foods without dealing with it at the supply chain level. The inputs are critical, and it will take key industry leaders to work with major suppliers like Sysco to improve the quality of inputs. In addition there needs to be a cultural shift. There is this idea that food cannot taste good without massive amounts of added fat, sugar and salt. This is simply not true. Food can taste good with moderate amounts of these things, but there needs to be concerted effort to craft good recipes, not just crank out the easy answers. More creativity is going to be important to meeting this challenge without compromising customer interest. Mechanical digestion begins the process of digestion. Otherwise known as chewing, it "involves mixing, grinding, or crushing large pieces of food into small pieces" (Lab: Mechanical and chemical digestion, n.d, Chapter 38). In contrast, the process of chemical digestion occurs inside of the body within the digestive organs, "when digestive enzymes break down complex molecules, such as carbohydrates, into simple molecules, such as glucose" (Lab: Mechanical and chemical digestion, n.d, Chapter 38). When digesting a ham and cheese sandwich, first the teeth grind the sandwich mechanically. Then this is followed by the process of breaking down the food chemically within the body. While mechanical digestion is a willed activity in the sense we select the foods we eat and how much we chew, chemical digestion is not. The most basic definition of nutrition is "the science of how food nourishes the body." (Null) Still, nutrition is a very broad and complex subject. The food we eat must go through many changes before our bodies can use it for nutrition. Nutrition includes the physical act of eating, digesting and absorbing nutrients. Nutrition is the process that living things take in food and use it. Plants can be nourished by air, water and sunshine. ut human beings have much more complicated needs. Our nutrition may be good or poor, depending on the food we eat. Shapiro Kendrick, A., Kaufmann, R. And Messenger, K.P. Healthy Young Children. National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1995. Null, Gary. The Complete Guide to Health and Nutrition. Doubleday, 1984. Fuller, Cook. Nutrition: Annual Editions. Dushkin, 1990. Braverman, Eric R. The Healing Nutrients Within. Keats Publishing, Inc., 1997. This paper presents a detailed discussion about the importance of proper nutrition during pregnancy. The writer includes an interview with a nutritionist as well as discussion about exercise and other health aspects of pregnancy. There were seven sources used to complete this paper. The medical community has been aware for many years that nutrition is important during pregnancy as well as supplements and exercise. The proper nutrition and supplements help the baby develop as well as keep the mother healthy during the pregnancy. Often time's expectant mothers are confused about their nutritional needs and they are unsure about exercise as well. It is important for the expectant mother to maintain a nutritionally healthy diet throughout the pregnancy as well as take the supplements prescribed to her. Kerry Hillard, Table For 2/Nutrition News For Baby And One: E-ting Well., Baby Talk, 11-01-2000, pp 83. John Davenport, A Tragic But Telling Legacy., Newsweek, 09-27-1999, pp 53. Christopher Weems, Tips To Be Fit: Pregnancy, Exercise & Nutrition., Atlanta Inquirer, 06-29-1996, pp PG. Author not available, PREGNANCY AND NUTRITION: 'One are what one eat' takes on specialmeaning when eatting for two.., The Dallas Morning News, 09-30-1996, pp 3C. vanilla extract, 1 tsp. lecithin granules, appropriate preservative -- flavors to be determined. The product has no lactose, is sugar free, and with the coconut and almond milk, already has the taste of tropical drinks -- with the addition of pineapple, strawberry, mango or guava, and banana, or a combination, there would be even more tropical flavoring. The desert could be made in cups, larger containers, or with the use of a low-calorie "crust" as a tropical desert sandwich. Several permutations of "deserts" could be made, including a frozen "sorbet" version using the discarded 1/2 shells of coconuts used for processing coconut products. The Long Magenstrasse with pyloroplasty as functional Gastric Bypass (LMGBP) procedure is that such surgery. This surgery has been found to reduce the occurrence of side effects connected with gastric restrictive and malabsorptive surgery, particularly on quality of life and long-term nutritional insufficiency. This surgery has shown to result in significant weight loss, together with its moderate surgical risk, very low complication profile, and the satisfaction of patients. This suggests that is might be a feasible advance in bariatric surgical technique. This procedure can be employed to advantage and perhaps may be preferable to the technically more complex RYGBP, which is not without nutritional-metabolic side effects (Vassallo, 2010). The goal is to limit the nutritional deficiencies as much as possible. (2009): 234-9. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. The toddler gains self-feeding skills and, thus, becomes more in control of what he or she will actually consume. So, those good nutritional habits and foods that a parent has introduced in the formative months, become even more critical to good nutrition as a toddler. If the baby has learned the tastes of good nutrition, those will continue with them as a toddler, young child, etc. And if bad nutritional habits have been developed -- for example, too much sugar -- it could affect the child's health for a lifetime. urthermore, the overall high quality nutrition intake is efficiently supported with the implementation of sustainable control policies that can help monitor the employee's regularities or irregularities in gaining nutritional knowledge and/or its application. The health programs and their impact can also be effectively measured through these control policies. Flegal, K.M., Carroll, M.D., Kuczmarski, R.J., Johnson, C.L. Overweight and obesity in the United States: Prevalence and trends, 1960-1994. International Journal of Obesity. 1998; 22:39-47. Balch, J.F. And Balch, P.A. Prescription for Nutritional Healing. Avery Publishing Group. 1990. Bland, J. Be present for miracles. CAM. (2005): 5(1): 36-37. People achieving registration are known as egistered Public Health Nutritionists (PHNutr). Associate registration is also available for graduates who are in the process of gaining sufficient work experience in order to apply for full registration. The Nutrition Society is also starting to accredit degree courses in public health nutrition so that this career path can be selected from the outset (All about Careers in Nutrition UK, 2004). Therefore, in the light of the above views, a central part of the solution to the problems of poor nutrition in adolescence is an awareness of the problems. This is a first step in the development of any effective program. In other words, the youth should be made more self-aware of poor nutritional habits and the importance of adequate nutritional intake and the way that these factors are often promoted through the media. This in turn would necessitate the involvement and cooperation of various other parties, including schools, parents and related organizations in the educational arena and food industry. Cheetham N. And Klindera K. The Nutritional Needs and Status of Adolescents. Hearne. S. et al. (2004) F. As in Fat: How obesity policies are failing in America. More specifically, when certain species (including homo Sapiens) consume more calories than necessary for immediate energy requirements, their digestive systems efficiently converts those excess calories into storable forms of reserve energy that are capable of being called upon in times of need (Larson-Duyff, 2005; Rinzler, 2004). In humans, excess caloric consumption increases the amount of sugars dissolved in the blood (Larson-Duyff, 2005; Rinzler, 2004). This triggers a natural insulin response in which the pituitary signals the body to release extra insulin into the bloodstream to process the blood sugar. Many chronically overweight individuals become resistant to insulin, eventually requiring artificial insulin supplementation to maintain blood sugar levels consistent with ordinary physiological processes and to avoid onset of acute diabetic responses that are debilitating and that can be fatal when not treated appropriately (Hamric, Spross, & Hanson, 2009; Taylor, Lillis, & LeMone, 2005). Al-Isa, A.N. "Body mass index, overweight and obesity among Kuwaiti intermediate school adolescents aged 10-14 years" European Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 58, No. 9; (2004): 1273 -- 1277. This source reports the results of an empirical survey published in a peer-reviewed European scientific clinical nutrition journal. It details the evolution of an obesity epidemic in one Middle Eastern country (Kuwait) where the rapid shift from an active lifestyle to sedentary living in the last half century has greatly contributed to the incidence of obesity throughout society. The survey documents the prevalence of obesity in intermediate school adolescents and implicates lack of exercise and the preference for sedentary recreation as important causal factors in the problem. Damaging Extra Baggage Is" U.S. News & World Report; Jan 14/08: 57-61). Moreover, alcohol can lead to many social and psychological problems, including family conflict, arrests, job instability, injuries related to violence or accidents, and psychological symptoms related to depression and anxiety (Negative pp). These problems can become a great emotional burden to individuals and families, as well as a great financial expense to health care systems and society (Negative pp). Approximately fourteen million Americans, or one in every thirteen adults, either abuse alcohol or are alcoholic, and several million more engage in risky drinking that could lead to alcohol problems, such as binge drinking and heavy drinking on a regular basis (Alcohol pp). Moreover, fifty-three percent of men and women in the United States report that one or more of their close relatives have a drinking problem (Alcohol pp). Adle, Jerry. "Doctors say it's a health crisis in the making." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a division that focuses on Nutrition, Physical, and Obesity to address the problem of obesity in the United States. This division provides funds to 25 states to tackle the challenges of obesity and other chronic diseases via statewide initiatives that are coordinated with various partners. In addition to preventing obesity and other chronic diseases, the primary focus of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Program is to improve the health of Americans through changing environments where people operate in daily. It will work to develop long-term and comprehensive efforts to tackle these diseases by implementing several evidence-based nutrition and physical activity strategies. Hamre et. al. (2006, July). Improving Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention. At 50 laps an engagement, I am in and out of the gym pool in 45 minutes. In the intervening two days, I engage in the lower impact activity of Frisbee golf, which gets me outdoors and walking for three to four hours a time while also stimulating anerobic motion in disc throwing. One day out of every week is designated to hiking outdoors, for between 3 and 7 hours. This will see me contend with a wide array of terrains and athletic challenges such as inclines, declines, long distances and even rock climbing. Papalia, D., Feldman, R. & Olds, S.(2007). A child' world: Infancy through adolesence. 11th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Companies. My doctor told me that next time I hear such advice I should ask the person what physiological mechanism is responsible for that and exactly how it is that food eaten at night converts to body fat any more easily than food eaten during the day. The FDA recommends that each person consume between eight and 11 servings of breads and grains per day. On my first day, I ate three servings of food from the grain category: oatmeal, a baked potato, and pasta. On my second day, I ate five servings of grains: wheat toast, rice, and crackers. I am not consuming enough whole grain foods. The FDA recommends between three and five servings of vegetables per day. On both days, I only consumed one serving of vegetables in the form of mixed vegetables. I am not consuming enough vegetables, especially fresh ones. Folate supplementation can disguise an underlying B12 deficiency, and B12 deficiency is linked to a number of health issues including depression, dementia, and anemia. However, folate and B12 are both B-complex vitamins and are metabolized similarly. Both are stored in the liver and both are essential components in homocysteine metabolism, which in turn reduces risk for cardiovascular disease ("Folate fortification may mask B12 deficiency"). Both folate and B12 deficiencies can cause similar problems like anemia but B12 takes longer to break down in the liver and B12 deficiencies take longer than folate deficiencies to manifest as health problems. Therefore, care must be taken to supplement with B12 as well as folate if a deficiency is suspected. 4.Based on understanding of proteins, why does insulin need to be injected rather than ingested? Still, the ultimate answer is the education of parents and their kids about the importance of striking a balance between good-old fashioned exercise and other activities. This is why dropping PE requirements and/or recess is such a bad idea. It sends the wrong message to children and their parents and will lead to an even greater increase in obesity rates and associated health issues in our country. 2%) of respondents indicated taking higher doses, in the 800 microgram/day range. Those individuals' folate intake was therefore greater than the 1000 microgram/day recommended dose of the vitamin. Breakfast has been called the most important meal of the day, and research continually substantiates the benefits of school breakfast on improving multiple aspects of student performance. School breakfasts help to minimize the effects of socioeconomic disparities, allowing all students to have equal access to the tools they need to achieve academic goals. Moreover, eating breakfast can reduce rates of childhood obesity and inculcate healthy eating habits into children (United States Department of Agriculture, n.d.). Community nurses can help promote a school breakfast program by stimulating compliance and interest in breakfast among all students. The abundance of pseudo-scientific literature on the Internet often obscures the kernels of truth about nutritional supplements. For example, research does substantiate the role and importance of vitamin C in promoting optimal immune system health. For this exercise, I presented the question, “Does Vitamin C actually boost my immune system? If so, how or why?” The reason why I chose this question is because I have been taking Vitamin C, and do not know if it is worth the investment in the supplements. I want to know if vitamin C’s role in boosting the immune system is scientifically valid or a spurious claim made by those interested in selling me their brand of supplements. Wintergerst, E.S., Maggini, S. & Hornig, D.H. (2006). Immune-enhancing role of vitamin C and zinc effect on clinical conditions. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism 50(2): 85-94. They discovered various anthropometric variables such as calculating body mass index, pediatric calculation capabilities, etc. They found that none of the computers used Internationale units, only English and/or metric. They compared user instruction booklets for ease of understanding and found that none of the five included a toll-free telephone number. They also found variations between the calculators when basal energy expenditure and ideal body weight were calculated, but could only speculate about causes of the variations. Conclusions: The researchers conclude that there is no single "best" calculator. "Each user needs to determine whether the device is user-friendly and adaptable to his or her clinical situation" (p. 5). They also provide a complete list of features and functions for the nutritionist to consider before choosing a particular hand-held computer to buy and a systematic six-point strategy for making the decision. Orta, J. And Reinarts, C.L. (1994). Comparison of handheld computers for nutrition assessment and support. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 94 (12). Retrieved on 10 March 2007 from Expanded Academic ASAP database. Hypoglycemia is a condition of low blood sugar, caused by the body's inappropriate metabolism of glucose and insulin. Diabetics who experience temporary hypoglycemia can remedy the problem by ingesting some simple sugars to immediately reintroduce glucose into the bloodstream. A nutrition who views evaluating a person's nutritional health the way a builder would build a bridge - doing one's job and then leaving for the next client - is unlikely to have any real impact on a person's health. The latter two can be enjoyed cooked or cut up fresh, in a salad. If she uses spinach instead of lettuce in the salad, the subject can boost fiber even further and add a little more iron to her diet. Current consumption of iron is just under recommended amounts. High fiber fruits, including apples, oranges and pears, will not add significant calories if consumed in moderation (How Do I Get More Fiber). "How do I get more fiber in my diet?" eHealth MD. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. "Lactose intolerance." National Digestive Diseases Information Clearing House (NDDIC). Some risks may be associated with both the LCD and the VLCD. Side effects of a very low calorie diet may include fatigue, nausea, or constipation ("Very Low Calorie Diets"). The formation of gallstones may also accompany the rapid weight loss associated with the VLCD ("Very Low Calorie Diets"). A low calorie diet like those recommended by the NHLBI may result in fewer side effects. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, dietitians and nutritionist jobs numbered 60,300 in 2008 (Dieticians and Nutritionists, 2011, BLS). Because of concerns about health problems related to nutrition and weight, demand for nutrition experts is growing in America. Of the 46 states with laws governing nutrition practitioners, 33 states require licensing, 12 require statutory certification, and 1 requires registration. "As a result, interested candidates should determine the requirements of the state in which they want to work before sitting for any exam" (Dieticians and Nutritionists, 2011, BLS). "Four hours ago, I ate three oz of baked chicken marinated in one tsp olive oil and other spices, one cup rice and one-half cup beans, two cups salad (romaine lettuce, carrots, onions and radishes) with two tablespoons ranch dressing and one cup of skim milk. Now, I am going to run for forty five minutes and will lift weights for another thirty minutes." Translated the word aerobic means "requiring oxygen to live." Oxygen is necessary to release energy from the body's stores of fat, glycogen (starcy storage material), and sugars. During aerobic exercise a constant supply reaches the muscles. During aerobic exercise the rate at which oxygen reaches the muscles keeps pace with the rate at which it is used. Due to this continual replenishment, the activity can be sustained for long periods of time. American Medical Association Home Medical Encyclopedia. (1989). Editor: Charles B. Clayman, M.D., Random House: New York. Metabolism; Reports from University of Chicago Advance Knowledge in Metabolism. (2011, April). Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week,1016. Retrieved April 16, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID: 2312162561). This chemical process happens all along the digestion track. Yet, eating the carrot provides a different digestion response than eating a greasy piece of pizza. When one digests a carrot, a plant food source, one is consuming mainly starch-based nutrients. This means that the "body uses a number of enzymes to cut down a large, linear starch chain into the small individual units that are linked together, the glucose molecules, which can then be absorbed in the intestines," (George Mateljan Foundation 2009). The absorption takes place within the walls of the digestive track and releases necessary nutrients directly into the bloodstream. However, a greasy pizza is filled mainly with cholesterol. Cholesterol is not an essential fat, but is digested in the same manner. The process of hydrolysis strips off the fats then uses bile acids to finish digestion since fats are not water saleable. Contract production will allow favorable pricing of both ingredients and finished product. Sampling will allow for marketing controls and for targeting national and export markets. The product will meet the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), European Union, and other specific certification requirements, so may be exported. The Internet will be considered as a target for purchases, but will mainly be used for advertising the product. Mapco stores will be the exclusive client of this product, and will be the outlet to other organic health food agencies that may elect to sponsor sales of this product, as well. The increased product range will depend upon acceptance by Mapco clientele and consumers, with sampling in other areas and acceptance in the health food market. In a jam and out of juice (2000) [Online] Available at http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/ncbe/protocols/inajam/pdf/jam01.pdf . It normalizes blood pressure by dilating the blood pathways throughout the body, destroys poisonous carbon dioxide, releases free oxygen and promotes higher metabolism and stimulated enzyme systems. Consuming chlorophyll from wheatgrass has been shown to be a very highly successful way to alkalize and energize the body (Wheatgrass Juice Benefits, 2010). Quendler, S. "Link Between Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Academic Achievement." Vienna University, Austria. (August, 2002): 1-2/. Available at http://chp.ilsi.org/NR/rdonlyres/AFE7EC1D-17D0-494C-BC0B-4E0E065627A8/0/linkbetweennutritionachievement.pdf Accessed 23 October 2008. his study confirmed the connection between poor nutrition and academic performance. It also identified low-income children as being at particular risk of poor nutrition. his study supports the need for programs to improve childhood nutritional status. Productive Benefits of Health: Evidence from Low-Income Countries," Investment behavior and combined income of two people makes it difficult to link better health with economic prosperity. Heterogeneity in the sample also affected the survey results. his study highlights some of the factors that may affect this research study. This study found that workplace meal programs can prevent micronutrient deficiencies, reducing the number of chronic diseases in the workplace. This study found that investments in better worker nutrition increased productivity by as much as 20% and improved workplace morale. This study provides an excellent foundation for the current research study. Washington State Department of Health. "Employer-Based Health and Productivity Program." Available from: www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/NutritionPa/our_work_sites/default.htm. Accessed 23 October 2008. This website highlights an initiative by the Washington State Department of Health, which provides grants to help employers offers wellness programs. The focus of these wellness programs is on increasing physical activity and providing healthy food choices. The purpose of the program is to prevent chronic disease, thus increasing work productivity. This program could be a model for similar programs in the future. Triantafillidis, J.K., Durakis, S., & Merikas, E. (2013). Crohn's disease of the small bowel, complicated by primary biliary cirrhosis, Hashimoto thyroiditis, and Raynaud's phenomenon: favorable response of all disorders to adalimumab treatment. Gastroenterology & Hepatology From Bed To Bench, 6(2), 101-105. To truly reduce obesity would require us to give up some of our values of an easy life. Food Additives -- chemicals of a variety are added to foods for improving the color and flavor of the foods and to preserve the foods. While some of these have been banned due to having been shown to cause cancer in animals others are believed to protect against carcinogens. Vitamin E -- Vitamin E is an oxidant and while it may prevent cancer in animals more research is needed of the role Vitamin E plays in preventing cancer in humans. American Cancer Society.: Nutrition for the Person with Cancer: A Guide for Patients and Families. Atlanta, Ga: American Cancer Society, Inc., 2000. Brown, J. (2001) Nutrition During and After Cancer Treatment A Guide for Informed Choices by Cancer Survivors. Ca Cancer J. Clin. 2001; 551: 153. Jemal, A. et al. (2009) Cancer Statistics, 2009. Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 27 May 2009. In today's high stress world of nutrition, every decision one makes about feeding themselves and nourishing their body can come with much thought. If we are what we eat, than it makes a lot of sense to focus on this area and understand the true benefits a well balanced nutrition can offer. In attempting to find a replacement for sugar, some food companies have devised numerous replacements for this product for various reasons. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the product Splenda, an artificial sweetener. This examination will explore the history of the product, the safety issues associated with this product and Splenda's possible relation to the obesity epidemic that is appears to be occurring throughout the world. 1A) in the 18th and 19th centuries, food adulteration was common, and usually done for profit. Expensive ingredients were commonly diluted with filler material to lower cost, but there were no controls on these fillers and many were unsafe. Some additives were added to extend the shelf life of food, but in several cases these additives were harmful to consumers -- common preservatives included borax, formaldehyde and sulfuric acid. 1B) The poison squad was a team that tried foods with common additives. They were to find out what the effects of those additives on the human body are. Good nutrition and healthy lifestyle are important to a better quality of life, but both can be crucial during pregnancy. Inspection of the research indicates that sound nutritional practices during pregnancy have always been considered important in the development of the unborn child Allen, 2005). However, good maternal nutrition may also be an important factor in the development of the fetus before the mother becomes pregnant and the effects of maternal nutrition on the fetus may extend well beyond childhood into adulthood (Barker, 1992). Allen, L.H. (2005). Multiple micronutrients in pregnancy and lactation: An overview. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 81(supplement), 1206S-1212S. Barker, D.J.P., (Ed.) (1992). Fetal and infant origins of adult disease. London: British Medical Journal Books. Godfrey, K.M & Barker, D.J.P. (2000). Fetal nutrition and adult disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 71 (5), 1344-1352. NUTRITION DURING THE ADOLESCENT STAGE IN PREVENTING FUTURE DISEASES? HOW MIGHT NUTRITION AFFECT GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, AND LEARNING DURING THE ADOLESCENT STAGE? SOURCES I NEED FOR MY BIBLIOGRAPHY: I REQUIRE THREE (3) PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS AND TWO CREDIBLE WEBSITES. Calcium potentiates the effect of estrogen and calcitonin on bone mass," (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1998) and "Calcium and Osteoporosis" (New Zealand Vegetarian Society web site). oth articles, while dealing with the same issue, had differing viewpoints leading to my concluding that there are many more variables involved in the prevention of osteoporosis than depletion of calcium in the body. "Canada's Food Guide." Health Canada. (2007). The Canadian Government. 9 July 2008. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/order-commander/eating_well_bien_manger-eng.php#2 . Hidgon, Jane. "Vitamin C Deficiency." Micronutrient Information Center. (2006). Enker, Warren. "Bowel Function and Dietary Fiber." Continuum Health Partners. (n.d.). Studies also indicate that the people of this area are more physically active than most Americans, and they have extensive social support, through large families, that tend to keep people healthier and happier throughout life. While there may be other factors that contribute to the longevity of people who partake in a Mediterranean diet, designing a low-fat, healthy diet based on Mediterranean principles of little red meat, lots of fruits and vegetables, a glass of red wine now and then, and use of "good" fats like olive oil, can lead to a healthier, more active and enjoyable lifestyle. Americans can learn a lot from the Mediterranean lifestyle, if they only take the time to learn about it and make the choice to live healthier, more active lives. Counihan, Carole M. Around the Tuscan Table: Food, Family, and Gender in Twentieth Century Florence. New York: Routledge, 2004. Editors. 2008. Mediterranean Diet. Dallas, TX: American Heart Association. Online. Available from Internet, http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=46444 April 2008. Editors. 2006. Mediterranean Diet for Heart Health. Rochester, MN: Mayo Clinic. Online. Available from Internet, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mediterranean-diet/CL000114 April 2008. Editors. 2001. Tomatoes & Health. Sacramento, CA: California Tomato Growers' Association. Online. Available from Internet, http://www.ctga.org/newctga/health/studyconfirms.htm4 April 2008. If it is true that you are what you eat, many people do not know themselves very well. Nutritional value of any food is of extreme importance due to the fact of its contribution to the maintenance and overall health of the individual. No one could be expected to operate and learn at a high level if the sources of energy using to fuel this process are of low quality. High quality foods coupled with positive healthy attitudes towards eating and consuming are necessities in today's fast-paced society. The future of the world lies within the next generation and their education. The importance of treating children with respect and honesty cannot be overvalued in today's society. The precious resources that children provide in terms of hope and optimism require educators in today's world to do the best for the betterment of the entire society. Khansari, D.N., Murgo, A.J., et al. (1990). Effects of stress on the immune system. Immunology Today, 44(26): 170-175. Chemistry is a branch of sciences that deals with the compositions of matter and helps in identifying the substances that form matter. Living as well as non-living bodies are formed with substances. These substances differ in their composition, nature, properties, and reactions with other substances. There is a vital role of chemicals and chemistry in everyday life of human beings. The impacts of chemical substances on living beings can also be divided into direct and indirect categories. The impact of environmental substances is indirect in nature whereas direct impacts are chemical composition of food, nutrition, vitamins, and physical activity. Papadopolus, K. (2008). Food Chemistry Research Developments. USA: Nova Science Publishers Inc. Sladyk, K., & O'Sullivan, B. (2010). Occupation, activity, Skills, patterns, Demands, context, and Balance. Occupational Therapy Essentials for Clinical Competence, 33. Willett, W. (2012). Nutritional epidemiology (Vol. 40). USA: OUP. features of nutrition by completing the table. Breast milk is best for the baby since it has the necessary vitamins and minerals for the baby to be healthy. Infant formulas are available for babies whose mothers are unable or choose not to breastfeed. health, safety, nutrition interrelated. How health, safety, nutrition interrelated? Give examples readings relations importance. Think relationship preventative health care health promotion.PAGE 1 Emotional regulation important skill learned early childhood. Your textbook states "One important aspects emotional regulation predicts development. Preschoolers elementary-age children express a great deal anger, hostility, negative emotions show poorer social competence school isolated rejected peers (Eisenberg al,. Leng, R.A. "Quantitative Ruminant Nutrition -- A Green Science." Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 1993. 16 Dec. 2009 . Block, Gladys, et al. (2008) Vitamin C in Plasma is Inversely Related to Blood Pressure and Change in Blood Pressure During the Previous Year in Young Black and White Women. Nutrition Journal. 7:35 2008. Naidu, K. Akhilender (2003) Vitamin C in Human Health and Disease is Still a Mystery: An Overview. Nutrition Journal 2003 2:7.

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CAMBRIDGE — The World Bank, one of the most powerful financial institutions on the planet, is experimenting with blockchain as a tool to track agricultural goods and raise capital. Gideon Lichfield, the editor in chief of the MIT Technology Review, found some irony in that. “This technology that was invented by somebody whose true identity we still don’t know — Satoshi Nakamoto — specifically to take power away from financial institutions and put currency in the hands of the people is now being used by the ultimate, central, financial institution,” Lichfield told an audience at EmTech 2018, a conference focused on big data, artificial intelligence and technology. The crowd gathered at MIT’s Media Lab had just heard from two thinkers in the increasingly mainstream field of blockchain, a method of distributed ledgers that can dramatically alter how transactions are made and verified. Ledgers themselves date back to cuneiform records etched into tablets 7,000 years ago at the dawn of civilization, said Michael Casey, an author and senior advisor to the Digital Currency Initiative at Media Lab. If blockchain solutions decentralize financial ledgers in the future, that change could disrupt the flow of money into the world’s financial hubs. Using the 21st century version of the ledger, governments and other institutions could invest the money they save on financing in other causes. The lack of trust in the record-keeping function has a huge impact on the world. Blockchain solutions could also help the so-called underbanked and unbanked gain access to financial services. Distributed ledgers accrue credibility by replicating transaction records across a network of computers. Casey said that credibility could benefit people in places like Nairobi, Kenya, who have difficulty leveraging value from their real estate because banks distrust their property records. “The lack of trust in the record-keeping function has a huge impact on the world,” he said. The World Bank’s Prema Shrikrishna and MIT Media Lab’s Michael Casey discuss blockchain’s potential to provide a new model of trust at EmTech 2018. The altruistic applications of blockchain were a focus of Casey’s EmTech talk with Prema Shrikrishna, who works on blockchain projects at World Bank Group. Teaming up with the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank is currently designing a blockchain architecture to track oil palm from the farm to mills, where it becomes palm oil — an agricultural staple in everything from chocolate to candles. By tracking the origin of the raw material, most of which is produced in Indonesia, blockchain could reward farmers for sustainable practices, according to Shrikrishna. Education. The World Bank is developing a system for rewarding students playing an educational game called Evoke, which is designed to teach skills for success in modern society, Shrikrishna said. Financing. In August, the World Bank sold blockchain-enabled bonds through the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which raised about $80.5 million, according to Reuters. Members of the audience at the talk had varying aspirations for blockchain’s use. Rahul Panicker, chief innovation officer at Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which focuses on technological solutions to large-scale societal problems, believes blockchain can be harnessed for humanitarian causes. Tom Hennessey, an attendee, posited that financial settlement was the most readily available application. Tomas Jansen, of Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, said a lot of refugees arrive in Europe without identification papers because they belong to a marginalized group or lost their documents. Jansen wanted to hear ideas from the blockchain experts on how to address those problems. World Bank is hardly alone in its exploration of blockchain solutions to solve problems and change how business is done. Analysts expect blockchain to have a major impact on businesses, which are eyeing its potential to manage supply chains, verify documents, and trade securities. The firm Gartner estimates blockchain will add $3.1 trillion to the world economy by 2030. Some industry sectors have been quicker than others to start experimenting. Describing blockchain as at an “inflection point,” a recent report by the consultancy Deloitte found that financial services executives are “leading the way in using blockchain to reexamine processes and functions that have remained static for decades,” and emerging players are using blockchain to challenge traditional business models. Meanwhile, blockchain’s most developed use case — bitcoin — is driving most of the interest in the technology, while taking those invested in the cryptocurrency on a roller coaster ride. So far development of a “stable coin” has been a “difficult nut to crack,” according to Casey, who used to cover currencies for The Wall Street Journal. To stabilize the tender, a coin could be pegged to other metrics, or it could be backed by a reserve of funds to try to create more stability, Casey said. One way or another, he predicted, developers will find success. “Something’s going to work. Something’s going to break as well,” Casey said. I’m Bonnie Ross and I’m incredibly honored to lead of one of the most iconic and beloved video game franchises in the world, in Halo. Our team at 343 Industries tells epic sci-fi stories, we build incredible worlds and I’ve enjoyed a more of a creative career than I ever thought possible: one where technology empowers art. I lead the most amazingly talented team of engineers, computer programmers, artists, and storytellers – all working together to bring the world of Halo to millions of passionate fans globally. Halo is a universe worthy of devotion, a universe in which you can tell thousands of stories – and technology brings all this magic vividly to life. Throughout middle school, high school and college, my dad encouraged me to think about pursuing engineering and science as a career. In high school, he pushed me to take the advanced math and science classes, even though I didn’t understand the “why.” I couldn’t see the opportunities that lie ahead. I needed that push. I needed those words of encouragement. I couldn’t be more thankful that my dad gave me that support. When I graduated from college, I managed to land a job with Microsoft working on operating systems. While it was an amazing job – especially for someone fresh out of college – I don’t think I would have stayed at Microsoft or in tech, if I didn’t eventually find my passion. At that time, I wasn’t able to connect the dots and see why technology mattered to me. Luckily, four years after I started at Microsoft, I found video games. For me, video games made that connection to what I could do with technology…be creative. Gaming is this amazing merging of art and technology. Gaming is technology empowering art, creativity, and storytelling. Gaming opened my eyes to the extraordinary things I could achieve with technology. For me, pursuing and remaining in technology, as a career, wasn’t something I would have done without a little help. That’s why I’ve made it my mission to inspire and encourage girls and nurture other women to pursue careers in computer science and technology. There is such a need for talent – girls and boys – in technical fields, particularly in the United States. Studies show that girls lose interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and computer science as time goes on. In middle school, 31% of girls believe that jobs requiring coding and programming are “not for them.” In high school, that percentage jumps up to 40%. By the time they’re in college, 58% of girls count themselves out of these jobs. In the next two years, there will be an estimated 1.4M jobs in the US that require some form of technical experience or degree. Based on the number of students enrolled in technology and engineering degrees today, it’s predicted we will only be able to fill 400,000 of these jobs in the US. Such a profound worker shortage carries global implications for the US and our economy. Research shows a diverse workforce brings with it diverse perspectives that improve everything from better product development to better teams to better profits. We need women engineers. And it’s not just a nice thing, it can change everything. Anatomically female crash test dummies, with associated differences in physique and physics, weren’t used until 2011 and women were less safe for it. A 2011 University of Virginia study found that women had a 47% higher change of serious injuries compared to men and a 71% higher chance of a moderate injury. STEM jobs tend to be higher paid. The lack of women going into technology or engineering or science is contributing to the salary gap between men and women. And here’s the not-so-secret secret: If you have a degree in tech, companies around the world aren’t just looking for you. They’re fighting to hire you since we’re all competing for a very small pool of qualified female candidates. Microsoft recently conducted research to learn more about what causes the gender gap and how to close it. We know why girls or young women either don’t go into STEM or leave. The research echoes my own story growing up. And we know what girls need to stay in STEM. It’s also what I personally needed. Connect the dots for girls. Girls often leave STEM because they don’t understand the potential and opportunities a technology or engineering degree can provide. 91% of girls say that they’re creative and 72% say it’s important that they have a job that helps the world, so I’m sharing my story to show that they can achieve both of those goals with a STEM qualification. As a parent or educator, you can do the same. Seek and tell the computer science story. When girls learn about real-world STEM jobs, their perception of the creativity and positive impact of STEM double. Coding is the fabric our modern lives, built on and technology, and continues to shape and improve our world. Let her know she can define, drive and be that change. Be a mentor. Girls need encouragement to stay in STEM. I was lucky to have my dad and I’m convinced that without his encouragement of my STEM education, I wouldn’t be where I am today. 65% of middle school girls who are encouraged by a parent say they’re likely to study computer science in high school, compared to 36% who haven’t been encouraged by either parent. With mutual support from parents and teachers, girls are twice as likely to consider studying computer science in high school, and three times more likely to consider studying computer science in college. You don’t need to be an engineer to encourage girls to pursue STEM and inspire their confidence in math and science. Just help them imagine their future with a computer science education. This summer, I had the privilege of spending the day with 11 amazing young girls to work on a project for the Ad Council’s latest communication campaign, to encourage more girls to pursue careers in STEM. These girls are our future. They were surprised and enthused to discover how math and science can be creative and can lead to a career making video games. We talked about what games they play, what experiences and stories they want to create, and I made sure to tell them that they could achieve that and that would change the world. Technology is the most powerful and the most creative tool we have today to create impact; to change and improve the world. Join me in raising the next generation of world-builders and world-changers. Connect the dots and be a mentor for the girls and young women in your life. Please share your story, my story, share the #SheCanStem videos and inspire the next generation. #MakeWhatsNext. Today we are announcing Azure DevOps. Working with our customers and developers around the world, it’s clear DevOps has become increasingly critical to a team’s success. Azure DevOps captures over 15 years of investment and learnings in providing tools to support software development teams. In the last month, over 80,000 internal Microsoft users and thousands of our customers, in teams both small and large, used these services to ship products to you. Each Azure DevOps service is open and extensible. They work great for any type of application regardless of the framework, platform, or cloud. You can use them together for a full DevOps solution or with other services. If you want to use Azure Pipelines to build and test a Node service from a repo in GitHub and deploy it to a container in AWS, go for it. Azure DevOps supports both public and private cloud configurations. Run them in our cloud or in your own data center. No need to purchase different licenses. Learn more about Azure DevOps pricing. Alternatively, here’s an example of a developer using all Azure DevOps services together from the vantage point of Azure Boards. As an extension of our commitment to provide open and flexible tools for all developers, Azure Pipelines offers free CI/CD with unlimited minutes and 10 parallel jobs for every open source project. With cloud hosted Linux, macOS and Windows pools, Azure Pipelines is great for all types of projects. Many of the top open source projects are already using Azure Pipelines for CI/CD, such as Atom, Cpython, Pipenv, Tox, Visual Studio Code, and TypeScript – and the list is growing every day. We want everyone to have extremely high quality of service. Accordingly, we run open source projects on the same infrastructure that our paying customers use. Azure Pipelines is also now available in the GitHub Marketplace making it easy to get setup for your GitHub repos, open source or otherwise. Azure DevOps represents the evolution of Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS). VSTS users will be upgraded into Azure DevOps projects automatically. For existing users, there is no loss of functionally, simply more choice and control. The end to end traceability and integration that has been the hallmark of VSTS is all there. Azure DevOps services work great together. Today is the start of a transformation and over the next few months existing users will begin to see changes show up. What does this mean? URLs will change from abc.visualstudio.com to dev.azure.com/abc. We will support redirects from visualstudio.com URLs so there will not be broken links. As part of this change, the services have an updated user experience. We continue to iterate on the experience based on feedback from the preview. Today we’re enabling it by default for new customers. In the coming months we will enable it by default for existing users. Users of the on-premises Team Foundation Server (TFS) will continue to receive updates based on features live in Azure DevOps. Starting with next version of TFS, the product will be called Azure DevOps Server and will continue to be enhanced through our normal cadence of updates. Keynote: Watch our live Azure DevOps keynote on September 11, 2018 from 8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific Time. Live training: Join our live Mixer workshop with interactive Q&A on September 17, 2018 from 8:30 AM – 2:30 PM Pacific Time. You can save-the-date and watch both live streams on our events page. There you’ll also find additional on-demand videos and other resources to help get you started. We couldn’t be more excited to offer Azure DevOps to you and your teams. We can’t wait to see what amazing things you create with it. For students and educators around the world now heading back to school, it’s a time filled with emotions and opportunities to make new friends, connect with old ones, and embark on new learning opportunities. For one school in Bellevue, Washington, it’s been a momentous week: Wilburton Elementary opened its doors to a new community of students, parents, and educators, for the very first time. Over the past year we’ve been sharing this school’s journey, from its earliest planning stages to partnering with Wilburton to bring the Microsoft Education Transformation Framework to life every step of the way. More than 400 Wilburton Wolves are in for an amazing year ahead, and I couldn’t be prouder of what the teams have accomplished in creating a holistically impactful environment for these students to dream big, expect more, and give back. What I’ve learned over the years, through our Showcase School program, is that amazing schools are the output of an incredible leader. Beth Hamilton, Wilburton’s passionate and energetic principal, is a testament to turning a vision into a real-life, fully functioning school. Hamilton has been a leading light throughout the entire project, ensuring that every detail – from the building construction, the design of the learning environments, through to the learning approach – has placed students at the heart of every decision. It’s been a privilege to work alongside Beth and listen and learn along the way. And what we’ve learned throughout the journey will help inspire and educate the next generation of new schools. The Microsoft Education Transformation Framework (ETF) has been instrumental in helping Hamilton to consider every aspect of learning and design. Across Leading and Policy, Modern Teaching and Learning, Intelligent Environments, and Technology Blueprint, we’ve trialed and tested various approaches and options to best craft this amazing new place to learn. And the new teachers at Wilburton couldn’t be more excited. Wilburton’s educators, some of them brand new, spent the summer getting their classrooms ready and investing in their own development. Leveraging the Teaching and Learning component in the ETF, along with resources like the Microsoft Educator Community, these educators participated in over 100 hours of professional development, with a focus on connecting as a team and going deep with the innovative technologies designed to take student learning and experience to the next level. And all of Wilburton’s staff is looking forward to the new resources they can access – including their partnership with nearby Bellevue Botanical Garden and the school’s learning terrace, which is an indoor/outdoor environment connected to their Maker Space. It’s an area for raised gardens, creativity, community building, with all the resources of a classroom. The school is also designed with pods that create open spaces, for students in different classes to connect as a community. From the very beginning, the school was designed to consider opportunities for technology to play a key role in driving digital transformation in both the learning environments and the efficiency and effectiveness of the school and facility itself. Using the Microsoft Education Transformation Framework, they executed on a plan that identified the tools their students and educators need today, and the systems and solutions the school needs to be more productive, efficient, and secure. Wilburton Elementary provides every student with access to a device while they are at school, where they will use Office 365 with digital inking and a stylus to support their ability to collaborate with each other and be more productive. Microsoft Teams, OneNote, Forms and more will be used throughout the school to enable learning, improve feedback and assessment, and provide more personalized learning to every student. The school is also taking a holistic approach to accessibility and inclusion, using Microsoft Learning Tools to support every student, regardless of learning differences. STEM is considered fundamental in the curriculum, with the Maker Space leading to hands-on experiences, Minecraft and MakeCode introducing coding and creative thinking, and computer science serving as core. Throughout the journey, Wilburton leaned on the advice and support of many partners and stakeholders in the process, including Microsoft, ISTE, NPDL, Sam Labs, ST Math, Steelcase and local community partners. Wilburton’s journey has been a learning experience for Microsoft, too. Putting innovation into practice continues to inform our products and our relationships with schools, educators, and students. We’re also excited to share the Wilburton story with the many education officials, school leaders, and educators, who visit the Microsoft Redmond campus every year. As part of our collaboration, Wilburton has a dedicated space for Microsoft to welcome those who want to learn more about the school from both students and educators. As this part of the journey ends, another one (this time, with students!) begins, and we’ll be there every step of the way to provide support. Congratulations and best of luck to the entire Wilburton Elementary community! Thank you for an amazing journey. I am humbled that you chose Microsoft be a part of it. Learn more about becoming a Microsoft Showcase School. If it’s September, it’s time for Mobile World Congress Americas. And this year’s conference, scheduled for next week in Los Angeles, will be all about 5G services, wrote Kathryn Weldon, an analyst at GlobalData, based in London. “Clearly we are closer to actual 5G rollouts, so all vendors and operators that participate in the 5G value chain will be touting their wares, anticipating and touting possible use cases, and amping up the excitement,” she wrote. Weldon said she does not believe next week’s Mobile World Congress will yield any major product announcements. Instead, she categorized education as the show’s biggest benefit, especially around 5G services. Among those new capabilities will be enhanced video broadcasting, advanced interactive gaming systems and anything that can benefit from low latency, Weldon said. 5G services won’t be the only technology discussed at Mobile World Congress Americas. The event will also showcase other wireless trends, including low-power WANs, internet of things and, of course, business transformation. What’s a show without some mention of transformation, after all? Find out what else — beyond 5G services — Weldon said attendees should look for at next week’s Mobile World Congress Americas. VMware wasn’t always a fan of the cloud, but it sure is now, said Drew Conry-Murray, in a Packet Pushers post. The vendor pitched its virtual cloud network architecture at last month’s VMworld, with executives telling attendees to make VMware software the foundation for all of their enterprises’ multi-cloud operational requirements — from security to management. The reason why? The vendor does not want to be cast aside as more applications rely on a public cloud infrastructure that does not require VMware, Conry-Murray said. VMware’s approach could work, but it won’t be inexpensive. Or easy, Conry-Murray said. Read Conry-Murray’s other observations about VMware’s embrace of multi-cloud. Platform wars: The next phase of enterprise security? Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass., said CISOs are increasingly looking for a single vendor to provide the tools they need to secure their networks. That may be an efficient way to go, but most enterprises have a dizzying list of security needs they must meet, and finding a security platform capable of supporting all those requirements is not easy. But that’s where Oltsik and his colleague, Doug Cahill, come in. The two developed a list of eight attributes they said every cybersecurity platform must offer. Then they interviewed more than 200 cybersecurity professionals to identify the three attributes they consider most important. Among the attributes cited: ease of management and coverage that includes major threat vectors such as email and web security. Almost 40% of those surveyed said email and web security is a must, while 33% said they needed a platform that offered central management across all products and services. Find out what else survey respondents had to say about cybersecurity platforms. Preliminary results of a new Microsoft study show teenagers around the world are increasingly turning to their parents and other trusted adults for help with online problems — an encouraging development as the new school year begins. More than four in 10 teens (42 percent) from 22 countries who encountered online issues said they asked their parents for help, while 28 percent said they sought advice from another adult such as a teacher, coach or counselor. Those figures are up an impressive 32 and 19 percentage points, respectively, compared to last year’s findings which showed only 10 percent of young people turned to their parents for advice and just 9 percent asked for help from other adults. In addition, adults and teens across the globe say parents are by far the best placed of any group to keep young people and families safe online. Results show parents have both the greatest potential — and were deemed the most effective — at promoting online safety among young people, teens and families. The findings are from the latest research associated with Microsoft’s work in digital civility — encouraging safer and healthier online interactions among all individuals and communities. The study, “Civility, Safety and Interaction Online — 2018,” polled teens ages 13-17 and adults ages 18-74 in 22 countries[i] about more than 20 online risks. This latest research builds on similar studies conducted over the previous two years, which polled the same age groups in 23 and 14 countries, respectively. A total of 11,157 individuals participated in the latest research. Teenage girls were more likely to ask for help from their parents (44 percent of girls vs. 37 percent of boys) and from other trusted adults (29 percent of girls vs. 26 percent of boys), the study shows, likely because life online in general is harder on girls than boys. Indeed, the data demonstrate that girls have a higher level of online risk exposure than boys; they suffer more consequences and “pain” from online ills, and the online risks and abuse that they experience are more emotionally charged. Moreover, as online risks have grown in severity — think “sextortion” and “swatting”[ii] — young people are perhaps more inclined to seek advice from the older generation. Based on her experience, Dr. Cooper spoke of chronic anxiety, depression and a rational paranoia as just some of the resulting harms from negative online experiences. “Sadly, research has shown that some link to cybervictimization has become the issue in nearly 50 percent of cases of suicidal thoughts resulting in seeking care in emergency rooms,” she added. And, some of these consequences were borne out in our research. Two-thirds (66 percent) of female teenage respondents reported being exposed to online risks vs. 60 percent of male teenage respondents. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of girls reported negative consequences following an online issue compared to 67 percent of boys, and the level of pain associated with online risks and the intensity of the attendant emotions — namely fear, anger and sadness — were higher for girls. Personal / Intrusive – Being the target of unwanted contact, experiencing discrimination, swatting, misogyny, exposure to extremist content/recruiting, or falling victim to hoaxes, scams or fraud. We will post at least one other early look at some other key findings in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, to learn more about digital civility and how you can become a champion for these common-sense online practices, visit www.microsoft.com/digitalcivility. For more on online safety generally, visit our website and check out and share our resources; “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. [ii] In the study, “swatting” is defined as deceiving emergency services like police, fire or medical into sending an emergency response team, typically to a person’s home, based on a false report of an ongoing critical incident or crime. It’s clear that democracies around the world are under attack. Foreign entities are launching cyber strikes to disrupt elections and sow discord. Unfortunately, the internet has become an avenue for some governments to steal and leak information, spread disinformation, and probe and potentially attempt to tamper with voting systems. We saw this during the United States general election in 2016, last May during the French presidential election, and now in a broadening way as Americans are preparing for the November midterm elections. Broadening cyberthreats to both U.S. political parties make clear that the tech sector will need to do more to help protect the democratic process. Last week, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) successfully executed a court order to disrupt and transfer control of six internet domains created by a group widely associated with the Russian government and known as Strontium, or alternatively Fancy Bear or APT28. We have now used this approach 12 times in two years to shut down 84 fake websites associated with this group. Attackers want their attacks to look as realistic as possible and they therefore create websites and URLs that look like sites their targeted victims would expect to receive email from or visit. The sites involved in last week’s order fit this description. We’re concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections. That’s why today we are expanding Microsoft’s Defending Democracy Program with a new initiative called Microsoft AccountGuard. This initiative will provide state-of-the-art cybersecurity protection at no extra cost to all candidates and campaign offices at the federal, state and local level, as well as think tanks and political organizations we now believe are under attack. The technology is free of charge to candidates, campaigns and related political institutions using Office 365. As a special master appointed by a federal judge concluded in the recent court order obtained by DCU, there is “good cause” to believe that Strontium is “likely to continue” its conduct. In the face of this continuing activity, we must work on the assumption that these attacks will broaden further. An effective response will require even more work to bring people and expertise together from across governments, political parties, campaigns and the tech sector. Importantly, these domains show a broadening of entities targeted by Strontium’s activities. One appears to mimic the domain of the International Republican Institute, which promotes democratic principles and is led by a notable board of directors, including six Republican senators and a leading senatorial candidate. Another is similar to the domain used by the Hudson Institute, which hosts prominent discussions on topics including cybersecurity, among other important activities. Other domains appear to reference the U.S. Senate but are not specific to particular offices. To be clear, we currently have no evidence these domains were used in any successful attacks before the DCU transferred control of them, nor do we have evidence to indicate the identity of the ultimate targets of any planned attack involving these domains. Microsoft has notified both nonprofit organizations. Both have responded quickly, and Microsoft will continue to work closely with them and other targeted organizations on countering cybersecurity threats to their systems. We’ve also been monitoring and addressing domain activity with Senate IT staff the past several months, following prior attacks we detected on the staffs of two current senators. Despite last week’s steps, we are concerned by the continued activity targeting these and other sites and directed toward elected officials, politicians, political groups and think tanks across the political spectrum in the United States. Taken together, this pattern mirrors the type of activity we saw prior to the 2016 election in the United States and the 2017 election in France. Threat notification across accounts. The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center will enable Microsoft to detect and provide notification of attacks in a unified way across both organizational and personal email systems. For political campaigns and other eligible organizations, when an attack is identified, this will provide a more comprehensive view of attacks against campaign staff. When verifiable threats are detected, Microsoft will provide personal and expedited recommendations to campaigns and campaign staff to secure their systems. Security guidance and ongoing education. Officials, campaigns and related political organizations will receive guidance to help make their networks and email systems more secure. This can include applying multi-factor authentication, installing the latest security updates and guidance for setting up systems that ensure only those people who need data and documents can access them. AccountGuard will provide updated briefings and training to address evolving cyberattack trends. Early adopter opportunities. Microsoft will provide preview releases of new security features on a par with the services offered to our large corporate and government account customers. You can read a more complete description of Microsoft AccountGuard in today’s blog by Tom Burt, the corporate vice president who heads Microsoft’s Customer Security and Trust group. Since we launched Microsoft’s Defending Democracy Program in April, we have focused on four priorities: protecting campaigns from hacking, protecting voting and the electoral process, increasing political advertising transparency, and defending against disinformation campaigns. In the coming months, we will offer AccountGuard in additional countries, as we continue to invest in and evolve other aspects of the Defending Democracy Program. Our Defending Democracy Program is an important piece of our work to protect customers and promote cyberdiplomacy around the world. While cybersecurity starts with Microsoft and other companies in the tech sector, it’s ultimately a shared responsibility with customers and governments around the world. Together with our industry partners, we’ve launched the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, now endorsed by 44 leading tech companies to protect and empower civilians online and to improve the security, stability and resilience of cyberspace. And we will continue to call for stronger adherence to existing international norms and the creation of new international laws – like a Digital Geneva Convention. As last week’s court order and today’s AccountGuard initiative reflect, we are committed not only to stronger principles and laws but stronger action as well. We can only keep our democratic societies secure if candidates can run campaigns and voters can go to the polls untainted by foreign cyberattacks. Democracy requires vigilance and at times action by citizens to protect and maintain it. No individual or company can hope to meet this imperative by itself. We all need to do our part. We’re committed to doing our part by helping to protect candidates and campaigns in preserving their voices and votes no matter what party they support. How does self-described “Trend Curator” Rohit Bhargava navigate the future? By shredding magazines and planting sticky notes. Throughout each travel-packed year of international speaking and teaching, he collects untold piles of periodicals, then skims, tears and screens their editorial and advertising content for clues to what’s now, what’s new and — most of all — what’s going to be influential in the years to come. Using what he calls his “haystack method,” Bhargava sorts and sifts and shifts the material he and his team have found. Gradually, connections are made, combinations arise, synchronicities emerge and trends appear. He compiles what he gleans in an annual series of books called “Non Obvious: How To Predict Trends And Win The Future,” which have been published in more than a dozen languages. These have schooled more than a million businesspeople and interested civilians about the cultural currents, jet streams and eddies that shape our lives. His omnivorous media diet includes everything from legacy magazines like The Atlantic and Variety to city magazines (Washingtonian), alumni magazines (Emory magazine), specialty publications (USA Philatelic, Adweek), foreign in-flight magazines and periodicals definitely not published with him in mind (Teen Vogue, Modern Farmer). The irony of a “near-futurist” relying so heavily on paper in the digital age is not lost on him. The irony of a ‘near-futurist’ relying so heavily on paper in the digital age is not lost on him. “I think that people are more surprised about that than I am,” Bhargava said. “What you see is the paper. What you don’t see is my Feedly account, where I read hundreds of stories each week.” He also relies on conversations at conferences and interviews by his associates. But Bhargava sees a certain tactical advantage in scanning a vast amount of information in physical form. Bhargava was born in India and came to the United States at 6 months old. After studies at Emory University he moved to Australia in 1998 and began his career at a company called Dimension Data, where he worked for three years before joining the Sydney office of advertising agency Leo Burnett. He returned to the U.S. in 2003 and started working the following year in Washington at Ogilvy. He stayed at that advertising agency until 2012, when he left to start his own consultancy. Conference and convention planners appreciate the experiences Bhargava himself provides — he speaks at upward of 50 events a year, in addition to consulting with individual companies and teaching smaller groups. “My goal is to give them something they can do, not just inspire them,” he said. He wants to help his audiences find interesting ideas in unexpected places. While he may appreciate tradition and rigorous methodology, he is anything but a stickler for doing things the way they’ve always been done. “Our habits are really hard to unlearn,” he told an audience at a recent construction software convention in San Antonio. “The things that we know, the best practices, are really hard to abandon. If we are going to be innovators, we are going to have to leave some things behind. That’s why one of his five rules for Non-Obvious thinking is to “be fickle” — in other words, keep it moving. The others are “be observant,” “be curious,” “be thoughtful” and “be elegant.” That final command is the guide for the pithy names he likes to assign to the trends he observes. For example, ”brand stand” is his term for how corporations can make themselves more attractive by backing up their work with socially conscious messaging and actions. (“The job of marketing is not to sell a car, it’s to get people to come into the dealership,” Bhargava explained.) “Predictive protection” is what he calls device makers working to anticipate and defend user vulnerabilities. And “approachable luxury” is the idea that experiences and objects that evoke authenticity and sincerity are now sometimes considered as valuable as high-end products from legacy makers. In addition to isolating 15 trends for each edition of the Non Obvious books, he also looks back at previous years to reassess the accuracy of his own predictions. Take two from 2013: ”precious print” and “branded inspiration.” While consumers’ fondness for books and print media in general hasn’t waned (Bhargava still gives that trend an A five years later), brands are less willing to stage dramatic one-off events to stand out (today he gives that one a C). While reevaluating trends, Bhargava realized he could also present them in new ways. He is increasingly using data visualization as a storytelling tool. The Microsoft Power BI platform allowed him to create The Non-Obvious Trend Experience, a periodic table of elements-style dashboard that shows how trends connect across years, industries and areas of interest. The playful, informative Power BI dashboard is yet another product of an ever-expanding Non-Obvious universe. He’s planning what he calls “the most Non-Obvious thing to do,” a short-form podcast about the past hosted by a futurist. And he and his wife, Chhavi, are co-owners of the publishing imprint Ideapress, which has published 22 books and has another 12 coming soon. His own contribution to the series will be a volume on running a small business. “I think any of us can be more innovative, more creative,” he told his San Antonio audience. “We just have to give ourselves permission to do it.” He demonstrated that the following morning by leading a workshop of about two dozen executives and staffers. They gathered around tables piled high with magazines. Curation is the ultimate method for transforming noise into meaning. In under an hour, the participants caught a glimpse of what is for Bhargava a year-round process producing mounds of material that gain more meaning with age and comparison. “Sometimes we have to give ourselves a little bit of time,” he said. He thinks of his haystack method as akin to collecting frequent flyer miles. The ideas are there, mounting over time, ready be cashed in when they’re needed. Even if the noise is as much the shredding of magazines and riffling of sticky notes as it is the rising, roaring tide of cultural chatter. Now in its 16th year, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup has a mission to empower student developers to bring their technological innovations to life. Competing students create technology solutions with the potential to change the world. This week, 49 finalist teams are in Seattle for the 2018 World Finals. Students will compete for the chance to win up to $100,000 and a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. In addition, three special $15,000 prizes were also introduced this year to challenge students to bring forward their ideas in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Mixed Reality.

2019-04-21T16:40:38Z

https://windowsadmins.com/tag/world/

The reason that so many SaaS companies struggle to accurately calculate core metrics like MRR and Churn has nothing to do with their complexity. The formulas are pretty straightforward and accessible, even if you slept through most of your math classes like I did. In our work building our free SaaS analytics tool ProfitWell Metrics, we've found that convoluted billing software deserves most of the blame for our collective metrics illiteracy. SaaS companies have a strange affinity for overly complicated billing system configurations — to say nothing of those that decide to frankenstein a billing system of their own — that makes extracting all of the necessary data for metrics a nightmare. To improve your life (and your understanding of your business), you should be designing your billing system in a way that leverages the strengths of existing systems. Yet with so many options out there, it can be tricky to find the perfect fit. To prepare you for your journey to your billing system Shangri-La, we've put together a complete explanation of the types of billing systems on the market and detailed dossiers on 21 different providers. If there's a particular system you already know you want to check out, you can jump to it with the links above. Before we get into our comparisons, we first need to talk about the types of systems available. With so many different options that seem to address overlapping parts of the billing process, it's important to figure out exactly what your company needs. Starting from the payment gateways, the most customer-facing of the bunch, and moving towards internal services, these are the components of a complete billing system. Payment Gateways connect with credit card companies and make it easy for you to accept online payments, and your customer to use any card —without the cumbersome prerequisite of submitting to Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance. Merchant Accounts are bank accounts that allow your business to accept money from payment cards. Some are provided behind the scenes, so you may not know about them. Subscription Management (also called Recurring Billing) services work on top of payment gateways to handle subscriptions and make sure the right accounts are charged the right amount every month. Analytics systems give you an in-depth look at your customers and sales. These tools give you the insights you need to optimize everything from pricing to retention. Dunning tools work to mitigate the impact of failed payments by ensuring customers always have updated credit cards on file. Some systems proactively ask a customer to update a card that will expire soon; others follow up after a charge bounces. Revenue Recognition systems automate legally mandated accounting processes and ensure that you're only booking revenue for products or services you've delivered. In the past, most SaaS businesses would simply choose one of each service and combine them to create a billing stack. As more services have entered the market and capabilities of existing systems have increased, the lines between these systems have blurred. There are now “hybrid” billing systems that include both a payment gateway and a subscription layer. That's not the only evolution in the billing world. Systems previously restricted to sales and finance are now in use by marketing (campaigns segmented by billing type), operations (data-driven iteration on billing frequency), and customer success (generating expansion revenue and reducing active and involuntary churn). Your choice of billing system can impact the success of your entire team. The companies behind these systems have stepped into these bigger shoes with varying degrees of success, responding to customer demand by introducing new functional integrations, role management capabilities, and tools for development and operations folks. What size is your company? Companies at later stages will need more sophisticated options and customizability than early stage companies. What is the size are your customers? Are they willing to pay higher prices for more custom plans? If your customers are enterprise level or you find yourself selling a lot of custom plans, you'll need a stack that can accomodate. What's your approach your pricing? Do you want to offer specific features like discounts or upgrades in addition to your plans? Flexible pricing means you'll need a stack that is equally customizable. We'll answer these questions when we do a deep dive into each system to help give you a clearer picture of which services best fit for your company. These systems are designed for SaaS companies in the growth stage. They're perfect for new and scaling startups and and pack enough flexibility and features to grow with you. The chart below gives you an overview of all the billing systems in this category. If you're still a relatively small company and your billing isn't too complex (and probably won't become more complex in the future), we recommend Stripe and Braintree. Let's jump in to see how they stack up against their competitors. We'll start with hybrids -- payment gateways that have a subscription layer. A favorite among fast growing SaaS companies, Stripe is known for being super easy to use and easy to integrate. Stripe is a system you can get up and running in just a few minutes. Their composable payment APIs let developers focus on the product rather than writing payments code while providing enough detailed support documentation to allow advanced options. What Are They Great At? Stripe's use of flexible integrations and built-in APIs makes it perfectly designed for programmers and developers at lean startups. Stripe's focus on removing all of the pain points in setting up a billing system simplifies the billing process and saves hundreds of hours of dev time. The strength of Stripe's “per card charge” is that it allows new businesses to start billing with minimal costs. But this charge quickly adds up once you scale and generate a higher volume of transactions. Stripe gets really expensive for companies that are too large for the "pay as you go" plan but too small for the enterprise plan. How Does This Fit In Your Billing System? As a hybrid system, Stripe bundles a payment gateway, merchant account and subscription management platform into a single service. Stripe provides a solid foundation for billing, but needs to be integrated with a subscription management platform that has a wider range of subscription-specific features. Company Size: The ease-of-use makes this great for developers at any growing internet business. Customer Size: The pay-as-you-go plan means you can offer affordable plans to your customers, and as you scale up, your customers will grow with you. Pricing Approach: Stripe fees are transactional, allowing you to have more flexible pricing to bring in customers as you grow. Subscription billing systems often require an integration with a separate payment management system that comes with complicated hidden fees. Braintree works to provide a simple and transparent payment management system that allows the use of any gateway without having to worry about regular subscription fees. They consolidate multiple payment options under one roof that would otherwise be time consuming to access on your own. Braintree is built to work across all platforms, including mobile apps and websites. Because of its full coverage of payment options, it's a great choice for a wide range of users from freelancers through larger companies looking to expand on multiple platforms. Braintree also comes with no minimums or monthly fees, as you only pay them for the transactions you process as a full-stack merchant. They also have robust international availability and currency settlement options. Similar to Stripe, Braintree charges on a per transaction basis. With medium to high transaction volume, it can get expensive pretty quickly if you aren't big enough to qualify for their discounted rates. Braintree is a hybrid service with a built-in payment gateway, merchant account and subscription management service. It can also integrate with your existing merchant account if needed. If you combine it with another subscription management system, it can still be used for its gateway function. Company Size: Braintree is great for companies big enough to start expanding to multiple platforms or internationally. Customer Size: The wide variety of payment options opens your business to most potential customers, from smaller customers who may prefer to pay over Apple Pay or Paypal to larger customers who prefer ACH. Pricing Approach: Your pricing can vary based on the size of your customer and the platform where they use your product. If your business runs on WordPress or you want to station your subscription service on your WordPress page, MemberMouse is a great option. It's a WordPress plugin designed to be an all-around platform to help you sell products, manage subscriptions, and curate memberships. It has a variety of built-in features to make the integration flexible and the system easy-to-use. Considering that WordPress currently powers 27% of the web, it's surprising that more billing systems aren't built for the platform. MemberMouse fills this gap and provides a secure system that allows users to start adding customers in just 2 minutes and 30 seconds. While MemberMouse offers a wide range of features to make your site and billing system customizable, the learning curve for new members can be significant. Making the product more user-friendly would allow non-developers to more easily customize it to their needs. MemberMouse provides most of the structure needed to get your billing system up and running by providing a merchant account, subscription management system and features such as analytics and dunning. It also integrates with a number of different billing software solutions to provide a payment gateway. Company Size: MemberMouse scales well for Wordpress-based companies of all sizes, but operates best with businesses that already have a decent number of members because of its customizability. Customer Size: The customizability of plans allows you to cater to a wide range of customers. You can serve those who are interested in a one-time membership fee or those who prefer to pay in cycles. Pricing Approach: MemberMouse fees are fixed based on how many features you need, so you can pay for more features as the complexity of your pricing increases. FastSpring can help get a SaaS vendor site get up and running in a day. They are a full-stack service that goes beyond managing subscriptions and payments to offer storefront optimization, payment page customization, and back office services. If you're looking for a one-stop shop for the business end of your SaaS company, FastSpring has you covered. FastSpring can help you build your payment process from scratch while maintaining a cohesive experience for your customers by integrating with your existing website design. It also automatically implements cosmetic pricing localization and automatically displays your prices to your customers in their local currency and language. They say you get what you pay for and with FastSpring, you're definitely paying for a premium service. At up to 8.9% per transaction, FastSpring is far from the most affordable option for a billing system. It can be difficult for the early-stage startups that FastSpring is equipped to help to justify the cost. FastSpring will take care of your subscription management and recurring billing. FastSpring also helps you prevent failed payments with built-in payment routing to maximize credit card charge success and provides analytics in their back end to track customers' payment activity. Company Size: FastSpring's ability to let you build a page from scratch makes it well suited to startups and small businesses. Customer Size: FastSpring offers a two main pricing options to accommodate teams with different types of customers. Pricing Approach: Customer support is at the foundation of FastSpring's service. They offer dedicated and prompt customer service to your team and your customers. This lets you have a hands-on, customer-driven approach to pricing. WooCommerce is incredibly flexible: it lets anyone set up an eCommerce site selling anything. Their toolkit of products can accommodate sales of everything from physical products to software. It's built to be used by store owners and developers alike -- store owners can easily create their own platform and developers can use WooCommerce's tools to help clients. WooCommerce is equipped to help teams at all stages. They can support your business whether it sells one product or thousands, so as you grow and expand your offerings, you don't have to worry about switching providers. They also support growth across platforms by offering integrations with third-party apps that let you turn a WooCommerce store into a mobile app. Their features are all built to integrate with WordPress, making them incredibly accessible. Although WooCommerce promotes its documentation as one of its strengths, users report that it's occasionally lacking. Without enough transparency in the code base, users have to purchase WooCommerce's ready-made extensions, which can get pricey. You can manage your billing through the site you create with Woocommerce. The product comes bundled with payment gateways: PayPal, BACS, and cash on delivery. You can also integrate with 366 extensions for additional features including analytics. Company Size: WooCommerce is open source software that is quick to deploy. If you're bootstrapped or don't have a lot of resources, WooCommerce is a great way to get started. However, once you require more than basic setup, you'll have to start paying for customizations, which can get costly. Customer Size: Given the many different types of payments accepted and the sheer number of extensions available, WooCommerce can be scaled to accommodate customers of many different sizes. Pricing Approach: Use WooCommerce when you want to hit the ground running with your pricing. The initial setup is very easy and the WordPress plugin provides a deep community of support, so it's easy to deploy pricing quickly and simply. Next, we'll look at subscription management systems designed to support the subscription side of SaaS businesses in the growth stage. Recurly is an easy-to-use subscription management system that is great for SaaS businesses that are just getting started with a billing system. It's often used on top of payment gateway services -- even those that already have a subscription management system -- because its many options for quick integrations make payments easy. These built-in point of sale UI options help Recurly fit any company model. Even though Recurly lets you export your data to a CSV, its native reporting capabilities are limited. As it has both a fixed price and a variable fee, it can get expensive. Since you will probably need to layer it on top of another system, the price can be challenging for smaller-budget teams. Recurly is a subscription management system that includes analytics, dunning and revenue recognition features, but needs to be integrated with a payment gateway. They connect with a number of supported gateways to make setup easy. Company Size: Often used in tandem with something like Stripe, Recurly is great for companies that want to expand more into features like dunning and revenue recognition. Customer Size: Recurly's billing models allow for sales to a wide range of potential customers who can pay for everything from a one-time product as part of a subscription to a variable recurring charge based on usage or another value metric. Pricing Size: Each billing model allows for a different type of pricing, based on what features of your product you want to offer and what value metrics you use. This allows for flexibility, and lets you test out different types of pricing. Chargify is a subscription billing and management platform that’s focused on working with complex billing approaches for companies that regularly update their pricing. Chargify’s platform includes tools to manage the entire customer lifecycle, including customer service, retention, and reporting. Chargify uses revenue percentage model for pricing that gives you several tiers to choose from. Similar to Recurly, it’s used in concert with payment gateway services and offers a variety of integrations. While Chargify will let you use different currencies on different websites, they don’t support the use of multiple currencies within a single site meaning your analytics will be currency specific. This can make pricing localization trickier, but they aren’t the only system that does this. Chargify is a subscription management system with features from recurring billing to customer service options to reporting. They integrate with 20+ gateways to get you up and running quickly and will help you set up with a merchant account. Pricing Approach With over 100k pricing configuration supported, Chargify can handle a high degree of customization. You won't be at a loss for options when structuring your pricing. MoonClerk relies on Stripe to accept both one-time and recurring payments. It's customizable, works for desktop and mobile, has an easy setup, and doesn't require any technical experience. The huge bonus is that they integrate with Stripe, which makes Stripe (whose tagline is “Stripe—Payments for Developers”) accessible to everyone whether or not you have a coding background. MoonClerk advertises that they can get your online business up and running and accepting payments in one day. It's a simple way to collect recurring payments while you work on other aspects of your business that need attention. It's also one of the more affordable options out there, with monthly pricing starting at $15. Though MoonClerk is affordable and makes Stripe easy to set-up, it's missing the same features that Stripe is which means you're likely going to have to use it in combination with other products. How Does This Fit In Your Billing Solution? MoonClerk provides a solid option for quickly setting up your subscription management system, but it will be one tool of many in your kit. You can use Stripe for the payment gateway and merchant account, but if you want more advanced features for analytics, dunning, or revenue recognition, you'll have to add another product to your stack. Company Size: MoonClerk is best for startups and small businesses. Their inexpensive pricing makes it easy for startups to afford their product and the product's ease of use and integrations with Stripe means that it's accessible to non-technical team members. Customer Size: MoonClerk's monthly rates based on volume are more suitable if your team has smaller customers with less complex needs. Pricing Approach: MoonClerk allows for flexibility when accepting payments because links to their payment forms can be added to your existing website and emails, or saved as an icon for mobile devices. Chargebee offers one API layer to handle almost all of your SaaS billing needs, including subscriptions, recurring payments, billing, and analytics. It has a lot of options to help you customize your customers' plans. This can be really helpful when you're scaling your business. Chargebee is our pick for companies in the $1M - $20M ARR range with moderately complex pricing. Chargebee allows you to start for free (up to your first $50,000 in revenue), which allows you to see how you'll use the product and which plan is best for you. Customers have also praised the clarity and usefulness of the documentation. They also appreciate the responsiveness of the support team. Chargebee allows you to accept payments in multiple currencies (up to three on one site with the Launch Plan/Basic Plan and more with the Pro Plan). However, you can't manage multiple currencies through a single dashboard, so if you're a global company your analytics will be fragmented and require some extra work. Though Chargebee is a very comprehensive product, you'll still need a payment gateway to directly process payments and a merchant account (for which you could integrate with Stripe). Company Size: Chargebee offers multiple plans that can meet the needs of companies of different sizes. Customer Size: Since Chargebee offers so many customizations and add-ons, the product helps your team accommodate larger customers with more complex needs. Pricing Approach: Chargebee is a great platform to use if your team wants to scale. You can manage your payments as you grow without losing control over data, accounts, or administrative details. FuseBill manages subscription and billing for B2B and B2C companies. It's particularly well suited to SaaS and tech companies, because it offer an API for web app integration. They have flexible pricing options which means your team can offer your customers many different plans and accept a variety of payment methods. FuseBill provides great user experience by allowing you to easily and security collect and transfer data. They have PCI Level 1 certification and 99.95% systems uptime, so you can feel comfortable storing your data there. FuseBill also integrates with Salesforce, which makes it very easy to transfer information to your CRM. Some users have shared that they'd like to see more flexibility in FuseBill's reporting, which doesn't always provide the level of granularity that they'd like to see. FuseBill allows you to manage many aspects of your billing process in one place—in addition to the subscription and billing management system, it also includes analytics, dunning management, and revenue recognition features. Company Size: FuseBill's powerful features, Salesforce integration, and systems security makes it a good tool for larger companies. They target companies with revenue in the $1M to $50M range. Customer Size: The flexibility and range of customizations means your team can support customers of different sizes and with different needs using FuseBill. Pricing Approach: FuseBill is looking to meet your long-term needs as your company scales. By allowing you to offer different types of plans, accept different forms of payment, and use their coupons and discounts module, you can accommodate various types of customers over your company's lifetime. Zoho Subscriptions allows you to automate your subscription management. It allows you to set up a free test account (without a credit card) and only starts charging you when you start billing customers. The sandbox environment lets you experiment with different pricing models so you can determine what works best for you, no strings attached. Zoho Subscriptions has a free integration with their accounting software, Zoho Books. They also offer REST APIs and Webhooks to increase integration options for developers. Though it's great that the product comes with the Zoho Books integration for free, the two products are deeply intertwined, which makes it difficult if you want to use a different accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero. Zoho Subscriptions includes subscription management, instant and real-time analytics, and dunning management. The product integrates with multiple payment gateways. Company Size: Zoho Subscriptions can support large and small companies. Its sandbox environment is great for small companies that are looking to test their options before committing to a particular product and their monthly payment plan means you're never locked into a contract. Customer Size: With Zoho Subscriptions you can bill for individual projects or subscriptions, so you handle different types of customers. Pricing Approach: The REST APIs at Zoho Subscriptions provides another degree of flexibility for developers. Enterprise SaaS companies have entirely different needs for their billing systems than growth stage SaaS companies. These companies often look for feature-rich billing providers that specialize in more than payment processing. Enterprise focused billing and subscription management systems often include other areas of accounting, inventory, and eCommerce control. Choosing the right system for your company is even more difficult for enterprise companies than for growth companies. The complexity requires significant buy-in and training for your team and you may be tied to long-term contracts. These options are expensive, but you get what you pay for. The target buyers for enterprise solutions are companies with high revenue that can afford the top-end options if they provide top-end value. If you've moved beyond the growth stage (congrats!) and need a system that can handle more complex subscription pricing, we're big fans of Zuora. Let's take a look at the rest, once again starting with hybrids - payment gateways with a subscription layer. Digital River is a prime example of an all-in-one solution for an enterprise SaaS billing system. Not only do they offer the ability to process payments, but they also provide a host of other financial solutions. This includes tax and legal compliance for different jurisdictions, risk management and financial reconciliation, and the ability for FX within the product. As one of the more mature systems on the market, Digital River has baked reliability into the product over many years. Though they have different options, Digital River products are still simple to use over a wide-range of use-cases. The software can serve as a single point of contact for the commerce, finance, and marketing teams to coordinate. Digital River doesn't have many customization options for end users. You are largely reliant on the Digital River team for help in a number of situations. Some enterprise companies might be fine with this level of service, but for any that are still looking to move quickly, this could represent a barrier. Though the basics of your billing system will be taken care of, you will still need separate solutions for analytics or revenue recognition if you need that ability. Company size: You should be an enterprise-level company that needs more than just a single turnkey billing system and is looking to integrate your entire customer billing flow into a single platform. Customer size: Your customers are large-scale companies that require enterprise plans and individual contracts. Pricing approach: You should be looking to offer significant customization in each plan you offer to customers. Intacct is an easy-to-use cloud solution that can take the place of an enterprise company's ERP. Financial reporting, contract management, and revenue recognition are all part of the core platform. The intuitive reporting and dashboards make it easy to understand and easy to get up and running for new users. Reporting is Intacct's strong point. Intacct allow you to build easy-to-understand dashboards for different roles in your organization. Your CFO can see balance sheets, expense breakdowns, and cash all in a single screen. Your VP of Sales can see bookings and revenue on a separate dashboard if needed. This allows leaders to get an easy, quick glance into the financial health of the company. Whereas some enterprise level billing systems offer a complete package including supply chain management, Intacct isn't one of them. Therefore, this might not be good for eCommerce companies. However, this lack of insight into manufacturing and inventory isn't a typically problem for software companies. Intacct has dunning and revenue recognition as standard, but doesn't offer merchant accounts or a payment gateway on top of subscription management, so it would need to be paired with a tool that offers these. Company Size: Intacct works well for enterprise software companies that have achieved maturity. Customer Size: Though ideal for enterprise customers due to the ability to work with different plans, Intacct can also be used for high-volume, low-revenue customers. Pricing Approach: Intacct isn't as customizable as some other enterprise systems, so it is less useful if you have a particularly complex approach to pricing. Many people know Salesforce as a powerful sales and marketing management tool that helps collect data and conduct analytics. But Salesforce also offers a billing process integration called Salesforce Quote-to-Cash. As a Salesforce Integration it does require having Salesforce as a tool, but it also has access to the rest of Salesforce's powerful platform. By virtue of its connection to Salesforce, Quote-to-Cash has full access to analytics to give you a view into the customer lifecycle. The insight into your customers makes this product stand out. Quotes, proposals, contracts, and billing can all easily be assigned to each customer natively within your CRM without the need for multiple integrations and customizations. The connection to Salesforce is also the main restriction here. As Quote-to-Cash is a Salesforce add-on, it can't be used as a standalone product for companies with different CRMs. It also doesn't offer the same depth of features as other specific billing systems. Though the product works well, it's not Salesforce's core product. Salesforce Quote-to-Cash is a hybrid service, as it provides both a payment gateway and subscription management. As with Salesforce, you would need to integrate with a merchant account via AppExchange. Company Size: This is a great option for larger companies already using Salesforce to manage their sales and marketing processes. The easy integration with the rest of your Salesforce analytics makes it possible to have all of your data in one place. Customer Size: Enterprise customers can afford to pay for customized subscriptions. Solutions will help your sales team find the best package for even the most difficult customer. Pricing Approach: Solutions allow you to offer customized quotes for customers and make pricing adjustments when needed, keeping your pricing flexible. Netsuite from Oracle allows you to manage global transactions in one system. It is a complete system, with a fully-featured accounting suite, a CRM, and features for merchandising companies to manage their supply chain and inventory. The entire package can be easily customized for different companies' requirements. The sheer wealth of data at your disposal within Netsuite is the platform's major selling point. It can give any member of any business unit access to customer information, transaction histories, invoice and order status, and ongoing customer concerns. It allows for a complete overview of the customer and their financial history with the company. The major drawback for Netsuite is the lack of graphics, charts, and other visualizations that use its underlying data. It's spreadsheet heavy, so new users can have difficulty understanding what all the data means. Finance teams that spend their entire day in Netsuite can understand all the data presented. But teams like sales and marketing that just need to quickly check in on certain data points can find the data-driven interface confusing. Netsuite checks all the high level for a SaaS billing system—analytics, dunning, GAAP—but it isn't a hybrid billing system with a payment gateway. Company Size: Netsuite is for advanced enterprise companies. Customer Size: It's best suited for companies with higher pricing who serve other enterprise companies. Pricing Approach: Netsuite wins when you need maximum flexibility in your pricing to land extremely large contracts. TRACT is well positioned to service mid-size and large subscription based enterprises, easily accommodating companies with multiple types of billing arrangements. Their enterprise solution boasts the high levels of security, service-level agreements, and “white-glove” customer service that's a pre-requisite to play at this level. TRACT supports for companies with complex usage, time-based, or dynamic pricing. They support 20+ configurable payment gateways out of the box while allowing customers to retain gateway control. They have an adaptable dunning system that allows users to set up event-based rules. Reviews report that TRACT's business analytics tools aren't as fleshed out as some of its enterprise competitors. While their tools may be enough satisfy the needs of some customers, those looking for more developed BA tools may look elsewhere. TRACT is a powerful subscription management platform, so you'll need to integrate it with one of their payment gateways to directly process payments. Company Size: TRACT targets the mid-market and Fortune 1000 companies. Customer Size: TRACT can bill everyone from individual customers to organizations. Pricing Approach: TRACT's flexibility allows you to offer a range of pricing options. Like Salesforce, Apttus offer a Quote-to-cash solution for billing. In fact, the Apttus version was originally built on top of Salesforce alone until they chose to expand it out to integrate with other CRMs. This allows you to manage the entire revenue process beyond just billing. You can optimize pricing, upselling opportunities, and revenue recognition from within the platform and follow customers' lifecycles to develop a deeper understanding of each customer. This quote-to-cash structure gives your sales team visibility into the entire lifecycle of a customer. They can access expiring contracts and upsell and cross-sell opportunities to build recurring revenue. Unlike Salesforce, this quote-to-cash platform works across a variety of different CRMs. Again, dunning isn't built in. This critical feature might not be as important in high-touch sales environments such as enterprise, but the lack of dunning basically rules this out for any subscription model based on automation. Like Salesforce Quote-to-cash, Apttus requires integration with a merchant account. Unlike Salesforce, it doesn't provide a payment gateway so it will also need to be paired with a payment processor like Stripe or Braintree. Company Size: Apttus is for advanced stage companies where you're producing individual quotes for customers and need to follow their journey through your product to target upselling opportunities at the end of the contract. Customer Size: Large companies that want individual quotes for pricing and have individual needs. Pricing Approach: If you are pricing individually and want to be able to easily track customers beyond the sales process, a quote-to-cash system that fits into your CRM gives you opportunities to gain expansion revenue beyond the initial sale. Now we'll jump into subscription management services designed for enterprise SaaS companies. Aria's strength is its flexibility. It can be used for all types of customers and companies. If you have a simple 3-tier pricing system, it can handle that. It can also handle complex, individual arrangements with different customers. It doesn't matter if your customers are small companies or other enterprises — Aria offers customized solutions for all possibilities. Dunning. Aria is one of the few enterprise billing systems that includes dunning in their platform. This means that the system can be used to support subscription companies with tens of thousands of customers. Though Aria's dunning options work well for smaller companies, the lack of a free trial isn't. While this is common with heavy duty systems, this makes it more difficult for Aria to appeal to companies looking to try out several billing options before committing. Aria provides the tools needed within a subscription management platform such as analytics and revenue recognition. Company Size: Mid and large enterprises. Customer Size: As they offer significant customization, Aria can handle a variety of customer types and sizes. Pricing Approach: Flexibility means that Aria will work with most pricing approaches. Vindicia looks to get their customers up and running in the shortest time possible. The system supports all subscription lengths, trial periods, freemium models, and usage metering. Vindicia Cashbox allows to test and refine your pricing over time you've calibrated it for your target customers. Vindicia Cashbox's flexibility is its main selling point. It can be configured to meet different needs of different enterprise models. You can customize how customers are billed, what's included in different packages, and how usage is calculated for each billing type. You can also launch campaigns and test pricing with your customer using Vindicia's marketing and sales components. Though Vindicia Cashbox has a large number of features, it lacks dunning and APIs that would allow you to build easily on top of the platform. Integration is vital for SaaS success, so making it more difficult for users and other developers to integrate with your platform means Cashbox might not be the best option for companies that want to do their own customization. No dunning or revenue recognition options means that Vindicia lacks some features for strong subscription management. However, it can work as a payment gateway, meaning that you only need to tie it to a merchant account before you can use. Company Size: Well beyond the growth phase. Customer Size: The flexibility of Vindicia means you can serve most levels of customers. Pricing Approach: Flexible pricing means you'll need a stack that is equally customizable. Zuora is a cloud-based subscription management system that helps track the entire customer lifecycle. They provide many categories of add-ons that allow you to easily mix-and-match features to design your unique subscription plan. The large range of features means you can easily add or remove options to create new plans and easily generate one-time unique invoices if necessary. Some users report that Zuora has a bit of a learning curve, especially around the reporting interface. Zuora is classified as a subscription management system because it still needs to be integrated with a payment gateway and merchant account. They support a large number of payment gateways to help round out your billing system. Zuora is our billing system of choice if you're above $20M ARR. Company Size: Zuora is best for large, established companies. Their flexibility and customizability make it possible to address any scenario. Customer Size: Your customers should be larger companies that will likely request more flexible services, but are also willing to pay higher prices for these custom plans. Pricing Approach Zuora's many add-on features allow you to offer customizable pricing plans that can easily be changed and updated when necessary. Cleverbridge is a turnkey solution for billing that aims to put customer success and your monetization strategy at the heart of the billing system. But once you have the platform up and running, you can still customize each aspect of your pricing to fit in with your business goals. Cleverbridge lets you plan your pricing strategy from start to finish within a single platform. In fact, the product is organized around your pricing strategy. This letsyou build out the tactical and technical aspects of your monetization—subscription management, analytics, processing—from there. Enterprise companies need to adhere to GAAP accounting practices, so the lack of revenue recognition within the system might be a turn off for some larger companies. The lack of revenue recognition here means that you might need another tool for that job if you are truly moving upmarket. Company Size: Far enough along that you have a good pricing strategy to build your Cleverbridge pricing around. But not quite at the top level as revenue recognition isn't included. Company Size: Mid-level companies that are still expanding. Pricing Approach: This is an ideal platform for companies that have a pricing strategy already in place and are looking for the best way to implement it quickly. The worst option for companies employing a subscription business model is to code your own system or relying on a patchwork approach. Instead, we highly recommend selecting a strong billing stack that can scale with you. This ensures that you're set up for success and won't need to shift systems down the road. Most importantly, this frees you up to focus on the real needle-movers: improving customer experience, reducing churn, and increasing customer lifetime value.

2019-04-25T17:41:05Z

https://www.profitwell.com/blog/subscription-billing-subscription-management

Stoicism and Christianity, IV: can we compare? This post concludes my mini-series commenting on C. Kavin Rowe’s One True Life: the Stoics and Early Christians as Rival Traditions. (Part I; Part II; Part III) I have so far discussed Rowe’s excellent take on each of the three Roman Stoics, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, where he explores what he (correctly, I think) sees as the major themes of their philosophy. The book then enters its second part, where Rowe applies the same approach to three great early Christian thinkers, Paul, Luke, and Justin Martyr. I will not discuss those here because my focus is on Stoicism, not Christianity, but I highly recommend those chapters as well, because they provide the reader both with a very good introduction to early Christian thought, and they serve as excellent benchmarks to compare the Stoic and Christian traditions. The resulting picture of the two “forms of life” puts them in striking contrast with each other. Part III of the book then gets down to the business of exploring whether it is meaningful to compare Stoicism and Christianity, as much modern scholarship has done, even seeking elements of syncretism between the two. Which, of course, informs Rowe’s overarching question: can one (coherently) be both a Stoic and a Christian? His answer is no, mine is a qualified yes. MacIntyre proposed that there are three ways to compare forms of life — such as, for instance, Stoicism and Christianity: the encyclopedic approach, the genealogical one, and the traditionalist one. Genealogists, like for instance Nietzsche, or more recently Michael Foucault, instead reject the very idea of universal standards of reason, and tend to cast everything in terms of power struggles — including, when they are coherent, their own positions. Foucault, for instance, famously discussed the evolution of the concept of madness in Western society, denying that it has any objective status, and explaining instead as a political tool of oppression of “the other,” of control of undesirable elements within society. Finally, traditionalists accept the existence of different, incommensurable, and yet internally coherent, “traditions” of thought. For example, Stoicism and Christianity are forms of life that do have standards of rationality, meaning that one can reasonably argue about the internal soundness of this or that interpretation of Stoic or Christian precepts and ideas. In this respect, traditions are unlike genealogies. However, they are also distinct from the encyclopedist approach, because there is no meaningful way — according to MacIntyre — to compare different traditions, since there is no external standard of rationality to appeal to. The only thing one can do is to make a “pre-rational” decision to embrace either Stoicism or Christianity, and then operate within that tradition during one’s own life. Since we all get just one life to live, it also follows that one cannot possibly be both a Stoic and a Christian. I have recently published (over at my other blog, Footnotes to Plato) an extended treatment and critique of MacIntyre’s three forms of inquiry, as he calls them, but I will summarize my position again here, specifically with the example of Stoicism vs Christianity in mind. While I started my intellectual life very much as a son of the Enlightenment, so to speak, I have eventually come to the conclusion that the strict Encyclopedist position is, in fact, untenable. I know enough about logic, for instance, to realize that one can begin with very different sets of assumptions (akin to different sets of axioms in mathematics) and come up with very different, yet logically coherent, and therefore “rational,” conclusions. It is true that empirical evidence can usefully narrow down the sets of assumptions that are defensible or useful, but empirical evidence itself is not independent of the chosen theoretical framework, even in science, and it often underdetermines choices in, say, ethics (meaning that a given set of observations about the world is compatible with more than one ethical stance). The genealogical approach never particularly appealed to me. It leads quickly to nihilism (Nietzsche) and/or epistemic and therefore also ethical relativism (Foucault and the post-modernists). While I do agree that claims of rationality, and even scientific soundness, are made in the service of ideological agendas and power grabs more often than one might like to think, it seems obviously false to reduce all human discourse to that level. Evolutionary science provides us with an objectively better account of how the world works than creationism does. And if the creationists disagree that’s just because they don’t understand, or cannot accept, the pertinent reasons and evidence. What I do reject is MacIntyre’s strong claim that traditions are always incommensurable. I think sometimes they may be, but also maintain that in other instances one can “go meta,” so to speak, and still arrive at useful contrasts. Let me give you an example, which I chose as extreme on purpose to better make the point. Stoicism: the only true good for human beings is the pursuit of virtue, because virtues are the only things that can always be used for good. Everything else falls into the two categories of preferred and dispreferred indifferents, which are respectively to be pursued and avoided, provided such activities don’t get in the way of a virtuous life. Also, a major way to implement the virtues is to accept and internalize the dichotomy of control: some things are under our control, other things (ultimately) are not, and we should focus our energy and attention on the former and treat the latter as indifferents. Nazism: there exists a “master” race, the Aryan one, which ought to dominate — if necessary by force — all other races (especially the Jews). Germany, the Fatherland of said master race, has a right to expand its geographical and political influence as much as possible, again, if necessary by use of force. Women’s only role in society is to produce children and take care of them, so women ought to be confined to the spheres of “Kinder, Küche, Kirche” (Children, Kitchen, Church). Homosexuality is a disease, and homosexuals need to be exterminated. Now, according to MacIntyre, if we deploy the tradition type of inquiry we can debate either Stoicism or Nazism internally, in terms of the coherence and fruitfulness of different schools and currents within each form of life. What we cannot do — on penalty of slipping back into the encyclopedist approach — is to say that in any sense Stoicism is better than Nazism. But I very much want to say that Stoicism is better than Nazism, and I think I can defend my contention with both arguments and empirical evidence. In the following, please note that if I can show that even one of the fundamental assumptions behind either doctrine is either (empirically) false or (logically) incoherent, then I have rejected that doctrine. Second, the Stoic claim that wisdom (which includes the four cardinal virtues) is the only thing that can exclusively be used for good is empirically falsifiable, but I can’t think of a reasonable instance in which it has been. This by itself is insufficient to establish that Stoicism is the preferred form of life for human beings. The ancient Stoics did think so, but I don’t. I think Stoicism is one of a number of roughly equally viable philosophies that we can adopt in order to flourish. Others certainly include Buddhism, a number of versions of Christianity and Islam (not the fundamentalist ones, in case you are wondering), and many of the other Hellenistic philosophies with which the ancient Stoics did intellectual battle. Third, by contrast, several of the basic Nazi doctrines are empirically false, quite irrespectively of their repugnant moral implications. For instance, there are no such things as human races, at all. “Race” is a technical term in biology, which indicates populations of individuals within a given species that have been reproductively largely isolated for a long time, so that they are diverging phylogenetically, on their way to become separate species. We have plenty of examples of good races in both the animal and the plant world. But not in humans. The markers that differentiate folk races, such as skin color, are very superficial, do not reflect deep genetic dissimilarities, and they are certainly not indicative of any ongoing process of speciation. Take the concept of race (Aryan or otherwise) away from Nazi ideology and the whole damn thing collapses into incoherence. Fourth, a similar argument can be made against the idea of women’s role in society. To confine them to “Kinder, Küche, Kirche” is something that finds no support in either biology (the human female has ancestrally played many more roles, and women are, of course, perfectly capable of doing much more than that in modern societies) or in the expressed desire of millions of women themselves. And Nazi ideology provides no internal resources for why such desire should be overridden by a bunch of white (presumably non-homosexual) males. Fifth, again similarly, homosexuality is not a disease. It is a natural condition of a certain fraction of the population, a condition, incidentally, not unique to humans. Even if it were, there are very good ethical reasons — accessible from a variety of moral frameworks — not to “exterminate” so-called “deviants” from society, regardless of whether a Nazi would accept, or even understand, such ethical reasoning. I could go on, but I think I made the point sufficiently clear: while one cannot claim that Stoicism is the only viable philosophy of life for human beings (it manifestly isn’t), one can definitely reach the conclusion that it is a hell of a lot more viable than Nazism. What about the comparison between Stoicism and Christianity? Here I’m going to partially agree and partially disagree with Rowe. First off, I don’t think one can meaningfully say that one tradition is “better” than the other. Each offers certain precepts that may or may not work for people seeking to live a meaningful life. That said, there are assumptions adopted by both philosophies that may successfully be challenged by a critic. Ancient Stoics, for instance, were pantheists and something like what we today call panpsychists. But modern science — our best tool to understand the world, and one that the ancient Stoics would have respected, given their own interest in natural philosophy — gives us no reason at all to believe in a Logos understood as a vital force permeating the universe. (One can, however, still interpret the Logos as simply the observation that the laws of nature are intelligible on rational grounds.) Moreover, panpsychism is a position that at best is not based on any empirical evidence whatsoever, and that at worst risks being either incoherent or contradictory of modern science. Moreover, Christianity fundamentally relies on accepting the reality of a series of miracles, most crucially that of the resurrection. Not only we have no convincing empirical evidence of any miracles occurring, ever; we do have excellent philosophical arguments against the very idea of miracles. What you could do is to go through a comparative analysis similar to the one I just sketched above and assess whether — all things considered — you think that the Logos (however interpreted) is more or less defensible, on rational and evidential ground, than miracles and the notion of an all-powerful/good/knowing God. You may be mistaken about your assessment of the pertinent arguments, but that’s a different issue. The fact is, such arguments are available, and a comparison is therefore possible. Here, however, I think is where Rowe becomes a bit too rigid. For one thing, his version of Christianity — based as it is on the early writings of Paul, Luke and Justin Martyr — is indeed arguably incompatible, or at the very least much more difficult to reconcile — with the late Roman Stoa as instantiated in the writings of Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus. But Christianity has evolved in a myriad directions over the intervening two millennia. The Protestant Reformation, for instance, maintains that salvation is neither a matter of faith nor of good works, but depends entirely on the grace of God, which he provides of His own accord and for His own reasons. There is also the famous bit in James 2:26: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” The interpretation of this, its (alleged) contradiction of Paul’s writings, and the extent to which “good works” are necessary for salvation (as distinct from, and in addition to, faith) has been widely debated. I’m not a theologian, but it seems to me that one could be a Stoic who interprets the Logos as the Christian God, and then do good works through the practice of the virtues. Indeed, something like this has been proposed before, for instance by Justus Lipsius and his attempt at synthesizing Christianity and Stoicism in what is known as neo-Stoicism. From the Stoic perspective, we also need to take into account that modern Stoicism is not strictly bound to whatever Seneca, Epictetus and the rest wrote. Stoicism is being re-interpreted and updated for the modern world (including the findings of modern science). I have argued elsewhere that Stoic metaphysics underdetermines Stoic ethics, which means that one can freely adopt a number (but not all!) of metaphysical frameworks and still coherently call herself a Stoic. More importantly, let us not forget that Stoicism, Christianity, and the like are, quite properly, what Rowe calls “forms of life.” This means that, regardless of what Seneca or Paul wrote, Stoicism and Christianity are living and lived philosophies, and that individuals will inevitably pick and choose whatever combination of precepts and doctrines actually makes their lives better (I personally know a lot of Catholics, for instance, who straightforwardly reject a great number of Papal injunctions and still very much think of themselves as good Catholics). This isn’t a recipe for an “anything goes” approach to a philosophy of life, since any tradition, once stretched beyond a certain point, does break down. This is, however, a pragmatic recognition that, ultimately, if one thinks that one can bridge the two traditions and forge a new way forward there isn’t much that Rowe, MacIntyre, or anyone else can meaningfully object to. I am very much interested in readers’ reaction to this: to what extent do you think that a more purist vs a more pragmatic approach to the comparison of Stoicism and Christianity is feasible, or advisable? This entry was posted in Other philosophies, Religion and tagged One True Life on January 11, 2017 by Massimo. 1) that might be true when writing a paper in a philosophy journal, but I’m not. I writing a comment where the rules of discourse are flexible, informal and forgiving(unless one’s interlocutor is Massimo 🙂 ). 3) to condemn something merely on the grounds of being an analogy is just a way of dodging the bullet. Something more substantive is required. That is true if you are a solo-Stoic or a solo-Christian. But that is about as nonsensical as being a solo-soccer player. We are social animals and very rarely hermits. We seek out consensus and cooperative living for obvious reasons that need no explanation. You are the first example of that. You ground your Stoic ideas in a long tradition of teaching, using that as a basis for your teaching. You organise Stoicon, you publish articles and essays, like this one. These are all aspects of seeking a cooperative consensus and this means you are not a solo-Stoic. Therefore you subscribe to a set of rules and norms that define your community. You cannot do that as well as mixing and matching your beliefs to your heart’s content because that would result in a splintered community with a gazillion varieties of belief. You need this cooperative consensus to give your movement strength, recognition and persuasive power. In fact you are actively working to attain this and you are anything but a solo-Stoic. Moreover subscribing to an agreed body of beliefs confers substantial benefits. We learn from each other. We find role models and mentors. We give each other support, encouragement and guidance. As people do this over a long period of time a tradition is established. This traditions give the set of beliefs its own special character. The tradition becomes performative and is anchored in the teachings of founder figures. These things give the tradition its appeal, longevity and protect it from splintering into multiple incompatible parts. I see this in the way you repeatedly quote from Seneca, Epictetus or Marcus. By placing your arguments in a powerful tradition you borrow the authority of the tradition. You can only mix and match to a very limited extent without straying outside the boundaries of your tradition. You can’t do this without harming your work to establish Stoicism as a viable belief system. You are anything but a solo-Stoic. Arguments from analogy are notoriously sloppy regardless of the context in which one makes them, not just when debating with me or in a formal setting. Analogies can be informative, but they can also be misleading. I maintain that yours falls in the latter category. I didn’t criticize your analogy “merely” because it was an analogy, I went on to explain why I think it was misleading. Please do not accuse me of a degree of sloppiness I do not actually display. I never talked about solo-Stoics or Christians. Contra to your statement, there is a lot more variety among Christian communities than you seem to acknowledge, even within Catholics. Such variety encompasses which tenets of the faith are held in high regard or ignored, how people think of the faith itself, how they practice it and so on. And of course something like that holds also for the Stoics, where less variety is simply a result of fewer practitioners and of the 1500 years interruption in the tradition. I never said that one should mix beliefs “to one’s heart’s content,” I simply stated that there is more mixing than you acknowledge. Obviously, beyond a given point one is no longer a Stoic (e.g., if virtue isn’t the chief good), or a Christian (e.g., if you don’t believe in the redemptive value of the life of Christ). But where that point lies cannot be established ex-cathedra, and it definitely varies for different people. In terms of authority, my quoting Epictetus and the rest I simply remind people of what these wise men have said. But notice that in no way does anything the ancients say constitutes a dictate to which there cannot be any objection. Even for Christians there is a long tradition of arguing about what exactly Jesus said and what it meant, and a lot of disagreement. The only difference, of course, is that Jesus’ is supposed to be the word of god, while no Stoics ever spoke with anything more than the authority of a wise person. First of all I would like to say that I’m a huge fan from Libya and really enjoy your blogs. On this topic, It seems to me that you end up using the Encyclopaedist approach (which you said is unatenable) in order to challenge the assumptions of Christianity as an outsider. Do you agree with that or did I miss something? By an interesting coincidence one of the hymns at Mass tonight was ‘Make Me a Channel of Your Peace‘. It was a favourite and we all joined in with feeling, though we lacked the consummate skill of Susan Boyle. I looked around and was struck by the hearfelt sincerity I saw on the faces around me. I could see that they really felt those sentiments and wanted to make them happen. Some would succeed and many would fail, because at heart, we are weak people. But that was what we wanted, succeed or fail. We were trying to live a philosophy that wanted good for other people. At the entrance to the church is a box where we leave groceries for the unfortunate. I felt a sharp pang of regret as I realised I had brought nothing with me. My excuse is that a long trail run left me with no time, but it is a bad excuse. As I entered the church friends once again expressed their sadness and compassion at my bereavement. After Mass I sat for a few minutes in the Garden of Remembrance and shed some tears for my son. It has been six months since the unthinkable and the unendurable happened and sometimes the pain is unbearable. But it helps so much to be in a community that is caring, loving and supportive. In times like this I know I made the right choice when I abandoned atheism and embraced Catholicism. There is a wonderful nobility to this community that is absent in the outside world. This small snapshot brought home to me with renewed force the essential nature of our belief system. It is a lived set of beliefs that wants good for other people. I don’t see people doing this in fear of not finding salvation. They would be quite shocked by that accusation. What I see is people doing this out of love. The love is so palpable that we would never think of questioning it. The language of the Church is love. It permeates the rituals, the liturgy, the gospels and the homilies. It is the language of our parish priest. It is a remarkable thing to see because we hardly see any of this in the outside world of brutal commerce and exploitation. It is from this background of a lived belief system that places love for others first and foremost that I view Stoicism. I fail to see this otherness in Stoicism. What I see instead is a strong absorption in the self and its relationship to the outer world. These blog postings reflect this and I see it in the many popular articles about Stoicism. How can two lived systems be compatible when one is based on the self and the other is based on otherness? These are fundamentally incompatible worldviews that must be lived in different ways. To live as a Stoic I would have to give up the deepest and most important parts of my Christianity. For a Stoic to live as a Christian he would have to become a Christian. It is true that I can practice certain elements of Stoic beliefs but why would I do so when I find so much strength in my Christian beliefs? This is the strength that has enabled countless Christians to endure martyrdom. Are Stoics really prepared to endure martyrdom for their beliefs? Here again is Susan Boyle’s version of Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. There is no Stoic version of this and there never will be. There are many Catholic versions of this, which is after all Catholic in origin. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. I quote this famous prayer by St. Teresa because it expresses so clearly the other-directed ethos at the heart of Christianity and places it in stark contrast with the self-directed ethos of Stoicism. Note that Christ is taken as the ultimate role model. One is called to emulate Christ and act in his place by performing compassionate acts of good on his behalf. In the call to follow the example of a role model one can see a slight similarity with Stoicism but the similarity ends there. It ends in part because Stoicism has no believable role model of such nobility. It lacks a beacon figure that can powerfully inspire emulation. But at its heart the problem is this. How can I embrace the tenets of Stoicism with its overwhelming emphasis on how the self will cope with the challenges of the world and at the same time make my life primarily concerned with the challenges faced by other people? My primary concern must either be for the self or the other. Christianity has placed its primary concern on the other. The result is a perceived nobility of purpose that inspires beautiful writing, like the poem by St Teresa or the derivative of the Peace Prayer, Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. I quote these but there is a vast multitude of similar Christian writings. It has also inspired the Church to become the largest charitable organisation in the world. Stoicism has produced nothing that even remotely resembles this. This , more clearly than anything else, shows Stoicism’s powerful absorption with the self. Christianity offers me inspiring ideals of great nobility and Stoicism offers me what? The aphorisms of Marcus? A Roman emperor with great power, great wealth and every conceivable advantage consoles himself with a handbook of aphorisms? Or Seneca, an inordinately wealthy man at the heart of the Roman power structure? I don’t think Stoicism is lacking in the means to address economic injustice, even if that’s far from its current most popular use and even some of its most famous ancient practitioners did not use it this way. If the only thing we should pursue actively and passionately is Virtue, or living up to the best of human nature, pursuing anything else like money should be done only in a way that leads to better character and thus more capacity to act justly. Clearly, pursuing material things as ends in themselves is frequently (if not always) harmful to the physical and social environment, whereas trying to manage and distribute those things in a way that makes it easier for others to thrive and develop their own character can benefit the physical and social environment. So by helping ourselves to develop better character, we help others by mitigating the desires to do those traditionally “selfish” things that harm others. It’s not the mere focus on the self that’s the problem in our modern capitalist society, necessarily, so much as the focus on the self’s material possessions, physical pleasures, and social status. The poor are kept poor because the rich are addicted to their money and power and fearful of being average or worse…not very advanced Stoics if they practice at all. The focus on pursuing true good within our own character and the classification of other things, including benefits to others, as “indifferent” may sound cold and heartless, but I think it’s meant to just be pragmatic: there is nothing we can affect more powerfully and directly than our own conscious mind, and the thing we can second most powerfully and directly is our own subconscious mind. Making anything else a primary goal, noble-spirited as it may be in principle, risks leading to frustration: for example, what if you donate to charity, and either the middlemen/women distributing that charitable money or food or the charity recipients themselves misspend it, or someone else steals it? You’d be tempted to get angry and want to go medieval on them. But the Stoics would advise against this: you did what you could to promote your own good character, but factors outside your control intervened, and that takes nothing away from the development of your character, but getting to the point where you might do something stupid in response does take away from your character. Granted, the Christians do too, to be fair: Jesus advised “turning the other cheek” in a lot of those kinds of situations. Maybe Christianity (or at least, heavily charity-oriented sects thereof) is to justice much as Cynicism (ancient Cynicism, that is, not the nihilism-light that gets called “cynicism” today) is to temperance: it’s a shortcut to the virtue in question and can create some remarkably admirable characters that even a Stoic can appreciate as a role model (Epictetus was a huge fan of Diogenes), but the Stoics acknowledge other means to become virtuous and recommend them to the average person who might not handle the other paths so well. You can focus on the self, for instance, without being “selfish” in the sense of having immature and unjust desires, and this is the approach Stoics recommend, just as you can practice temperance without literally giving up every single comfort in life, although in both cases you have to be careful because it’s very easy to end up betraying your principles. Although this understandably gives Stoicism a bit of a bad rap, this gentler path can attract a lot of recovering wealth addicts to look into improving their character. Maybe it’s still not perfect, but I’d prefer it to them not showing interest in their character. As for the objection that Stoicism has produced no great role models…well, the Stoics themselves considered Cato, who tried to save ancient Rome from tyranny, as a master of their craft trained in their tradition, and Epictetus strikes me as having been no slouch, though he could have had a more open mind on some fronts. Musonius Rufus, I know less about, but he promoted vegetarianism and (proto-)feminism way before the late 20th Century, while many Christian sects still cling to the older “feminism is against nature” view (which is not to trash some of the great justice work some of these same sects do, and I also acknowledge that Jesus impressively opposed taboos on menstruating women and the sick). And even the not-so-great role models, the likes of Seneca and Marcus, were probably a lot more admirable than most wealthy political insiders both in the ancient Roman Empire and the modern global capitalist empire. Maybe what Stoicism lacked to produce more role models, and more impressive ones, was diffusion to a wider segment of the population. Formal philosophical schools usually trained only affluent men whose peers were very heavily entrenched in a materialist culture, not unlike the life-hacking young business upstarts of today, although Epictetus somehow got in as a relatively lowly disabled freedman. Perhaps they ought to have taken Musonius Rufus’s advice and taken on more women students, and trained more people from humble backgrounds as well, and it would have done better still if some level of education in logic and critical thinking that could be used to adopt a wide variety of ideas could be distributed throughout the population. Formal public education for a wide variety of classes is a very new and still imperfect thing, and is probably necessary for a logic-based system to go mainstream and recruit from the widest possible talent pool. those were very interesting comments. What is notable is the Stoicism and Christianity give emphasis to different virtues and this results in different patterns of behaviour. Some 52 virtues have been identified. The way we classify them and give different virtues priority reflects often our background. Christianity, with its roots in the poor and suffering people places its emphasis accordingly in the way it selects from these 52 virtues. Stoicism, drawing mainly from ruling classes inevitably selects virtues differently with different emphases. Is there a right selection? Massimo maintains that Wisdom must have preeminence since one can derive all else from Wisdom. By contrast I, and Christianity in general, argue that Love must have preeminence and that all else follows. The Stoic selection I think reflects the interests of ruling classes while the Christian selection reflects the interests of the poor classes. The results we see in very different patterns of behaviours. Can these two approaches be melded? Christianity has done this by including the four Stoic(Platonic) virtues in their list of seven cardinal virtues. What is necessary, I think, is that Stoicism adds Love as their preeminent virtue, making their cardinal virtues five in all. That means removing Love from its subordinate position somewhere below Justice and elevating to the number one position. That would reshape and redirect Stoic behaviour in a wholly more favourable direction. It won’t happen of course because modern day Stoics would never do anything that might affirm Christianity. Which is very sad. After all Christianity showed just that flexibility by importing the four Platonic virtues. Well, I think part of what draws a lot of modern day people to Stoicism is that some sects of Christianity have not lived up to the tradition’s ideals as a shortcut to Justice/Philanthropy and thus potentially to Wisdom (since all virtues are connected). Ancient Stoics had a similar beef with many of the Cynics of their time: they did not reach the great heights of Temperance, Wisdom, and Moral Courage that, say, Diogenes had reached, but instead did a lot of things for show. They acknowledged the potential of the tradition, but recognized that its path might not be for everyone and that many could get lost down said path. I think today’s Stoicism could take the same view of Christianity and lose nothing…maybe even gain something. I’m not sure if adding Love as a cardinal virtue is necessary, if Love (or Justice) can simply be emphasized more as a natural outcome of Wisdom: it’s foolish, after all, for human beings, who evolved to live in groups and cooperate, to betray the best of their nature by fighting among each other for status and material goods when there’s a better way to do things. I think this is how the ancient Stoics largely tried to deal with the issue. To the Stoics as I understand them, the other three virtues were aspects or manifestations of Wisdom, so not necessarily lesser virtues. Wow, glad to hear someone is reading the blog from Libya! You ask a very good question, so let me try to articulate my middle position between the encyclopedist and the traditionist. The encyclopedist thinks that there is one rational, empirically grounded, answer to every question. What I’m saying, instead, is that there are different sets of logical systems, defined by their own axioms and internal structure, so that a given question may have more than one rational answer, depending on assumptions. Even so, one can compare some systems to others, examine the soundness or empirical ground of their respective assumptions and decide that one system is better — according to specified criteria — than another. This is all very theoretical, so let me give you two examples. The reason I personally reject Christianity is because one of the crucial elements of the faith is a belief in miracles (especially that of the resurrection of Jesus). And I think I have very good reasons not to believe in miracles. But now consider two Hellenistic schools, like Stoicism and Epicureanism. One can argue in favor of one or the other school, but I don’t see empirical evidence or logic definitely settling the issue of whether virtue (Stoicism) or avoidance of pain (Epicureanism) ought to be the overarching goal of a human life. So there I can say that I have made the truly pre-rational (not irrational!) decision to follow Stoicism and not Epicureanism. But I can’t coherently say that the Epicureans are “wrong.” An encyclopedist would. You cannot coherently say that the stoic selection of virtues reflects the preferences of the ruling classes and then read Epictetus, or Musonius, or Hierocles — none of whom belonged to the ruling classes. As for love, the Stoics actually explicitly defined their philosophy as one of love. So, there too one needs to be careful not to read one’s own projection and prejudices into someone else’s philosophy. I think there is an interesting similarity here. The Bible is full of wisdom and prudential literature but Jesus says love is the basis. Likewise Epictetus et. al. are all about practical reason yet Marcus says his Stoic teacher was ” Free of passion, yet full of love.”!! Justice and charity are closely linked in rabbinical Judaism; less so, I think, in Christianity. The Patrician oligarchy that Cato was defending seems to us enormously unjust. Should this affect our evaluation of Cato? Yes and no. One key point is embedded into your “seems to us.” It is always too easy to judge people of other times and cultures by our modern, I think more advanced, moral perspective (I do believe in moral progress, though I don’t believe it is either inevitable or permanent). But yes, the Gracchi brothers, who lost their lives in defending the rights of the Roman plebe a few generations before Cato, are certainly more admirable than Cato, in terms of liberal-progressive politics. Hmm, one’s own prejudices? Nope, I think it is best to ignore that imputation and see instead if it can lead somewhere useful. You see, what you dismiss as projection and prejudice can more charitably be called quite reasonable expectations. Let me explain. I have always believed in finding truth by going to ground zero. This was especially important when working in a very large engineering company where truth had to be found by leaving one’s office and going onto the shop floor. And so it was that I once spent three months working on the assembly line and another occasion spent three months working at one of our large dealerships, all in the quest of ground zero truth. So you will see that for me this was an important belief. After many long years of atheism I looked at the evidence and the evidence persuaded me that it was very likely that God existed. But what kind of God was this? The founding documents of Christianity spoke of a God of love, but what happened at ground zero, on the shop floor, as it were? So I went to ground zero, to the shop floor of the Church. And what I found at ground zero, among the ordinary, as it were, working class of the Church, quite astonished me. My immersion in atheism had prepared me to see an evil Church(now that really was ‘projection and prejudice’). But what I saw was the very opposite. I saw people working in love to help the poor, the sick and the suffering. They were by no means perfect in this but their sincerity was unquestionable and their belief in love was unquenchable. This was quite a shocking discovery. It was shocking because, not only had my atheist ‘projection and prejudice’ been overturned, it also meant as a consequence of my new-found beliefs that I had to radically re-orient the way I lived. I am trying and to be quite frank about it, I am only a small way along the path to that destination of living a life based on love. But I try and make small steps along the way. Inevitably then, given my experiences, I bring this expectation to the way I evaluate other philosophies. You may uncharitably call this projection and prejudice. I call it the hope and expectation that our species can achieve its highest potential, a life based on love. Can you explain why you think justice and charity are less linked in Christianity? Possibly my ignorance. In many versions of Christianity, love (specifically God’s love as manifest by the self-sacrifice of the crucifixion) redeems us from sin, for which, otherwise, we would be justly punished. In Judaism, by contrast, the words for justice, charity, and Saint (or sage?) come from the same three-letter root, and charitable giving and conduct are simply the right thing to do. thanks for the clarification. I thought you might be referring to something else, the tension between the Christian concepts of love and justice. By this I understand that the Old Testament concept of strict administration of justice was to be extended and administered with love and this was the fulfilment of the law. Thus we see Jesus preventing the stoning of a woman for adultery. Jesus also commands us to forgive one another, to exercise mercy, to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek. In the same spirit he tells us that the greatest commandments are love(for God and one another). We are told to open our homes to the unfortunate and to give all that we can to the sick, suffering, poor and imprisoned. But how do we reconcile these radical teachings of love for all, including our enemies, forgiveness and submission to wrong with the demands for justice? It is a difficult question that has exercised fine theological minds. For example, what of the thugs who stoned me a year ago and injured me so badly that I am still in pain? Should I forgive them? I do, but is that just a notional forgiveness? What if the police arrested those thugs? Should I therefore ask the police to dismiss the charges? Now that is more difficult because it might be imperilling other potential victims. The best explanation I can give is that our society is in a state of transition between the strict harshness of an absolute justice system that is administered to the letter of the law and a society of love and forgiveness that depends on self restraint(which, as Jesus said, would be the fulfilment of the law). We are somewhere on that trajectory and should exercise the maximum of love, mercy and forgiveness that is compatible with the needs for justice in a well functioning society. Achieving this makes high demands on our capacity for wisdom. I’m glad Massimo recognised this. It is the whole point of my argument against the compatibility of Stoicism and Christianity. Epictetus’ advice is even more pertinent when applied to the diametrically opposed self-directedness of Stoicism and the other-directedness of Christianity. You cannot be a hit in the role of cultivating the Stoic self-directed, self-absorbed approach to life and simultaneously be a hit at cultivating the Christian other-directed approach to life. The one, whichever you choose, by its very nature, excludes the other. I think calling the Stoic approach “self-absorbed” is a little like when I called imperfect ruling-class Stoics “hypocrites” for the sake of argument a while back. I used the term “hypocrite” loosely to mean “someone who doesn’t live up to his or her principles” thinking that this might be how these people are seen by non-Stoics, even though the term is more commonly reserved for people who also don’t admit to doing so, and the ruling-class Stoics do at least tend to admit their weakness. Similarly, “self-absorbed” implies not just focusing on the self, but focusing on a narrow conception of the self, most notably a rather hedonistic one that cares way too much about the individual’s pleasure and pain, wealth and poverty, status and powerlessness, health and illness, beauty and ugliness, and other indifferents. For me, Stoicism, like Buddhism (the philosophy that got me to keep on coming back when I fell off the wagon until I found out enough about Stoicism to take a good hard look at it), promises a way out of self-absorption: it requires me to update my sense of self to include the ethical and big-picture implications of what I’m doing, and so it works to expand my focus beyond those pesky indifferents. It’s inspired me to get over the unpleasantness of fears of failure or incompetence and discover that they’re based on a huge overestimation of just how important my incompetence is in the causal chain of things (never mind ignoring the fact that a lot of incompetence can be mitigated). It’s also inspired me to take a good hard look at my relationship to desires, and realize their connection to the self-absorbed-by-any-definition values of mainstream consumer capitalism that do so much harm to the natural and social environment, and so since I made this connection (and found a not-Stoic-but-compatible blog post about how identity can help with self-control), I’ve been changing my activity patterns to avoid doing things just for pleasure’s sake on the basis that “they’re not my thing” as a Stoic and make more decisions with both the natural and the social environment in mind. Inspired by this thread, I even made my first charity donation in a while other than giving change to street musicians, realizing that an earlier stage of my practice I probably would have spent that same cash on some favorite luxury foods, which brings back harm. This plan also seems to be working so far: it’s so much easier not to do something wasteful after only 2 days of this. Perhaps this doesn’t hold a candle to the charity work of some Christian laypeople (not to mention the best monks, priests, and nuns who formally devote themselves to trying to be like their role model), but it’s done things for me that Buddhism couldn’t quite pull off as well as replicated some of its positive results. I think the problem with Buddhism was that I tended to get hung up on the “enlightenment” thing, waiting for that magical “insight” that “there’s no self” to free me from my fears and desires. With Stoicism I just follow the logic wherever it takes me: using the ancients and modern teachers with more advanced practices as guideposts, I can come up with logical insights of my own based on my own evolving understanding of Nature and my place in it. Yes, there are doctrines, but I can make sense of them in my own way, and rather than being a distraction like it would be in Buddhism (monkey mind), it’s a legit part of the path. So take this as just one, almost surely unconvincing, Ground Zero report from one aspiring Stoic with 3 1/2 years on-and-off interest and the last two months “on” with better results than ever regarding things I hardly thought I could advance in (namely some very old and pesky fears and desires around indifferents). I loved your ‘ground zero’ report and found it convincing. Yes, the term ‘self-absorption’ is a little strong. My preferred term is ‘self-directedness’ as opposed to ‘other-directedness’ but it also conveyed the sense of steering one’s own destiny which I did not mean. You account brought out two messages. 1) you found the belief system allowed you to take control of your life and that freed you up to broaden your concerns to others. 2) you embraced virtue ethics and this inherently broadens one’s concerns to others. I think these are important messages and they are the reasons that I, as a Catholic, have been supportive of Massimo’s work. I have been, and remain critical of aspects(which are unfortunately dominant). In these comments I have been critical of the thesis that Christianity and Stoicism are compatible but that does not mean I oppose Stoicism. On the contrary I welcome Stoicism because it is an ethical system that has at its heart a system of virtue ethics. Virtue ethics is also at the heart of Christianity and this is where their commonality lies, though their dominant focus goes in different directions. What I would like to see is Stoicism making virtue ethics its primary focus and the development of inner hardiness/resilience its secondary focus. Stoicism and Christianity can become partners in working for a more ethical world. I would love to see that happen. Thanks for writing your ‘ground zero’ report. It was a useful corrective for aspects of my comments that may seem overly critical. But what I’ve tried to explain is that Stoicism, like virtue ethics in general, actually rejects that dichotomy. For a virtue ethics the pursuit of virtue is the same things as the improvement of character, which brings resilience as a side effect.

2019-04-24T02:45:41Z

https://howtobeastoic.wordpress.com/2017/01/11/stoicism-and-christianity-iv-can-we-compare/?like_comment=4091

It is my honor to be asked to comment on this important matter. Respectfully, after reading the First Draft the following are my comments. May you and yours…Be In Good Health. b. However, nowhere in this work programme did we see the mention of an essential element of nutrition for human sustenance; WATER, safe clean drinking water was declared a right by the United Nations several of years ago. c. Here in the United States these regulations fall on urban leadership to keep the drinking water supply safe. d. In rural areas, including farms there is no regulation to guard against water borne diseases, which can be insidious and tenacious as often these microbiologic pathogenic factors are not visible to the human eye. e. We believe clean, safe, drinking water needs to be included in the Decade of Nutrition oversights to assure overall quality of life and health. a. Food in and of itself is or can be a social conversation with most people, however as a healthcare professional using food to heal or treat diseases, the master’s thesis I developed is only as good and the use by a patient or consumer. b. We would be wise to remind/encourage each individual of their own responsibility to know how their personal constitution assimilates and utilized food energy, and water needs, that are essential to Quality of Life. c. In the traditional oriental medical model taught in most acupuncture colleges in the US, we may likely have been taught to discern or diagnose using the Eight Principles [Hot vs Cold, Internal vs External, Excess vs Deficiency and Yin vs Yang]. Also, many of the schools in the US teach the Five Element Theory, which is more subjective rather than the objective. Whereas the measurable comparisons of the Eight Element Model for Diagnosis, Treatment and Prognosis make it a more transferable and usable model of medical care. These Eight Principles are used when learning to apply foods based on color and flavor, as well as the amino acid, fat, enzymatic compositions that cool, warm, moisten, dry, stagnate or move, organ systems and functions with the human body. d. I believe this makes the certified, ‘Food Physics & Body Dynamics’ transferable locally, nationally, and internationally. e. Finally, there are no parts of this draft in which WATER is mentioned let alone prescribed as an essential fluid to be consumed, and expelled appropriately to sustain Quality of Life. 1. Somewhere, we will need to open the discussion on just what and how clean drinking water is accessed and consumed, and its role to sustain a healthy state of well-being, as a part of the whole nutrition aspect. a. Yes, We have a nationally and internationally Certified Nutrition Education Protocol, which has been approved to teach licensed health care professionals to meet the requirement for Continuing Education in Nutrition as mandated in several states and countries. b. I personally, have academics at a college and post-graduate level, have participated in policy making regarding access to healthy food and the Food and Drug Agency [FDA] in the capacity building of the newest Food Safety Modernization Act, instituted by President Obama in 2011-2012. c. As a member of the public and a candidate to write the American Food Guidelines, it was my honor to be asked to contribute to the final published Food Guidelines in 2004, published in 2005. d. As a stakeholder on several committees at the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Food Safety and Inspection Services, and now on two Codex Alimentarius Committees, I have added expert comment and suggestions for more than a decade. e. As a hosted participant, I contributed my expertise in Urgent Evoke, an event designed to address the world’s biggest issues conducted by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (The “World Bank”), and am a Founding Member effective 2010. a. Recognizing that communication is the first and foremost matter we will need to resolve as to how and when we will address these important matters. b. Nutrition Education models and certifications for those models will be helpful to encourage ongoing participation and maintain and high level of engagement by us as authors/creators of systems to achieve our desired outcomes and for the global community we are working to serve. c. Clean water access as a necessary component of nutrition consumption, in addition to being necessary for clean and safer food use in the kitchen and at the table. d. Ideas how to overcome language barriers during the work programs. 1. A suggestion, in the recent past, SKYPE in the Classroom was formed and utilized by USDA to communicate to young students in schools for comparisons of foods being consumed. a. While not certain how Member States will select their representatives, it is my desire to serve as a representative, or on one of the committees, or boards, as a United States health care professional who specializes in using foods to heal disease and citizen, if that may be feasible. If you have recommendation or suggestions how to facilitate this role, please advise me via direct email using my FAO forum contact information. b. I look forward to working on the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition 2015-2015 in collaboration with the UN FAO, and other stakeholders to set benchmarks for the development of commitments and the establishment of action networks to address the potential topics suggested in Table 1. Thank you very much for this opportunity to provide feedback on the first draft work programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. Please find below the joint feedback of the co-leadership team of the Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) Programme of the UN 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP). Yes, in general the draft work programme does present a compelling vision for strategic interaction and mutual support. However, while there is much focus on the role that governments/countries can play, for example as Nutrition Decade champions and/or by establishing action networks, there seems to be less elaboration on the potential roles for other actors and bodies, such as multistakeholder partnerships, for example with regard to action networks. As the Co-Leads of the Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) Programme of the UN 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP), we would like to propose to strengthen the draft work programme by including also a reference to the SFS Programme in the context of multistakeholder platforms, i.e. in paras 54 and 69. For the reasons outlined in response to question 3 below, the Co-Leads of the SFS Programme look forward to actively support this joint effort of making the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition a success. We believe that the SFS Programme can make a meaningful contribution to the Nutrition Decade, in particular with regard to Action areas 1 “Sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy diets” and 6 “Review, strengthen and promote nutrition governance and accountability”, but potentially also others. The 10YFP is a global framework of action to enhance international cooperation to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in both developed and developing countries. It reports to ECOSOC and the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The SFS Programme of the 10YFP promotes sustainable food systems through activities at global, regional and national level. It contributes to the achievements of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 2 and SDG 12, as well as a series of issues covered by other SDGs including in the areas of health, biodiversity and ecosystems, partnerships, etc. The SFS Programme has five focus themes: sustainable diets; sustainability along all value chains; reduction of food losses and waste; multi-stakeholder platforms; and resilient, inclusive, diverse food production systems. The Programme promotes multistakeholder projects and initiatives along these focus themes, both at the policy level as well as through action on the ground - raising awareness, promoting enabling environments, and facilitating access to knowledge, information and tools. The SFS Programme has four Co-Lead organizations (South Africa (Department for Trade and Industry), Switzerland (Federal Office for Agriculture), Hivos and WWF). They are supported by a 23 member Multistakeholder Advisory Committee (MAC), composed of organizations from the following five stakeholder clusters: government agencies; civil society organizations; scientific and technical organizations; UN agencies and other international organizations; and private sector. In addition, the Programme currently has more than 95 partners worldwide. The 1st Global Conference of the SFS Programme will take place on 21-23 June 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa. With an expected participation of 150 food system experts from all relevant stakeholder groups and around the globe, this conference could offer a good opportunity to raise awareness on the Nutrition Decade as well as for approaching potential partners. The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires an inclusive and holistic approach, accounting for the interlinkages between the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda, in order to avoid silo thinking. Therefore, we welcome very much the food systems approach that is promoted under Action area 1, which takes into account all stages of the food value chain and links the concepts of healthy diets and sustainable diets. However, in para 20, reference is made to guidelines on healthy diets only, which falls short of the multistakeholder food systems approach that is required to achieve the food and nutrition related SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. We therefore propose to refer to “[..] guidelines on sustainable and healthy diets“ in para 20. In addition to the potential topics for action networks listed in table 1, there may be scope for further topics, such as sustainable diets; sustainability along all value chains; and resilient, inclusive and divers food production systems. 2016-2025 is now. What FAO is waiting for. The SDGs was adopted since September 25, 2015. One year has passed and nothing. 2017 is passing. 1. Does the work programme present a compelling vision for enabling strategic interaction and mutual support across existing initiatives, platforms, forums and programmes, given the stipulation of Res 70/259 that the Decade should be organized with existing institutions and available resources? Open and inclusive dialogues, biennial reports, open access databases and regular tracking are all good measure to ensure a well-structured action on nutrition coupled with advocacy and technical support all covered in this first draft. 2.What are your general comments to help strengthen the presented elements of the first draft work programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition? Overall the first draft is comprehensive. The Nutrition Decade secretariat would benefit from working closely with civil society in order to keep governments accountable. In each country a strong CSO focal point would be beneficial in garnering support. The advocacy component is key to ensuring success of the vision of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. 3.Do you feel you can contribute to the success of the Nutrition Decade or align yourself with the proposed range of action areas? As the only nutrition advocacy hub in Zambia, CSO-SUN is strategically positioned to handle action Area 6- to ensure commitments for action towards nutrition related policies and dialogue. CSO-SUN spearheaded the formation of the All Party Parliamentary Caucus on Nutrition (APPCON) which members of parliament MPs including key nutrition champions are advocating nutrition legislation and enhancing political will and accountability to address the burden of malnutrition. CSO-SUN also works closely with the media to keep nutrition relevant and has media trainings to increase accurate nutrition reporting thus creating space for dialogue. 4.How could this draft work programme be improved to promote collective action to achieve the transformational change called for by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ICN2 outcomes? What is missing? Issues on lack of financial resources may delay progress especially where relevant policies exist and implementation due to financial constraints is often the issue. 5. Do you have specific comments on the section on accountability and shared learning? It’s imperative that the biennial reports that include government commitment should also reflect governments financial commitment as a criteria for commitment e.g. to nutrition related programs and national budget allocation towards nutrition. We greatly appreciate the UN support for the Decade of Action on Nutrition, and we welcome the opportunity to comment on the draft of the Work Programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, 2016-2025. We applaud the WHO and FAO for the comprehensive first draft presented here. - Despite the constraint in the Framework for Action that the work programme must be carried out within existing institutional arrangements and capacities, there is no information on existing remits of UN agencies or funding/administrative capacities. This is needed to ensure coherence and coordination among UN agencies involved – and also to ensure that member states are engaging most effectively with the UN. - There is only one mention of conflicts of interest. This would be strengthened with more concrete recommendations and guidance regarding operationalisation (i.e. how do countries achieve this). - The failure of many multi-sectoral nutrition coordinating bodies has resulted not from their technical competencies but from their failure to advocate for sustained attention, political commitment and resources at the country-level (i.e. from their organizational and strategic capacities). Again, this emphasises the need for country-level capacity building that focuses on more than just the technical aspects of nutrition policy and programming. - This would be stronger with more clarity regarding what is meant by an enabling environment (See Lancet series on child and maternal nutrition for a definition). - In paragraph 15, reference to the ‘latest’ scientific evidence is inappropriate – latest is not necessarily the best, most appropriate or most robust. High quality might be a more appropriate adjective. - The meaning of the term ‘sustainability’ here is not clear, and the concept of sustainability is not reflected in the actions listed. More explicit content as to how sustainability will be achieved through food and nutrition interventions is needed (e.g. incorporation of sustainability objectives into food and nutrition guidelines). - The food system approach identified in paragraph 19 is hugely important – and should also explicitly mention trade in addition to transportation. - In addition to improved production of healthy food, this section should also note the need for incentives to decrease production, availability, accessibility and affordability of energy-dense nutrient poor foods, and highly processed and packaged foods. - Food security ensures that nutritious food which is available, accessible and utilized by all. Utilization should be mentioned here. - The reason for singling out aflatoxins over other environmental hazards is unclear. Paragraph 22 would be stronger if it ended at line 6, ending with “directly and indirectly”. By keeping it generic, then a country could pick this action area and this specific focus on biological hazards to address and be free to focus on their country specific hazard. - This section should include more specific reference to the recommendations on stunting, wasting, breastfeeding and overweigh/obesity identified in the Framework for Action. - In line with the objective to address the dual burden of malnutrition, point 29 should also address the dual burden of malnutrition at household level, through explicit recognition of the need to design social protection measures with complementary policies that seek to minimize the transition of households to increased consumption of nutrient-dense foods, especially in low-income households with women, infants and children. - Point 31 should align with the policy options for diets identified in the recommendations of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs, and include specific mention of fiscal policies, regulations on marketing of energy-dense nutrient poor foods, nutrient and health claims, and agricultural/industrial policy incentives that reflect health considerations. - A critical concern that needs to be explicitly addressed in this section is that trade and investment policy should not constrain innovation in nutrition policy making – countries need to have policy space to be able to implement new approaches to protecting nutrition and food security and preventing NCDs. This should be explicitly recognized as a policy objective by trade and investment agreements, such that it can inform interpretation of agreements. - This section needs to explicitly incorporate NCD prevention – particularly with respect to access to affordable healthy food in 1) urban environments, 2) schools, 3) hospitals and nursing homes. - In line with this, this section should note the importance of reducing the availability, accessibility and affordability of energy-dense nutrient-poor food. - Paragraph 36 ends in a strange way by singling out hospitals and the workplace. More open ended text would be more appropriate, such as "in all environments a mother and child may find themselves in need of feeding" - “Nutrition champions” concept could be strengthened by considering additional strategies to build capacity for nutrition leadership at global, national and subnational level, within government and civil society. For example, drawing on the African Nutrition Leadership Program, European Nutrition Leadership Program, and SUN leadership component. Strategies include: building capacity, mobilizing resources and strategic capacities. Otherwise, this ignores the diversity of leadership types needed for successful nutrition governance including advocates to generate/sustain attention and mobilize civil society networks, policy entrepreneurs who can navigate technical, bureaucratic and political environments, and high-level political leadership (e.g. heads-of-state and ministers). - The inclusion of the private sector in “Action Networks” is concerning, and there is no transparency in where the ideas for action networks have come from (“potential partners”?). We suggest inclusion of an additional statement regarding avoidance of conflict of interests here. - In addition, the proposed structure of the “Action networks” appears to limit participants to single topics rather than holistic integration of nutrition challenges. This potentially generates a high administrative burden (i.e. managing and attending network meetings and outputs) while also narrowing complex multi-sectoral nutrition problems down into vertical issue-specific responses. - The section on “Technical support for implementation” seems to imply that the challenge is a technical one in isolation from political and institutional environments in which nutrition actors operate. Strong evidence shows that technocratic approaches to nutrition are likely to fail in the absence of politically savvy leadership within countries. o Imbuing nutrition policy networks within countries with necessary organizational and strategic capacities they require to navigate political systems and policy making processes. - This section is very vague on how actions will be coordinated across the various agencies. - The institutional framework for nutrition action at the global level is not clear and needs to be articulated, including clearly delineated roles and responsibilities for UN actors. - This section would be stronger with consideration of how this engagement will also engage with other existing multisectoral fora that relate to nutrition (e.g. Zero Hunger, NCD Prevention and Control), that engage UN and other agencies related to nutrition. We applaud the work of colleagues at WHO and FAO to bring together the latest draft of the Work Programme of the UN Decade of Action. We would like to share some general comments on the overall direction of the documents. We then include in annex some more specific comments related to various elements. A myriad of processes, projects and working groups have been launched to support these commitments - government ministries, development partners, businesses and academia have begun to reorient their focus and realign their approaches to ensure that nutrition is at the heart of their work. Now is the time to secure the leadership and shine a light on the pathways to coherent ACTIONs leading to results and impact, which is at the heart of this Decade. We see the Decade of Action as the opportunity to consolidate the gains made in recent years and ensure that the final collective results are greater than the sum of smaller, disconnected or isolated efforts. Most importantly, we see it as a platform on which country-ownership and leadership can be displayed, celebrated, better understood and further replicated. It is also the opportunity to explain how UN agencies involved will work together to bring coherence, encourage and guide collaboration, support capacity, build trust and make smart use of what is going on, using the naming and faming method to encourage the smart and opportunistic combination of supports from various initiatives for better impact. These elements are not easy to find in the document as it currently reads and we have some suggestions to help improve this. b. Celebrate what has already been achieved: Acknowledge the huge gains made in recent years. Illustrating this momentum with clear examples will help to set up this work plan up in a positive and inspiring way that compels the reader to participate in the Decade of Action. c. Draw on what exists to sketch out a clear roadmap – highlighting existing processes and initiatives that bring results and impact at country level and can be shared at regional events and global fora. a. Universality – the 2030 Agenda belongs to everyone; there is no country that is without the challenge of malnutrition and every country should be able to find a role of some size and shape in this Decade of Action. The Decade is not only meant for developing countries but also crucial for countries that face a growing challenge of over-nutrition, obesity and related NCD’s. They can be partners in sharing expertise in preventing and fighting this. c. Partnerships – at the heart of the SUN Movement’s approach is the belief that every actor has a role to play – from governments, business, civil society, development partners and academia. While the UN Member States are the primary audience for this work programme, it would be a missed opportunity if all of the existing partnerships were not encouraged to take part in this Decade of Action for nutrition. The Partnerships Playbook, which was developed in partnership with Every Woman, Every Child, the Global Partnership for Education, Sanitation and Water for All, the Zero Hunger Challenge and the SUN Movement, was recently endorsed at the Second High-Level Meeting (HLM2) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation as an official Global Partnership Initiative. This could provide some inspiration for further developing this section of the work programme of the Decade of Action. 5. The Rome Declaration and Framework for Action should be clearly referenced and concisely summarized but reopening or reinterpreting the substance in this document in the detail as currently expressed in six ‘areas’ doesn’t seem to advance collaborative action. As suggested above, it may be more helpful to highlight the initiatives, mechanisms or opportunities that have been established or are underway in each of these areas and then spend more time articulating the entry points for UN Member States to engage and align with these and how WHO and FAO in collaboration with WFP, IFAD and UNICEF will support Member States to do this. b. Be clear on the role that WHO, FAO and others can and will play in raising awareness and connecting Member States with these opportunities to contribute and build upon. 6. Nutrition champions – There is much work underway that can be capitalized upon: The African Leaders for Nutrition; the SUN Movement Lead Group, the ambassador programmes of the UN agencies – particularly the celebrity chefs who have an enormous following across the globe. 8. It would be very useful to include a calendar that maps out key dates and milestones for the Decade. Point 2: Include a reference (footnote) to the Rome Declaration and the Framework for Action. It would be good to use ICN2 Framework for Action throughout the document. Point 5: Is the Framework of the Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025) different from the Framework for Action (point 2 and 4)? · How is the “operational” framework different from the voluntary Framework for Action (point 2 and 4) and from the Framework of the Decade of Action on Nutrition (point 5)? · The third bullet point assumes that global commitments translate into national policies and programmes. This is not aligned with the country-led and country-driven bottom up process that is then described in other parts of the document. · On the NCD targets: please confirm that salt/sodium intake and obesity are the only two diet-related NCD targets considered by the Decade of Action and that diabetes and raised blood pressure will not be considered by the Decade of Action. Point 11: Describes very well the added value of the Decade of Action. You may wish to review Point 9 in light of what is expressed under Point 11. It seems that some of the concepts are repeated or even reversed between Point 9 and Point 11. Guiding principles: As mentioned above, WHO and FAO may wish to consider aligning with the 10 principles endorsed by the other partnerships including Every Woman, Every Child, the Global Partnership for Education, Sanitation and Water for All, the Zero Hunger Challenge, the SUN Movement as part of the Partnership Playbook. As expressed above, this section is unclear. Are the points a reminder on the types of actions that are already included in the ICN2 Framework for Action? It might be more useful to simply clarify how the countries and partners can access and use the ICN2 Framework for Action document. It would even help to have an Annex with the summary list of the 60 actions included in the ICN2 Framework for Action for easy access and reference. Nutrition education: Why is it linked only to social protection if this is clearly a cross-cutting theme? It would make sense for this section to be the main focus of the Work Programme. It should provide much more clarity on how the Decade of Action will work with what is already existing. Point 44: How will the UN Agencies solicit the engagement and support of other stakeholders? Is a call for commitments from “other stakeholders” the only option? How will this be carried out, recorded and monitored? Point 45: It is difficult to understand what the high-commitments on ICN recommendations are. Point 46: Nutrition Decade Secretariat is mentioned for the first and only time. It would be great to have more details on objectives and modalities of functioning. If a Nutrition Decade Secretariat is to be set up, it will be crucial to avoid duplication and mandate confusion with the existing UN coordination initiatives. The first point should explain how the Decade of Action will effectively partner with the existing alliances, networks and initiatives to ensure increased focus and action. The Action Networks could be a mechanism to ensure that the partnerships are accelerating and aligning efforts around certain topics. Funding, TA and Advocacy: all three sections are very vague. We suggest the topic of funding is more precise. The topics of technical assistance and advocacy could be well covered when highlighting the related existing initiatives in the ‘means of implementation’ section. Potential Topics in Table 1: How do these topics link with the ICN2 Framework for Action? Should the ICN2 Framework for Action not be the reference point for the establishment of the Action Networks? CIAI– Italian Association for Aid to Children – we really appreciate the invitation of UNSCN to share our views about the draft. We would like to bring your attention to the specific measures that have been taken in consideration in the “Action area 3: Social protection and nutrition education” and along the full draft, regarding children of all ages. Form our experience of almost 50 years working with children, we consider that Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector and nutrition advocates should also promote more participative actions, where children are not only a passive receptor of school feeding programs and nutritional education, but participate actively during the programming, implementation and valuation of the actions and services addressed to them. Children’ of all ages should have an active role that can be activated through children clubs, schools committees for food, nutrition, and WASH services, and their participation in the local and national level consultation platforms, to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of the measures to address malnutrition challenges. What are your general comments to help strengthen the presented elements of the first draft work programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition? It may be helpful to have a simplified/”big-picture” Theory of Change (ToC) of the Nutrition Decade demonstrating links and sequencing among various elements listed under Principles and Action Areas. Moreover, a ToC approach could help conceptualize appropriate indicators to measure progress. Do you feel you can contribute to the success of the Nutrition Decade or align yourself with the proposed range of action areas? Yes. GAFSP invests in agriculture to reduce poverty and improve food and nutrition security in low-income countries through investments in both the public and private sectors. More than half of the Public Sector Window projects in the current portfolio include nutri­tion-related activities, totaling $140 million (about 14 percent of fund­ing from the Public Sector Window financing). About two-thirds of the nutrition-related spend by GAFSP is on nutrition-sensitive agricultural activities, while about a third is for direct nutrition-specific activities, such as the distribution of micronu­trient supplements (such as folic acid and iron to pregnant women, women of reproductive age, and adoles­cent girls, or sprinkles for children), behavioral change campaigns, and improving home conditions (kitchen and latrines). The Private Sector Window also addresses the issue of chronic mal­nutrition and its negative impact on human capital development. In 2015 the Private Sector Window made an investment in Africa Improved Foods Limited (AIFL) to establish a nutritious food processing plant in Rwanda that will feed 700,000 malnourished children in that country each year. The AIFL project is simple but prom­ises significant development impact. Using maize and soy sourced and grown locally by Rwandan farmers, the processing plant will develop fortified blended foods for young children and their mothers, support­ing the prevention and treatment of malnutrition in this vulnerable popu­lation. The project is part of a broader public-private partnership between the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the World Food Programme, the IFC, the government of Rwanda, GAFSP, and private sector actors. This project enables GAFSP to help malnour­ished children by giving them access to fortified nutrients that will allow them to reach their full potential. It also means that farmers in Rwanda can gain access to higher-quality inputs and better farm management practices. Moreover, going forward, GAFSP will measure progress towards food security by using the SDG2 Indicator for hunger, the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), as well as the Food Consumption Score (FCS) to track progress on improving dietary diversity of households; or, for individuals, the Minimum Dietary Diversity of women/young children (MDD-W/C) where these are explicit objectives in GAFSP projects. GAFSP, thanks to its strong M&E system aligned to the SDGs, is leading efforts to implement the use of FIES in projects. Lastly, GAFSP as a multistakeholder platform of an inclusive approach has a balanced representation of donors and recipients, strong participation of partner institutions and civil society throughout the project cycle, and growing private sector involvement across the program. Three of the Decade conveners, specifically FAO, IFAD and WFP, are also participating in GAFSP. How could this draft work programme be improved to promote collective action to achieve the transformational change called for by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ICN2 outcomes? What is missing? The roles of the private sector and the public at large could be highlighted further as being part of the collective action required. Do you have specific comments on the section on accountability and shared learning? There are other overall accountability frameworks and networks that could be acknowledged. The Decade Action Plan could explore explicit synergy with for instance the formal Agenda 2030 monitoring and accountability system that lies within the High-Level Political Forum and ECOSOC, or the SDG2 Accountability Framework led by the GODAN Secretariat. Comments provided on behalf of the GAFSP Coordination Unit, acknowledging kind assistance of Nadim Khouri. This Decade document is unfortunately quite disapointing. It has no teeth. It repeats all the old (predictable) remedies and cliches. It is jargony. It too often states the obvious. 9. "Leaving no one behind"… You know the quote that says that this is not an accident. The para also speaks of a "global accountability framework": where is such to be found? 12, 13, 15, 38, 41, 44, 54, 67, 69, 73. “Stakeholder” is used over and over. In many of these places, using rights holders and duty bearers is what is called for. 12. The SUN initiative is mentioned casually…without quoting what some of its detractors object. 13. 31. Speak of CSOs or NGOs as the same. It should say (private interest CSOs (PICSOs). It mentions ”an enabling environment” for HR and the RTF. Only enabling? Isn't it to be the cornerstone? 13. The para only says “management of CoI”. Will we demand stronger language on CoI? 14. Speaks of “an enabling environment” for HR and the RTF. Will we demand stronger language? 16. Cross-cutting area #4 calls for “trade and investment for improved nutrition”. How? Does past experience teach us something? 17. Asks for “fostering policy dialogue…to ensure that solutions are equitable and people-centered”. This is not what the HR framework calls for! Claim holders demand! 20. Calls for “strengthening local food production especially by small holders”. This is not what we stand for. Language already a consensus puts central emphasis on small holders. 29. Mentions “nutrient dense foods”. Which? RUTF? 30. This para on nutrition education is sooo weak and naif. Could have been written in the 1970s. 31. “Lead by example” ???? 34. Are only “coherence and flexibility” needed?? 35. “Achieve global food and nutrition through trade", i.e. “appropriate trade agreements”? What is that? 38. “Multistakeholder governance mechanisms should avoid Coi”. We certainly need stronger wording here. 41. “Member states are encouraged to translate the commitments of ICN2”. Just encourage?? (Then in para 42 there is a call for them to actually commit…. A contradiction). The mention of SMART here is a gimmick, just for show. 43. The call is “to raise the level of ambition”. Only? Need stronger language? 45. Speaks of a “commitments repository in FAO and WHO”? Would this work and be binding? 47, 48. The call here is for “champions” and “action networks”; seems to me wishful thinking. I may be wrong. 54. “SUN will provide opportunities”? How many years has SUN been on? What to show for? 63. Calls for “Evidence-informed advocacy”. What gimmick is that? Does scientific evidence convince politicians? 64. What “visual identity” is referred here to? 69. We read “FAO/WHO will consult with the private sector” …for governance issues? This sentence is in the governance section!! Needs to be deleted. No private sector in governance. Table 1. Proposes a “reformulation” of foods group. We all know what Monteiro and Cannon say about this giving BIG Food a way to whitewash their image and the public still staying hooked on ultrprocessed foods. The table also proposes a nutrition sensitive issues group. We all know this was invented as a (bad) substitute for what are the social determinants of nutrition.

2019-04-26T04:27:46Z

http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/activities/discussions/decade_nutrition_work_programme?page=4

What would Southeast Asia look like if it had a fully functioning railway network? I have thought about this many times, usually while on a bus ride from hell (Huay Xai to Luang Prabang springs to mind). I envision it to be a cross between China’s high-speed rail network and Europe’s international InterCity services. With a single visa for ASEAN an InterCity-style train would be able travel from Bangkok to Phnom Penh in four hours, and a high-speed train in under three. I take a keen interest in transport and infrastructure development in Southeast Asia. In particular I’ve been following the Kunming-Singapore railway project, which China has planned of connecting via three different routes. The big project that will transform the region is the line that travels through Laos, from China to Thailand. After years of planning and false starts, this project is finally (probably) about to begin construction in December, 2016. Over the years I’ve bookmarked news articles reporting railway lines that are under construction, or have been proposed to be built. Compiling all this data I have created a map of what Southeast Asia could look like if all of those lines were built, combined with current railways. I present the Future Southeast Asia Railway Map. This map is a combination of current and proposed railways across mainland and maritime Southeast Asia. The proposed lines consist of railways under construction, lines announced as election promises, undergoing a feasibility study, or approved lines waiting for funding. Some “Nomadic Notes Recommendations” have been added to fill in missing gaps. This is not an actual map of Southeast Asia railways, so no responsibility will be held if you turn up to Nakhon Ratchasima waiting to catch the Angkorat to Siem Reap, because there is no such train, and Siem Reap doesn’t have a railway (yet). I have added proposed railways no matter how ridiculous they are, so don’t rush to the comments section to tell me that there is no train station in Pakse or Denpasar; I’m just recording what is put on the public record. The map doesn’t account for corruption and political ineptitude, both of which have held back development in the region. Not included on the map are city metro lines or commuter services that serve suburban areas around a city. You are free to download a high resolution PNG image of the map here. The map can be used on any website and news agency in full or part, with a link to this blog post and attribution to Nomadic Notes. You can also buy the map as a poster. The poster is a gloss print, 17″ high and about 23″ wide (” being inches – the preferred unit of measurement in Myanmar and my printer in the United States. For everyone else that’s about 43cm x 60cm). Posters are delivered worldwide – including everywhere in Southeast Asia – rolled up in a sturdy poster tube. Before I started the map I considered creating a scale map with the lines of routes shown as they travel. An example of current routes in this style is the train routes in Southeast Asia map by seat61.com. Once I started compiling the future lines I realised that many of the line proposers don’t even know where the tracks would be aligned, so making an accurate map would be impossible. Instead I’ve gone with a subway-style map to represent the lines. Search for subway or metro maps and you will find other concept maps that have been rendered as a subway system. Good examples of subway-style maps can be found at Transit Maps, which has a collection of real and imaginary subway maps. I have used the subway mapping system of straightening out lines and spacing out stops to fit the map. The borders are digitised so as to not provide exact locations for each stop, but generally each stop is in about the right place. The map represents how to get from A to B rather than portraying exact geographical accuracy. Most metro maps apply straight lines and 45 degree angles. This works if you have a square or rectangular area to work with. With so many peninsulas and narrow country spaces I couldn’t make that style work for this map without distorting the countries beyond how I wanted to represent them. Another hallmark of subway maps is to show a new line for each route, rather than sharing one line. This gives you an idea of important junctions, such as Bangkok. In keeping with the subway theme I also made up routes and names in the style of a subway map. With new lines added to the current network this opens up city pairs that were previously unavailable, even if that wasn’t the original intention. For example the extension from Aranyaprathet to the Thai-Cambodia border will eventually connect Bangkok to Phnom Penh. With another line from Siem Reap to Sisophon it would then be possible to travel from Bangkok to Siem Reap by train (and no more horrible land border crossing at Poipet). The routes I have picked are a combination of obvious city pairs and other interesting city pairs modelled on how routes in Europe travel between secondary cities. Looking at the map of new lines I saw that a route could run from Chiang Rai to Mandalay, opening up two previously unconnected regions. Some lines I have just made up for the aesthetic quality to clean up spur lines and decentralise the capital stations. For example there are some spur lines that originate from Bangkok, such as Sawankhalok on the Bangkok-Chiang Mai line. Rather than run another line from Bangkok I have made that one into the Central Thailand line, which runs from Sawankhalok to Nakhon Ratchasima. This also turns Nakhon Ratchasima into a mega-hub of Isaan, Northeastern Thailand. For route names I have opted for city pairs and geographical references rather than going with “yellow line” or “line 1”. There are too many lines to go by colour or number anyway. For some lines I have used the London Tube naming convention, where the Bakerloo line is a portmanteau of Baker St and Waterloo. For example the Nakhon Ratchasima-Siem Reap route is named Angkorat (for Angkor Wat and Korat – the shortened name for Nakhon Ratchasima). If you have any name ideas I’m open for suggestions for future map edits. The map includes current railways which have been blended with future new lines. For current railways lines that you can travel on visit the guide to train travel in Southeast Asia. The proposed railways consist of lines that are currently under construction, in feasibility study phase, or election promises pulled out of the proverbial pork barrel. All the details of those can be found in the references section below, sorted by country. I’ve no doubt missed some so I will be continually adding to the list as more references are found. Some of the proposed lines included statements that implied that the new lines could be extended further, though that extension wasn’t part of the report. Most of these lines were around Cambodia. The report on the branch lines in Cambodia has one branch line going from Battambang to Pailin, with a Camodia-Thailand linkage line. In this instance I have linked Pailin to Chanthaburi. The northeast Cambodia line goes to Stung Treng, with “connection with Laos”, which I have connected to Pakse in Southern Laos. A study on railways in Eastern Thailand has a line going to Trat, which could in the future be extended to Cambodia. On my map that puts it within range of the Koh Kong branch line from Phnom Penh. I created a train route named the Gulf Coaster, which travels from Bangkok to Koh Kong. Even though I wanted to make the map look as busy as possible, I did leave some lines out. These lines didn’t have sufficient documentation as to who proposed it. I left out some branch lines in Cambodia as I wasn’t able to connect them to others and I ran out of room on the map. If I make a another map of mainland Southeast Asia I will add these. Myanmar appears to be on a building frenzy with new lines, including another north-south line from Myitkyina-Lashio-Namsang. There were also several branch lines that I couldn’t find useful information about so I had to rationalise the Myanmar map. Consider this the Nomadic Notes version of the Beeching cuts. There were also some graphics presented at conferences without documentation, so I left them out. These lines included one from Hanoi to Vientiane, and two lines from Chiang Mai to Myanmar; one going through the vicinity of Pai and Mae Hong Son, and another from Chiang Mai to Bago. It looked like random lines a line drawn on a map, but perhaps it was the work of a benevolent Chinese rail tycoon, so maybe I should have added them. Another presentation had lines crossing Peninsula Malaysia, including a connection from Penang to Kota Bahru, which would be amazing but unlikely, given the terrain it would need to cover. If I find an official proposal I’ll gladly add it to the map. A report by United Nations ESCAP has a link going from Luang Prabang towards Vinh in Vietnam. – Luang Namtha to Phongsali. – Phoukhoune – Phonsavan – Xam Neua (a possible pathway for a Laos to Hanoi route). – A branch line to Saravane. Phongsali is hard to get to, so a train there would be welcome (for the residents of Phongsali and tourists). I’ve left those routes out, but will consider them on a more detailed Mekong region map. I also left out the Eastern & Oriental Express which is a luxury train service that runs between Bangkok and Singapore. I may add that in an expanded map but for now I’ve just kept with regular train services. Most of the new lines on the map have been proposed or are under construction. The idea of the map is that they are real projects that could be built. There are a few exceptions of lines that I have added myself. They make up less than one percent of the distance of new lines. These lines are small extensions and not mega-projects (like, say, a Hanoi to Vientiane line). These are the “Nomadic Notes Recommendations.” Having travelled extensively throughout the region I feel I have a good understanding of what would make a useful addition. So while we are here spending other people’s renminbi I’ve identified what would be the best lines to add. A line from Medan to Pematangsiantar already exists, and Pematangsiantar to Parapat is only 50km so this is not an unreasonable proposition. This would be one of the most useful extensions in Indonesia. Jokowi recently visited Lake Toba, making him the first sitting president to do so. During his visit he described Toba as the Monaco of Asia. He probably meant Geneva in Switzerland, though if I had to compare Toba with a European lake I would have said Lake Como in Northern Italy. If Indonesia was serious about diffusing tourism away from Bali they would do well to build a link to Lake Toba. Divert the resources from just one of the many railways planned for mining in Sumatra or Kalimantan and you would have one of the most spectacular tourist trains in Asia. There was a proposal to build a link from Surat Thani to Don Sak (the port for ferries to Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan). This might as well be extended to the airport and save everyone a tedious bus transfer. Another study was for an airport at Don Sak which would seem like an extreme duplication of resources. You could spend that money on the airport rail link. A proposed branch line in northern Cambodia would put it about 100km from Surin in Thailand. This missing link would be able to connect the Isaan hub of Nakhon Ratchasima to Siem Reap, and provide a short-cut from Cambodia to Northern Thailand. If these two towns get railways then it only make sense to make a connection across the Mekong. This small link enables my Bangkok to Hanoi route on the map. I’ve placed this partly for selfish purposes as I would sure love to be able to get the train from Saigon to the beach resort area of Mui Ne for weekend getaways. There is already a direct train from Saigon to Phan Thiet, but you then have to make your own way to the beach area between Phan Thiet and Mui Ne. This new link is only 25km, yet it would be a huge boost for tourism from Saigon. Having a few stops in between the two points would make the area more user friendly. If you see other missing links you think would be useful let me know in the comments. Most visitors experience of railways in Cambodia is limited to the Bamboo railway. For the last few years that was the only railway that you could experience. Cambodia now has one functioning line from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, and is refurbishing the line from Phnom Penh to Battambang (where the Bamboo Railway currently runs). Completing the missing links from Battambang to the Thai border and from Phnom Penh to Vietnam would enable trains to run from Kunming to Singapore via Vietnam. Other new railway proposals include the most obvious link of Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, which would also connect to the Thai border. I also found a presentation made at the ASEAN Railway CEO’s Conference called Cambodia’s Railway Master Plan. This report includes many branch lines such as one going to Koh Kong, and one to the border of Laos in Northeast Cambodia. This report said the line could have onward connections to Laos, which would connect to Pakse if Laos complete their railway project there. China has three routes planned for its Kunming-Singapore project; one via Vietnam, one via Myanmar, and one via Laos. While not part of Southeast Asia, China will play a leading role in future development in the region, so I’ve included the important junctions on the map. Kunming is the obvious map inclusion, with lines radiating out to the neighbouring Southeast Asian nations. Kunming have already built a massive new train station in preparation to becoming China’s gateway to Southeast Asia. A standard gauge railway line has also been completed from Kunming to Hekou on the Vietnam border. The new lines to watch will be the extensions from Kunming to the Laos and Myanmar borders. The High speed train network in China covers over 20,000km, which has been built since 2007. With such a track record this future map doesn’t seem as unrealistic if Chinese companies are involved in the construction. Some of the new lines in Southeast Asia will resemble the train system in China, so if you want to see future Southeast Asia, take a train ride in China now. The other big neighbour of the ASEAN region has published plans to connect Delhi with Hanoi via Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. Another suggested line was connecting Kunming to Kolkata, which would travel through Myanmar and Bangladesh. There are over 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia (depending on which method of counting islands is used). Of those islands, 922 are inhabited, and of those only a few are feasible for railways. There are currently railways on two islands (Java and Sumatra), with plans for railways on four more (Batam, Bali, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo). Java already has a good rail network, so the bulk of the work there is turning single track lines into double tracks. The big ticket item is a high speed train between Jakarta and Bandung. Sumatra currently has three small disconnected lines which will eventually be unified by the Trans-Sumatra railway. There are some other lines which are vague in their details, and are most likely for the mining and palm oil industry. Batam is an island just below Singapore, and about the same size. The railway would resemble a city metro system so I’ve left that off the map. The details are in the reference links below if you want to read more. Out of all the proposed lines that have been proposed, the Bali plans might be the most implausible. One report in 2011 said a 560km line could be built by 2014 for US$810 million, which even in 2011 dollars is absurdly cheap. Also building 2km of railway a day through land that hasn’t been acquired is doubly fanciful. Even if you had one of these mesmerising European track-laying machines you wouldn’t get it done it that time. The last reported plan has a railway running from a new airport that will be built in the sea off northern Bali 😯 . Sulawesi is starting from nothing, and they are avoiding using narrow gauge used in Java by building a standard-gauge railway. The section between Makassar to Parepare is under construction now and will form what will eventually be the Trans-Sulawesi railway, travelling all the way up the spine of the dancing monster-shaped Sulawesi to Manado. Kalimantan is also starting from nothing, though it has been difficult to find reliable information on what is planned. Many of the lines are purely freight, carting coal from the interior to the coastal ports, which made for a depressing read to know that most of the lines planned are for this reason. There are some intercity passenger lines planned, and I have also included a Trans-Borneo line which pops up in the news every few years. Given the immense distances and small population base this is also filed in my “least likely” category. Laos has no railway of its own and just one line that extends for 3.5km from the Thailand border. Yet from this point of virtually nothing, Laos is poised to become an important crossroads of future Southeast Asia railways. As part of China’s plan to connect Kunming to Singapore, the Laos route is the most direct, but it’s also the most ambitious. Obviously because there is no railway to start with, and also because it will pass though mostly mountainous terrain. The grand master plan is to build a line from north to south; from Boten on the Laos-China border, to Vientiane, and onwards through Thailand to Bangkok. The line is over 400km long, with 195 of those kilometres passing through 76 tunnels. 65km will be covered by 154 bridges. So over half of the route will be bridge and tunnel. While it’s only planned for a single track it will be standard gauge and can accommodate passenger trains at 160km/h. This will pass through Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng, among other places, making it a desirable tourist route. This route has been talked about for years, and there was an official shovel ceremony at the end of 2015, but it now looks like it will finally begin construction in December, 2016. Other big plans for Laos include continuing the line along the Mekong from Vientiane to Pakse (putting it within striking distance of Cambodia), and two east-west lines. The Savannakhet to Lao Bao border checkpoint in Vietnam is already under construction, and another east-west from Thakhek to Vietnam is also being studied. The Savannakhet-Lao Bao line will connect with a planned east-west line in Thailand (which will then connect to Myanmar), and the Thakhek line could also be connected to Thailand across the river. Keep updated at the Laos Railway Page. Malaysia currently has the fastest train in Southeast Asia with the KL to Butterworth fast train service. The most likely additions to Peninsula Malaysia include a new line that would finally connect Kuala Lumpur to the cities of the east coast, from Kuantan to Kota Bahru. A high-speed train from KL to Singapore is being planned to be built on a separate line, with travel time estimated at 90 minutes. I mentioned that I didn’t include metro lines on this map, but I made an exception for a proposed transit system for the island of Penang, which also includes a link across the Selatan Strait to Butterworth. As Penang is such a popular travel destination I represented that link on the map, though I don’t think this one will happen. All the articles for these plans are in the reference section below. In Borneo Malaysia I found the Trans-Borneo railway which seems to pop up in the news every few years (probably around election time). This is unlikely to happen but I added it for the record. This line also includes a connection to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, which has no railway. A useful line would be one from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan and Tawau. Myanmar currently has a network of over 5000km of railway, but finding official information on current and future lines was difficult. While there is plenty of information on the popular tourist routes, there are many spur lines and new projects aren’t accurately represented on any map. If anyone is based in Myanmar and is looking for a niche travel site idea, then may I recommend a Myanmar rail travel site. This map of Myanmar is the best representation of current lines, so it was a matter of sifting through government PDF reports on planned new lines to create the future Myanmar section of the map. Myanmar is one of the three gateway countries that China wants to use as a pathway to Singapore. Over the years there have been announcements for links from Kunming and Dali to Mandalay and Yangon, and onwards to Thailand. The reports I read say that the line from China will join the line at Muse in Myanmar, and travel to Mandalay from there. It doesn’t say if this is by building new tracks or using the current line, including crossing the Gokteik Viaduct, which is unsuitable for any sort of fast train. Something else I learned while compiling this map is (or was) the plan to turn the seaside town of Kyaukpyu on Ramree Island into a “mini Singapore”. Ramree Island is famous for being the scene of a great crocodile massacre in WWII. From this island, China want to build a gas pipeline and another railway connection to Kunming, though the plan has been shelved for now. The Bay of Bengal is the largest bay in the world so it’s not a bad idea to position the island as a trading hub. However, if it’s the same people who brought you the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw, then I don’t expect anyone to be saying “Kyaukpyu is the new Singapore” anytime soon. Along with China, India could also have access to Southeast Asia via Myanmar. There is a planned railway that would connect Delhi to Hanoi, via Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. The reports didn’t mention if it was an physical train that would go from Delhi to Hanoi, or just the fact that you could travel this route with the missing links built. I’ve added it as a route on the map because how cool would that be to turn up to New Delhi railway station and see a train going to Hanoi via Bangkok? (Answer: very cool.) Delhi-Hanoi would be up there with the Trans-Siberian in terms of epic train rides of the world. Another route to India is Kunming to Kolkata. This would go via Cox’s Bazar and Dhaka in Bangladesh, and onwards to Kolkata. With continual unrest in Rakhine State on the Myanmar/Bangladesh border don’t expect this to happen for a while. Remember this is a future map which would assume that border conflicts are resolved. The Philippines has a fragmented line serving South Luzon so most of what you see on the Philippines map would be new. The railways on Luzon and Mindanao have been continually promised for years, but with the current president hailing from Mindanao, the Mindanao plan has a better chance of getting started. Singapore has an ever expanding metro network but city transit systems aren’t included on this map. There used to be a line from Central Singapore to Malaysia which has since been closed and the station moved near the border. The big addition to Singapore would be a new station to serve the planned high-speed train to Kuala Lumpur. Thailand currently has a good network of railways so most improvements will be made by double-tracking and modernising existing lines. There are a few high-speed proposals, including a Shinkasen-style bullet train for the Bangkok-Chiang Mai route. The most notable new lines will be completing the missing links with Myanmar and Cambodia. To the west a link is planned from Kanchanaburi to the port of Dawei in Myanmar. To the east a relatively short link from Aranyaprathet to Cambodia would be able to link Bangkok to Phnom Penh for the first time. If the Cambodia-Vietnam missing link is built then it would be possible to get the train from Yangon to Saigon via Bangkok and Phnom Penh. I’ve named this the ASEAN InterCity. Another big project is an upper east-west line that would cross central Thailand from Tak to Mukdahan. This line would be able to connect with other planned line extensions in Myanmar and Laos. In keeping with the subway line theme I have created a route called the Indian-Pacific, which is the name of a train in Australia that connects the Indian and Pacific oceans. A line from the port cities of Pathein to Danang would connect the two oceans. Using the subway-style map you can see that Bangkok becomes the central hub of mainland Southeast Asia railways. All three proposed Kunming-Singapore routes find their way to Bangkok before making their way down the peninsula. And the big east-west link of Delhi to Hanoi is also proposed to travel via Bangkok, even if it’s the more circuitous way. This map doesn’t include city commuter routes, which there are a few lines from Bangkok that fall into that category. I left out the Maeklong train (the train that goes through a market) as it’s planned to become part of the Bangkok red line. Check out our man in Bangkok’s map of transit/commuter rail plans which shows where the lines will run. Bangkok is currently building a new “grand central station” at Bang Sue, in the northern suburbs of Bangkok. I visited the station under construction and it is indeed a mammoth building. Here is the view from the current Bang Sue station. Seeing this new building I couldn’t work out how many platforms there would be, then I found a plan of the building from the Engineering Institute of Thailand. As you can see it’s going to be a grand station. Imagine in the future turning up to the new Bang Sue Central Station and seeing the departure board listing Vientiane, Hanoi, Yangon, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Kunming, and Delhi. This is future Southeast Asia railway, and it’s being built now. Some routes are planned for freight, though they would also run passenger trains. One such route is Map Ta Phut to Nong Khai. This is the line coming from China and Laos. I’ve not represented freight routes on this map so I haven’t included Map Ta Phut to Nong Khai as a route. Other interesting developments would be a line from Bangkok to Chiang Rai and onwards to the Laos border. With a possible connection to China via Myanmar, Chiang Rai then becomes an important northern gateway. On this map I’ve also included the Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai route, which was the original plan for a extension to Chiang Rai before the Den Chai extension became the favoured route. Most of the new lines in Vietnam involve improving the north-south line and adding international connections. The main north-south line has been in place since the 1930’s, and much of the line still runs on a single track. There have been plans for a 350km/h fast train between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but every time it’s proposed it’s swiftly put back in the too hard basket. A more useful plan would be to modernise what is already there. Double-tracking lines would allow more frequent trains between city pairs, such as between Danang to Hue. Cities of similar size and distance from each other in other parts of the world have hourly train services. With only a single track, trains between Danang and Hue are scheduled for when the track is clear. A more useful fast train city pairing would be from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh. These two cities are just 250km apart on what is mostly a flat straight road, yet this trip takes over 7 hours by bus (including border checkpoint time). You wouldn’t need a “fast train”, just a good European-style InterCity service at 160km/h should have the trip done in 2 hours, including border crossing time. There have been three route proposals to connect the two cities. There is the most direct route, of which there are plans to extend a commuter-style train from Saigon to the border. The second option is for the line to go north and meet the line in northeast Cambodia. A third option was a proposal to build a line to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, and then onwards to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. I’ve added all three options on the map, but I have turned the northern leg into a line running to Vientiane, which would be possible with the missing lines added in Cambodia and Laos. Currently there is one international train out of Vietnam, from Hanoi to Nanning. The other possible future international connections include a direct train from Hanoi to Kunming, and two lines to Laos. When Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos was known as Indochina under French rule, none of the countries were connected to each other. There is now a line being built from Savannakhet in Laos to Lao Bao in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam, which is likely to be the first line that has ever connected two of the three countries. Other new lines added to the map include a line connecting Danang airport to Danang and Hoi An. There used to be a tram to Hoi An, and the latest proposition is a monorail connecting Da Nang with Hoi An. I’ve also reinstalled the train to Dalat, which is sometimes brought up as a line that could be restored. In keeping with my theme of making spur lines into separate lines I created the Dalat-Nha Trang line. This also makes Nha Trang into a regional hub, as with Danang. This is the footnotes section that contains all the news articles, presentations, and consultant studies of the proposed railways on the map. I will continue to add new articles as they become known. For most of the text I’ve just copied the most important points of each article. A proposal for a high-speed railway to connect Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and the Thai border town of Poipet. Phnom Penh to the airport in less than 15 minutes. Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to push ahead with completion of a railway line from Bangkok to Phnom Penh. The Cambodian government will focus on completing a 6.5-kilometre railway stretch between Poipet and Sisophon by midyear 2016. This presentation at the 36th ASEAN Railway CEO’s Conference includes a connecting line to Laos and new branch lines, including a line to Koh Kong. A Chinese railway company may conduct a feasibility study on a 700-kilometre rail line that stretches across Preah Vihear, Stung Treng, Kampong Thom and Kratie provinces and connected to the Laos and Vietnam borders. Beijing has pledged to support the construction of a US$600 million railway between Phnom Penh and Vietnam. The link – thought to cover the line between Phnom Penh and Loc Ninh, Vietnam – is expected to be operational by 2015. Construction on a link between Loc Ninh, near the border with Cambodia, and Ho Chi Minh City – is scheduled for completion by 2020, according to the ASEAN plan. Royal Railway – Official website of Cambodia Railways. Rail transport in Cambodia – Wikipedia. Rail Transit System in Cambodia – Forum page with news and discussion. Kunming in Southwest China may turn into Southeast Asia’s ‘commercial capital’ on the back of huge infrastructure deals. Billions of dollars have poured into Kunming, including the district surrounding the new rail station – described by the World Bank six years ago as a “ghost town”. The train from Kunming and the Vietnamese border should take around 6 h 30 min. The electrified railway has a maximum speed is 130 km/h.. At Hekou, passengers can cross the river via a border point to reach the Vietnamese town of Lao Cai, from where DSVN operates trains over its metre gauge line to Hanoi. China retains aspirations to run through trains to Hanoi as part of its trans-ASEAN railway vision. A 504km electrified line which will link Yuxi near Kunming with Pu’er, Xishuangbanna, and Mohan on the border with Laos. And a line will be built linking Dali on the southern shore of Erhai Lake with the Myanmar border at Ruili. The line will be electrified and designed for operation at up to 140km/h. Mountainous northeast India would be connected to the railway network of neighbouring Myanmar. An 118-km railway track would be laid between Imphal and (border towns) Moreh and Tamu (the latter in western Myanmar). Rail projects in Java postponed to prioritize railway projects outside Java, such as the ongoing trans-Sumatra and trans-Sulawesi projects. Major project in the works aims to establish rail links to 13 airports nationwide by end-2019. These will include links to be built at Padang, Batam and Palembang in Sumatra; Makassar in Sulawesi; Banjarmasin in Kalimantan; and Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and to Kertajati Majalengka airport on Java. While the Trans-Sumatra will travel along the eastern side there are plans to create a west coast line, including extending the line from Pariaman to Sibolga. A link connecting the two currently disconnected lines in West Sumatra. The Transportation Ministry is preparing a 2,168-kilometre railway linking Aceh in the northern part of Sumatra to Lampung on the southern tip of the country’€™s longest island as part of the medium-term development program. The Jakarta – Bandung high-speed railway, with a maximum designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour, will reduce travel time between the two cities to 40 minutes from more than three hours at present. Indonesia will ask Japan to contribute to a trans-Java railway that promises to more than halve the 10-hour travel time between the country’s capital and Surabaya. Rail link to Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Three sections proposed, including Batu Ampar–Batu Aji, Sekupang–Batam Center, and Batam Center–Nongsa. Hang Nadim Airport would be connected to Batu Ampar and Batam Center to Tanjung Ucang. The airport would be near Kubu Tambahan and a railway would connect the airport with other areas of Bali. A proposed railway connecting a proposed new airport to the south. China Railway Corporation expressed interest in the construction of a monorail connecting all regencies in Bali. A 560 KM line “which will run around the island and cost an estimated Rp7 trillion (US$810 million)”. 900-kilometer project connecting East Kalimantan to South Kalimantan. Construction of the Trans Sulawesi railway connecting Makassar and Parepare. The railway will connect to Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport and Makassar New Port. It will later connect North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo and West Sulawesi. The six provincial governments of Sulawesi have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Transport to draft a development plan for the construction of up to 2 000 km of railway under the government’s MP3EI national infrastructure programme. The 145 km Makassar – Pare Pare line is under construction. President Joko Widodo wants work on the Papua railway to begin in 2016. The first phase will link between Sorong and Manokwari. The next phase (2020 – 2024) will be the Manokwari – Nabire route in West Papua and Sarmi – Jayapura in Papua Province. The third phase (2025 – 2030) will connect Sarmi – Nabire -Timika. A feasibility study into the construction of a 595km railway between Sorong and Jayapura in Papua. The line will consist of a 390km section between Sorong and Manokwari and a 205km Sarmi – Jayapura section. Kereta Api Indonesia – The Indonesian Railways Co, the major operator of public railways in Indonesia. Rail transport in Indonesia – Wikipedia. Indonesia Railways Development [Powerpoint Download] – A presentation of future developments from the Directorate General Of Railways Ministry Of Transportation. Indonesia Railways – Forum discussion. Construction is expected to begin in December this year, an official in charge has said. Laos-China Railway Co Ltd has awarded China Railway Group subsidiaries contracts for the civil works on sections I, II and III of the Boten – Vientiane railway. The single track electrified mixed traffic line is to be built to China’s GB Grade 1 standards. A feasibility study for a railway linking Vientiane with Vung Ang seaport in Vietnam, via Thakhaek and Mu Gia has begun. Trains on the 427-km railway will be able to travel from Vientiane to the Chinese border in about three hours. Passenger trains run at 160km per hour and can travel up to 200km per hour on flat terrain between Vangvieng and Vientiane. Freight trains will run at 120km per hour. There will be 11 passenger stations: Boten and Nateuy areas of Luang Namtha province; Oudomxay’s Namor, Xay and Nga districts; Luang Prabang and Xieng-ngeun districts in Luang Prabang province; Kasy, Vangvieng and Phonhong districts in Vientiane province; and the main station will be in Vientiane. Intended to form part of a trans-ASEAN spine linking China with Singapore, the railway would enter Laos at the border with China at Louang Namtha, and run south through Luang Prabang to the capital Vientiane. From there it would be extended into Thailand, using one of the planned standard gauge routes which are to be developed. 76 tunnels totalling 195 route-km would be required, plus 154 bridges accounting for a further 65 km. Five stations would be built to serve population centres along the route, along with up to 31 sidings, terminals or other access points. Although often described as a high speed line, maximum speed for passenger trains would be 160 km/h and 120 km/h for freight. Vientiane-Pakxe-Chongmek project (the 3D rail project) will connect Vangtao-Chongmek Lao-Thai border checkpoint in southern province of Champassak with the Savan-Lao Bao railway project and the Vientiane–Thakhek–Mugia rail project as well as the Vientiane-Boten project. – Laos-China rail project linking Vientiane with the Chinese border. – Vientiane-Thakhek-Muya rail project (the A3 rail project) will link Vientiane with Vung Ang seaport in Vietnam and a Thai seaport. This will also connect with the Kunming to Singapore rail network that uses the same standard rail gauge. – The Savan-Lao Bao rail project (the 3C rail project) will link Savannakhet to the Lao-Vietnamese Dansavanh-Lao Bao border checkpoint. This will contribute to linking the East-West Economic Corridor – rail link from Myanmar through Thailand and Laos – to end with construction of My Thuy deepsea port at Dong Ha in Quang Tri province in Vietnam. – The fourth project (3D) will link Thakhek in Khammuan province to Vang Tao in Champasak. South Korea will conduct a feasibility study for a new railway connecting Vientiane and southern Vietnam. The proposed track would link Vientiane to Vung Tau, 120 km south of Ho Chi Minh City, according to the Vientiane Times newspaper. The rail link would pass through Borikhamxay and Khamouane provinces as well as Central Vietnam. Laos has broken ground on the high-speed railway project linking Savannakhet to Lao Bao border gate with Vietnam, which also links to Danang, and is expected to take four years. – Digging tunnels through the geologically unstable limestone mountains of northern Laos is still China’s best and only bet for a route to the Gulf of Thailand. – The Vietnamese, who are still the biggest investors in Laos, have a project of their own to the east—a $5 billion high-speed railway, cutting through Laos’ central Savannakhet province to Thailand. Laos High Speed Train – Forum of Laos railways has the latest news posted there. Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to study the possibility of a high-speed rail (HSR) link between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. The HSR line will run for 350km, with 335km in Malaysia and 15km in Singapore, and on two tracks going in opposite directions. It will comprise eight stops in total: Singapore, Iskandar Puteri, Batu Pahat, Muar, Ayer Keroh, Seremban, Putrajaya and KL. With the line able to reach top speeds of 300km/h, travel time between KL and Singapore is expected to drop to around 90 minutes. The 600km standard-gauge line will connect Kuala Lumpur with Bentong in Pahang province and run through Terengganu province to Tumpat in the north east province of Kelantan, on the border with Thailand. Trains will operate at up to 200km/h. An 18km LRT line would connect George Town with Butterworth. This plan is on the official Penang government website so the idea has developed past an election promise. A study on the viability of the Johor East-West line. The current express rail link (ERL) that runs from KL Sentral to Kuala Lumpur International Airport could be extended to Seremban and Malacca. A preliminary study for a train service between Ipoh and Lumut (from where you can get a ferry to Pulau Pangkor). A studying to extend the railway line from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan and Tawau. A 3640-kilometre railway line (The Trans-Borneo Railway) linking all major towns in Sabah, Brunei, Sarawak and Kalimantan by the year 2010, costing RM30 Billion. This obviously didn’t happen. A high-speed railway line between Kunming and Kolkata, via Mandalay in Myanmar and Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh. Myanmar and India – Proposed railway line from Jiribam to Imphal and Moreh. Myanmar and Bangladesh – Bangladesh plan to connect its rail infrastructure to Myanmar’s. This would be through a link going from Chittagong to Dohazari and Cox’s Bazaar and to the border with Myanmar. The Delhi–Ha Noi railway is a major project promoting ASEAN–India economic integration. The project will link Imphal in India with Kalay in Myanmar. India is planning two possible routes, both of which go through Myanmar. Route I will connect to Ha Noi via Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia. In Route II, the link is diverted to Bangkok via Ye and a newly constructed portion of Ye and Dawei in Myanmar, then to Ha Noi through Thailand and Lao PDR. Greater Mekong Subregion Railway. The 2011 GMS Railway Strategy Study assessed alternative routes for linking the unconnected railways in GMS to strengthen connectivity of India and five countries of the GMS: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. A planned railway from Kunming to Kyaukphyu on the Bay of Bengal in Myanmar has been shelved. The Kyaukphyu – Kunming railway is an extension of the Kyaukphyu – Ruili Transportation Plan and will be linked to the Myanmar national railway currently under construction. When completed, it will be linked to Minbu-Magway- Mandalay- Lasho and Muse. A planned rail line to connect Kunming with a new deep-sea port and special industrial economic zone at Kyaukpyu. Another rail route will connect Kunming to Yangon. This route would also link with Dawei on the country’s southern coast, with the rail line continuing to Bangkok. A third route will run through Myanmar’s eastern Shan State connecting Kunming with the northern Thai town of Chiang Rai. Two additional routes connecting southwestern China with Myanmar’s rail network are planned between the Chinese town of Dali with Myitkyina and Lashio. China and Bangladesh have discussed establishing a rail link between Kunming and a new deep sea port project under construction at Cox’s Bazaar via Myanmar’s rail network. The proposed route would pass through eastern Bangladesh to Gundum in Myanmar. India has proposed via the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) project to link New Delhi with Hanoi by rail. India signed a pact for the project in 2000 with Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia. In order to connect the two countries by rail, Indian Railways has begun initial preparations to extend a broad gauge track from Jiribam in southwestern Manipur state to Moreh on the border with Myanmar. The line will connect with a proposed track in Myanmar from the current railhead at Segyi to the town of Tamu on the Myanmar-India border. A new railway from Mong Nai to Kengtung in Shan State planned by the Burmese junta would be used to suppress ethnic armed groups, according to human rights groups. The Kengtung-Monghsat railway will link up with the Mongnai-Kengtung line. According to the Asian Development Bank, rail projects being planned include Chiangrai – Kengtung – Dali, Myitkyina – Dali, Lashio – Dali. Other reported lines include Namzang – Hsipaw, Namzang – Kengtung, and Mongnai – Tachilek (on the Thailand border). Rail transport in Myanmar – Wikipedia. The Cebu LRT project will traverse the cities of Talisay, Naga and Carcar and the towns of Minglanilla and San Fernando in southern Cebu and reach until the city of Danao in northern Cebu. An expression of support for a railway system from Manila to Cagayan. Railways would connect Manila-Nueva Vizcaya, Manila-Sorsogon, and Manila-Batangas. Clark International Airport Corp. has made proposals calling for a railway system between Manila and Clark, as well as a line to Northern Luzon and a cargo train line to Subic. This project includes the Integrated Luzon Railway [IRL] that will run from Cagayan to Sorsogon, and the North-South Commuter Railway from Malolos to Calamba. The north network runs from Manila to La Union as well as a branch line from Tarlac to San Jose, Nueva Ecija, and a possible extension to Cagayan while the south network goes from Manila to Legaspi City, including the branch line from Calamba to Batangas City. A commissioned study for a bullet train railway on the Laoag-Manila-Bicol route. The railway is expected to connect major cities such as Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Zamboanga, Butuan, Surigao, Davao, and General Santos. Timeline history of Mindanao railway plans, with a map of proposed lines. A proposal to connect the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. Very light on details so I presume it would connect Bacolod to Dumaguete. Duterte mulls revival of Panay railways. The railway’s original route was 117km long and connected Iloilo City to Roxas City. The 873km rail line will link Thailand’s border with Laos to the ports and industrial zones in Thailand’s east. The first phase will focus on a 250km track from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, starting in December. Funding proposed for the first section of the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima Thai-Chinese rail link, feasibility studies for the high-speed Bangkok-Padang Besar rail project and the Mae Sot-Mukdahan rail project, and the Bangkok-Rayong high-speed rail. Proposed feasibility study on construction of rail route from Chumphon to Ranong. The Thai and Chinese governments to develop high-speed railways from Map Ta Phut to Nong Khai and Bangkok to Kaeng Khoi. Japan has agreed to use the Shinkansen bullet train as the model for a high-speed rail network that will link Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Planned rail system linking Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang & U-Tapao airports on one line. A plan to connect Thailand and Myanmar in the same corridor of the ‘Death Railway’. There is also a proposal for a west-to-east railroad linking Myanmar’s deep-sea port project at Dawei on the Indian Ocean, across Thailand and Cambodia to Da Nang, on Vietnam’s Vietnam’s Pacific coast. If such a train service were to be developed it could be called “The Indian Pacific”, like the Australian train that connects the two oceans. – Japan intends to build The 715km Bangkok-Chiang Mai high-speed train similar to the Shinkansen. – 718km upper east-west corridor linking Mae Sot (opposite Myanmar), Phitsanulok and Mukdahan (opposite Laos). – 574km lower east-west corridor route from Ban Phu Nam Ron at the border in Kanchanaburi to Chachoengsao and Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo. The railway will link Dawei in Myanmar to Bangkok, Laem Chabang sea port in Chon Buri and the Thai-Cambodia border in Aranyaprathet. Transport planners are looking into a new rail route linking Trang with Satun and Phuket provinces. A light rail route from Phuket International Airport to Phuket Town. Japan has signalled its intention to help develop three multibillion-dollar high-speed railway routes in Thailand: Bangkok-to-Chiang Mai, Kanchanaburi-Bangkok-Laem Chabang and Bangkok-to-Sa Kaew rail lines. Plans announced to build two high-speed rail lines. The Nong Khai to Map Ta Phut line (737km) would run from the Laotian border near Vientiane to the Gulf of Thailand. The Chiang Khong to Ban Phachi line (655km) would run from Chiang Rai near the northern tip of Thailand to Ayutthaya just north of Bangkok. The two lines would allow trains to travel at a top speed of 160 km/h. A plan to connect Pak Bara in Satun on the Andaman Sea with Songkhla 2 seaport on the Gulf of Thailand. Japan will build an 874-kilometre railway linking Cambodia and Myanmar through Kanchanaburi, a cross-Southeast Asia line. The project includes the development of a railway line from Narathiwat to Pasir Mas in Malaysia. The State Railway of Thailand has proposed to a route between Songkhla province and Malaysia. The route will connect 3 major destinations including Malaysia, Hat Yai, and Songkhla’s Deep Sea Port. – four high-speed train lines will run from Bangkok to Pattaya, Phitsanulok, Nakhon Ratchasima and Hua Hin. Pattaya will then be extended to Rayong and probably Chanthaburi and Trat. Other extensions include Phitsanulok to Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima to Nong Khai, Hua Hin to Padang Besar, at the Malaysia border. – Preference for connection from BKK Airport to Rayong, passing through Chachoengsao, Chonburi, and Pattaya. The 220KM journey would take around 75 minutes. – Approval for two high-speed rail routes connecting Map Ta Phut on Thailand’s eastern seaboard to Chiang Khong in the north, and Map Ta Phut to Nong Khai in the northeast. The trains will travel at 160KM per hour, and both of these lines bypass Bangkok. A proposal by the Tourism Council of Thailand for a rail route along the Andaman coast, linking Surat Thani, Phang Nga, and Phuket and other provinces including Krabi. A proposal to connect Don Sak in Surat Thani, to Tha-Noon, in Phang Nga just over Sarasin Bridge. The second part of the plan will connect Tha-Noon to Phuket International Airport, and then to Chalong Circle. Proposals for a railway from Ban Phai to Nakhon Phanom, via Mueang Roi Et to the border with Laos, where it could be extended eastwards to the Vietnamese railhead at Mu Gia. A proposal to link Krabi airport and Phuket airport with a fast train. The line could then be extended up the coast through Phang Nga to Ranong. China’s three rail lines from Kunming through south-east Asia will converge on Bangkok. The western section includes a plan for a high-speed line from Kunming to Yangon, with a connection to Myanmar’s deep-sea port of Kyaukphyu on the Bay of Bengal. Major political parties have promised to build the Denchai-Chiang Rai railroad. The planned route, from Denchai in Lamphun province, would be further connected with southern China, Burma and Laos in later stages. Chiang Rai would be the centre of a four-country cross-border economic development area involving Thailand, China, Burma, and Laos. Gall Zeidler Consultants infrastructure report (gzconsultants.com). Feasibility study of a railway connecting Rayong, Chanthaburi, and Trat. The line could also form part of a future connection to Cambodia, either via Trat or Chanthaburi. A report by Asian Engineering Consultants on behalf of State Railway of Thailand (SRT) on the feasibility Denchai-Chiang Rai railway and an extension from Chiang Rai to the Southern China Railway in Yunnan. Rail transport in Thailand – Wikipedia. Thailand Railways and High Speed Rail – skyscrapercity.com forum discussion. The transport ministry plans to submit a pre-feasibility study report on the project to the government in 2018 and expects legislators to give their approval by 2020. The routes would be built in sections, with the whole project complete by 2050. Vietnamese Ministry of Transport to consider the construction of a monorail connecting Da Nang International Airport with Hoi An. The construction of two sections of the trans-Asian railway, Sai Gon-Loc Ninh and Bien Hoa-Vung Tau, is estimated to cost 77.8 trillion VND (3.46 billion USD), reported the Nhan Dan newspaper. A railway connecting Can Tho with Ho Chi Minh City and the Cambodian cities of Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. The train would depart from Tan Kien station in HCMC’s Binh Chanh District and go through three provinces including Long An, Tien Giang and Vinh Long before reaching Cai Rang station in Can Tho City. A high-speed train with speed of up to 300-350KM per hour would travel the 170KM distance in 30-40 minutes. A proposed line from Hanoi station to Noi Bai International Airport. The proposed Sai Gon – My Tho railway would link with Can Tho and in the future extended to Ca Mau. Asian Development Bank Institute presentation includes possibles routes for India to Vietnam line. Related images I’ve collected to this Pinterest board. United Nations ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific). A comprehensive book on the history of railways in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Thanks Neale! Yes I would be happy even if only a few were realised in my lifetime. Epic Post! Thanks for your incredible work on that interessting topic. If even a quarter of these lines get built, SE Asia will be so easy to get around. As an infrastructure geek, I loved this post … thanks for working so hard on it! Thanks, glad you appreciated it! Holy smokes, I’m exhausted after reading this post! You deserve a nice long nap James. I’ve traveled by rail in Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and even the Bamboo railway in Cambodia and I love train travel. I would be thrilled if even half of these proposed rail lines get built before I’m too old to travel. Well done sir! Loved it thanks for putting out the ideas James! I’ll give you an A for effort but a lot of these ideas are wishful thinking. Many routes go through jungles and will be difficult to built. Also, these countries won’t have the budget to do so. There are many other issues that these countries have to sort out before they would even consider doing this project. Dude, this is a great and complex idea, but if it works it will be awesome! Whoa! Much respect! I am a student from Medan, Indonesia, who also had in mind to create future railway map. This really blows my mind. I think I will soon start my version of future railway map, but I gotta learn a lot from this, thank you! I was excited to discover this web site. I want to to thank you for your time due to this fantastic map!! This map is a master piece! Glad I found this on google. this put up is written by means of him as nobody else recognise such detailed about my trouble. Southeast Asia could look quite different in the future, if proposals for new railways become reality. This is a work of awesome research and organization James. I can tell that you’ve been quite fascinated with it. Anyway, I guess Bangkok (Thailand) is really lucky for being the center of such an interesting network. Thanks Matt! Yes, I hope Bangkok can make the most of their geographical gift. Hi James, I found your article was a treasure to me. I currently working for a railway company and doing the research about the complexity of Southeast Asia railway system. Your article helps me so so much. Thank you and wish you and your family for the best of luck. It is very complex, so good luck! Yes what type of train would be the big question, along with what gauge of railway is used. Indian rail is wider than standard gauge so that is already a problem. Glad you enjoyed it!

2019-04-21T00:58:35Z

https://www.nomadicnotes.com/southeast-asia-rail-map/

Q. What is the FAQ? A. FAQ stands for 'frequently asked questions'. There is also a bunch of guides with useful information and other things to steer you in the right direction. Have a look below and use search on this page to try and answer your questions before posting on the forums. An overview of what operating systems we have, what capabilities they have and what hardware is needed. A good place to start if you know what you want to do but need to be pointed to the right places on the site. Now also includes a section describing factory Memcals, whats in them, our ECM NVRAM and PCM NVRAM. Although not written or hosted by pcmhacking, this is a great guide around the skills, tools and processes you need to know to develop new tools and definitions etc. Thanks to all contributors for the information gathered here! Q. What is the OSEPlugin echo setting? Can it prevent me connecting to my vehicle? A. Some vehicle interface types echo data transmitted from the PC to the vehicle back to the PC. In this case the PC must be expecting this echo and needs to discard it before reading in the response from the car. If you have this set incorrectly you will not be able to connect, in fact this is the most common reason people with new installations cant connect to their vehicle. Some early and homebrew ECM Comms interfaces do not have an echo and for these the setting should be unchecked. However the more common type available here viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3613 and all ALDL interfaces do have echo and usually the echo checkbox must be selected. If you are unsure you can try both settings. If you have PC skills and interest you can connect a terminal program to the com port where the interface is connected, but without the interface connected to the car. Use a speed of 8192 baud (accurate for ALDL) or 9600 (sufficient to test echo) and type stuff in. If you have an echo interface you will see your key presses coming back. If you have a no echo interface you will not see anything come back. Q. Where can I buy new connectors for my project? Note that we are not affiliated with eficonnection.com. We just know they have a nice range of connectors. Q. How do I build or setup a D1998A or D1928A DIS ignition module pickup? Q. Does this site have an RSS feed? Q. Where is a reference that will tell me what the factory 4 letter memcal codes mean for VN->VY, and what program ID they are based around? Q. How can I check the spark being delivered matches what my '808 computer thinks (vn/vp/vr/12P)? A. Ground pin A9 "diagnostic request", also called diag request. While connected the computer will output 10 degrees, which you can measure with a timing light. If you hardware is misaligned you can adjust the reference angle in the tune (but note that this will not adjust the spark delivered when cranking, so if your timing is causing a no start situation, you will need to physically move the sensor. Only really a problem on home brew setups, but then this mode is very useful. Q. What is VE or Volumetric Efficiency? A. This is the measurment of how well the combustion chamber has been filled with air during intake, 100% VE means 100% fill of air, if we add the right amount of fuel and right spark timing then max torque will be achieved. In the real world this near impossible with inlet losses, fueling and timing and exhaust back pressure all having effects on VE. Real world 75% - 90% can be achieved. Q. How do I set up 12P for a 2 or 3 bar map sensor? A. You need to consider 2 flags, usually in MAP A. Set selection A (and clear selection B) for 2 bar, or set selection B (and clear selection A) for 3 bar. When you next open the boost spark or VE tables you should see the correct map headings (that is up to 200 or 300kpa depending on your selections. Clear both flags to revert to 1 bar. Q. What are the differences between short term fuel time STFT and long term fuel trim LTFT on MAP and MAF cars? They actually both do the same thing. The MAP ECMs do not directly change a VE value to trim the fuel, they apply another plus/minus % correction during the fuel pulse width calc, the MAF PCMs do exactly the same during its pulse width calc. Long term trims use the BLM (Block Learn Multiplier) and short term use the INT (integrator). During closed loop fast changes are made to the INT (either up or down depending on if its too lean or rich) when they reach a threshold the BLM gets incremented or decremented and the INT is reset to 0% correction. The process starts over adjusting the INT and if needed the BLM until the engine is running at the stoich AFR. The BLMs are saved in a table in ram, so are learnt and remembered when you turn off the engine. There are limits to how much the BLM is allowed to adjust. Q. BLMs dont seem to be updating, why would this be? A. Check VE learn is not enabled. If it is, then the main VE table is updated rather than the BLM table. Check "Block learn HIGH and LOW temp limit" are set outside of your cars running temperature, and that your car has come up to temperature. Check your coolant temp is reading correctly. Check "closed loop minimum coolant temp" is below the cars running temp. Check "Stoichiometric A/F ratio" is 14.7 in the areas you expect BLMs to function. Q. How do I update from one $12P version to another? A. You do this with the flashtool. This process assumes you have a correctly functioning NVRAM board installed in the ecu. The exact process depends on what your original version is. 1. Load the flashtool, connect to the ecu. Observe the version. The details box will show something like OSE 12 Professional V1.1.0. 2. Download the cal and save it to something like mytune-12p-v1.x.x.cal - include the version from step 1 in the file name to keep things clear. 4. if your original version is v1.0.4 or newer skip to step 6. 5. If your original version was older than V1.0.4 then load the new tune in Tunerpro 5 with the v1.1.1 xdf file, and check the VE table. At version 1.0.4 this table was enlaged, and the flash tool inserts blank rows to stretch the table out to the new size. If you see rows of 0, then you need to average the values in the cells around it to make it smooth. You can do this in the text view or in the 3d view by holding control and pressing left/right/up/down to move the 3d graph around so you can see the point you need. clicking it, then pressing control plus and control - to move the point so that the graph looks smooth. you can cut and past the nearest row in text mode to get it close, but make sure you do smooth out the points as you will feel a jolt under WOT when the car hits the pasted row and the fueling is out. 7. Connect to the ecu, and verify the flashtool reports OSE 12 Professional, V1.1.1. Now upload the v.1.1.1 calibration you created earler. Thats it! From here on only use the v1.1.1 XDF and ADX files from the official v1.1.1 package. Q. I want to be able to reprogram original memcals. What hardware do I need to do this? Note that if you get this style, removing the front of the door can allow the end of the memcal to be stuck in the unit, so the chip can be erased while still on the memcal. However, UV is dangerous and care should be taken to keep your eyes shielded from the light as much as possible. Q. What is "Tip in bump spark"? A. Tip in bump spark is for low speed drivability in a manual, between tip in bump spark and RDSC (RPM derivative spark control) it adjusts the spark to smooth throttle transitions so you you can cruise the carpark in comfort. Q. What is this XDF ADX BIN or CAL file (and other terminology and abbreviations)? A. These files are required to tune in Tunerpro 5. BIN: This 'Binary' file contains exactly whats on your memcal, or rom, or nvram. It contains a calibration (your tune), and the program code. Watch out for bin files saves with OSE plugin in TP5, as for speed the plugin only reads the calibration area, and if you made the bin file yourself with this method it will be incomplete. Use VL400s flash tool to 'get bin' to get a good one. This is what you send to the ECU with the flashtool to update the program version. CAL: This is similar to the BIN file, but only contains the CALibration are (tune). Essentially, these are tunes. XDF: This is Tunerpro 5 definition. It tells Tunerpro what is in the Calibration. Where it is, how large it is, and how to interpret the data to make it human readable. For example a spark angle of 45 degrees for 50kpa at 2200 rpm may be a number 30 inside the cal at location 1110. This tell tuner pro all about it, so you can just open the spark table and make a change. ADX: This is also a Tunerpro 5 definition. However this one is for the data stream that the ECU can output while it is running. It tells tunerpro how to ask the ECU for some run time info, and when it receives it how to check it for corruption and how to interpret it. It also contains dash and monitor layouts, so Tunerpro can pretty it up for you and give a bunch of guages and text you can read. A. 'Block Learn Multiplier', aka 'Long Term Fuel Trim' LTFT. This is a table the ECU keeps in RAM (even when the car is switched off) which the ECU can use to trim the fuel values to compensate for parts of the mechanical system that may degrade over time. Things like small air leaks, or slightly incorrect MAP readings. It monitors the O2 sensor and when certain criteria are met it will very slowly trim these values and use them to try and keep the tune good. It lives in RAM so that it works on a normal factory memcal which can not be written to by the ECU. Being 8 bit binary, the actual number stored inside the ecu has a range of 0 to 255, where 128 is the middle point. OSE12P and our newer definitions convert this to a percentage, so 100% means no adjustment, 105 is +%5 and 95 is -5%. Some older definitions use 0-255, so for those 128 is no adjustment, 135 is more fuel, and 120 is less fuel. If you see a lot of BLMs around 128 its likely that you have an older definition. Q. How do I get my idle speed right - its too high? A. Check the target idle speed in the dashboard in Tunerpro, and if its too far wrong (temperature etc will change this a little) set the desired idle speed to how you want it. If this is correct then you have too much air getting past your throttle body butterfly. Check for air leaks and check again. Check air plumbing piping for a way that may be letting it around the TB. Check the stop adjustment is not too far open. Q. How do I get my idle speed right - its too low? A. Check the target idle speed in the dashboard in Tunerpro, and if its too far wrong (temperature etc will change this a little) set the desitred idle speed to how you want it. If this is correct then open your throttle stop screw a little further to let more air in. Adjust it so that you read 20-30 steps on the IAC stepper on the dashboard in TP at the right idle speed. Q. What do I change to set the desired idle for $12P? A. There are 3 tables (not scalars!) and the naming does not include the word "idle" which makes them hard to find. Look in the table section for "IAC - Desired RPM in Drive Vs Battery voltage", "IAC - Desired RPM in Park/Neutral Vs Battery voltage" and "IAC - Desired RPM for Manual trans Vs Battery voltage" Q. I have narrow or wideband VE learn enabled, but I cant see any changes at all to the VE table. Whats going wrong? A. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly make sure you are running from NVRAM and that the write enabled jumper is set. Note that certain criteria must be met for the car to be able to VE learn - it must have been running for an amount of time (configurable), and the car must be up to temp. For narrow band only cells with a target AFR of 14.7:1 will learn, and only when it is in closed loop. Finally, Tunerpro does not expect the ecu to be updating itself. It is designed around the idea that you change things in tunerpro, then if realtime tuning hit update and send them to the ecu. If you look at the VE table in tunerpro, and the ecu has updated it, tunerpro will not know the data in the ecu has changed. You need to click 'download' to load the calibration back from the ecu to the pc, then close and re-open the VE table you are inspecting. Note that VE learn happens slowly to maintain a good average for any cell rather than putting bad data in a cell due to a momentary problem somewhere in the physical system or the environment. Dont expect it to tune the car for you. Use it only to fine tune when your VE table is closer than 1 point AFR difference. Q. How do I enable or disable the knock filter? A. There is no direct flag for this. Instead edit the scalar ESC params - Coolant temp enable. The knock counts will be used to pull timing above this temperature. To disable the knock filter (when it or the knock filter is not physically fitted) set this value to the maximum. To enable it again, set it to the default value of 56 degrees C. Q. What is an XDF, ADX, BIN, CAL, ABC, or XYZ? Q. ESC - Knock Count Logging: Once I have downloaded the .bin after a run to see the knock count logging, how do I reset it before taking another run and log? A. Its stored in the NVRAM iteslf and not RAM and is part of the calibration. Can either while emulating use the fill table with value in TP to clear it all or use the flashtool to write the cal back after editing the table in TP back to all zeros. Q. How can I identify a knock filter? A. The V8 Knock filters have a code beginning with 1F printed on them such as 1F9216. For many examples and for V6 numbers consult this list. If you have more examples to add, post to the end of that thread. Q. What are the netres resistor values on '808 and '165 memcals for different cylinder configurations? Q. How do I view a log in Tunerpro 5 (xdl file)? to view a log file (.xdl) in tunerpro 5, you need to also have the same ".adx" as the person who created the log. The .xdl file has the raw data that was logged. the .adx file defines what that raw data actually means. As an example, let's download a log file. Unzip both of the files we have downloaded. Under the "acquisition" menu, select "Load Definition file" "Vs V6 engine and trans 1.07-tp5.adx" Under the "acquisition" menu again, select "Load Log File..." select one of the ".xdl" files, in this case there were two in the zip file; let's pick "work to home shift tweaking 3 TPS MOD.xdl". once again under the "acquisition" menu select "show Dash" (or data lists, history tables etc.). Now we're ready to play back the log file. so, click the play button on the acquisition toolbar. Q. What size injectors do I have? I want bigger ones for more performance. Q. The factory loom is earthed under the head bolts. On my conversion, should I use the same location or assuming my grounds are good can I run it elsewhere (eg battery gnd)? A. They are the sensor grounds, you have to have them earthed to the engine or it will skew the sensor readings. Q. What happens to the spark timing on factory bins with higher RPM than the top row? A. The scalar called F1 extension slope is used to increase spark. The extension slope is degrees per 1000RPM, so if its set to 4deg and the highest RPM row is 4800 then by 5800RPM the spark advance will be 4deg higher than the 4800RPM value. Q. What type of signal is needed for the speed sensor circuit on an 808? A. It must be a square on the 808 but a reluctor amp (eg a JE camira etc ignition module) or a small circuit using an op-amp or an LM1815 which could convert a reluctor signal - the wave quality is not as critical as a crank pickup. Standard VN setup is 4 PPR, 3.08 diff and 1.98m rollout = 6222 (they had a divide by 5 box so the factory cal is 1250PPK). It must be a square on the 808 but a reluctor amp (eg a JE camira etc ignition module) or a small circuit using an op-amp or an LM1815 which could convert a reluctor signal - the wave quality is not as critical as a crank pickup. Q. How do I calculate a PPK change when I change my diff ratio? Q. How does torque management work on pcms with that support it, and/or have burst knock retard? Burst knock retard is worth disabling (enabled on S/C and disabled on NA), it pulls timing on sudden throttle movements to help prevent knock - if no knock occurs it pulls a little less (the offset item). Q. What chatter is on a VT data bus? Q. I want to run coil packs on my 4 or 6 cylinder conversion of a previously non-delco car. How to do this? Q. Im trying to use a non-delco TPS sensor, and I am geting an analog reading, but with the wrong range. How do I fix this? Q. I want to run boost on my ecotec. What are the options? Q. I want to run more than 8psi boot on my ecotec. Can I tune the factory tune further or install a bigger maf? Q. Ive changed things and my AFRs are out. Can I adjust the fuel pressure to compensate? A. Not really. You cant go far without causing other problems, and it will create more problems than it solves. The injectors and the tune will be running out of spec, and the whole thing is a balance between many factors. Chaning that one will break the relationships with data from other engine sensors. Especially dont increase the fuel pressure above 4.5 bar unless you are really sure what your doing is safe. The fuel system is not designed for it, and fuel leaks and engine bay fires are likely. If you need more fuel, upgrade the injectors, and adjust the injector rate in the tune. This will keep everything balanced. If you need just a bit more fuel and you are tuning to suit, you can raise the pressure just a little, and adjust the injector rate to compensate while keeping everything balanced. This will gain you a little headroom. But probably not enough to be usefull. Instead an injector upgrade and calibration fix for the documented injector rate at the correct fuel pressure is recommended. Q. Im working with a factory program, and if I run the factory bin as is, the car runs, but if I change something and try to start it, then its a no start. What might this be? A. This is usually a checksum issue. The checksum is a number that is calculated based on the contents of the tune. When the pcm starts up, it'll calculate the same number from whats in the tune and compare it against the saved copy. If they dont match, it will prevent the car from starting as it assumes that the memcal is damaged and the intent here is to prevent engine damage. Some XDF files calculate the checksum for you when you save the bin, and with those tunes you will not have this problem. Other ones dont (or cant) and when you change something on purpose, you get the checksum mismatch, and no run. In this case, to bypass the checksum test set the program id (which is an item in the xdf to AA. If you can not enter AA the xdf is probably set up for decimal, in which case enter 127. This signals the checksum test not to run, and the car will start. Q. My logs are 'jumping' when my car goes over a bump. My laptop is a toshiba, HP, or Compaq. What could cause this? Q. I have a vehicle with a BCM. Its a pain having to remove it everytime I wish to tune, I'd prefer to just put a switch on the BCM data line. Where is the data line? Q. I want to set up a VR/VS High level BCM on the bench, what pins do I need? The1 wrote: Yep these are the pins. Q. I want to set up a VX/VY PCM on the bench, what pins do I need? Q. What is the logic for the fan speed control in 12P? yoda69 wrote: The fan will be on if Coolant Temp is/has been greater than the fan on temp and is yet to meet the 5 or 6C hysterisis to turn off, regardless of vehicle speed. ie.100km/h hot day towing the fan will be on if it is required regardless of vehicle speed. The speed control will only work if you have AC On and the Coolant Temp is below the fan on temp when you are above 55km/h in your case. Q. I have a noticed a DTC 92 when logging, how do I clear it? yoda69 wrote: DTC 92 is low speed fan fault. This will be set any time you log data as it is controlled by the BCM which has been told to be silent when logging. Basically PCM expects low speed fan information from BCM, as BCM has been told to be silent it doesn't send the info, the PCM logs DTC92 and turns on the high speed fans. This will happen every time you log and is normal. If it happens when not logging and high speed fans are running constantly you have a problem that needs fixing. Q. Im trying to decrease clutch slip in my 4L60E box, but no matter what I set the PSI to (and ive wound it up and up to 90) but it still slips too much? What do the amps mean? The1 wrote: if it's set to 90psi in that area and still slipping then most likely the clutches are worn out or fluid is bad. in the datalogs should be commanded and actual force motor amps. If it does not match within 160milliamps then a dtc will be logged. 0.15 amps is 90psi 1.1amps is 0psi. Q. Can I use a VS auto bin on a VR auto? What are the different auto transmissions on the VR and VS commodores? VL400 wrote: The VR bin has all the TCC PWM code in there, its to make the TCC lockup smoother, just was never used until later. Id say its going to be a case of going through a VS bin and loading it to a VR bin if you want that function setup the same (there are some cal settings done for TCC PWM in a VR bin). Running a VS bin on a VR will cause an error to be set, but like jayme said I dont think it happens the other way around running a VR bin on a VS. VR 1994 - 4HDD/V6 - 4HBD/V8 first electonically controlled auto. VR II 1995 - 5HDD/V6 - 5HBD/V8 extra solenoid fitted to provide softer "LOCK UP" torque converter clutch apply. VS 1996 - 6HDD/V6 - 6HBD/V8 the design of the previously added solenoid was changed and is not backwards compatible with the previous model. VS II 1997-7HDD/V6 - 7HBD/V8 basically the same as the 1996 unit except the thread size of the cooler pipe unions was enlarged. Q. Can I use a VR auto bin on a VS? Whats the best code to use for a VS auto? Jayme wrote: Use the $11 bin and xdf in the VS V8 autos. As long as you turn vats off it works fine. Note that VATS aka Vehicle Anti Theft System, is called "anti-theft" in 11P. Search for "theft", not VATSs in tunerpro to find it (ctrl+f). Also see the next question. Q. What is VATS? Why would I need to change it? What are the gotchas on VR and VS? VATS is short for Vehicle Anti Theft System. You may need to disable this when using the delco computer on a different car or engine, such a track car or conversion. VATS is a flag, sometimes also called anti theft, which you can toggle to disable this functionality. The Delco computer disables the injectors until it has verified the correct key is present. In a VR and VS commodore the there is also a secondary function where the BCM module grounds the starter relay. On these models, for applications such as a track car with a push button start, physical modification of this circuit is also required. Q. What type of PWM is the $12P flex outputs? A. Its electrically a low side (ground side) driver. It is a static 32hz, with 0-100% duty cycle programmable against anything in the ecus data stream. Safe current draw from the ecm is around 500ma. Q. How do I recalibrate a VN speedo? The original article was hosted at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~brettsue ... ometer.htm but has since been removed. The Commodore speedo has the 200 km/h position at 180 degrees from the 0 km/h position and the HZ speedo has the 140 km/h position at 180 degrees from the 0 km/h position. Therefore if the speedo was not recalibrated and the speedo was reading 140 km/h then the car would really be doing 200 km/h. (6250 x 140) / 3600 = 243 Hz. This signal was then applied to the pulse input of the speedo electronics box and, as expected, the speedo indicated just under 100 km/h. I then found that the 39 kohm resistor located beside the driver IC on one of the circuit boards was responsible for the calibration of the meter movement. By trial and error I found that by increasing the resistance to 57 kohms (adding 18 kohms in series), made the speedo indicate correctly, 140 km/h. Linearity was then checked by halving the input frequency and checking that the indicated speed was halved. No error was noticed. Q. How do I Make a GQ4x work on Windows 8? The Windows 8 only accepts the fully digital signed driver. Temporary disable the digital signature enforcement will let you install the USB driver. From the Metro Start Screen, open Settings (move your mouse to the bottom-right-corner of the screen and wait for the pop-out bar to appear, then click the Gear icon). Scroll down, and click "Restart now" under "Advanced startup" When your computer restarts, select "Disable driver signature enforcement (choice 7)from the list. You can now load the driver. Reboot again once the driver is installed and all will be well. Be sure to run as an administrator. Q. How do I identify pins on a Delco ECM/PCM? How do I remove remove from the connector? Q. What equations would I need to put in to an ADX on a 2 or 3 bar MAP tune to display boost PSI? Q. I cant write to my NVRAM, what should I check? If it is on an '808 or a '165, check the write wire on the back of the pcm is present and connected. For all NVRAM products, check the RW (read/write) pins have a jumper across them. Check for bent pins inside the ecm/pcm header. Also, avoid counterfeit products from other sources, especially the NVRAMs chips themselves. These are generally made with low quality hardware and are not automotive grade. Consequently they have a very high failure rate and will cost you lots of time. Q. How can I correct my speedo? What is a good speedo corrector? What can the Jaycar speedo corrector part number AA-0376 do? Q. I have an idea about micro controllers, embedded systems and assembly language and I want to try and define an data stream to build an ADX. How would I go about that? Q. Where can I get an aftermarket or generic VSS sender to use on my conversion? Q. How can I convert my VS Auto PCM to accept a VSS signal from a T5 Manual? Q. How would I wire a VT PCM in to my car to replace a VX or VY flash pcm? Q. What is Acceleration Enrichment 'AE' in 12P? Q. How do the two crank pulse width tables work in $51? Q. How do I tune the PE (power enrichment) tables in a MAF tune? Q. I am using 12P with a wideband controller analog output connected to pin D8 but there is an AFR offset. Why? Q. How do I use a second factory coolant sensor to log additional temperature data? Q. When setting injector dead times on VS to VY do I copy the injector data I have straight in to the tune? Or, I did copy the injector data straight in to the tune, yet my fueling is not what I expect? Q. I want to flash my vx or vy flash pcm, what is the safest way to do so? Note1: Use write cal for calibration changes, and ONLY use write bin as a 1 off when you are changing the operating system (this procedure is more risky and can brick the pcm if power or comms is removed while the OS is being written). Note2: Checksums need to be calculated on the pcm after changes are written. The flashtool will ask you if you wish to do so at the end of the write process. Be sure to wait for this dialog and let the flashtool fix the checksum. Q. I have flashed my vx or vy pcm with vl400's delco flash tool, and now I can not connect the pcm! What to do? A. Occasionally the PCM locks up after a flash. If this happens to you disconnect the battery for a couple of minutes, or the engine power fuse. This will let the pcm reset and assuming no other problems it will respond again. Q. Will a traditional coil signal reading tacho work with a coilpack? Can I make it work? Q. What applications used the T42 T43 and T68 auto transmission controllers? Q. How can I get an electronic speedo pulse from a trimatic transmission? Or some other cable only transmission? This is an option but possibly not the only one. Keep in mind other in-line cable sender options exist. Q. The ABS light is stuck on, on my VT or VX commodore. How can get more information? Heres a list of ABS/ETC error codes for VT to VY, but these codes can only be flashed up by bridging the terminals 5 and 12 in the diagnostic connector on VT and VX models, for other models, you will need a suitable scantool to read these codes. Code 12= Start up code/ system ok. Code 21= Front right wheel speed sensor faulty signal. Code 23= Front right wheel speed sensor short or open circuit. Code 25= Front left wheel speed sensor faulty signal. Code 27= Front left wheel speed sensor short or open circuit. Code 28= Front wheel speed sensor frequency incorrect. Code 31= Rear right wheel speed sensor faulty signal. Code 33= Rear right wheel speed sensor short or open circuit. Code 35= Rear left wheel speed sensor faulty signal. Code 37= Rear left wheel speed sensor short or open circuit. Code 41= Front right inlet valve solenoid. Code 42= Front right outlet valve solenoid. Code 45= Front left inlet valve solenoid. Code 46= Front left outlet valve solenoid. Code 47= Priming valve solenoid. Code 48= Switching valve solenoid. Code 51= Rear right inlet valve solenoid. Code 52= Rear right outlet valve solenoid. Code 55= Rear axle inlet valve solenoid/Rear left inlet valve solenoid. Code 56= Rear Rear axle outlet valve solenoid/Rear left outlet valve solenoid. Code 61= Pump motor or relay faulty. Code 62= RPM signal incorrect. Code 63= Valve solenoid relay circuit faulty. Code 67= Stop light switch circuit faulty. Code 71= Control module internal fault. Code 73= Requested torque circuit fault. Code 74= Actual torque circuit fault. Code 78= Incorrect optional coding. Code 85= Voltage too low. Code 58 for gen 111= Throttle relaxer PWM interface fault. Code 62 for gen 111= RPM signal fault. Code 64 for gen 111= Throttle relaxer control module position fault. Code 65 for gen 111= Throttle relaxer motor fault. Code 66 for gen 111= Throttle relaxer control fault. Q. How can I log a Kalmaker W45 tune with Tunerpro? Q. I am running a MAF based auto tune on a manual, and it is struggling at low RPM. What can I do? 2) Install hardware which can convert the type of signal from the manual VSS to one which the computer can read. You can copy the low parts of the manual tables in to try and help. Thanks to ralcool for the investigation and the write up! Q. How can I set spark cut on 11P or 12P? A1. the '808 family of computers do not support spark cut. They have a hardware chip which delivers spark timing the main program has requested as required. If the timeing for the next spark is not delivered to the spark chip, then it will still spark with the same timing as last time. A2. The '424 computer was updated to run spark from the main program, and thus 11P can do spark cut. Even for manual applications it might be worth while installing a '424, setting manual mode and running 11P if you want this feature. Q. How does knock detection work for an ECM (including 11P or 12P)? Q. How can I convert stock or Kalmaker tunes to 12P? As discussed in several places in the forums a helper spreadsheet can be used to re-scale VE and Spark tables so that they can be brought across. For user tables see the following thread. Thanks to MAGP! Q. How do the various rev limit options in $12P and $11P work? A. As Changing the rev limit is often one of the first things people try and do i'll aim this answer very generally, and describe 12P but it should be easily adapted to 11P. First load the bin (eg OSE$12P V112 BLCD V6.BIN) and matching XDF "OSE12P V112 - 1,2 and 3 bar.xdf". Load the XDF if you hit Ctrl+F in tunerpro and pick find "Any Parameter" "With This Phrase in the Title" Words "rev" -> Search, so that you see a list of all params with rev in the heading. There is 1 item that you are probably looking for, and 4 you can consider. Each of them are listed twice because if you add use the MAP A / MAP B feature (which most people do not) you can have a different set of settings for the other map. "Map A: Rev Limit - RPM Below Upper Threshold To Start Soft Fuel-Cut" Is what you are thinking of with rev limits. It defaults to 5800 RPM in the V6 tune and above that it'll do a hard fuel cut. This is the one to change for a typical rev limiter. "Map A: Rev Limit - Soft Fuel Cut Upper RPM Threshold - Above This Is Hard Fuel Cut" This one defaults to off (0 RPM) and will cut fuel in some batches (MPI, 12P) this amount BELOW the one hard limit. So if you set this to 150, and the above to 5800 you'd get some fuel cut from 5650 - 150 below 5800. I recommend leaving this off (0). "Map A: Rev Limit - RPM Below Upper Threshold To Start Ignition Retard" This defaults to 150 and functions similar to the above, but it pulls ignition timing as defined in the next optioin. So at 150 it'll start pulling timing from 5650 so the hard cut at 5800 is a bit more gentle on the mechanicals of the engine. In practice 150rpm happens in the blink of an eye and your unlikely to notice this happening, but it'll help your mechanicals. Some people set this to 0 and just want the hard limiter for the sound of bouncing off the limiter and they dont care about the engine. "Map A: Rev Limit - Soft Touch Rev-Limit Advance Reduction" This is the amount of degrees pulled when in the state of ignition soft retard. Note that other than the first setting its a mistake to put engine RPMS here. EG if you put 5800 in the hard limit (correct) and 5600 in the soft limit (incorrect) you'll get ignition retard from 5800-5600=200 rpm and above (always). So, 150 ignition retard of 5 degrees (default) is nice and typically you should just need to set the first option "Map A: Rev Limit - RPM Below Upper Threshold To Start Soft Fuel-Cut". If you need the extra control, it is available. Q. Why, when I enter a value such as 10 degrees reference angle, does the value change? or Why cant I enter my value without it changing? Q. How do I make ALDLDroid (ALDL Droid) work with your ADX files and interfaces? Q. What injector dead time settings should I used for Siemens Deka IV 60lb injectors? Q. Can I use Imperial / Miles / Farenheight for 12P in Tunerpro? Q. How do I setup the Park/Neutral switch input (B10) for 12P on an 808? Q. How do I setup the second dual or high speed fan control in OSE 11P? Q. How Can I calculate the cranking fuelling for E85 cold starts? Q. What software is needed to program the VY or VZ Cluster? A2. There are rumors that the factory tool from Arrow can do this. However it is not officially available to the public and is under a restrictive license which prevents us from helping you obtain it. You should use VZClusterMod instead. Q. Im having trouble with a really unstable idle on 12P. What can I do about this? A. There is a feature known as Idle Proportional Spark (IPS), which uses spark angle to smooth out the idle. When a car has a reasonably tame cam and no other problems this works quite well to smooth out the idle. But in cases where there is a large lumpy cam or other problems such as ignition problems causing a random miss at idle this feature can cause the idle to hunt badly. In either case you should turn this feature off. If your root cause is an ignition problem or massively incorrect VE table on a new engine transplant you can turn it back on one the problem has been fixed. The feature is controlled by scalars in the category "Idle Spark Adjustment Parameters" in 12P and can be disabled by setting "IAC - Idle spark Adjustment params - Idle spark correction limit" to 0 or by setting "IAC - Idle spark Adjustment params - IAC spark correct'n lower coolant threshold" out of range to its max value so that car is operating normally below the temperature required to enable the feature. Q. Ive got an old 12P v1.0.4 tune and wish to migrate it to 12P v1.1.2. How do I do this? A. The OSE Flash tool located here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=82 is able to do this for you. Note that while the filespec is *.cal you can type *.* and hit enter to load any file. The cal portion of a bin file can be loaded this way. Note that when upgrading a cal from a bin the bin operating system part is not updated and new tables are not populated. If any tables need attention after migration you are advised by the flashtool. Once you have a new cal (or bin, with an updated cal and old operating system) it is recommended to use the flash tool and 'write cal' over ALDL in to an ECM that has the new operating system loaded. Then do a get bin to pull back a complete file for your archives. Q. Im trying to compare different version 12P bins (eg v112 and v104) in tunerpro and the results dont look right? A. The bin file must match the XDF. As these files are different versions it is not possible for the XDF to match both at the same time. Upgrade the v104 bin to v112 before comparing. Q. What signals/sensors/connections are required to run a 4L60E transmission only from my pcm? Ive been building this faq up as time permits from questions and answers on the forums. It is ordered as it is written, as it grows I may categorise it some to keep it under control. Theres a lot more information scattered around the site than is included here so as always its a work in progress. If you find anything is incorrect or needs further clarification post to this thread and i'll try to improve the faq, or if you wish to submit a Q&A send it to me in a PM and i'll include it and provide proper credit if you wish. Have added a pcmhacking.net harware and software guide to help get started to the top post. Updated hardware and software guide to v1.01. Fixed error regarding VS commodore hardware. Update hardware and software guide to v1.03. Included a new section about factory memcals and our ECM NVRAMs. added a new guide for chip burning, bin stacking and verifying data. The1 wrote: added a new guide for chip burning, bin stacking and verifying data.

2019-04-19T16:20:01Z

https://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=42444

It is reasonable to consider the thalamus a primary candidate for the location of consciousness, given that the thalamus has been referred to as the gateway of nearly all sensory inputs to the corresponding cortical areas. Interestingly, in an early stage of brain development, communicative innervations between the dorsal thalamus and telencephalon must pass through the ventral thalamus, the major derivative of which is the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). The TRN occupies a striking control position in the brain, sending inhibitory axons back to the thalamus, roughly to the same region where they receive afferents. The present study hypothesizes that the TRN plays a pivotal role in dynamic attention by controlling thalamocortical synchronization. The TRN is thus viewed as a functional networking filter to regulate conscious perception, which is possibly embedded in thalamocortical networks. Based on the anatomical structures and connections, modality-specific sectors of the TRN and the thalamus appear to be responsible for modality-specific perceptual representation. Furthermore, the coarsely overlapped topographic maps of the TRN appear to be associated with cross-modal or unitary conscious awareness. Throughout the latticework structure of the TRN, conscious perception could be accomplished and elaborated through accumulating intercommunicative processing across the first-order input signal and the higher-order signals from its functionally associated cortices. As the higher-order relay signals run cumulatively through the relevant thalamocortical loops, conscious awareness becomes more refined and sophisticated. I propose that the thalamocortical integrative communication across first- and higher-order information circuits and repeated feedback looping may account for our conscious awareness. This TRN-modulation hypothesis for conscious awareness provides a comprehensive rationale regarding previously reported psychological phenomena and neurological symptoms such as blindsight, neglect, the priming effect, the threshold/duration problem, and TRN-impairment resembling coma. This hypothesis can be tested by neurosurgical investigations of thalamocortical loops via the TRN, while simultaneously evaluating the degree to which conscious perception depends on the severity of impairment in a TRN-modulated network. The subjective experience of consciousness is central to our everyday life. However, whether such subjective experiences have neural correlates remains unsolved and open to hypothesis and investigation. For instance, Lamme supported the notion that feedback connections to the primary visual cortex are necessary for visual awareness, and proposed that a progressive build-up of recurrent interactions results in conscious awareness. Dehaene et al. , in their 'global workspace' model of consciousness, suggested that conscious perception is systematically associated with parieto-frontal activity, causing top-down amplification. On the other hand, Zeki argued against a single entity of consciousness, claiming that there are multiple hierarchical consciousnesses (the micro-consciousnesses). Therefore, we need a unified theory to integrate these previous theories and provide us with a clearer understanding of all the phenomena of consciousness. In addition to regarding consciousness as a biological phenomenon, we cannot deny that there is a genuine phenomenon of consciousness in the ordinary sense and that it has distinctive features that should be investigated when seeking to fully characterize it. One of the general agreements is the quality of 'being aware.' Hence, an information-input mechanism can be considered essential to initiate conscious awareness (see Appendix 1), no matter what is evoked inside or outside of the body. It then becomes reasonable to consider the thalamus one of the primary candidates for the seat of consciousness, given that the thalamus has been referred to as the gateway of nearly all sensory inputs to the corresponding cortical areas . As shown in Figure 1, the thalamus is a finely organized neuroanatomical structure with each modality-specific domain sector interconnecting with other corresponding brain structures [5–7]. For instance, the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) has reciprocal connections with visual cortices [8, 9], and the medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) is anatomically interconnected with auditory cortices [10–12]. In addition, the lateral/medial ventral posterior nuclei are reciprocally connected with primary somatosensory cortices [13, 14], while the ventral anterior nuclei receiving afferents from the internal globus pallidus are linked with premotor cortices . All of these anatomical interconnections imply significant functional interconnections; indeed, the thalamus has been regarded as a hub of sensory-motor control. A schematic diagram of the connections between thalamic relay nuclei and their corresponding cortical areas (of the same color) through the thalamic reticular nucleus. Black lines indicate corticothalamic connections, and colored lines indicate thalamocortical connections. A: anterior thalamic nucleus, M: medial thalamic nucleus, VA: ventral anterior nucleus, VL: ventral lateral nucleus, VP: ventral posterior nucleus, LP: lateral posterior nucleus, Pu: pulvinar, C: centromedial nucleus, P: parafascicular nucleus, LGN: lateral geniculate nucleus, MGN: medial geniculate nucleus, TRN: thalamic reticular nucleus (courtesy of Wolfgang Klimesch, with permission). As the cortex has gradually evolved to be competent in higher cognition, the thalamus has evolved in parallel . All the thalamocortical pathways may in fact constitute a unified and cyclic oscillatory circuit that is topographically organized . Interestingly, in an early stage of brain development, communicative innervations between the dorsal thalamus and telencephalon must pass through the ventral thalamus , the major component of which is the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), a sheer laminar wrapping around the thalamus. It is worth noting that the TRN occupies a striking control position in the brain. The cerebral cortex and thalamus connect in a reciprocal manner, branching onto the TRN as shown in Figure 1. In turn, the TRN sends axons back to the thalamus, roughly to the same region where they receive afferents . The TRN provides a major inhibitory input to thalamic relay nuclei . The inhibitory TRN cells are densely innervated by collaterals from thalamocortical and corticothalamic neurons, both of which generate strong excitatory postsynaptic potentials . Synchronization within a certain neuronal ensemble is achieved by means of GABAergic inhibitory neurons. For instance, it has been reported that neuronal synchronization is completed via a GABAergic internetwork in some pace-making sources such as the suprachiasmatic nuclei and hippocampus . In general, confirming synchronization of asynchronous neural activity is a prerequisite for interpreting these signals as physiologically and functionally associated. Synchrony in the interconnected circuitry of the thalamus and cerebral cortex is particularly critical in conscious events . Therefore, there should be a neural controlling system that regulates globally chaotic neural activities into a unitary conscious entity in terms of synchronization. In the conscious state, the experiences of the internal and external milieu merge into a temporally and spatially unitary experience . McCormick suggested the possibility of a cyclical thalamocortical interaction whose key feature is the strong activation of GABAergic neurons within the thalamus. Taken together, the findings referenced above lead me to hypothesize that the inhibitory TRN cells play a key role in coordinating our conscious perception through the inhibitory feedback network across both the thalamus and the cortex. For instance, it has been suggested that TRN neurons in absence epilepsy may work as a subcortical pacemaker responsible for spike-wave discharges [26, 27]. Intriguingly, the TRN shows axons giving off local branches within the nucleus itself . TRN cells are principally coupled via inhibitory GABAergic synapses , mostly generating gamma activity [30, 31]. Indeed, GABAergic TRN cells demonstrate several frequencies of rhythmic oscillations [32–34]. Some rhythms such as spindle oscillation (7-14 Hz), delta oscillation (3-5 Hz), slow oscillation (0.3-0.5 Hz), and ultraslow rhythm (0.05 Hz) are spontaneously initiated or heavily involved in the TRN [35–38]. It has been suggested that intrinsic pacemaker alpha activity underlies the genesis of spindle waves related to sleep . However, it was found that a large proportion of TRN cells (about 34%) discharged like clocks within a 25-60 Hz frequency bandwidth (i.e., gamma activity) . When a GABAergic network induces synchronization of neural activity, coherent gamma oscillations are observed . The gamma-range (more than about 30 Hz) synchronization is occasionally considered a key mechanism of information processing in neural networks [41, 42]. Again, the TRN is located in a particularly suitable position for controlling the entire cerebral network. Therefore, TRN-mediated synchronization in the thalamocortical network may result in gamma-band oscillations related to the binding of the stimulus features into a whole [43, 44]. Moreover, cortical gamma activity is concurrent with thalamic gamma activity at discrete conscious events . Most likely, neural synchronization initially driven by the TRN modulates gamma oscillations throughout the thalamocortical loops. Empirically, in an animal study (see Appendix 2), it was proposed that such coherent firing at gamma frequencies reflects a point of equilibrium in the TRN when the leaky K+ conductance is fully suppressed by the metabotropic effects of monoamines or excitatory amino acids . As for more empirical evidence, we may pay attention to the electrophysiological dynamics of the TRN. For instance, IT (the T-type current underlying prolonged Ca2+-dependent burst firing in GABAergic neurons of rat TRN) of the TRN shows much slower kinetics than do thalamocortical relay cells , where IT is the critical current for controlling the thalamic response mode . More importantly, IT in the TRN needs depolarization for activation. The expression of IT depends on its state of inactivation. At hyperpolarized potentials, as during the early stages of sleep, IT becomes deinactivated and can produce low-threshold spikes during subsequent depolarization. At sufficiently depolarized potentials, as occur more frequently during wakeful activity, inactivation prevents IT conductance . Hence, these different kinetics and specific necessary active conditions between the TRN and thalamic relay cells would critically indicate that interactions between relay cells and the TRN are essential for synchronization . Apparently, if large neural ensembles of the TRN burst rhythmically, their interconnections could facilitate continuance of subsequent synchronous firings. Consistently, bilateral lesion of the rostral pole of the TRN in rats promotes thalamocortical dysrhythmia . Indeed, TRN cells are called the pacemaker for thalamic oscillation [39, 47, 51–53], and they demonstrate two firing modes: burst-spike and tonic-spike . In relation to the switch mechanism between these two firing modes, Mistry et al. reported frequency-dependent short-term modulation at glutamatergic synapses in the TRN. They found that TRN neurons exhibited no short-term change in alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic current amplitudes in response to stimulation at non-gamma frequencies (less than 30 Hz), simulating background activity, but showed short-term depression in such amplitudes at gamma frequencies (more than 30 Hz), simulating sensory transmission . The same study also found that intra-TRN inhibition suppresses TRN tonic-spike selectively at non-gamma stimulus frequencies, which are indicative of background activity. Presumably, in the absence of sensory transmission, the intra-TRN inhibitory network controls the number of spikes fired by TRN cells, consequently regulating the degree of inhibition exerted by the TRN cells onto thalamocortical networks . Therefore, switching between two ranges of stimulus frequencies to TRN cells (gamma and non-gamma range) regulates two physiological modes of TRN cells in the control of TRN output. This switch mechanism, in the TRN-mediated model, may play a gating role in progress to conscious awareness. As mentioned in the Background section, the thalamus is not a simple relay station in sensory signal processing but is instead involved in many dynamic processes that significantly alter the nature of the information relayed to the cortex . Neurons in the thalamic relay nuclei [57, 58] and the TRN [48, 59] fire in two activity modes (tonic and burst) as mentioned above. From the viewpoint of a gate-keeping state of the thalamus, tonic mode firing in the thalamus may be responsible for a thalamic-gate passive mode (unconscious state), whereas burst firing may account for a thalamic-gate active mode (conscious state) [60–62]. In keeping with such a gate-keeping mechanism, I hypothesize that a conscious state would be established when a TRN-modulated thalamocortical network activates over a certain threshold to initiate overall synchronization. In contrast, in the sub-threshold state, sensory inputs may simply pass through the thalamus without the generation of conscious awareness. In other words, the brain might actually receive such unconscious sensory inputs, but those signals fail to reach the level of conscious awareness. This interpretation is applicable to the case of implicit knowledge, which is revealed in task performance without any corresponding phenomenal awareness . Furthermore, the main part of the TRN can be divided into functionally distinct 'sectors' on the basis of its afferent connections with groups of thalamic nuclei and cytoarchitectonically definable cortical areas . Therefore, there are relatively accurate topographic maps corresponding to the same modality in the TRN [64, 65]; these cumulative maps of the latticework appear to indicate a nexus, functionally related to the thalamo-cortico-thalamic pathways . More significantly, the lack of clearly definable borders of the sectors as well as a larger receptive field of the TRN suggest that the TRN may be associated with integrative information processing and even cross-modal overlapping awareness. The experience of a unitary consciousness is plausible from the viewpoint of the synchronization of crudely overlapped receptive maps on the laminar TRN. Similarly, we can gain a comprehensible sense of the modal-confused symptom in which unconscious priming eliminates the automatic binding of color and alphanumeric form in synaesthesia . Within the framework of a TRN-synchronizing model, a variety of overlapping combinations of neural ensembles for conscious perception are plausible. These types of patterns of neural combinations for conscious awareness may lead to intra-individual variation in conscious perception in terms of 'qualia' and inter-individual 'subjectivity' in experiencing consciousness. I will discuss the topic of conscious awareness in more detail in the following setion for 'awareness'. Taken together, evidence thus far suggests that the TRN is central in determining the initiation of communicative interactions between the thalamic relay nuclei and the cerebral cortex. Consequently, it likely plays a key role in controlling our unitary conscious perception. Therefore, the feedback synaptic connections from the TRN imply its potentially significant role in modulating the transmission of information in the thalamocortical circuit. Additionally, to sustain a conscious state, arousal is necessary for the threshold condition of the TRN. Surely there are anatomical connections between the TRN and brainstem cells that control the subject's wakefulness and vigilance . Moreover, an inhibitory influence on the activity of TRN neurons is exerted by threshold stimulation of the mesencephalic reticular formation (MRF), which is the core of the brainstem, while supra-threshold stimulation of the MRF induces the activation of TRN neurons . Those researchers concluded that the synchronizing structure of the brainstem, exerting a blocking impact on the MRF, facilitates the activity of TRN neurons. It is also reported that the brainstem has relatively uniform effects on the response mode of relay cells throughout the thalamus . As mentioned earlier, the response mode of thalamic relay cells is principally under the command of the TRN, so these findings are still comprehensible within the framework of the TRN-mediated conception. Taken together, previous findings indicate that the brainstem exerts substantial control over the activity of TRN neurons, possibly to globally modulate the level of arousal for preparing for consciousness. Besides, since consciousness is considered a biological phenomenon, gene polymorphism undoubtedly contributes to fine variations in consciousness among individuals. For example, since the TRN-mediated consciousness network principally involves GABAergic synapses, polymorphisms in several GABA-related genes have been associated with differences in the efficiency of mental processing [72–75]. Furthermore, AVPR1a and SLC6A4 gene polymorphisms have been reported in association with creative dance performance, which can be related to altered consciousness states [76–78]. Indeed, consciousness is completed through many neuronal assemblies, so it is substantially subject to diversity in genetic expression. However, the genetic effects on consciousness seem to be relatively modest, since they interact with environment or experience during the development of the network. Attention possibly acts by biasing the competition among rival candidates of activated neuronal sets, particularly during their formation . Therefore, an antagonistic target-background configuration of information processing seems to be an efficient means to accomplish selective attention. That is, it is advantageous if there is enhancement of neural activity associated with highlighted information processing, while irrelevant neural activity is simultaneously inhibited. Therefore, an efficient and well-organized inhibitory mechanism is necessary for selective attention. As mentioned earlier, it is noteworthy that the TRN provides a major inhibitory input to thalamic relay nuclei . Hence, the feedback synaptic connections from the TRN imply significant control over the signal transmissions through the thalamocortical network. Anatomically, specified sectors of the TRN involve their corresponding thalamocortical connections, including even the related visceral sensory inputs , which are assumed to be modulated by attention or distraction. Here, I suggest that such finely organized TRN cells, wrapping around many of the thalamic relay nuclei, play a pivotal role in selective attention by coordinating all thalamocortical transmissions via the GABAergic network synchrony. The initial point of developing synchronization may stem from a modality-specific sector of the thalamic reticular region (e.g., the first red dot on the TRN in Figure 2A), which may be the origin of the eventual spread of its synchronous activity throughout the entire TRN network. This synchronization would be more promoted after the reception of positive iterating feedback from higher-order cortices. Compared to Crick's previous TRN hypothesis regarding 'attention' , my current TRN hypotheses also cover consciousness, and emphasize reiterating thalamocortical information processing in relation to conscious awareness. Schematic drawing of the TRN-modulated thalamocortical looping model of conscious awareness. THL: thalamus, V1: the primary visual cortex. As the color of processing-flow lines gets darker (from yellow to orange, and finally to red), more elaborated information processing is being produced by means of iterating thalamocortical loops through the TRN. Cortical networks tie together neuronal assemblies in widespread cortical regions, and the TRN may play a central role in organizing all of the networks. As illustrated in Figure 2, the TRN-modulation model is compatible with models of large-scale cortical networks [82, 83] and of parallel distributed processing . Within these frameworks, cognitive functions are widely distributed in cortical networks and processed with basic features such as parallel input-to-output connections and reentry or recurrence, which can occur within and between layers of the cortical hierarchies. It has been suggested that the operation of a large-scale network in cognitive function is principally based on the correlation of the firing of its elements across cortical regions [82, 85, 86], which is the neural manifestation of 'binding' . Therefore, such reentry processes propagating over all of the brain networks are not static but dynamic, which is probably what William James called 'the stream of consciousness' . Indeed, there is substantial evidence that cortical areas play significant roles in attention and cognition processing. For example, the prefrontal cortex, at the top of the executive hierarchy, is critical in decision-making [88–90]. As it plays a pivotal role in attention and working memory, the prefrontal cortex has occasionally been considered the seat of consciousness . As long as the prefrontal cortex controls cognition, its role in consciousness is obviously important. This is particularly the case in the attentive processes that lead a pattern of behavior, speech, or reasoning to its goal . Among those processes, working memory is the most closely engaged with consciousness in the temporal domain. This is because the prefrontal cortex houses the process of temporal integration, which makes possible the persistence of cognitive content. Although the prefrontal cortex receives an immense quantity of afferent influences from the rest of the brain, the majority of these influences are, nevertheless, sometimes processed out of consciousness. For example, the prefrontal cortex mediates unconsciously triggered inhibitory control in the Go/No-Go paradigm . Thus, the cortex seems to play a subsidiary role in conscious awareness, either when selecting the information upon which one focuses or when directing the whole neural network involved in information processing. Presumably, the degree and distribution of cortical activity involved in cognition determine the content of consciousness . However, compared to the functional roles of individually distributed cortices, the TRN seems to play a critical and supervising role in controlling the whole brain network. Attention is eventually accomplished through cooperatively integrating information from attention-related cortical regions (e.g., the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [92, 93], the parietal cortex [94–97], and the orbitofrontal cortex [98, 99]) and from other sub-cortical regions such as the superior colliculus. In this respect, the inhibitory feedback mechanism of the TRN on the thalamocortical network becomes a potential candidate for controlling and coordinating the orientation of attention. In accordance with this conception, TRN lesions effectively prevented perseverative behavior in rats, while lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex failed to do so . Several behavioral phenomena regarding attention are comprehensible within the framework of the TRN model. In 'change blindness' experiments, normal observers are thoroughly unaware of an essential part of what is going on in their visual field. One possible mechanism underlying the lack of awareness for events from which attention has been exogenously diverted could be a defective integration of elementary features for these events . This interpretation is understandable from the viewpoint of the integrative and mastery role of the TRN in attention to accomplish complete awareness. Another phenomenon related to exogenous attentional orienting is 'inhibition of return' (IOR) [102, 103]. With reference to the need for responding to novelty while resisting distraction, exogenous orienting processes are good candidates for involvement in drawing attention to novel events by inhibiting repeated orientations toward the same locations (i.e., IOR). As mentioned earlier, inhibitory control is the crucial feature of the internal dynamics of the TRN model, allowing it to suppress interference effects and promote the exploration of the visual scene. In addition, to successfully cope with a continuously changing environment, efficient mechanisms for 'change-detection' are necessary. A recent study provides experimental evidence that the TRN neurons of the rat respond more strongly to deviant stimuli than standard stimuli, whereas the medial geniculate nucleus showed such deviance detection on a smaller scale . Therefore, the TRN seems to work more dynamically to detect changes than thalamic relay neurons do. Probably, consistent thalamocortical feedforward-feedback processes that act on pre-existing neural representations on the TRN interfere with new incoming signals, eventually competently detecting changes. From the viewpoint of the TRN model, the Hebbian neural network can be conceived, for example, in terms of the object-based neural connection for selective attention . Locally and transiently synchronized neural ensembles, possibly evoked by each tentative object (or mental target), could be seen as candidates for a dominant signal that controls the working memory domain (see Appendix 3). Therefore, if one of these object-based neural candidates is selected ('highlighted') as a mental target, we may conventionally refer to this neurophysiological phenomenon as 'paying attention.' Thereby, such multiple activated neural candidates can be analogous to what Zeki called the micro-consciousness . This interpretation is also consistent with Dehaene's conception of pre-conscious processing . Taking into consideration both the TRN-mediated model and the Hebbian cell assembly, substantial synchronization in the TRN would not always be necessary. In other words, if the input information is relatively new to the thalamocortical networks, substantial synchronization in the TRN is explicitly expected. In contrast, for relatively familiar signals, the Hebbian network, already established in the relevant thalamocortical tracks, may facilitate subsequent processes, which would effectively diminish coherent synchronization compared to what is expected for new signals. Therefore, it is probable that TRN-modulated thalamocortical synchronization depends on the familiarity of signals and that the TRN-modulation model is consistent with the Hebbian model. Moreover, it is likely that 'working memory' can be thought of as temporal mental traces of attended conscious awareness during a transient time range around the present. The circulating model explains feasibly how working memory is developed by any related attention. Presumably, working memory is a type of transient active mental tracing network, which is cued by initial looping signals reiterating over their correspondent thalamocortical circuits. Therefore, these neural traces should be critically related to the property of initial signals for the corresponding thalamocortical circuit. Consistently, such an associative property is one of the characteristics of working memory. Through this TRN-modulation model, the concepts of capacity restriction of attention and the inability of humans to carry on simultaneous multi-attention become understandable. The limited capacity of attention may be caused by mechanical limitations in synchronizing TRN activities as a whole. Finally, such synchronization should yield a dominant single output signal as a unique mental representation related to the attended object. Reasonably, this characteristic of restrictive attention is more severe within the same modality, as the input information of each modality belongs to each corresponding sector in the thalamic relay nuclei as well as in the TRN. Therefore, the finely compartmental configuration of both the thalamus and the TRN is subjected to exclusive competition for the same modal signals. Apparently, this hypothesis is also consistent with bi-stable perception, unilateral neglect, extinction, and simultagnosia, because the TRN in each hemisphere has no direct connection between them. Hence, they are able to exert efficient lateral control over each hemispheric thalamocortical loop. However, ultimately they should communicate indirectly to result in a unitary conscious awareness, which may represent somewhat unclear emotional conscious experiences, such as a melancholy mood. Consistently, there is a connection between the TRN and the limbic system that is related to emotion. Moreover, the phenomenon of 'attentional blink' appears to be in accord with this TRN-synchronizing model, as the TRN network would need an absolute refractory period in which to switch modes of synchronization in order to shift attention to other upcoming targets. Therefore, such a refractory period in changing attention could account for 'attentional blink'. In addition, the unilateral characteristic of attention is comprehensible to a certain extent through a number of TRN-lesion studies. For instance, reduced right tecto-pulvinar activity was offset by over-compensatory enhancement in the TRN suppression of left pulvinar activity . Unilateral electrolytic lesions of the TRN elicited metabolic depression in the ipsilateral thalamic centrolateral, mediodorsal, ventromedial, and ventrolateral nuclei, and metabolic activation in the bilateral dorsal tegmental nuclei ; and a selective excitotoxic lesion of the ipsilateral TRN induced changes in the receptive field properties of the contralateral vental posterior medial thalamic nuclei . Furthermore, even in the study of memory impairment, the unilateral inactivation of rats' TRN has been shown to interfere with the acquisition of active avoidance in the contralateral hemisphere . Therefore, the gating role of the TRN in the information flow between thalamus and cortex seems plausible in a unilateral manner, and these anatomical and physiological features may lead to the unilateral characteristic of attention. It is important to note that, although attention seems to be a necessary condition for awareness, it appears by no means to be sufficient. For example, exogenous cues presented below a subjective threshold of awareness can capture attention automatically but without awareness . Therefore, we need to identify more complementary mechanisms underlying conscious awareness. Regarding the thalamocortical feedback mechanism, Sherman and Guillery reported that first-order thalamic relay cells receive their driving afferents from ascending pathways and send these signals to their corresponding cortices for the first time, whereas higher-order thalamic relay cells are held to bring their principal messages from the corresponding cortices. Interestingly, TRN cells send their axons back to the thalamus, particularly two branches of a single axon connected to the first-order and the related higher-order nucleus . Thus, the TRN can be said to act as an integrative junction of different but associated thalamocortical circuits. Sherman and Guillery suggested that the functional significance of such a gathering venue may be most important for the interactions among first-order and higher-order circuits that belong to the same modality grouping. Based on such anatomical evidence, the present study hypothesizes that conscious awareness may be embodied in the process of such thalamocortical iterative signal circulation as controlled by the TRN, as depicted in Figure 2. To elaborate the degree of conscious awareness, first-order and higher-order relay cells may interact within the TRN, where the closest relationships between first-order and higher-order relay circuits for any one modality are found . Accordingly, the first-order and higher-order relay circuits controlled by the TRN can yield more refined and thus higher cognitive information, as their circulating feedbacks run over and over again in an integrative reprocessing manner. In this sense, the compact latticework formation of the TRN is advantageous to coordinate the overall conscious experience. This dynamically circulating model offers one plausible understanding of the typical characteristics of consciousness. For example, although consciousness appears to be continuous, it actually consists of isolated steps [114, 115]. According to the TRN-modulation model, consciousness consists of each mental unit, which is an individual thalamocortical looping mechanism, no matter what cognitive stages it involves. Such individual mental units may behave discordantly, possibly reflected in the discrete characteristic of consciousness. In addition, as we experience everyday life, we require at least a minimal period to become aware of something. Indeed, in the framework of the TRN-mediated thalamocortical looping model, minimal time is necessary for signals to loop the circuit. This model is also in accordance with the recently proposed hypothesis that we are only aware of changes in our underlying cognition ; according to the TRN-modulation model, only dynamically iterating neural signals through thalamocortical loops eventually substantiate our conscious perception. In line with the plausible account of characteristics of consciousness, the mechanism of dreaming is also explainable within the framework of this circulating model. In spite of nearly complete lack of sensory input from the real world during sleep, the looping circuit of the TRN-centered circulating model could be activated by randomly evoked signals within that loop, which presumably initiates to evoke a dream mechanism. Therefore, during dreaming we can have mental experiences as vivid as those we have in the real world. Similarly, this circulating model is consistent with 'self-consciousness,' because the model allows thalamocortical networks to generate signals for themselves merely by an internally driven cue such as visual imagination (with the eyes closed). This circulating model can explain the priming effect as well. Possibly, a priming signal may boost or initiate the related neural activation of the TRN-mediated thalamocortical network in advance so that a subsequent relevant input signal could advantageously advance this warmed-up activation into more proliferated activation. The priming effect appears therefore to be modality-specific , which is also a particular structural characteristic of the TRN, as mentioned earlier. 'Consciousness' is referred to as thalamocortical response modes controlled by the TRN and is embodied in the form of dynamically synchronized thalamocortical networks ready for upcoming attentional processes. 'Attention' is neurophysiologically substantiated by a highlighted neural ensemble among a number of synchronized thalamocortical candidates, the topographical maps of which are projected onto the TRN. Thalamocortical looping via the TRN is necessary for the 'conscious awareness' of an attended object. We can test these hypotheses experimentally. For example, the degree of conscious awareness could be evaluated along with the severity of the impairment of the TRN. We can also assess the degree of modality-specific conscious perception while investigating the extent of impairment in its functionally relevant thalamocortical loops. The influence of neuroanatomical abnormal connections (whether they are on the first-order track or on higher-order networks) could also tell us more about the significance of iterative thalamocortical loops in accomplishing improved conscious perception. Most likely, the phenomenon of masking presents compelling evidence for the significance of thalamocortical loops in conscious perception. Masking phenomena can be interpreted as an interruption between the signals circulating through the thalamocortical loops. The TRN-mediated model could reconcile several major hypotheses for conscious awareness. According to the so-called 'global workspace' model of consciousness , incoming information becomes conscious only if three conditions are met: (1) the existence of represented information by sensory neural networks; (2) the existence of representation long-lasting enough to gain access to a second stage of processing; and (3) the ignition of a combination of bottom-up propagation and top-down amplification to create a state of reverberating, coherent activity. The first condition of the global workspace model is well in accordance with the networking conception of the TRN-mediated model. The second condition of the global workspace model can be understood from the viewpoint of the thalamocortical iterative looping of the TRN-mediated model. Likewise, the third condition of the global workspace model is analogous to the aspect of synchronized neural activation in the TRN-mediated model. Compared to the global workspace model, the TRN-mediated model seems more plausible in the following respects. The model-specific sectors on the TRN provide us with a deeper understanding of modality-specific conscious awareness. In addition, although the prefrontal cortex is an important center for conscious awareness in the global workspace model generally, the prefrontal cortex is sometimes not necessary to produce a kind of modality-specific awareness in the TRN-mediated model. Based on the TRN-mediated model, the TRN is responsible for controlling thalamocortical networks to be consciously processed, and the prefrontal cortex may work for the conscious evaluation of highlighted thalamocortical networks. As shown in Figure 2, the concept of locally synchronized loops such as in the occipital, frontal, or parietal region is consistent in all the three models (Dahaene's, Lamme's, and the present TRN model). These locally activating networks indicate either corticocortical regional networks or any subunit of TRN-mediated thalamocortical assemblies. On the other hand, the distributed firing patterns in the global workspace model are characteristic of the processing stage, when the TRN is initiating to globally control and organize all the locally activating neural networks to bring about the completion of conscious awareness. That is, the TRN invigorates a specific neural ensemble to be consciously processed and simultaneously suppresses other irrelevant neural activations. In particular, as Lamme emphasized the importance of feedback connections to the primary visual cortex in terms of visual awareness, the TRN model also highlights the significance of feedback signals from the primary sensory cortex to accomplish conscious awareness. Furthermore, Lamme and Roelfsema proposed the necessity of recurrent processing in relation to consciousness. This notion is exactly what the TRN-mediated model has highlighted as iterative looping processes for conscious awareness. As discussed so far, the TRN model does not underestimate the significance of cortical roles in conscious awareness. It simply highlights the physiological significance of the central roles of the TRN, such as controlling, screening, and accumulating neural signals through thalamocortical loops during conscious awareness. Most likely, the cortical layers communicate regularly through their corticocortical connections . In addition, the cortices provide their own substantial contribution to the development of consciousness. That is, they may elaborate not-yet-matured information into highly processed information while managing previous information held in a certain form in the cortical network. For example, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is assumed to be the neural correlate for integrating discrete cycles of conscious perception [116, 121]. However, the TRN-modulation model of consciousness can account for more mental experiences while including corticocortical communication within its framework; they are not mutually exclusive. Through the TRN-modulation model, it becomes easier to understand why there are such complicated (seemingly randomized but logically associated) topographic distributions across many cortical areas during conscious awareness. The receptive maps projected on each sector of the TRN are overlapped and may be intercommunicative within the latticework structure of the TRN. Moreover, 'blindsight' phenomena seem less paradoxical from the viewpoint of the TRN-modulation model; with blindsight, the TRN and the thalamus cannot receive any feedback signals from the V1 (primary visual cortex). Such signals from the primary sensory cortex are necessary to accomplish conscious awareness according to the TRN-modulation model. In other words, visual thalamic nuclei such as the LGN or pulvinar would passively receive continuous input from the retina, but without returning signals from the V1, resulting in unconscious perception. In addition, the possibility that thalamic relay mixtures such as intralaminar or midline thalamic nuclei play a role in integrating information processes for consciousness cannot be excluded, as expected in the TRN. However, compared to the TRN, they appear to make different contributions, because they are connected principally with the striatum apart from the cerebral cortex . Furthermore, the striatum is connected to the TRN in an unusual manner, such that the external segment of the globus pallidus projects onto the TRN without branching on the motor thalamus . Moreover, there is no innervation to the TRN from the internal segment of the globus pallidus, which projects onto the thalamus . These findings imply that the thalamus and the TRN are regulated differently in terms of motor control. Presumably, the consciousness of voluntary movement and that of sensory processing are different in their neural correlates. Indeed, since the prefrontal cortex receives afferents from thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic structures, and brainstem , presumably conveying information about motivation and intention of movement, and influences movement only indirectly through projections to basal ganglia, secondary motor cortices, and cerebellum , the prefrontal cortex does not seem to be the center of willful motion, but is rather considered as the temporal and executive organization of willful motion . Therefore, we need a more plausible neural controller for initiating and supervising the consciousness of voluntary movement, irrespective of whether it is a whole neural network or a small neural assembly. Given the issue of motion free-will and the remaining questions regarding the functions of thalamic relay mixtures or higher-order relay circuits, further development of the TRN-mediated consciousness model requires further experimental investigation. For example, the interactive relationship between the TRN and higher-order relay cells may be a key feature for screening mental representations to be selected as an attended target and consequently for manifesting conscious awareness of it, as both the TRN and higher-order thalamic relay cells receive feedback signals from the corresponding cortices, where more elaborated information might be uploaded and kept. This crucial relationship requires clarification in further studies. In spite of these remaining challenges, the sophisticated but logically connected thalamocortical circuits passing through the TRN and its inhibitory control function continue to reinforce the significance of the TRN-mediating model of consciousness. To clarify the descriptions used throughout this paper, I tentatively use the term 'consciousness' as a general mental state of being capable of awareness. In addition, the term 'awareness' is used to represent a specific mental state of being acquainted with something in a conscious manner (conscious perception). Some empirical evidence regarding the neurophysiology of the TRN used in this paper is based on animal studies; hence, there are limitations regarding the generalization of the TRN-modulation hypothesis of human consciousness. However, as the human TRN might have evolved from the TRN of animals, I believe that such implications concerning our consciousness have considerable value for future studies. It is another question as to which brain region is responsible for deciding what to attend to. This is perhaps controlled by top-down signals from higher cognitive stages (e.g., the frontal cortex). This issue remains controversial and open to investigation. I am thankful to Prof. Wolfgang Klimesch (Salzburg University) for his kind permission to reproduce and cite Figure 1.

2019-04-25T00:45:19Z

https://tbiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-4682-7-10

Dr. Deborah Bergeron: Good afternoon, everybody. I'm so glad that you are here to join us for the kick- off of the Office of Head Start's campaign Safe Foundations, Healthy Futures. Supporting Safe Children, Thriving Staff, And Strong Programs. You have the pleasure -- I have the pleasure of joining you today to share with you a campaign that we've been working on for some time. And I have two wonderful people here with me. This is Dr. Bergeron, by the way. I guess I should probably tell you that. Ann Linehan, our deputy director is here to join us, which is wonderful. Her experience goes way back to the classroom. So she'll be able to relate to so much of what we're going to talk about today. And then, we have David Jones here, who works with a National Center and PMFO, and has extensive experience with Head Start, particularly working with our fatherhood programs, which is wonderful to hear about, and to know about in relation to how we run our programs, and there's a lot of relevance between what we're going to talk about today, and the work we do with our families. Before we jump into content, though, just take a look at your screen. There should be a left sidebar where you can ask questions, you can download the slides, give you a few seconds to do that, make sure that you can see the slides. And certainly, feel free to use the text box to ask questions throughout, and we'll get to as many questions as we can, once we're finished with the presentation. So, without further delay, let's jump right in. One of the first things we want to talk about is, is why people work in Head Start. It's a great question to ask, and of course, we've got some ideas here. We've got passion to serve children and families, and making a difference. We all want to feel like we're making a difference, and we have meaning in our life. But I was thinking, you know, it's really a good idea for you to stop and pause, and think about why you've chosen to do this work. We have a lot of choices in our life to choose career paths. And even within career paths, which is where we're gonna spend that energy. And you've chosen Head Start, and that isn't an accident. I believe that was probably very intentional. I know a lot of the folks we have, who work for us used to be parents, and I think they feel a -- not an obligation so much, as just a desire to pay it forward, and to give back to the program that helped their own children. I know we've got folks who were in public school systems who come over to Head Start to work with a specific population that they know they can really make a difference. Last week we were at a TA conference, and we started off just by saying, you know, "What is your purpose?" It's important to know why. And why do we ask why? Well, when we know the why, it's a lot easier to know what we should do. And today's kind of about that, when we know that we're here to serve children and our most vulnerable children, we know that if we're going to do that, safety has to be at the forefront of that work. I know in my own previous life as a school administrator, I used to stand up in front of high school students, and asked them what the most important part of my job was. And they would yell out all kinds of things that were not even close. And then, we would talk about how safety was really my first priority. And, talk to them about how important having a safe learning environment is in order to get anything done. And parents expect that. They expect their children to be safe when they're with us. And if they're not, nothing else really matters. So, we're going to talk a lot about safety and wellness today. We're launching a campaign that is going to be supporting everyone throughout the Head Start environment. During the next year, you can expect a lot of activities around this. Maybe we'll, you'll see some webinars. A lot of information coming out to prevent risk of physical or emotional harm. Practical resources pushed out to you so that you can have some skills in your toolbox that you can pull from. We know that day to day, you have a lot of challenges. Some of topics you might see are things like safety and active supervision, positive climates for classroom management. I’m very interested, actually personally, in pushing some of that out. I think that when the classroom have a positive climate where children feel safe, and where adults are available to them, you feel a lot fewer incidents. But we also are going to touch on trauma-sensitive issues. We know that a lot of our children are coming to us from places of trauma, and knowing how to handle that is a big piece. And staff wellness is another one we want to touch on. So there are a lot of different things you're going to see throughout the year so that you can start to develop and grow your own safety campaign, in your own space, in your own programs. I mean, you might see some webcasts, tip sheets, My Peers discussions, town hall discussions, a lot of other fun things so that we can keep on this throughout the year. And -- Ann? Ann Linehan: Well, I just want to say, I am so happy to be part of this. And I think, if I wasn't invited to present I probably would have had a fight with somebody. That said, you know, you may say why are we doing a campaign. Well, when I think about some of the successful campaigns over the years, when I think about Back to Sleep. That was so successful. It was a sustained campaign, and it really influenced people's behavior. We're doing a campaign, one, because we know from our own data that we have send trends where we think things are happening where they could be avoided. We also want to move the needle. Not move the needle just to have fewer incidents where children are in unsafe places, but to really eradicate any incident from happening. You know, we think about who's responsible. We think about, you know, our teachers, our frontline staff, but we really want to influence the behavior and the thinking of our governing bodies, of anyone who works in Head Start. The custodian. The bus driver. This campaign is for everybody who has any responsibility for caring for our children. I do want to put this in perspective, though. When we -- this is a very serious campaign. And I just want to share a stat with you. So last year, we had 131 documented incidents. But when you think about the opportunities for something to happen to a Head Start or Early Head Start child in your care, when we think about program year, we have 687,000 little bodies moving around on a daily basis somewhere in your hands. When you think about a program year, and all the days that those kids go to school, there are about 131,000,000 million opportunities for something to happen that is harmful or hurtful to a child. When you think of those statistics, the number of incidences in Head Start is really 0.00045. That said, so it's a small -- it's -- the incidences are small, but one is too many, and 131 is far too many. And those are really the ones that we know about. And our goal is as part of this campaign is to inform, to influence behavior, and also to offer support throughout the year to grantees in creating these safe environments. We believe, as we said earlier, that most are preventable, such as leaving a child on a bus, or a playground, or in a bathroom, or giving a child to someone who they don't even know. So again, we are here to support you in the work you do in creating these safe foundations, safe environments for our children. You know, the one thing that we know, for many of our children and families, life is very challenging. And often, Head Start should be, and in many cases is, the most joyous part of a child's day. They should have loving staff from the moment they enter the bus, or crossover that door, to the time that they are returned to their parents. And you know, we have focused a lot -- I want to say over the last two or three years, on classroom instruction. Classroom instruction. How important that is. Intentional teaching practices. But I can share with you, without a safe and nurturing environment, where kids can feel confident and safe, the instruction isn't going to matter. So really, starting out with that safe, loving environment is really the most important goal of each day. And when I think about the parents, and the grandparents, and the foster parents, that every day entrust their child to you, and, or, to us, when I think about handing off that four-month-old baby to the Early Head Start teacher, to the family child care provider, for one moment does that parent, or grandparent, or foster care parent ever think my child is going to be in harm's way. So, the responsibility that each of us has every day to ensure to that the children are safe, and I like to say always, and it was not my saying, but bathed in love is really our responsibility. Dr. Bergeron: You know, Ann, I think of something when you talk about all these different aspects of a Head Start program that affect children every single day. And both as an administrator and as a parent -- As a school administrator, I used to hyper focus on my bus drivers and cafeteria workers, and custodians, because so often they're sort of in the background, and we're so teacher-focused, that we forget that there are all these other people who make the day work. It wouldn't without a clean building. It wouldn't work without a good lunch, or without a safe drive to school. But also, as a parent, I can share a personal story with you from last week. My daughter is a rising senior, and she was chosen to speak to all of the incoming, what they call, well the support staff in [Inaudible] County. So those are your bus drivers, and your cafeteria workers, and those kind of folks, as they returned to the school year last week. And I went and listened to her, and she started by telling her story about her bus driver when she was in Kindergarten, she fell asleep on the bus. And she fell over, and she was just a peanut, so the bus driver didn't' see her. And she talked about that story, and how the bus driver took her home, went out of her way to make sure she got to her bus driver, bus stop. And then, she talked about her cafeteria worker who used to let her take the lunch carts during lunch. And that was the best part of her day, because she got to be important, and she was in first grade. This is a rising senior who is remembering the people who were working in these sort of ancillary jobs in her school building when she was five. And she's remember these people. This is how important they are. And I think, you know, in, amongst all these skills and strategies, and things we're going to talk about, I think the most important thing we can do with all of the people who work with our children is to reiterate important they are. Annabelle, my daughter, talked about how the bus driver's the first person, I think she said, a little face sees in the morning, or something like that. Just made my heart warm. Because she is right. It's the first person that child sees for the day to decide, is this going to be a good day, or a tough day. And when that is a welcoming smile, and a warm heart, and that goes along with making sure, you know, the seat belt’s buckled and that everyone is off the bus. Those are all part of those things, it just makes for a better day. So, I think as you, as you take in all that we're going to talk to you about, to really think about holistically how you mobilize your staff to understand how important each and every one of them is. I think, certainly we're going to look at systems and practices. I know that you have to have systems in place. You cannot follow every person around in your building, and making sure that they're doing what they're supposed to do. So, there has to be systems. There are going to be, sort of, predictable challenges that you can think about ahead of time. But at the end of the day, I think it is about the relationships that you have with your staff. If they trust you. If they know you're setting them up for success, then you can have honest conversations. And when things aren't going the way that you would hope they would go, those are opportunities for improvement, not opportunities to get your hand slapped. And that's sort of where we need to be. We need to be at a place where we are all in this for the kids, and when that's going on, then we're all just trying to get better at what we do. And so, it doesn't just feel like a gotcha, as much as an opportunity to grow. Ann: I think that's a great segway, David, into your comments. David Black: Absolutely. You know, it's interesting. I really resonate with the story that you told. Because I think that's where it's at, that you hear about the experiences of children, and too many times they are negative experiences, but the way your daughter talks about how influential bus drivers and the cooking staff were in the school, it says a lot about what we do. I'm really excited to be a part of this conversation because I have the opportunity to kind of represent the collective voice of the project offices that sort of guide the work of the National Centers. And also talk a little bit about management systems and the services. To the previous slide emphasized the leadership's role in supporting staff to kind of do their best. And one aspect of that support really centers around communication. I think when we think about organization, they usually follow, you know, the type of patterns where it's hierarchical. You know, the directors are at the top, managers kind of work between the director, and the front line staff. I mean, the front line staff, as we just heard, you know, they provide services to children and families. When systems are implemented, so they usually follow this top down structure. But the good thing for programs to think about in relationship to this campaign is how important it is for organizations to establish communications systems that inform, influence, and direct service provision. Many organizations are moving from the more traditional organizational structures, you know, displayed on this screen, to a more fluid communication system, and I think this is the case for many of our grantees. This is the same organizational chart as the previous slide. But however, as you can see, it's inverted. Now the majority of Head Start work force, to me, is at the top, and they have a direct interaction and influence on enrolled children and families. Viewing this chart through the lens of a direct service provider causes us to think about the importance of bilateral communication, where it flows from the top down and from the bottom up. Front line staff are deeply engaged in service delivery and are consistently looking for ways to improve what they're doing. And when an organization sets a tone where ideas, thoughts, recommendations, and suggestions about strategies to improve service delivery are welcome, it demonstrates a respect for the professionals who are engaged in what I believe, and what we've already heard, is our most important work. Partnering with the families in an effort to educate children. This can be done on a collective buy-in on the part of all of the staff, where they willingly embrace responsibility and they invest that all children are safe in our care. have had the appropriate training. There was a great example, and a real-life scenario that I actually just read today, where there was a child -- and we hear this in many organizations -- you know, kids with very challenging behavior. And I think the child threw a toy, and then kicked the teacher. And it was kind of a brand new teacher. And the teacher restrained the child in a way that was not appropriate. And that was reported up. And what the program realized was, you know, thankfully the child was not hurt. Someone intervened immediately. But the teacher did not know how to properly hold a child so the child wasn't going to hurt himself or others. And what that program realized was they really needed to do more training and support, and not fire that teacher that had a lot of promise. So, we really want to say to programs, we know that this tough. We know that it's painful. But I think stepping back and saying, what is it from a, a management perspective, from a training perspective, from a coaching perspective, from a new employee orientation, for ongoing observation, what is it that we need to strengthen in our systems so these kind of things could be potentially avoided in, you know, in the future. So, we just want to say these really are opportunities to learn, and I even know, me -- And I'm going to say the word that people probably all thinking. "Well, you guys blame us. You give us bad monitoring report." But I, I can tell you some pretty tough directors, who are really upset, you know, they said, "You know what? It really forced us into really doing some reflection, and we think are children are safer for it." I also want to do, and I should have done this in the beginning -- a shoutout. You know, the Office of Head Start is doing this nationally. But we have three regions, Region IX, was out there pretty quickly, I want to say, probably a year and a half ago. Region VII. I know has got a campaign. And I know Region XII. And what we have observed, because I think Region IX has been the longest running campaign, we have seen fewer incidences. So, that's why, to take this on nationally, we want to reduce those numbers. Because it is a painful experience for staff person, the grantee, the parent, child. Nobody -- It is painful for everybody involved. And I think what we want to do -- I don't know if we have any questions. But, I think what we'd like to do is kind of take a couple of questions if folks have them. And I think we got two. “I got on a little late, but what does a reference to safe mean?” I really think, you're really talking about creating a safe environment. But what does that mean. It means that having the teachers that have the kind of support and training, and skills. It's not just the classroom setup. I mean, you can go in and see some classrooms that are set up, where the child's not in the sight lines. Or they're sipping hazards. Or there are, you know, safety issues within a classroom. That's one thing that can be corrected, I think, or addressed even more, more easily. I do think, again, it's how the children, the interactions with the child. I mean a stern voice can -- can go a long way at ruining a child's day, or making a child feel less confident about asking a question, or how you handle transitions. You know, are you preparing children, or are you just laying things on with just -- unpredictable guidance, where children are kind of taken back. You know, the social-emotional aspect is incredibly important. And I think it -- I don't -- I would say social-emotional safety, security, where children feel confident about themselves, where they can take risks, you know, for the learning perspective, where they feel free to explore, where they're not careful that the teacher's going to yell at them if they leave one center and go to another. I mean, it's hard to say, both are necessary The physical environment must be safe. But the social-emotional environment is as important. I think one thing, when people have an incident, where they are not -- you know, where a child was slapped, or a child was yelled at, or a child was left alone unsupervised -- people always say, but the child wasn't hurt. We have no idea from a social-emotional perspective how that child reacted to that event, which could have lasting repercussions. I think, you know, Debby your daughter told my stories. Where I can tell you horrible stories, and I'm an old lady. [Laughter] And I still have repercussions from that nasty teacher, what she did to me. out, a campaign that has any meaning, and can really give you the girth that you need. And I really think a big piece of this, and I said this at the beginning, and I know it's part of the campaign is the wellness of your staff. And that's physical and emotional, too. It's physically. Are they healthy and well to be able to work with kids of this, of this age, who are very physical? And also, are they emotionally at a place so that what kids do isn't personal. It's not about them, so they don't have to feel reactionary when things aren't going quite the way that they wish they would. I think it's very complex, but I don't think it's complicated. I just think it require a lot of different perspectives. Ann: The next -- David, did you have a comment? I'll move on to the next question. The next question is really an interesting one. And I'm actually glad that someone posed it. You know, they'd like a little bit more information on the kinds of incidences. And they also asked, are these child abuse neglect allegations that get reported to the regional offices, or are these CPS-substantiated incidences of abuse and neglect? So let me break it down a little bit. The, now. What I shared with you, the 131, are reported incidences that we have documented, and we have issued reports. That does not mean that they're not others that were not reported. So all of these were reported to the regional office, the regional offices. And they really break down into three categories. I think, you know, when you talk about the types. When we talk about mal-treatments, it could be from roughly handling a child, to we had a teacher got actually was arrested. Someone took a video of her dragging the child down the corridor by holding on to the child's legs and dragging the child. It could be humiliate -- instances of humiliation. I mean, there are certainly a substantial bucket around what we would consider mal- treatment. I think there is, where teachers are being abusive to children, either physically or emotionally, I think that there are issues where children are left unsupervised. You have heard about the bus. You have heard about the playground. You've heard about the bathroom. And, there are -- and that happens quite frequently. And out of the 131. And I think that the other ones that are probably a little less frequent but still, when they happen, it's really pretty scary, when they, when a child is released to someone who is unauthorized. We had a situation where a child was released to someone who the child didn't even know. And the child went willingly. That's, that's all little bit scary. You asked also -- and I want to get back to -- with these substantiated incidents of abuse and neglect by your children and protective services. Some are, some are not. The licensing is very different from state to state. And we go according to our regulations. There are some states we know that the bar is, I want to say is probably so low that if the child is not almost near imminent, imminent death, then CPS does not, you know, substantiate, or even take in the complaint. So we don't -- we look to see what evidence, for example, there may be, on a grantee in a given state relative to incidences that were called in, or to licensing that is substantiated by CPS. But the decisions we make are independent, based on our own regulations and the facts in which we gather and document. So. Debby, I, you know, when you talked about trauma-informed care, training available, and with the -- of the whole -- and then you layer on the opioid and drug-addicted stuff. Do you want to comment on that? Dr. Bergeron: You know, I just think that you can expect more specific training around that. So please keep your eye out for that. I know, I'm sure all of your staff are feeling like they want to know more. What do we do about this? And there is more and more training that's being made available. And I'm sure we'll be pushing a lot of that out. And, I think that requires -- that's more of skill-based thing more than it is anything else. We can care all we want, but in some ways, you do have to have the background on specific ways of dealing with trauma. And I would just keep my out for that. David: Also, there's question that came in around how could this information be applied to a home- based program. And I think that's a really great question. Because I think so much of what we do involves partnering with and communicating effectively with parents. And there's no other time that our work is so critical is when you're going into someone else's home. We even have conversations with them about safe environments, and sort of, give thoughts about how to interact with their children in ways, you know, that are developmentally appropriate. So, I think for the home-base option, again it's nuancing. I’m going in and being respectful of cultures, asking questions, partnering with parents in a way that you're looking up their values and their beliefs, and what's important to them in their child's development. Ann: So, I think it's the same thing, you know, when we get into smoke-free environments with children in schools. I think that had a trickle-down effect. I mean, we're hoping that whatever is good for a child in an Early Head Start or Head Start setting, or partnership setting, or family child -- it's going to be, also, helpful for parents in thinking about ensuring that their homes are also safe environments. And I, will take this, because it's on some people's minds. As far as federal review, monitoring goes, what specifically would the team look for or observe when visiting programs in reference to safe environments. What I would say, you know, every year the Protocols are posted. The Monitoring Protocols. It's transparent. You know what questions we're going to be asking. You know what we're going to be observing. But I think you also know that sometimes these things are so unpredictable, you could be going and just focusing on an activity that a teacher's doing, and they're could be an episode in the classroom that could be handled not in the way that is appropriate. So we don't go looking for bad things to be happening. It is just apart of, the general observations. But I will tell you. Most of the things that we identify are not part of the team going in. They're things that either we get complaints from the community, or there is a newspaper article, or programs as they are required to do, report these incidents to us. So it really, most of these do not emanate from the, what I would say, the more traditional monitoring team going in. Although like anyone, if, if something is inappropriate or unacceptable, that needs to be reported. But that's not the intent of the monitoring teams when they go in. We're going to be able to answer a little bit in the closing, David, kind of the timeline. So, some of the things that are happening. So. And again. What other -- if I could scroll down the questions. Oh. Someone really offered a good insight. In addition to home-based programs, I also think it's important in thinking about group socialization spaces, and ensuring they're health -- are safe and healthy, too. And I think that's a really good point. Thanks, Jan, for offering that comment. Dr. Bergeron: Sharing the calendar. Ann: Absolutely. So, David, if you could take us through sort of what some of these upcoming events are. David: Absolutely. So, we are extremely excited, you know, to have an opportunity to spend time with you this afternoon. To launch the Office of Head Start's national campaign Safe Foundations, Healthy Futures. And again, the tagline, Safe Children, Thriving Staff, Strong Programs, which is going to run from September 2018 through April of 2019. And we're really excited about, as I said earlier, all the National Centers are involved. And one thing that we didn't say earlier, that I think, when Ann was giving credit to the regions, I think, there was a meeting a few months back when our RPMs came in, and really kind of helped to put this on our radar in a meaningful way. They were, they were really passionate about wanting to do something, which really informed where we are at right now. So, for the month of September, it's going to kick off with the National Center on Health and Wellness, and they're going to sort of talk a little about actually building upon a lot of great work that they did back in 2016 on active supervision. Creating and Enhancing a Culture of Safety. That's going to be done in partnership with the National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Operation. In October of 2018, we have Active Supervision for Child Safety. November 2018, Strategies to Create Positive Learning Environments for Children and Families. So that actually speaks from the content that we covered about learning environments in keeping children safe. In December, Caring for Yourself So You Can Care for Others. And I think this is critically important. Staff wellness, you know, again, to the degree that staff sort of are coming into the classroom ready and able to deal with some of those challenging behaviors that children have has a lot to do with how well they're taking care of themselves, and how they are being supported through supervision and professional development. So, we're excited about that week, that month. January 2019, Creating Trauma Sensitive Classrooms to Promote Health and Safety. Again, focusing in on trauma-related issues that teachers have to contend with. February 2019, Strategies to Promote Organizational and Staff Wellness. March 2019, we're going to get into some of the human resources considerations that assist in recruit and retain responsive staff, and also, some things that you can do to sort of be a little more observant about when they may be struggling with particular issues that could put children in jeopardy. And last but definitely not least, in April of 2019, Planning for In-Service Training. Ann: And David, there's going to be a lot -- these are just kind of the big topical areas, but there's going to be a lot of activity ongoing, in between -- that are supplementing these, that are providing additional resources for programs. David: We got some media campaigns. There's going to be town hall events. I think, we really want, you know, grantees on the front line to get excited about it. We want you tweeting about it. We want you posting on Facebook. Whatever you can do to kind of keep this alive and active, and well in your programs, we'd love to see that. And let us know how you're doing. I mean, there may be some really great stories, too, which we didn't cover, on how one of your systems really sort of -- you had a minor incident. Right? Something that may have been reported, but [Inaudible] an incident which has occurred. Right? But you improved your system in a way that you had any of those incidents again. We want to hear your success stories, as well, of things that you've implemented to think about, in keeping children safe. Dr. Bergeron: Yeah. I think, I think the success piece is really where it's at. I think both at -- on the ground, really promoting the success within your own space is important, I think, promoting what works is much more powerful than going through all the things you shouldn't be doing. I know that sometimes you have to over those things, but I would definitely take a positive messaging angle with your staff where you're identifying the things you already do so well, and maybe even to the point of having some kind of regular recognition. It doesn't have to be a big deal, but somehow calling people out when they're doing -- not just the things they're supposed to do, but when they are going above and beyond to really support the safety and wellness of your children and even staff. I think the more you can promote what you're looking for, the more you're going to see it. So, I would highly encourage you to do that. And, we at the -- the other level is we definitely want to hear your story. Ann: And we have a new mom in this room whose son goes to a child care facility, and she said, you know, make staff make the teaching staff part of making that environment safe. You know, give them permission. And we know that folks that are working in the classroom really do have good incites sometimes administrators may overlook. And so, I just want to put that plug in. It really is about permission for people to really contribute it at all different levels. Dr. Bergeron: And really, everybody. If you got everybody in that building you've hired to do something, keeping an eye out for what's going on, it's it's a great situation because you'll have folks. I mean, you're custodians are more in tune with what's happening than anybody else in the building because they're there, they are everywhere, and they've got eyes, and they pay attention. So you've got a lot of opportunity to capitalize on the people who are in your building. And then, of course, we want to hear your stories. We do want to showcase what's working. The more we can share out on that note, the better you are going to give them avenues to do that. Or have some ways to do that. Dave, that's great. Dr. Bergeron: Great. So, you know, it's always fun to think about the fact that every day almost a million children are impacted by Head Start. That's a big responsibility. And it's one that I know all of you are proud to be a part of. I know I am. I think it takes all of us working together to do this work, and I like to think Head Start is really the access to the American dream. I think it is the first step to the American dream. I will say it's hard to dream if you don't feel safe, so make sure you take care of that piece and then I think everything else will fall into place. And of course, you've got tons of support here as you are mulling this all over and coming up with questions, or concerns, and we'll make ourselves available to you. Do you guys have any other? Ann: No, I just think, I feel like it's kind of a long time coming. We've talked about it. And, you know, we wish for the success of the program, and if they're successful, then that means that children are safe. So I just wish everyone well, and either you're beginning classes are ready, or you're in pre-service, and this is a big program year for us. And we think of that almost million kids. Many babies, and all the nervous parents. We want everyone to feel confident when they're in our hands. La Oficina Nacional de Head Start (OHS, sigla en inglés) ha lanzado una campaña para eliminar los riesgos prevenibles para la salud, la seguridad y el bienestar de los niños. La campaña Cimientos seguros, futuros saludables busca que los niños estén seguros, que el personal prospere y que los programas sean sólidos. Escuche a los líderes de la OHS presentar las tendencias actuales de datos y analizar los recursos que existen para mejorar los sistemas que su programa ya tiene implementados para mantener a los niños seguros (en inglés).

2019-04-24T23:13:53Z

https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/es/video/presentacion-de-la-campana-cimientos-seguros-futuros-saludables-de-la-oficina-nacional-de

Talking Point: What Do You Want To See From Nintendo At E3 2018? Being Nintendo Switch's second year, this feels like /the/ year the console really starts getting some exciting software. Not just more ports (of which I expect there to be many), but exclusive third-party titles built specifically for a console with Switch's architecture. I'm really hoping to see some more vested interest from publishers such as Ubisoft, EA and Activision, and this is the time to start seeing that focus. Come on, give us a Switch-exclusive Assassin's Creed, Ubi - you've got enough studios to make it happen. I'd imagine we're going to have some new/cameo characters for Super Smash Bros. announced, and we're obviously getting Fortnite, but I'd really love to see more from Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 beyond simple logo trailers. I think we could see the new Madden on Switch as it's the most obvious candidate in EA's remaining sports sims roster, and there's a chance we might get confirmation of a DOOM 2 port as well. I predict Sony will have a good E3 and Microsoft will once again stretch the definition of exclusive to breaking point, but Nintendo-wise I think a new Wave Race is on the way. Actually I’ve thought that since Wave Race 64 turned up on Wii U with the Kawasaki branding back, having been omitted from previous re-releases. It’s also been a long time since the last instalment although if I’m using that as an indicator I guess a new F-Zero is coming too. That would be brilliant, but I think that 'Star Fox: Grand Prix' game has pushed new F-Zero back a few years, even if it is said to be quite different. Outside of that I’m hoping for some decent third-party support. Something other than 'oldish game with added portability', whether that’s new multiplats or something tailored specifically for Switch. Oh, and if Nintendo could unveil the Virtual Boy Color, that’d be great. Rumors suggest it’s nowhere near a reality, but Retro Studios rounding out its own Donkey Kong Country trilogy would be my ultimate E3 announcement. Wait a minute... I lied. While that would make me one unbelievably happy human, it’s really a StarTropics reboot that could earn a smile big enough to rip my face in two. There’s just so much potential there. Sure, a top-down approach would work just fine, but I envision something more ambitious – think Zelda meets Uncharted meets EarthBound. Just the thought of a game like that has me drooling like Homer Simpson ogling a donut. I’d also like to see Professor Layton reinvented for the Switch. Keep Layton’s Mystery Journal running yearly on 3DS until it concludes a trilogy, which is about when I expect the 3DS to go quietly into the night, but bring back the venerable Professor himself on Switch, in full polygons, with a totally new presentation/gameplay approach. Keep the essence of the series intact, but have it make as much sense as possible for the current hardware. Again, potential – and lots of it. Also, Professor Layton, Mike Jones, Banjo-Kazooie, and another DKC character in Smash, please. I don’t remember being this excited for E3 since 2011, and I’ve got Nintendo to thank for that. The Switch has just totally revitalised my excitement for gaming. Sure, I’m intrigued about announcements from Sony, EA, Bethesda et all, but I’d be happy to just read a round-up to be honest. It’s the Nintendo Direct I’m screaming in anticipation for. It’s amazing how the system itself can just garner so much excitement. I’m as stoked to play remasters and re-releases on Switch as I am totally new games, because it really does offer a new way to play. So far Skyrim, DOOM, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Binding of Isaac, Tropical Freeze, FIFA 18, Resi Revelations 2, Rayman Legends, Rime, Rogue Trooper, Shovel Knight, and Wonder Boy have all been given totally new leases of life for me on Switch. That’s in just over a year. We’ve already got Crash Bandicoot, Wolfenstein II, Captain Toad, Monster Hunter Generations, and Dark Souls to come this year as well. And it speaks volumes that I’m super excited to play Dark Souls over again on Switch having literally just beat it on PS4 as well. That’s just how hungry I am for the new experiences that my wonderful Switch offers me even in older games. But E3 is about new announcements, and right now I’m excited about the possibilities. Looking at Nintendo’s line-up, I’m not particularly that stoked though – sorry guys! I’ll play Mario Tennis Aces and Super Smash Bros., but they’re not that big of a deal to me. I’m excited about Let’s Go for sure because I love casual Pokémon games and that looks a real winner, and I’d love to see more of Fire Emblem and Metroid Prime 4, but I don’t expect to see them this year so that excitement is somewhat stifled. It’s actually third party that I’m more excited about. I want to know what Bethesda’s planning next (PLEASE let it be one of the Fallouts, preferably 4), I’m interested in the potential changes EA might make for FIFA 19, and I really, REALLY, want a Tales game on Switch. Rumour’s Vesperia, which is awesome, but I’d also take Xillia, Symphonia, or Berseria. In fact, give me any JRPG and I’ll be happy! So basically, it’s the possibilities that excite me most of all – and particularly what third party developers are cooking up this year, which I’m pretty amazed to be saying about a Nintendo console. Tuesday just can’t come soon enough. The Nintendo Switch’s second E3 is an interesting one. The megaton, home run, system selling games for this fall (as well and something to do with a couple of week long last person standing phenomenon) have already been very well publicised, and Metroid/Bayonetta 3 seem a way off, but it’s the perpetual rumours of Star Fox Grand Prix that have me most curious. There’s so much more potential with the IP than just a straight up racer- a Diddy Kong Racing type set up with the dog fights and set pieces we know and love from the franchise could be super cool. Other than that, a release date for Yoshi (and the long rumoured Pikmin 4) would be lovely and I’d love to see a few beloved 3DS titles reappear, like BoxBoy, Pushmo collections or even a port of Kid Icarus Uprising. On the 3rd party front, some more Bethesda and Rock Star support (OMG Red Dead or Switch-specific Bully on the go!), The Witness and SUPERHOT. I was a big fan of Super Mario Maker on the Wii U when it was originally released in 2015. I used to spend hours crafting courses that required seemingly impossible manoeuvres in order to succeed. That’s why at this year’s E3 I would like to see this title announced for the Switch. I’m not exactly sure how compatible a game like this would be, due to the nature of Nintendo’s latest system, but surely the company could work its magic to make it happen. I don’t mind if it’s a port, and I’m also open to a direct sequel. At the very least, I just want to find out more about Super Smash Bros. Is it some kind of enhanced port of the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game, or is it a sequel of sorts? I guess that’s something we will find out next week based on Bill Trinen’s recent comments to the Hollywood Reporter. E3 is a magical time for the industry and, more importantly, for the gamers as it's a time for our collective minds to run wild with what could be coming to our favourite consoles in the near future. I always tend to watch Nintendo's E3 Direct with fairly low expectations with my faith restored in the Big N during the Treehouse segments. This year, however, I feel they need to nail the Direct with Metroid Prime 4 gameplay, a well overdue Pikmin 4 announcement, Animal Crossing (pretty please, Nintendo, don't let us down...) and some serious and concrete Online details along with a complete overhaul of the eShop that goes live at the time of the reveal. Needless to say, I'm expecting a bunch of ports such as Metroid Prime Trilogy to land this Holiday to tide us over and an out-of-this-world surprise that will have our jaws dropping to the floor - something along the lines of the Final Fantasy XII remake coming to Switch perhaps? Let a man dream. I think the thing I want to see the most is simply anything related to Metroid Prime 4. Those 30 seconds or so from last year’s conference, with the Prime music beautifully seducing everyone in until that magic number ‘4’ was displayed, somehow managed to steal the whole show for me. I find it unlikely that we’ll see anything substantial just yet, but the hype will be very real for me if we do. Being realistic, I’d be very surprised if we don’t see Fortnite make an appearance after all the recent hullabaloo, as well as more information on the 2018 Yoshi game and the online service launching this September. If you want some of my slightly more ‘out-there’ predictions, though, let’s say a Switch port of The Wonderful 101, something Fallout related from Bethesda, a paid-for chunk of DLC for Super Mario Odyssey with a new kingdom or two, and some kind of strange new direction for the Switch’s first Animal Crossing game. You might consider me part dreamer, part masochist but it will come to little surprise that I have been waiting since 2003 for a new proper F-Zero to be announced. Every year I go into E3 season with that “Maybe this year!” vibe only to find nothing to appease my peculiar need for speed. I always look forward to my favourite Nintendo franchises (Star Fox, Metroid, Pilotwings, Wave Race) to get some sort of nod during the presentation. I take special attention to learn whatever Monolith Soft is up to because I need still need closure for Xenoblade Chronicles X (I would fully finance a direct sequel). I hope we learn at the very least who is developing Metroid Prime 4 and if we are getting a Nintendo 64 Mini this holiday season. Truly we are living terribly exciting times for the industry as a whole and Nintendo in particular. Fire Emblem, Shin Megami Tensei, Dragon Quest XI... And some other games that aren't RPGs or SRPGs! Some gameplay footage of Metroid Prime 4 would be lovely, and maybe a glimpse of how Pokémon Switch will look would be an absolute winner. Really looking forward to Dragon Ball FighterZ, Octopath and Smash, but I expect we'll see them anyway. Putting Smash Bros. aside, I'm also interested in the Yoshi game for the Switch. I thought it looked pretty fun in the trailer. I just want to see Shin Megami Tensei V gameplay. Pretty sure we'll finally see Fire Emblem. It seems that Bayo 3 and Metroid most likely started production sometime last year so highly doubtful we'll see anything. Metroid might be mentioned at some point but likely no real information, maybe some concept talk. We'll see a lot of Smash, maybe a new mode, a new character or two, new stages of course. We definitely won't see everything though like Bill said. That Star Fox thing will almost certainly be revealed. There's some potential to finally see Pikmin 4. Maybe if we're lucky there'll be a surprise, and I hope we get one, but who knows. I'm not expecting much, to be honest, since Smash Bros doesn't appeal much to me. Splatoon 2, Super Smash Bros., Pokemon Let´s Go, and for the rest.... I´ll just wait and see. Perhaps something Paper Mario related. Preferably either a remake of the first 3 games or a new game like the first 2. My ultimate fantasy would be a remake of the Earthbound/Mother series in full 3D clay animation, just like the concept art that was used in the original. My penultimate fantasy would be a port of Kid Icarus Uprising, or a sequel. Animal Crossing. It has been 10 years since City Folk; 6 years since New Leaf; It's about Tortimer! I want to see proper third party support! We all know that Nintendos own exclusives are always well received and always sell many copies. The third party is lacking and I want to see more of this. Come on Bethesda I believe in you. Also Blizzard give me that Diablo III. Some smaller studios are welcome as well. I want Grim Dawn of the Switch as well! No Star Fox, no Bayonetta 3, no F-Zero, no Punch Out and no Metroid. 2018 titles only, with a blisteringly huge focus on Smash Bros and Let’s Go. The leaked third party sheet is all you will see from said companies, and Yoshi will be the only other Switch first party title in the Direct. Go in with these expectations, and you will have a good time. @memoryman3 And not just a clone of Peach! I want a new Punch-Out!! so hard. On the Switch! I'm hoping for some brand new games that we've not even heard rumours about, and Metroid Prime Trilogy HD (or at least a port that plays at higher resolution). I'm of the opinion that if Nintendo can have a new first party game for the last 5 months of the year, they will have had a good E3. Seeing were likely to get Yoshi, Smash, Pokemon, and Fire Emblem, we're only missing one game- probably for October. Maybe a new IP? Any Wii U ports would be a bonus. I don't think Ninty really needs that much western 3rd party support, but a slew of hot indies and unique Japanese titles will bolster what the traditional Nintendo customer is after. I Would like to see Super Mario 3D World and Mario Maker Ported and even a 'All Stars' HD Collection of all the New Super Mario series. Truth is for me Odyssey was a letdown. It was a good 'adventure' but simply didn't have enough platforming for a, yah know, PLATFORMER. I know it was fundamentally a platformer but nice long challenging sections of serious platforming felt rare - and not very varied actually. So I need much more Mario Platforming on the Switch. Odyssey was not a great 3D Platformer and I find it just doesn't draw me back like many of the supposedly inferior entries in the series. Other things I'd love: HD remaster of the Metroid Prime Series. It's gonna be weird having MP4 but no way to play the rest on Switch. Spelunky on my new favourite system would be great. They should not give up on Star Fox just cos they screwed up the last one - fix it or build a great one from scratch. Mario Galaxy 3 would be cool. Zelda HD Trilogy with SS. I'd love to see a new Rogue Leader game too. Animal Crossing but with an option to turn off real world time - so I can come back more casually like I do with Stardew Valley. That pressure to play everyday or close too is too strong a drug for me on AC - and I'm sure I'm not on my own. Mario Golf, a Pilotwings and finally - something Castlevania! Bayonetta 3 and a port of Kid Icarus Uprising/sequel announcement would be great. KI:U was such a great game that deserves a second chance on the switch. It did sell over 1M globally I believe. @ZeldaNX Dk64 HD sequel - man that would be good. And I feel this could be what Retro have been working on: A proper new 3D entry into DK Platforming. Collectaton or more traditional platforming structure - I don't care. I'd just love Retro Studios to take on taking 3D platformers to a new height. I'm hoping for a little trailer for 2019 Pokemon. JUST GIVE ME ANIMAL CROSSING!!! ...But apart from that I'd like to see some gameplay of Bayonetta 3 and SMT V, even if it's just a teaser trailer instead of Treehouse. I'd like too see some FE, hopefully we get a release date for Yoshi as well. Some surprises would be great too! True, there is so much potential with the quality retro could bring to that series. Let’s hope this becomes a reality! I agree with Glen the most. Not much from the 1st party lineup excites me bar Fire Emblem (which I think is still coming this year). I'm most looking forward to what 3rd parties bring; I too will take any JRPG or any narrative-driven game, really. Going beyond realistic expectations, I'd love to see Atlus announce a portable P5 on Switch, and Square Enix to bring FFXII or FFXV to the system. I don't think there'll be many Switch surprises given what's already leaked but if there are any I'd love to see more Wii U ports and Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition DLC. 1. No longer to be forced playing everyday or Villagers will Move Out without notification. 3. Shorter dialogues. Make it brief. 4. Full 3D Open World with World customization & A lot of different biomes (Forest, Desert, Oasis, Tropical, etc). No longer Flat Landscape like previous games. 5. Option to place your house / any Animals as your desire. Complete with House customize from HHD. 6. Part time Working like from Dillon's Dead Heat Breakers (SuperMarket, Scrapyard, Virtual Reality) with more variety of Part time jobs. 7. Enable to Open our Flea Maket at specific places (We can sell strightly unwanted items to wandering villagers) or own our Shop to sell specific items & can hire some Animals / Miis to be a shopkeepers. 8. Enable to read QR Code from Right Joy Con to unlock Custom design. 10. More than 1 Save Slot (Up to 5), so we can make more different Universes. As well as the obvious stuff (Pokemon: Let's Go, Super Smash Bros., etc) I'd love to see some footage of the new 2019 Pokemon and Metroid Prime games. And I would an announcement of a proper new F-Zero and/or Advance Wars game. Also, some Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Punch-Out!! and stuff like that would be nice too. Lastly, I REALLY wanna see the English version of Mother 3 FINALLY. Also put it on BOTH 3DS and Switch--because why not! It would be nice for Nintendo to be mentioned in third party conferences more than recent years. I still maintain that over the last 12 years (omg!) Nintendo gamers have missed out on some really amazing game franchises that would find an ideal home on the Switch in the form of HD remasters. So I predict we will see more remasters. Companies like Konami, Namco, Midway and Capcom are sitting on gold mines with their arcade / console history so hope we see more companies grabbing the VC bull by the horns and releasing content themselves. As well as everything else. Would love to see more gameplay of yoshi and maybe release date. Me no want an AssAss in Creed for Switch. I just want to be surprised now. @Anti-Matter Wow - you've thought this though quite a lot eh! Need more reasons to buy a Switch than our currently available: Super Mario Odyessey and Golf Story. As one of 28 people who actually bought and still owns a WiiU, I have all the other big titles on Switch as they are ports. Stop announcing ports Nintendo. Give us new games. Oh, and new 3DS games, as that is still my main system right now. Pikmin, metroid, new Zelda, Luigi's mansion, something new. I am not gonna bother predicting. But I will say what I hope for but don't really expect is an announcement of Animal Crossing Switch, and new Advance Wars title. Animal Crossing. For the love of god, ANIMAL CROSSING!!!! @GrailUK it certainly would! Those and a new Advance Wars would make me a pretty happy gamer. Probably would never happen, but I'd love an announcement of a Switch version of pocket football club. "I'll keep dreaming about Endless Ocean 3." How about Go Vacation 2 for Switch ? Scuba Diving in HD and other activities. @geordie Yes! I really liked that game. I was number 1 in Europe for a little while when it first came out. Not enough people played it. I want to see 12 new Definitive Editions of titles I've previously purchased for my Wii U. I'll be happy with any AAA-release, be it a new game or a remaster. A new Metroid game would be gorgeous and also I'm hyped for Bayonetta. Also I want to see new stuff from Bethesda (Fallout 4, Rage and/or Dishonored) and Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed for Switch would be awesome - and I believe there's a chance that they'd do an exclusive game). Something completely new or a revival of some long lost IP. Not too interested in Smash nor Pokemon. I hope they're releasing another big 1st party game this year. 2D Zelda would be a nice surprise. Mainline Fire Emblem would also be nice. I also hope we get major ARMS update like a new character, paid or free. Then I wish we get XCX, W101, SM3DW and TMS#FE ports and maybe Zelda WW and TP. Oh, OoT and MM HD while you're at it. DB FighterZ is welcome. But I want a new Prince of Persia from Ubisoft, 2D or 3D. anything thats new and not a Wii U port that i've already own. I concur with the StarTropics reboot. I also want to see Metroid Prime 4 footage and the announcement of a Switch OS update to add some sorely missing features. The sheer number pf people wanting stuff like Metroid bothers me. I dont know how many times Nintendo needs to slap you with the words 2018 only but come on. Animal Crossing would be amazing ♡ Other than that I am hype about more info on Metroid Prime 4 and Smash Bros!! I'll be happy if we get Yoshi and FE confirmed, plus the strongly rumoured stuff like Fortnite. Throw in the other well sourced tips like Ridge 8, Spyro, NSMBU DX and maybe even GTA V and Switch will have a blockbuster year. Personally I'd love to finally see Pikmin 4, a Metroid Prime Trilogy remaster to wet the whistle for Prime 4 and this rumoured Starfox GP game but it's not about me and it's good to manage expectations at this stage. "Sega! Put bloody Monkeyball 1 and 2 on the Switch (it would be perfect!)" I've had this long held fantasy that sega and Nintendo put their heads together and make a HD Monkey Ball best of, but with Donkey Kong and co in the balls. Seems such an obvious IP crossover. @electrolite77 That would be amazing! Get's my vote lol. As much as I love the single player game, the Switch would be just spot on for all the party stuff too! 1. Metroid Prime 4 gameplay. 3. Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door release on Switch. @Knuckles-Fajita I'll be very surprised if they don't give us even a glimpse of Metroid. Just because they said the focus will be on this year's titles doesn't mean they won't tease stuff for next year as they've done so in the past. Anyway as it stands ,MP4 could still be a 2018 title.Reggie said it was and the Norwegian Nintendo site said it was. I don't think it will be but there's no evidence to suggest it won't be either. @OorWullie They repeatedly say "2019 or later titles will be shown at a later date". Last year they the primary focus was on 2017 titles. Notice the difference? There is nothing outside of 2018, at least in the Direct. Animal Crossing with a huge village is with Pokémon all I need for my Switch. Other than the obvious things we know like Smash, Fortnite and Paladins, I’d like to see Animal Crossing. Absolutely puzzling that it isn’t out already. If I were Nintendo I’d get it out soon, cause that thing is a quiet beast in terms of sales. I have a few other odds and ends I’d like to see too. Pikmin 4 is one of them. I just think the joy cons would work perfectly for it, and if it’s technically possible, could even support co-op. And also, just throwing it out there, but when are we ever going to get an HD remake of Xenonlade Chronicles?? That game is just begging for some HD magic. Look, I don't care what they announce. I'm not going to ask for anything so I can be surprised when they announce all the cool stuff. Smash is satisfying enough. My only request is an ARMS character in Smash. That's it. Realistically, I’m hoping for a new entry in the Gyromite series, but my longshot wish is for Nintendo to work with RCMADIAX on a physical WiiU collection for Switch. Apart from more on Pokémon Let's go, Yoshi, Metroid Prime 4 and Smash, I hope for more info on Switch online, mostly past the NES games and other value points. I want to see an N64 mini. I hope we get a DK 3D platformer and I am pretty sure the Star fox racing game will be a sure thing, it sounds great. DLC for Super Mario Odyssey and Animal Crossing teased for next year along with the main Pokémon title. I'm sure there will be the usual odd surprise for which I am looking forward to. I could see a Zelda title for 3DS or a retro style Switch title. I'm hoping that Star Fox GP is as real as the Star Fox × Metroid crossover rumor that was buzzing around in 2012 (What is it with Retro Studios and these Star Fox rumors?). If Nintendo makes another racing game for the Switch, and it isn't a new F-ZERO game, or at least a remake/port of F-ZERO GX, I'll be extremely disappointed. I know Nintendo doesn't owe F-ZERO fans a new game, but they didn't owe Metroid or Star Fox fans a new game either, but they still threw them a bone eventually. F-ZERO fans have waited long enough. I would kill for a new Punch Out! Other than that, GTA V, Fallout 3/4, Fortnite, Metroid Prime Trilogy/4, the announcement of GameCube selects (just because there is not going to be a Virtual Console doesn’t mean that it can’t happen. Nintendo can do whatever it wants), Etc. Going in with minimal expectations. I don't really care about Smash so already this year's is set up to be 'meh' for me. Also not too interested in Pokemon so the inevitable Let's Go coverage will also be 'meh', although I'm a little more excited to see more on those since it's ditching all the modern crap and going back to the roots. Outside of all that, just hoping for a Hyper Light Drifter spotlight and release date, Dark Souls release date, and World Ends With You new trailer and release date. I think those are fair expectations. Hoping to see Fire Emblem too and get some i fo about Nintendo Switch Online. Insane (won't happen) expectations: FF12 Zodiac Age port, FF15 port, FF7 remake confirmation, FF6 remake announcement, Tomb Raider port....plus more. Though I suspect outside of the ones we know I'll no doubt be disappointed. I must be the only Nintendo fan with zero interest in Pokemon, Animal Crossing (and sims in general, except the original sim city) and Smash Bros. Give me a Hollow Knight insta-drop and everything else will be icing on a wonderful cake. That's what I'd like to see . @Dr_Corndog Regarding StarTropics, thumbs up right back at ya, Samus! Completely unrealistic, but if Monolith unveils anything, and I mean absolutely anything (could be a port or a collection) I would lose my mind. If we got an HD remaster of XC1 and/or XCX I would be fine until they were ready to show off whatever is next. Xenosaga or Xenogears remastered would be nice too, however unlikely it is. Gimme Smash and more Smash. 1. Open with a "Metroid Prime 4" trailer, but turns out to be character reveal for Ridley. Hype train off to a great start. 2. Go into some of the things we saw on that leak including Paladins, Fortnite, and Dragon Ball Fighter Z, etc. 3. Pokemon president comes into view, goes over some things we know and don't know about Let's Go. Goes on a little too long, and we all start getting a little antsy. 4. Finally Smash Bros time. Big premiere trailer reveal with actual gameplay. Sakurai on the big screen talking about how his arms are falling off. Name announced as Super Smash Bros: Heroes vs. Villains. Meant to be the ultimate version of smash, featuring a roster for the first time with two halves, heroes on one side and villains on the other. K. Rool and Dixie Kong revealed for new playable characters. About 15 minutes spent here. Release date September 28. 5. Some more third party support and indie games featured next. Classic lightning round style. 6. Time for some Yoshi! About a 5 minute highlight reel of the upcoming game for December 2018. 7. Reveal that Animal Crossing is in the works for an early 2019 release. 8. Wow, how is this still going on? Craziness, but still have about 15 minutes left and now Miyamoto is on screen. Yes, it is finally time for Pikmin 4. Quick gameplay trailer. 9. Only a few minutes left--time for one last character reveal before we head to the treehouse. Yep, it's two veterans returning to Smash: Snake and Ice Climbers. A little underwhelming for some, but most people will be super excited by this. Both are announced to be playable at the Invitational and the Demo. Never going to happen, but remember Custom Robo? If that got a new title, I could die happy. @MoonKnight7 - In hindsight, I regret it. I’m standing firmly by my Gyromite prediction though. New entry in one of Nintendo's rhythm game series, preferably either Osu/EBA or Daigasso/Jam With the Band but Rhythm Heaven/Paradise is fine as well. I don't expect them to announce one at E3 but I can hope. I think they'll announce one in a normal Direct before next year's E3. I’m going in with minimal expectations. I really just care about Smash and Splatoon. 12. And above all else: ELITE BEAT AGENTS 2! +1 for Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 HD remasters. Perfect console for these old classics. Same with any Nintendo Direct, no expectations from me. (ONE CAN DREAM) But IF Overwatch got annouced, I will eat kimchi to honor my waifu. I’d like to see a procontroller+ with mic/headset plug, metroid/bayonetta release date(even if it’s 2019) and footage. Dark souls release date. A few Wii/u ports like mario galaxy and star fox. Mainly I just can’t wait for Tuesday. We might be getting some awesome games released onto switch as a complete surprise...fortnite maybe. Animal Crossing is all I need. 1) I think it would be huge if we got a chance to see some big name games in some capacity. Even if it’s just a trailer and release date. That would be awesome to know when Metroid Prime 4 or Yoshi are exactly coming. I’ve got certain franchises I would love to see or announced. But even ones that I don’t necessarily have a care for I think would go a long way in showing Nintendo means business. 2) Some bold moves. Whether it’s taking existing franchises into new directions or introducing new ones. The Switch is such a unique and bold thing. It needs more software to match its boldness. The rumored Star Fox racer sounds like that would fit the mold. Imagine if Nintendo blindsided everyone and made 2019 the year of resurrecting forgotten franchises. Will pikmin 4 even get mentioned? Will pikmin 4 get mentioned? I'm mostly looking forward to Animal Crossing and Smash Bros. for Switch, and Death Stranding for PS4. Everything else would be a bonus! I'd be pretty happy if Pikmin 4 was finally resurrected. I'm warming up to the idea of "Star Fox GP". More Mario as DLC expansion would be cool. I hope to see Bethesda's Starfield and CD Project Red's (what a weird name for a company) Cyberpunk 2077, as well as whatever From Software's next game is gonna be. @electrolite77 You missed Wario Land as WarioWare seems to have killed Wario Land. @Dom Where are all the other Livestreams? EA, Bethesda, Ubisoft. They are relevant to Nintendo gamers these days lol. If they show off / give me any of those, my heart will be so happy. A metric ton of Smash Bros information. For the Star Fox Gran Prix to be fake and is actually a new Star Fox game. Animal Crossing information, again hoping they do more with the game. Nintendo talking about having a practical online service and not that dookie they currently have planned. Zelda - WW and TP HD, for €25 each. Wave Race - A new one but with all old tracks. A decent city builder/sim like Cities Skylines or Banished. A new shooter IP, something along the lines of Turok. I've always judged E3 based on how many extra games are on my wish list compared to before it. My issue with Nintendo in the last few years has been basing their E3 on showing new footage of a game we've seen before. Metroid Prime IV last year was great. I didn't care there was nothing to see, that was a HUGE game coming to the Switch. I went out and bought a Wii U the week after they announced Splatoon. If the highlight of their E3 is showcasing Smash for Switch... yeah, not exciting at all for me. Super Smash Bros. Metroid Prime 4 & Fire Emblem. I want some awesome surprises too! I still hope for Golden Sun 4 every year. I don't get much time to follow Nintendo as I did, so my hopes might be wildly optimistic. So, I'll get what I don't want out of the way to start with - Donkey Kong. Great games, of course. But you can have too much of a good thing and I'm seriously fatigued with DK now. It's time for a peek at Metroid, even if it's not a 2018 game. Last year we got a name, this year we need at least a target render of something. Animal Crossing needs a new game, even if I'm not a huge fan. It's the sort of game I buy digitally, so I don't have to put the cart/disc in to just have 5 minutes on when I want to play. Mario Maker for Switch would be nice. We all have dreams of what we want to see, but all too often, that is not necessarily reflected by reality. Nintendo has a habit of crushing those dreams. Sometimes they deliver, sometimes not. They will probably talk about what is most likely or known to be arriving within this year and early next year, tease a few things that are further out, and that will be it for the most part. Not likely to be any big surprises this year, except for maybe some oddball thing out of left field. They might also showcase something disappointing, like Amiibo Festival, Federation Force, et al. Next year will probably be more exciting, what with bigger titles like the next real Pokemon generation being showcased. Lots of people here are mentioning Animal Crossing, but all Nintendo has indicated on the matter so far is a new AC-related trademark, which encompasses a potential variety of devices and titles, including more spin-offs. So I wouldn't expect the next full AC entry until next year. I'm on the lookout for SMT V myself, but I don't expect anything concrete until next year. @GrailUK EA was lolbad, no surprise. Hopefully Bethesda follows up on their past successes and brings more to Switch, as well as Ubisoft. Maybe a Mario + Rabbids Kingdom followup? I just want to be surprised by something. I want to see a new IP or unannounced/unrumored game be shown off. I want to see more of the Yoshi game, hopefully the Star Fox racer (if it even exists), F-Zero, Pikmin 4, Metroid Prime 4, Spyro Trilogy (it just has to come to Switch). Would also really love to see another 3D Donkey Kong game but I doubt that will happen and hopefully a few surprises nobody has thought of. Oh yeah. Wasn't there some rumour of a new one? just good games from first party, third party, indies and retro. Obviously, I'm looking forward to Super Smash Bros. and Metroid Prime 4. Part of me hopes that that Star Fox: Grand Prix rumor is true. I also really want Krystal from Star Fox to be playable in Smash and SF:GP (assuming the latter is real). I know I'm one of the very few here that would even mention it...Nintendo Labo kits and new uses. Battlefront 2 and Planet coaster on Nintendo switch. I'd like to see Super Smash Kart. Instead of Mario Kart with just characters from the Mario universe, Super Smash Kart would have all of the Nintendo and third party characters from Smash Bros racing each other and battling it out with character specific items and weapons instead of the standard Mario Kart set. ..... and a new Kid Icarus game. @GrailUK The amount of hours I wasted in Monkey Billiards and Monkey Bowling....me and my friends would do marathon sessions on those. Great party games and one of my favourite purchases on the Gamecube. A totally new, full scale 2D Zelda on Switch. New art-style, awesome graphics and music, cool new items and mechanics. Something really sweet! Animal crossing, Metroid side scroller, and Mario Maker. Oh I’d like to see some other media services too like Netflix, a web browser and social media. As I am not a huge Smash fan (currently hiding under the table to avoid things being thrown at my head for making such a statement ) what I am really looking forward to is getting information, gameplay and release dates for Fire Emblem and Yoshi, and seeing more gameplay from the Let’s Go games. Aside from that, it would be absolutely fantastic if they announced a new Animal Crossing for Switch coming out in the next 12 months (since it’s been 5 years since New Leaf released in the UK, and this is currently the longest we have gone between main-line AC games without an announcement EVER!). I’d also love to see a new Luigi’s Mansion, since the first two games are some of my all-time favourites, an HD remaster of Skyward Sword, or ports of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess on Switch. Or maybe even a Kingdom Hearts 3 announcement for Switch (though that’s the most unlikely thing in the list, since the main numbered entries in the series are massive and probably a smidge out of our favourite hybrid console’s technical capabilities). To be honest, I’ll still be a very happy gamer with just Pokemon, FE and Yoshi, but any of the other things listed above would make this the best E3 in a loooong time for me. Bring it on, Nintendo! 11) A sequel to Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, perhaps expanding into other Nintendo IPs like Zelda, Metroid, etc. I expect more labo announcements. And maybe a 30 second Prime 4 teaser to close it out. I'd like to see Metroid 4 and an F-zero racing game. -Super Mario Odyssey DLC with new outfits and Kingdoms. -New Super Mario Bros. Switch. -Smash Bros. Switch gameplay and fighter reveals. -Mario Kart Tour gameplay trailer and details. -More details on the Donkey Kong DLC for M+R:KB (may also be at Ubisoft's E3 presentation). -Fire Emblem Switch gameplay trailer and details. -Metroid Prime 4 gameplay and details. -Octopath Traveler stuff (this segment will go on for 15 minutes tops). There's much more I'm expecting, but I reached the character limit. Have a great E3, everyone! see you at the broadcast! I hope people realize that Nintendo will save announcements for Nintendo Directs throughout the year, rather than announcing everything during or around E3 like most other companies. Those expecting almost every relevant Nintendo IP to show up at their E3 Direct are setting themselves up for disappointment. If I may be honest; If they announced a new Animal Crossing Game and an enhanced port/sequel to Super Mario Maker, I will walk away very happy. I want to see more fun and innovative games and accessories. The direction taken with LABO is exactly what Nintendo is about and should be pursuing. Of course, keep dedicated gamers happy with 3rd party titles, but non traditional gamers is where Nintendo will grow the platform beyond a niche. I'd like to see a Switch Fit with balance board, another edition of 1, 2 Switch, a Switch version of Punch Out!, Switch Sports and other fun games that can be played as a family or group of friends. I don't expect any of these to come at E3 since we haven't heard any rumours but nobody expected LABO either. I'll watch the Nintendo Direct and have my finger on the fast forward button as soon as they start wasting time talking about 3DS.

2019-04-22T04:06:12Z

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/06/talking_point_what_do_you_want_to_see_from_nintendo_at_e3_2018

3D computer visualisation for medical purposes has become a growing field of science. These techniques have had huge impact in medical practice, from education to diagnosis and training. Driven by improvements in technology and increases in computing power, 3D visualisation and imaging are now being accepted clinically for diagnosis. Moreover, this technology is now powerful enough to describe precise and real time information of the anatomy that can be used to guide surgery. Virtual reality technologies that employ advanced 3D visualisation tools have been also used in physical rehabilitation. This PhD project aims to address the challenges in rehabilitation. The EDA team (consisting of clinicians, academics and industry) has a strong record in developing clinical devices, providing visual biofeedback to patients. These devices combine measurements from instrumentation, a simulation model and a 3D-visualisation software interface. Existing EDA technology will be adapted to measure swallowing parameters. A simulation model will be developed mimicking the swallowing dynamics, which will be translated into a 3D visualisation to provide real-time biofeedback to the patient. Candidates should have, or are expecting to obtain in the near future, a First Class or good 2.1 Honours Degree in Digital Media, Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline. An appropriate degree at Masters level will be an advantage. Please contact Dr Jim Ang ([email protected]) for more details. Selecting which features are used for biometric recognition from images such as faces has relied on algorithmically assessing the performance of both individual and combinations of features. In this project we shall utilise results from Psychology as to how humans make an identity in a surveillance context, in terms of what features are used and furthermore when they are used as person approaches. This project will investigate software classification systems inspired by human methods of personal identification and assess if these methods can enhance conventional systems. Candidates should have, or are expecting to obtain in the near future, a First Class or good 2.1 Honours Degree in Electronic Engineering, Computer Science or a related discipline. An appropriate degree at Masters level will be an advantage. Please contact Dr. Richard Guest ([email protected]) for more details. Face recognition is now an important tool in key applications such as border control and forensic investigations. This project is concerned with developing new technologies for automatic recognition of people using their facial images when there may be a large time difference between the images that are compared. Human ageing significantly affects the performance of face recognition systems in these crucial application domains. The proposed research aims to develop a thorough understanding of the impact of the human aging process on the performance of face recognition systems and through this understanding develop systems and strategies for management of biometric information to ensure universal access to cost-effective biometrics-enabled authentication and forensic services. Please contact Dr. Farzin Deravi ([email protected]) for more details. Existing adaptive system technologies such as weightless neural network techniques are limited by the number of pattern classes over which they may be employed since each additional class incurs a significant memory penalty. They may thus be employed for tasks such as character recognition where a limited number of distinct classes is present but may not be employed in problem domains, such as one-to-many biometric identification, where the number of classes is far higher. This project will investigate techniques for applying such technology to biometric systems via the development of a multi-classifier configuration for weightless networks where the component classifiers are trained on differing subsets of the pattern classes available. The entire ensemble is subsequently able to address the one-to-many identification problem. This project will specifically address fingerprint recognition. Please contact Dr. Gareth Howells ([email protected]) for more details. Augmented reality (AR) is a technology which blends digital information (e.g. virtual objects, graphical user interfaces, etc.) in the physical environment, allowing the users to experience a “mixed reality” world. In other words, AR can augment real-world environments with computer-generated sensory input such audio video, 3D graphics and other digital information. In a smart manufacturing environment, a AR headset can display contextually relevant information to manufacturing workers to perform their tasks more efficiently and safely. The PhD project will deal with a range of engineering and design issues of AR headset, as well as other forms of user interaction modalities for healthcare domains. For instance, can AR be designed to help support patients with certain psychological conditions, e.g. anxiety and phobia? Another research area of interest is the assessment of user’s cognitive and affective states through monitoring of body movements and physiological markers through sensors built into the AR headset or external sensors. Please contact Dr. Jim Ang ([email protected]) for more details. Gold Crested Newts are an endangered and protected species and their close monitoring has become an important aspect of the worldwide attempts for the preservation. This project aims to explore if the patterns on the belly of these newts can be used for their individual identification. Techniques similar to those used in human biometric recognition will be adapted to the extraction of features and classification of newt belly patterns to provide means for their monitoring. The issues of ageing and uniqueness for these patterns will also be explored. The project is likely to result in significant new findings in both areas of conservation and pattern recognition. This project will be conducted in association with the Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology. Please contact Dr. Sanaul Hoque ([email protected]) for more details. A major problem with any biometric system is how to deal with situations where a person is unable to provide a sample from the given modality. For many practical systems a solution to this problem is essential to prevent large scale exclusion of sections of the population from given services (such as travel) or compromise of the security of the system employing the biometric. Multi-biometric systems offer a possible solution to this problem by allowing a person to select a modality or set of modalities from which to provide a sample. However, the biometric system employing these modalities needs to be designed to provide a secure and integrated whole. Shamir’s secret sharing algorithm offers a possible solution to this problem by ensuring that authentication only occurs when a given number of biometric modalities match the given user but offer the flexibility that an arbitrary subsets of modalities may be employed. An additional security feature is that the comprise of fewer than the required number of biometric modalities does not compromise the security of the overall system. This project will address the practical issues related to producing a working implementation of such a system. This project will investigate a means of addressing the significant Achilles’ heel of existing biometric systems in that compromised access to biometric template data contained within one system will potentially compromise all systems and data protected by the biometrics contained within the templates. The storage of template biometric data, however encrypted or secured, necessarily places any system secured via that template at risk. As an alternative approach, biometric feature data may be encoded with BCH codes with only the check bits of the codes being stored. Reverse engineering of the biometric data thus becomes a highly challenging task and security is improved. This project will consist of an evaluation of this technique followed by the creation of a practical demonstrator. Face recognition is now an important tool in key applications such as border control. Increasingly there is a range of applications where it is desirable to deploy face recognition in unsupervised and remote applications where it may be possible for fraudsters to present photographs or other artefacts representing the faces of genuine users and thereby gain unauthorized access. A range of technologies have emerged for detecting such sensor-level spoofing attacks and determining the genuine liveness of the biometric samples presented to the sensor however objective assessment of these technologies have so far not been placed on an objective footing. This project is concerned with developing new technologies for liveness detection, as well as methodologies and protocols for objective assessment of liveness detection and counter-spoofing technologies with a focus on facial biometrics. Anyone who has used a back-projected write-on device for the donation of a signature will know that the visual appearance of the resultant signature often differs significantly from a paper-and-pen based representation. As these devices (PDAs, dedicated signature capture tablets etc.) become more widespread, it is important to analyse variations that occur due to the device, ‘ink’ feedback, writing surface and user interface for use in biometric authentication scenarios. This work seeks to establish these variations to enable an understanding of expected performance and to explore best practice as far as user interface/writing surface design is concerned in order to ensure maximum performance. Please contact Dr. R.M. Guest ([email protected]) for more details. This project will explore the use of biosignals, such as EEG, as a source of information for assessing the identity, attention and emotional state of individuals. Use of games-grade Brain Computer Interfaces is explored as a source of biometric information and for establishing the attention of subjects and their level of stress and anxiety. This information can then be used to develop better and more reliable interfaces for intelligent applications. The resulting techniques can also be used to produce novel systems to aid the treatment and rehabilitation of patients and severely disabled people. Please contact Farzin Deravi ([email protected]) for more details. Significant work has been done in developing systems that can accurately detect human activities using sensing technologies embedded in the environment (IoT) and / or worn by the user. Such systems have been explored in the context of smart homes, where the smart environment is capable of adapting to the activities their participants are performing, or in the context of health and wellbeing where unusual changes in daily activities can be indicators of changes in user’s health. However, with the fast growth in the IoT industry. such sensing technologies tend to have a very short life-span (new smart devices with new capabilities are developed every year), there is real challenge in developing activity recognition techniques that can be translated across devices that may potentially have new capabilities. The aim of the project is to investigate the challenges of developing activity recognition models that can be transferred across devices that have potentially different capabilities, either automatically, or with minimum user involvement. The vision is the develop an activity recognition system that would evolve over time, as new technologies are developed and older technologies are decommissioned without the need for full re-training of the system. Candidates should have, or are expecting to obtain in the near future, a First Class or good 2.1 Honours Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline. An appropriate degree at Masters level will be an advantage. Please contact Dr Christos Efstratiou ([email protected]) for more details. Ubiquitous digital technologies enable creative practices to be easily embedded into everyday life. These technologies may be out-of-the-box solutions but are often custom-made. We can use both, out-of-the-box and custom-made technologies, to mash tangible and virtual objects, produce hybrid textual (and textural) experiences, visualise flows and movement, etc. These technologies are part of a socio-economic acceleration process, but can we use them to design creative mediated experiences that slow the acceleration down and offer people the opportunity of engaging with them and with others in public space? The PhD student is expected to: (i) analyse existing out-of-the-box and custom-made design solutions; (ii) prototype media installations that slow people down in public space (e.g. e-literature and hyper-textuality in physical environments; visualisation/sonification of flows in urban/natural environments); (iii) test the designed prototypes (e.g. alpha/beta tests with groups); and (iv) evaluate them in the context of embodied perception (e.g. using sentiment analysis, position tracking, visual ethnography). Strong first degree and Master’s degree in digital media, interaction design or related discipline. Candidates should ideally have strong software skills, and experience with tangible interfaces, media and interaction design. Please contact Dr Rocio von Jungenfeld ([email protected]) for more details. With the wide use of smartphone devices, photography has become a prominent activity for users. Momentary smartphone photography can be considered as a rich dataset that can reveal the experiences of users on a daily basis. Furthermore, reviewing of older photos has been shown to influence peoples psychological attitudes and general mood. In this work the aim is explore two key research questions: firstly whether photos captured by smartphone users can be used to discover their changes in affective state (positive or negative mood), and secondly whether a smart system can be devised to serve selective photo memories as a form of intervention to influence user’s affective state. The focus of the work will be on the development of machine learning algorithms that can discovery associations between photo content and meta data, and the users affective state, and the design of automated interventions using appropriate ML techniques. The intention of this work is to explore the applicability of such techniques for people suffering from depression or bipolar disorder. Facial biometric systems most frequently use images that are controlled in terms of subject pose and environmental factors such as background. Very often matching is required on photographic samples that do not meet these ideals, for example when automatically matching two images uploaded to Facebook. This project will investigate the performance of automatic systems to verify facial images collected across a wide range of scenarios and sources, and devise a mitigation framework to maximise verification ability. One important step in face recognition is the acquisition of a normalised image of the face. This project is concerned with developing techniques to allow a user to facilitate the face recognition process through the acquisition of high quality images. As part of the project algorithms will be developed to dynamically assess the quality of the image and this is then used to provide feedback to the user to make necessary adjustments, including adjusting his position relative to the camera, for optimum performance. The algorithms and interfaces developed will be tested using databases of facial images as well as live sessions to prove their effectiveness. The digital revolution has transformed the way we create, destroy, share, process and manage information, bringing many benefits in its wake and an ever increasing number of embedded consumer and communication devices are at the heart of this revolution. However, such technology has also increased the opportunities for fraud and other related crimes to be committed. Therefore, as the adoption of such technologies expands, it becomes vital to ensure the integrity and authenticity of electronic digital systems and to manage, control access to and verify their identity. The University of Kent has developed novel techniques for the generation of encryption keys directed from properties associated with the software and hardware associated with a particular device, termed ICmetrics. ICmetrics represents an exciting new approach for generating unique identifiers for embedded devices enabling secure encrypted communication between devices potentially significantly reducing both fraudulent activity such as eavesdropping and device cloning. The use of ICMetric authentication represents a novel concept of regulating access to devices and is explicitly aimed at providing protection at the especially vulnerable points where data access is initiated. Specifically, the aim is to investigate appropriate integrated encryption and digital signature facilities to protect data from unauthorised access, forgery and tampering. Project objectives are to evaluate available feature sets for a range of ICmetric measurements and determine those suitable for application in the direct encryption technology and further to develop a set of prototype tools for demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The project will explore further the potential of ICmetric technology by the use of novel measurement features and exploitation scenarios such as those associated with Cloud Computing. 1. The development of biometrically based data encryption techniques which offer the significant advantage of not requiring the storage of potentially compromising biometric templates. 2. The development of prototype tools to allow the practical exploitation of such technology in order to realise significant benefits. 3. The development of techniques for the distributed management and processing of data to establish trust for the producers, distributors, consumers and users of documents containing confidential data. This project will bring together several previously independent domains of Computer Science and systems engineering to address the significant challenges in engineering a robust and reliable autonomous vehicle capable of adapting to a rapidly changing dynamic environment. Specifically, it proposes to combine techniques derived from Model Driven Development and Adaptive Systems to develop a software architecture capable of “high-level” adaptation rather than the low level adaptation typically exhibited by current adaptive systems. In the proposed solution, high level models of the system would be subject to the governance of an overarching adaptive system which would be able to modify the models to cover a rapidly changing environment which may be significantly at variance to that originally envisioned. This ability is due to a class of artificial neural system developed at the University of Kent which is able to model high level language concepts by integrating formal mathematics within the traditional architecture of an artificial neural system combined with an intelligent agent approach. The fundamental research hypothesis of the projectl is that the combination of advantages from Model Driven Software Engineering, Adaptive systems, autonomous agents, multiple processor core computing, embedded systems and control engineering can be fused to produce a hybrid technique that is better able to generate, manipulate and modify model transformations than any technique in its own right. The significant novelty of the project is the application of generalised adaptive systems to the problem, these serve to reduce the complexity and quantities inherent in defining transformations rules for each individual case. This has the beauty not only of its generality and adaptability but its inherent simplicity means it is extremely well suited for operation in a low power and limited resource environment. Very often the only form of archive signature data is as a static image rather than the time series data used in dynamic signature verification. This project aims to comprehensively explore methods for the verification of static signatures and develop comparison methods based on other image-based biometric technologies such as fingerprint and facial recognition algorithms. Biometrics-enabled person recognition systems hold the promise of providing reliable authentication and protection of personal identity for a range of applications. This project involves an investigation of new modalities using biosignals such as EEG and gaze trajectory for the recognition of individuals. The proposed research programme will explore the development of systems and solutions to establish extract and classify information from such biosignals to see if the identity of individuals can be reliably established from them. Additionally liveness of biometric samples may also be assessed through such data thus countering the possibility of spoofing. The focus of the research will be the development of spoof-resistant acquisition strategies for person recognition. The design of interactive environments can help us understand how people perceive and play with digital technologies and experience technologically mediated environments. Perception and participation are idiosyncratic, so how can we design comprehensive interactive tangible environments that explore, for instance, the visual-haptic characteristics of colour or the agency of light beams? How can we bring colour-perception or assemblage theories into interactive environment design? The PhD student is expected to: (i) analyse current trends and developments in internet of things and interaction technologies; (ii) prototype visual/haptic interfaces or light reacting environments/systems; (iii) produce site-specific tests of the designed systems (e.g. alpha/beta tests with groups); and (iv) evaluate the systems in the context of engagement and play (e.g. using sentiment analysis, position tracking, visual ethnography). Current state-of-the-art in assistive living relies heavily on the use of wearable sensing technologies. However, real-world deployments of wearable technologies for the elderly have had only limited success. In this project we aim to explore a new paradigm where the daily activities of people are monitored passively through sensing technologies that are embedded within the environment, without the need for any form of wearable device or active user intervention. Specifically, the aim of this project is to rely on a combination of embedded sensing technologies involving audio sensing, RF sensing and presence (PIR) sensing that work collaboratively to accurately track the daily activities of elderly participants. Audio sensing for activity detection: Employing deep learning models to identify changes in contextual activities performed at home. Multi modal sensor fusion: Exploring the fusion of audio, RF sensing and presence sensing to accurate detect activities in shared environments with multiple occupants. Passive sensing infrastructure: Explore the challenges of embedding passive sensing ML algorithms in resource constraint sensing devices. Our team in the School of Engineering and Digital Arts is in close collaboration with industrial partners involved in the deployment of IoT (Internet of Things) technologies for assistive living. The project will benefit by access to real-world deployments of the relevant technologies in elderly peoples’ homes. Recently the possibility of using high resolution images of skin textures have been suggested as a means for improving face recognition accuracy. In this project algorithms will be developed for skin texture recognition based on spatial and frequency domain features. Algorithms will be tested on a database of high-res facial images. Additionally the robustness of this approach to involuntary and deliberate changes to skin conditions will be assessed. In this project you will investigate how interactive designs can bring media out of portable electronic devices (e.g. screens, headphones) and into the public sphere where they can be shared with others. The work will involve the co-creation and display of content in public learning spaces (e.g. park, garden) and the design of an expanded media experience for public space. The designs should be conceived to enable people to participate in hybrid digital-tangible environments are made of media, projections and interactive things. The PhD student is expected to: (i) analyse current trends and developments in projection, recording and interaction technologies; (ii) prototype locative, recording, interactive and projection systems; (iii) produced site-specific tests of the designed systems (e.g. alpha/beta tests with groups); and (iv) evaluate the systems in the context of engagement and situated learning (e.g. using sentiment analysis, position tracking, visual ethnography). Please contact Dr Rocio von Jungenfeld ([email protected] ) for more details. Face recognition systems are now increasingly used as a means for reliable recognition of individuals to enhance security and prevent identity theft. This project will explore the use of facial images as a source of information for assessing the emotional state of individuals. Use of video information from a number of channels including different colour and thermal imaging sources is explored for establishing the liveness of subjects and their level of attention, stress and anxiety. This information can then be used to develop better and more reliable interfaces for intelligent applications. Medical interventions on people with long term health conditions require an assessment of how quality of life (QoL) for the patient may be altered or improved. The aim of the project is to explore the design of low energy sensing and classification systems that can detect changes in QoL from low level sensor data captured by people’s smartphones and wearable devices. Of particular interest would be the detection of daily social patterns of users using mobile sensing technologies, and how those can be used to estimate their perceived QoL. Through the longitudinal collection of mobile and wearable sensor traces, the aim is to develop machine learning algorithms that can detect potential changes in the perceived quality of life through the analysis of the sensor data. The human signature is widely used behavioural biometric modality. Automated systems rely on using algorithms to assess similarity between samples, but by its very nature, intra-person samples will vary. Signatures and writing can also vary over time. The aims of this project are twofold: firstly to assess the short- to mid- term variations in writing and signatures to establish the validity of enrolment templates. Secondly, the project will look at longer term data to consider the implication of ageing on the construction of writing. Electrophysiology research has drawn a great attention for advancing human-computer interaction (HCI), in addition to its main contributions in health monitoring. Recently, in collaboration with Dr Yeo from Georgia Tech (https://sites.google.com/view/yeogroup) we are researching a class of technology for low profile, soft, and stretchable electronics (‘skin-like electronics’), which provides comfortable, conformal integration to the human skin for recording of physiological signals. Without the use of conductive gels and adhesives, ultrathin elastomeric membranes provided sufficient adhesion force to mount electrodes on the skin, purely via van der Waals interactions; same force that geckos use to stick to walls. Currently, we are interested in exploring how skin-like EMG sensors can be used for monitoring swallowing and chewing. We measure deglutition (action of swallowing) behaviour to demonstrate game-based, user-controlled feedback (see video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIBkpdqbGjA). We have also used skin-like EEG for brain-computer interaction control. In this PhD project, you will be exploring novel use of these skin-like sensors for a range of HCI applications. Candidates should ideally have strong software skills, including machine learning and software app development. Please contact Dr. Jim (CS) Ang ([email protected]) for more details. VR headsets offer new avenues for the creative exploration of affect at individual and collective level, and for experiencing our place in the world and our relationships with others. Based on stereoscopic, proprioceptive and binaural principles, VR makes us question where our bodies are and in which environments we inscribe our actions. On this account, can we apply the prevailing premise of environments as products of actions to VR, and if so what new VR experiences can we design? The PhD student is expected to: (i) analyse prevailing theories on the construction of environments and the interrelation of agents and things; (ii) prototype VR experiences based on these theories (stereo-vision, sound environments, haptic/proprioception); (iii) test the designed prototypes (e.g. alpha/beta tests with groups); and (iv) evaluate them in the context of embodied perception (e.g. using sentiment analysis, position tracking, visual ethnography). Strong first degree and Master’s degree in digital media, interaction design or related discipline. Candidates should have strong software skills, and experience with tangible interfaces, media and interaction design. A tangible user interface allows the users to interact with digital information through the physical environment. This could involve the use of various sensors and actuators to manipulate and perceive digital information, giving it physical form. This interaction technique is closely related to the idea of mixed reality. Mixed reality refers to the blending of physical and virtual worlds to produce visualisations in which physical and virtual objects co-exist and interact with each other. There are various application domains of this research area, including learning/training, healthcare, art installations, museum displays, games/entertainment, etc. The digital media group at Kent has been carrying out research in the use of tangible media for people with dementia at care homes and day centres. We are also currently investigating the use of this technology for education in rural regions of developing country. PhD projects looking into the study, design/development, and evaluation of novel tangible media in healthcare, education, and other relevant application domains are welcomed. These projects typically require skills in the interaction between software (mobile app, Web, 3D game engine, etc) and hardware (arduino, raspberry pi, kinect/leap motion, various sensors such as physiological and environmental sensors, etc). Candidates should have, or are expecting to obtain in the near future, a First Class or good 2.1 Honours Degree in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering or a related discipline. Please contact Jim Ang ([email protected]) for more details. 1. An empirical investigation will proceed to compare the actual behavioural characteristics observed from the hardware with the predicted results of the associated model. A number of metrics will be investigated to ascertain the most contributing factors to system deficiencies. Subsequently the data will be used to enhance the original modelling process. 2. A formal mathematical approach to comparing system and actual behaviour will be employed. Here the emphasis will be on the application of formal logic to represent the requirements of the system model. The novel significance is that the logic will be designed to emphasise the required characteristics of the model and allow it freedom to be inaccurate where such inaccuracies do not impinge on system performance. Theorem proving tools will be developed to ensure that model and hardware behaviour are acceptably close.These two approaches will be initially compared and contrasted; finally resulting in a suite of validation tools which may be employed to accurately address complex system validation issues. This dual approach will meet the need of ensuring acceptable modelling performance whilst not overburdening the modelling approach with hardware performance details which will not impact on system performance.

2019-04-22T08:17:34Z

https://research.kent.ac.uk/ii/research-projects/

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That the limits and boundaries of this state be ascertained, it is declared they are as hereafter mentioned, that is to say: Beginning on the extreme height of the Stone Mountain, at the place where the line of Virginia inter sects it, in latitude thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north; running thence along the extreme height of the said mountain, to the place where Watauga river breaks through it; thence a direct course to the top of the Yellow Mountain, where Bright’s road crosses the same; thence along the ridge of said mountain, between the waters of Doe river and the waters of Rock creek, to the place where the road crosses the Iron Mountain; from thence along the extreme height of said mountain, to the place where Nolichucky river runs through the same; thence to the top of the Bald Mountain; thence along the extreme height of said mountain to the Painted Rock on French Broad river; thence along the highest ridge of said mountain, to the place where it is called the Great Iron or Smoky Mountain; thence along the extreme height of said mountain to the place where it is called Unicoi or Unaka Mountain, between the Indian towns of Cowee and Old Chota; thence along the main ridge of the said mountain to the southern boundary of this state, as described in the act of cession of North Carolina to the United States of America; and that all the territory, lands and waters lying west of said line, as before mentioned, and contained within the chartered limits of the state of North Carolina, are within the boundaries and limits of this state, over which the people have the right of exercising sovereignty, and the right of soil, so far as is consistent with the Constitution of the United States, recognizing the Articles of Confederation, the Bill of Rights and Constitution of North Carolina, the cession act of the said state, and the ordinance of Congress for the government of the territory north west of Ohio; Provided, nothing herein contained shall extend to affect the claim or claims of individuals to any part of the soil which is recognized to them by the aforesaid cession act; And provided also, that the limits and jurisdiction of this state shall extend to any other land and territory now acquired, or that may hereafter be acquired, by compact or agreement with other states, or otherwise, although such land and territory are not included within the boundaries herein before designated. Section 32. That the erection of safe prisons, the inspection of prisons, and the humane treatment of prisoners, shall be provided for. Section 33. That slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, are forever prohibited in this state. Section 34. The General Assembly shall make no law recognizing the right of property in man. Section 35a. The right to confer with the prosecution. Section 35b. The right to be free from intimidation, harassment and abuse throughout the criminal justice system. Section 35c. The right to be present at all proceedings where the defendant has the right to be present. Section 35d. The right to be heard, when relevant, at all critical stages of the criminal justice process as defined by the General Assembly. Section 35e. The right to be informed of all proceedings, and of the release, transfer or escape of the accused or convicted person. Section 35f. The right to a speedy trial or disposition and a prompt and final conclusion of the case after the conviction or sentence. Section 35g. The right to restitution from the offender. Section 35h. The right to be informed of each of the rights established for victims. The General Assembly has the authority to enact substantive and procedural laws to define, implement, preserve and protect the rights guaranteed to victims by this section. Section 1. The powers of the government shall be divided into three distinct departments: legislative, executive, and judicial. Section 2. No person or persons belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except in the cases herein directed or permitted. Section 3. The legislative authority of this state shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives, both dependent on the people. Representatives shall hold office for two years and senators for four years from the day of the general election, except that the speaker of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives each shall hold his office as speaker for two years or until his successor is elected and qualified provided however, that in the first general election after adoption of this amendment senators elected in districts designated by even numbers shall be elected for four years and those elected in districts designated by odd numbers shall be elected for two years. In a county having more than one senatorial district, the districts shall be numbered consecutively. Section 4. The apportionment of senators and representatives shall be substantially according to population. After each decennial census made by the Bureau of Census of the United States is available the General Assembly shall establish senatorial and representative districts. Nothing in this Section nor in this Article II shall deny to the General Assembly the right at any time to apportion one House of the General Assembly using geography, political subdivisions, substantially equal population and other criteria as factors; provided such apportionment when effective shall comply with the Constitution of the United States as then amended or authoritatively interpreted. If the Constitution of the United States shall re quire that legislative apportionment not based entirely on population be approved by vote of the electorate, the General Assembly shall provide for such vote in the apportionment act. Section 5. The number of representatives shall be ninety-nine and shall be apportioned by the General Assembly among the several counties or districts as shall be provided by law. Counties having two or more representatives shall be divided into separate districts. In a district composed of two or more counties each county shall adjoin at least one other county of such district; and no county shall be divided in forming such a district. Section 5a. Each district shall be represented by a qualified voter of that district. Section 6. The number of senators shall be apportioned by the General Assembly among the several counties or districts substantially according to population, and shall not exceed one-third the number of representatives. Counties having two or more senators shall be divided into separate districts. In a district composed of two or more counties, each county shall adjoin at least one other county of such district; and no county shall be divided in forming such a district. Section 6a. Each district shall be represented by a qualified voter of that district. Section 7. The first election for senators and representatives shall be held on the second Tuesday in November, one thousand eight hundred and seventy; and forever thereafter, elections for members of the General Assembly shall be held once in two years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Said elections shall terminate the same day. Section 8. Legislative sessions—Governor’s inauguration—the General Assembly shall meet in organizational session on the second Tuesday in January next succeeding the election of the members of the House of Representatives, at which session, if in order, the governor shall be inaugurated. The General Assembly shall remain in session for organizational purposes not longer than fifteen consecutive calendar days, during which session no legislation shall be passed on third and final consideration. Thereafter, the General Assembly shall meet on the first Tues day next following the conclusion of the organizational session unless the General Assembly by joint resolution of both houses sets an earlier date. The General Assembly may by joint resolution recess or adjourn until such time or times as it shall determine. It shall be convened at other times by the governor as provided in Article III, Section 9, or by the presiding officers of both Houses at the written request of two-thirds of the members of each House. Section 9. No person shall be a representative unless he shall be a citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, and shall have been a citizen of this state for three years, and a resident in the county he represents one year, immediately preceding the election. Section 10. No person shall be a senator unless he shall be a citizen of the United States, of the age of thirty years, and shall have resided three years in this state, and one year in the county or district, immediately preceding the election. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be eligible to any office or place of trust, the appointment to which is vested in the executive or the General Assembly, except to the office of trustee of a literary institution. Section 11. The Senate and House of Representatives, when assembled shall each choose a speaker and its other officers; be judges of the qualifications and election of its members, and sit upon its own adjournments from day to day. Not less than two-thirds of all the members to which each house shall be entitled shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized, by law, to compel the attendance of absent members. Section 12. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member, but not a second time for the same offence, and shall have all other powers necessary for a branch of the Legislature of a free state. Section 13. Senators and representatives shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. Section 14. Each House may punish, by imprisonment, during its session, any person not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the House, by any disorderly or any contemptuous behavior in its presence. (a) When twelve months or more remain prior to the next general election for legislators, a successor shall be elected by the qualified voters of the district represented, and such successor shall serve the remainder of the original terms. The election shall be held within such time as provided by law. The legislative body of the replaced legislator’s county of residence at the time of his or her election may elect an interim successor to serve until the election. (b) When less than twelve months remain prior to the next general election for legislators, a successor shall be elected by the legislative body of the replaced legislator’s county of residence at the time of his or her election. The term of any senator so elected shall expire at the next general election for legislators, at which election a successor shall be elected. (c) Only a qualified voter of the district represented shall be eligible to succeed to the vacant seat. Section 16. Neither house shall, during its session, adjourn without the consent of the other for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. Section 17. Bills may originate in either House; but may be amended, altered or rejected by the other. No bill shall become a law which embraces more than one subject, that subject to be expressed in the title. All acts which repeal, revive or amend former laws, shall recite in their caption, or otherwise, the title or substance of the law repealed, revived or amended. Section 18. A bill shall become law when it has been considered and passed on three different days in each House and on third and final consideration has received the assent of a majority of all the members to which each House is entitled under this Constitution, when the respective speakers have signed the bill with the date of such signing appearing in the journal, and when the bill has been approved by the governor or otherwise passed under the provisions of this Constitution. Section 19. After a bill has been rejected, no bill containing the same substance shall be passed into a law during the same session. Section 20. The style of the laws of this state shall be, “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee.” No law of a general nature shall take effect until forty days after its passage unless the same or the caption thereof shall state that the public welfare requires that it should take effect sooner. Section 21. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish it, except such parts as the welfare of the state may require to be kept secret; the ayes and noes shall be taken in each House upon the final passage of every bill of a general character, and bills making appropriations of public moneys; and the ayes and noes of the members on any question, shall, at the request of any five of them, be entered on the journal. Section 22. The doors of each House and of committees of the whole shall be kept open, unless when the business shall be such as ought to be kept secret. Section 23. Each member of the General Assembly shall receive an annual salary of $1,800.00 per year payable in equal monthly installments from the date of his election, and in addition, such other allowances for expenses in attending sessions or committee meetings as may be provided by law. The senators, when sitting as a Court of Impeachment, shall receive the same allowances for expenses as have been provided by law for the members of the General Assembly. The compensation and expenses of the members of the General Assembly may from time to time be reduced or increased by laws enacted by the General Assembly; however, no increase or decrease in the amount thereof shall take effect until the next general election for representatives to the General Assembly. Provided, further, that the first General Assembly meeting after adoption of this amendment shall be allowed to set its own expenses. However, no member shall be paid expenses, nor travel allowances for more than ninety Legislative days of a regular session, excluding the organization session, nor for more than thirty Legislative days of any extraordinary session. This amendment shall take effect immediately upon adoption so that any member of the General Assembly elected at a general election wherein this amendment is approved shall be entitled to the compensation set herein. Section 24. No public money shall be expended except pursuant to appropriations made by law. Expenditures for any fiscal year shall not exceed the state’s revenues and reserves, including the proceeds of any debt obligation, for that year. No debt obligation, except as shall be repaid within the fiscal year of issuance, shall be authorized for the current operation of any state service or program, nor shall the proceeds of any debt obligation be expended for a purpose other than that for which it was authorized. In no year shall the rate of growth of appropriations from state tax revenues exceed the estimated rate of growth of the state’s economy as determined by law. No appropriation in excess of this limitation shall be made unless the General Assembly shall, by law containing no other subject matter, set forth the dollar amount and the rate by which the limit will be exceeded. Any law requiring the expenditure of state funds shall be null and void unless, during the session in which the act receives final passage, an appropriation is made for the estimated first year’s funding. No law of general application shall impose increased expenditure requirements on cities or counties unless the General Assembly shall provide that the state share in the cost. An accurate financial statement of the state’s fiscal condition shall be published annually. Section 25. No person who heretofore hath been, or may hereafter be, a collector or holder of public moneys, shall have a seat in either House of the General Assembly, or hold any other office under the state government, until such per son shall have accounted for, and paid into the Treasury, all sums for which he may be accountable or liable. Section 26. No judge of any court of law or equity, secretary of state, attorney general, register, clerk of any Court of Record, or person holding any office under the authority of the United States, shall have a seat in the General Assembly; nor shall any person in this state hold more than one lucrative office at the same time; provided, that no appointment in the Militia, or to the Office of Justice of the Peace, shall be considered a lucrative office, or operative as a disqualification to a seat in either House of the General Assembly. Section 27. Any member of either House of the General Assembly shall have liberty to dissent from and protest against, any act or resolve which he may think injurious to the public or to any individual, and to have the reasons for his dis sent entered on the journals. Section 28. In accordance with the following provisions, all property real, personal or mixed shall be subject to taxation, but the Legislature may except such as may be held by the state, by counties, cities or towns, and used exclusively for public or corporation purposes, and such as may be held and used for purposes purely religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational, and shall except the direct product of the soil in the hands of the producer, and his immediate vendee, and the entire amount of money deposited in an individual’s personal or family checking or savings accounts. For purposes of taxation, property shall be classified into three classes, to wit: Real Property, Tangible Personal Property and Intangible Personal Property. (d) Farm Property, to be assessed at twenty-five (25%) percent of its value. House trailers, mobile homes, and all other similar movable structures used for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes shall be assessed as real property as an improvement to the land where located. The Legislature shall provide, in such a manner as it deems appropriate, tax relief to elderly, low-income taxpayers through payments by the state to reimburse all or part of the taxes paid by such persons on owner-occupied residential property, but such reimbursement shall not be an obligation imposed, directly or indirectly, upon counties, cities or towns. (3) Any taxpayer who is sixty-five (65) years of age or older, who purchases residential property as the taxpayer's principal place of residence after the taxpayer's sixty-fifth birthday, shall pay taxes in an amount not to exceed the maximum amount of tax imposed on such property in the tax year in which such property is purchased. (b) Whenever the full market value of such property is increased as a result of improvements to such property after the time the ordinance or resolution is adopted, then the assessed value of such property shall be adjusted to include such increased value and the taxes shall also be increased proportionally with the value. (c) Any taxpayer or taxpayers who own residential property as their principal place of residence whose total or combined annual income or wealth exceeds an amount to be determined by the General Assembly shall not be eligible to receive the tax relief provided in subsection (a) or (b). The Legislature may provide tax relief to home owners totally and permanently disabled, irrespective of age, as provided herein for the elderly. (c) All other Tangible Personal Property, to be assessed at five (5%) percent of its value; provided, however, that the Legislature shall exempt seven thousand five hundred ($7,500) dollars worth of such Tangible Personal Property which shall cover personal household goods and furnishings, wearing apparel and other such tangible property in the hands of a taxpayer. The Legislature shall have power to classify Intangible Personal Property into subclassifications and to establish a ratio of assessment to value in each class or subclass, and shall provide fair and equitable methods of apportionment of the value of same to this state for purposes of taxation. Banks, insurance companies, loan and investment companies, savings and loan associations, and all similar financial institutions, shall be assessed and taxed in such manner as the Legislature shall direct; provided that for the year 1973, or until such time as the Legislature may provide otherwise, the ratio of assessment to value of property presently taxed shall remain the same as provided by law for the year 1972; provided further that the taxes imposed upon such financial institutions, and paid by them, shall be in lieu of all taxes on the redeemable or cash value of all of their outstanding shares of capital stock, policies of insurance, customer savings and checking accounts, certificates of deposit, and certificates of investment, by whatever name called, including other intangible corporate property of such financial institutions. The ratio of assessment to value of property in each class or subclass shall be equal and uniform throughout the state, the value and definition of property in each class or subclass to be ascertained in such manner as the Legislature shall direct. Each respective taxing authority shall apply the same tax rate to all property within its jurisdiction. The Legislature shall have power to tax merchants, peddlers, and privileges, in such manner as they may from time to time direct, and the Legislature may levy a gross receipts tax on merchants and businesses in lieu of ad valorem taxes on the inventories of merchandise held by such merchants and businesses for sale or exchange. The portion of a merchant’s capital used in the purchase of merchandise sold by him to nonresidents and sent beyond the state, shall not be taxed at a rate higher than the ad valorem tax on property. The Legislature shall have power to levy a tax upon incomes derived from stocks and bonds that are not taxed ad valorem. This amendment shall take effect on the first day of January, 1973. Section 29. The General Assembly shall have power to authorize the several counties and incorporated towns in this state, to impose taxes for county and corporation purposes respectively, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law; and all property shall be taxed according to its value, upon the principles established in regard to state taxation. But the credit of no county, city or town shall be given or loaned to or in aid of any person, company, association or corporation, except upon an election to be first held by the qualified voters of such county, city or town, and the assent of three-fourths of the votes cast at said election. Nor shall any county, city or town become a stockholder with others in any company, association or corporation except upon a like election, and the assent of a like majority. But the counties of Grainger, Hawkins, Hancock, Union, Camp bell, Scott, Morgan, Grundy, Sumner, Smith, Fentress, Van Buren, and the new county herein authorized to be established out of fractions of Sumner, Macon and Smith Counties, White, Putnam, Overton, Jackson, Cumberland, Anderson, Henderson, Wayne, Cocke, Coffee, Macon, Marshall, and Roane shall be excepted out of the provisions of this section so far that the assent of a majority of the qualified voters of either of said counties voting on the question shall be sufficient when the credit of such county is given or loaned to any person, association or corporation; provided, that the exception of the counties above named shall not be in force beyond the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty: and after that period they shall be subject to the three-fourths majority applicable to the other counties of the state. Section 30. No article manufactured of the produce of this state, shall be taxed otherwise than to pay inspection fees. Section 31. The credit of this state shall not be hereafter loaned or given to or in aid of any person, association, company, corporation or municipality; nor shall the state become the owner in whole or in part of any bank or a stockholder with others in any association, company, corporation or municipality. Section 32. No convention or general assembly of this state shall act upon any amendment of the Constitution of the United States proposed by Congress to the several states; unless such convention or general assembly shall have been elected after such amendment is submitted. Section 33. No bonds of the state shall be issued to any rail road company which at the time of its application for the same shall be in default in paying the interest upon the state bonds previously loaned to it or that shall hereafter and before such application sell or absolutely dispose of any state bonds loaned to it for less than par. Section 1. Every person, being eighteen years of age, being a citizen of the United States, being a resident of the state for a period of time as prescribed by the General Assembly, and being duly registered in the county of residence for a period of time prior to the day of any election as prescribed by the General Assembly, shall be entitled to vote in all federal, state, and local elections held in the county or district in which such person resides. All such requirements shall be equal and uniform across the state, and there shall be no other qualification attached to the right of suffrage. The General Assembly shall have power to enact laws requiring voters to vote in the election precincts in which they may reside, and laws to secure the freedom of elections and the purity of the ballot box. All male citizens of this state shall be subject to the performance of military duty, as may be prescribed by law. Section 2. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage persons who may be convicted of infamous crimes. Section 3. Electors shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest or summons, during their attendance at elections and in going to and returning from them. Section 4. In all elections to be made by the General Assembly, the members thereof shall vote viva voce, and their votes shall be entered on the journal. All other elections shall be by ballot. Section 1. The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. Section 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When sitting for that purpose the senators shall be upon oath or affirmation, and the chief justice of the Supreme Court, or if he be on trial, the senior associate judge, shall preside over them. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the senators sworn to try the officer impeached. Section 3. The House of Representatives shall elect from their own body three members, whose duty it shall be to prosecute impeachments. No impeachment shall be tried until the Legislature shall have adjourned sine die, when the Senate shall proceed to try such impeachment. Section 4. The governor, judges of the Supreme Court, judges of the inferior courts, chancellors, attorneys for the state, treasurer, comptroller, and secretary of state, shall be liable to impeachment, whenever they may, in the opinion of the House of Representatives, commit any crime in their official capacity which may require disqualification but judgment shall only extend to removal from office, and disqualification to fill any office thereafter. The party shall, nevertheless, be liable to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law. The Legislature now has, and shall continue to have, power to relieve from the penalties imposed, any person disqualified from holding office by the judgment of a Court of Impeachment. Section 5. Justices of the peace, and other civil officers not herein before mentioned, for crimes or misdemeanors in office, shall be liable to indictment in such courts as the Legislature may direct; and upon conviction, shall be removed from office by said court, as if found guilty on impeachment; and shall be subject to such other punishment as may be prescribed by law. Section 1. The judicial power of this state shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such Circuit, Chancery and other Inferior Courts as the Legislature shall from time to time, ordain and establish; in the judges thereof, and in justices of the peace. The Legislature may also vest such jurisdiction in Corporation Courts as may be deemed necessary. Courts to be holden by justices of the peace may also be established. Section 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of five judges, of whom not more than two shall reside in any one of the grand divisions of the state. The judges shall designate one of their own number who shall preside as chief justice. The concurrence of three of the judges shall in every case be necessary to a decision. The jurisdiction of this court shall be appellate only, under such restrictions and regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by law; but it may possess such other jurisdiction as is now conferred by law on the present Supreme Court. Said court shall be held at Knoxville, Nashville and Jackson. Section 3. The judges of the Supreme Court shall be elected by the qualified voters of the state. The Legislature shall have power to prescribe such rules as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of section two of this article. Every judge of the Supreme Court shall be thirty-five years of age, and shall before his election have been a resident of the state for five years. His term of service shall be eight years. Section 4. The Judges of the Circuit and Chancery Courts, and of other Inferior Courts, shall be elected by the qualified voters of the district or circuit to which they are to be assigned. Every judge of such courts shall be thirty years of age, and shall before his election, have been a resident of the state for five years, and of the circuit or district one year. His term of service shall be eight years. Section 5. An attorney general and reporter for the state, shall be appointed by the judges of the Supreme Court and shall hold his office for a term of eight years. An attorney for the state for any circuit or district, for which a judge having criminal jurisdiction shall be provided by law, shall be elected by the qualified voters of such circuit or district, and shall hold his office for a term of eight years, and shall have been a resident of the state five years, and of the circuit or district one year. In all cases where the attorney for any district fails or refuses to attend and prosecute according to law, the court shall have power to appoint an attorney pro tempore. Section 6. Judges and attorneys for the state may be removed from office by a concurrent vote of both Houses of the General Assembly, each House voting separately; but two-thirds of the members to which each House may be entitled must concur in such vote. The vote shall be determined by ayes and noes, and the names of the members voting for or against the judge or attorney for the state together with the cause or causes of removal, shall be entered on the journals of each House respectively. The judge or attorney for the state, against whom the Legislature may be about to proceed, shall receive notice thereof accompanied with a copy of the causes alleged for his removal, at least ten days before the day on which either House of the General Assembly shall act thereupon. Section 7. The judges of the Supreme or Inferior Courts, shall, at stated times, receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during the time for which they are elected. They shall not be allowed any fees or perquisites of office nor hold any other office of trust or profit under this state or the United States. Section 8. The jurisdiction of the Circuit, Chancery and other Inferior Courts, shall be as now established by law, until changed by the Legislature. Section 9. The judges shall not charge juries with respect to matters of fact, but may state the testimony and declare the law. Section 10. The judges or justices of the Inferior Courts of Law and Equity, shall have power in all civil cases, to issue writs of certiorari to remove any cause or the transcript of the record thereof, from any inferior jurisdiction, into such court of law, on sufficient cause, supported by oath or affirmation. Section 11. No judge of the Supreme or Inferior Courts shall preside on the trial of any cause in the event of which he may be interested, or where either of the parties shall be connected with him by affinity of consanguinity, within such degrees as may be prescribed by law, or in which he may have been of counsel, or in which he may have presided in any Inferior Court, except by con sent of all the parties. In case all or any of the judges of the Supreme Court shall thus be disqualified from presiding on the trial of any cause or causes, the court or the judges thereof, shall certify the same to the governor of the state, and he shall forthwith specially commission the requisite number of men, of law knowledge, for the trial and determination thereof. The Legislature may by general laws make provision that special judges may be appointed, to hold any courts the judge of which shall be unable or fail to attend or sit; or to hear any cause in which the judge may be incompetent. Section 13. Judges of the Supreme Court shall appoint their clerks who shall hold their offices for six years. Chancellors shall appoint their clerks and masters, who shall hold their offices for six years. Clerks of the Inferior Courts holden in the respective counties or districts, shall be elected by the qualified voters thereof for the term of four years. Any clerk may be removed from office for malfeasance, incompetency or neglect of duty, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. Section 14. No fine shall be laid on any citizen of this state that shall exceed fifty dollars, unless it shall be assessed by a jury of his peers, who shall assess the fine at the time they find the fact, if they think the fine should be more than fifty dollars. Section 1. The qualified voters of each county shall elect for terms of four years a legislative body, a county executive, a sheriff, a trustee, a register, a county clerk and an assessor of property. Their qualifications and duties shall be prescribed by the General Assembly. Any officer shall be removed from malfeasance or neglect of duty as prescribed by the General Assembly. The legislative body shall be composed of representatives from districts in the county as drawn by the county legislative body pursuant to statutes enacted by the General Assembly. Districts shall be reapportioned at least every ten years based upon the most recent federal census. The legislative body shall not exceed twenty-five members, and no more than three representatives shall be elected from a district. Any county organized under the consolidated government provisions of Article XI, Section 9, of this Constitution shall be exempt from having a county executive and a county legislative body as described in this paragraph. The General Assembly may provide alternate forms of county government including the right to charter and the manner by which a referendum may be call ed. The new form of government shall replace the existing form if approved by a majority of the voters in the referendum. No officeholder’s current term shall be diminished by the ratification of this article. Section 2. Vacancies in county offices shall be filled by the county legislative body, and any person so appointed shall serve until a successor is elected at the next election occurring after the vacancy is qualified. Section 3. There shall be a treasurer or treasurers and a comptroller of the treasury appointed for the state, by the joint vote of both Houses of the General Assembly who shall hold their offices for two years. Section 4. The election of officers, and the filling of all vacancies not other wise directed or provided by this Constitution, shall be made in such manner as the Legislature shall direct. Section 5. Elections for judicial and other civil officers shall be held on the first Thursday in August, one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and forever thereafter on the first Thursday in August next preceding the expiration of their respective terms of service. The term of each officer so elected shall be computed from the first day of September next succeeding his election. The term of office of the governor and other executive officers shall be computed from the fifteenth of January next after the election of the governor. No appointment or election to fill a vacancy shall be made for a period extending beyond the unexpired term. Every officer shall hold his office until his successor is elected or appointed, and qualified. No special election shall be held to fill a vacancy in the office of judge or district attorney, but a the time herein fixed for the biennial election of civil officers, and such vacancy shall be filled at the next biennial election recurring more than thirty days after the vacancy occurs. Section 1. Whereas ministers of the Gospel are by their profession, dedicated to God and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their functions; therefore, no minister of the Gospel, or priest of any denomination whatever, shall be eligible to a seat in either House of the Legislature. Section 2. No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state. Section 3. Any person who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, fight a duel, or knowingly be the bearer of a challenge to fight a duel, or send or accept a challenge for that purpose, or be an aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall be deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit in this state, and shall be punished otherwise, in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe. Section 1. That no inconvenience may arise from a change of the Constitution, it is declared that the governor of the state, the members of the General Assembly and all officers elected at or after the general election of March one thousand eight hundred and seventy, shall hold their offices for the terms prescribed in this Constitution. Officers appointed by the courts shall be filled by appointment, to be made and to take effect during the first term of the court held by judges elected under this Constitution. All other officers shall vacate their places thirty days after the day fixed for the election of their successors under this Constitution. The secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer shall hold their offices until the first session of the present General Assembly occurring after the ratification of this Constitution and until their successors are elected and qualified. The officers then elected shall hold their offices until the fifteenth day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy three. Section 2. At the first election of judges under this Constitution there shall be elected six judges of the Supreme Court, two from each grand division of the state, who shall hold their offices for the term herein prescribed. In the event any vacancy shall occur in the office of either of said judges at any time after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred seventy three; it shall remain unfilled and the court shall from that time be constituted of five judges. While the court shall consist of six judges they may sit in two sections, and may hear and determine causes in each at the same time, but not in different grand divisions at the same time. When so sitting the concurrence of two judges shall be necessary to a decision. The attorney general and reporter for the state shall be appointed after the election and qualification of the judges of the Supreme Court herein provided for. Section 3. Every judge and every officer of the executive department of this state, and every sheriff holding over under this Constitution, shall, within twenty days after the ratification of this Constitution is proclaimed, take an oath to support the same, and the failure of any officer to take such oath shall vacate his office. Section 4. The time which has elapsed from the sixth day of May one thou sand eight hundred and sixty one until the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty seven shall not be computed, in any cases affected by the statutes of limitation, nor shall any writ of error be affected by such lapse of time.

2019-04-18T14:23:33Z

http://www.cpotn.com/entire-tennessee-constitution.html

In this article I will put down my own thoughts on this having relatively recently been through the same process myself. Admittedly I was returning to astronomy and had a measure of knowledge from years ago. However many of the issues I faced in choosing a telescope would be the same as most beginners. I hope this guide will help YOU in choosing the right scope for your needs. A beginner looking around the market will almost certainly be swayed by glossy adverts on eBay and wonderful looking equipment often displayed in camera stores around Christmas. The temptation to buy a telescope with a promised x700 magnification can be great and when the camera store is doing a very special price its hard not to be tempted. Here's my first bit of advice - DON'T DO IT !!! Telescopes are one of the exceptions to the rule that 'you get what you pay for'. Quite often appalling junk is sold with a rather large price tag compared to a quality instrument from a reputable dealer. What looks like a shiny bargain on eBay can very often turn out to be almost unusable, or, if it's a reputable branded item it may have been mishandled by another beginner just like you. The fact is I have seen too many posts on astronomy bulletin boards where people have paid over the odds, sometimes even more than a new scope for a second-hand item that has problems or have been ripped off buying some no brand scope with terrible optics only to find out they could have bought a quality product from a reputable brand for half the price. That's not to say every pre-owned scope is a nightmare but use some sound sense and ask the seller questions and assess if they have experience. Most amateur astronomers will look after their equipment and you can find some good bargains but as a general rule it's not advisable for a beginner as they simply lack the knowledge to know what to look for. Don't imagine that telescopes are like DVD players or other commodity items that will just go when asked with plenty of support and spares. In most cases telescopes of all types require you to devote time and effort to learning how to use them. This is where buying from a reputable dealer will pay dividends in the long run. Pick a known brand. These include Sky-Watcher, Celestron, Meade, GSO, TAL, and Orion Optics but there are others. Buy from a dealer who specialises in astronomy equipment. He will be able to advise you in the purchase and support you afterwards and you may well need that support. Finally - avoid eBay and non-specialist shops like the plague you will run a serious risk of ending up with a lemon. Most astronomers when asked what is the best telescope will promote the view that it's all about aperture (in a nutshell the width of the lens or the main mirror). The larger the aperture the more the telescope (and you) can see. A larger aperture will collect more light and therefore both provide a bigger view and a view which can pick up more detail. I'll talk about magnification later in the article and why you should be dubious about telescopes promising x700 magnification. Now while the aperture argument is sound enough it does require the application of some common sense. The larger the aperture the larger the telescope becomes, this means the telescope gets longer and heavier. The larger and heavier the telescope becomes the less likely you will be to actually use it and indeed it may be that you have nowhere to store a telescope that could be 6' long and weigh 120lbs. Similarly you may be unable to transport it to a dark sky site if you live in an urban environment with high levels of light pollution. So you can see aperture is only one part of the equation and I would argue that the real requirement is actually location, location, location. The darker and clearer your skies the more you can see. A very large telescope in a light polluted environment will see less than a smaller telescope that you can take to a dark sky site. You therefore need to balance the aperture against the physical size, storage and transportation issues. Don't be fooled by collapsible telescopes that will claim you can break the scope down and fit it into the boot of a car. You may well be able to do this but a large Dobsonian style scope may well have a mirror that weighs an awful lot. Some of these can reach over 60lbs which is a lot of weight to carry. Remember another dictum of astronomy - "the best telescope is one you will use" - so try not to join 'the biggest one on the block' brigade which can end up with you having an expensive white elephant sat in your garage or spare room that never gets used. Where do you live ? If you live on the top floor of a tower block in a city your choice almost certainly needs to take into account portability. If you live in a rural location with a decent sized garden and low light pollution portability may not be an issue. Where will you use the scope ? Again if you cannot use your telescope from your own location and you buy a monster telescope that's not easily transported it won't be used. So think about possible locations. How fit are you ? How much kit can you carry/do you want to carry ? Any telescope requiring power will require you to carry a power tank (basically a large battery power supply). And all telescopes will involve you carrying other items such as red light torches, extra eyepieces and accessories so bear that in mind. Transport ? How will you carry the scope. Even if its in a garden shed in your garden if you buy a large telescope you may find its too heavy to lift about OR too difficult to set up. People with bad backs of knees should beware. A lot of this kit is heavy. Cost ? How much do you want to spend ? I would always advise a beginner to not buy more than they can afford to lose. I have seen too many people come into the hobby and buy some kind of monster sized wunderscope only to get bored, find the hobby is too challenging or simply be unable to cope with a giant telescope and end up taking a big loss. How much time do you have ? This is critical. If you buy a huge complex scope but only have a few hours a week you will get frustrated very quickly when you spend an hour assembling it only to have the clouds arrive or to run out of time. Similarly if you don't have much time to spend you may find that simply finding objects with an all manual telescope and mount takes too long and something that's a bit more automatic may suit you better. The nice thing about telescopes (at least from a passionate astronomers point of view ) is there are so many of them. So many different types to choose from in fact that it can be very confusing for a beginner. Choice is indeed a curse. In this section I'll talk you through the various types. TELESCOPE TYPES - What's the difference ? The types of telescopes discussed in this section are among the most common types available to amateurs. There are many other types available but these tend to be either very expensive or specialised towards specific needs. The oldest type of telescope design. These are the classic looking telescope. Refractors are usually quite long at around a meter in length and the most common aperture sizes are 3", 4" and 6". You seldom see refractors with a larger aperture as there is a direct relationship between the lens size and the length. As the lens size increases the length increases dramatically along with the weight, also the cost of the glass lenses rises very fast. Bigger refractors do exist but the cost is prohibitive for all but a tiny percentage of buyers. Refractors come in two basic types; Achromatic (which are an older design but less expensive) and Apochromatic, commonly shortened to APO. The picture to the right shows a TAL 100RS, a fairly typical modern achromatic telescope. APO telescopes are more expensive as their lenses are more complex and more expensive to make. So what's the difference ? Achromatic refractors are longer and can exhibit some optical defects such as false colour. This is where the lenses create colour to an object. You can see this in cheap telescopes which produce a definite coloured hue to the image. APO telescopes correct this but at a much higher price. APO types are however highly portable being much shorter than their achromatic cousins. APO telescopes also have a shorter focal ratio which makes them better suited to the needs of astro-imaging. The focal ratio of a telescope is derived from dividing its focal length (how long the telescope is) by the width of its largest optical element (either its lens for a refractor or its primary mirror for a reflector). So a refractor that has a focal length of 900mm with a 100mm aperture (4") has a focal ratio of 9 usually expressed as F9 (900/4=9) High focal ratios such as F8-F15 provide a 'slow' telescope. The slower the scope the worse it becomes for astro imaging. For visual it provides a scope which will show better definition on planets and the moon but will provide less good results on faint objects such as nebula and galaxies. This is true of most refractors as they are limited in aperture to typically no more than 5-6" compared to a reflector which can easily be 12" and still retain portability and low enough cost for the amateur. Refractors can provide beginners with a simple to use telescope, a relatively comfortable viewing position given that the eyepiece always stays more or less accessible (though when looking high in the sky you may end up kneeling down on wet grass a lot). Refractors generally work well on any bright object such as a planet, the moon or star clusters. Stars will show as tiny white perfect dots of light and a quality F10 refractor will show the moons surface and planets incredibly well. Refractors require almost no maintenance and are generally rugged enough to be suitable for children to use. NEVER, EVER leave a young child with a telescope during daylight hours. One look at the sun through even a modest telescope will result in serious eye damage and potentially blindness for life. If you do buy your child a telescope then please take care and caution them about the dangers of the sun. Children often take rather well to objects like the moon and a refractor is simple enough for a child to get to grips with. Don't be put off using small cheap telescopes where smaller children are concerned. Even the meanest of telescopes can provide a child with some wonder where a more complex telescope that's difficult to manage may actually put them off. Refractor Pros - Easy to use/maintain - Rugged and reliable - Great for planets and bright objects. Newtonian reflecting telescopes (often just called reflectors or newts) use a large mirror instead of a lens to capture light. Because a mirror is less expensive to make than a complex group of lenses reflectors offer the biggest 'bang for the buck' in terms of aperture and as a result are much favored by amateurs especially for deep sky observing of galaxies and nebula. Typical amateur reflecting telescopes range from 4" through to a whopping 16" - even larger reflectors appear in the amateur community with some owners having enormous 40+" telescopes. A more typical size though is 6" to 12" for many amateurs. The picture to the left shows a Skywatcher 130PM, a fairly typical small reflector of 5.1" aperture. It is shown here on an equatorial mounting but is offered in a variety of different versions. We'll see more about mounts later in this article. Reflectors suffer no false colour issues caused by lenses but instead because of the basic design cause a diffraction pattern. In a nutshell this means stars appear as pin points of light with a fine cross through them rather like a classic star shape. Some people find this appealing others find it annoying. Reflectors just like refractors come in different lengths and this affects their focal ratio. Most modern reflectors from commercial companies are built to be around F5 which is known as a 'fast' scope. Longer reflectors have slower focal ratios of around F10 and these are sometimes called 'planetary reflectors' or 'long tube reflectors' because their length is greater than a fast reflector. Reflecting telescopes are very often the workhorse telescope of choice for many amateurs as they offer a large performance at a relatively low cost. Reflectors offer the best overall performance for deep sky viewing of objects such as nebula and galaxies but fast reflectors don't generally perform as well on planets and the moon as a quality refractor. Mirror Mirror in the tube - what's the difference to a noob ? Reflectors can use two different types of mirror. The older design uses what's known as a spherical mirror. This has no disadvantage in a slow reflector of around F8 but it's not possible to have a fast reflector with a spherical mirror as the quality of the view would deteriorate with what's called 'spherical aberration'. Spherical aberration would make the view look as if you were looking into a distorting mirror. To allow reflectors to have low focal ratios of around F5 they use a parabolic mirror. This cancels out the spherical aberration but until relatively recently these were very expensive. Most modern reflectors employ a parabolic mirror which allows the tube length to be shorter and with advances in manufacturing the parabolic mirror is no more expensive. Its not all good news however because the faster the focal ratio of a reflecting telescope the more demanding it can be on eyepieces due to a condition called coma. Coma causes stars at the edge of the view as seen by the telescope to become slighly elongated - this is corrected in high end eyepieces but low cost eyepieces are seldom well corrected for a fast focal ratio scope. For the novice these problems are more theoretical than real. We'll look at eyepieces later in this guide. Reflecting telescopes can be mounted in a variety of ways but one of the most common types is what's called the Dobsonian (named after John Dobson who came up with the idea). A Dobsonian is simply a reflecting telescope that is mounted on a simple turntable. This arrangement allows a very large reflector to be easily and simply mounted. Most large reflectors for amateurs are Dobsonian mounted because the cost of mounting a very large telescope on anything else would be prohibitive. Reflectors mounted on an EQ mount (mounts are discussed later in this article) will often tend to be quite hard work as the eyepiece can end up in strange positions requiring the user to either rotate the telescope in its mount (which can be hard with a heavy telescope) or become adept at Yoga. Reflectors also require a process known as collimation to align their optics periodically. While not exactly rocket science basic collimation is probably the second most frequently asked question on astronomy forums (after 'what telescope do I buy ?' ). While it can be mastered with some practice it can be confusing for beginners and carries a potentially steep learning curve. This should not put you off however. Whatever telescope you buy will have its own demands on the user and you will need to master many skills in the hobby. Reflector Pros - Biggest bang for the buck in aperture - The best option for deep sky work - Simplest to use manually (when mounted as a Dobsonian) Reflector Cons - Requires collimation and maintenance - Less rugged than other types - Potentially bulky and heavy when EQ mounted. SCTs, or more correctly Schmidt Cassegrain Telescopes use a novel method of creating a very long focal ratio by 'folding' the optical path inside the telescope. This simple idea allows for the telescope to be rather compact. SCTs because of their more complex optics are generally (along with the Maksutov) among the more expensive types available. SCTs provide powerful magnifications and light capture and generally they are good all-rounder type telescopes. Their relatively long focal ratio makes them suitable for planets while the larger SCTs have a light grasp equal to a Newtonian Reflector however a side effect of their design reduces their field of view compared to an equivalent reflector. The picture to the left shows a Nexstar 4SE, one of a range of low cost Maksutov/SCT telescopes from Celestron. The field of view of a telescope is basically how wide a view it can see. Planets don't require a very wide field whereas some deep sky objects such as nebula are very diffuse and spread out. As a result for some deep sky objects the widest field of view is required. SCT and Maksutov designs have much narrower fields of view than a reflecting telescope. This isn't generally a problem to the beginner to astronomy. SCTs, like refractors, are relatively hardy but they may occasionally require collimating like a reflector. Because of their small size (but don't be fooled they can be quite heavy) SCTs are often the scope of choice for those requiring portability. Also because of their short length they are the scope of choice for manufacturers to offer with automatic GoTo style mounts. SCTs are nearly always the most comfortable scopes to use as their eyepiece position stays relatively the same regardless of the direction they are pointing due to their short length. One of the big downsides however to SCT and Maksutov telescopes is the long cool down time. For a telescope to meet its best optical performance its lenses need to be at the same temperature as the surrounding air. Most telescopes reach ambient temperature relatively quickly but because of their closed design SCTs and Maksutov types need a longer cool down time. A Large SCT or Maksutov may require as much as 4 hours. Another downside to the design is under dew laden conditions very common in the UK the SCT and Maksutov types tend to suffer worse than other types and may end up requiring dew heaters to keep their optics clear. Dew heaters perform the same function as the electric heated rear window in your car. The Maksutov design is basically a folded refractor which allows the aperture size to increase without creating a telescope that would be unwieldy, heavy and difficult to mount. Like the SCT type telescope Maksutovs, especially in larger sizes, are among the more expensive designs and they also suffer from the same problems as SCT types with regard to long cool down times and dewing. Magnification - how big can you get ? How low can you go ? Most beginners in astronomy assume that the key factor in any telescope is how big it makes things appear. Strange as it may seem a telescopes primary role is not to magnify but to gather light. The magnification of any object in a telescope is largely a factor of the eyepiece that is plugged into the telescope. Generally speaking a telescopes magnification is limited to 2x the size of its primary optic (either the primary mirror or the main lens.....so a telescope with a 100mm main lens would have a maximum magnification of x200 (2x 100=200). The actual magnification is carried out by the telescopes eyepiece. These come in a range of sizes and types but typically a telescope would be supplied from the manufacturer with something like a 10mm and a 25mm eyepiece. The eyepieces magnify an object based on the telescopes focal length divided by the eyepiece size. So for instance a telescope with a focal length of 1000mm with a 10mm eyepiece would give magnification of x100 ( 1000/10=100) while the 25mm eyepiece would give x40 (1000/25=40mm). So how big can you get ? Theoretically a 200mm (8") Reflector can achieve x400 magnification but in reality the seeing conditions of the sky are the limiting factor and quite frequently the maximum achievable is no more than x200. EBay and store type telescopes promising x700 are blowing smoke and are best avoided. TELESCOPE MOUNTS - What's the difference ? Like telescopes mounts come in a wide variety of types with various features. A general rule is always buy the biggest mount you can afford for your telescope. No one ever complains that their mount is too steady. The quality of the mounting can have a huge effect on the quality of the views. A wobbly mount will never allow you to exploit the full potential of your telescope and will only ever be a cause of frustration. Manufacturers usually package telescopes and mounts together in various combinations and to get the price down they will sometimes package a telescope with an underspecified mounting which means your beautiful big telescope will never be allowed to perform well. This section will explain the basic mounting types. Its not a fully comprehensive list but covers the main mounting types that are commonly available. Alt Az (short for altitude-azimuth) is the simplest of all telescope mountings. It's designed to allow the telescope to point up and down and left and right. Alt/Az mounts come in various forms ranging from something which looks similar to a camera tripod through to fully automated GoTo systems using a forked mounting. Generally speaking Alt/Az is mostly used for SCT and Maksutovs when coupled with a GoTo mount. Alt/Az Pros - Simple to understand and use. Fast set-up when not automated. Alt/Az Cons - Can end up being a pain when you realise how fast celestial objects move and how tough it is to track them (manual mounts only). The Equatorial mounting (more properly called a German equatorial mount or GEM but most often referred to as an EQ) is the standard mounting for many types of telescope. The advantage of a standard equatorial mount over an Alt/Az is that the mounting is designed to track the motion of the stars. Once properly aligned to the pole star the mounting can be moved using a single slow-motion control to track the stars. These are commonly motorised to allow the mount to automatically follow the star. This is not the same as GoTo and only allows the mount to move at the same rate as the stars to track objects. It doesn't help you find them ! The advantage of the EQ style mount is offset by the fact that it's a relatively complex piece of equipment and there are no shortage of beginners on astronomy forums asking for help using these. If you have any interest in progressing to astro-imaging then this is the mount for you because you will sooner or later have to use one if you intend to do astro-imaging. Another downside is the bulk and weight of an EQ mount. To adequately mount a larger telescope the EQ mount size increases AND it requires counterbalance weights which can easily hit the scales at 10kg-15kg which, when combined with the bulk of the mount itself can add up to a hefty weight of gear. EQ mounts come in a vast range of sizes from the small Sky-Watcher EQ1 for small telescopes through mounts costing many thousands of pounds. Some people prefer EQ mounts for observing as the convenience of having the mount track objects makes for less hassle when observing. . Any type of telescope can be used with an EQ mount but very large reflectors usually employ a Dobsonian mounting as the cost of an EQ mounting would be prohibitive. EQ mounts are a must for anybody wanting high magnification on planets. Planets tend to move quite fast and if you are endlessly having to move the telescope it can be a bit like chasing a chicken. Eache movemt will cause the telescope to wobble slightly and by the time the view has settled down you need to move again to keep the planet in view. An EQ mount with at least a motor for tracking will make the whole experience less frustrating. Its also very useful if you have a child or other observers in mind. Without it as you change places at the eyepiece the object may well have moved out of sight each time leading to a frustrating experience. The picture shows the Skywatcher HEQ-5 equatorial mount - a popular medium sized mounting which provides motor driven controls, tracking and is most often equipped with GoTo. Equatorial (EQ) Pros - Makes it easier to follow celestial objects, a must for planets. Equatorial (EQ) Cons - Beginners are often confused by EQ mounts due to their relative complexity, Heavy. The Dobsonian mount is basically a simple turntable that supports the telescope and allows it to point up and down. It's essentially an Alt/Az mount designed solely for large reflecting telescopes. This method of mounting is almost only ever used for reflectors and is, for the amateur, the most practical method of mounting large heavy reflecting telescopes. The picture shows a Sky-Watcher 'Flextube' Dobsonian. A popular choice which provides a relatively low cost, large aperture telescope which can fold down to a smaller size for storage and transport. Dobsonian Cons - Some users find constantly having to nudge the scope to follow objects difficult and/or annoying. GoTo is not so much a mounting as an add on to other mount types or a system built into the mount at the factory. GoTo consists of motors, a motor controller and a handset which contain the electronic elements to automatically align the telescope to any celestial object. They normally contain databases of around 15,000-40,000 objects. Bear in mind many small telescopes sold with a GoTo mount may well have a directory of 15,000 objects but chances are only a very few will be viewable because of the small size of the optics of the telescope. GoTo can be applied to almost any style of mount but it's most normal for manufacturers of SCTs on fork mountings to supply GoTo as part of the basic mount specification. On EQ mounts it can be added onto some manufacturers mountings or can be built into the mount. Recently some manufacturers have created GoTo Dobsonian mountings but these are, at the present time relatively rare. However, Dobsonian mounts may have what's known as 'Push To' whereby a controller will tell you where to point the telescope but you have to push the telescope to its position. Don't be fooled though by assuming GoTo is the answer to a beginners prayers. Paradoxically GoTo can be a relatively complex set-up in itself with its own steep learning curve to master and when applied to an equatorial telescope it may require you to be able to identify stars as part of the alignment process. GoTo Mount Pro - Easy to locate objects and track them. Can be a boon for the novice. GoTo Mount Con - Can be a learning curve in its own right, small scopes may sacrifice optical quality for electronic wizardry. GoTo is often a bone of contention among amateur astronomers. Some will argue that GoTo removes any skill and kills the excitement of finding objects for yourself. Others will argue that GoTo opens up the sky for beginners. Which solution is right is down to the individual. I have seen beginners start the hobby determined to learn the sky and do without GoTo who have ended up giving up the hobby in frustration. The general poor weather in the UK can limit available nights for seeing and when that is coupled with other commitments ( family, work etc) it can reduce the available time to learn the sky to a bare minimum and lead to a large amount of frustration when you have a large scope but cant ever find anything to look at. Alternately I have seen others start the hobby with GoTo and find that it lacks any thrill. Simply pressing a button and letting the scope do all the work can kill the thrill for some people. Which one is right for you depends on how much time you wish to devote to the hobby. One thing you should be very clear about though is that GoTo is absolutely NOT like using your home DVD player or other household electronics which are 'automatic'. GoTo nearly always requires a reasonable amount of skill from the user to get it set up correctly. Don't allow any 'snob' attitudes to dictate your choice on GoTo - be realistic in your expectations of how often you will be using your telescope and budget and buy accordingly. Heaven or Hell with GoTo is a very individual choice and experience. Pictured a range of eyepieces in 1.25" and 2" fittings from Vixen, TAL, Celestron and Skywatcher. The eyepiece of a telescope is the bit you actually look through. On an astronomical telescope these are usually removable. The eyepiece, coupled with the telescopes focal length determine the magnification of the view . Beginners to astronomy are very often perplexed by eyepieces but its really quite simple. Eyepieces come in a big range of types and sizes but most usually their size is given as their barrel size which is usually 1.25" or 2" and their optical size which will be expressed as millimetres - this is the eyepieces focal length. The focal lengths of eyepieces vary from 2mm to 40mm for astronomical telescopes. The barrel size is to accommodate a wider angle view but not all telescopes have a focuser that can accept a 2" fitting or could not make use of it if they did. Similarly high powered eyepieces have a narrow field of view so are seldom supplied in a 2" fitting as they would not benefit from it. Generally good quality astronomical telescopes have a fitting for an eyepiece that's in line with their capabilities. The smaller the focal length of the eyepiece the more the eyepiece magnifies the view (see the section above on magnification) and this is an area where many beginners make their first big mistake in astronomy (see the section below). Bigger IS NOT better ! Most beginners assume that the thing to have in a telescope is MASSIVE magnification and quite often beginners will rush out and buy the eyepiece which will give them x400 magnification and then find its completely unusable. The fact is that most astronomy is carried out at no more than x200 and quite often less than that ! Weather is the biggest factor. As magnification gets bigger so does the view, unfortunately so does the disturbance in the atmosphere. This can reduce a high powered view to looking as if your viewing through running water. The other factor is the telescope itself. The maximum magnification any telescope can take is 2x for each mm of its aperture. So a typical starter scope with a 130mm aperture only has a maximum magnification of x260. In reality many scopes don't perform well at better than 60% of their theoretical maximum so a 130mm scope is seldom adequate for more than x150. Obviously the quality of the optics comes into play here and a good quality telescope may well be able to exceed its maximum stated performance while a poor quality telescope may very much under-perform against its theoretical ability. For all these reasons beginners are often disappointed with a high powered eyepiece. Astronomers generally place a bigger premium on wider angle views using 10mmm - 30mm eyepieces for deep sky viewing. High powered eyepieces are generally only used for planets and the moon and even then conditions are seldom good enough in the UK to go to much higher than x200. High powered eyepieces are also, for many people, uncomfortable to use. Eyepieces are a very complex topic and this article is really only to acquaint you with some basics. Your telescope will almost certainly come with an eyepiece or two from the manufacturer along with a Barlow lens. These are seldom the best quality eyepieces but are there to get you started. A Barlow is a special kind of lens that doubles the magnification of any eyepiece thats used with it. Faster focal ratio scopes of F5 and below will be more demanding on eyepieces to get the very best views due to a condition known as coma which causes the 'fast' optical design in some refelectors to create elongated star shapes. Don't however let that put you off. Most beginners are perfectly happy with the views through only low and medium costs eyepieces from quality manufacturers with scopes of around F5. Higher speed scopes down to F4 can however be VERY demanding and the quality of views may suffer with anything but the best quality eyepieces. Eyepieces can range in price from £10 through to £600 !!!!!!. The difference is in the optical quality and the eyepieces ability to keep the view free from any optical defects. It seems expensive but in reality an eyepiece is like a lens for a camera. Cameras are often quite relatively inexpensive but good quality lenses are mostly very expensive. It's the same relationship between a telescope and a camera. Just make sure that when you buy your telescope it comes with at least fittings for 1.25" eyepieces. One of the buzz words you will hear when talking about eyepieces is 'eye relief' this is the distance between the glass of the eyepiece and your eye. If the eye relief is too far away you will feel as if you are standing back and looking down the barrel of a ballpoint pen. If its too close you wil find it uncomfortable, and if you wear glasses, perhaps impossible. The more powerful the eyepiece becomes (shorter focal ratio) the less eye relief there will be. Thats another reason why beginners are often put off with high powered eyepieces. As time goes by and you acquire experience you will know what types of eyepieces will be good for both your telescope and for you. One of the big things that often brings beginners to astronomy is astro-imaging and the idea of taking some fantastic photographs of nebulae and galaxies. Its also the fastest way out of the hobby for many people ! Years ago when I started astronomy in the 1970s astro imaging was technically challenging, complex and expensive. Heres the news - it still is ! If you think your going to bolt your new digital camera to a telescope and get NASA quality pictures like you see on the web and in magazines then think again. Most of the pictures in astronomy magazines and books were taken by people with multi thousand dollar set-ups and the techniques have likely taken them years to master. If however, you have decided astro-imaging is the be all and end all I could only recommend you get a good beginners guide to astro imaging such as Steve Richards very excellent book 'Making Every Photon Count' which is considered excellent by no less a personage than Sir Patrick Moore himself. Astro imaging is a science bordering on a black art which is a vast topic with very many complexities but Steves book will give you the best possible start and its written with complete beginners in mind with plenty of pictures. Steve covers everything you will need to know to get you started and to give you an understanding of the challenges and the equipment involved. Generally speaking astronomy is a steep learning curve without introducing the complexities of astro-imagine and I would advise any beginner to learn the basics first before attempting to jump in to one of the most technically challenging aspects of the hobby. Many astronomers when asked will suggest getting involved with an astronomical society. While a good local society can be very advantageous there are also rather dull societies and some, sadly, have the sorts of people who would put you off for good. I'd suggest get online - you found this article so click around and find an online bulletin board like stargazers lounge. You'll find plenty of friendly folk in there who will help. Astronomy is more than kind to beginners and older, wiser heads can advise, help and share knowledge. There's very little snobbery in astronomy so don't be afraid to join in on a web board and ask questions. The next best resource for the beginner is to look out for star parties or public events you can go along to. Astronomers are very often incredibly generous with their time and this will allow you to get a look through a few different telescopes and form a better opinion of what you need. Finally a good resource that is often overlooked is a good dealer. Reputable dealers will talk you through the pitfalls and help you choose a telescope that's right for YOU. Remember not every scope is perfect for everyone and you need something that you like and will use. Reputable dealers can talk you through the issues and advise you and most importantly be available to take support calls if you have problems. I wish you luck and clear skies in your forthcoming astro adventures.

2019-04-20T20:42:17Z

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Valmet will deliver a boiler plant that utilizes biomass to Nokianvirran Energia in Finland. Valmet announced the signing of a letter of intent for the delivery on November 25, 2014. Valmet's delivery will include a HYBEX boiler with a steam power of 68 megawatts (MW) that employs the fluidized bed technology, flue gas purification equipment, and the plant's electrification and automation system. The boiler plant will be delivered for a new steam heat station to be built in Nokia. The total value of Nokianvirran Energia's investment is approximately EUR 45 million, of which the value of Valmet's delivery is slightly more than a half. The order is included in Valmet's first quarter 2015 orders received. The boiler plant will be constructed inside an existing boiler building, in the middle of the photo, from where an old coal-fired boiler, delivered by Tampella in 1963, will be demolished. The new heating station will produce process steam for the SCA Hygiene Products paper mill and the Nokian Renkaat factory, as well as district heat for Leppäkosken Lämpö's district heat customers. The fossil natural gas previously used for energy production will be replaced with more affordable biofuels, such as timber chips and whole tree chips. In addition, the boiler can utilize milled peat and sludge from the paper mill. Leppäkosken Lämpö distributes the district heat produced by the power plant to its customers through its network. "This investment will especially improve the price competitiveness of district heat compared with other heating methods," says Juha Koskinen, the managing director of Leppäkosken Lämpö. For SCA, which manufactures tissue, the investment will decrease the company's dependence on fossil natural gas. In addition the de-inking sludge derived from the tissue mill can also be used for energy production at the new power plant. For Nokian Renkaat, the power plant will bring cost benefits, and additionally reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of the production process. Nokianvirran Energia Oy's current plant consists of two gas-fired boilers with a steam power of 57 and 110 MW. The new 68 MW plant to be constructed will be integrated with the existing power plant. As gas is replaced by biofuels, carbon dioxide emissions in the area will decrease by 60,000-80,000 tons per year. Valmet has delivered several fluidized bed boilers of nearly the same capacity to district heating plants and industrial facilities. "Stricter emission standards and the need for using affordable bio and recycled fuels that are more demanding in terms of corrosion, present new challenges for the boiler design. The design work for Nokianvirran Energia's new boiler has mostly been completed, and the manufacturing has been started at Valmet's Lapua workshop. According to the project schedule, steam production will begin in the spring of 2016," says Jari Niemelä, Sales Director, EMEA, Valmet. Nokianvirran Energia Oy is a joint venture of Oy SCA Hygiene Products Ab, Nokian Renkaat Oy and Leppäkosken Sähkö Oy which is constructing a steam heat station in Nokia to be integrated with the exiting power plant. Once completed, the plant will produce process steam and district heat to its owners and improve the competitiveness of the shareholders' business operations, ensuring more stable energy prices in the long term. Metso's turnkey delivery will include process equipment, buildings and installation work. The plant will have a heat output of 10 megawatts and will produce hot water for the district heating network of Turenki. The plant will be fired by locally sourced wood-based biomass, such as forest residue and optional also peat. "The new biomass-fired heating plant is in line with our strategy to increase the share of renewable fuels in our district heat production. The plant will significantly lower the volume of CO2 emissions in our heat generation, which further minimizes the environmental footprint of district heat. Using domestic, locally sourced fuels also boosts employment in the region. We additionally want to actively meet the expectations of our customers and other stakeholders to promote sustainable development," says Elenia Lämpö's CEO Matti Tynjälä. "Elenia Lämpö's investment in the heating plant is an excellent example of a project that increases the utilization of local Finnish fuels in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly manner. The Turenki site highlights the need for a flexible and highly adjustable plant solution that is able to effectively respond to heating needs throughout the year. The advanced BioGrate combustion technology enables a wide selection of fuels, low internal consumption and highly flexible adjustability," says Teemu Koskela, who is in charge of bioheat plant sales at Metso. Qatar Shell awarded a service contract to Metso supporting an earlier delivery of valves and intelligent positioners to the Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) Project in Ras Laffan Industrial City. Jointly developed by Qatar Petroleum and Shell, Pearl GTL is the largest GTL plant in the world and the largest energy project in the state of Qatar. As part of the capital project, Metso delivered more than two and a half thousand valves and twelve hundred ND9000 positioners. As the plant is designed to run 24/7, Shell is taking the advantage of streamlining the spare part procurement process to ensure competitive pricing and speedy order delivery. The five-year Spare Parts Agreement with Metso covers more than a thousand items. According to Sami Alatalo, Metso Service Manager in Doha, "The agreement provides Shell and their service contractor with a firm basis to plan valve service actions with delivery times and agreed prices. A complete list of tag numbers maintained in the Metso Doha office further ensures that the correct parts will be available when and where needed on a day to day basis as well as during the infrequent major shuts." Pearl GTL is a world-scale project located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, 80 km north of Doha, Qatar. Pearl GTL is the world's largest source of gas-to-liquids (GTL) products, with a design capacity of 140,000 barrels of GTL products and 120,000 barrels natural gas liquids and ethane per day. Metso has been awarded its 6th and 7th repeat orders from the CNIM group for the automation of two greenfield Waste to Energy plants in the UK, one in Ardley (North Oxfordshire) and the other one in Cardiff. Metso will supply an extensive Metso DNA distributed control system and safety system to both new plants. These orders come after five similar ones from CNIM for WtE plants in Turin (Italy), Tallin (Estonia), North Hykeham (Lincolnshire, UK), Four Ashes (Stafford, UK) and Great Blakenham (Suffolk, UK). Metso DNA provides one system for all process controls and plant information management. The integrated process automation system covers all plant processes from boilers to turbines. High-level reliability is ensured through an integrated, TUV certified safety solution. Metso’s automation solutions play a significant role in managing waste-to-energy plants successfully and help them reaching their goals of maximizing incineration capacity, keeping combustion and steam production stable while allowing high availability of the production processes. The new Ardley waste-to-energy plant is owned by the Oxfordshire County Council, and the new Cardiff one is owned by the Cardiff City Council. Both plants will be operated by Viridor, one of the UK’s leading recycling, renewable energy and waste management companies. The Ardley plant will have an electric output of 24 MW and is designed to handle an annual amount of 300 000 tons of residual waste. The plant is planned to go on line by the end of 2014.The Cardiff plant will be able to treat up to 350 000 tonnes a year of residual waste, generating 30MW of electricity enough to power 50 000 homes. The plant is planned to go on line at the beginning of 2015. The CNIM group acts as a contractor in both projects. Established in 15 countries, the CNIM Groupdesigns and produces turnkey industrial solutions and offers expert research, expertise and operations services in the fields of environment, energy, defense and industry. The group has more than 2770 employees, and received orders worth 778 million euros in 2012. Hitachi Zosen Inova has chosen Metso to deliver advanced automation technology to the Ferrybridge Multifuels Energy Ltd’s waste-to-energy plant in Knottingley, West Yorkshire, UK, for which it will be the main supplier. The 68 MW plant, featuring the largest grate ever built by Hitachi Zosen Inova, will be able to reach high process availability with Metso’s solutions. Metso was chosen as the DCS supplier for the project because of its good track record with six earlier projects for Hitachi Zosen Inova. These include waste-to-energy plants in Zisterdorf, Austria; Bergen, Norway; Riverside and Newhaven, UK; Vaasa, Finland; and STV 4&5, UK. The delivery to Ferrybridge will be the seventh in total and the fourth in the UK. The Ferrybridge greenfield plant will be located at the SSE Ferrybridge C Power Station, which will be closed in 2015. It will run on SFR/RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) and process 31.3 tons of waste per hour on each of its two lines. The plant is scheduled to be fully operational by summer 2015 and generate electricity for Scottish and Southern Energy Ltd. Metso’s delivery scope to the plant will consist of a Metso DNA distributed control system, an integrated safety system and an information activity server. The control system includes four operator stations, six redundant process stations, about 6,000 hardwired I/O and Profibus signals and 2,300 datapoints via gateways. An engineering station and an information management station are also included. There is a Profibus DP connection to the black boxes and remote access for maintenance work. Ferrybridge Multifuels Energy Ltd. is a subsidiary of Multifuels Energy Ltd., which is part of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE Ltd.), a UK Power Generation Company, and Wheelabrator (WTI), a US Waste Management Company. Zurich-based Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) is a global leader in energy from waste. HZI acts as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor delivering complete turnkey plants and system solutions for energy recovery from waste. HZI’s innovative and reliable waste and flue gas treatment solutions have been part of some 500 reference projects delivered since 1933. Vantaan Energia has chosen Metso to rebuild the gas turbine control system at its Martinlaakso power plant in Vantaa, Finland. The rebuilt automation will increase turbine reliability and availability. New automation will replace the existing turbine control system that has reached the end of its life cycle. The delivery scope also includes overspeed and vibration protection for the turbine, changes to turbine hydraulics, field engineering, installation, factory assembly testing and operator training. A gas turbine simulation model will test the control application and also be used for training. The turbine controller will be integrated with the Metso DNA automation system, which now controls all three Martinlaakso power plant units. Thanks to existing connections, the solution is easy and cost efficient for the customer. The rebuilt control system will begin operation in November 2013. Vantaan Energia and Metso have cooperated closely on many projects since the 1980s. Once this project is completed, Metso will have modernized all of Martinlaakso turbines – one gas turbine and two steam turbines. Metso has supplied turbine controls to many modernized gas turbines. For example, users in Finland include Helsingin Energia’s Kellosaari power plant, Lahti Energy’s Kymijärvi power plant, Lappeenrannan Lämpövoima’s Mertaniemi power plant and Fingrid’s Tahkoluoto power plant. Metso offers a total concept for steam, gas and hydro turbine controllers, including machine monitoring, information management and the possibility to integrate them into a mill-wide distributed control system. Having the engineering tools in the control system creates a deeper view into the process. The concept includes many powerful benefits, one of which is the possibility to perform an online IO exchange on a running control system and machine without jeopardizing the operation of the unit. This saves on downtime costs and lost production while boosting revenues. Other advantages include the remote access by Metso specialists for online analysis and support. Metso supports its control systems for at least 25 years and provides them with new software that communicates with the existing system without any need to redesign or re-engineer. Vantaan Energia Oy is one of Finland’s largest urban energy companies. It is owned by the cities of Vantaa (60%) and Helsinki (40%). The Martinlaakso power plant produces about two-thirds of Vantaa Energia’s electricity output and most of its district heat. The total electrical capacity of the plant is about 195 MW and thermal capacity is 330 MW. For the second time in a row, Metso's innovative technology has played a major role in winning the Climate Action of the Year Award in Finland. This year, the Sustainability Forum of the Finnish Energy Industries granted the accolade to the project called "The Energy Turnaround in Vaasa", a city of 65,000 inhabitants on the west coast of Finland. The project features cooperation between three local energy companies: Vaasan Sähkö, Vaskiluodon Voima and Westenergy. Metso supplied technology to the two latter companies' plants. Through their cooperation, the three companies have been able to significantly decrease CO2, methane and particulate emissions by a total of 525,000 tons per year, resulting in better local air quality. The amount equals the annual CO2 emissions of about 175,000 cars. Other benefits of the project include the utilization of non-recyclable waste as well as the positive investment impact on the local economy. Vaskiluodon Voima runs the world's largest biomass gasification plant, which was supplied by Metso. The 140 MW plant is groundbreaking in many ways, as this is the first time in the world that biomass gasification is being adopted on such a large scale to replace fossil fuels. Nearly half of the coal used can be replaced with gasified biomass, making the plant highly environmentally friendly. "We now use three to six kilos less coal per second in our production than earlier. This means having one coal shipment less per month," points out Matti Loukonen, Power Plant Manager of Vaskiluodon Voima. Metso's delivery to the plant included fuel handling, a large-scale dryer and a circulating fluidized bed gasifier, modification work on the existing coal boiler and a Metso DNA automation system. "Vaskiluodon Voima made a coal-fired plant go green, and for this reason will set an example for others to follow in the future," says Jyrki Holmala, President of Metso's Power business line. Metso's other customer involved in "The Energy Turnaround in Vaasa", Westenergy, recently started up a new energy-from-waste plant that runs on source-separated waste and has a capacity of 15 MW of electricity and 40 MW of district heat. The plant is controlled with a Metso DNA distributed control system and an information management system. Modern automation plays a major role in managing the plant successfully. Plant operators will be able to maximize the incineration capacity, keep combustion and steam production stable, as well as maintain high process availability. Extensive, employee-empowering automation will ensure that waste burns safely and emissions stay low. "Overall, the project was a big success for both Westenergy and for the contractors involved in the project," comments Jan Teir who was Managing Director of Westenergy during the project. "Concerning the involvement of Metso, I am also pleased since we got the control system we wanted. In addition, Metso also supplied one of the best crushers in the world that will be used to crush large items, for instance furniture, in the bunker of our plant." Climate Action of the Year is an acknowledgement awarded annually by the Finnish Energy Industries to an energy-industry company or organization that has carried out investments or development projects to abate climate change or has, through other actions, contributed to combating climate change. Last year, the award was granted to Lahti Energy's waste gasification plant, which has extensively incorporated Metso's technology. Vaskiluodon Voima Oy is owned equally by the energy companies EPV Energia Oy and Pohjolan Voima Oy. The company's power plants, located in Vaasa and Seinäjoki, produce electricity and district heating. Westenergy Oy Ab is owned by five municipal waste management companies, which operate in an area consisting of more than fifty municipalities with altogether more than 400,000 inhabitants. Together with investment fund Eurofideme 2, Holmen (STO:HOLMA)(STO:HOLMB) has decided to build a wind farm in the municipality of Norrtälje in a jointly-owned company. The annual production is an estimated 165 GWh and the wind farm is planned to commence operation in autumn 2014. Eurofideme 2, a renewable energy infrastructure fund of Mirova*, has acquired half the shares in the company that Holmen founded to run wind power production on its own land in the municipality of Norrtälje near Hallsta Paper Mill. The decision now marks the start of installation of 17 wind turbines with an installed power capacity of a total 51 MW and an expected annual production of 165 GWh. An environmental permit has already been obtained. According to the plan, the turbines will be taken into operation in autumn 2014. “It is a great opportunity for Eurofideme 2 to be co-investing in this project of national interest for wind in the Stockholm County with a high quality partner like Holmen” commented Raphael Lance, Director of Eurofideme 2. The cost of constructing the wind farm is an estimated SEK 650 million and will be financed by a bank loan to the jointly-owned company plus capital from shareholders Holmen and Eurofideme 2. Holmen’s investment will largely be met by income from the sale of shares in the company, and the transaction will therefore not have any noticeable effect on Holmen’s cash flow. The transaction will affect Holmen Energi’s operating profit in the second quarter by approximately SEK 100 million. * Eurofideme 2, a fund managed by Mirova Environment and Infrastructure and part of Mirova, the Responsible Investment division of Natixis Asset Management, is investing through its wholly-owned subsidiary Wotan SA. This is information that Holmen AB is obliged to disclose under the Swedish Securities Market Act and the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. Submitted for publication on 17 May at 15.30. Metso will modernize the automation and field instrumentation at Helsingin Energia’s Salmisaari A and B power plants in Helsinki, Finland. The investment will ensure high availability and safety at the plants long into the future. In choosing the supplier, the company emphasized overall best value for money and fulfillment of tight technical requirements. New automation will replace the existing automation system from 1984 at Plant B, which produces electricity and district heat, and the system from 1986 at Plant A, which produces district heat. In the future, the plants’ main fuel of coal will be replaced with pellets that will account for a 5 – 10% share at first. “By utilizing modern control methods, it is possible to reach better process control,” says Heikki Mylläri, Sales Director, Automation, Metso. Metso’s extensive turnkey delivery will consist of two Metso DNA automation systems, field instrumentation, a safety interlocking system, replacement of programmable logic controls, field engineering, an emissions reporting tool to meet present directives, installation, testing and commissioning. Modernization at Plant B is scheduled to start in May 2014 with startup in September 2014. Plant A will be modernized in 2015. The order is included in Automation’s first quarter 2013 orders received. Metso has earlier delivered automation to Helsinki Energia’s Kellosaari backup power plant, Salmisaari coal storage inside a cliff and water treatment, which all will now be integrated into the new automation. The entity will utilize the reporting system earlier supplied by Metso. In the future, all power plants and processes will be operated from the same control room with uniform user interfaces. As one of the largest energy companies in Finland, Helsingin Energia supplies electric energy to about 400,000 customers in Finland and covers more than 90% of the heat demand in the capital city with district heat. This unique magazine was created over two years ago ( December 2010) to promote the specific benefits of carbon neutral renewable energy from forest biomass, including high energy briquettes and pellets made from wood. It also provides a shop window for new equipment for the efficient harvesting and conversion of wood into energy. industry, Forest Bioenergy Review has planned a series of technical, economic and environmental articles of importance to its readers during 2013 and is carrying out a series of interviews with industry leaders influencing the future direction and growth of forest bioenergy in Europe. Advertising in its pages is a cost-effective way of reaching new customers for the latest machinery and techniques now being developed to harness the power of the forest. Since launching the magazine there have been those that have tried to broaden existing publications to cover this very specific industry segment and have failed. Since December 2010 our global circulation specific to FBR has risen to over 8,000 individuals around the world who have specifically requested receipt, this number rises to a little over 10,700 when you include the paper, tissue, board and packaging mill owners from its sister publication Pulp, Paper & Logistics. As with all publications, growth is essential and we are proud to announce the official launch of www.forestbioenergyreview.com . This development has come about through a mutual co-operation with www.pulp-paperworld.com and integrating their Energy related registered users into the new website, this co-operation takes the total potential audience for your news, editorial submissions and marketing message to a little over 18,300 when using both products. International technology Group ANDRITZ presents a new generation of weir plates, providing a significant reduction in power consumption for centrifuges. The patented TurboJet weir plate, available for all ANDRITZ decanters and those of other suppliers, helps customers to reduce their energy consumption by 10-30%. This innovative product was developed in the ANDRITZ SEPARATION Center of Competence in Châteauroux, France, and passed extensive testing on various customers’ sites, e.g. for waste water treatment, bioethanol production, calcium carbonate separation, as well as in the food and chemical industries. The TurboJet weir plate guides the liquid discharge from the centrifuge in the opposite direction to the bowl rotation. Adjustable nozzles form a jet that creates a reaction force in the same way as a jet engine’s exhaust and recovers the kinetic energy from the liquid. This extra force enhances bowl rotation and thereby reduces main drive power consumption without affecting actual separation performance. Power savings vary depending on feed flow, pond depth, and bowl speed. Advanced automation systems will contribute to more efficient and less polluting electricity generation in two large units that feature ultra supercritical technology and thereby support economic growth in Eastern China in an environmentally responsible way. Jiangsu Huadian Jurong Power Co. Ltd. has chosen Metso’s automation systems for its two greenfield 1000 MW power plant units located in Xiashu Town, Jurong City, Jiangsu Province, China. Scheduled to start up in the coming summer, the units are the first 1,000 MW units with ultra supercritical technology to be built by Jiangsu Huadian Jurong Power. Ultra supercritical technologies can boost the efficiency of coal-based electricity generation by approximately 50% and produce less emissions compared with traditional subcritical coal-fired power plants. China has become a hotbed of ultra supercritical construction as the country seeks to satisfy its growing power requirements. By investing in these large units with ultra-supercritical technologies, Jiangsu Huadian Jurong Power is supporting economic growth in Eastern China in an environmentally responsible way. Both power plant units will be controlled with Metso’s automation systems from one central control room. The systems will monitor, control and optimize the performance of the units along with the common services at the plant site. The DCS is designed for both functional and physical distribution. The main function includes, for example, automatic startup and shutdown, performance monitoring and data links to other balance-of-plant systems. The turbine control system, boiler feedwater pump turbine control system and flue gas desulphurization system will also use Metso’s DNA hardware and software, and will be integrated into the distributed control system, although they are supplied by other vendors. In both main plant control systems, there are 33 pairs of digital processing units and approximately 14,000 hardwired I/Os. In addition, redundant gateways will transfer information from various systems or subsystems into the unit control systems. The common system is geographically distributed in the circulating water pump house, demineralization water pump house and auxiliary power equipment room, and controlled and interlocked through unit DCS operator stations. Jiangsu Huadian Jurong Power Co., Ltd. is a joint venture between China Huadian Corporation and Jiangsu Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. The company was founded in 2008. More than 400 people have helped build the $250 million biomass power plant that now towers over Business Highway 51 and the Wisconsin River, and their months of hard work have the project on schedule to begin generating power late this year. When the facility opens, a parade of 50 to 75 semitrucks every weekday will keep the plant’s boilers stoked with treetops and branches that will create steam and electricity. In addition to producing clean energy, the new site will improve air quality by reducing overall emissions from the Domtar paper mill by about 30 percent, according to a Domtar and We Energies informational handout. That parade of trucks loaded down with 300,000 to 500,000 tons of wood debris referred to as biomass will come from forests within a 75-mile radius and will employ dozens more people, including Jeff Plunkett, fiber procurement manager for Domtar. Plunkett is in charge of buying wood materials for the paper mill and new biomass facility. He said he has a growing list of local contractors lined up to provide the wood waste, though he declined to name any. In November 2008, the company began talks with We Energies to develop an alternative energy source, and the partnership was announced in September 2009 for a new biomass plant to be built at the Domtar Rothschild site. Since its introduction, the project has divided village residents and faced opposition because of its hefty price tag. Construction began in August 2011. Rick Graap, owner of Graap Logging in Merrill, has supported the biomass facility since it was first proposed. He hopes to have a contract later this year as one of the biomass material providers for the new facility, and already has about 25,000 tons of tree tops and branches stored in north central Wisconsin. Graap said he plans to hire about two to three new employees to drive trucks, should he contract with Domtar and We Engergies. He will also hire two other employees to operate in the woods. Once the facility is in full operation, the plant will employ about 30 full-time workers. About 60 percent of the steam will drive a turbine to create electricity for We Energies, a Milwaukee-based energy company. The remaining steam will be used inside Domtar’s Rothschild mill, which employs 400 people. While Domtar will continue to buy electricity from Wisconsin Public Service Corp., the new 50-megawatt biomass facility will supply 100 percent of the mill’s steam, used to create the high-pressure, high-temperature environment necessary to convert wood chips to pulp and to dry paper after it is made, said Craig Timm, a Domtar spokesman. Before the plant opens late this year, many parts need to be prepped and tested, including the biomass boiler, the fuel-handling system and steam blows. Testing the biomass boiler ensures boiler pipes are welded properly and can withstand required pressure. The steam blows push steam through pipes to clear dirt and debris that accumulate during construction, and the fuel-handling system includes conveyor systems and the truck unloader. Katrinefors Kraftvärme AB (KKAB), a 50/50 joint venture owned by Metsä Tissue, part of Metsä Group, and the local municipal energy company VänerEnergi AB, will build a new biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Mariestad, Sweden, in conjunction with the Metsä Tissue mill. This will be the second bioenergy plant operated by KKAB. The construction of the new plant will start in April 2013. The plant is expected to be operating by the end of 2014. The total investment will amount to approximately 30 million euros of which Metsä Tissue’s share will be 50 per cent. According to Mark Watkins, SVP Tissue Scandinavia, KKAB’s new bioenergy plant is an important step in increasing the share of bioenergy. In Metsä Group, the share of wood-based bioenergy is high, as over 80 per cent of all the used fuel is biomass. Increasing the share of bioenergy is one of the key activities in Metsä Group’s efforts to mitigate climate change and reduce fossil CO2 emissions. Metsä Group’s target is to reduce fossil-based CO2 emissions by 30 per cent per product tonne by 2020 from the 2009 level. The new bioenergy production reduces significantly, even as much as 90 per cent, Metsä Tissue Mariestad mill’s oil usage. The new power plant will decrease Mariestad mill’s CO2 emissions by approximately 6,000 tonnes, i.e. by 30 per cent from the present. Currently oil is used to cover wintertime peak in heat demand and as reserve fuel. The new biomass CHP plant will be composed of an approximately 28 MW biomass boiler to produce heat and approximately 7 MW turbine to produce electricity. The biomass fuels consist of energy wood and the mill’s recycled fibre residues. In addition to producing electricity and heat to Mariestad mill, the plant will provide renewable energy for the surrounding community in the form of district heating and bio-based grid electricity. Optomec announced today that the Company’s Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio in the field of Additive Manufacturing grew to 35 patents with the addition of six new patents granted in 2012. These new patents cover inventions for the Company’s Aerosol Jet technology used for Printed Electronics. Optomec also announced it has received notices of allowance for additional patents which are expected to be granted in 2013. The newly granted patents included three in the United States and three in Asia. Of particular note, Optomec received protection for its technologies that enable printing of high conductivity circuitry onto temperature sensitive plastic (low cost) substrates using laser curing techniques. Additionally, the company received patents in the area of printed passive structures (i.e.: resistors, antenna, etc); tilting of the head to enable printing on 3D surfaces; and high resolution printing for fine feature electronics. Finally, Optomec received several patents protecting hardware enhancements that enable high throughput printing for high volume manufacturing applications. These include multiplexing strategies for key elements of the Aerosol Jet system, including the atomizer that serves as the input mechanism, and the focusing head that defines printed output. Alfa Laval – a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling – has won an order to supply plate heat exchangers for cooling applications in Canada. The order, booked in the Energy and Environment segment late March, has a value of approximately SEK 60 million and delivery is scheduled to start in 2013 and be finalized in 2014. The Alfa Laval heat exchangers will be used to recover energy and cool process water in an oil processing facility in Canada. The project, which is a capacity expansion, duplicates an existing facility, for which Alfa Laval also supplied all the plate heat exchangers. “This order confirms our strong position in the oil and gas industry. It also proves the quality and reliability of our plate heat exchangers, as the customer once again chooses our equipment”, says Lars Renström, President and CEO of the Alfa Laval Group. Did you know that… Alfa Laval has been present in Canada since 1899? Carbon dioxide is a major cause of global warming, but it's also fundamental to life on Earth. As any good toxicologist knows, "the dose makes the poison." And thanks to new research at the University of Georgia, we might soon have an antidote for too much CO2: a manmade version of the microbe Pyrococcus furiosus, or "rushing fireball," that absorbs CO2 and converts it into fuel. If P. furiosus can work on a large enough scale, it might even help displace carbon-positive fossil fuels like coal and oil. "Basically, what we have done is create a microorganism that does with carbon dioxide exactly what plants do — absorb it and generate something useful," says Michael Adams, a member of UGA's Bioenergy Systems Research Institute and co-author of a new study detailing the magic of P. furiosus. "What this discovery means is that we can remove plants as the middleman. We can take carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and turn it into useful products like fuels and chemicals without having to go through the inefficient process of growing plants and extracting sugars from biomass." In photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to turn water and CO2 into energy-packed sugars, forming the base of Earth's food web. These sugars can also be fermented into biofuels like ethanol, but as Adams points out, removing them from a plant's cells is relatively inefficient due to the energy input required. P. furiosus, however, may offer a shortcut. The microbe is a deep-sea "extremophile," thriving in violent conditions that would obliterate most organisms. It feeds on carbohydrates in super-heated seawater around hydrothermal vents, but by tweaking its genetic material, Adams and his colleagues created a new kind of P. furiosus that likes cooler temperatures and eats CO2. The researchers then used hydrogen gas to spark a chemical reaction inside themicrobe, prompting it to incorporate CO2 into 3-hydroxypropionic acid, a common industrial acid that's used to make acrylics. With further genetic manipulations, they can also create a P. furiosus variant that produces an array of other useful chemicals, including fuel. And when that biofuel is burned, the researchers note, it releases the same amount of CO2 that was used to create it. That means it's essentially carbon-neutral, making it a cleaner alternative to fossil-based fuels like coal, crude oil and gasoline. "This is an important first step that has great promise as an efficient and cost-effective method of producing fuels," Adams says. "In the future we will refine the process and begin testing it on larger scales." Voith Hydro and RusHydro, one of the largest supplier of hydropower in the world, signed a contract establishing the inception of the joint venture VolgaHydro LLC in Moscow. Each company holds a share of 50 percent of the joint venture. RusHydro will exercise the industrial leadership, Voith Hydro will be responsible for the operational management. Voith Hydro will appoint the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and RusHydro will announce who will become the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Any decision over VolgaHydro will be made by RusHydro and Voith Hydro commonly. The headquarters of VolgaHydro will be the city of Balakovo in the Russian Federation. “Having founded this joint venture, Voith strengthens its position in the significant Russian hydropower market sustainably”, says Dr. Roland Münch, Chief Executive Officer of Voith Hydro. VolgaHydro will closely keep in touch with its customers providing excellent know-how and the entire range of expertise. With a technical potential of 424 GW power, the hydromarket in Russia has a bright outlook. By now, only 46 GW of hydropower has been installed. Besides the possibility to build new hydropower plants, the joint venture focuses on extensive modernizations of old hydropower stations. For instance, Voith and RusHydro have already started to renew the plants Miatlinskaya and Saratovskaya. Voith also modernized the technical equipment of the hydropower plant Uglich for RusHydro as a customer. Voith supplied a complete machine set for the plant and, furthermore, equipped Uglich with electrical and mechanical equipment and automation systems. Voith’s commitment in Russia goes back to the year of 1899. In that year, the company delivered the first full-fledged paper machine to the city of Sokol. Today, Voith conducts its business at six locations in the Russian Federation. Generally, the Russian market has high potential in the field of energy, oil, gas, raw materials, logistics and automotive. Voith considers these markets as its key sphere of activity. Proven automation solution and information management helps waste-to-energy plants to maximize performance and operate safely. Metso has been awarded its 5th repeated order from the CNIM group for the automation of another greenfield waste-to-energy plant in Great Blakenham (Suffolk, UK). Metso will supply an extensive Metso DNA automation system and safety system to the new plant. This order comes after similar ones for WtE plant in Turin (Italy), Tallin (Estonia), North Hykeham (Lincolnshire, UK) and Four Ashes (Stafford, UK). Metso DNA provides one system for all process controls and plant information management. The integrated process automation system covers all plant processes from boilers to turbines. High-level reliability is ensured through an integrated, TÛV certified safety solution. The new Suffolk waste-to-energy plant is owned by the Suffolk County Council and will be operated by Sita Suffolk limited. It will have an electric output of 20 MWe enough to power 30 000 homes and it is designed to handle an annual amount of 269 000 tons of residual waste. The plant is planned to go on line by the end of 2014. The CNIM group acts as a contractor in the Suffolk project. Established in 15 countries, the CNIM Group designs and produces turnkey industrial solutions and offers expert research, expertise and operations services in the fields of environment, energy, defense and industry. The group has 3,000 employees, and its turnover was 665 million euros in 2011. Alfa Laval – a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling – has won an order to supply compact heat exchangers to a gas plant being built in Russia. The order, booked in the Energy & Environment segment, has a value of approximately SEK 60 million and delivery is scheduled to start in 2013 and be finalized in 2014. The Alfa Laval compact heat exchangers will be installed in a new gas plant in the Urengoy gas field in Russia. They will be used for heat recovery in the gas compression process, resulting in an energy-efficient process solution. “We continue to see good demand from the gas industry. This is yet another large gas order, within a short period of time, proving our ability to provide reliable and efficient equipment to an industry with very high demands”, says Lars Renström, President and CEO of the Alfa Laval Group. Did you know that… Russia’s five biggest gas companies stand for 90 percent of the country’s total gas production – and that all five are customers to Alfa Laval? Domtar Corporation has announced that it has successfully installed a commercial-scale lignin separation plant at its Plymouth, North Carolina mill, the first U.S. facility of its type in over 25 years. The production of BioChoiceTM lignin began in February, with a targeted rate of 75 tons a day, destined for a wide range of industrial applications as a bio-based alternative to the use of petroleum and other fossil fuels. The successful installation of commercial-scale lignin removal capacity at the Plymouth Mill is the culmination of a research and engineering project launched by Domtar in 2010. This project was further boosted when the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the company a grant through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative. Domtar's lignin operation sets a new path for the industry and also marks the latest sustainability milestone for a company that has long been recognized as an industry leader in forest certification and environmental stewardship. "Our vision is to be a global leader in fiber-based innovation," said Bruno Marcoccia, Domtar's director of research and development. "A big part of this is our focus on partnering with best-in class collaborators to develop new products and markets for a wide portfolio of initiatives, like BioChoice." "The possibilities for making a real difference in terms of offering manufacturers a bio-based alternative to the use of petro-chemicals is truly exciting," said Hasan Jameel, a professor in North Carolina State University's Department of Forest Biomaterials. "This is a big win for sustainability on two counts - Domtar improves the efficiency of its pulp-making process, and at the same time the market gets a reliable, high-quality source of this underused material with so much potential." A wide range of potential applications for BioChoice lignin exists, including fuels, resins and thermoplastics. "I'm sure that Vaskiluoto's investment in increasing the use of renewable energy will draw major international attention. Coal powered plants can be made greener, and Vaskiluoto's plant is leading the way," says Jyrki Holmala, President of Metso's Power business line. "Coal boilers still account for the majority of power production in the world. Bio-gasification technology of this scale offers a new, cost-effective option for increasing the share of biomass and, consequently, for significantly decreasing the use of and emissions from coal. " Later on in the inauguration day, Metso organized a technology seminar in Vaasa, which was attended by some 50 customers from around Europe. A visit to the new gasification plant was also on the agenda. Catalyst Paper has announced that it has agreed, subject to court approval, to sell its approximately 50% interest in Powell River Energy Inc. and Powell River Energy Limited Partnership to Powell River Energy Trust, a Brookfield Renewable Energy affiliate for $33 million. Powell River Energy Trust currently holds the other 50% stake in the Powell River Energy joint venture originally established in 2001. Sergio Guimaraes has been appointed Executive Vice President of Pöyry PLC and President of the Energy Business Group. Sergio will become a Member of Pöyry PLC's Group Executive Committee. He will take over duties on 15 April 2013 and report to Alexis Fries, President and CEO of Pöyry PLC. Sergio Guimaraes joins Pöyry after a 30 year career in Alstom where he assumed a number of management positions within the global hydro business. Ari Asikainen, current EVP, President of Energy Business Group, takes up a new position as Senior Vice President of Business Development reporting to Alexis Fries, President and CEO. He will not be a member the Group Executive Committee. FPInnovations and Natural Resources Canada's CanmetENERGY have signed a memorandum of understanding which will formalize the collaborative efforts of the research teams from both organizations after years of informal cooperation. Speaking at PaperWeek Canada in Montreal, Pierre Lapointe, CEO of FPInnovations, said the agreement will facilitate the delivery of innovative solutions in areas such as energy co-generation, biorefining, and transformation of forest biomass to bio-energy and high value bioproducts. Researchers from both organizations will work together to exchange scientific and technical information and collaborate on joint projects. Natural Resources Canada's CanmetENERGY is is Canada's knowledge centre for scientific expertise on clean energy technologies. It encompasses more than 450 scientists, engineers and technicians, and more than 100 years of experience. FPInnovations is a not-for-profit organization that specializes in the creation of scientific solutions in support of the Canadian forest sector. International technology Group ANDRITZ has received an order from Fortum Värme to supply a circulating fluidized bed boiler for the new Värtaverket combined heat and power plant in Stockholm, Sweden. The biomass boiler plant will be one of the largest of its kind worldwide. Start-up is scheduled for the third quarter of 2015. The order includes the supply of a PowerFluid fluidized bed boiler with useful heat output of 330 MW, a flue gas cleaning plant, as well as the electrical and control systems. With the new plant from ANDRITZ Energy & Environment, which will cover the rising demand for district heating in Stockholm, fossil-based fuels like coal and oil can be replaced largely with eco-friendly biomass. When the biomass boiler plant is started up, the proportion of renewable fuels used at the Värtaverket power station will increase from 45% to 70%. The heating generated in the new Värtaverket combined heat and power plant will be equivalent to the demand from a total of 190,000 households. Current investments by Fortum Värme make a substantial contribution towards placing Stockholm among the leading capital cities worldwide in terms of air quality. Fortum Värme’s goal is to supply Stockholm entirely with climate-neutral heat by 2030. Metso will supply a biomass-fired heating plant for district heat production to Savon Voima Oyj in Leppävirta in Finland. Following the investment, the municipality of Leppävirta will have access to more district heat generated using renewable fuels, in accordance with Savon Voima's bioenergy program. The new heating plant will significantly reduce the consumption of oil. The plant will go on stream in late 2013. The value of the order is approximately EUR 9 million. Metso's turnkey delivery will include process equipment and buildings as well as installation and construction work. The delivery will also include Metso's flue gas scrubber. Once completed, the plant will have a heat output of 8 MW and it will produce hot water for the district heating network of the municipality of Leppävirta. The plant will be fired by wood-based biomass sourced locally, such as forest residue and peat. "We chose Metso as the supplier of our new plant because we have a long history of successful cooperation with Metso during previous plant deliveries, the latest of which was the delivery of a plant of the same size to Suonenjoki. Metso's solution also offered the best overall economy," says Savon Voima's Project Manager Hannu Lipsanen. "We want to be a reliable partner in advancing Savon Voima's sustainable projects that use domestic fuel. The Leppävirta project is very important for us. We will supply a plant which will reduce the use of fossil fuels and provide an energy efficient solution for district heat production," confirms Teemu Koskela, in charge of the sales of bioheat plants at Metso. Savon Voima Oyj is a Finnish energy company that provides and markets electricity and heating services. With sales totalling more than EUR 211 million (2011), the company is one of Finland's largest providers of energy services. Savon Voima is also a significant employer within the energy sector, and has a staff of approximately 170 professionals. Years of systematic investments in emission-free energy production have raised the proportion of bioenergy in heat generation to over 80 percent.

2019-04-24T10:28:46Z

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2019-04-18T14:26:21Z

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An e-mail from Tim Eyman ten days ago caught my attention. Eyman wrote about something Fairley had said while presiding over a hearing as chairwoman of the State Senate committee on government operations and elections. The hearing was about a bill to define signatures on initiative and referendum petitions as public records. After the February 2 hearing, Eyman sent Fairley (D-Lake Forest Park) an e-mail disputing her statement that Eyman had copied signatures on two petitions. Eyman asked Fairley to correct the record. When I asked Fairley about Eyman’s e-mail, she told me she hadn’t read it, understandable since Eyman’s e-mails arrive almost daily. Fairley explained that someone in the secretary of state’s office had told her that the office had given Eyman two years' worth of initiative and referendum petitions. The Shoreline Community College Baseball Team used local high school graduates to help lead the team to an opening day sweep of Vancouver Island College (Canada) on Saturday at Lower Woodland Park at the south end of Green Lake. The Dolphins posted identical 7-0 victories for both games. Former Shorewood High School product, Brady Summers (pictured), was the winning pitcher in the first game, striking out 4 and allowing 3 hits for the Dolphins. In the second game, Willie Davies, a former Shorecrest High School pitcher posted the win while striking out 8 and allowing 3 hits as well. Carol Solle's comparison of auto liability insurance and healthcare insurance is not apt. A fairer comparison would be emergency services (911) to healthcare, because in the aftermath of an accident the prime concern is taking care of injured people, whether or not those people can pay. I don't know of a single location where 911 services are provided privately. This is because it makes no sense. However, once the insurance system kicks in, when the injured party has reached the hospital and critical needs are taken care of, everyone has horror stories to relate about medical care which was second-guessed, delayed or rejected by insurance companies - and this isn't even health insurance, but the auto liability companies. Solle advocates for allowing interstate purchases of insurance. I would have no problem with this, so long as there is very strict federal-level regulation of benefits and premiums, and a requirement that everyone be included in the same insurance risk pool. However continuing state-based regulation would be overmatched by the power of the insurance companies, and states would compete to attract the insurance companies by minimizing requirements, as has happened with the credit card industry. This would lead to even less accountability than we have now. Why can't the United States, the most powerful and wealthiest nation in the history of the world, provide adequate health care to everyone who lives here? Other wealthy countries around the world are able to do this. Systems vary. Some are government-run, and some, such as Japan's, are run by very strictly regulated private insurance companies. But they are able to do what we cannot, which is to take care of all their citizens (and visitors - my mom received health care recently on a trip to London, when she fell on a bus) whether or not they are rich, poor, working or unemployed. The pairings are set for the NWAACC Men's Basketball Championship. The Dolphins will face Green River Community College in the first round of the NWAACC Men's Basketball Championship. If SCC wins, they will face the winner of the Community College of Spokane or Clackamas Community College from Oregon in the second round. Shoreline finished the season 19-5 overall, 13-3 in the NWAACC Northern Region and will be the #1 Seed from the Northern Region. Green River was 13-11 overall, 10-6 in the NWAACC Western Region and the #4 Seed from that division. The CC of Spokane is 21-5 overall and the #3 Seed from the Eastern Region, while Clackamas is also 21-5 and the #2 Seed from the Southern Region. SCC will face Green River at 6 pm next Saturday, March 6, in the Toyota Center in Kennewick, WA. If the Dolphins win, they will play again at 6 pm on Sunday. If SCC loses, they will move to the consolation bracket and play at Noon on Sunday against the loser of Spokane/Clackamas. This is the first trip to the NWAACC Championship for Shoreline in five years and the first region championship since 2001-02. The NWAACC Men's Basketball Championship is a 16 team tournament, with the top four teams from each of the conferences four regions comprising the bracket. To win the NWAACC Championship, a team must win four games in four days. The NWAACC Women's Basketball Tournament is played at the same time at the same location as one men's game is play next to one women's game on the arena's floor. The Driftwood Players announce theatre auditions for their world premiere of a new play by local Northwest playright Jeff Stillwell. The play is called Teacup Tipsy and it will be directed by the playwright. Auditions will be held on Sunday, March 14 from 3 pm and Monday, March. 15 from 7 pm at the Driftwood Administrative Office, 306 Main Street, Edmonds. There are parts for men (30's to 50's) and women (20's, 50's to 60's). Additional character information and a sample script are available on the Driftwood Players website. Prepare a short, contemporary monologue and bring picture and resume. Sign up for an audition appointment online or call 425-774-9600. Teacup Tipsy performs April 17, 18 and 19. Saturday at 2 pm; Sunday and Monday at 7:30 pm, at the Wade James Theatre, 950 Main St, Edmonds. Shy and mousy Reginald tries desperately to attract the notice of the beautiful Lyla (if only she'd stop dancing!) through winning a mug of tea on the house by reciting "St. Theresa's Teacup Tipsy" (five times, fast)! However, his hapless stutter, the miserly grousings of Mrs. Widdershins, and the iambic pentametered exhortations of the Man in the Box all keep getting in Reginald's way! Enjoy this wacky, heart-warming comedy about love, loneliness, and the lengths to which we go to live out our dreams! Come Play a Part at The Driftwood Players. Community Theater by and for the community. The Edmonds Driftwood Players is celebrating its 51th season. We bring quality live theatre entertainment to our community. Our volunteers include actors, directors, crew, set designers, ushers, set builders, office support staff, and many, many more. Sophomore Ryan McCorkle celebrated his final home game by scoring a lay-up with 3 seconds left to lift the SCC Men's Basketball Team to victory against Everett Community on Saturday at the SCC Gym. Shoreline won the game 98-96 as Sean Jones (left) scored 23 and Sophomore Shawn West (right) added 20 to led SCC to victory. Alfie Miller-Soukasen and Ryan McCorkle added 15 points each while McCorkle pulled down 11 rebounds and Jesse Vaughan 13 points as SCC used a balance attack to win the game. The teams were tied at half-time, 53 each and both teams battled in the second half, with neither team gaining an large advantage. Shoreline is 19-5 overall and 13-3 in the region, winning the division by 2 games. The Dolphins will represent the Northern Region as the #1 seed for the division in the NWAACC Men's Basketball Championship next weekend. Everett finished the season 6-18, 4-12 in the region. Shoreline opens play in the NWAACC Championship at 6 pm on Saturday, March 6, against the #4 seed from the Western Division. The SCC women's basketball team finished the 2009-10 campaign with a loss to Everett Community College on Saturday afternoon in the SCC Gym, 61-48. The Dolphins and ECC were tied 8-8 but the Trojans pulled ahead by 17 late in first half and led at half-time 31-19. Shoreline pulled within 8 points a couple of times in the second half, but could close any further. Ana Haberman (left) scored 27 points in her final game, as she finished the season the #1 scorer in the NWAACC Northern Region. Lynsey Sandum (right) added 10 points and 8 rebounds for SCC as well. Shoreline finished the season 3-21 on the season, 2-14 in the region. Everett goes on to the NWAACC Women's Basketball Championship in Kennewick, WA next weekend. The Lady Trojans are 16-9 overall, and 12-4 in the region. On comparing car and health insurance, and advocating competition: Car ownership is voluntary, accidents are rare for good drivers, and good driving can be learned. It makes sense for there to be differences in premiums for good and bad drivers, and for degrees of coverage. Illness is involuntary and universal, and can’t be unlearned except for lifestyle changes like smoking and overeating, which are a good idea but not a panacea. Competition in the market leads to cherry-picking, where healthy and young people choose cheap insurance or none at all, while older and less healthy people are forced to pay more or are denied coverage altogether. They often then end up being treated as indigents, their costs being passed on to the rest of us as higher doctor and hospital overhead and higher insurance premiums. This is why coverage should be universal. Car insurance is, after all, for those who choose to drive, and for good reason. On mandates: If mandates are not imposed, insurance companies can simply refuse to cover expensive treatments, like cancer treatments. Obviously, those companies’ premiums would be cheaper, and people who wanted to gamble on not getting cancer would opt for them. But when some of those people did get cancer, they would probably end up being treated as indigents, as above. On Health Savings Accounts and high deductibles: These mostly benefit the well-off who can take a tax deduction for HSA contributions and can easily afford out-of-pocket expenses. Lower-income people don’t make enough to itemize deductions, so HSAs are useless to them. And high-deductible plans can backfire if they discourage people from getting preventive care , (like mammograms), leading to more expensive remedial care later. On tort reform: Torts only make up about 2% of health costs nationally, so tort reform would have a minuscule impact on health costs. Doctors have a financial incentive for performing needless tests, because they get paid for doing them. And malpractice insurers have a financial incentive to whine about tort reform, because what’s 2% of total health costs is 100% to them. On “the government taking control of 17% of the GDP:” The reason our health care system takes up 17% of GDP is that it’s dominated by private industries that are making higher profits than most of the rest of our economy. The socialized British system takes about half as much of Britain’s GDP. And the British have longer life expectancy and less child mortality, probably because poor people there get health care paid for by universal taxes. On “cutting $500,000,000,000 from Medicare:” Medicare and other federal health spending amount to a full half of US health spending, but there are industry-protecting laws preventing the government from using this potential bargaining power to force down costs. These programs could, indeed, bankrupt the federal government. But there are only two ways of cutting costs – cut services or cut private profits. Take your pick. The British system sounds pretty good to me. The Shorewood girls’ basketball team’s run in the Northwest District 4A basketball tournament ended two games short of a State tournament bid. The Thunderbird girls’ season finished Tuesday, February 23 with a 50-28 loss to Edmonds-Woodway. E-W broke the game open by shutting Shorewood out 19-0 in the second quarter. Edmonds-Woodway went on to defeat Arlington Friday February 26 for the District’s third spot in the State tournament. The loss left the T-birds with an 8-16 season record. Junior Lisa Echert, senior Mallory McDonald and freshman Masha Shtikel led Shorewood against Edmonds-Woodway with 6 points each. Shorewood Scoring—Fasbender 2, Godfrey 2, Echert 6, Lindgren 0, Hasegawa 0, McDonald 6, Nephew 2, Ellersick 3, Holley-Lair 1, Shtikel 6, Franklin 0. It's time for the ACATEMY Awards! The Seattle Humane Society is rolling out the red carpet for its elegant "tuxedo" cats in celebration of the 2010 Academy Awards. As our gift to the community, adoption fees will be waived for all black and black & white tuxedo cats 1 year and older March 6-7. These elegant felines have been spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and health-checked. They will go home with a full month of health insurance and a certificate for a free health exam. "Elegant black cats and sleek tuxedo cats never go out of style," says CEO Brenda Barnette. "Our cats have winning personalities of Oscar-worthy proportions and we want everyone to have a chance to meet these fabulous felines." Classy cat companions are waiting behind the velvet rope at the Seattle Humane Society today, located in Bellevue at 13212 SE Eastgate Way. The adoption center is open seven days a week from noon until 6 pm. On March, 7, eight firefighters from Shoreline will race up 69 floors of the Columbia Center in Seattle to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The annual Scott Firefighter Stair Climb features firefighters from all over the world as they climb 1,311 steps in full bunker (combat) gear and Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), weighing over 50 pounds. This year, the Shoreline team will be climbing in honor of Theron Gibb, father of Shoreline Fire’s Captain Bryan Gibb. Theron, a retired Seattle firefighter is currently battling leukemia. The Shoreline team also climbs in honor of cancer survivor, Mick Lamar, who is Shoreline firefighter Jason Lamar’s dad. Mick is also a longtime fire service employee. The Firefighter Climb raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, as well as for the honorees that teams select. Shoreline’s team of eight includes firefighters Troy Crossley, Mark Peterson, Andy Holstad, Jared Linke, Steve Anderson, Scott Kim, Brett Defenbaugh and Andrew Morehouse. The Firefighter Stair Climb was started years ago by Shoreline Firefighter David Engler – who climbed the tower in full bunker gear during the civilian event. The firefighter event now typically draws over 1000 firefighters and raises thousands of dollars each year. Shoreline Firefighters Union Local 1760 volunteers have staffed the event since the beginning—and will be out in full force this year alongside hundreds of Leukemia and Lymphoma Society volunteers who make the event possible. In addition to the Firefighter Climb, the “Big Climb” takes place on March 21 and is open to the general public. Check the webpage for more information. The Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Senior Center was recently honored as a Community Friend by Friends of Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park. "We've worked with the Senior Center from the beginning (of Third Place Commons) and in this last year have stepped up that working relationship. Not only is the Senior Center one of our partner agencies in the Market Bucks Program, it has become a vital partner in moving beyond weekly Mah Jongg and into some public outreach programming in the Commons." The Senior Center is located at the Shoreline Center, 18560 1st Ave NE in Shoreline. Hours of operation: Monday through Friday, 8:30a.m. to 4:40p.m.; 206-365-1536, or email. The center offers over 50 classes weekly, including over 11 exercise class options, a daily hot lunch and 26 special services for seniors and their families. THANK YOU to the citizens of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park for your strong support of the three ballot measures on February 9. With the passage of the four-year Levy for Educational Programs, Maintenance and Operations, and the four-year Capital Levy for Technology Improvements and Support, the Shoreline Schools will be better able to meet the ever-changing, complex learning and support needs of our students and families, while continuing to offer a comprehensive educational and extracurricular program in the years ahead. The passage of the Bonds to Modernize/Replace Shorecrest and Shorewood High Schools marks an exciting milestone in the history of the District. We are thrilled for our students and entire community that the Shoreline Schools will be able to provide safe, secure and 21st century high school facilities to serve our students and community for many years to come. The sixty-five member Shoreline Concert Band, under the direction of Ken Noreen, presents its Winter Quarter concert, “Facets of Love” at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, March 9, at the Shorecrest Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available only at the door. $8 general admission., $6 seniors and students. This special concert features the Shoreline Singers under the direction of Dr. Fred Lokken and the Shorewood High School Wind Ensemble, directed by Brian Akesson. On Friday, March 5, at 7:30 pm at the Prince of Peace Lutheran church, 14514 20th Ave NE, Shoreline 98155, Dr. George Fiore will perform works by Chopin in celebration of the Bicentennial of his birth. Barbara Scheel will sing art songs and arias. Freewill donations. Reception to follow. Fifteen years ago residents incorporated Shoreline as a City so they could receive better, even exceptional, services for their tax dollar. Since then, the City has worked hard to meet residents’ expectations and 15 years after incorporation Shoreline families, neighborhoods and businesses have much to be proud of. Unfortunately, the City’s ability to fund the services that make Shoreline such a great place to live is facing serious challenges. In 2010, Shoreline residents will need to decide how best to maintain the quality of life we have come to enjoy and protect the investments made in our neighborhoods and community. By renewing our investment now we will keep and build on what we have created over the last 15 years. The cost of not affirming our investment jeopardizes many of the services and programs that make Shoreline a “Number One” community in the Seattle region. Come listen to representatives from the City give a brief presentation on services and how the current long-range financial outlook will impact those services. Come ready to ask questions! Shorewood swimmer Thor Stenfjord was named State 4A boys athlete of the week for February 14-20. Stenfjord, a junior, won the 100-yard freestyle at the State 4A championships in Federal Way, February 20. He also swam on the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team and winning 200-yard medley relay team. In addition, he finished second in the 200-yard individual medley to help the Thunderbirds win the team championship. Each week, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association names a boy and a girl athlete of the week in each enrollment classification. Auto Insurance is available from companies across the nation. It provides coverage of varying degrees, depending upon customer preference: Comprehensive or collision, coverage amounts, and varying deductibles. Customers are rewarded for good driving, and those that cause accidents see their premiums go up, or they get dropped from coverage. Auto Insurance covers unexpected liability, while insurance holders are expected pay for routine oil changes, tune-ups, engine repairs and new tires. Most likely, these insurance holders look for the best service at the lowest price, promoting free-market competition. Health Insurance availability is limited to the state in which the insured lives. Each state mandates that certain conditions are covered by health insurance. For example, in the state of Maryland, In-Vitro Fertilization, Morbid Obesity Treatment, Smoking Cessation, Well Child Care, Alcoholism/Substance Abuse and Hair Prosthesis are mandated to be covered. This significantly increases premiums for everyone in Maryland when not everyone needs this type of coverage. Health Insurance is expected to cover not just unexpected healthcare costs, but routine checkups and treatments for common illnesses. The insured is not motivated to look around for the best service at the lowest price, thereby removing free-market competition. (On the other hand, cosmetic and lazik surgery is not covered by insurance, allowing consumers to shop for the best deals, and those costs are going down!) Also, there is no incentive on the part of the insured to restrain healthcare consumption. As a result of state mandates, lack of competition, uncontrolled healthcare consumption and lawsuits, the cost of health care has increased at a greater rate than inflation. Suggestion: 1) Remove state mandates 2) allow interstate purchase of health insurance to provide more competition 3) Allow for Health Savings Accounts (HSA) so that the insured can manage healthcare insurance independent of employment. Typically, HSAs have a high deductible (i.e. $2,500/year) and low premiums. Holders of HSAs are much more likely to be careful consumers of healthcare. 4) Enact Tort reform. Before government takes control of 17% of the GDP and cuts $500,000,000,000 from Medicare, it might be worth exploring less risky paths to real healthcare reform. Smoke rises into the sky as the Shoreline Fire department continues a week of training exercises for fire fighters in a house donated by Sky Nursery. The house is located on the Interurban Trail just north of the Sky Nursery parking lot. Firefighters will do small burns in different parts of the house, then burn it down completely on Wednesday. As part of the training opportunities for firefighters, Shoreline Fire set up a scenario where a pick-up truck had crashed into a house and the firefighters have to respond. The house was donated by Sky Nursery and is located at the north end of the Sky parking lot, along the Interurban Trail. Training exercises continue all week, culminating in a complete burn on Wednesday. The Shoreline Community College basketball teams finish up their regular seasons on Saturday at the SCC Gym against Everett Community College. The Lady Dolphins play at 2 pm and the men’s squad at 4 pm. The SCC women’s team will finish their season after a disappointing year of injuries. The Lady Dolphins are 3-20 on the season, 2-13 in the NWAACC Northern Region. The team lost starting center Amber Herring before the season even started and then lost starting forward Ashley Fleming after 3 games. Freshman transfer from Linfield College, Ana Haberman, has led the team, averaging 21+ points a game and Lynsey Sandum, a freshman work-on has developed during the year, averaging over 12 points a game during the region schedule. The SCC men’s basketball team is coming off a great year, as they have won the NWAACC Northern Region for the first time in 8 years and will represent the college at the NWAACC Men’s Basketball Championship in Kennewick, WA next weekend. The Dolphins are 18-5 on the season, 12-3 in the region. The SCC team will play the #4 seed (either Pierce or Green River Community College) from the NWAACC Western Region in the first round of the NWAACC Tournament on March 6, at 6 pm in the Toyota Center in Kennewick. The Dolphins are led by freshman, Jesse Vaughan and sophomore, Shawn West, who average 16.36 and 15.24 respectively. Freshmen Alfie Miller-Soukasen (14.06) and Sean Jones (13.69) are both averaging in double figures as well. The team will honor sophomores Shawn West (photo on right) and Ryan McCrokle (photo on left) pre-game on Saturday as well. Admission is $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for Seniors and non-SCC students and SCC students are admitted free. The Shoreline Community College Baseball Team leads off its season this weekend at Lower Woodland Park, the SCC home field. The Dolphins are coming off a building year of 16-24 in 2009 after finishing 5-35 in 2008. The SCC squad started the 2009 campaign 10-0 before injuries took its toll on the team and the Dolphins went 6-24 the rest of the way. Shoreline faces Vancouver Island College (Canada) on Saturday, February 27, at 3 pm at Lower Woodland Park (south end of Green Lake) in a double header and then plays Pierce Community College on Sunday for two games starting at Noon also at Lower Woodland Park. The Dolphins are led on the mound by sophomores Travis Shigeta from Kapaa High School in Hawaii and Willie Davies, a local product from Shorecrest High School. Freshmen Michael Kenui, from Waiakea High School, Hawaii and Nico Vanderven (Ballard High School) add pitching depth to the starting rotation. Offensively, the Dolphins will be led by Bryson Nakamura, a sophomore outfielder from Pearl City High School in Hawaii. Transfer sophomores Lakota Holder and Andrew Hutt provide more offensive punch to the line-up. Admission is free to SCC Baseball Games. The Gallery at Towne Centre, on the lower level of the LFP Towne Centre, presents a new show with artwork by Amy Pleasant and Betsy Best-Spadaro. The exhibit will run from March 4 to April 12, 2010. The artist open house is Thursday, March 11, from 5-7 pm. Spring is coming! The days are getting longer and March announces the end of winter. Come celebrate with us and drink in some bright, colorful artwork by Amy Pleasant and Besty Best-Spadaro. Join us on Thursday, March 11 from 5-7 for a special artist open house for an opportunity to meet the artists, ask questions about their art and enjoy some refreshments. The journey to painter has been a crooked path. Although I have filled my life with art, both admiring it and producing it, I did not start painting until 2000. My vocation as a middle school teacher was interrupted with a faint call in the direction of my dreams. My paintings became my own language; a visual language, surely influenced by those who came before, but sill uniquely me. For the painter this expression becomes as much a part of life as talking and listening. It is all the more rewarding if others share in the emotion which brought about the work in the first place. I’ve spent 20 years raising children, all the while fitting “artist” into the mix of diapers, housework, bedtime stories and the PTA. Even my medium, relief printmaking, was chosen for the ease with which it blended into domestic life. I learned early on that while supervising homework it is much easier to stand at the kitchen counter and carve a block than to be out in the garage working on a canvas. My artist work reflects what I have experienced and observed in my every day life. In my relief prints I’ve explored the balance between obligation and desire, power struggles in intimate relationships, the lengths to which one will go to create security or suppress guilt, the joyous uncertainly of raising children. In my work I hope to leave a viewer with a sense of shared experience as well as a heightened awareness of the roles we play. The Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to nurture all of the arts in the community through programs and events, arts education, advocacy, and support for artists and arts organizations. Proceeds from the Gallery at Towne Centre help fund these programs and events. For more information please contact the Arts Council at 206-417-4645 or visit us online. Vision House: Jacob's Well is a project to build a transitional housing facility in Shoreline for homeless mothers and their children. Property has been purchased in the Ballinger area, the design is complete and the permits are in hand. The complex will consist of 20 housing units, on-site child care for 65 children and counseling offices for families who need extra support. The Jacob's Well Service Center will also provide space where volunteers and local churches can come together to support the resident families along side the professional staff. To learn how you or your church, company, or community group can get involved, come to an informational meeting on Thursday morning, March 4, from 7 - 9 am, on the Crista Campus, Schirmer Auditorium at King’s High School at 19303 Fremont Ave N, Shoreline, WA 98133. Parking on Greenwood Ave N. For more information, contact Gary Kingsbury, 206-962-1496. On Saturday, March 6, from 9 am to 1 pm, rain or shine, a planting party will take place at Cromwell Park, N 179th and Meridian Ave N, Shoreline 98133, to install native plants to the wetland areas of the park. Volunteers from the February work party at Cromwell Park. Volunteers are welcome and would join workers from the City of Shoreline, the Meridian Neighborhood Association, Richmond Little League, Hillwood Soccer and EarthCorps in an effort to revegetate the wetland and natural areas of Cromwell Park as part of the King County Waterworks and Youth Sports Facility Grants. Participants should plan on wet weather and a muddy site. Tools and gloves will be provided. Parking available at Metro Commuter parking lot at Zion Presbyterian Church driveway, 17920 Meridian Ave N. To access site, head east on N 179th. Park entrance is on the north side of the street. For more information, contact Chris LaPointe, Earth Corps Volunteer Program Manager, 206-322-9296, ext. 217, or Maureen Colaizzi, City of Shoreline Parks Project Coordinator, 206-801-2602. Shoreline City Councilwoman Shari Tracey will hold an informal “coffee hour with constituents,” Saturday, February 27 from 9:30 to 10:30 am at the Top Foods cafe, near the fireplace. Tracey says that it is an opportunity for citizens to let her know what is on their minds. She says that people who can’t make it can send comments to her by e-mail or leave a voicemail at her city phone number, 206-801-2201. Tracey says that people will have to buy their own coffee and that State law prohibits anyone from buying hers. She adds that council members can’t discuss quasi-judicial matters like the Crista Master Development Plan. Constituent comments on such matters must be in the Planning Commission’s record. Shorecrest High School's boys and girls basketball teams have both qualified for the Northwest District 1 basketball tournaments. The Shorecrest boys lost to Ferndale on Tuesday and will play Everett in a loser-out game on Friday, February 26 at 6 pm at Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish. The Shorecrest girls defeated Sedro-Wooley on Wednesday in the first round of the District 1 tournament, and next play Ferndale on Saturday, February 27 at 8 pm at Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish. The Shorewood boys lost to Cascade in a loser-out game on Wednesday, ending their season. The Shorewood girls lost to Edmonds-Woodway in a loser-out game on Tuesday, ending their season. The Lady Dolphin Basketball Team won its second NWAACC Northern Region game of the year by defeating Peninsula College 59-51 in Port Angeles, WA. The SCC squad was led by Ana Haberman and Lynsey Sandum with 29 and 20 points respectively. Sandum hit her season high in the game. Catilyn Johnsen pulled down 9 rebounds in the game as well. Shoreline took a 29-22 lead at halftime and matched Peninsula in scoring in the second half to take the win. The Lady Dolphins are 3-20 on the season, 2-13 in the region. Shoreline finishes their season on Saturday against Everett Community College at 2:00 PM in the SCC gym. SCC will honor 3 sophomore players at the game. The Shoreline Community College Men's Basketball Team lost to Peninsula College on Wednesday night in Port Angeles, WA, 94-87, but won the NWAACC Northern Region as Whatcom CC lost to Skagit Valley as well. SCC leads the region by 2 games with one game to go. Shoreline led at half-time 42-34, but Peninsula outscored the Dolphins 60 to 45 in the second half to pull away from the SCC squad. Shoreline was led by Alfie Miller-Soukasen with 22 points (6 for 11 from 3 point range) and Jesse Vaughan with 19 points. Spencer Wozeniak added 14 points for the Dolphins as well. Shoreline is now 18-5 on the season and 12-3 in the Northern Region. The Dolphins finish the regular season on Saturday at home against Everett Community at 4 pm. Shoreline will honor two sophomores at the game, Ryan McCorkle and Shawn West. The SCC Men's Basketball Team moved up one spot in the final NWAACC Men's Basketball Poll to the #7 spot. The Dolphins had held the #8 spot in the poll the past two polls after starting the season unranked. The Dolphins are 18-4 on the season, 12-2 in the NWAACC Northern Region and have clinched the #1 seed for the region. They will open play in the NWAACC Men's Basketball Championship on March 6 in Kennewick, WA against the #4 seed from the NWAACC West Region.

2019-04-25T12:47:20Z

https://www.shorelineareanews.com/2010/02/

The Eternal God— the One who spoke everything good into existence, the One who formed us out of dust and then breathed life into us making us living beings, that God—appeared! We were apprehended, caught up in His “glory.” In Jesus, grace and truth uncover the Father’s desire for all mankind. Recently, I was the pulpit guest at Vailsburg Assembly of God, a church we planted in the 90’s. At the end of the service, Grace and Selena, a mother and daughter, approached me with the question, “Do you remember us?” Details of addiction, abuse, and anxiety about the future flooded my memory in a few moments. Grace asked, “Will you please tell your wife that without her I would be dead?” Selena has graduated from Rutgers University and is a banker! More than 20 years have elapsed since Pat poured out her heart in prayer for a mom and her preschool-aged daughter. The “Word made flesh” has reversed everything for this family who stood at the altar speaking with me! Oh that Jesus—the One described as revealing “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father”—would capture our imaginations and enlarge our faith today. Remember, every time hope confronts despair, hope wins! In October, we lost one of Next Generation Ministries’ biggest supporters, Mr. Bobby Williams. Mr. Williams, a long-time resident of the Tioga community, cared passionately for his neighbors and worked tirelessly to encourage caring people to work together. Each year, he pushed us all to keep Celebrate Hope Tioga alive and often encouraged the staff at Spring Garden Academy to not give up. He was our great encourager and called us his godsons, goddaughters, and angels. Each year, well into his 80’s, he brought cupcakes to celebrate his birthday with our Spring Garden Academy children. Mr. Williams was a member of Resurrection Life Church. We will all miss Mr. Williams but pray that God will continue to send others who love people as Mr. Williams did. This fall, our Next Generation Ministries team has been immersed in community ministry. Our youth and children ministered alongside adult volunteers at Celebrate Hope Tioga (CHT), an outdoor fall block party featuring Christian artists, food, kids’ zone, clothing bank, prayer table, community partners, and the gospel message. Our youth led games, performed on the stage, folded clothes, and shared the love of Jesus. Ministry is not just about sharing the gospel. It’s teaching others to share their faith with the world around us. Just a few weeks ago, we had the largest family event in our school history. Over 350 people from our school and neighborhood joined together for a Thanksgiving Worship Service, led by our K-8th grade children. The students sang the hymns of faith and led us to show our gratitude to our Lord. After the service, we joined together for a full Thanksgiving Dinner, prepared by a mission teams from River of Life Church in Doylestown, PA. Trinity Compassion Ministries from Westchester, PA donated 100 Boxes of Love (turkey meals) that we were able to send home with many of the attending families. It was wonderful to see the love of Jesus flood our community. to the work in Philadelphia. Every summer, teams of faithful partners like you descend on the NGM ministry centers at Resurrection Life and Highway Tabernacle to make building repairs, lead Vacation Bible Schools, paint trim, weed flower beds, and invite neighbors to our outreach ministries. We welcomed over fifty volunteers this summer; thank you for coming together with us to love our community in Jesus’ name! We extend a special thank-you to our U.S. Missionary, Otto Wegner, for coordinating both the installation of new carpet at Resurrection Life and the building of a new shed to house our outreach ministry and clothing bank supplies. We appreciate Pastor Wegner’s example of lifelong service to the next generation of leaders who come from our community and across the region to work beside us during summer ministries! Serving is life. It’s who I am. Have you ever wondered who will be leading Philadelphia’s ministries twenty years from now? Haakim, a Youth Leadership Intern, loves outreach and plans to become a pastor. During several years of his childhood, Haakim attended Spring Garden Academy’s elementary school and after school programs. This summer, he has pursued his calling by building leaderships skills as a Youth Leadership Intern. Instead of spending the summer months relaxing, Haakim and his fellow interns studied God’s word and worked hard supporting NGM’s community events, including multiple Vacation Bible School events and family block parties, along with missions trips to Pittsburgh and Newark, NJ. Interns receive intensive discipleship training, set goals, discover their spiritual gifts, serve in the ministries of the church, work as a team to lead events, and are missionaries to their own community. Haakim and the other four high school interns will continue to minister this school year at Celebrate Hope in September, children’s ministry with NGM and the churches, and outreach. They are meeting each month for leadership development and are planning a foreign missions trip for June 2018. We are blessed to train the next generation of leaders for the Kingdom! As a child, I spent many Sunday nights at the altar, learning to hear the voice of God as I listened to my mom and dad pray for me. I can still remember the cadences of their speech and the pressure of their bodies against mine. Several years ago, I realized that the prayers of my parents, grandparents, and many church saints of my childhood and youth had shaped not only my own prayers but my destiny, for I heard them pray God’s will and purpose over my life. I still hear their prayers echo through my mind. This fall, we are welcoming over 175 children and youth to participate in the ministries of NGM, including Spring Garden Academy, community family nights, Junior Bible Quiz, and our Youth Leadership Center. We believe that, from this group of children and youth, God is raising up Spirit-filled pastors and missionaries who love God’s word, honest and just lawyers who seek God’s will, passionate teachers who love Jesus and the community, and many workers for the Kingdom of God. We need the prayers of God’s people to shape the destinies of these young lives. We need people who will pray that God’s call will be distinctly heard by each young person and that He will continue to keep them safe from the enemy and bring each of their families to salvation and hope. Will you partner with us? Will you commit to praying for at least one child or youth each day. If you are local, will you commit to spending physical time in prayer once a month so that our children can hear you pray on their behalf? If so, please send an email to [email protected]. We treasure your partnership in prayer. On September 30th (10am-4pm) Next Generation Ministries—in collaboration with its community partners—will be hosting Celebrate Hope-Tioga, a community-wide celebration for the residents of the Tioga neighborhood. We invite our neighbors not only to enjoy a FREE fun-filled day of entertainment, kids’ games/activities, giveaways, and access to resources, but also to experience God’s love for our community. If you would like to volunteer please register online using the link below! Each week, Next Generation Ministries works with our partner church, Resurrection Life, for a Community Family Night. Family Night is a year-round bridge between the school ministry, neighborhood, and the congregation. In the summer, we take it outdoors with dinner or snacks, children’s activities, music, testimonies, and a clothing bank. Tiesha Haughton, a member of the community and Resurrection Life Church, agrees that Family Night is an effective way to connect neighbors to the church. Ten years ago, she enrolled her daughter in Spring Garden Academy, and she started attending Family Nights. “Over time, I wanted to learn more about God and how to serve him,” she explains. She decided she wanted to be part of a church that serves their community in this manner, and she committed her life to the Lord. Are you or your team called to demonstrate God’s love in very practical ways? Visit us for Family Night. Flip some burgers, toss a bean bag, and make a new friend in Jesus’ name. Email [email protected] or call 215-226-1000 for more details or to try your hand at volunteering. You can also sign up through our website. We can’t do it without you! John Garges has joined the Next Generation Ministries team as a summer college intern. John has worked in our after school and summer camp, participated in Vacation Bible school events, helped lead our youth interns on a missions trip to Pittsburgh, and is learning how to live and minister in the city. In August, John returns for his final year at Eastern University as a Youth Ministry & Psychology major. He hopes to return to Philadelphia to minister when he graduates. My name is Elijah and I am a Next Generation Ministries summer intern. We are currently on a missions trip in Pittsburgh and we started today off with a fun activity. We visited Heinz Field, the stadium of the Pittsburgh Steelers. After the tour, we went to lunch at Panera Bread and had a book discussion on Student Leaders Start Here, the book we’ve been reading for the past two weeks. We discussed our different leadership styles and our spiritual gifts. After, we went to East End Assembly of God to continue helping them with their Vacation Bible School (VBS). Today was the last day of the program so it was crucial to make sure the kids took away the messages of the week. I had so much fun meeting and interacting with the kids, not only physically, but also spiritually. I will never forget this experience and I am definitely glad I went on this missions trip. This Friday, we went on a tour of Heinz Field, where the Pittsburgh Steelers play. I’ve wanted to visit here for a long time, but have never had the opportunity. We got to see the large field, the press box, the luxurious suites, and the infamous Steelers Locker Room. We were in the same locker that Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger use. It was A-MA-ZING! I learned so much about the Pittsburgh Steelers and Heinz Field that day. After the wonderful tour, it was time for Vacation Bible School (VBS). As we set up and waited for the kids to arrive, we reflected on the fact that this was our last VBS day. It was a bittersweet time. It was our last day with most of the kids so we were all kind of sad, but we were able to still have fun and enjoy the day. We sang and danced, we ate good food, we played games, and we made crafts, but most importantly, we learned God’s word. This was truly a day I will never forget. The second week of our Youth Leadership Center (YLC) internship began by meeting a missions team from Bellerose Assembly of God in New York. The Bellerose youth, Soldiers in Training, came down for the week to help run our first free Vacation Bible School (VBS) of the summer. We are doing four VBS events over the eight-week internship. This first one was called Passport to Peru. We spent all day Monday decorating, learning the songs, and getting the curriculum ready. It was a very fun day. Tuesday was the 4th of July so we all got the day off. On Wednesday, we began VBS and assigned different jobs. Mine was Bible Expeditions. Every day when kids came by, I got to tell them a different Bible story. We did end up having a smaller group of kids, but it was worth it. One child can make a huge difference for the kingdom of God. A huge thank you to Bellerose AG for coming to help us this week. This week, we are helping East End Assembly of God in Pittsburgh with their VBS and will return to Philadelphia next week to lead Maker Fun Factory VBS. For those of you who live in Philadelphia with children, the VBS will be Wednesday-Friday, July 19-21, 10 am -2:30 pm at 3501 N.17th Street. It is totally free with lunch included! Register at www.nextgenministries.us We are also looking for volunteers. You can contact 215-226-1000 or let us know through the website. About a week ago, we began our Youth Leadership Center summer internship program. On the first day, we had orientation and did a fun activity to learn about our leadership styles, from a book we’re reading, Student Leaders Start Here. The book, along with our leaders, teaches us what kind of leaders we are and how we can grow. The main thing our group learned from this is that we need to focus a lot on relationships. We have a lot of doers, movers, and thinkers, but barely any relaters. While a leader can be good with only one of these characteristics, a great leader portrays a little bit of each characteristics. All through this summer, we are learning to grow so we all have to keep growing to eventually become the leaders of tomorrow. In January 2017, our Tioga school family grew by forty students when we launched participation in the Mayor’s Office’s free Philadelphia Pre-K program. We could not miss this opportunity to serve new community families in Jesus’ name. With these new students, our need for an outdoor playground is more critical than ever. In April, a suburban YMCA donated two like-new playground structures to NGM. Groundbreaking is scheduled for July! We will provide community and school families with a secure, high-quality playground in a neighborhood where public playgrounds are few, poorly-maintained, and aging.Year-round, the playground will draw families to weekly outreach events and block parties. We cannot miss this opportunity to give children a safe space to play. The total cost of professional installation, including excavation, surfacing and fencing, is $60,000. Please give today, and earmark your donation for “the Tioga Community Playground Project.” Thank you for partnering with us in God’s call to disciple Philadelphia’s families. Your ongoing support makes our mission possible. Are you considering volunteering with NGM this summer? Mark Proto encourages you to jump right in and “[watch] the gospel come to life” in Philadelphia. Proto runs Martial Arts for Christ, a taekwondo and hapkido training ministry which helps adults and children build valuable leadership traits like self-confidence and self-control. This 2017 season, Proto will return as a weekly NGM summer camp volunteer to lead martial arts. Director Fatima Fulks notes that, without Proto’s service, most students would have no access to martial arts training. black belt, Proto believes he holds those honors to spread the love of Christ. Currently mentored by Pastor Otto Wegner, Proto is pursuing his ministry license and is passionate about serving people struggling with a variety of challenges. Opportunities to SERVE & GIVE This Summer! · Assistance in Summer Camp Philadelphia. Pat and I (Otto) have reached the age when our peers too often converse about supplemental insurance and restaurant early-bird specials. Personally, I am weary of conversations about the not-so-good “good old days!” Waking up to birds singing, sitting on our deck sipping black coffee, and meditating on the Word are enjoyable, but I still have an urge to DO something that lasts for eternity. If you share my desire to add blessing to those enduring a bleak existence, there is a full-throttle ministry that will satisfy your urge! Since its inception, Next Generation Ministries (NGM), based in North Philadelphia, has thrived on volunteer support. Her parent churches, historic Highway Tabernacle and Resurrection Life Church, have received thousands of hours of donated manpower. The need continues! Will you help NGM fulfill the mission to Philadelphia? This summer, Next Generation Ministries invites teams and individuals to help with several possible ministry or work projects, including our bi-weekly vacation bible school for the children in North Philadelphia, a block party, community service, and/or physical work on our facilities. NGM project leaders can adapt to your schedule, and materials will be on site when you arrive. We can use men, women, and responsible teens. If you are like me, you will find a deep satisfaction in your service in North Philadelphia. If you are willing to “rough it,” you may cut costs by staying in the church building overnight. Coffee is always perking, cold drinks are in the refrigerator, donuts are delivered every morning, and lunchtime fellowship makes the days fly by. Volunteer for a day, a week, or longer. Your help is a huge costs saving for NGM. The rewards are eternal, and you will impact the destinies of many! To schedule individual, family, or church team volunteering, contact Candace Wegner at [email protected]. We’ll see you this summer! This summer we have been privileged to serve alongside several missions teams and families with hearts full of grace and souls generated by God’s love. The Dunham family from the Chicago area, Bellerose Assembly of God Team from Queens, NYC, Student Life Team from Christ Church Vienna from VA, Marlton Assembly and Bethel Church Teams from South Jersey, and Kingsway Church Missions Teams from Cherry Hill, NJ have blessed our community and our ministry. Teams led Vacation Bible School, shared at our community family nights, taught in classrooms, distributed literature, and worked on the building. They expanded God’s work in Philadelphia and encouraged our staff and youth intern team. What are your personal convictions when it comes to ministry? “I believe that ministry is the call that God has for every believer. We are all called to use our gifts and talents to minister to the people around us. One thing that I am continually learning is that love is the foundation of ministry. 1 John 4:7 says, ‘Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God.’ Ministry begins with love, and the source of love—true love—comes only from God. How do you think this internship experience will impact you? What drew you to this internship opportunity? “The opportunity to live where I work. I love the city of Philadelphia and I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of a mission seeking to help families in the neighborhood. What impact has it had on you thus far? Just last year God planted the Youth Leadership Center in the hearts of Next Generation Ministries’ leaders in the form of a seed. A seed that allowed the leadership team to re-imagine what youth outreach could look like in the community. A seed that would expand upon Next Generation Ministries’ vision of reinserting the church in the community as a hub of everyday life and activities and believing that youth are the key. As our partners and ministry have worked together to cultivate and nourish the seed, God has been faithful to allow it to yield fruit. The Youth Leadership Center, located in Resurrection Life Church in North Philadelphia, provides opportunities for youth to participate in leadership development. Since early this year, youth have been coming weekly for a range of fun, enriching activities laced with subtle yet intentional demonstrations of God’s love and life skills; in a safe, nurturing environment. These activities include, Bible Quiz, chess, Girls On the Run, basketball, martial arts, and our weekly youth nights. This summer, we reorganized our summer youth internship ministry under the Youth Leadership Center and expanded to include 11 students. Over the course of eight-weeks, our youth interns have been challenged to view their lives through a new lens, a lens that puts God first. Youth have been visiting colleges, receiving job training, engaging in personal development activities, and traveling to use their gifts and talents to minister in the community and churches. Each Friday night they lead an outdoor block party in the Nicetown-Tioga community. Interns have also spent a week in Pittsburgh getting first-hand experience with missions work. Lastly, they have experienced spiritual growth as they studied God’s word, prayed, and worked with our leadership team. Brenda says that the best part of her experience was being in Pittsburgh, sharing in ministry and telling the little kids about God. She adds that she’s walking away from this experience with a relationship with God. “It’s really fun and exciting serving and praying for a community that isn’t [privileged],” says Damir. Like Brenda, Damir’s experience also helped him build a stronger relationship with God. Dayvon speaks to the impact the internship had on his life, “This internship has affected my spiritual life by showing me how to lead people to the things of God and not the world.” He also says that he sees himself traveling to churches to talk to and work with their youth. Next Generation Ministries has been blessed with exceptional leaders who have served and impacted our lives and community. Recently, we said goodbye to several, including our Director of Operations, Amy dela Cruz. Ms. Amy started with us in 2003 before leaving to serve at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS) in the Philippines. In 2012, Amy returned to Next Generation Ministries and she brought with her two new additions to our ministry family, her husband, Roli, and her daughter, Katie. Amy’s diligence and willingness to do whatever it takes to make things come together helped our school, Spring Garden Academy, expand to two locations while maintaining high quality standards. She grew our scholarship fund and gave leadership to the expanding work of Next Generation Ministries. God has called Ms. Amy and her family to share the love of God in Costa Mesa, California where Roli will be teaching as a professor at Vanguard University, an Assemblies of God college. We are thankful for the investment of the dela Cruz family in Philadelphia. Meet Lexi, a NGM College Intern! “One of the strongest convictions I have about ministry is something that drew me to Next Generation Ministries. I believe that God has called all his people to love their neighbors. However, to do so we must come to know our neighbor. Next Generation Ministries is rooted in community and connecting people to each other and God. The programs and events that I have been involved with so far have been tailored to serve the needs of the community. This, I believe helps to bring Christ into the communities. I am currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Peace and Global Studies. I know that I want to continue my education after my undergraduate studies. At the moment I am open to either enrolling in a Master’s of Education program or Law School. I am passionate about education and hope to one day help with public policy to restructure some of the injustices found within our current education system. However, I’m leaving my plans open so that I may be able to go wherever God intends to take me. Every once in a while we encounter a talented young leader whose commitment to excellence inspires us all. This year that leader has been Cambriae Bates. Cambriae’s positive energy has been nothing short of infectious. In a few short months, she has won over the hearts of our school families, her colleagues, and the community with her kind spirit, caring heart, and sense of humor. Consistently going above and beyond the call of her marketing and outreach internship job description, Cambriae’s lent her talents and resources to enrich the lives of the families and people we serve. On June 11th, our 3rd-7th grade girls participated in the Girls on the Run Philadelphia 5K race. Our girls trained for this race for 12 weeks and focused on running and personal development. “The lessons were so well planned out, and they give the girls a moment to reflect inwardly,” says one of our volunteer Girls on the Run trainers, Se’mona. She continues, “Already I can see some changes in the way some of the girls see themselves.” We are so proud of our young leaders’ hard work and commitment in this journey. “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise… from another place… And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14, ESV) As we prepare for our transition into summer we are increasingly aware of how strategic God is in planting us in the heart of North Philadelphia. We are called to a city such as this, at a time such as this. A time when the city’s failing education system yields high school graduates that lack basic literacy skills, which significantly contributes to the city’s high illiteracy rate of 22%. A time where upward mobility is threatened by a 16% (three times the national average) unemployment rate for youth aged 16-19; and neighborhood schools’ inability to get more than 1 in 4 of their high school graduates in college. And a time where the safety and well-being of our children are compromised by a declining crime rate that’s still roughly 179% higher than the national average. The city is failing our children and youth in many ways; however, our God—who is mighty to save—cannot fail. The enemy is clearly waging war against our city by coming after our children and youth; he seeks to undermine their future hopes by demoralizing their expectations. However, no matter how fierce the enemy’s attacks are, God faithfully provides a route of escape for his people and the glory of His name. God has given us the vision to transform our city one child, one family at a time. This is a crucial season for ministry as we increase the number of children and youth we reach in our community through our summer camps, Youth Leadership Center, and Family Night Ministries. Each summer we minister to children and youth over 500 hours (11 hours a day, 55+ hours a week over the course of 9 weeks). That’s 500 hours of community-building, 500 hours of exposure to God’s love, 500 hours to nurture our children’s potential, and 500 hours to reverse cycles of destruction and defy statistics. Let’s continue to partner to minister to our youth. “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.’” (Matthew 9:37, ESV) There are many times when the toil and warfare of ministry seems to be in vain, including, those times when planters survey the land and become discouraged by all of the work yet to be done. However, just when it seems as though it’s a bit more than a few can handle something happens. A bud of hope begins to appear: a family comes to Christ; a child experiences the holy spirit for the first time; God sends a helping hand. Within these first few months of 2016, God has been doing some amazing things. Several of our school families are attending family night ministry church services on a more consistent basis. Some of our youngest children are displaying great faith through their desire to pray for others’ needs without being prompted to do so. Some of our youth are identifying with the call to missions work and seeking the Holy Spirit. And God is continuously entrusting us with new souls. However, our prayer is that the few seeds we’ve been planting will result in a massive harvest reaped by the next generation of planters that our ministry is investing in now. In this, we are set on imparting a missions mindset in our children and youth. Missions Week, in which four missionaries came to speak to our children about missions work. And all month we have been showing our children the importance of supporting missionaries through giving. And we’re proud say that…Spring Garden Academy raised $400 in 10 days! Next Generation Ministries is intentional about providing a training ground that cultivates the spiritual gifts and encourages biblical literacy in our youth. We encourage youth to use their gifts to minister at community events and church services. Our young people have ministered through speaking, dance, drama, spoken word, and music. Youth have also participated in Bible Quiz, a discipleship ministry that uses competitive events as tools to encourage teens’ (6th-12th grades) engagement in the word of God. We will continue on this journey of growth with our youth this summer through our Youth Leadership Center. We ask that you continue to pray for our young people as they identify and grow their spiritual and natural gifts through our youth ministries. April is National Volunteer Month, a time of year dedicated to honoring volunteers in our communities. In light of this we would like to spotlight one of our very own faithful volunteers, Burgette McKethan. Ms. Burgette has been serving in both churches and Next Generation Ministries for the past several months now, and we are so grateful to have her in our family. Each Friday she is in the kitchen preparing and serving food for families from the community who attend Family Night. She also helps out with preparations for Compassion Ministries, special events, and community outreach. hugged by the faithful arms of volunteers. Even the staff at Spring Garden Academy have taken notice of her service. “It’s volunteers like Ms. Burgette that keep non-profits afloat. She is always willing to help no matter what, and she always shows up with a smile,” says Marketing Intern, Cambriae Bates. We are grateful for the dedicated people God is sending to our ministry to serve the community. We invite you to join us as we continue invest in our communities together. At the retreat, God answered our prayers. Youth were at the altar crying out to God; worshiping God without restraint; and experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit for the first time. was blessed being around other young people who were worshiping and praying in one accord. And now, both her and her best friend have rededicated their lives to God after the retreat. Another attendee Mai, who’s been a part of Next Generation Ministries for several years now, went into the experience merely expecting to have fun with friends. She spoke of the retreat, “I didn’t expect to understand the testimonies and messages, but I did. [The retreat] brought me closer to God and I felt the Holy Spirit while there.” We’re grateful for the work that God has done and is continuing to do in our youth! Let’s continue to work together to reap the harvest of souls in this city and pray for these emerging leaders. As many of you know, before there was a Next Generation Ministries, there was Highway Ministries. Every year through Highway Ministries our U.S. Missionary, Rev. Otto Wegner, would disciple a group of promising young leaders. In 1999, a young seminary student, Finney Kuruvilla, took an interest in this intership after learning more about it online. Kuruvilla said, “I met with Rev. Wegner and I was impressed with his vision for reviving the church.” After a year of training under Rev. Wegner in Philadelphia at Highway Tabernacle, Kuruvilla continued to be involved with the ministry as a volunteer, worship leader, and even a deacon during the renovation of Resurrection Life Church. he wanted to do c h u r c h – r e l a t e d work, he did not see what was coming next. Pastor Mark Boucher, the current pastor of Highway Tabernacle, shared with Kuruvilla that there was a need for a pastor for the newly restored Resurrection Life Church. After months of prayer and contemplation with his wife, Elizabeth, Kuruvilla embraced the call once he received confi rmation from God. He is fully committed and loves the people of North Philadelphia. For Pastor Kuruvilla embracing the call has meant encouraging and preparing others in evangelism and making sure the church and the individuals that make up the church are growing. Now that he’s on the other side of it, Pastor Kuruvilla has remained excited to see young people passionate and committing themselves to God. He strongly believes that the discipleship focus of NGM youth leadership ministries and internship are needed because of the struggle reaching this age in the city. And now his two eldest sons Mark and Andrew carry the torch. participants have not only been learning how to play soccer and chess well but also been developing the virtues inherent with mastering each. Coach Vernon Dorsey from the University of Valley Forge has been leading the charge to help our youth build character and social skills. “It is my hope to create a love for the game within them and to guide them in the next steps of their development,” says coach. He says of the group, “Their excitement to learn is exceptional.” However, some participants stood out, including an SGA 5th-grader, Deaquan. “Deaquan is consistent in his attendance, always has a good attitude and is accepting instruction well.” We want to thank you for partnering with us as we build youth. the tenacity of thriving plants sprouting between sidewalks and building foundations, in minuscule fissures between bricks 30 or more feet above grade or in a darkened cellar wall. The obstinate growths withstand back-breaking tugs, mechanical cuttings, and chemical applications. It is obvious that a wild-growing plant is not planted by an eccentric gardener. The plant begins as a seed, a power-laden germ of life that finds just enough soil and moisture to germinate. Blown by wind, swept by a broom, or accidentally scuffed into a crevice, the seed thrives because it is full of life! At-risk, urban children often are blown about by violence and broken systems or are carried about on the whims of irresponsible people in their neighborhood. But the redemptive seed is more powerful, has far more potential, and is as persistent as the long-suffering of Jesus. However, the urban child’s soul must be planted and nurtured like fine, quality seeds that germinated in well-planned, deliberated cultivated gardens. Spring Garden Academy was aware of that dynamic truth at its founding, intentionally creating a space in the city to help grow children. was intentionally placed into a family, school, and church committed to her growth. Another eighth-grader, nurtured by the school and church family, is entering a top high school in our city and desires to be a missionary. Let’s continue to nurture the children in Philadelphia together. There’s something distinctive about the hearts of individuals who are intentional about serving. In 2015, we had several missions teams come bless our community. And we have witnessed first-hand the pivotal role that missions work continues to have in urban ministries. Missions teams have shown our youth how to pray, praise, worship, and serve. They have shown children how to use their unique gifts and talents to bring glory to God through service. God has also used these teams to (re-)calibrate the narrow scope in which many youth have come to understand what it means to live for God. We invite you, your missions team, and/or your church to partner with us for a short-term missions project. Email: [email protected] to learn more. At our partnership weekend, we announced the 2016 launch of the Youth Leadership Center. Our dream is to open the doors of Resurrection Life Church in North Philadelphia to 7th-12th grade youth for afternoon and evening hours all year long, to strategically invest in city youth. The Youth Leadership Center will provide a range of opportunities for youth to participate in enrichment, physical and healthy living, and discipleship and mentoring activities. This center allows us to continue to build on the connection we have with the youth in our community beyond the summer and church services. We are incredibly proud to say that we have officially launched the Youth Leadership Center with the start of this new year. We now offer youth life skills through Indoor Soccer, Chess, and Girls on the Run. Later this year we are looking to open a computer lab and transform our gym into a recreational center. Thank you for your investment in our youth.

2019-04-23T04:09:38Z

http://nextgenministries.us/news/

Guzman's physical ability has been lauded since he signed for a club- and Dominican-record $2.25 million as a 16-year-old. Following two inconsistent seasons, he made significant progress last year turning his potential into performance. He was rated the No. 1 prospect in the high Class A Florida State League and ranked No. 2 in the Double-A Southern League. At the Futures Game in July, he turned heads with his power display during batting practice at Minute Maid Park. Guzman's maturity was questioned when he clashed with his low Class A manager Dann Bilardello early in 2003, but the Dodgers were pleased with his makeup and work ethic in 2004. Guzman's affluent background--his mother is a teacher and his father is a lawyer in the Dominican Republic--has aided his development as he communicates well with teammates and absorbs instruction. Guzman might best be described as a manchild. He has as much offensive upside as almost any prospect in the minors, drawing tremendous raw power from his 6-foot-6, 225-pound frame. Last year he made adjustments at the plate to help translate his batting-practice blasts into similarly prodigious homers during games. He made strides with his pitch recognition, which hampered him during his first two seasons, and stayed back on offspeed stuff better. Guzman has remarkable plate coverage and is learning to drive the ball out of all parts of the park. He does a tremendous job of staying inside the ball and keeping his hands ahead of the barrel. He generates exceptional bat speed. His approach is similar to Vladimir Guerrero's in that Guzman is aggressive in all counts. Defensively, he features a plus-plus arm and soft, easy hands. He has good actions and makes smooth transitions around the bag. While he almost certainly will outgrow the middle infield, scouts grade his overall defensive package now as average to slightly above-average for a shortstop. Guzman's future playing weight figures to be somewhere near 250 pounds, which will necessitate a position change. His range and speed project as below-average for a big league shortstop. His instincts, athleticism and arm strength will allow him to move to a corner infield or outfield spot. With prospects James Loney (first base) and Andy LaRoche (third base) working their way up the ladder, the Dodgers likely will put Guzman in right field. He swings and misses too frequently, though his power numbers help justify his lofty strikeout totals. Though he has improved his pitch recognition, he still has a tendency to allow situations to dictate his approach. For instance, he often chases pitches when he's trying to come through with runners in scoring position. Despite being just 19, Guzman answered every challenge Los Angeles threw at him in 2004, including a promotion to Double-A. He likely will open the season back at Jacksonville and would benefit from at least another full season in the minors. With patience and another year of refinement, Guzman could be ready to contribute in Los Angeles by 2006. Teams shied away from high school righthanders in the first round of the 2003 draft, with only two chosen, but the Dodgers don't regret spending their first-rounder and $1.375 million on Billingsley. His stock soared in his first full season, as he was rated the top pitching prospect in the Florida State League before earning a promotion to Double-A before his 20th birthday. Billingsley attacks hitters with plus power stuff. He shows good control of an explosive fastball that sits at 94 mph and tops out at 97. His slider has depth and late life, and he throws a hard curveball. Strong and durable with calves like Mark Prior's, he also has tremendous makeup. While Billingsley has a good idea on the mound, he has a tendency to try to overpower every hitter, which leads to too many walks. He needs to improve his offspeed stuff to keep hitters off balance, but he doesn't have a great feel for his changeup yet and hasn't been forced to use it much. The Dodgers might slow the pace of Billingsley's development after watching Edwin Jackson and Greg Miller get hurt when they were rushed. He'll probably go back to Double-A in 2005. Jackson was dominant at times in his September 2003 big league callup, beating Randy Johnson on his 20th birthday in his first outing. A prime Rookie of the Year candidate for 2004, he struggled in spring training and never got untracked. His confidence suffered and he missed a month with a strained forearm. Though his velocity fluctuated last year, Jackson's lively fastball sits at 93 mph and touches 97 when he's healthy and pitching downhill. His slider was also inconsistent, but at times showed the tight, late break that makes it a potential out pitch. He has outstanding makeup and work ethic. The Dodgers tweaked Jackson's delivery and he seldom repeated the same free and easy motion. He was primarily an outfielder until 2002 and still lacks an advanced feel for pitching despite his meteoric rise. He needs to hone his control and consistency, especially of his offspeed stuff. While Jackson regressed a year ago, he remains a premium prospect. The Dodgers had him rest during the offseason and hope he makes a better showing in spring training this year. Unless he's lights out, he'll open 2005 back at Triple-A Las Vegas. After batting .343 with five doubles in 35 at-bats in big league camp last spring, Loney appeared ready to blast off. But he fractured the tip of the middle finger on his left hand and developed an infection in the finger, costing him three weeks and hampering his production afterward. Loney did bat .314 in the Arizona Fall League and remains one of the game's most promising first-base prospects. Loney makes hard, line-drive contact and projects to hit for a high average. He stays inside the ball well, and his swing path allows the bat head to stay in the zone for an extended time. His defense is major league quality already. He's smooth and fluid with exceptionally soft hands and a well above-average arm. Scouts have wondered when Loney's power is going to come--he has a .407 slugging percentage as a pro--and some have suggested his swing path might not be conducive for big-time home run production. He has below-average speed, though he runs the bases well. Since Loney reached high Class A Vero Beach at age 18, hand-related injuries have kept him from peak performance. He needs another full year and a healthy one before contending for a job in Los Angeles in 2006. He'll probably start this year in Double-A. The Dodgers had to fight the commissioner's office's bonus recommendations to sign LaRoche for $1 million in 2003. After establishing himself as the best hitter in the Cape Cod League that summer, they believed he would become a first-rounder if he went to Rice. His father Dave was an all-star pitcher and his brother Adam starts at first base for the Braves. LaRoche has big-time power potential. He has good strength, a quick bat and excellent load for his swing, helping him generate backspin and loft. He owns the organization's best arm and has above-average range and hands. He's an average runner. LaRoche is almost exclusively a pull hitter and can be too aggressive in his approach. He swings and misses too often, so he may never hit for a huge average. He battled arm soreness, which led to throwing errors, after moving to third base last year. He played shortstop before turning pro. If he reaches his ceiling, LaRoche could hit 35-40 homers annually. He may start 2005 back in high Class A but should reach Double-A by the end of the season. Outside of Joel Guzman, Martin made the most significant leap in the system last year. A 35th-round pick by the Expos out of Montreal ABC baseball academy in 2000, he played two years at Chipola Junior College before signing with the Dodgers for $40,000. He moved from third base to catcher in 2003. Martin made strides in his defensive game last year. He's quick, uses his excellent footwork to help him block balls in the dirt and has a well-above-average arm. Offensively, he has a line-drive stroke, good plate discipline and the potential to hit 15-20 homers annually. He's durable, works hard and has a strong makeup. Martin's swing can get long at times. He needs to maintain his focus throughout games on his receiving, but more than anything else he requires more experience behind the plate. He's a below-average runner, though not a baseclogger. After taking a step forward in the Arizona Fall League, Martin will open the season in Double-A. He has no challenger as the Dodgers' catcher of the future and may be ready for the majors by September 2006. After establishing himself as baseball's top lefthanded pitching prospect in 2003, Miller never took the mound last season. He had shoulder pain toward the end of the 2003 season and had the bursa sac removed from his shoulder last March. Doctors discovered a bone spur in January, and performed a second operation on his shoulder. Before he got hurt, Miller's velocity had steadily increased, from the mid-80s to low 90s in high school to regularly touching 95 in 2003. His hard slider has developed into a plus pitch, and he has a power curveball. A solid-average changeup completes his repertoire. What separates Miller, though, is his cerebral approach and deft command of all his pitches. Miller's health is a major question mark. Some Dodgers officials believe his shoulder troubles resulted from being rushed, and that the club reacted too slowly to treat the problem. Following changes in the player-development department, Los Angeles will take a more conservative approach with Miller. He was expected to begin throwing again by spring training and could join Class A Vero Beach by mid-June. Considered the best hitter in the 2004 high school draft class, DeWitt lived up to his reputation after signing for $1.2 million. He moved from shortstop to third base and strung together a 19-game hitting streak in his first month as a pro. He was rated the No. 2 prospect in the Rookie-level Pioneer League. DeWitt has a pretty lefthanded stroke. He generates good bat speed with a nice load that allows him to set his hands before unleashing. He has the potential to develop into a 30-35 home run threat. He made adjustments well and handled offspeed stuff better as the season went on. His arm is slightly above-average. DeWitt's speed and range are fringe-average, and his hands are just adequate. He led Pioneer League third basemen with 20 errors. The Dodgers say he can become at least an average third baseman because of his work ethic. He needs to stay back on breaking balls and use all fields, and he showed a feel for doing so last summer. DeWitt figures to begin his first full season at low Class A Columbus. As he gets acclimated to pro ball, he could move quickly. After missing much of 2003 with wrist tendinitis and a biceps strain, Broxton reported to spring training healthy and in much better shape. Nicknamed "Bull," he's the most physically imposing pitching prospect in the system. Broxton pounds the strike zone with a heavy 92-93 mph sinker, which he complements with a sharp, mid-80s slider. He throws from a high three-quarters arm slot and repeats his delivery consistently despite his size. He has good makeup and pitches with tenacity. Broxton struggles with his changeup grip. He prefers to throw the pitch similar to a palmball and tends to raise his arm angle, tipping it off to astute hitters. Maintaining his body will be important after his weight soared as high as 277 pounds in 2003. If he develops the changeup, Broxton profiles as a potential No. 2 starter in the big leagues. He should open the season in the Double-A rotation, though he could move to late-inning relief down the road. Days before he was to attend class at Cal State Fullerton in the fall of 2003, Tiffany signed for $1.1 million, the second-highest bonus any second- rounder got that year. He started a combined no-hitter last May, then improved on that effort two weeks later with a seven-inning perfect game. He finished the season by reaching double-digit strikeouts in each of his last four starts. Tiffany shows an advanced feel for setting up hitters with three potential pitches. He pitches at 86-90 mph with his fastball, which features late life and tops out at 92. Both his 12-to-6 curveball and circle changeup already rate as plus pitches at times. Like most young pitchers, Tiffany lacks consistency with his secondary pitches. Because he's just 6-foot-1, it's hard for him to maintain a downhill plane for added deception. He tends to get under or around his pitches, causing his stuff to flatten out and sit high in the strike zone. His stocky body always has concerned scouts. Few lefthanders have better all-around stuff than Greg Miller or Tiffany. The Dodgers see no need to rush Tiffany and will send him to high Class A this year. Elbert, who grew up less than 10 miles from where Dodgers scouting director Logan White went to grade school, was considered the top prep lefthander in the 2004 high school draft class. Elbert was also an all-state running back as a junior, rushing for a Missouri-high 2,449 yards with 36 touchdowns in 2002 before giving up football. His athleticism translates well on the mound. His arm works loose and easy, creating effortless 90-94 mph velocity on his hard, sinking fastball. He scrapped his curveball in favor of a mid-80s slider that has plus potential, and his changeup also has late, diving action. He projects to have above-average control and command. Elbert didn't pitch as aggressively in his pro debut as he did as an amateur, leading to high pitch counts and too many walks. He needs to throw his changeup more frequently. With two developing plus power pitches, Elbert could profile as a closer down the line. The Dodgers will continue to develop him as a starter. He needs innings and will make his full-season debut in the low Class A rotation in 2005. After he performed well as an outfielder at a tryout in the Dominican Republic, the Dodgers signed Pimentel for $70,000 and promptly moved him to the mound. Built similar to Yhency Brazoban, Pimentel has a live arm with premium athletic ability. He dominated at times when he got his breaking ball over for strikes, including a 16-strikeout, seven-inning performance in June. His fastball has been clocked as high as 94 mph and sits around 90 with boring action. Pimentel also has a hard, downer breaking ball, a changeup and a sinker. His frame is broad, and he's projectable because of his arm action and athleticism. At times it seemed as if Pimentel wasn't sure where his pitches were headed, and he needs to learn how to harness his stuff. He showed a grasp for setting up hitters, though his learning curve is considerable. Pimentel has good aptitude, raw but electric stuff and the durability to profile as a future middle-of-the-rotation starter. He's slated to open 2005 in high Class A. While the Dodgers' high-profile Pacific Rim signings of Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-Feng Chen have not paid off, Hu has stepped forward as a potential impact Taiwanese prospect. Former special assistant to the GM Jeff Schugel scouted Hu during the 2002 World Junior Championship in Sherbrooke, Quebec and the Dodgers signed him five months later. He hit safely in 15 of 20 games following a late-season promotion to high Class A before going down with a right elbow injury. Hu's best tool is his glove. He was named the best defensive shortstop in the low Class A South Atlantic League and turns in acrobatic highlight plays up the middle with regularity. He makes good reads on grounders, has a smooth exchange from glove to throwing hand, plus range and an accurate, adequate arm. Hu is undersized and his frame doesn't lend to considerable growth potential, but his strength shouldn't be underestimated. Some scouts project Hu's power potential as average. He generates good bat speed and drives the ball to both alleys, with occasional home-run power. He handles the bat well, shows good instincts on the bases and is an above-average runner, though he's not a burner. Moreover, Hu has embraced American culture, is beginning to grasp the language and has adapted well. He likely will open the season in high Class A. After a breakout year in 2003, Navarro entered last year as the Yankees' top prospect. But he showed up in Double-A overconfident and his play suffered. An attempt to get stronger in the offseason backfired, as he came in overweight and lost bat speed. New York sent him to Arizona in January, and the Diamondbacks sent him and three minor league pitchers to the Dodgers for Shawn Green the next day. Navarro has a compact swing that helps him make consistent, hard contact from both sides of the plate. He's a gap-to-gap, line-drive hitter and isn't afraid to take a walk or work deep counts. A converted infielder, he has a strong throwing arm that helped him nab 33 percent of basestealers in 2004. His receiving skills are average. He never has hit for much power, however, and his lack of conditioning made matters worse. Like most catchers, he's not much of a runner. A strong finish helped Navarro salvage an otherwise uninspiring season. Though the Dodgers need catching help, Navarro clearly isn't ready yet. He needs to re-establish himself in Triple-A. When the Dodgers included Guillermo Mota in a trade deadline deal with the Marlins last year, they were hoping to get a boost in the pen from Edwin Jackson and Duaner Sanchez. But it was Brazoban who stepped up as the most reliable set-up man down the stretch. He was converted from an outfielder in 2002 by the Yankees, and the Dodgers acquired him in the Kevin Brown-Jeff Weaver swap in December 2003. His career took off after he switched organizations. He allowed just three earned runs in his first 26 big league appearances and was unflappable late in games. Brazoban works primarily with a two-pitch arsenal consisting of a 94-97 mph fastball that explodes out of his hand and an above-average, but inconsistent slider. He displays good command of both pitches. The Dodgers were working to improve his changeup, which he doesn't throw often. Brazobanis still learning the nuances of pitching. The Dodgers still haven't replaced the invaluable Mota, and Brazoban is the favorite to bridge the gap to Eric Gagne. Most scouts expected Paul to honor his commitment to Tulane after joining Chad Billingsley as a Baseball America second-team High School All-American in 2003, but he signed with the Dodgers for $270,000 instead. The Dodgers drafted his brother Matthew in the 18th round last year out of Southern University. Paul earned a spot in the organization's top 10 after his encouraging debut, then came out of the gates with a .361-3-20 start last April before struggling the rest of the way. He tweaked his hitting mechanics during the year, reducing his stride, but seems most comfortable with a full stride at the plate. He generates good power from his strong, compact body and quick wrists. Paul is patient to a fault at the plate. He often found himself behind in counts as he waited for his pitch, but too frequently failed to make contact in two-strike counts. He is adequate at best in the outfield. He is an above-average runner with well-above-average arm strength, but doesn't make good reads and needs to improve his routes. He could repeat low Class A in 2005 depending on his showing this spring, but should see time at high Class A sometime during the season. Hanrahan has been on the cusp of the big leagues for the last couple of seasons but has struggled to get over the hump. He was roughed up in Triple-A during a late-season promotion in 2003, and followed that up with his worst season as a pro. He has three solid-average pitches, but doesn't repeat his arm slot, neutralizing his stuff and hurting his control. Hanrahan's sinker/slider combination, as well as a good straight changeup, is effective from his usual high three-quarters arm slot, but he often drops down and causes his pitches to flatten out. He gave up a lot of home runs last year after managing to keep the ball in the yard in his first three years in the organization. Hanrahan also had a tendency to spin off his front side toward first base, which contributed to his career-high walk total in just 119 innings, his low for a full season. He has good makeup, pitches with tenacity and pitched through a bout of shoulder stiffness last year. When his mechanics are in sync, His boring sinker sits at 91-92 mph and maxes out at 94. His mid-80s slider has good tilt and bite, and his changeup has nice sink as well. This season is pivotal for Hanrahan, who needs to improve his conditioning, make adjustments and show he can fulfill his potential as a middle- of-the-rotation starter in the big leagues. He'll start the season back in Triple-A. Young validated his status as one of the organization's best hitting prospects with his third straight productive season, leading the Florida State League in extra-base hits (61) and finishing second in homers and third in RBIs and doubles. His 36 doubles broke Henry Rodriguez' Vero Beach club record, which had stood since 1989. Young's hit and power tools grade out as above-average. An aggressive, confident switch-hitter, he has good bat speed and rarely gets cheated at the plate. His swing gets long at times, leading to swings-and-misses, but when he centers the ball he generates loft and carry. Young has better bat control from the right side and more power from the left. He is a below-average runner. Scouts doubt he has the range to play second base in the big leagues, but he made strides defensively in 2004. He embraced the instruction of minor league infield coordinator Jerry Royster and assistant field coordinator John Shoemaker, which helped him improve his footwork around the bag. He still allows ground balls to get too deep, though he has a solid arm. Young will join Joel Guzman up the middle in Double-A this year and could end up at a corner outfield spot down the line. Dunlap has dropped 70 pounds after ballooning to 300 in high school in Alameda, Calif., where he was a teammate of Dontrelle Willis. He maintained his conditioning at Contra Costa Junior College with the help of former major league all-star Willie McGee and climbed draft boards last spring. He led all California juco hitters with a .523 average. Described as a professional hitter, Dunlap had a strong debut and led the Pioneer League in walks and on base percentage while ranking as the league's No. 7 prospect. Dunlap's spray approach has drawn comparisons to Tony Gwynn's. He has a simple, level stroke with good strike-zone judgment. His power is mostly to the gaps now, but he shows potential to hit 25-30 home runs a year, and will pull pitches deep to right field on occasion. Dunlap has good plate coverage but is susceptible to balls in on his hands. He is a 30 runner on the 20-80 scouting scale. Defensively, Dunlap shows good instincts and adequate hands at first, though his range could improve. He tends to rush throws, leading to inaccuracy, though his arm strength is at least average. Sustaining his conditioning and improving his strength will be integral to his development. Dunlap could move quickly and should open 2005 in low Class A. Megrew, who strained a ligament in his elbow late in his debut 2002 season, was making progress last summer before he tweaked his elbow in July, causing him to miss a start. Still, he finished the season by tossing seven no-hit innings in late August. Following the season, though, he had Tommy John surgery and probably won't get back on the mound in 2005. When healthy, Megrew relies on good command and a deceptive circle changeup, one of the best in the system. Megrew's changeup has good sink and fade, especially away from righthanded hitters. His fastball sits between 87-91 mph and he shows a feel for changing speeds and locating it. His 77-78 mph breaking ball is a hard slider with good life. The long, lanky Megrew had a clean arm stroke and repeatable mechanics, so if he returns to form injuries shouldn't be a long-term concern. Rehab will give him an opportunity to bulk up his frame, and the Dodgers hope he'll throw off a mound by instructional league in 2005. Without much fanfare, Abreu and Ching-Lung Hu provided one of the most dynamic middle-infield combinations in the minor leagues last year. Abreu, who has been compared to Jose Vizcaino, has the tools to play shortstop but played second base alongside Hu last season in low Class A before a late promotion to Vero Beach. When Hu went down with an arm injury in August, Abreu moved to shortstop, where his arm is fringe-average. His glove is ahead of his bat at this stage. He has good range, aided by good first-step quickness, and soft hands. One Dodgers staff member said of Abreu's approach, "He wants to hit so bad he's insulted to take a walk." He needs to be more selective, but makes consistent, solid contact and drives balls all over the field, especially when he finishes his stroke and gets extended. Abreu generates his bat speed from a good load and could be a run producer if he gets stronger and refines his approach. He has average speed. He and Hu will team up again up the middle at Vero Beach this year, and the Dodgers see him as a second baseman long-term. Veteran area scout Clair Rierson raved about Schmoll during the 2003 college season, as he tied for the Atlantic Coast Conference lead with 124 strikeouts in just 88 innings. As a fifth-year senior, Schmoll was eligible to sign before the draft, and the Dodgers outbid several teams with a $75,000 bonus. Schmoll was in Double-A by August last season and was impressive in 19 innings in the Arizona Fall League, posting a 1.42 ERA. Schmoll has always been a sidewinder, but former Dodgers minor league pitching instructor Mark Brewer dropped his arm slot to near submarine level and Schmoll flashed 93 mph velocity at times in the AFL. He sits regularly around 87-90 with nasty running movement. His slot isn't quite as low but is comparable to Kent Tekulve's and Dan Quisenberry's, creating outstanding late movement, while his cutter actually rises. Schmoll's slider will never have great break from that angle, so he needs to craft an effective offspeed offering either with a variant of his fastball or his changeup, which has potential. He attacks the zone and pitches ahead in the count. He profiles as a set-up man or long reliever, but could provide relief help as early as midseason. He'll likely open the season in Double-A. Johnson ranked among the top prep righthanders in the country entering his senior season, but he injured his triceps muscle diving back into a bag early in the year and his velocity suffered all spring. He still managed to lead Parkview Baptist to a third consecutive Louisiana 3-A state championship. At the prestigious National Classic tournament in California last April, Tommy Lasorda was among the Dodgers staff members who saw Johnson ring up 12 strikeouts, 10 with his outstanding breaking ball. His curve is a twoplane out pitch that has true 12-to-6 break and changes the hitter's eye level. It already rates as one of the best curveballs in the organization. His fastball tops out at 94 mph and sits at 90. He also throws a changeup that needs work. Johnson has a projectable frame and his arm works well, fitting Dodgers scouting director Logan White's pitching profile to a tee. He made adjustments well in his first taste of pro ball, but still needs to learn the nuances of pitching. Johnson profiles as a starter, and has potential to pitch at the front end of a rotation if everything develops according to plan. His next step will be low Class A in 2005. Orenduff bolstered his draft stock in the summer of 2003 when he was part of a dominant Team USA pitching staff that won a silver medal in the Pan American Games, going 6-0, 1.31 with 40 strikeouts in 41 innings. He finished second in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 2.43 ERA for Virginia Commonwealth last spring, and signed quickly with the Dodgers for $1 million in June. He became the Dodgers' earliest college draft pick since Ben Diggins (17th overall) in 2000. After pitching 100 innings for VCU in the spring, Orenduff's professional debut was uninspiring. He has a compact delivery and loose, easy arm action from a three-quarters slot. He operates with a heavy, 87-93 mph sinker, a hard slider and a fringe-average changeup. He has shown a tendency to rely too heavily on his breaking ball, which was the case in Rookie ball. Orenduff also needs to quicken his delivery from the stretch and hold runners better. He has outstanding makeup and could move fast through the system. He projects as a No. 3 or 4 starter but could pitch in middle relief as soon as 2006 if the Dodgers chose to move him to the bullpen. He'll open 2005 in high Class A. With Aybar posting modest power numbers in four minor league seasons and third baseman Andy LaRoche entering the system, the Dodgers moved Aybar from third to second in 2004. He responded with a career-high 15 homers and a career-best RBI total. His brother Erick also enjoyed a strong season in the Angels system and is considered one of the minors' top middle-infield prospects. Willy doesn't have his brother's speed or athleticism, and some scouts doubt he can stick at second base. He has good hands and an above-average arm, but his range is average to slightly below and he has stiff actions around the bag. His best tool is his bat. Aybar has a fluid, natural swing from the left side, and shows more bat speed and a shorter stroke from the right. He makes good contact and began driving balls with more regularity last year. He uses the whole field early in counts but gets pull-conscious when he's behind and chases fastballs up in the zone. He is better defensively than Delwyn Young but doesn't have the same power potential of Young or Etanislao Abreu. Aybar could reach the majors in the next two years, but he has fallen behind other players on the Dodgers depth chart and could become trade bait. He will spend most of 2005 at Triple-A. Teams were apprehensive when scouting Guerra because of an unorthodox delivery that was similar to that of a fast-pitch softball pitcher but from a traditional three-quarters arm angle. College coaches even sent video of Guerra's motion to the NCAA to determine if it was legal by college standards before recruiting him. He committed to Arizona but instead signed with the Dodgers for a $275,000 bonus. Gulf Coast League pitching coach George Culver ironed out Guerra's mechanics, eliminating his crow hop without sacrificing velocity. He pitched at 90-92 mph, touching 95 mph with his fastball. Guerra allowed just five runs in his last seven starts. His arm works fast with a loose and easy motion and he pitches downhill, though he needs to improve his feel for pitching and control. Guerra features a curveball, slider and advanced changeup, an impressive repertoire considering he was 17 when the Dodgers drafted him. The curveball, which has tight rotation, is the better of his two breaking balls. He has a dogged demeanor on the mound and good makeup. Despite his age, the Dodgers are considering starting Guerra in low Class A this season. The Dodgers added Osoria to their 40-man roster over a handful of other promising pitchers, including Marcos Carvajal, who was taken in the major league Rule 5 draft by the Brewers and sold to the Rockies. Osoria doesn't throw as hard as Carvajal but shows the ability to command a nasty sinker. Osoria has a sixth digit on his right hand but doesn't use it to grip the ball. He spent most of 2004 in Double-A, where he was used in middle relief and a set-up role, and he should occupy a similar role in the big leagues. Osoria throws from a low three-quarters arm slot to generate late movement on his 88-92 mph sinker. Hitters know it's coming yet struggle to square the ball, making it difficult to lift and drive because of its boring action. Righthanders managed a .212 average and one homer against him in Double-A last year. Like the sidewinding Steve Schmoll, Osoria's slot prevents him from getting on top of a breaking ball. He needs to improve a second offspeed offering. His low-80s slider starts at a righthander's front hip and runs across the plate, but it's inconsistent. Osoria hasn't mastered English yet, and the language barrier has become troublesome for coaches and the player-development staff. He's on the cusp of pitching out of the Dodgers bullpen and will be challenged in Triple-A this season. Dodgers scouting director Logan White drove a few blocks down the street after scouting high-profile Oklahoma prepster Michael Rogers--signed by the Twins for $300,000 after sliding to the 16th round in 2003--to get a look at Kemp, who was better known as a basketball prospect. Without the grades to secure a Division I college scholarship, Kemp signed in the sixth round. He was flanked in the Columbus outfield by two more polished prospects in Xavier Paul and Jereme Milons (since traded to the Diamondbacks for Elmer Dessens), but made a positive impression on scouts. Kemp's chiseled, 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame has that effect. He has four potential plus tools and made as much improvement in the last year as Joel Guzman, according to some in the organization. Like Guzman, Kemp has monstrous raw power. Balls jump off his bat and he showed a willingness to use all fields. He's a slightly below-average runner down the line and better under way. Kemp is still learning the nuances of playing the outfield, but has an average arm for right field. He can look bad on breaking pitches out of the zone, but also has the aptitude to make adjustments. The Dodgers will likely move him to high Class A this season. He is a bit of a work in progress but showed the potential for a breakthrough season in 2005. The Dodgers signed Rivera as a 16-year-old in 2003, but he didn't make his professional debut until last summer because of a broken hand. He hit safely in 11 of his first 27 at-bats and earned comparisons to former all-star shortstop Tony Fernandez because of his pure shortstop actions and live, athletic body. Rivera plays with flair and his makeup is off the charts. He has good range up the middle and to his right and plenty of arm to make plays deep in the hole. At times he allowed a poor at-bat to affect his defense, but the Dodgers expect those kinds of problems to go away as he matures. Rivera has a slap approach from both sides of the plate now but projects to have gap power eventually, thanks to good bat control, projectable strength and solid eye-hand coordination. He can be beaten on hard stuff up and in. An average runner, Rivera has narrow shoulders, leading some scouts to wonder how much he'll fill out, but he has the instincts and tools to become a solid shortstop. He will most likely start 2005 in extended spring training and join Ogden in June. Following five frustrating seasons marked by nagging back and hamstring injuries, a position change and inconsistent performance, Repko may have turned a corner in 2004. He posted career highs in homers, RBIs, doubles, average and at-bats between two advanced levels and was protected on the 40-man roster. Repko's hard work has helped him become the organization's best defensive outfielder. He moved to center field from shortstop in 2002 and now makes good reads on line drives, gets good jumps on balls, has above-average speed and plus arm strength. He probably profiles as an extra outfielder on a contending team, but still has a chance to play every day in the big leagues. In order to do that, he'll have to improve his on-base skills. He has an unorthodox, open stance at the plate and he carries his hands low. His swing can get long, though he has good hand-eye coordination and shows enough bat speed to drill the ball to all parts of the park. Repko is slated to start 2005 back in Triple-A but is an injury away from earning his first big league callup.

2019-04-19T13:22:50Z

https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/1011/los-angeles-dodgers/organizational/?year=2005

Today these processes involve numerous paper forms and telephone calls, non-standard electronic commerce, and many delays in communicating information among different locations. This situation creates difficulties and costs for health care providers, health plans, and consumers alike. the typical consumer, who ultimately pays for administrative burden. To address these problems, the health care industry, including both public and private sectors, has worked to develop standards to improve the way in which transactions are exchanged electronically. However, economic pressures have prevented competing parties from adopting a uniform set of such standards. At the request of the industry and with bipartisan support, Congress enacted the Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The industry has estimated that full implementation of these provisions could save up to $9 billion per year by reducing administrative overhead, without reducing the amount or quality of health care services. In fact, such savings raise the possibility of helping to improve the quality of health care by freeing up resources now devoted to paperwork and administration. The purpose of this report is to describe the status of implementation of the administrative simplification provisions of HIPAA during 1998, the second year after enactment of the law. Congress gave the NCVHS the role of advising HHS on the adoption of standards, monitoring implementation of Administrative Simplification, and reporting annually on its progress. During 1998, the Committee has monitored the process of standards adoption and the issuance of proposed standards, as carried out by the Government and its advisory bodies. In the future, once the standards become effective and enter the implementation stage, the NCVHS will report on the rate of implementation and the growth of electronic data interchange (EDI) in the health care industry. The Committee is pleased to report that the process of implementation to this point has been extremely open, collaborative, and productive. During 1998, four Notices of Proposed Rulemaking were published outlining the proposed standards. The openness and success of the process to date bode well for the ultimate success of the implementation of these standards. Although this report was requested by the Congress, it is directed at the industry and the public as well. The report begins with a review of the requirements of the statute, including the implementation timetable required by the law, and the expanded responsibilities of the NCVHS. The report then outlines the implementation process, which involves the Department of Health and Human Services, other Federal agencies, the States, the NCVHS, the industry, and the public health and research communities. Next, the status of implementation of each of the standards required by HIPAA is reviewed. Last year’s report included the NCVHS’ recommendations for each of the required standards. Those recommendations are available on the NCVHS website and are not repeated here. In 1998, the NCVHS held several public hearings on HIPAA related issues and provided comments to HHS on the NPRM’s themselves. The comments are discussed briefly in this report and are available in their entirety on the NCVHS website. A discussion follows in which the NCVHS highlights several issues that deserve particular attention by HHS and by the Congress. Finally, the report concludes with a discussion of implementation issues and how the NCVHS intends to monitor implementation in the future. The Administrative Simplification provisions, Title II, Subtitle F, of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to adopt standards for the electronic transmission of administrative and financial health care transactions, including data elements and code sets for those transactions; for unique health identifiers for health care providers, health plans, employers, and individuals for use in the health care system; and for security standards to protect individually identifiable health information. The law also requires the Secretary to submit recommendations for Federal health privacy legislation to the Congress within one year. Additionally, these provisions gave special responsibilities to the NCVHS to advise the Secretary on privacy and on the adoption of standards and to submit to Congress an annual report on the status of the Administrative Simplification effort. The purposes of these provisions are to improve the Medicare and Medicaid programs in particular and the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system in general by encouraging the use of electronic methods for transmission of health information through the establishment of standards and requirements for covered electronic transmissions. Security and electronic signature standards and safeguards to protect health information during transmission and while stored in health information systems, to ensure the integrity of the information, and to protect against unauthorized use and disclosure. Coordination of benefits and sequential processing of claims. Under the law, the Secretary may also establish standards for other financial and administrative transactions that she determines to be appropriate and that are consistent with the goals of improving the operation of the health care system and reducing administrative costs. This provision permitted designation of coordination of benefits as one of the standard transactions being adopted. The standards will apply to all health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers that transmit health information in electronic form. Health plans are required to accept standard transactions submitted electronically by health care providers, and health plans cannot delay or otherwise adversely affect such transactions. Health plans and health care providers may submit or receive transactions directly or indirectly through the use of health care clearinghouses. In addition to the requirement for security standards, the statute also requires the Secretary to submit to Congress detailed recommendations on standards with respect to the privacy of individually identifiable health information. These recommendations were delivered to the Congress on September 11, 1997. The Secretary’s recommendations for protecting the privacy of individually identifiable health information were due within 12 months of the date of enactment. Standards for transaction sets, code sets, unique identifiers, and security and electronic signatures were to be adopted within 18 months of enactment, except for standards for claims attachments, which are due within 30 months of enactment. Health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers who conduct electronic transactions must comply with the standards within 24 months of their adoption. Small plans are given an additional 12 months to comply. The NCVHS and the Department have worked diligently to address the schedule required by the statute. As noted above, the Secretary’s recommendations for federal privacy legislation have been delivered to the Congress. Notices of Proposed Rule Making for the transactions, code sets, some identifiers, and security and electronic signature standards were issued in 1998. Because of the extensive and unprecedented level of industry consultation and the number of issues that need to be resolved before final standards are selected, the requirement to publish the final rules for the first set of standards by February 21, 1998 has not been met. However, four of the proposed rules were published in 1998, and two more are expected to be issued in 1999. Based on the public comments received on the NPRMs, HHS is revising the rules and they will be issued as final rules as they are completed. The statute significantly expanded the responsibilities of the NCVHS. In selecting standards for adoption, the Secretary is required to rely on the recommendations of the NCVHS. Subtitle F also requires the NCVHS to report to the Secretary, within four years of the passage of HIPAA, with recommendations and legislative proposals for the adoption of uniform data standards for patient medical record information and the electronic exchange of such information. Finally, Subtitle F requires the NCVHS to submit to Congress an annual report on the status of the Administrative Simplification effort. “(A) The extent to which persons required to comply with part C of title XI of the Social Security Act are cooperating in implementing the standards adopted under such part. “(B) The extent to which such entities are meeting the security standards adopted under such part and the types of penalties assessed for noncompliance with such standards. “(C) Whether the Federal and State Governments are receiving information of sufficient quality to meet their responsibilities under such part. “(D) Any problems that exist with respect to implementation of such part. Since the first standards are not scheduled for final adoption until 1999 or early 2000 with implementation two years thereafter, this annual report focuses on the activities of the Federal Government, industry, and the NCVHS during the past year to identify, evaluate, select, and publish the required standards for public comment. Subsequent annual reports will focus on implementation issues. The Secretary of HHS formulated a comprehensive strategy for developing and implementing the standards mandated under Administrative Simplification. Establish interdepartmental implementation teams to identify and assess potential standards for adoption. Develop recommendations for standards to be adopted. Publish proposed rules in the Federal Register describing the standards. Each proposed rule provides the public with a 60-day comment period. Analyze public comments and publish the final rules in the Federal Register. Establish low-cost distribution mechanisms for standards and implementation guides. A critical sixth step that will be implemented once the standards have been put in place will be the ongoing monitoring of the implementation of the standards to determine if additions or modifications to the standards are needed. Council, the Data Council’s Health Data Standards Committee, and the Implementation Teams. The HHS Data Council, the Department’s senior internal data policy body, was given the responsibility to oversee implementation of Administrative Simplification by the Secretary. The Council reports to the Secretary and consists of representatives from each major operating and staff division within HHS. As a senior policy guidance and decision-making body, the Council has been designated to guide the process and report to the Secretary on the progress of the standards and privacy efforts. During the past year, the co-chairs of the Data Council have been the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and the Administrator of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The Data Council also serves as the contact point for the NCVHS and resolves issues that cannot be resolved by the Data Council’s Health Data Standards Committee. The Data Council’s Health Data Standards Committee (HDSC) is responsible for the daily operation and management of the standards activities. The membership of the Health Data Standards Committee includes representatives from the Executive Office of Management and Budget, HHS components and other affected Federal Departments, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and others. The HDSC determines the membership and coordinates the activities of the Implementation Teams. It is also responsible for ensuring that external groups — NCVHS’ Subcommittee on Standards and Security; the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI); the American National Standards Institute’s Healthcare Informatics Standards Board (ANSI HISB); the National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC); the National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC); the American Dental Association (ADA); and the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) — are appropriately consulted and involved in the development process. The HDSC resolves issues that cannot be resolved by the Implementation Teams. Seven Implementation Teams (ITs) are responsible for the research, analysis, and development of recommendations for national standards for consideration by the HDSC and the Data Council. These teams are made up of representatives from HHS and from a number of other government Agencies that will be affected by the standards or have specific expertise necessary for development of the recommendations. These include the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor, the Department of Commerce, the Social Security Administration, the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management, and Tricare. A member of the NCVHS has been assigned as liaison to advise and assist each of the Teams and to monitor their progress. The subject matter of the teams includes (1) claims/encounters, (2) identifiers, (3) enrollment/eligibility, (4) security, (5) medical coding/classification, (6) claims attachments. A seventh team addresses cross-cutting issues and coordinates the subject matter teams. The teams have consulted with external groups such as the NCVHS Subcommittee on Standards and Security, WEDI, the ANSI HISB, the NUCC, the NUBC, and the ADA. Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system by leading to cost reductions for or improvements in benefits from electronic health care transactions. Meet the needs of the health data standards user community, particularly health care providers, health plans, and health care clearinghouses. Be consistent and uniform with the other HIPAA standards–their data element definitions and codes and their privacy and security requirements–and, secondarily, with other private and public sector health data standards. Have low additional development and implementation costs relative to the benefits of using the standard. Be supported by an ANSI-accredited standards developing organization or other private or public organization that will ensure continuity and efficient updating of the standard over time. Have timely development, testing, implementation, and updating procedures to achieve administrative simplification benefits faster. Be technologically independent of the computer platforms and transmission protocols used in electronic transactions, except when it is explicitly part of the standard. Be precise and unambiguous, but as simple as possible. Keep data collection and paperwork burdens on users as low as is feasible. Incorporate flexibility to adapt more easily to changes in the health care infrastructure (such as new services, organizations, and provider types) and information technology. Participate in open process with standards development organizations. Write to the Secretary of HHS. Provide written input to the NCVHS. Present written and oral testimony at public meetings of the NCVHS. Comment on the proposed rules for each of the proposed standards during the 60-day comment period. Invite HHS staff to meetings with public and private sector organizations or meet directly with senior HHS staff involved in the implementation process. Early on, ANSI HISB provided the Department with an inventory of standards that currently exist in the health care industry. This inventory served as the starting point for the Implementation Teams’ evaluation of existing standards to identify candidate standards for adoption. In response to its new responsibilities, the NCVHS achieved an unprecedented level of activity and output during the first year of HIPAA implementation. During 1998, the NCVHS modified and streamlined its structure to more effectively address the requirements of HIPAA, accommodate new areas, and promote a broader perspective on population-based data issues and a vision for the National Health Information Infrastructure generally. The reorganization resulted in the following four subcommittees: the Executive Subcommittee, the Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality, the Subcommittee on Standards and Security, and the Subcommittee on Populations. The new structure also includes four working groups: the Workgroup on Computer-Based Patient Records, the Workgroup on Health Statistics for the 21st Century, the Workgroup on Quality, and the Workgroup on the National Health Information Infrastructure. The NCVHS continues to serve as the Department’s primary liaison with the private sector and continues to hold public hearings to obtain the views, perspectives, and concerns of interested and affected parties, as well as their input and advice on health data standards and privacy. In addition to providing numerous opportunities for the private sector to participate in the standards adoption process, these public hearings sponsored by the NCVHS helped maintain the openness and inclusiveness of the process. During 1997, NCVHS sponsored more than 40 days of public hearings involving more than 200 witnesses from across the health spectrum. In 1998, the NCVHS sponsored an additional six full days of public hearings on HIPAA data standards (claims attachments, unique identifiers, CPR data standards) and heard from 62 witnesses. To enhance participation further, NCVHS public meetings are routinely broadcast live on the Internet with the help of the Department of Veterans Affairs. For those unable to attend or listen to the meetings as they occur, recordings of the live broadcasts are available also on the Internet. Topic: Perspectives on standards for computer-based patient records; need for data quality standards. Topic: Panel discussion on claims attachments standards. Topic: Two full days of public hearings on standards for claims attachments. Topic: Panel discussion on standards for claims attachments. Topic: Two full days of public hearings on HIPAA requirements for the unique health identifier for individuals. Topic: Two full days of public hearings on approaches to standards for computer based patient records. Topic: Panel discussion on identifiability issues; panel discussion on confidentiality issues in health and medical registries. Topic: Discussion of model privacy legislation developed by National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Topic: Panel discussion of Medicaid managed care data needs and issues. Topic: Field hearing in Phoenix Arizona on Medicaid managed care data issues. Topic: Joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Standards and Security on post acute care data issues. Topic: Field hearing in Boston, Massachusetts on data issues in Medicaid Managed Care. Topic: Public hearing on health data needs and issues in the Pacific Insular Areas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Committee has supported outreach to the public health and health services research communities to ensure that they understand the implications of HIPAA for their activities and are present at the table as decisions are being made. Several NCVHS members participated in a November 2-3, 1998 Workshop on the implications of HIPAA Administrative Simplification Provisions for Public health and Health Services Research. The workshop, which was sponsored by NCHS/CDC in conjunction with the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research and the NCVHS, affirmed the potential benefits of administrative simplification for these sectors and the need for them to be a part of the standards development process. During 1997, the NCVHS forwarded a number of recommendations to the Secretary of HHS relating to the standards and privacy requirements in HIPAA. Those recommendations were summarized in last year’s annual report and are available in their entirety on the NCVHS website. During 1998, the NCVHS provided comments on several of the NPRMs issued by HHS for public comment. With respect to the NPRMs relating to the National Provider Identifier and the standards for transactions and code sets, the NCVHS generally supported the proposals, observed that the proposals were based largely upon and consistent with the NCVHS recommendations for standards, and provided responses to specific issues raised in the NPRMs. The NCVHS comments also raised questions relating to OMB’s interpretation of the applicability of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) to the adoption of HIPAA EDI standards, and urged OMB to use its discretion and not apply the PRA to the HIPAA EDI standards adoption process. With respect to the NPRM relating to Standards for Security and Electronic Signatures, the NCVHS comments recognized the proposal as a positive step toward requiring that all health care entities safeguard the integrity, confidentiality and availability of their electronic data. The comments also supported the NPRM recommendations for a technology-neutral standard that will promote interoperability among information systems, the accommodation of different sizes of health care entities, and consideration of the cost of implementation. The full text of these recommendations is available on the NCVHS web site. The NCVHS has participated with the Department in every aspect of the standards adoption process. Through the HHS Data Council, the NCVHS has submitted recommendations to the Secretary for standards to be adopted and on privacy guidelines and has provided comments on HHS NPRMs. The NCVHS Subcommittee on Standards and Security has worked closely with the HDSC and the ITs. The NCVHS provides to, and receives from the Data Council, the HDSC, and the ITs regularly scheduled reports and informal communications on their respective activities. The Data Council Chairs attend NCVHS meetings, and the NCVHS Chair attends the monthly meetings of the Data Council. Each IT has a liaison from the NCVHS who participates in Team meetings and provides advice and guidance. Upon request, the NCVHS also advises the Secretary on particularly sensitive and controversial issues. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the National Provider Identifier was issued in the Federal Register for public comment on May 7, 1998. Approximately 5,000 public comments were received. HHS is now reviewing the public comments and preparing responses. Work is proceeding on the final rule and it will be published when finalized. The NPRM for the National Employer Identifier was issued for public comment on June 16, 1998. Approximately 800 comments were received. HHS is now reviewing the public comments and preparing responses. Work is proceeding on the final rule and it will be published when finalized. A NPRM relating to the National Plan/Payer Identifier is under development in HHS and is expected to be published for public comment in 1999. Because of extensive privacy concerns and a lack of consensus on the appropriate technical standard for a UHI, HHS decided in October 1997 not to proceed immediately with a proposed rule for the UHI. Instead, HHS decided to initiate an open public process for discussion of the issues surrounding the unique identifier for individuals. This process involved a public hearing on the issue by the NCVHS, and the release of a White Paper discussing the options and implications of those options. Initially, HHS planned to include in the public consultation process additional NCVHS hearings and publication in the Federal Register of a Notice of Intent (NOI) that would solicit information and public input on concerns and possible approaches. The purpose of the NOI would be to seek public input on a variety of options and approaches for individual health identifiers without presenting a specific option as the preferred direction, and to invite comment on privacy issues. Once the public comments had been received and analyzed, the Secretary would be in a better position to decide whether and how to proceed with the selection of the identifier. In light of these circumstances, publication of the NOI and further NCVHS hearings on this topic have been put on hold. Thus, the selection of the unique identifier for individuals will be delayed relative to the deadline established by the statute. The NCVHS strongly believes that the delay is warranted and that additional public involvement in this very sensitive area is imperative. Based on the results of the analyses performed by the Implementation Teams, the input received from the Committee, the public testimony provided at the NCVHS hearings during the past year, and the NCVHS recommendations to HHS, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for National Standards for Electronic Transactions, including transaction codes and code sets was issued for public comment on May 7, 1998. Approximately 17,000 comments were received. HHS is now reviewing the public comments and preparing responses. Work is proceeding on the final rule and it will be published when finalized. The First Report of Injury transaction was not included in the NPRM for HIPAA transaction standards issued in May because there was neither a millennium-compliant version of an implementation guide nor a complete data dictionary for the ASC X12N 148 – Report of Injury, Illness, or Incident transaction. The Secretary will issue a separate Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at a later date after the implementation guide and data dictionary have been completed. Based on the results of the analyses performed by the Implementation Teams, the input received from the Committee, the public testimony provided at the NCVHS hearings during the past year, and the NCVHS recommendations to HHS, a NPRM for Security and Electronic Signature Standards was issued on August 12, 1998. Approximately 2000 comments were received. HHS is now reviewing the public comments and preparing responses. Work is proceeding on the final rule and it will be published when finalized. As noted above, the statute gave an additional 12 months for the adoption of standards for claims attachments. The NCVHS held public hearings on standards for claims attachments in 1998 and provided recommendations to HHS. Development of a NPRM on this standard is well underway within HHS, and is expected to be issued for public comment in 1999. 1. Boundaries – An individual’s health care information should be used for health purposes and only those purposes, subject to a few carefully defined exceptions. 2. Security – Organizations to which we entrust health information ought to protect it against deliberate or inadvertent misuse or disclosure. Federal law should require such security measures. 3. Consumer Control – Patients should be able to see what is in their records, get a copy, correct errors, and find out who else has seen them. 4. Accountability – Those who misuse personal health information should be punished, and those who are harmed by its misuse should have legal recourse. 5. Public Responsibility – Federal law should identify those limited arenas in which our public responsibilities warrant authorization of access to our medical information, and should sharply limit the uses and disclosure of information in those contexts. In addition, the Secretary recommended that Federal privacy legislation not preempt or supersede other State or Federal laws that are more protective of individual privacy. The full text of the Secretary’s privacy recommendations is available in the HHS administrative simplification website: http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/admnsimp. Although a number of health record privacy bills were introduced in the 105th Congress, none were enacted. It is expected that health information privacy legislation will receive considerable attention in the 106th Congress. According to HIPAA, if Congress does not enact privacy protection by August 1999, the Secretary is required to issue final regulations to protect the information transmitted in connection with the HIPAA administrative transaction standards by February 2000. The Department has taken very seriously its responsibilities to ensure that the industry will be able to receive all of the information and assistance it will need to implement the standards. The statute requires that the Department provide a low-cost distribution method for the implementation guides for these standards. The X12N standards committee has a long-standing agreement with the Washington Publishing Company (WPC) to develop and maintain official implementation guides for the X12N transaction sets that are being recommended for adoption in the NPRMs. In order to meet its low-cost distribution requirement, HHS has established a contract with the WPC, and implementation guides will be available for downloading from the WPC web site at no charge. Paper copies will be available for purchase from WPC. Guides for the retail drug claim standards will be available from the NCPDP web site. Despite many efforts, discussions with the health care industry about administrative simplification continue to reveal that some in the health care industry still do not realize how these standards will affect them. To address this problem, NCVHS and HHS have initiated a comprehensive outreach and communication effort. The initiative includes the development of print materials for publication in periodicals and for distribution to the press and the public, direct mailings to affected groups, the coordinated scheduling of presentations to interested groups and press interviews. HHS also works with external organizations to support their outreach efforts. With the assistance of the Department of Veterans Affairs, NCVHS meetings are broadcast live on the world wide web. These sites will continue to be maintained and updated throughout the implementation of administrative simplification. The Department also established a capability to receive electronic comments on the NPRMs, and is in the process of posting all of the public comments received on the NPRMs on the website. The Committee has identified a number of special privacy and security concerns that it wishes to highlight for the Congress and the public. The NCVHS continues to believe that the United States is in the midst of a health privacy crisis. The protection of health records has eroded significantly in the last two decades. Major contributing factors are ongoing institutional changes in the structure of the health care system and the lack of modern privacy legislation. Without a federal health privacy law, patient protections will continue to deteriorate. Delays in passing privacy legislation will allow additional and uncontrolled uses of health information to continue to develop. Failure to address health privacy will also undermine public confidence in the health care system, expose patients to continuing invasions of privacy, subject record keepers to potentially significant legal liability, and interfere with the ability of health care providers and others to operate the health care delivery and payment system in an effective and efficient manner. The greater the delay in imposing meaningful controls on the inappropriate use and disclosure of identifiable individual information, the more difficult it will be to overcome institutional resistance to restrictions on use and disclosure or changing the way that information is acquired and used. The NCVHS urges the Congress to act quickly to pass Federal privacy legislation to counter these disturbing trends. In 1997, the Committee recommended that the selection of a unique health identifier for individuals be delayed until the passage of legislation to assure the confidentiality of individually identifiable health information and to protect an individual’s right to privacy. The identification of patients is a constant issue in health treatment, payment, and administrative activities. The choice of a unique patient identifier will affect every health care transaction, provider, and institution. Patient privacy will be directly affected by any decision about the adoption of a unique patient identifier. Selection of a patient identifier will have significant consequences both within and outside the health care system. A properly chosen patient identification system has the potential to enhance privacy. However, at its hearings, the Committee found no consensus on a patient identifier. Indeed, the testimony presented to the Committee reflected the extent to which public opinion is deeply divided on the approach for protecting privacy and on the issue of whether a unique patient identifier should be adopted at all. Thus, the Committee continues to believe that any discussion of a unique patient identifier for health care is incomplete without substantive privacy protections. The Committee again urges the Congress to enact a comprehensive federal health information privacy law this year. An issue of concern to consumers revealed during the Committee’s hearings on privacy was the relationship between privacy (as defined by principles of fair information practices) and potential discrimination in employment, insurance, and elsewhere. The protection of individual privacy requires that this relationship be addressed. Part of the motivation for seeking protections for health information is to prevent the use of such information for purposes outside of health care delivery and payment. Patients receiving care for certain health conditions or who have been the subject of genetic testing are potentially subject to discrimination in employment, insurance, and elsewhere. Some patients are fearful of disclosing their full medical information to health care providers and thereby might unknowingly compromise the quality of medical care they receive. Several bills introduced in the last Congress address the possible use of genetic information to discriminate. Privacy legislation that specifies legitimate uses of health data can prevent potential discrimination and reassure consumers by establishing a legal requirement that identifiable health information be used only for the purposes for which it was collected. Further, health care providers can be more assured of delivering quality health care services if they have more accurate patient medical information. This would be a major step toward preventing the use of health information for non-health purposes. The Committee recognizes the fact that privacy issues and discrimination issues are complicated. An already complex health privacy bill may not be the best place to sort out responses to equally complex discrimination problems. The Committee suggests that privacy and discrimination issues deserve separate legislative treatment. The problems of discrimination are important, but further work needs to be done to more fully develop anti-discrimination legislation. Assuring the security of information systems in the health care industry is a critical concern if the health care sector is to achieve the full benefit of advances in information technology. While information technology holds the promise of improving the quality of care and reducing costs, it also introduces new vulnerabilities. Thus, the Committee believes that the move toward electronic storage and transmission of health information must be accompanied by strong security policies and procedures for sensitive information. The Committee believes that the proposed rule for security standards that HHS has published for public comment provides the basic framework to ensure that all health care entities safeguard the integrity, confidentiality and availability of their electronic data. The proposed rules incorporate all of the NCVHS recommendations made last year. In addition, the technology-neutral approach adopted in the proposed rule will promote interoperability among health information systems, accommodate different sizes of health care organizations, and foster favorable cost benefit outcomes. The Committee plans to continue to monitor industry compliance with and the development and maturation of security technology and standards, including electronic signatures. Once the Administrative Simplification standards have been adopted, the health care community will be encouraged to notify the Department or the NCVHS in writing or through our respective web sites of any issues or concerns with the implementation of the new standards. In addition, the Committee will conduct a number of public hearings to obtain additional input from a broad cross section of users in both the public and private sectors. Based on this input, the Committee will notify HHS of any problems that are presented and will provide recommendations on how to deal with those problems. The statute requires the Secretary of HHS to review the standards and adopt modifications to those standards (including additions to the standards), as appropriate, but not more frequently than once every 12 months. The Committee will seek input from the public on additional standards or modifications to existing standards that may be needed and will provide timely recommendations to the Secretary. The Committee will follow the status of standards implementation from Federal and State agencies for the health care programs under their jurisdiction. These agencies and representatives from the private sector will be asked also to provide public testimony at NCVHS hearings, where appropriate, at which they will be asked to indicate the extent of standards usage that they have observed. We will also ask the applicable standards development organizations to provide regular status reports on the status of implementation of the new standards. We would also encourage them to provide advice as to how to increase the rate of compliance, if necessary. Since security is a primary concern to the public, the industry, and the Committee, we will ask the appropriate private sector certifying bodies to monitor the status of the security measures that will be adopted and to ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to protect individually identifiable information. In addition to these status reports and public hearings, the Committee will make substantial use of industry sources that provide information on and analyses of major trends in the application of information technology in health care. This information will include major trends in applying electronic data interchange; the development of computer networks; the growth of computer-based patient records; and trends in automation in health care organizations. The Committee is charged to make sound recommendations on health information policy to the Executive and Legislative Branches of our nation’s government. To accomplish this end, the NCVHS plans to draw upon all available reports and recommendations in order to develop a vision for the future relating to data needs for quality, costs and access to care as well as for the information infrastructure needed for both health care delivery and management. To that end, the NCVHS has submitted a concept paper to HHS on enhancing health applications in the national information infrastructure. Origin — The health care industry came to Congress to ask for help in setting standards, which they knew they needed but were unable to make happen on their own. Process — The government’s adoption process has been completely open, inclusive and collaborative. Advisory role of the NCVHS — The NCVHS has been a participant and partner, with a valued role in the process. Scope — Government programs will have to follow these regulations, just like other players in the health care system. Future — The playing field being established is level. The development and maintenance of the standards will depend on an open, consensus-driven standards development process supported by the private sector. The government will be an active participant, but it is not establishing a government program. In summary, the process of adopting health data standards has been extremely open, collaborative, and productive. The success of the process up to this point bodes well for the ultimate success of the implementation of these standards. The Committee is committed to improving the national health information infrastructure needed to enhance quality and access to care and reduce costs. The discussion in the report about the unique health identifier for individuals offers a misleading impression about the activities of the Committee. What the Committee really did in its 1997 recommendation was to decide that a unique patient identifier was a desirable goal. The Committee expressly voted on this specific issue, and it insisted on affirming support for an identifier despite opposition from some Committee members who argued that any decision on the patient identifier issue was unwise and precipitous. The report ignores the dissent on the Committee by failing to take note of the differing points of view among Committee members. The Committee adopted its recommendation for a unique patient identifier in advance of public hearings and in the absence any formal analysis of the costs or benefits of a patient identifier. Indeed, in its zeal, the Committee even voted to proceed with hearings on the issue before the Department’s promised white paper was to be publicly available. The consequences of the Committee’s rush to judgment are now apparent. The Committee’s misguided and hasty actions on the patient identifier backfired in the end. The hearings on the patient identifier sparked a national wave of opposition. One result was a promise from the Vice President to slow down consideration of the identifier issue. Another consequence was the enactment by the Congress of a moratorium on the administrative adoption of a patient identifier. In the report, the Committee characterizes the public response to its July 1988 hearings by stating that “there was great concern expressed that privacy protections were essential before any UHI is put in place.” In my opinion, that is a distortion of the objections. The public appeared to be dead set against an identifier without qualification. The Committee nevertheless clings to its predetermined view supporting an identifier and hears only what it wants to hear. It is very nice that the Committee wants to see privacy legislation before an identifier is adopted. But this is the only qualification to the Committee’s support for a health identifier. The Committee expressed no reservation about the costs of an identifier, about any possible negative consequences for the availability of health care, or about the nature of privacy controls that might be needed. In my opinion, none of the health privacy proposals offered to date would prevent a health identifier from becoming a universal national identifier for all governmental and private purposes. Neither these concerns nor the lack of evidence about them deterred the Committee from prematurely taking a position in favor of a health identifier.

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https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/rrp/second-annual-report-to-congress-on-the-implementation-of-the-administrative-simplification-provisions-of-the-health-insurance-portability-and-accountability-act-hipaa/

Tossing It Out Tossing It Out: What Is the Iron Man Connection? It's November now. Days are darker and colder in my part of the world and perhaps yours. Holidays are coming, jobless figures are probably not true, and no one knows for certain about tomorrow or even today. I'm not going to make any predictions because I don't know anything. And I'll keep this post relatively short since I'm not going to say much of anything. In the past I might have been able to say, "All I know is what I read in the papers." That's what humorist Will Rogers once famously said. These days I don't know what the papers, television, or radio are really telling me. Some of it might be true, but what they call news and commentary is so confuddled with the additions of lies, half-truths, and diversions that I could probably read comic books and watch superhero movies and be just as informed. Social media experts often suggest that a way to increase blog traffic is to post a list. So I'm just going to toss out some names. I'll leave it up to you to do the research if you want to. Odds are you won't want to. Research takes time and who's got time to look at what someone like me says. I'm just Blogman. And besides, most of this list seems pretty random. Or not. Who are these people and why are they on this list? The answers are blowing in the wind and the wind is starting to pick up a bit. I think it's time to rake up the leaves that are still in the yard. Are you one of the leaves? Anybody been knocking at your door since the trick-or-treaters left? Seen or heard about any strange activity lately? Do you have any idea what this post is about? Do you care? Do you find that using a list on a blog post increases your traffic? Shocking Video: Feds Spend $80 Million to Prepare for Possible Nov 1 Food Stamp Riots! I don't post many lists. Maybe I should try one. Worked for Letterman, right? Alex-- Funny lists worked for Letterman and they became an expected part of his schtick. A blog list is usually ineffective for drawing traffic unless a strong tease is in the title. Then the effectiveness of the list is only increased if the information is valuable to the reader or particularly interesting in some way that encourages the reader to share with others. In the case of this post my title is ambiguous and does not have a big draw factor and my list has no explanations provided. This post is ineffective as a means to increase traffic because of poor title and list and too much effort is required for the visitor to figure out. Hopefully I'm gather data for a blog science experiment that can be used for a future post. I've heard of most of those people, but not all of them. You've piqued my curiosity! Matthew-- This post started with one name I never knew about and as often happens my Google search turned into a one thing leads to another sort of craziness. Add to that my demented mind and voila!--a crazy list. There are some things here that really started making me think more and brought old things that I already knew something about. Everything in the world is interconnected. Six degrees of separation. Seems like you're being lazy,asking people who come for your blog for content to create it themselves. I have no idea what this is about and your offhand attitude makes me not only not care, but resent being lured here from Facebook. Nighfala-- Great reaction and I appreciate you stopping by to offer your thoughts. Firstly I'm curious to know how you saw this on Facebook. Are you a friend? Or did my announcement show up on another page? My "offhand attitude" is part of my frequent blogging style--those who read regularly might be somewhat accustomed to it by now or are annoyed by it. As far as my "being lazy", I am illustrating what might be the possible laziness of readers or the disinterest in what I've presented. Keep in mind I am doing a blog science experiment as I explore what increases traffic, what stifles comments, etc. The material in this list is too much to contain in one blog post that would hold my readers' attention for the most part. I have offered an option to explore, a challenge to think, and an opportunity to discuss some things that puzzled me when I started exploring them. The latter option will come from those who are interested. One thing that I see in today's experiment is that I lured you from FB. How? Since you probably won't see my response here I will probably have to deduce the answer, but something worked. This is part of my experiment from the aspect of social media promotion. If you do see this I hope you will add to my knowledge. Sorry that you felt that I wasted your time or whatever negative feelings. Hello, I have not got one clue. That's honesty for you. I found you through a link which my fellow blogger Gary (klahanie) posted on FB. He likes to spread the word. All Con. -- Thanks for looking at least. I don't think it's too difficult to figure out what I'm construing from my list of names, but it takes more time than most would want to invest and it's a topic of limited interest. I found some of the info kind of creepy myself and then I threw in some other names just to expand the conspiracy. Yes, there is conspiracy theory in all of this. But in essence this post is a blog experiment that I'm playing with. I hope some readers will give me some harder data to work with. Hi lee, we're FB friends. I just hapoen to be logged into a different account on my phone at the moment. No truly negative feelings. I work in marketing and media and content is a huge thing. People don't have time to figure out ibscure clues. They are clicking through quickly, as I am now while at work, and need relevant, easy to digest, appealing content. Keep it short, interesting and to the point. I know who all these people are and before I finished reading the list, I knew what the intent of this exercise was. Francis Bellamy, Gutzon Borglum, Vernon Jarrett, Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour, Valerie Bowman Jarrett and Toni Townes-Whitley. This whole thing is getting very boring. The American people have spoken about who they want as president (twice). It's time for people to get on with their lives. In case anybody is wondering. I'm an Independent and do not vote along the lines of either major party. I vote issue and candidate specific. In a nutshell, this post was an attempt to forward a very radical political position, without coming out and saying it directly. Everything else about this post is an smokescreen. I had no idea you were such a radical! And an Obama conspiracy theorist to boot! Shame on you for attempting to forward your radical views. And how dare you insinuate anything about Obama when the American people have voted him in (twice). Certainly, that is a mandate, and therefore no criticism of any kind is permitted! I would throw out one thing to Mr. Tillett, who seems to take great exception to your blog. Every president attempts to change the landscape of America! That's what they campaign on. One could argue that the amount of deficit spending alone under this administration has changed that landscape, and certainly, his legacy is going to be PPACA, for better or worse. And that will have changed the landscape. We are almost certainly headed towards a single payor health care system (even if Obama had not made statements indicating this was his direction, it makes sense that employers will gravitate towards the tax rather than maintaining costly benefit programs). Whether you like that idea or not, it certainly changes the landscape of America. It seems to me that only those with blind faith in Obama are the ones who find any kind of discussion about his (lack of) performance "boring." Nighfala (Christine) -- Your reply provides some insight as who is reading and who is paying attention to responses. Thank you for returning. ...content is a huge thing. People don't have time to figure out obscure clues. They are clicking through quickly,... and need relevant, easy to digest, appealing content. Keep it short, interesting and to the point. This is part of what I've been touching upon over my last few weeks of posts and what my future post based on today's findings will be about. It's interesting to see who is commenting on today's post and how they are responding. Great feedback, Christine. Thank you! Alana -- Had a great time and will be posting about it soon. You're starting to remind me JJ Abrams but not in a good way. Not that I don't enjoy a good puzzle. I'm pretty sure I'm not a leaf. I'm more like wind chimes, I think. Pat -- Thank you for reading and recognizing some of what was going on in this post. I compiled this list on my own. I started with one item that I found very interesting and then as I began researching starting finding some connections (maybe). The list is the result of free association on my behalf to some extent and to links I found connected with certain people. It was a typical Google meandering. It's all about another Obama conspiracy theory. It's a conspiracy of which Obama plays a part but he's just another puppet in the grand circus of history. My search did not start with Obama but strangely that's somehow where I was led. This whole thing is getting very boring. I agree with that statement but probably in a different way than it was intended. Then again maybe boring is not a good description for the way I see it. Keep in mind that I was playing with my blog last Monday night when I put this post together. My inspiration came from a discussion I had engaged in with a group of people earlier that evening. My posting this as I stated earlier is a blogging experiment which I will discuss in an upcoming post. In a way it was a test for my readers. You get a good grade for your comment. I have no idea what your blog post is about but then again I'm horrible at riddles. If that was indeed a riddle. I've never used a list on my blog that I know of...I am unsure how that would increase blog traffic though. Larry -- You also deserve a good grade for your test response. Maybe you and Pat don't agree, but there is engagement and I don't find that boring in the least. Every president attempts to change the landscape of America! So true and I don't even know if I'm as concerned as what this administration does as I am the next. This country may be heading in a direction that our idealism did not anticipate. This is not just a problem with the Obama fans, but a number of others as well. There are many for whom free speech is only for certain speakers. If there is a problem we should be willing to discuss it and come up with solutions amenable to all parties. Impossible? Maybe, but it doesn't hurt to try. This is still kind of a democracy I guess--maybe. Cruising through quickly today. If your experiment is to see whether an obscure topic and list will generate interest beyond your usual suspects, well then, I think you've got an answer. Andrew -- I don't recall why I got turned off by Abrams. I think it was because of some TV show that he was involved with that really began to annoy me. I'd probably have to search it out on the internet and that might result in another puzzle post. Be careful. Sometimes wind chimes can be pretty annoying. JoJo-- My post here is not so much a riddle as it is a research project and then a discussion. Lists increase blog traffic if done the proper way. I have no delusions that my list will increase traffic in any way. No one knows that there is a list here before coming here and when they get here they don't particularly like my list or want to think about it. This post is mostly a comment-killer as well as my own little plaything in the interest of blog science research. I have a few reasons that Abrams paired with TV annoy me, but one of them is his tendency to make it so that you can't just enjoy watching the TV show. If you want to know what's going on, you have to also be involved with the show online so you can gather clues and crap. He did the same thing with Cloverfield. On the one hand, it's a neat idea, but, really, I have kids, and that kind of time demand isn't really considerate. And that's exactly what I meant about the wind chimes. Jagoda -- So far I'm not seeing as many of my normal commenters, but I am getting some comments from people I haven't seen here in a long time or have never seen here. You're undoubtedly quite familiar with research studies. Mine is very unscientific, but goes along with my traffic posts over the past few weeks. Not sure what to make of the data yet, but my expectations have been met as far as what readers are willing to invest in a post with many links and subject matter that requires research and deeper thought. Probably didn't have to test this, but bloggers are entitled to some play time now and then aren't they? Andrew -- Okay, I looked up Abrams. Revolution. I keep watching the show even though it drives me nuts. I thought Cloverfield was kind of cool in a way. But I know what you're saying about the amount of investment we are willing to make in something like a TV show. My investment in personal research is one thing, but to enjoy a TV show or movie I just want to have it all in one place and not drawn out. If Revolution had just been made into a movie it would have been much better. I do like the story concept. I assume all those people on the list tried to make huge changes? Disconnected's comment both made me chuckle and made me nod my head, especially the part about employers opting to pay the tax rather than provide insurance. And since Obamacare might end up affecting our household (insurance would go from $2200 a year to $8000 - my husband already checked options) it's a sore spot for me right now. Alas, I only have a glint as to the full meaning of your post so I shall keep my mouth shut. I would however, as a Canadian, like to wish the American people a health care system that leaves no one out or anyone bankrupt. I only bring this up because someone else mentioned health care. I can walk into any hospital for any ailment and not be refused help AND after I recieve that help, I don't have to pay anyone anything. I had an operation in February of this year. I showed up. They did the operation. I went home, and I didn't have to take out a second mortgage to do it. Doctors take an oath to "do no harm" and that means not having the right to choose wealthy patients over poor ones. I wish all Americans the kind of health care we have here in Canada. Everyone being treated equal no matter what your ailment. I'm not saying our system is perfect, because it isn't, but as far as being a system that treats every single Canadian the same, I wouldn't trade it. There's a reason we pay taxes and I'm quite happy to pay my share if it means no one is left behind - we pay taxes for a lot less noble reasons! Sorry Lee, bet you didn't think your experiment would end up here! LOL. I have no idea what your post was about. I am so distrustful of all media I'm starting to think I might be paranoid. L.Diane -- Sorry for your family's insurance issues. Hopefully my wife's will stay in place and I hope they don't kick me off of it. Wendy-- Yes, health care was not on my mind so much when I started my post though I guess I did tap into that controversy with the reference to Canadian company CGI. Susan GK-- Maybe we all need some healthy distrust of media and government if not downright paranoia. I'm really curious as to what connects everybody on here Lee, it's getting colder over here as well, today I noticed it was 4 degrees which a quick Fahrenheit conversion tells me would be about 40 so as you can see it's getting unpleasant here as well, I guess we just have to soldier it though! I don't know if I've ever done a list...not intentionally, if I have! I have a co-worker who could probably get to the bottom of the list in about two minutes- or would like to think she could. I hear about Valerie Jarrett more than I care to. However, to my mind, Obama's a big enough idiot that thank God SOMEONE's running the country for him! Frankly, I've been more fascinated by the negative comments and their reasoning. In that sense, I'd say at least part of your experiment is a success. I do love to research some things, but this one isn't a bunny trail that I smell a carrot for Chris at the end of. I do have to say one thing- I didn't get "offhand attitude" or how you doing the research to pull together a list and then having people look the elements up for themselves is you being lazy. Maybe you should have used more pictures of Homer Simpson to illustrate your point. I wanted to respond to Wendy Ryan with a question-did you hear people call your health care plan "communist" or "socialist?" All insurance is, by nature, a socialist industry. Even though premiums are underwritten differently for people with different levels of risk, the losses on any one insured life are usually far in excess of the premiums collected. So the insurance company looks to make a profit on all policies in aggregate. I am by no means an expert in Canadian lifestyle, but I used to spend a fair amount of time in Toronto in the 80's and 90's while working for a large insurer, and I remember two things. (2) There were stories in the news every time I visited about people leaving the province to seek care in the US because it could be had quicker. Again, presumably wealthier people who would afford to pay cash. Many Canadian celebrities in the US also rave about the Canadian plan-although I notice they do not avail themselves of it. The US plan is far from perfect, but it does allow for a lot of innovation and quick access (albiet if you have money or insurance), although at a higher cost than most of the rest of the world. I am against the idea of a US national plan because authority for it is not granted by our Constitution. If I set that aside, I see two barriers. (1) How do you pay for it? Although the Obama plan was sold as a "pay for yourself" idea, premium costs have increased annually as different provisions are implemented. This should come as no surprise, as you do not get something for nothing-cover more people, incur more costs. Seems simple. Sadly, most Americans are not as willing to incur the extra out-of-pocket charge as Ms. Ryan. They really thought they were getting something for nothing. (2) What will it do to impede access to care? In a country where you can get anything you want at three in thye morning, I do not think that Americans are ready for the wait times that will accompany this increase in covered oatients. As we saw when HMO's were implemented, if you let people go to the doctor for free, they will (oddly enough) go to the doctor more often. So while the Canadian system (and most European systems) treat everyone the same, they treat them the same at a much slower pace than in the US. All that said, I would agree with Ms. Ryan that if forced t make a choice, I would rather be taxed for health care for all than many of the other less humane reasons we are currently taxed for. Yeamie -- It's very rare for us to make it down to 40 here in Southern California. Here it's cold if it's in the 50's. Stephanie -- If you ever decide to do a list on your blog, I have given you an example of how not to do it. CW-- Thank you! You said what I was thinking there at the end. And I really wasn't trying to be offhand--just true to my style. I'd never heard of Valerie Jarrett until I started hopping down this bunny trail. I wasn't even looking for anything about Obama. My search just took me to Obama's doorstep. Larry -- I'm glad you said this because you know more about it than I do and said it better. I have heard many of the things you mention here. Thanks for jumping in with excellent information. I am late to the party. I made it halfway through the list before I decided that cover-ups had to figure in there somewhere. I agree with LC's comments regarding any President "desiring to change the American landscape" and the ACA being a disaster. I just finished watching a new show on NBC called The Blacklist. I was still uncertain about whether or not I liked it when this scene happened at the beginning of Reddington (James Spader) and Liz (Megan Boone) sitting in front of The White House. Reddington says something like, "People still believe that they vote the person who runs the country into office. Little do they know that multi-national corporations and criminals have been doing that job for years. It doesn't make ANY DIFFERENCE who is elected." Robin -- You're never too late to my parties. Um, I'm not sure that cover-ups are the right word. Actually, like the quotes from the TV show suggest, what's happening is right in front of us but many choose not to listen and make up their own story or are just too preoccupied with other things to notice what will eventually affect their lives in a big negative way. I often hear things like "what can I do?" or "Well, I don't want to worry (think) about it?" I'll have to check out that show. Sounds interesting. List posts are the bread and butter of Geek Twins. They're our most popular posts, by a wide margin. I've even taken some straightforward posts originally written as essays and turned them into list posts, and seen their numbers go up. I think it's the psychological effect of seeing something organized and also saying, "You only have to look at X number of points" even if each one if two or three paragraphs long. I took one look at that list and I give up. I don't see the connection. Nigel -- My guess is that you have something in your blog post title that indicates there is a list of some sort in the post and the list has a wide range of interest or high curiosity factor. What I've done says nothing about a list that would attract those who like lists. To get the connections you would have to study each entry a bit and there are some you might not even see the connection between them unless you were thinking in terms of conspiracy. The links at the bottom of the post offer some clues. Wow, Lee I would never have guessed or gone to the time and trouble to follow the links so I'm glad to have the riddle sorted, and well done on those who did. Thank you ..this was interesting. Susan -- I don't think the lists bloggers present usually have links since following links is a hassle for most visitors as we have seen in these comments. Maybe some links if there is some benefit to have them, but a complete list of links bugs a lot of visitors. Actually the real riddle--if you want to call it that--was not absolutely solved. Discconnected - I didn't take any exception at all to Lee's blog. Nor do I think he was trying to insinuate anything at all. I was just trying to figure out the puzzle he presented. I do however, take exception to what you are saying. You have no idea what my opinions are on anything at all. When I said it was boring, I was referring to all the conspiracies. I would love to argue with you, but based on what you've said in comments here, I'm pretty sure I'd be eating your lunch on every subject you would care to discuss. One statement you makes that fact perfectly clear. You said that "All insurance is, by nature, a socialist industry." That might be the most absurd statement I've ever heard. If there is ANYTHING that insurance isn't, it's a "socialist industry." Did you forget that both before and during Obamacare, that the insurance is provided by PRIVATE for-profit health insurance companies? And these insurance companies will continue to compete against each other in the insurance market place. Based on that fact alone, Obamacare is CLEARLY a capitalistic free-market program. Quit listening and start thinking for yourself. Um ... honestly, I have no idea what connects all these names! But I see in the comments that some people are mentioning an Obama conspiracy ... Can I blame my not knowing what you're talking about on the fact that I'm not American and not living in America?! I agree with Rachel, I'm in Canada after all. Some of those names I know and I don't have the time, or maybe the inclination, to research every name I don't know. But you certainly got lots of responses Lee so this worked on some level. Julie -- You're incorrect, but I love your introduction of Bob Dylan into the interpretation. I should have saved that line as a clue for a BOTB Bob Dylan song. And in some ways I suppose this could relate to Bob Dylan--or I could have added his name to the list. Pat-- Actually, I've met Larry in person and have corresponded with him on blogs for years and he's a very nice guy. You'd probably like him if we were in a face to face. The interchange between the two of you shows the difficulty in having a debate discussion format where nuances and Q & A exchanges can't come with immediacy. I see what Larry is saying about the insurance and he oughta know something since he works in insurance in a pretty big way. As is often the case I think the two of you may be talking about different things and clarification comes slow in an online exchange. Larry is a very analytical guy and is reliable, as you are very perceptive and intelligent and can draw good conclusions based on the facts at your disposal. Thanks for listening in to the ongoing discussion and returning to express your reactions. Rachel -- It doesn't matter where you live the list in my eye has worldwide implications. The comment section basically took on a life of its own based on the preponderance of leanings hinted at by the names I included here. DiscConnected: I’ll start at the beginning and go paragraph by paragraph. Yes, the word “communist” was used. Canada does not operate on an “insurance company” model. Every Canadian is insured through a combination effort of the Federal Government and Provincial or Territorial Governments. No, you aren’t. Most mid size to larger companies in Canada provide their employees with some ancillary medical services to cover those that their individual Province does not. Most of these ancillary services cover things like, dental and eye care. You would have to show me written/video proof of Canadians leaving Canada to seek U.S. medical treatment. That would be ludicrous and no one could afford it. In Canada we have the right to go “out of Province” as it is called, to seek treatment faster elsewhere in our country – while most of this won’t cost us anything extra, some provinces are set up with private clinics where you can pay to get some things done quicker; ie: MRI etc. People travel to other Provinces all the time for specialized treatment and we still don’t pay extra. I don’t know any Canadian celebrities personally, nor do I believe what rag mags say, so I cannot comment on, nor do I care where those who now live in the States, chose to get their medical care – either way, they can afford it. Your Constitution was written so long ago that you might want to consider it needs an update. (no disrespect implied). Dentists no longer pull out your teeth with pliers if you know what I mean. How do you pay for anything in your Country?? If the United States gave just a fraction of the money it spends on starting wars and participating in them for years, to health care – you would be amazed at what could be accomplished. We are all going to pay taxes anyway, why not pay them to serve life instead of death? “Sadly, most Americans are not as willing to incur the extra out-of-pocket charge as Ms. Ryan.” I have not incurred any out of pocket expenses – I don’t know what this means and I don’t think you do either. I will reiterate. Everyone, including you, pay taxes. It’s a choice what our individual governments spend them on and no one in Canada is stupid enough to believe that they are getting something for nothing. Both our countries are run on the backs of the taxpayers. I’m quite sure you haven’t been in a Canadian hospital at three in the morning and I am offended that you are likening the experience of a Canadian citizen who is suffering to that of an American stopping at their all night McDonald’s drive-thru. The only time I have gone to a hospital at three in the morning is when my two year old child had the flu and fever of 103 that I could not get to come down no matter what I did. When I got to emergency, the doctor said: why did you wait so long? And gave my son the care he needed. I waited because I did not want to take service away from those who may not need it more. I waited until I was certain there was nothing else I could do on my own. Our hospital emergency rooms practice triage, so a hang-nail is not going to get looked at over a child with a fever of 103. Just for the record – I feel quite confident that most Canadians aren’t going to bother going to emergency for a hangnail. It’s insulting that you think we have nothing better to do than flock to hospitals because they’re not asking us for money. It is clear you really don’t know much about my Country. Just as a side note, because I have seen this misconception before: universal health care does not mean the government tells us where to seek medical attention. We are all able to choose any doctor we please. TO LEE: So, so, sorry to have used your forum in this manner. My apologies but I felt I had to set the record straight. Now if you’ll excuse me, they’re serving pumpkin pie and coffee down at emerg! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Wendy -- I have no problem with any commenters using my blog as a forum for discussion and so far, so good. I have not heard this used by any of our politicians. Maybe a few wacky callers to talk shows. I'd need specific evidence to know that this wasn't misheard or misunderstood. You would have to show me written/video proof of Canadians leaving Canada to seek U.S. medical treatment. I have heard numerous accounts of this for many years--even before Obamacare came into the public eye. I can't cite the sources since I wasn't paying that much attention, but I was listening closely enough to know that the gist of the argument against socialized medicine was long waiting periods for certain procedures. Just Sunday I caught a snippet of a report on a John Stossel show (yeah Fox News I know but probably just as reliable as anything else)about this same subject. It's something that's been reported for years not just about Canada but many other countries. But by the same token I've heard plenty of reports of U.S. citizens who go to Mexico, Thailand, India, and other places for medical work that is too expensive in our country. I guess there are stories to support every side to some extent. If the United States gave just a fraction of the money it spends on starting wars and participating in them for years, to health care – you would be amazed at what could be accomplished. Agreed to a certain extent on that and not just warfare. Our government wastes money on a lot of things and probably mostly on government itself. Governments--not just the U.S.--mismanage money to an extreme because they can do it I guess. I'll leave the rest of the rebuttal or agreement to your points to others since I don't want to get my influence overly involved here. I'm fascinated by the direction the discussion has taken. I would love to argue with you, but based on what you've said in comments here, I'm pretty sure I'd be eating your lunch on every subject you would care to discuss. Interesting, as your conclusion on insurance is incorrect. I've been in the insurance industry, as a financial executive and a consultant, for more than 29 years, so I think that gives me some degree of qualification to opine. Let me explain. Think of your car insurance. If any one person has a serious accident, there is no way for an insurance company to charge enough premium to recover that. If they paid our your policy maximum of (presumably) $150-$300K for an event, they may raise your rates but not enough to cover that. Instead, they count on the fact that they will have enough insureds without accidents to cover that loss. This is known as socializing the losses. That does not mean that insurance companies do not seek profits. Stock insurance companies certainly do, and I would even argue that a mutual insurer that runs at a loss will not remain in existence for very long. But the nature of the business is to socialize the risk that is being insured. I do not see where it is fair that we run a name-calling contest on Lee's comment section. While I wanted to set the record straight on my comments about insurance being a socialized industry, it is obvious that our ideologies stem from very different places. If you want to continue a debate further on one of my blogs, I'd be happy to do so. My husband watches the following US shows with regularity: The Rachael Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Harball, The Ed Show and more, because what happens in the US has a bearing on our country as well. I don’t remember which show it was but I do know that it was a clip they showed of a republican politician doing a good job of fear-mongering. Believe me, I know this isn’t the position of most Americans and it certainly wasn’t the opinion of the people associated with the show that showed the clip. Yes, you are right. I know that Canadians have sought treatment in other countries, including the United States, and I do know that a lot (not all) of those treatments are sometimes for special treatments not offered in Canada, including, but not limited to, controversial ones that have not been passed as safe treatments in our country but are sought as a last resort. Any Canadian seeking treatment in the US would have to have a lot more money than I do! I do have to say that while wait times may be longer (probably in some Provinces more so than others), I would gladly take this over a large part of our population being left to find their own health care. And yes, there will always be those with money who want it now but a privatized system doesn’t help the poor, I think we know that. Some things may be worth investigating further and sometimes maybe just go ahead a ask a Canadian. I know that politicians, regardless of where they come from, sometimes will say anything to get the voters to see things their way. They all do it. Love your comment on government spending. Yes, I think this can be said for a lot of governments. Let’s take away the private jets and so forth and put the money where it really matters. I think it is safe to say that no country’s government or health care system is perfect, I’m just saying that I wouldn’t trade mine for any other country’s right now. You are a scholar and a gentleman, Lee, and I thank you for providing a place where people can say what they want. I do, however, strongly regret breaking my one golden rule – Never talk about religion or politics! I don’t begrudge anyone an opinion, but I hate when someone hasn’t done their homework. I just have to learn to bite my tongue!! I'm about to hit the sack after my latest 8 PM to 6 AM "Graveyard" shift, and that work schedule is why I'm so late in putting my 8.5 cents in here (read: "inflation"). "I served with DiscConnected. I know DiscConnected. DiscConnected is a friend of mine. Commenters, you are NO DiscConnected." In 1986, I began working at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where we made big bucks, had incredible health care insurance, and basically our life was a breeze because our job was partially state-funded. But what Bill "Havin' Muh Lunch!" McD. was even more famous for was the fact that he was CONSTANTLY telling anyone who would listen to him that the day he finally retired from UCLA, he was moving back to Canada where the fish were jumpin' and the livin' was easy. So after some years, that time finally came and Bill "Havin' Muh Lunch!" McD. retired from his great job at UCLA and quickly moved to Canada. We all figured we'd seen Bill "Havin' Muh Lunch!" McD. for the last time. But about 6 to 12 months later, Bill "Havin' Muh Lunch!" McD. was back working at UCLA. Naturally, the first question on everyone's lips was: "Bill, why the hell did you come back HERE?!" "F**k Canada! I couldn't possibly live there in the style I was accustomed to! The taxes there are so f**kin' high that I would need TWO UCLA jobs to live like I was living here with just one UCLA job!" To put it in a nutshell, he was not only disillusioned, but pissed about what had happened to his dear Canada while he was gone. I can't say how much different Canada is now from how it was when Bill "Havin' Muh Lunch!" McD. returned from there circa 1990, but my guess is that (like here in the "good ol' USA") things haven't gotten better. "I'm pretty sure I'd be eating your lunch on every subject you would care to discuss." I've done a couple of themed book lists. I don't think list posts bring anymore traffic to my blog. It does seem to work for some, but I think it depends on what kind of list posts they do and how well established their blog traffic already is. I recognize some of the names on your list, but not all of them. Larry (& Pat)-- I don't know if you recall the movie Firestarter but sometimes the little girl had to pull back her power to keep the fires under control. I see can see that in a debate. I think you all have been doing a decent job of keeping things mostly civil in your interchange so you are perfectly welcome to continue on my site as long as we don't start a wild fire. I do understand what you are saying about the insurance. It's the way I've always seen it and it makes logical sense to me. Wendy -- Source means a lot when coming to conclusions. Those TV sources you cite are polar opposites from the shows on Fox and considered rather far left wing radical by many. I wouldn't draw any conclusions from those sources or trust what they say. They can edit quotes to make people sound like they said something completely different from what they really said. Fox I think is a little better but they too complete with some nutty ideas and I've caught them in manipulation via editing as well. Best thing is DON'T TRUST THE MEDIA completely as they are in pocket with the government. We need to read between the lines and draw conclusions from a combination of sources. Governments and corporations manipulate the people so as to make us dependent upon them. What we are seeing is not often what we are getting. No wonder there are so many conspiracy theories out here. I don't think it's always an issue of people having done their homework as much as what class they are taking, who's teaching, and what textbook they are using. Source is so important. I think it's good to discuss (civilly) religion, politics, and other controversial issues. The reason why things become controversy is that sides don't agree and that's often because there is a lack of understanding. I too kind of avoid those topics and yet I invite the discussion because the issues have a greater bearing upon the lives of us and generations to come if we don't set errors right. StMc-- I liked that story you told and I think it's the first hand stories from people we know or talk to directly that mean more than what we hear on TV. I agree that Larry has some knowledge to back up what he says. Susanne -- I think the key point with lists is how relevant they are to bettering or entertaining the reader and if the notification of the list reaches the target audience. A list is initially only effective if the title states that there is a list in the post and the list sounds worth investigating. In other words "Ten ways to become wealthy" will probably draw more interest than "My ten favorite books" because the first is about the reader and the second is about the blogger. Who cares about the blogger if they don't know that person? But if they can find out how to become rich then number one comes first. Right? A couple thoughts on your comments. We’re talking twenty years ago, and I saw it on Toronto televised news, but I did a Google search with the text “canadian citizens seeking care in us” and found quite a few links that refer to it happening. I really have no idea how widespread it is, and I think I mentioned it was probably wealthier patients, not the average Canadian citizen. Your Constitution was written so long ago that you might want to consider it needs an update. (no disrespect implied). No offense taken! The US Constitution was written the way it was so that it would last a long time without needing to be rewritten-there are acceptable ways to amend it, which has been done 27 times. From what I know of Canada (by no means do I claim to be an expert), your government was modeled after the UK. The US was started by people who did not want a strong federal government, so they wrote a Constitution that clearly defined the powers of the federal government and reserved any other power to the states or to the people. There is a way to amend the Constitution, but it is a lot of work, and our leadership tends to cheat. PPACA (our health care law) was, in my opinion, pushed through by cheating. The administration claimed it was interstate commerce, however, insurance companies are licensed state by state. I feel the states are better poised to decide for themselves what health care laws they need, and so did our founding fathers. But you are certainly welcome to your own opinion on the matter. You’re preaching to the choir, my friend! That was not meant as an insult-hope you did not take offense. I meant most Americans would object to the additional tax burden you referred to being agreeable to paying. That quote actually is a communist concept, and quite frankly I’d challenge anyone to show me when it history it has ever worked. The wealthy have a way of holding onto their wealth (could it be because, at least in America, the wealthy put the politicians in office?). In my reply to his comment, I referred to Pat Tillett as Pat Tillman...working in Tempe AZ, the former ASU football player is a pop culture icon, hence the typo. DiscConnected: I appreciate your reply. I agree with your assessment of the word “communist” in this instance, but it wasn’t me who said it. And yes, like I mentioned to Lee already, I heard it with my own ears. Now, don’t worry, I wasn’t offended by it, even though it does tend to get one’s hackles up. I realized that it was the ramblings of an extreme conservative afraid to let his own constituents think for themselves. Yes, the wealthy will always find a way to get what they need (going to other countries) and wealthy Canadians are no exception. That’s why I have to extol my country’s system. The poor would be far worse off. I can’t imagine what it is like to not have enough money to pay for medical care or insurance for your family. Yes, you are correct, our government was modeled after the UK’s – we are still part of the monarchy so to speak. And yes, there is a balance between strong-arm government and a people-driven government. I do understand what your Constitution has tried to do throughout the years. And yes, I know it has been amended more than once and I hope it will continue to be amended to meet the changing needs of the American people. While I said before that my government is not perfect, I do feel we try to walk that balance beam pretty well. I feel our government is pretty darn good compared to a lot of others around the globe. Americans and Canadians have freedoms that other countries could only dream of. In that way we are much alike, my friend. I don’t see our paying for our healthcare through our taxes as an “additional cost”. It’s no different than infrastructure for roadways, or sewer and water. It just is. From what I understand, Obamacare is looking for a way to make it easier for Americans to buy insurance with the possibility of some sort of government programs for the extreme poor who cannot afford insurance at all. In Canada, any legal resident is automatically enrolled in a Provincial or Territorial health plan – we do not have to seek out medical insurers. The only additional health type insurance coverage we need, is in instance of eye exams and dental work. It is my understanding that under Obamacare there will not be a single entity that pays all costs. The care you receive will still depend on the type of insurance coverage you can afford to buy and this insurance coverage will vary by State. Your wait times will be based on the kind of coverage (comprehensive or not) you buy. You still have wait times, just like us, except our wait times are based on who needs the care most, regardless of how much money you earn. It’s really kind of funny, because when I made my first initial comment, I was very, very genuine in my wish that the American government find a fair way to bring health care to its citizens. Your government is right to look at Canada and some of the European countries as a guide – look at what works and what doesn’t and then do what is right for your own. I don’t think you are there yet. I don’t think Obamacare is the complete answer. Politicians on both sides of the fence need to stop posturing. It’s not about any one political party, it’s about the American people. My initial wish was for every American to be able to get the health care they need regardless of how much they earn and I still wish that. I would not have wanted to raise two children under any other system than the one here in Canada. It is a blessing. Thank you for the debate and I hold nothing you said against you. Let’s just be grateful that you and I live in countries that let us have these kinds of debates. See what did I tell you? The comments were far more fascinating than the list. And I'm not going to jump into it other than to say that those who wish to joust with DC and STMcC had better be better prepared than an MSNBC education will permit. Wendy and Larry-- Very good exchange. I'll just stay out of this and see where it goes. CW -- I had to laugh at your comment. The turn in comments was not at all what I expected and was indeed fascinating. Actually I'm not sure what I was expecting from my post other than most people would not be interested and avoid it. I think that happened for the most part, but the ones who did come to comment left some good ones. I always enjoy a discussion-sharing ideas is how we learn, whether it be new information or new insight. Interestingly-one of the links when I did my search on Canadians receiving care in the US was to a Denver post article written by a Canadian (immigrant? expatriate?) debunking many of the myths Americans hold about the Canadian system. I have not read it yet, but two of her points address Canadians receiving care in the US and the relative tax burdens in each country (when you add up all of the "hidden" taxes Americans pay, we may not have a lighter burden at all, but you certainly get more for your money). Anyway, no offense at all, and it was great to "meet" you! Larry -- I'm always glad to relinquish my blog to intelligent discussion. I learn things that I forget later. I'm sorry, Lee, but I could not resist one last thought, a nod to Mr. McCarthy (who I thank for the support, and who worked with me at one insurer). Stephen-there seems to be a common thread between the debate on health care and the middle meal of the day. You yourself mention going to sleep when you might normally be having lunch! Maybe the problem is not in Washington after all-maybe all America needs is some lunch! >>... Maybe the problem is not in Washington after all - maybe all America needs is some lunch! Yes, but let us not forget that there is no such thing as a "free" one. Lee & Larry - You boys only came by to goad me into fighting with my 'stupid phone', didn't ya? Most folks have no idea as to what they're in for with Obamacare. Most likely the BEST part of it will be the rumored 'death panels'. Ha,ha,ha! See I'm laughing so all you Canuks and torch and pitchfork carting folks can just settle down, cause even this totally inappropriate and un-pc comment was a monumental effort.

2019-04-19T02:52:33Z

http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-is-iron-man-connection.html

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2019-04-23T03:59:43Z

http://urboparking.com/en/legal/

A method for manipulating a three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth for making one or more tooth positioning appliances involves: forming at least one three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth; acquiring an initial digital data set representing at least part of the three-dimensional model; manipulating a digital model derived from the initial digital data set to move at least one tooth from an initial position to a first intermediate position; forming a first guide from the digital model with the at least one tooth in the first intermediate position; separating the at least one tooth from the three-dimensional model; placing the at least one tooth in the first guide in the first intermediate position; and securing the at least one tooth to the three-dimensional model in the first intermediate position. Guide apparatus and systems are also provided. 本发明大体涉及畸齿矫正和牙科用设备以及用于制造它们的系统和方法。 The present invention generally relates to dental and orthodontic systems and methods for producing them and for equipment. 更具体地，本发明涉及用于制造牙齿定位矫正器的引导装置、 系统和方法。 More particularly, the present invention relates to a guiding device for positioning dental aligners manufacturing systems and methods. 畸齿矫正治疗包括为了美观和改进牙齿功能而再定位未对齐的牙齿以及改善咬合结构。 Orthodontic treatment comprises teeth for aesthetic and functional improvements and repositioning misaligned teeth and improving bite structure. 通过长期向牙齿施加受控制的力来完成再定位牙齿。 By applying a controlled force to the long teeth to complete the repositioning teeth. 传统上，通过佩戴通常被称为"牙套"的装置来完成再定位。 Conventionally, the device is worn commonly called "braces" to complete relocation. 绞合的线或弹性0环来增强弓丝到托架的附着。 Twisted wire or an elastic 0 ring to enhance the adhesion of the archwire to the bracket. 在畸齿矫正术的领域中，弓丝到托架的附着被已知为"结扎"，并且在该手术中使用的线被称为"结扎丝"。 In the field of orthodontics, the archwire is attached to the carriage known as "ligation" and wires used in this procedure is called "ligature." 弹性O环被称为"结扎环（tie)"。 An elastic O ring is referred to as "ligating rings (TIE)." 在弓丝就位之后，需要定期地看正牙医生，期间调整病人的牙套。 After the arch wire in place, we need to see the orthodontist periodically adjust the patient's braces period. 该调整包括安装和弯曲具有不同的力引发（force-inducing)特性的不同弓丝并且替换或拉紧现有的弓丝。 The installation and adjustment comprising a curved different initiators having different archwire force (force-inducing) properties and replacing or tightening existing archwire. 在牙齿正畸预约（appointment)期间，病人可能需要佩戴辅助矫正器，例如弹力带或头箍（headgear)， 以提供额外的或口外的力。 During orthodontic reservation (Appointment), patients may need to wear the orthosis auxiliary, e.g. elastic band or headband (Headgear), to provide additional force or estuary. 虽然传统的牙套是有效的，但是它们经常是需要去正牙医生的办公室多次的冗长且耗时的手术。 While traditional braces are effective, but they often need to go to the orthodontist's office several times tedious and time-consuming operation. 此外，从病人的角度来看，它们难看而且不舒服。 Moreover, from the patient's point of view, they are ugly and uncomfortable. 此外，连续网络连接托架的弓丝和结扎丝使得在牙齿之间刷洗、牙线清洁以及其他口腔卫生程序变得复杂困难，可能导致牙龈炎、釉质脱钙和/或腐坏的恶化。 In addition, continuous network connecting bracket archwire and the ligature wire so that between the teeth brushing, flossing, and other oral hygiene procedures difficult complicated, may result in gingivitis, enamel decalcification, and / or deterioration of spoilage. 因此，需要替换的牙齿正畸治疗。 Therefore, the need to replace the orthodontic treatment. 特别地，期望使用病人在日常卫生程序中、在参与体育运动时或为了美观可以移除的矫正器。 In particular, it is desirable to use a patient in daily health program, when participating in sports or for aesthetic correction may be removed. 利都通过参考包括在这里并在下面被称为"包括的参考文献"。 Lee are incorporated herein by reference and referred to as "reference included" below. 7处理该实体模型，以及在所包括的参考文献中示出的很多其他变体。 7 process the solid model, and included in the references shown in many other variations. 在一些技术中，使用诸如立体光刻（stereoHthography)的快速成型法来创建阳模。 In some techniques, such as using a male mold to create stereolithography (stereoHthography) rapid prototyping method. 然后，通过在模上热成型或以另外方式成型塑料并分离和修整塑料以制造矫正器。 Then, the upper mold thermoformed or otherwise shaped plastic material and separating plastic and trimmed to manufacture aligner. 虽然，这样的制造方法很好地工作，并且经常对于制造牙齿移动矫正器是最佳的，但仍在不断寻找效率更高、 更便宜、需要更少材料或人工投入等的替换制造方法。 Although this production method works well, and often for the manufacture of mobile dental braces are the best, but continues to look for more efficient, less expensive, require less material or artificial inputs such as replacement methods. 的新位置处。 At the new location. 这些处理需要大量的技能和经验，这可以导致对于病人的非最优的结果，并且还使得矫正器的批量生产即使不是不可能的那也是相当困难的。 The process requires a lot of skill and experience, which can lead to non-optimal results for the patient and also enables mass production of braces if not impossible, that is quite difficult. 因此，需要开发用于处理物理牙齿模型和用于制造牙齿移动矫正器的替换方法、系统和设备。 Thus, a need to develop a process for replacing physical dental model and a method for manufacturing a tooth movement aligners, systems and equipment. 这些方法、系统和设备将理想地提供模型处理和由此在矫正器生产中的精确性。 These methods, systems and apparatus will be desirable to provide an accuracy in the correction process and the production of the model thereby. 这些方法、系统和设备还将理想地以比当前可用的更精确方法更低的成本提供矫正器制造。 These methods, systems and apparatus will be lower than over the more accurate method currently available manufacturing cost of providing the brace. 例如， 这些方法、系统和设备可以需要更少的材料或人力投入。 For example, these methods, systems and apparatus may require less material or manpower. 本发明将满足这些目标的至少一些。 The present invention satisfies at least some of these objectives. 在本发明的一个方面，用于处理病人牙齿的三维模型以制造一个或多个牙齿定位矫正器的方法包括：形成病人牙齿的至少一个三维模型；获得表示该三维模型的至少一部分的初始数字数据集；处理从该初始数字数据集得到的数字模型，以将至少一颗牙齿从初始位置移动到第一中间位置；从具有处于第一中间位置的该至少一颗牙齿的数字模型形成第一引导件；将该至少一颗牙齿从该三维模型分离；将该至少一颗牙齿放置在第一引导件中第一中间位置中；以及将该至少一颗牙齿固定到三维模型中第一中间位置中。 In one aspect of the present invention, for processing three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth in one or more positioning method for producing dental aligner comprises: at least one three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth is formed; at least a portion of the initial number of the obtained three-dimensional model data represents set; processing the digital model obtained from the original digital data sets to the at least one tooth from an initial position to a first intermediate position; formed from the digital model with the at least one tooth in a first intermediate position of the first guide member; at least one tooth is separated from the three-dimensional model; at least one tooth disposed in the first guide member in a first intermediate position; and the at least one tooth fixed to the three-dimensional model in a first intermediate position, . 在多个实施例中，病人牙齿的三维模型可以包括病人的上牙和下压的模型、咬合记录模型或它们的一些组合。 In various embodiments, the three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth may include a model of the teeth and the patient's depression, the bite registration model, or some combination thereof. 在一些实施例中，形成三维模型包括：取得病人的上牙、下牙或两者的至少一个印模；将材料淀积到印模中；允许材料硬化以形成三维模型；以及从印模中移除该三维模型。 In some embodiments, a three-dimensional model comprises: obtaining the patient's upper teeth, lower teeth of at least one stamp or both; the deposition material into the impression; allowing the material to harden to form a three-dimensional model; and the impression from remove the three-dimensional model. 例如，淀积材料可以包括将石膏、石（stone)、塑料或聚合材料淀积到印模中。 For example, deposition material may include plaster, stone (Stone), a plastic or polymeric material is deposited into the impression. 在一些实施例中，获得初始数字数据集包括：扫描三维模型、病人的牙齿和/或病人牙齿的印模，以产生一个或多个数字扫描。 In some embodiments, to obtain an initial digital data set comprising: scanning a three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth and / or the impression of a patient's teeth, to produce one or more digital scanning. 替换地， 可以通过接收来自第三方源的一个或多个数字扫描。 Alternatively, one or more digital scan by receiving from a third party source. 在任何情况下， 可以使用扫描器来获得数字扫描（多个数字扫描），该扫描器例如但是不局限于计算机X线断层摄影、磁共振成像、X射线、激光、结构光、光谱光（spectral light)或破坏性的扫描器。 In any case, the scanner may be used to obtain a digital scan (s digital scanning), such as, but not limited to the scanner X-ray computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray, laser, light structure, the spectrum of light (Spectral light) or a destructive scanner. 9牙齿以便利牙齿的再定位。 9 tooth repositioning in order to facilitate the teeth. 型机器的例子包括例如立体光刻、层压对象制造（laminated object manufacturing )和熔融沉积建模机器。 Examples include, for example, machine type stereolithography, for producing laminated objects (laminated object manufacturing), and fused deposition modeling machine. 骤：在形成步骤之后在三维模型上放置至少一个参考夹具（jig)，以及使用该夹具作为参考，将三维模型可移除地附着到自动切割机器上。 Steps of: placing at least one reference fixture (JIG) on the three-dimensional model after the forming step, and using the jig as a reference, the three-dimensional model can be removably attached to the automatic cutting machine. 然后，该切割机器执行分离步骤。 Then, the cutting machine to perform the separation step. 在这些实施例中的另一可选步骤包括：使用该夹具作为参考，将三维模型可移除地附着到自动牙齿放置机器上。 Another optional step in these embodiments include: the use of jig as a reference, the three-dimensional model can be removably attached to the teeth disposed on the automatic machine. 该牙齿放置机器然后执行放置步骤。 The tooth placement place machine then performs step. 将分离后的牙齿（或多颗牙齿）固定回三维模型上可以利用许多不同方式以及利用许多不同物质来获得，这些物质例如但是不局限于 The tooth (or teeth) on the fixed back the separated three-dimensional model can be utilized in many different ways and be obtained with many different materials, but is not limited these materials e.g. 蜡、粘合剂、树脂、硅酮或石质化合物（stone compound)。 Waxes, adhesives, resins, or silicone compound stone (stone compound). 在很多实施例中，分离多颗牙齿，并使用引导件将该多颗牙齿移动到新的位置。 In many embodiments, multiple teeth separated, and the guide member using the plurality of teeth to a new location. 在这些实施例中，该方法可以进一步包括标签从三维模型分离的多颗牙齿，以指示它们应该被放置在引导件中的位置。 In these embodiments, the method may further include a label separated from the multi-dimensional teeth model, to indicate that they should be placed in the position of the guide member. 典型地，这些方法将进一步包括标记引导件以将每个被标签的牙齿与引导件中的对应位置匹配。 Typically, these methods will further comprise a guide marker corresponding to a position matching with the guide tooth in each tab. 可选地，该方法还可以包括减少从三维模型分离的至少一颗牙齿的尺寸以便利牙齿的再定位。 Alternatively, the method may further include reducing the size of isolated three-dimensional model from the at least one tooth in order to facilitate repositioning teeth. 另一可选步骤包括：将一个或多个凹槽或其他表面标记放置在至少一个分离的牙齿上，以便将牙齿固定回三维模型上。 Another optional step includes: one or more grooves or other surface marker on at least one separate tooth to the tooth back on fixed three-dimensional model. 该方法可以进一步包括在三维模型上放置一个或多个额外的凹槽或其他表面标记以进一步便利固定步骤。 The method may further include placing one or more additional grooves or other surface markers to further facilitate the fixing step in the three-dimensional model. 在一些实施例中，该方法还包括从引导件移除三维模型，该三维模型具有在第一中间位置中固定于其的至少一个牙齿，以及包括在该三维模型上形成第一牙齿定位矫正器。 In some embodiments, the method further comprises removing the guide member from the three-dimensional model, the three-dimensional model having at least one tooth in a first intermediate position fixed thereto, and comprising forming a first dental aligner positioned on the three-dimensional model . 可选地，该方法可以进一步包括：在移除步骤之后，从三维模型形成第一中间模型，而第一牙齿定位矫正器形成在该第一中间模型上。 Alternatively, the method may further comprise: after the removing step, forming a first intermediate model from a three-dimensional model and the first dental aligners formed positioned on the first intermediate model. 在任何一种情况下，该方法可以包括：通过在三维模型或第一中间模型上热成形塑料，形成第一牙齿定位矫正器。 In either case, the method may include: a three-dimensional model or by a first intermediate model thermoformed plastic, forming a first positioning dental aligners. 替换地可以使用用于在模型上制造矫正器的其他矫正器制造技术。 Alternatively, the orthosis may be used for other fabrication techniques on the model aligner. 在一些实施例中，该方法还包括：处理数字模型以将至少一颗牙齿从第一中间位置移动到第二中间位置；从该至少一颗牙齿处于第二中间位置中的数字模型形成第二引导件；从三维模型分离该至少一颗牙齿；将该至少一颗牙齿在第二中间位置放置在引导件中；以及将该至少一颗牙齿在第二中间位置固定到三维模型。 In some embodiments, the method further comprising: processing the digital model to move at least one tooth from the first intermediate position to a second intermediate position; at least one tooth from the second intermediate position in the digital model is formed a second the guide member; separating the three-dimensional model from the at least one tooth; the at least one tooth disposed in the guide member at a second intermediate position; and the at least one tooth fixed to the second intermediate position in the three-dimensional model. 然后，该方法还可以进一步包括：在第一固定步骤之后，在该三维模型上形成第一牙齿定位矫正器。 Then, the method may further comprise: after a first fixing step of forming a first tooth aligner positioned on the three-dimensional model. 可选地，该方法可以进一步包括：在第一固定步骤之后， 从三维模型形成第一中间模型；以及在第二固定步骤之后，从三维模型形成第二中间模型。 Alternatively, the method may further comprise: after a first fixing step, forming a first intermediate model from a three dimensional model; and after the second fixing step, the second intermediate model from the three-dimensional model is formed. 然后，该方法可以包括在第一和第二中间模型上形成第一和第二牙齿定位矫正器。 Then, the method may include forming a first tooth and a second correction in positioning the first and second intermediate models. 在多个实施例中，上述的步骤可以根据期望重复多次，来生产三个、四个、五个、三十个或所需数量的引导件和矫正器，来以期望方式移动病人的牙齿。 In various embodiments, the above steps may be repeated as many times as desired to produce a three, four, five, thirty, or a desired number of braces and the guide member to move the patient's teeth in a desired manner . 在一些实施例中，在一系列引导件或矫正器中的每个引导件或矫正器移动与其他引导件或矫正器相同的牙齿，并且逐引导件或逐矫正器渐增地移动牙齿。 In some embodiments, each guide member or the guide member in a series of aligners or aligners moved by the same or other guide member tooth aligner, and the guide member by the aligner or by incrementally moving teeth. 在另一实施例中，每个引导件或矫正器可以移动与由其他引导件或矫正器所移动的牙齿/多颗牙齿不同的牙齿或牙齿组。 In another embodiment, each guide member can be moved or corrected by the guide member or other orthotic moved tooth / tooth or a different set of multiple teeth. 并且在又一其他实施例中，引导件和矫正器可以利用组合方式来移动牙齿。 And in still other embodiments, the guide member and the brace may move the teeth using combinations. 例如，第一引导件和第一矫正器可以将第一牙齿从初始位置移动到新的位置。 For example, the first guide member and the first correction may be the first tooth from an initial position to a new position. 然后，可以使用第二引导件和第二矫正器来将第二牙齿从初始位置移动到新的位置。 Then, use the second guide member and the second tooth of the second brace to move from an initial position to a new position. 接着，可以使用第三引导件和第三矫正器来将第三牙齿从初始位置移动到新的位置，并且也可以使用它们来将第一和第二牙齿移动到新位置。 Next, the third guide member may be used, and a third brace to the third tooth from an initial position to a new position, and they can also be used to move the first and second teeth to a new location. 可以利用本发明的引导件和矫正器来获得任何期望的组合。 It may utilize guide and straightening of the present invention to obtain any desired combination. 在本发明的另一方面，用于制造再定位病人的牙齿的牙齿定位矫正器的方法包括：从病人牙齿的数字模型形成第一引导件；从病人牙齿的三维模型分离至少一颗牙齿；将该至少一颗牙齿放置在第一引导件中，其中第一引导件相对于三维模型的剩余部分将该至少一颗牙齿从初始位置再定位到第一位置；将该至少一颗牙齿固定到三维模型第一中间位置中；并且在具有在第一位置中的该至少一颗牙齿的三维模型上形成第一牙齿定位矫正器。 In another aspect of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a dental repositioning teeth aligner positioning a patient comprising: a first guide member formed from the digital model of the patient's teeth; three-dimensional model from the patient's teeth to separate at least one tooth; and the at least one tooth disposed in the first guide member, wherein the first guide member with respect to the remainder of the three-dimensional model of the at least one tooth repositioned from an initial position to a first position; at least one tooth fixed to the three-dimensional model a first intermediate position; and forming a first dental aligner positioned on the at least one three-dimensional model of the teeth having a first position. 上述的任何步骤、特征或变化可以被应用于制造牙齿定位矫正器的该方法中。 Any of the above steps, features or variations may be applied to the method for producing the dental aligners positioning. 此外，在多个实施例中，该方法可以被根据期望重复多次，以提供多个引导件和矫正器。 Further, in various embodiments, the method may be repeated as many times as desired, to provide a plurality of guide members and the braces. 在本发明的另一方面，用于制造引导件以在病人牙齿的三维模型上定位一颗或多颗牙齿的方法包括：形成病人牙齿的至少一个三维模型；获得表示该三维模型的至少一部分的初始数字数据集；处理从该初始数字数据集得到的数字模型以将至少一颗牙齿从初始位置移动到第一位置；以及从该数字模型形成第一引导件，其中第一引导件被配置来接收该至少一颗移动的牙齿以及三维模型的至少一颗其他牙齿， 以便相对于三维模型将该至少一颗牙齿再定位到第一位置。 In another aspect of the present invention, in a method for manufacturing the guide member comprises one or more teeth located on the three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth: forming at least one three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth; represents at least a portion of the obtained three-dimensional model of the initial digital data set; processing the digital model obtained from the initial digital data set to at least one tooth from an initial position to a first position; and a first guide member formed from the digital model, wherein the first guide member being configured to receiving three-dimensional model of the tooth, and moving at least one of the at least one of the other teeth, so that the three-dimensional model with respect to at least one tooth is positioned to the first position again. 再次说明， 上述的任何步骤、特征或变化可以被应用于该方法以制造引导件，以及这些步骤可以被重复以提供期望数量的引导件。 Again, any of the above steps, features or variations may be applied to the method may be repeated to produce the guide member, and the steps to provide the desired number of guides. 在本发明的另一方面，用于制造多个牙齿定位矫正器以再定位病人牙齿的方法包括：基于从病人牙齿得到的一系列数字数据集，提供一系列引导件形成牙齿模型；从引导件形成模型形成一系列引导件； 从病人牙齿的三维模型分离至少一颗牙齿；将该至少一颗牙齿放置在引导件组的第一引导件中，其中第一引导件相对于三维模型的剩余部分将该至少一颗牙齿从初始位置再定位到第一位置；将该至少一颗牙齿固定到三维模型第一中间位置中；在第一位置中具有该至少一颗牙齿的三维模型上形成第一牙齿定位矫正器；以及将该分离、放置、固定和形成步骤重复期望的次数来提供多个矫正器。 In another aspect of the present invention, for producing a plurality of dental aligner positioned to patient's teeth relocation method comprising: based on a series of digital data sets obtained from a patient's teeth, the guide member is formed to provide a series of dental models; from the guide member the guide member forming a series of models; three-dimensional model from the patient's teeth to separate at least one tooth; at least one tooth disposed in the first guide member guiding member group, wherein the first guide member with respect to the remainder of the three dimensional model the re-positioning at least one tooth from an initial position to a first position; at least one tooth fixed to the three-dimensional model in a first intermediate position; having a first position in which at least one is formed on the first three-dimensional model of the teeth correction positioning tooth; and the separation, is placed, fixing steps are repeated a desired number of times and formed to provide a plurality of aligners. 根据本方法的上述任何特征或变化可以被应用在多个实施例中。 According to the present method of any of the features or variations may be applied in various embodiments. 在本发明的又一方面，用于处理病人牙齿的三维模型以制造一个或多个牙齿定位矫正器的设备包括：引导件，由计算机指引的制造机器制造，并具有多个凹部，每个凹部成形为接收模型的牙齿的至少一部分。 In yet another aspect of the present invention, a three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth in a process for producing one or more dental aligners positioning apparatus comprising: a guide, the manufacturing machine manufactured by the guidance computer, and having a plurality of recesses, each recess shaped to receive at least a portion of the dental model. 至少一个凹部被成形为将从模型分离的牙齿从初始位置再定位到第一位置，并且根据来自被处理的病人牙齿的数字模型的指令，来成形所述的被成形为再定位牙齿的至少一个凹部。 The at least one recess portion is formed as separated from the model of the teeth from the initial position again positioned to the first position, and according to an instruction from the digital model of the patient's teeth to be treated to the molding is shaped to at least one of the teeth repositioned recess. 在一些实施例中，引导件包括表示病人上牙的咬合模式的三维咬合模式引导件。 In some embodiments, the guide member includes a representation of the patient's dental occlusion model a three-dimensional model engaging the guide member. 替换地，引导件可以包括表示病人下牙的咬合模式或上牙和下牙两者的咬合模式的三维咬合模式引导件。 Alternatively, the guide member may comprise snap mode represent patients teeth or teeth and teeth engaging both the three-dimensional model of the guides at the nip mode. 在替换的实施例中，该引导件包括表面模式，该表面模式成形以接收该至少一颗牙齿以及三维模型的至少一颗另外牙齿的一个或多个表面。 In an alternative embodiment, the guide member comprises a surface pattern, the pattern formed in another surface of a tooth or a plurality of receiving surfaces of the at least one tooth and at least one three-dimensional model. 例如，该引导件可以包括：成形为接收牙齿的脸面的（facial surface)脸面模式、成形为接收牙齿的颊面的颊面模式、成形为接收牙齿的舌面的舌面模式等。 For example, the guide member may include: a receiving face shaped to a tooth (facial surface) face mode, the buccal surface shaped to received the buccal tooth model, shaped to receive the tongue teeth lingual mode. 13引导件的什么地方。 Where 13 pieces of guidance. 引导件还可以包括至少一个参考标签，用于允许用户确定相对于一系列引导件的其他引导件应当将引导件放置在哪个位置处。 The guide member may further comprise at least one reference label, for allowing a user to determine a series of guides relative to other guides of the guide member should be placed at which position. 在一些实施例中，引导件被配置为以允许在三维模型上形成牙齿定位矫正器的方式来再定位该至少一颗牙齿。 In some embodiments, the guide member is configured to allow the formation of dental aligner positioned on the three-dimensional model in a manner that at least one tooth repositioning. 在本发明的其他方面，用于处理病人牙齿的三维模型以制造一个或多个牙齿定位矫正器的系统包括：第一引导件，具有多个凹部以接收模型的牙齿，其中，至少一个凹部被配置为将模型的牙齿从初始位置再定位到第一位置；以及至少第二引导件，具有多个凹部以接收模型的牙齿，其中，至少一个凹部被配置为将模型的牙齿从第一位置再定位到第二位置。 In other aspects of the present invention, a three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth in a process for producing one or more teeth positioning orthotic system comprising: a first guide member having a plurality of teeth received in recesses model, wherein the at least one recess is the tooth model is configured to relocation from an initial position to a first position; and the at least second guide member having a plurality of teeth received in recesses model, wherein the at least one recess configured to tooth model from a first position again positioning to the second position. 利用计算机指引的制造机器来制造引导件，并且被成形来再定位牙齿的每个引导件的至少一个凹部是根据来自被处理的病人牙齿的数字模型的指令而成形的。 The manufacturing machine using the computer guidance to manufacture the guide, at least one recess of each guide member to repositioning teeth according to an instruction from the digital model of the patient's teeth be processed and molded and shaped. 系统的每个引导件可以具有上述的任何特征，并且可以使用任何上述方法来制造。 Each guide member may have any of the features of the system described above, and may be manufactured using any of the methods described above. 系统可以包括两到三十个中任何数量或者甚至多于三十个的引导件或多组引导件，用于制造任何数量的矫正器或多组矫正器。 The system may comprise two to thirty, or even more than any number of thirty or more sets of guide member guides, for the manufacture of any number of sets of braces or braces. 在本发明的另一方面，处理病人牙齿的三维模型以制造一个或多个牙齿定位矫正器的系统包括：第一引导件，具有多个凹部以接收模型的牙齿，其中，至少一个凹部被配置为将模型的第一牙齿从初始位置再定位到新的位置；以及至少第二引导件，具有多个凹部以接收模型的牙齿，其中，至少一个凹部被配置为将模型的第二牙齿从初始位置再定位到新的位置。 In another aspect of the present invention, the three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth process to manufacture one or more teeth positioning orthotic system comprising: receiving a tooth model, wherein the at least one recess is disposed a first guide member having a plurality of recessed portions the dental model is first repositioned from an initial position to a new position; and the at least second guide member having a plurality of teeth received in recesses model, wherein the at least one recess configured to the second tooth from the initial model location relocation to the new location. 利用计算机指引的制造机器来制造引导件，并且被成形来再定位牙齿的每个引导件的至少一个凹部是根据来自被处理的病人牙齿的数字模型的指令而成形的。 The manufacturing machine using the computer guidance to manufacture the guide, at least one recess of each guide member to repositioning teeth according to an instruction from the digital model of the patient's teeth be processed and molded and shaped. 如同上述的系统，本系统可以包括两个到三十个中任何数量或者甚至多于三十个的引导件或多组引导件，用于制造任何数量的矫正器或多组矫正器。 As with the system described above, the present system may comprise two to thirty, or even more than any number of thirty or more sets of guide member guides, for the manufacture of any number of sets of braces or braces. 14第一引导件，具有多个凹部以接收模型的牙齿，其中，至少一个凹部被配置为将模型的至少一个分离的牙齿从初始位置再定位到第一位置；至少第二引导件，具有多个凹部以接收模型的牙齿，其中，至少一个凹部被配置为将分离的牙齿从第一位置再定位到第二位置；以及材料，该材料用于当分离的牙齿处于第一位置时在三维模型上形成第一牙齿定位矫正器，以及当分离的牙齿处于第二位置时在三维模型上形成至少第二牙齿定位矫正器。 First guide member 14, recessed portions having a plurality of teeth received in the model, wherein the at least one recess is configured to separate at least one of the dental model relocation from an initial position to a first position; at least a second guide member having a plurality receiving recesses in the teeth model, wherein the at least one recess configured to separate relocation from a first tooth to a second position; and a material which is used when separating the teeth in the first position in the 3D model positioning teeth formed on a first brace, and when the tooth is in a second position separated from the second element forms at least positioned in the correct three-dimensional model. 利用计算机指引的制造机器来制造引导件，以及其中，成形来再定位牙齿的至少一个凹部是根据来自被处理的病人牙齿的数字模型的指令而成形的。 The manufacturing machine using the guidance computer manufactured guides, and wherein the at least one recess shaped to repositioning teeth according to an instruction from the digital model of the patient's teeth be processed and molded. 可选地，该系统可以进一步包括机器人或其他自动化机器，用于-从三维模型分离牙齿；将牙齿放置在引导件中；将牙齿固定到三维模型；修整矫正器和/或从模型移除矫正器。 Alternatively, the system may further comprise a robot or other automated machinery, for - separating from three-dimensional model of teeth; tooth is placed in the guide member; three-dimensional model of the dental anchor; dresser aligner and / or removed from the model correction device. 在本发明的又一方面，用于制造牙齿定位矫正器的系统可以包括： 病人牙齿的至少一个三维模型，每个模型的至少一颗牙齿从该模型分离；第一引导件，具有多个凹部以接收模型的牙齿，其中，至少一个凹部被配置为将模型的至少第一分离的牙齿从初始位置再定位到新位置；至少第二引导件，具有多个凹部以接收模型的牙齿，其中，至少一个凹部被配置为将模型的至少第二分离的牙齿从初始位置再定位到新位置；以及材料，该材料用于当第一分离的牙齿处于其新位置上时在三维模型上形成第一牙齿定位矫正器，以及用于当第二分离的牙齿处于其新位置上时在三维模型上形成至少第二牙齿定位矫正器。 In yet another aspect of the present invention, a system for manufacturing a dental positioning aligner may include: at least one three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth, each tooth model is separated from the at least one model; first guide member having a plurality of recessed portions in receiving dental model, wherein the at least one recess configured to separate at least a first teeth model relocation from an initial position to a new position; at least a second guide member having a plurality of teeth received in recesses model, wherein the at least one recess is configured to separate at least a second teeth model repositioned from an initial position to a new position; and a material which when used in the first separation tooth in its new position on the three-dimensional model is formed on the first positioning dental braces, and means for separating when the second tooth in its new position to form at least a second tooth is positioned on the three-dimensional model is corrected. 此外， 利用计算机引导的制造机器来制造引导件，并且成形来再定位牙齿的每个引导件的至少一个凹部是根据来自被处理的病人牙齿的数字模型的指令而成形的。 In addition, using a computer-guided manufacturing machine manufactured guide member, and is in accordance with instructions from a digital model of a patient's teeth to be treated and at least one recess formed in each guide member is formed by repositioning the teeth. 在下面参考附图更详细地描述了本发明的另外方面和实施例。 It described below with reference to further aspects of the invention and the accompanying drawings in more detail with embodiments. 附图说明图1A示出病人的颚并提供牙齿如何移动的大体指示。 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG 1A illustrates a patient's jaw and provides a general indication of how to move the teeth. 图1B示出来自图1A的单颗牙齿，并定义如何确定牙齿移动距离。 1B illustrates a single tooth from FIG. 1A and defines how tooth movement distances determined. 图1C示出图1A的颚连同牙齿定位矫正器。 FIG 1C illustrates the jaw of FIG. 1A, together with the positioning teeth braces. 位矫正器的方法的框图。 A block diagram of the method of bit aligners. 图2A是示出根据本发明替换实施例的用于制造一个或多个牙齿定位矫正器的方法的框图。 FIG 2A is a block diagram of a method for producing one or more dental aligners for positioning according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention. 图3A-3E是示出根据本发明一个实施例的用于使用引导件来处理牙齿模型的方法的图示。 FIGS 3A-3E are diagrams illustrating an embodiment of a method for using a guide member to the processing of the dental model in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 图4A-4C是根据本发明一个实施例的用于在牙齿模型上定位牙齿的一系列引导件的俯视图。 Figures 4A-4C is a top view of the embodiment of the positioning of the teeth in the dental model series guide member according to an embodiment of the present invention. 图5是根据本发明一个实施例的用于在牙齿模型上定位牙齿的俯视图。 FIG 5 is a top plan view of a tooth on the tooth model is positioned according to one embodiment of the present invention. 提供了用于处理牙齿的物理模型，以及典型地为了制造一个或多个牙齿定位矫正器的方法、设备和系统。 Providing a physical model of the teeth, in order to manufacture and typically one or more dental aligners positioning method, apparatus and system for processing. 词"物理"意图与牙齿的计算机模型区分开，虽然本方法的很多实施例包括提供和处理计算机牙齿模型和物理牙齿模型。 The word "physical" computer model of the region intended to separate the tooth, although many embodiments of the method includes providing a computer processing and physical dental model and the dental model. 下述的方法、设备和系统提供用于处理物理牙齿模型以制造牙齿移动矫正器的技术，该技术可以提供许多益处。 The following methods, apparatus and systems for processing technology for producing a physical dental model of teeth movement aligner, this technology can provide many benefits. 现在参考图1A，典型的颚88包括16颗牙齿，可以使用一个或多个牙齿移动矫正器将这些牙齿中的至少一些从初始牙齿排列移动到最终牙齿排列。 Referring now to Figure 1A, a typical jaw 88 comprises a tooth 16, may be used one or more teeth will move at least some of the correction arrangement moved from the initial tooth arrangement to a final tooth of the teeth. 为了理解牙齿是如何移动的，通过牙齿102中的一颗绘出任意中心线（CL)。 To understand how the teeth are moved, an arbitrary centerline drawn (CL) by a tooth 102. 参考该中心线（CL)，可以在由轴104、 106 和108 (其中104是中心线）表示的正交方向上移动牙齿。 Referring to the center line (CL), the teeth may be moved in the orthogonal directions represented by axes 104, 106 and 108 (where 104 is the centerline). 中心线可以如箭头110和112所示分别绕着轴108旋转（牙根成角（root angulation)) 以及绕着轴104旋转（扭矩）。 Centerline as indicated by arrows 110 and 112 may be respectively about the rotation shaft 108 as shown in (root angulation (root angulation)) and rotation about the axis 104 (torque). 另外，牙齿可以绕着中心线转动。 Further, the teeth may be rotated about the centerline. 因此，可以进行牙齿的所有可能的自由形式移动（free-form motion)。 Thus, all possible free-form teeth can be moved (free-form motion). 何点之间具有直线距离。 Having a linear distance between any point. 因此，任意点P,可能实际上经受如箭头d,表示的真正的侧向平移，而第二任意点P2可能沿着弓形路径移动并导致了最终平移d2。 Thus, an arbitrary point P, may actually be subjected to an arrow d, represents the real lateral translation, and the second arbitrary point P2 may be moved along an arcuate path and cause the final translation d2. 在很多情况下，在任何特定牙齿中的点Pi的最大允许移动被定义为在任何治疗步骤中经受对于该牙齿来说最大移动的该牙齿上的该点P,的最大线性平移。 In many cases, in any given point Pi of the tooth is defined as the maximum allowable mobile subjected to maximum movement of the point on the tooth P, to the maximum linear translation of the tooth in any treatment step is. 现在参考图1C， 一种用于渐进地（incrementally)再定位病人下额中的牙齿的工具包括清洁的、塑性的牙齿移动（或"牙齿定位"） 矫正器111。 Tool Referring now to Figure 1C, a method for progressively (the incrementally) the amount of repositioning the patient's teeth include cleaning, tooth movement plastic (or "teeth positioned") aligner 111. 在包括的参考文献中更详细地描述了该矫正器的例子。 An example of this is described in greater detail orthotic in the references included in the. 矫正器111典型地包括聚合物壳，该聚合物壳具有腔，该腔成形为接收牙齿并将牙齿从一个牙齿排列弹性地再定位到另一牙齿排列。 Aligner 111 typically comprises a polymeric shell, the polymer shell having a cavity shaped to receive the teeth from one tooth arrangement and tooth elastically repositioned to another tooth arrangement. 该聚合物壳111典型地配合在上颚或下颚上存在的所有牙齿上。 The polymeric shell 111 is typically fitted on all the teeth present on the upper or lower jaw. 经常，仅仅再定位一些牙齿，同时其他牙齿将提供基部或锚定区域，用于当再定位矫正器111相对于要被再定位的牙齿或多颗牙齿施加弹性再定位力时，将该再定位矫正器111保持在适当的位置。 Often, only the relocation of some teeth, while the other teeth will provide a base or anchor region for correction when repositioning repositioning 111 with an elastic force is applied to the teeth to be repositioned or teeth when the relocation aligner 111 held in place. 在复杂情况下，在治疗期间，在某些时候将把很多牙齿或大部分牙齿再定位。 In complex cases, during treatment, at some point it will be a lot of teeth or most dental repositioning. 在这样的情况下，被移动的牙齿也可以起到用于保持再定位矫正器的基部或锚定区域的作用。 In this case, the teeth are moved can also serve for holding the repositioning of the base region of the aligner or anchoring effect. 在一些情况下，牙龈和paktte也起到锚定区域的作用， 从而允许所有牙齿或近乎所有牙齿被同时再定位。 In some cases, also function as gums and paktte anchor region, thus allowing all or nearly all of the teeth while the teeth are repositioned. 17或很难施加的力。 17 or difficult to apply the force. 此外，对于这些弹性矫正器111及其制造和使用的方法、系统和设备的进一步的细节，可以参考所包括的参考文献。 Further, for further details and methods of making and use, these devices and systems elastic braces 111, reference may be included in the references. 个实施例。 Embodiment. 如下面将进一步描述的，方法200仅仅是一个实施例，并且替换实施例可以包括额外步骤、较少的步骤和/或代替图2所示的一个或多个步骤的不同步骤。 As will be described further below, the method 200 is just one embodiment, and alternative embodiments may include additional steps, fewer steps, and / or instead of one in FIG. 2 or more steps of different steps. 因此，图2的方法200主要为了示例目的而提供，而不应被解释为限制该创造性的方法的范围。 Thus, the method 200 of FIG. 2 are provided primarily for exemplary purposes and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the inventive method. 示例性方法200可以首先包括制造病人牙齿的物理模型210。 First, exemplary method 200 may include a physical model of the patient's teeth 210 manufactured. 该模型（或模型组）可以利用任何传统的牙齿建模技术或未来发现的任何技术来制造。 This model (or model group) can use any conventional dental modeling technology or any technology discovered in the future to manufacture. 在一个实施例中，例如，制造模型210包括制造以下的模型：病人的上牙组、下牙组以及上牙与下牙的咬合记录。 In one embodiment, for example, manufacturing model 210 including making the following model: the group of patients teeth, lower teeth and the upper group and lower teeth engaging the record. 在一个公知的方法中，利用诸如聚乙烯基硅氧烷（PVS)或藻酸盐的通常印模材料来取得病人上下牙的印模，并且还取得病人咬合模式的印模。 In a well-known method, such as by a conventional polyvinylsiloxane impression material (the PVS) or alginate to obtain the patient's upper and lower teeth impressions, and also taking an impression of the patient engaging mode. 然后，可以将牙科石膏或"石头"灌注到上下印模中并允许该牙科石膏或"石头"硬化，从而形成上下牙模型。 Then, dental plaster or "stone" may be poured into the impression and allowing the upper and lower dental plaster or "stone" hardened, thereby forming the upper and lower dental models. 在Graber, Orthodontics: Principle and Practice, Second Edition, Saunders, Philadelphia, 1969，第401-415页中，描述了用于制备病人牙齿的石膏模型的一种公知技术，也可以使用任何其他适合的建模技术。 In Graber, Orthodontics: Principle and Practice, Second Edition, Saunders, Philadelphia, 1969, pp. 401-415, there is described a well-known technique for the preparation of a plaster model of the patient's teeth may be used any other suitable modeling technology. 例如在一些实施例中，可以利用塑料或除了石膏之外的其他材料来制造该模型。 For example, in some embodiments, the model may be manufactured from plastic or other materials in addition to gypsum. 在模型制造工序210之前、之后和/或期间，可以对病人牙齿、病人牙齿的一个或多个模型、病人牙齿的一个或多个印模以及它们的某些组合进行一个或多个扫描220。 Before model producing step 210, after and / or during, the patient may be a tooth or a model of a patient's teeth, a patient's teeth and a plurality of stamps or some combination thereof, or a plurality of the plurality of scan 220. 可以使用任何适当的扫描技术（或扫描技术的组合），诸如但是不局限于X射线、三维X射线、激光、计算机断层X射线摄影（CT)、磁共振成像（MRI)、结构光、光谱光和/或破坏性的扫描技术。 Any suitable scanning techniques (or a combination of scanning technology), such as, but not limited to X-rays, three dimensional X-ray, laser, X-ray computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), structured light, a spectrum of light and / or destructive scanning technique. 初始数字数据集（IDDS) 。 The initial digital data set (IDDS). IDDS表示处于治疗之前的位置中的病人牙齿。 IDDS position expressed in the patient's teeth before treatment. 由扫描器产生的IDDS可以以多种数字格式的任何一种呈现，从而确保与用来处理由数据表示的图像的软件的兼容性。 IDDS produced by the scanner may be presented in any of a variety of digital formats to ensure compatibility with the software for processing images represented by the data. 除了通过扫描牙齿的暴露表面（220)收集的三维图像数据之外，用户可能希望收集关于隐藏特征的数据，所述隐藏特征诸如病人牙齿的牙根和病人的颚骨。 In addition to the teeth by scanning the exposed surface (220) outside the three-dimensional image data collected, the user may wish to gather data about hidden features, the root and hidden features, such as a patient's jaw bone of a patient's teeth. 该信息可以被用来建立病人齿型的更完整模型，以及用来更准确和精确地示出牙齿将如何响应治疗。 This information may be used to build a more complete model of the toothed patient, and used to more accurately and precisely shows how the teeth will respond to treatment. 例如，关于牙根的信息允许对于所有牙齿表面而不是仅仅牙冠建模，从而允许对于治疗期间移动时的牙冠和牙根之间的关系进行模拟。 For example, information about the roots allows for all tooth surfaces and not merely modeling the crown to allow for the simulation of the relationship between the crown and root while moving during treatment. 关于病人的颚和牙龈的信息还使得能够提供治疗期间牙齿移动的更准确模型。 Information about the patient's jaw and gums also allows a more accurate model of tooth movement during treatment can be provided. 例如，病人颚骨的X射线可以协助识别任何松动的牙齿，而MRI可以提供关于病人牙龈组织的密度的信息。 For example, a patient's jaw bone X-rays can help identify any loose teeth, and MRI can provide information about the density of the patient's gingival tissue. 此外，关于在病人牙齿和其他颅特征之间的关系的信息，允许在每个治疗步骤将牙齿相对于头部的剩余部分进行准确的对齐。 In addition, information on the relationship between the patient's teeth and other cranial features allows the teeth at each treatment step with respect to the remainder of the head for accurate alignment. 可以从很多源收集关于这些隐藏特征的数据，所述源包括二维和三维X 射线系统、CT扫描器以及磁共振成像（MRI)系统。 Data can be collected about these hidden features from many sources, the source comprising two and three dimensional X-ray systems, CT scanners, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. 于虚拟模型来制造一个或多个引导件250。 A virtual model to be manufactured or a plurality of guides 250. 这些引导件每个包括多个腔或凹部，物理牙齿模型上的牙齿配合到该腔或凹部中。 These guides each comprise a plurality of cavities or recesses, the teeth in the physical model fitted to the tooth cavity or recess. 如下进一步描述的，腔可以符合牙齿的咬合模式或符合牙齿的脸面、颊面、舌面或其他表面。 As described further below, the chamber can conform to the occlusal tooth pattern or matching face teeth, buccal, lingual, or other surfaces. 首先可以虚拟地设计引导件，然后计算机指引一个或多个自动化设备来制造引导件。 First, the guide can be designed virtually, and then direct the one or more computer automated equipment to manufacture the guide member. 例如，在一个实施例中，计算机指引快速成型机器诸如立体光刻机器，通过将树脂材料硬化来制造多个引导件。 For example, in one embodiment, the guidance computer stereolithography rapid prototyping machine, such as machines, manufactured by a plurality of guides curing the resin material. 可以使用的快速成型机器的其他例子包括层压对象制造和熔融沉积建模机器。 Other examples of rapid prototyping machine may be used include for producing laminated objects, and fused deposition modeling machine. 在另一替换实施例中，使用CAD-CAM加工来指引铣床从固体材料块铣出引导件。 In another alternative embodiment, the use of CAD-CAM machining milling guide from a solid piece of material milled out guide. 可以使用任何其他适当的计算机指引的制造工序。 The other steps can use any suitable computer guidance. 此外，可以使用任何期望数量的引导件。 Further, any desired number of guides. 在一个实施例中，例如， 可能期望仅仅在一个步骤中仅仅移动病人的上牙，而在这样的情况下， 可能只需要一个引导件。 In one embodiment, for example, it may be desirable only on the tooth just moving a patient in one step, and in this case, may only need a guide. 在另一实施例中，可以通过多阶段的治疗来移动上下牙，由此使用多组引导件。 In another embodiment, the upper and lower teeth may be moved by a multi-stage treatment, whereby multiple sets of guides. 可以指引引导件制造机器来制造这些标记。 You may direct the guide member manufacturing machine producing the tags. 可以使用任何适当技术， 诸如通过激光印刷或施加表面特征，来将标记施加到引导件上。 Any suitable technique may be used, such as by laser printing or application surface features to be applied to the guide mark. 在制造引导件（多个引导件）250之前、期间或之后，从病人牙齿的物理模型（或多个模型）分离一颗或多颗牙齿。 250 before, during, or after separation of one or more teeth of a patient's teeth from a physical model (or models) in the manufacture of the guide member (s guides). 典型地通过使用锯或任何已知的或以后发现的用于从牙齿模型切割牙齿的装置或技术，来切割从而完成该分离。 Typically by using a saw or any known or later discovered device or technique for cutting the tooth from the tooth model, cut to complete the separation. 典型地，分离的牙齿被编号或以一些方式标记，以指示它们将被放置在引导件（或多个引导件）中的何处。 Typically, the teeth are separated numbered or marked in some manner, to indicate that they will be placed on the guide member (or guides) where in. 可以利用任何适当方法，诸如手动标记或利用例如激光的机器标记，来制造这些标记。 You may utilize any suitable method, such as laser marking machine, such as the marks produced manually or using a marker. 其他适合方式，将分离的牙齿附着或固定到牙齿模型270。 Other suitable embodiment, the isolated teeth attached or secured to the dental model 270. 在一个实施例中，使用常用固定化合物（holding compound)来将牙齿固定到模型。 In one embodiment, a compound commonly used fixing (holding compound) to be secured to the dental models. 还可以使用固定化合物来填充在模型上的任何空隙，再造模型上的牙龈组织等等。 Can also fill any voids in the model, the gum tissue reconstruction model compounds and the like fixed. 用来将牙齿固定到模型的其他物质可以包括但是不局限于蜡、树脂、硅酮、石质化合物（stone compound)和/或其他粘合剂。 For fixing dental models to other substances may include but are not limited to waxes, resins, silicones, compound stone (stone compound) and / or other adhesives. 在固定工序期间，模型的未分离的牙齿的至少一个驻留在引导件的另外凹部中。 During the fixing step, unseparated dental model resides in at least one further recess in the guide member. 在一些实施例中，所有另外牙齿驻留在另外凹部中。 In some embodiments, any additional teeth reside in another recess. 该另外凹部允许未分离的牙齿与分离的牙齿排齐。 The recessed portion further allowing the separation of the unseparated teeth aligned teeth. 可以利用一个或多个机器人机器或其他自动化机器来执行以下的任何或所有步骤：从模型切割牙齿、将牙齿放置在引导件中、将牙齿固定到模型上。 You may utilize one or more robots, machine or other automated machine to perform any or all of the following steps: cutting from a model tooth, the tooth is placed in the guide member, secured to the tooth model. 例如，可以使用具有锯工具且由计算机控制的机器臂来从病人的牙齿模型切割牙齿。 For example, with a saw tooth cutting tools and tooth model from a patient by a computer-controlled robotic arm. 然后，可以使用相同的或另一机器臂来将分离的牙齿放置在引导件中。 Then, using the same or another robotic arm to separate the tooth is placed in the guide member. 以及可以使用另一机器臂（或相同臂）向分离的牙齿施加粘合剂以将它们再附着到模型上。 And a robotic arm may use another (or the same arm) applying an adhesive to the teeth to separate them and then attached to the model. 还可以使用相同的或另一机器臂来修整在模型上制造的矫正器。 You can also use the same or another robotic arm to trim the aligner is manufactured on the model. 在一些实施例中， 模型将包括一个或多个夹具、排齐附着装置、特征、标记等，用于将模型与机器臂或系统对准。 In some embodiments, the model will include one or more clamps, aligned attachment means, features, markings, for the system model and the robot arm or aligned. 在替换实施例中，可以手动地执行分离、 放置和附着步骤的任何一个或全部。 In an alternative embodiment, the separation may be performed manually, any one or all of the steps of placing and attaching. 切除在牙龈线上延伸的材料。 Removal of material extending gum line. 此外，在一些实施例中，可以利用机器人或其他自动化机器来执行该切割（或"修整"）工序。 Further, in some embodiments, it may be utilized robots or other automated machinery to perform the cutting (or "trimming") step. 接着，从模型移除矫正器290，并且在一些情况下，手动地或经由机器进一步处理矫正器，诸如对粗糙边缘进行磨砂、清洗和/或向矫正器添加特征。 Next, the model is removed from the aligner 290, and in some cases, manually or via a further processing machine aligner, such as a rough edge sanded, cleaned, and / or add features to the orthotic. 如果期望另外的矫正器292，可以再次将一颗或多颗牙齿从母模型分离并放置在下一个引导件中，可以将该牙齿再附着到模型，从而可以制造另一矫正器。 If desired additional braces 292 may be one or more teeth again separated from the mother die and a guide member placed in the next to be re-attached to the teeth model, it may be manufactured such that another orthotic. 如果不需要另外的矫正器，则过程结束294。 If no additional aligner, the process 294 ends. 在一个实施例中，其中制造母模型的拷贝，在制造任何矫正器之前制造母模型的所有期望拷贝是最有效率的。 In one embodiment, wherein the copy of manufacturing a master model, manufacturing a master model before producing any desired orthotic all copies is most efficient. 在替换实施例中，可以在制造另一拷贝之前从每个拷贝制造矫正器，或者可以在制造另外拷贝之前从一些拷贝制造一些矫正器。 In an alternative embodiment, it may be manufactured prior to manufacturing each copy from another copy of the aligner, or make some correction may be copied from the copy number before further manufacturing. 可以使用任何适当的组合。 You may be used in any suitable combination. 如上提及的，在刚刚描述的方法的多个实施例中，可以以某种方式添加、去除或改变一些步骤，和/或可以改变步骤的次序，而不偏离本发明的范围。 As mentioned above, in the method just described a plurality of embodiments, in one way or add, remove or alter some of the steps, and / or the order of steps may be changed without departing from the scope of the invention. 现在参考图2A，示出用于制造牙齿移动矫正器的方法201的替换实施例。 Referring now to Figure 2A, a method of manufacturing a tooth movement aligner 201 for the alternative embodiment. 方法201包括获得数字数据211，该数字数据表示病人的牙齿以及通过至少一个移动的至少一颗牙齿的牙齿移动。 Method 201 includes obtaining a digital data 211, the digital data representing the patient's teeth and tooth movement by moving at least one of the at least one tooth. 如前更完全描述的，这些数据可以利用一些不同扫描技术的任何一种来获得，并且这些数据可以包括任何数目的IDDS、 INTDDS和/或FDDS等。 As more fully described, the data may utilize any of a number of different techniques to obtain the scan, and these data may include any number of IDDS, INTDDS and / or FDDS. 在一个实施例中，该数据包括从初始结构移动到最终结构并且其间具有一个或多个步骤的病人牙齿的一系列三维虚拟模型。 In one embodiment, the data structure comprising moved from an initial to the final structure and having therebetween a series of three-dimensional virtual model of the patient's teeth or a plurality of steps. 在多个实施例中，可以使用任何适当的数字数据。 In various embodiments, any suitable digital data. 在获得数字数据211之前、之后或期间，制造病人牙齿的一个或多个可调节（或"三维"）模型212,以及从模型分离要被再定位到模型上的一颗或多颗牙齿213。 Obtaining the digital data 211 before, after or during the manufacturing of a patient's teeth or more adjustable (or "3D") model 212, and separated from the model to be repositioned to one or more teeth on the model 213. 使用数字数据来制造多引导件构建模型221。 Producing digital data using multiple guides 221 to build the model. 例如，在一个实施例中，该数据可以指引快速成型机器，诸如立体光刻机器，来通过硬化树脂材料来形成系列的引导件构建模型。 For example, in one embodiment, the rapid prototyping machine can direct data, such as a stereolithography machine to the guide member to form a series of building the model by hardening the resin material. 可以利用任何适当的方法来制造多个引导件，这些方法例如但是不局限于：使用热、冷、化学反应或光激活使刚性材料固化，在引导件构建模型上形成固化材料以及允许该材料成型。 Any suitable method may be utilized to manufacture a plurality of guides, such as, but not limited to these methods: the use of heat, cold, light-activated chemical reaction or cure of the rigid material, the guide member constructed in the curable material is formed on the model and allowing the molding material . 的第一引导件中241。 The first guide member 241. 然后，将该牙齿固定到三维模型251，在三维模型上制造矫正器261，以及移除该矫正器271。 Then, the teeth 251 is fixed to the three-dimensional model, manufactured brace 261 in the three-dimensional model, and removing the brace 271. 如果需要另外的矫正器281，则可以将分离牙齿213、将牙齿放置在下一个引导件中241、将牙齿固定到模型251、制造矫正器261以及移除矫正器271的步骤重复需要的次数。 If additional braces 281, 213 may be separated from the tooth, the tooth is placed in a lower guide member 241 fixed to the dental model 251, the aligner 261 and the number of manufacturing steps to remove the aligner 271 repeats required. 当不再期望矫正器时，方法结束291。 When no correction is desired, the method ends 291. 在对该方法的变体中，在将牙齿固定到模型251的每个步骤之后，可以从初始三维模型制造拷贝模型，以及可以在拷贝模型上制造矫正器。 In a variant of this method, after the step of fixing each of the teeth to the model 251, the initial three-dimensional model can be manufactured model copy, and the copy can be produced on a model from the aligner. 在该方法的多个实施例中，可以实现上述方法的任何特征和变化。 In various embodiments of the method may be implemented any of the features and variations of the above method. 现在参考图3A-3E，示出用于处理病人牙齿的模型的方法的一个实施例。 Referring now to FIGS. 3A-3E, illustrating a method for processing model of a patient's teeth embodiment. 如图3A所示，牙齿模型310可以包括基部320和多颗牙齿330。 As shown in FIG. 3A dental model 310 may include a base 320 and a plurality of teeth 330. 虽然图3A实际上是图示，当典型地从病人牙齿（上牙或下牙） 的印模来制造模型310，以使得基部320具有病人牙龈组织的形状。 Although FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating actually, typically from a patient's teeth when the (upper teeth or lower teeth) manufactured impression model 310, a base 320 having a shape such that the patient's gum tissue. 在制造模型310期间或之后，牙齿330可以被标以数字332或其他标记， 以使得它们可以在稍后步骤中与引导件对准。 During or after the manufacturing model 310, the teeth 330 may be marked with the number 332 or other indicia, such that they can be aligned with the guide member in a later step. 23牙齿330可以在稍后阶段中移动。 330 23 teeth can be moved at a later stage. 可以使用牙齿移动的任何期望组合。 You can use any combination desired tooth movement. 齿移动和避免碰撞。 And the teeth move to avoid a collision. 如已经提到的，以及如在包括的专利文献中进一步描述的，可以使用计算机和治疗规划软件来规划牙齿移动、整形等。 As already mentioned, and as further described in the patent literature included, and the computer can be used to plan treatment planning software tooth movement, shaping. 在图3C中，将分离的牙齿330 (3、 4、 5)放置在引导件340中的对应凹部350中。 In FIG 3C, the isolated teeth 330 (3, 4, 5) disposed in the guide member 340 in a corresponding recess 350. 每个凹部350被设有数字标记352 (或在替换实施例中的其他标记），以提醒用户在每个凹部350中配合哪个牙齿330。 Each recess 350 is provided with a digital mark 352 (or other marks in the in alternative embodiments), to remind the user of which the tooth 330 with each concave portion 350. 凹部被配置为将一颗或多颗病人牙齿放置在与原始或早先中间结构相比稍微不同的结构中。 The recess is configured to place one or more teeth in a patient's teeth slightly different compared to the original configuration or a previous intermediate structure. 一旦分离的牙齿330被放置在它们对应的凹部350中，可以将模型310的剩余部分连同其剩余的牙齿330放置在引导件340中，如图3D所示。 Once isolated teeth 330 are placed in their respective recesses 350, the model 310 may be, together with the remaining portion of the remaining teeth 330 disposed in the guide member 340, shown in Figure 3D. 然后，可以利用保持化合物360、其他粘合材料和/或任何其他适合的附着机构，将分离的牙齿330再附着到模型上。 Then, compound 360 may be utilized to maintain, other bonding materials and / or any other suitable attachment means, and then the separated teeth 330 attached to the model. 然后，再附着的牙齿330相对于它们在图3A中的位置，将处于相对于模型基部320的新的位置中。 Then, the teeth 330 re-adhesion relative to their position in FIG. 3A, will be in a new position with respect to the base 320 of the model. 在附着牙齿330之后，移除引导件340，如图3E 所示，留下具有再附着的牙齿330的模型310。 After attaching the teeth 330, the guide member 340 is removed, as shown in FIG. 3E, leaving reattachment model 310 having teeth 330. 这里，可以制造复制模型，并且可以从该复制模型制造矫正器。 Here, model copy may be made, and that can be replicated from the model aligner manufactured. 替换地，可以直接从模型310 制造矫正器。 Alternatively, the correction may be made directly from the model 310. 现在参考图4A-4C,示出一系列引导件400、 401、 402的一个实施例的俯视图。 Referring now to FIGS. 4A-4C, show a series of 400, 401 a, 402 a top view of an embodiment of a guide member. 在该实施例中，每个引导件400、 401、 402从诸如聚合物或其他适合材料的材料的块404、 406、 408形成。 In this embodiment, each of the guide members 400, 401, 402, such as a block formed from a polymer or other material suitable material 404, 406, 408. 在每个块中的线或凹入410、 411、 412可以可选地被包括以近似示出病人牙齿位于其中的上拱形或下拱形。 Or concave line in each block 410, 411, 412 may optionally be included to approximate the patient's teeth is shown positioned on the lower arcuate or arcuate therein. 在该实施例中，可以使用CNC铣床来在材料块404、 406、 408中铣出引导件400、 401、 402。 In this embodiment, the CNC milling machine can be used in the milling block of material 404, 406, 408 guide 400, 401, 402. 在替换实施例中，可以使用立体光刻或类似快速成型工艺来形成每个引导件400、 401、 402 并使之具有由拱形线410、 411、 412指示的大体形状。 In an alternative embodiment, may be formed in each guide member 400, 401, 410 402 and make it, 411, 412 is generally indicated by the arcuate line shape using stereolithography rapid prototyping or similar process. 引导件400、 401、 402每个包括多个凹部420 (或腔），用于接收来自牙齿模型的牙齿。 Guides 400, 401, 402 of each tooth from the tooth model comprises a plurality of recesses 420 (or chamber) for receiving. 24每个凹部420被标有与来自牙齿模型的牙齿上的标记对应的数字430 或其他标记。 24 of each recess 420 is marked with numbers or other indicia corresponding to the mark 430 on the tooth from the tooth model. 每个引导件400、 401、 402还包括一个或多个标记431、 432、 433以指示其在引导件系列中的位置。 Each guide member 400, 401, 402 further includes one or more markers 431, 432, 433 to indicate its position on the guide member in the series. 如图4A-4C所示，每个引导件400、 401、 402相对于之前引导件之一或病人初始牙齿位置来精细地再定位模型的一颗或多颗牙齿。 As shown in FIG 4A-4C, each of the guide members 400, 401, 402 finely repositioning one or more teeth of the model of the guide member or prior to initial tooth position with respect to the patient. 在图4A-4C中所示的实施例中，引导件400、 401、 402被配置为咬合记录或咬合结构引导件。 In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 4A-4C, the guide member 400, 401, 402 configured to nip the recording member or engaging the guide structure. 换句话说，每个引导件400、 401、 402 表示上牙或下牙的咬合模式，模型的牙齿就像它们咬合到引导件中一样地配合到每个引导件400、 401、 402中。 In other words, each guide member 400, 401, 402 represents the upper teeth or lower teeth bite model, tooth models as they bite into the guide member as fitted to each of the guide members 400, 401, 402. 现在参考图5，引导件的替换实施例510包括脸面/颊面引导件， 该脸面/颊面引导件具有多个凹部512以接收牙齿520的脸面和颊面。 Referring now to Figure 5, alternative embodiment of the guide member 510 includes a face / buccal embodiment the guide member, the face / buccal guide member 512 having a plurality of recesses for receiving the teeth of the face and cheek surface 520. 换句话说，模型的牙齿520没有"咬合到"引导件510"中"，而是它们的面向脸的面或面向颊的面配合紧靠引导件510/配合到引导件510 中。 In other words, the tooth model 520 is not "bite into" the guide 510 "in the" member, but facing surface which faces or abuts against mating surfaces facing the guide cheeks 510/510 fitted to the guide member. 如图5所示，在一些实施例中，引导件510可以被配置为仅仅配合病人牙齿模型的一些牙齿520,而不是配合整组上牙或整组下牙。 5, in some embodiments, the guide member 510 may be configured to only some of the teeth 520 with the patient's teeth model, rather than with the entire set of teeth or the entire set of lower teeth. 例如，如果仅仅要移动病人的上牙组或下牙组的相同区域中的几颗牙齿， 提供一组或多组用以处理病人牙齿模型的部分的局部引导件可能是更便利和/或更便宜的。 For example, if only to move the same area on the lower teeth or tooth groups in the group of patients with few teeth, for providing one or more sets of local processing portion guides the patient's teeth model may be more convenient and / or more cheap. 在多个替换实施例中，引导件510可以包括脸面、 颊面或舌面引导件或咬合结构引导件、或它们的一些组合，并且还可以包括局部和/或完整引导件的任何适当组合。 In various alternative embodiments, the guide member 510 may include a face, or buccal or lingual guide member engaging the guide structure, or some combination thereof, and may also include any suitable combination of partial and / or complete guide. 虽然以上完全地描述了本发明，但可以在本发明的范围中进行许多变化和变更。 While the above fully described the present invention, but that many variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention. 例如，在替换实施例中，在所述的多个用于处理模型和制造牙齿移动矫正器的方法中的步骤可以以不同次序执行或完全跳过，并且在其他实施例中，可以添加另外的可选步骤或可以变更一个或多个步骤。 For example, in alternative embodiments, a plurality of steps in the method for manufacturing a tooth movement process model and the correction unit may be performed in a different order, or skipped entirely, and in other embodiments, may be further added Alternatively step or may change one or more steps. 因此，示例性实施例的前面叙述不应被解释为限制由以下权利要求描述的本发明的范围。 Accordingly, the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments are not to be construed as limiting the present invention is described by the following claims scope. 1. 一种用于处理病人牙齿的三维模型以制造一个或多个牙齿定位矫正器的方法，该方法包括：形成病人牙齿的至少一个三维模型；获得表示该三维模型的至少一部分的初始数字数据集；处理从所述初始数字数据集得到的数字模型，以将至少一颗牙齿从初始位置移动到第一中间位置；从所述至少一颗牙齿处于第一中间位置的所述位置数字模型形成第一引导件；从所述三维模型分离所述至少一颗牙齿；将所述至少一颗牙齿放置在所述第一引导件中所述第一中间位置中；以及将所述至少一颗牙齿固定到所述三维模型所述第一中间位置中。 1. A three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth for processing to a method for producing one or more teeth positioning aligner, the method comprising: forming at least one three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth; obtaining at least a portion of the initial number represents the three-dimensional model data set; processing the digital model obtained from the initial digital data set, at least one tooth from an initial position to a first intermediate position; the position of the digital model is formed from said at least one tooth in a first intermediate position a first guide member; separating the three-dimensional model from the at least one tooth; the at least one tooth disposed in said first guide member in said first intermediate position; and the at least one tooth the three-dimensional model is fixed to the first intermediate position. 2. 根据权利要求l所述的方法，其中，获得所述初始数字数据集包括扫描所述三维模型、所述病人牙齿以及所述病人牙齿的印模的至少一个，以产生一个或多个数字扫描。 2. The method according to claim l, wherein the initial digital data set is obtained comprising scanning the three-dimensional model, the patient's teeth and dental impression of said patient at least one, to produce one or more digital scanning. 3. 根据权利要求1所述的方法，其中，获得所述初始数字数据集包括从第三方源接收一个或多个数字扫描。 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises receiving an initial digital data set from a third party source or a digital scan. 4. 根据权利要求l所述的方法，其中，处理所述数字模型包括将多颗牙齿从初始位置移动到第一中间位置。 4. The method of claim l, wherein said process comprises multiple digital model teeth from an initial position to a first intermediate position. 5. 根据权利要求1所述的方法，进一步包括整形所述数字模型上的所述至少一颗牙齿，以便利所述牙齿的再定位。 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising shaping the digital model on at least one tooth, to facilitate the repositioning of the teeth. 6. 根据权利要求l所述的方法，其中，形成所述第一引导件包括使用计算机基于被处理的数字模型来指引制造机器形成所述引导件。 6. The method according to claim l, wherein said first guide member comprises forming using a computer to direct a machine for producing a digital model based on the processed form of the guide member. 7. 根据权利要求l所述的方法，进一步包括：在所述形成步骤之后，将至少一个参考夹具放置在所述三维模型上；以及使用所述夹具作为参考，可移除地将所述三维模型附着到自动化切割机器，其中，然后所述切割机器执行所述分离步骤。 7. The method according to claim l, further comprising: after the forming step, the at least one reference jig placed on the three-dimensional model; and using the jig as a reference, the three-dimensional removably model attached to the automated cutting machine, wherein the machine to perform the cutting and separating step. 8. 根据权利要求1所述的方法，进一步包括：处理所述数字模型，以将所述至少一颗牙齿从所述第一中间位置移动到第二中间位置；从所述至少一颗牙齿处于所述第二中间位置的所述数字模型，形成第二引导件；从所述三维模型分离所述至少一颗牙齿；将所述至少一颗牙齿放置在所述引导件中所述第二中间位置中；以及将所述至少一颗牙齿固定到所述三维模型所述第二中间位置中。 8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: processing the digital model to said at least one tooth is moved from the first intermediate position to a second intermediate position; from the at least one tooth the digital model of the second intermediate position, the second guide member is formed; separating the three-dimensional model from the at least one tooth; the at least one tooth disposed in said guide member in said second intermediate position; and the at least one three-dimensional model of the tooth is fixed to the second intermediate position. 9. 一种用于制造牙齿定位矫正器以再定位病人牙齿的方法，所述方法包括：从所述病人牙齿的数字模型形成第一引导件；从所述病人牙齿的三维模型分离至少一颗牙齿；将所述至少一颗牙齿放置在所述第一引导件中，其中，所述第一引导件相对于所述三维模型的剩余部分将所述至少一颗牙齿从初始位置再定位到第一位置；将所述至少一颗牙齿固定到所述三维模型中所述第一中间位置中；在所述至少一颗牙齿处于所述第一位置的所述三维模型上，形成第一牙齿定位矫正器。 9. A method for manufacturing a dental aligner positioned to a method of repositioning a patient's teeth, the method comprising: forming a first guide member from the digital model of the patient's teeth; from three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth to separate at least one tooth; the at least one tooth disposed in the first guide member, wherein said first guide member with respect to the remainder of the three-dimensional model of the at least one tooth from the initial position to the relocation of a position; and the at least one tooth fixed to the three-dimensional model in the first intermediate position; on the three-dimensional model of the at least one tooth is in the first position, forming a first positioning tooth aligners. 10. 根据权利要求9所述的方法，其中，所述至少一颗牙齿包括多颗牙齿。 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said at least one tooth includes a plurality of teeth. 11. 根据权利要求9所述的方法，进一步包括-从所述病人牙齿的所述数字模型形成第二引导件； 从所述三维模型分离所述至少一颗牙齿；将所述至少一颗牙齿放置在所述第二引导件中，其中，所述第二引导件将所述至少一颗牙齿再定位到第二位置；将所述至少一颗牙齿固定到所述三维模型所述第二位置中；以及在所述至少一颗牙齿处于所述第二位置的所述三维模型上，形成第二牙齿定位矫正器。 11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising - a second guide member formed from the digital model of the patient's teeth; separating from the three-dimensional model of at least one said tooth; and the at least one tooth disposed in said second guide member, wherein said second guide member of said at least one tooth to be relocated to a second position; and the at least one tooth fixed to said second position of said three-dimensional model ; and the three-dimensional model and said at least one tooth in the second position, a second positioning dental aligners. 12. 根据权利要求9所述的方法，进一步包括重复所述形成、分离、放置、固定和形成步骤，以提供在4个和30个之间的引导件以及在4个和30个之间的牙齿定位矫正器。 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising repeating said forming, separation, placing, forming and fixing step, the guide member to provide between 4 and 30, and between 4 and 30 of positioning teeth braces. 13. 根据权利要求9所述的方法，进一步包括从所述矫正器修整材料以创建完成的矫正器，其中，使用根据一个或多个数据集指引的自动化机器来修整所述材料。 13. The method of claim 9, further comprising a trim material from the finished orthotic brace to create, wherein, using an automated machine according to one or more data sets by trimming the guidance material. 14. 一种用于制造引导件以在病人牙齿的三维模型上定位一颗或多颗牙齿的方法，所述方法包括：形成所述病人牙齿的至少一个三维模型； 获得表示所述三维模型的至少一部分的初始数字数据集； 处理从所述初始数字数据集得到的数字模型，以将所述至少一颗牙齿从初始位置移动到第一位置；以及从所述数字模型形成第一引导件，其中，所述第一引导件被配置为接收所述至少一颗移动的牙齿以及所述三维模型的至少一颗其他牙齿，以便相对于所述三维模型将所述至少一颗牙齿再定位到所述第一位置。 14. A method for manufacturing a member for positioning one or more teeth on the three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth boot method, the method comprising: forming at least one three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth; represents a three-dimensional model is obtained at least a portion of the initial digital data set; digital model obtained from processing the original digital data sets to the at least one tooth from an initial position to a first position; and a first guide member formed from the digital model, wherein said first guide member being configured to receive at least one other of said at least one tooth of the tooth, and moving the three-dimensional model, the three-dimensional model relative to the at least one tooth for relocation to the said first position. 15. 根据权利要求14所述的方法，进一步包括：处理所述数字模型以将所述至少一颗牙齿从所述第一位置移动到第二位置；以及从所述数字模型形成第二引导件，其中，所述第二引导件被配置为接收所述至少一颗移动的牙齿以及所述三维模型的至少一颗其他牙齿，以便相对于所述三维模型将所述至少一颗牙齿再定位到所述第二位置。 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: processing the digital model of the at least one tooth is moved from the first position to the second position; and a second guide member formed from the digital model wherein said second guide member is configured to receive the at least one tooth and another tooth of the three-dimensional model of the at least one movable, relative to said three-dimensional model of the at least one tooth to relocation the second position. 16. —种用于处理病人牙齿的三维模型以制造一个或多个牙齿定位矫正器的设备，所述设备包括引导件，所述引导件通过计算机指引的制造机器来制造，并具有多个凹部，每个凹部被成形为接收所述模型的牙齿的至少一部分，其中，所述凹部的至少一个被成形为将从所述模型分离的牙齿从初始位置再定位到第一位置，并且其中，成形为再定位所述牙齿的所述至少一个凹部是根据来自被处理的所述病人的数字模型的指令而成形的。 16 - three-dimensional model of a patient's teeth process to produce seed for the positioning of one or more dental aligners, the apparatus comprises a guide member, the guide member produced by the manufacturing machine guidance computer, and having a plurality of recessed portions , each recess is shaped to receive a tooth of said at least a portion of the model, wherein at least a portion of the recess is shaped as separate from the relocation tooth model from the initial position to the first position, and wherein the forming repositioning said teeth of said at least one recess is in accordance with instructions from a digital model of the patient being treated and shaped. 17. 根据权利要求16所述的设备，其中，所述引导件包括表示所述病人的上牙和下牙的咬合模式的三维咬合模式引导件。 17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said guide member comprises a guide pattern showing a three-dimensional engaging member engaging tooth pattern of the patient and on the lower teeth. 18. 根据权利要求16所述的设备，其中，所述引导件包括表面模式，所述表面模式被成形来接收所述至少一颗牙齿的以及所述三维模型的至少一颗另外牙齿的一个或多个表面。 Further one or at least one tooth 18. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said guide member comprises a surface pattern, the surface pattern is to receive the at least one tooth shaped, and the three-dimensional model a plurality of surfaces. 19. 根据权利要求16所述的设备，其中，从固体材料块铣出所述引导件。 19. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the material is milled from a solid block of said guide member. 20. 根据权利要求16所述的设备，其中，多个凹部被成形为在所述三维模型上再定位多颗牙齿，每个凹部被配置为再定位所述牙齿中的一颗。 20. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of recesses are shaped to a multi repositioned teeth on the three-dimensional model, each recess being configured to re-positioning of the teeth of one.

2019-04-23T20:44:39Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/CN101500503A/en

Population variation in dune-dwelling lizards in response to patch size, patch quality, and oil and gas development. The association between availability of habitat and persistence of species is clear, and recent work elucidates how cumulative loss of habitat at large spatial scales erodes capacity of the landscape to sustain biodiversity (pope et al., 2000; Gaston et al., 2003). Farming croplands, extraction of timber, urban development, and construction of roads all contribute to loss of habitat and result in variable configuration of remaining patches of habitat and associated effects on biodiversity (Andren, 1994; Hokit et al., 1999; Fahrig, 2003). For example, with agricultural or urban development, large tracts of land may be converted leading to a few patches of habitat that are relatively isolated. Habitat also is lost to road construction or timber extraction, but the resulting fragmentation may lead to an increase in number of patches and variation in size and isolation of patches. Thus, it is important to understand how land-management practices influence availability and quality of habitats across landscapes. Oil and gas exploration and development began in the 1800s and occurs on large spatial scales spanning hundreds of thousands of hectares (Bureau of Land Management, http://www. blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/energy/oil_and_gas/ lease_sale_notices.html). Yet there are few studies that discuss loss of habitat, scarring of land, and fragmentation caused by this type of land management (Fiori and Zalba, 2003; Schneider et al., 2003; Linke et al., 2005, 2008). During oil and gas development in the southwest, natural habitat is lost and fragmented by networks of caliche (decomposed limestone) roads and well pads. The pattern of landscape fragmentation from oil and gas development is distinct from that caused by farming croplands, clear-cutting, and cattle grazing, and its effects on different forms of biodiversity are even less understood. consequently, investigating responses of species to oil and gas development is warranted. Among squamate reptiles, various forms of habitat loss and fragmentation are considered to be primary drivers of declines in populations (Shine, 1991; Gibbons et al., 2000; Collins and Storfer, 2003; Gardner, 2007). Although farming croplands, deforestation, and cattle grazing were discussed in these reviews, none addressed the potential effects of oil and gas development on reptiles. possible direct and indirect effects of oil and gas development have been documented on other species of invertebrates and vertebrates. For example, changes in community structure of ground beetles (carabidae) were attributed to fragmentation of forest by installation of an oil pipeline (Silverman et al., 2008). Birds have been trapped in oil pits, causing mortalities numbering in the thousands (Trail, 2006). Initiation of nesting by sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) was reduced due to disturbance from oil wells and activity on roads (Lyon and Anderson, 2003), and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) shifted selection of habitat as a result of oil and gas development (sawyer et al., 2006, 2009). Although it is intuitive that oil and gas development will affect reptiles, it also is apparent that species vary in response to change in landscape (Andren, 1992; Bender et al., 1998; Hokit et al., 1999; Vega et al., 2000). Herein, we investigate the response of an assemblage of lizards to various levels of oil and gas development. The goal of our research was to gain insight into thresholds of landscape degradation that elicit responses from habitat specialists versus from an entire assemblage of lizards. The Mescalero Sands ecosystem of southeastern New Mexico and adjacent Texas supports an assemblage of lizards consisting of generalists and specialists that occupy a sand-dune system that is semi-stabilized by shinnery-oak (Quercus havardii). This ecosystem is best described as a restricted system of dune complexes that vary in size and connectivity. Dune complexes themselves are patchy, consisting of open sand-dune depressions, called blowouts, in a matrix of shinnery-oak. size and density of blowouts vary as does topographic complexity of the dunes. Among the seven species of lizards that inhabit the shinnery-oak and sand-dune habitat is the endemic habitat specialist Sceloporus arenicolus (dunes sagebrush lizard). Sceloporus arenicolus has a restricted range (Degenhardt et al., 1996; Fitzgerald and painter, 2009; Laurencio and Fitzgerald, 2010) and is a candidate for listing as endangered or threatened (united states Fish and Wildlife Service, 2009). This species occurs exclusively in and around sand-dune blowouts and it prefers relatively large blowouts based on availability in the landscape (Chan et al., 2009; Fitzgerald and painter, 2009). other species of lizards use both sand-dune blowouts and the surrounding matrix of shinnery-oak. conservation status of S. arenicolus has drawn attention of natural-resource agencies, the oil and gas industry, conservation organizations, private landowners, and other stakeholders. All stakeholders are interested in knowing more about natural variation in populations of S. arenicolus, both temporally and spatially, especially in the context of oil and gas development. The patchy nature of this shinnery-oak-sand-dune habitat, the species of lizards that use it, and the ongoing development of oil and gas resources within the Mescalero sands ecosystem present an excellent system for studying relationships between quality and quantity of habitat patches, abundance of lizards, and effects of land conversion to caliche roads and well pads on both habitat and abundance of lizards. As such, we asked, what is the association between patch size (blowouts) and total patch area on abundance of lizards, especially for the specialist S. arenicolus, and what are the effects of networks of caliche roads on sand-dune blowouts? Blowouts represent important patches of habitat in the shinnery-oak, sand-dune matrix that are used by various dune-dwelling lizards, and size of individual blowouts (patch size) is a measure of habitat quality. Based on occupation by S. arenicolus, dune complexes with a high density of large, deep, sand-dune blowouts is presumed superior habitat to areas with small numbers of small blowouts. in addition to loss of habitat due to outright conversion of the surface from natural habitat to packed caliche, the network of roads and well pads may also influence quality of remaining habitat by disrupting geomorphologic processes that create and maintain blowouts. For example, after fragmentation, remaining blowouts may be smaller in size and, thus, poorer quality for lizards. we predicted that abundance of lizards would increase with greater numbers of sand-dune blowouts and larger size of blowouts. we also predicted a decrease in number of lizards at sites with more oil and gas development. we tested these predictions by counting lizards and quantifying variation in size of individual blowouts and total area of blowouts at multiple study sites with varying amounts of caliche roads and well pads, then correlating number of lizards to quality and quantity of blowouts, and to amount of caliche. Because oil and gas development may affect S. arenicolus and other species of lizards that occupy the Mescalero Sands ecosystem, results of this research are directly applicable to land management and conservation (Mac Nally et al., 2002). This study is the first to provide insight into effects of alteration of habitat associated with oil and gas development on herpetofauna. MATERIALS AND METHODS--Study sites in the Mescalero Sands ecosystem were in Chaves, Eddy, and Lea counties, New Mexico. This ecosystem is characterized by stabilized and semi-stabilized dunes interspersed with shinnery-oak, sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia), bunchgrasses (Aristida, Schizachyrium, Andropogon), and sandy hummocks with honey mesquites (Prosopis glandulosa). we quantified abundance of lizards at 11 sites (Fig. 1) based on presence of shinnery-oak-sand-dune habitat, presence of S. arenicolus, and amount of oil and gas development. Our indicator of oil and gas development on the landscape was total surface area of caliche, which was the total area of oil-well pads and roads in a 259-ha area of shinnery-oak-sand-dune habitat surrounding transects at each study site. This spatial scale was large enough to include caliche-covered well pads and roads that immediately surrounded transects. we used ArcMap, version 9.0 (Environmental Systems Research institute, inc., Redlands, California) to quantify total surface area of caliche. The New Mexico State Land Office (in litt.) provided GIS data that included locations of oil wells and roads. Size of well pads was standardized at 6,400 m2 and roads were standardized at 4 m wide. The 4-m width of roads was conservative based on guidelines for construction of caliche roads suggested by the New Mexico Commission of Public Records (http://www.nmcpr.state.nm.us/NMAC/parts/ title19/19.002.0020.htm ) and the chaves county commission (http://co.chaves.nm.us/agendas/2006/101906/ 101906-A3.pdf m). Total area of blowouts at sites was our measure of quantity of habitat because blowouts are integral to the shinnery-oak-sand-dune habitat, they are used by multiple species of lizards, they are a critical feature of habitat for S. arenicolus, and they provide thermoregulatory sites for other species of lizards (Sartorius et al., 2002). Sceloporus arenicolus inhabits larger blowouts based on availability in occupied habitat; thus, larger blowouts are considered to be better quality of habitat than smaller blowouts. Many small blowouts can provide the same total area of blowouts as a few large blowouts; for this reason, quantity of habitat does not necessarily equal quality of habitat. We measured area of each blowout within the 11,259-ha sites in ArcMap 9.0 (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., Redlands, California) to determine average size of blowout available to dune-dwelling lizards. A polygon shape file of all blowouts was created from aerial photographs taken in 2004 and obtained from the New Mexico State Land Office (in litt.). Mean size of blowout for the entire site was our index of site-wide quality of habitat. We quantified encounters of lizards per unit effort by time from line transects conducted in May-July 2005 and 2006. Number of transects at a site was 8-48 due to availability of personnel. We standardized data on abundance of lizards by converting raw counts to encounters per unit effort for each transect and for all transects at a site (site-wide encounters of lizards per unit effort). To compute site-wide encounters of lizards per unit effort we divided total minutes of searching effort by total number of lizards counted at a site. All transects were 25 min in duration. Transects were standardized by time because in studies of lizards, the correlation between number of individuals seen and time spent searching might be more meaningful than number of individuals seen over distance. All transects were surveyed during 0800-1300 h. Transects were not surveyed during rain or when substrate temperature was (<20 or >50[degrees]C). Transects were located randomly within shinnery-oak-sand-dune habitat after presence of S. arenicolus was verified. we did not consider other types of habitats, because S. arenicolus does not use them. As such, our results only apply to effects of oil and gas development on lizards in the shinnery-oak-sand-dune habitat. We used a Kruskall-Wallis test to search for differences in quality of habitat (size of blowout) among sites, with size of individual blowouts as the sample unit. This was followed by a Nemenyi test (nonparametric Tukey test) for post-hoc multiple comparisons, with the standard error adjusted for unequal samples (Zar, 1999). Quality and quantity of habitat may be correlated and consequently confound our conclusions regarding the relationship between total area of blowouts, mean size of blowout, total surface area of caliche, and abundance of lizards. Thus, we used linear regression to test for a relationship between mean size of blowout (site-wide quality of habitat) and total area of blowouts (quantity of habitat), with total area of blowouts as the independent variable. We analyzed pooled encounters of lizards per unit effort for all lizards combined, and separately for S. arenicolus. we used analysis of variance and a Kruskal-Wallis test to compare encounters of lizards per unit effort collectively and of S. arenicolus among sites. Encounters of lizards per unit effort for each transect was the sample unit in these tests. We used a Tukey test and an adjusted Nemenyi test for post-hoc multiple comparisons. We computed linear regressions on site-wide encounters of lizards per unit effort against total surface area of caliche, total area of blowouts, and mean size of blowout for S. arenicolus and lizards collectively to test the null hypotheses of no relationship between abundance of lizards and oil and gas development, quantity of habitat, and quality of habitat. When necessary, data for encounters of lizards per unit effort were log-transformed prior to analysis to homogenize variances of groups and to meet assumptions of normality (Zar, 1999). RESULTS--Range for total surface area of caliche among the 11 sites was 1.32-23.88 ha (mean = 9.23, SD = 8.24, n = 11; Table 1). A site that contained 23.88 ha of total surface area of caliche had [less than or equal to] 9% of the area comprised of oil and gas development. Range for total area of blowouts among the 11 sites was 14.47-50.82 ha (mean = 31.31, SD = 10.50, n = 11). A site that contained [less than or equal to] 50.82 ha of total area of blowouts translated to 10% of the area comprised of blowouts. The rest of the area within our 259-ha sites was shinnery-oak vegetation. There were significant differences in quality of habitat (size of blowout) among sites ([[chi square].sub.10] = 3,348.39, P < 0.01; Fig. 2). Quality and quantity of habitat were significantly and positively correlated. of the variation in quality of habitat among sites, 41% was explained by quantity of habitat (total area of blowout; [R.sup.2] = 0.41, P < 0.03; Fig. 3), suggesting that quality of habitat is linked to amount of habitat. The prediction that oil and gas development should be associated with fewer and smaller sand-dune blowouts was not supported. There was no significant correlation between total surface area of caliche and total area of blowouts nor between total surface area of caliche and mean size of blowout (r = -0.32, P < 0.34; r = --0.08, P < 0.82). All sites were chosen because they were in shinnery-oak-sand-dune habitat, and sites with the most area converted to packed caliche still had moderate (10%) total area of blowouts (Table 1). We encountered 1,321 lizards (0.232 lizards/ min) of seven species on 227 transects at the 11 sites. The Texas horned lizard Phyrnosoma cornutum was seen only on two transects; thus, it was excluded from analyses. These six species made up the collective dataset; the side-blotched lizard Uta stansburiana (0.081 lizards/min) was the most frequently detected followed by S. arenicolus (0.046 lizards/min), the marbled whiptail Aspidoscelis marmoratus (0.036 lizards/min), the lesser earless lizard Holbrookia maculata (0.016 lizards/ min), the six-lined race runner Aspidoscelis sexlineatus (0.009 lizards/min), and the prairie lizard Sceloporus consobrinus (0.006 lizards/min). Mean encounters of lizards per unit effort varied significantly among sites for lizards collectively and nearly so for S. arenicolus (F10,215 = 8.78, P < 0.01; [[chi square].sub.10] = 57.35, P < 0.06, respectively; Fig. 4, Tables 2 and 3). Site-wide encounters of lizards per unit effort was correlated with total area of blowouts for lizards collectively ([R.sup.2] = 0.59, [beta] = 0.77, P < 0.01; Fig. 5a) indicating a positive relationship between abundance of lizards and quantity of habitat. We did not detect a significant relationship between site-wide encounters of S. arenicolus per unit effort and total area of blowouts ([R.sup.2] = 0.27, b = 0.57, P < 0.12; Fig. 5b). Large variation in encounters of S. arenicolus per unit effort among sites with large total area of blowouts reduced the ability of linear regression to detect a relationship between the two variables. interestingly, there was no strong relationship between quality of habitat (mean size of blowout) and abundances for lizards collectively or for S. arenicolus ([R.sup.2] = 0.10, P < 0.33; [R.sup.2] = 0.01, P < 0.76, respectively). We did not detect significant relationships between encounters of lizards per unit effort and total surface area of caliche for lizards collectively or for S. arenicolus ([R.sup.2] = 0.05, P < 0.50; [R.sup.2] = 0.07, P < 0.45, respectively). Sites with 9% of the surface area converted to caliche had similar mean encounters of lizards per unit effort to sites that had 1% of the area converted (Table 1). The lack of significant predictive relationships between total surface area of caliche and encounters of lizards per unit effort of lizards collectively and S. arenicolus indicated that differences in abundance of lizards among sites could not be attributed to total surface area of caliche. DISCUSSION--Our results clearly showed that abundance of lizards varied significantly and in complex ways across the landscape of the Mescalero Sands ecosystem. Total amount of blowout and mean size of blowout in the habitat also varied across the landscape. Quantity and quality of habitat were positively correlated. There was a significant predictive relationship between total area of blowouts and mean size of blowout, indicating that quality of habitat (i.e., size of patch) for lizards in shinnery-oak sand-dunes depended on extent of habitat. Moreover, abundance of lizards also was associated positively with extent of habitat. Abundances of S. arenicolus also varied across the landscape, and our results suggest that extent of sand-dune blowouts in the surrounding landscape was an important determinant of these abundances, although total area of blowouts could not explain entirely the observed pattern among sites. The relationship between total area of blowouts and encounters of S. arenicolus per unit effort was positive and explained 27% of variance in the dataset (Fig. 5b), but this relationship was not significant. Lack of a stronger statistical pattern for S. arenicolus was due to small mean encounters per unit effort and considerable variation among sites. For example, mean values were zero at one site and close to zero at several sites (Fig. 5b). other factors associated with fragmentation (e.g., isolation of patch) or meta-population dynamics (Hanski and Gilpin, 1991; Hokit et al., 1999) may also have influenced the patterns of abundance that we observed. populations of lizards studied in other patchy environments showed responses similar to what we detected. Area of habitat was correlated with abundances of nine species of squamates in the patchy Florida scrub (McCoy and Mushinsky, 1999). In a coastal-dune system in Argentina, a habitat specialist, the sand dune lizard Liolaemus multimaculatus, nearly disappeared within 7 years after construction of a road reduced its habitat by 90% (Vega et al., 2000). Thus, it is likely that populations of S. arenicolus exhibit similar responses and were correlated with area of blowouts in the habitat. Despite specialization of S. arenicolus on sand-dune blowouts and its presence in relatively large patches (Chan et al., 2009; Fitzgerald and painter, 2009), we did not find a significant relationship between average size of patch (mean size of blowout) and encounters of S. arenicolus per unit effort, or for all lizards combined. Although there is evidence that abundance of S. arenicolus and other species of lizards increase with size of patch (Fitzgerald and painter, 2009), the form of the relationship is not clear, e.g., the relationship may be curvilinear or a step-function. understanding size of populations and demographic variation among dune-dwelling lizards in relation to size of patch is a topic currently being studied. We demonstrated that area of habitat and size of patch co-varied, but it was difficult to disentangle effects of size of patch from quantity of habitat. Size of patch is correlated with abundance, survivorship, and recruitment in other lizards studied at single sites (Hokit and Branch, 2003a, 2003b). Thus, we predict both features probably are important to lizards in the Mescalero Sands ecosystem. importantly, effects of area and size of patch on abundance of lizards probably also are scale-dependent. Sandel and Smith (2009) pointed out three basic observations from which scale-dependence arises: abundance increases with area, environmental conditions vary across space, and the effect of an organism on its environment is spatially limited. our analyses demonstrated the first two conditions clearly exist for lizards in shinnery-oak-sand-dune habitats, and we may presume that environmental effects on local populations of lizards, especially the specialist S. arenicolus, were independent among our study sites. interestingly, because of scale-dependence between area of habitat (total area of blowouts) and size of patch (mean size of blowout) among geographically dispersed sites in the Mescalero Sands ecosystem, effects of patch size at individual sites probably were not detected in our study. At the regional scale, habitat area (total area of blowouts) apparently drives abundance, whereas patch size may determine local abundance of lizards. Furthermore, variation in abundances of lizards across the Mescalero Sands ecosystem probably did not correspond to only two habitat variables and one measure of landscape alteration. Changes in vegetation, for example, affect abundances of lizards (Jellinek et al., 2004). Abundances of S. undulatus and H. maculata remained relatively stable during initial years of brush encroachment on a dune landscape, but then declined after the open vegetation on dunes was significantly reduced (Ballinger and Watts, 1995). We did not quantify vegetative cover in patches of sand-dune blowouts, but we could see differences in diversity of grasses and plants in blowouts at the study sites. Thus, it is reasonable to speculate that vegetative differences also were associated with abundances of S. arenicolus and other species of lizards. indeed, there is evidence that S. arenicolus is sensitive to changes in cover and type of vegetation. Numbers of S. arenicolus decreased by 78% within 5 years at sites where shinnery-oak was removed by spraying with herbicide compared to paired control sites (H. L. Snell et al., in litt.). Since the time when shinnery-oak was killed at those study sites >15 years ago, dune blowouts became vegetated with grasses and forbs, blowouts became smaller and flatter, and S. arenicolus was no longer present. Despite the observation that areas of the landscape in the Mescalero Sands ecosystem have been fragmented extensively by oil and gas development, we did not find clear statistical evidence to support our hypotheses that oil and gas development at our study sites had a direct negative effect on quantity of habitat, quality of habitat, and populations of lizards. Thus, we did not detect a threshold for which oil and gas development correlated to reduced abundances of dune-dwelling lizards, or of S. arenicolus specifically. Among the 11 sites scattered throughout the Mescalero Sands ecosystem, total area of blowouts and mean size of blowout were variable, and we could not control for natural variation in habitats in our analyses. For example, the two sites with greatest total area of blowouts, Maljamar and Connor Well, had low abundance of S. arenicolus (Table 1). These sites also had relatively low total surface area of caliche (5 and 1%, respectively). in contrast, Hobbs SE had relatively low total surface area of caliche, total area of blowouts, and mean size of blowout, yet had the highest encounters of S. arenicolus per unit effort. In addition to natural variation in area of habitat and patchiness among sites, stochastic variation in populations of lizards among sites further confounded our ability to detect effects of conversion of land to caliche, if such effects exist. All studies of lizard populations have documented spatial and temporal variation in vital rates that determine population growth and size. A classic 11-year study of the sagebrush lizard Sceloporus graciosus (closest relative of S. arenicolus) documented two-fold differences in population size between two sites and among years at each site (Tinkle et al., 1993). Distinguishing variation in natural populations from variation caused by anthropogenic mechanisms can be challenging, especially when long-term data on populations are not available (Tinkle, 1979; Pechmann et al., 1991; Tilman et al., 1994). in the face of demographic stochasticity such as this, it becomes extremely difficult to ascertain the cause of differences in populations among multiple sites, even with long-term data (Fitzgerald, 1994). Our work represents the first attempts to enumerate lizard populations in the Mescalero Sands ecosystem (Smolensky, 2008; Smolensky and Fitzgerald, 2010; this study). This is the first study to investigate effects of oil and gas development on a dune-dwelling assemblage of lizards, and our results provide insights for future research and establishment of monitoring protocols. What is the next step? Research on landscape fragmentation and connectivity, and on associations among landscape metrics and occurrence of S. arenicolus at multiple scales is needed to gain better insight into what factors, and at which spatial scale, best predict persistence of this species and other lizards. A good approach to directly elucidate effects of oil and gas development, or other disturbances on populations of lizards at individual sites, would be long-term studies coupled with before-after-control-intervention experiments (Murtaugh, 2002; Stewart-oaten, 2003). We thank C. M. Bell, H. Boostrom, B. Bowers, D. Henderson, M. Hill, R. Jennings and his field class, D. Laurencio, R. Loughridge, and C. W. Painter for assistance in the field. L. 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SCVHistory.com | William S. Hart | Boy, 6, at Center of MacCaulley Paternity Swindle (Part I: 1923). Lucy Webb Furigo with son Robert John Webb, who was at the center of a paternity swindle against actor William S. Hart. International Newsreel Photo. Original photographic print, approx. 6x8 inches, from an unidentified newspaper archive. Published June 28, 1923. BOSTON ... Mrs. Lucy Webb Furigo is pictures above with her son Robert John Webb, the boy who had been mentioned as the son of William S. Hart, movie star. Mrs. Furigo said that Miss Elizabeth MacCaulley had posed as a wealthy woman and sought to adopt the boy, who is now six years old. Without having signed the legal papers, Miss MacCaulley is said to have taken the boy to California where she sought to foist him as the son of Bill Hart. Mrs. Furigo said she is glad the motion picture star was absolved of guilt in the case. The boy was later found in a hospital, seriously ill. As indicated, Furigo was not the person who ran the con. Rather, the perpetrator was Elizabeth MacCaulley, who had agreed to purchase the boy from Furigo (née Webb) in a private adoption but allegedly never completed the transaction. The first half the story, which starts with an awkward encounter in 1916 and takes us to 1923, is set forth below. The episode interrupted Hart's film career and can't have helped his failing marriage. There's a second half to the story in 1938-1939. According to researcher Tricia Lemon Putnam, MacCaulley's real name was McCaulley, but she changed the spelling. The McCaulleys were a prestigious family in Delaware. Elizabeth's father was an attorney, her brother went to Yale, and both she and her sister, Martha, attended Wellesley College and travelled abroad frequently. She didn't go after Hart for the money; rather, she was an obsessed, lovesick fan (a word that derives, appropriately enough, from "fanatic"). Elizabeth and sister Martha eventually moved to California, and both died as spinsters in Los Angeles County, Elizabeth in 1964. Following news articles courtesy of Tricia Lemon Putnam. Riverside (Calif.) Daily Press | March 27, 1923, pg. 1. Los Angeles, March 27. — William S. Hart, two-gunman of the movies, haggard and worn after a lengthy conference this afternoon, issued a lengthy statement to the press in which he mentioned his estranged wife, Winifred Westover Hart in connection with the revealing of accusations of a Boston school teacher, to the effect that he is the father of her unnamed child. "It has been my policy to refuse to answer all attacks made upon me by Mrs. Hart through the public press, or otherwise," the statement said. "Some months ago, when it was stated in the press that documents were being prepared and a suit for divorce about to be filed charging me with physical violence toward my wife, I made a brief statement branding the charges as villainous, malicious, and wicked falsehoods. "Since that time, seven months ago, against all attacks made upon me, I have remained silent. Nor would I speak now except to protect absolutely the interests of my only son. "I deny that I am the father of any child other than my son, born to Mrs. Hart, September 6, 1922. "I deny that I ever made any trust or other provision for the support of any child other than my own son above mentioned. "At the present time, under settlement made May 12, 1922, my wife is receiving from me $19,400 yearly and she has $103,000 held in trust for her. "All this stuff which was printed in a paper here today is false and is evidently given out by Mrs. Hart for the purpose of coercing me and forcing me to comply with her further demands. "My son has $100,000 held in trust for him." The statement was prompted by publication in a Los Angeles paper today of what purported to be charges of a "Miss E.M." said to be a Boston, Mass., teacher, that in 1916 she became the mother of a child of which Hart, the story quoted the statement as saying, was the supposed father. The woman was said in the story to have obtained an agreement from Hart under which he contributed $50 per month to the child's support. This agreement, it was declared, was made after the woman had made a written statement to District Attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine. She was described as the daughter of a former lawyer living in Delaware, and as a Wellesley graduate, now aged 35. The story said she met Hart in Los Angeles after coming to Southern California at the close of a trip with her mother to Denver. Associated Press | As published in San Diego Evening Tribune | March 28, 1923, pg. 17. Los Angeles, March 28. — Detailed denials from William S. ("Bill") Hart, motion picture actor, and his wife, Winifred Westover Hart, screen actress, of charges that Hart was the father of a child born Sept. 3, 1917, to a Boston school teacher, and that Mrs. Hart planned to incorporate the charges in a divorce complaint, became public today. Hart denied categorically the paternity of any child other than William S. Hart, jr., born to his present wife, and declares he never had "made any trust of other provisions for the support of any child other than my own son above mentioned." Mrs. Hart's denial was issued through her attorney, who added, "the incident would have no bearing on the case, even if we did want to use it." Records in the district attorney's office showed a stenographic record of accusations made Dec. 6, 1918, by Elizabeth MacCaulley in the presence of Hart and Thomas Lee Woolwine, district attorney, to the effect she had visited the actor in his apartments here two years previously, and that a child had been born to her in New York in September, 1917. According to Asa Keyes, chief deputy district attorney, Hart although denying the accusation, brought the conference to a close by executing a trust deed for the child, for whose support he agreed to pay $50 a month. Hart's attorney accompanied the actor to the conference, Keyes said. Film Star's Accusation of Part in Baby Expose Branded as "Dastardly Lie" While Mrs. Winifred Westover Hart was denouncing yesterday an insinuation that she was responsible for an attack on the character of her husband, William S. Hart, the film actor, was issuing a statement in which he denied paternity of a Boston school-teacher's child, and blamed his estranged wife for the charges. The suggestion that Mrs. Hart contemplated bringing the charges in her suit for divorce against the well-known actor was branded by her as a lie at the same time that her husband's statement blaming her was given out. "All this stuff which is printed about me is false," Bill Hart said in the statement issued by his attorney, James G. Scarborough, "and is evidently given out by Mrs. Hart for the purpose of coercing me and forcing me to comply with her further demands." "I have no further interest in the past life of Mr. Hart," Winifred Westover Hart said yesterday. "What he did before he married me is of no concern to me." Sitting in her machine in front of her West Twenty-seventh street home, Mrs. Hart, her voice emphatic and eyes sparkling with anger, branded as a "dastardly, cowardly and despicable lie" the veiled printed newspaper statement that she would probably incorporate in her divorce complaint the charges made public yesterday in which her husband is asserted to be the father of a child born to a Boston school-teacher, Elizabeth MacCaulley. Her mother, Mrs. Clyde Westover, now and then nodded approval of her daughter's condemnation and frequently added a word of suggestion. "I do hope those charges are not true," Mrs. Hart said. "Of course I am not going to charge such stuff in my complaint. Mr. Hart's past, before I married him doesn't concern me, and I couldn't include that in my complaint if I wanted to. I think that the whole suggestion is cowardly and contemptible. I never had any such intention, and couldn't have, for I don't know the woman, and never knew anything about it until this morning." Little Bill squirmed in this mother's arm and patted her cheek with one small hand. His long upper lip and small eyes reflected the image of his father. "If those charges are true Mr. Hart should be made to pay, but if they are not, the woman should be punished for blackmail," Mrs. Hart continued. "But it makes me thoroughly furious when it is implied that I would include these charges of events said to have happened before Mr. Hart and I were married in 1921, in my complaint. "If the truth must be known, my attorney and I have never even drawn the complaint up. I don't believe in divorce and never did. I was raised in a convent and probably absorbed some of that teaching. And if our entire affair had never been made public at first, there might have been a reconciliation." Mrs. Hart paused and gently stroked the sparsely covered head of little Bill, the fuzzy red hair just beginning to show under the white stocking cap. "The charges made by that teacher make out little Bill's father as a rogue," Mrs. Hart said. "It is hard on me, God knows that it is, and it is hard on little Bill here, but thank God he is too young to understand it all. He weighs 21 pounds now and is going to be a great boy when he grows up. "Did I ever hear of that woman? Never. I tell you the first time that I knew anything about it was this morning when I saw the complete story in another newspaper. I haven't the remotest idea who she might be, and I am certainly sorry that such an incident has been brought to the attention of the public. "My only thoughts, if the charges are true, are with the poor nameless child and with the mother, but if they are not the truth the woman should be punished for her accusations." In the statement issued by Mr. Hart, at the office of his attorney, he says that it has always been against his policy to "answer attacks made upon me by Mrs. Hart through the public press or otherwise. "Some months ago when it was stated in the press that documents were being prepared and a suit for divorce about to be filed charging me with physical violence toward my wife, I made a brief statement branding these charges as villainous, malicious and wicked falsehoods," Mr. Hart continued. "Since that time, seven months ago, against all attacks made upon me I have remained silent. Nor would I speak now, except to protect absolutely the interests of my only son." Mr. Hart then declared that everything that had been printed in reference to his asserted relations with Miss MacCaulley several years ago was absolutely false and denied the paternity of any child other than the one born to his present wife, Mrs. Hart on Sept. 6, 1922. "I deny that I ever made any trust, or other provision, for the support of any child other than my own above mentioned," Mr. Hart continued in his statement. "At the present time, under settlement made May 12, 1922, my wife is receiving from me $19,400 yearly and she has $103,000 held in trust for her. My son has $100,000 held in trust for him. All these published attacks have evidently been made to coerce me into paying more money, and this is plainly shown by the following letters written by one of the biggest film producers in the United States, whose name it is not necessary to publish, written to William Grossman, my attorney in New York City." Los Angeles. Jan 12, 1923: "Mr. Billy Grossman. Grossman, Morehouse and Grossman, New York City, N.Y. "Dear Billy: Mrs. Hart's attorney called me up over the phone and informed me that he have to take action against Bill. I asked him to call on me at my office as in accordance with our conversation, I was anxious to stop any additional foolish and unnecessary publicity on the subject. It seems that he considers the agreement in existence today — quoting the attorney verbatim — 'against public policy,' as the agreement calls for Winifred's getting in possession of the money on the condition that she gets the divorce. Now, the attorney suggests that Bill pay Winifred $150,000, and that will be all the property settlement that she will ever expect with the exception of the money that Bill has settled on the boy. On receipt of that amount her attorney will start action for divorce if it is agreeable and suitable to your client. The grounds for this action will be entirely under your supervision. Please understand that I could not inject myself into this matter for any other reason than of being of service to you. Mr. William Grossman, 1475 Broadway, New York City, N.Y. My dear Billy: I hope you realize that my intervention in the Hart matter was due to my desire to be of use to you. I know that a man is a darn fool to ever inject himself into anything that is not his business, as his motive may be misconstrued. I am not accusing you of misconstruing my motives, but I am quite sure that Mr. Hart may do so. As far as I personally am concerned, I believe that Mr. Hart has been extremely generous to both his wife and his child in the matter of settlement, and I told Mrs. Hart's attorney so. The only reason for my letter of January 12, was to convey to you just the message given to me by her attorney, more for your information than anything else. It was also learned from an unimpeachable source yesterday that the sum of $50 a month which it is said was settled on the Boston teacher's child for its welfare was executed by certain motion-picture producing interests, who had Hart's interests at heart, and without his sanction or his knowledge. It was also stated from reputable sources that the first time that Hart is asserted to have seen the woman who made the charges against him was when he was confronted by her in the office of the District Attorney. Attorney Scarborough also denied that Hart had agreed to the settlement of any such sum and defied anyone to produce any such agreement with Hart's signature upon it. Mr. Scarborough also said that investigation had shown that the child had never been born to the mother at the place she named nor did the doctor she had named ever attend her. Mr. Scarborough intimated that further sensational developments might take place after a better investigation has been made. "We have been negotiating with Mr. Hart for a year to a year and a half in an effort to get him to come back to the screen, but without success. He has not accepted any offer we have made. If he does appear on the screen it will be on the Paramount program. The last sentence definitely quashes a rumor current yesterday that a tentative agreement between Mr. Hart and the Lasky company had been canceled because of publicity connecting the exponent of western drama with the eastern school-teacher. Reports current in motion-picture circles were to the effect that Mr. Hart was to produce four pictures under the Lasky banner immediately after his divorce suit. The matter was being held open, no contract or agreement having been signed, a verbal understanding taking their place, it was said. For business and personal reasons, Mr. Hart was supposed to be deferring his return to the screen until his divorce. "I can state positively that no agreement, tentative or otherwise exists between Mr. Hart and the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. And since there is no agreement, it cannot be canceled, of course. Everyone understands that Mr. Hart will come out of retirement sooner or later, but there is no definite reason to suppose that he will be connected with us." Two hours later, Mr. Eyton issued the statement in which he declared that if Mr. Hart returns to the screen, it will be on the Paramount program, allowing the inference to be drawn that an understanding to that effect exists. Mr. Eyton's contradiction of his earlier statement gives rise to the belief that the adverse publicity has not affected Mr. Hart's status with the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. The statement of Miss Elizabeth MacCaulley, who signed her name as "Betty" to the numerous letters which she is asserted to have sent to Hart, was made before William C. Doran, then Deputy District Attorney, Mrs. Georgia Bullock, Deputy District Attorney, and Arthur J. Hughes, court reporter, Dec. 6, 1918, in the office of the District Attorney. In the statement Miss MacCaulley said she was 35 years of age at the time, was a graduate of Wellesley College and had been an instructor in one of the fashionable schools for girls in Boston. She stated that as she had been intensely[?] interested in drama and its new form, meaning motion pictures. She said she had written to Bill Hart and he had replied with the usual stereotyped form that is usually sent to film star admirers. Miss MacCaulley said that she visited Los Angeles in 1917, coming from Colorado where she had been taking a vacation. Her main purpose was to visit a girl friend, a former schoolmate. While here she called Mr. Hart at the Triangle studios near Culver City. "I have always met people on the stage," Miss MacCaulley said in her statement. "I have met them at studios and at tea and they have a certain amount of manners; he has no manners at all; and they usually have clothes, they like to appear very well and that sort of thing, but he is extremely gruff and very different but the next day I got this note from him asking me to go to dinner with him and his sister Mary. He is homely and looks like a horse and an Indian. I was interested in drama and I was interested in talking with him. "Instead, he watched the people that passed and he looked like a wooden Indian. It never occurred to me that I would see him again. It seemed strange to me that he would invite a person out to dinner and sit there and not see one. When I would communicate adverse criticism, he would turn on me and say, 'How could you ever take such an opinion?' And once in a while he would turn a perfectly charming smile, and then he flaunted his money in front of the waiters and talked quite loud. I noticed most of these things, if you don't, in any actor." Later Miss MacCaulley said: "I am crazy about the man, he stood there and looked like a wooden Indian outside of a cigar store and it struck me so strange that [his] sister Mary was so nice, and I thought she must have an awful life living with him. She said how good Bill was to her and how good he had been to his mother." In another place in her statement Miss MacCaulley said that Hart in one of his replies asked her to write to the Triangle Film owners at New York and tell them what she thought about his pictures. "I thought that he was flattering me and sister Mary says 'He sits up late at night answering these letters,' and I thought that I was one of them." Miss MacCaulley said that following the departure of his sister, Hart called her up at midnight and asked her to dinner for the following Sunday. "That is where it all began. I don't have faith in men, but I have never known them this way, and I don't know a man who is so regardless of conventionalities or anything of the sort. I know he is a highly individual personality. I think that he is about as wild as they make them. He has a lovely side. He makes any statement he wants, he says anything he wants. The first time I was with him I knew that he made a terrible lie that made me feel I couldn't believe a word he said afterwards. People speak highly of his silence, about his wonderful training I felt that it hid him, he used it in the wrong way." Miss MacCaulley said that the relationship continued between herself and Hart until the end of January when his sister came home. About a month later she returned to the East and later learned of her condition. Letters which she stated were written to Hart by her were ignored by him when she endeavored to communicate with him during his visit to Boston on a Liberty Loan campaign tour, he refused to speak with her, according to her statement. No letters were ever received from Hart after she left Los Angeles, Miss MacCaulley stated. After the birth of her child on Sept. 3, 1917, Miss MacCaulley said she returned to Los Angeles. Repeated letters to Hart had remained unanswered, she said. Her mother, Miss MacCaulley said, was shocked when she told her she had met Bill Hart. "She said he was dreadful, but in spite of all that I think that he is fascinating. I don't think that I am insane; I admit that I might be crazy." Regarding financial settlement for the care of the child. Miss MacCaulley said that the $100 a month which she received from her mother was not enough. "I am not foolish about money. I don't think that it has anything to do with happiness or anything of that sort, but I had thought if I could take an apartment and bring that child in and have it in my own home where I could watch it, where I could have it trained and well educated, that was my right legally. It looks to me as if he owes me assistance and protection too." Miss MacCaulley then detailed her final conversation with Hart in which he is asserted to have hung up the telephone receiver, abruptly terminating the conversation. "He said: 'I don't see why I should.' Then there was a silence and he had disappeared from the telephone, quietly putting up the receiver." Miss MacCaulley said it was that incident that determined her in visiting the District Attorney's office, as she had no money with which to hire a lawyer. Special to The News Standard. Boston, March 29. — Winifred Westover Hart, pretty blonde wife of William S. Hart, is responsible for the revelations of the tragic love story of Elizabeth MacCaulay [sic, s/b MacCaulley], Wellesley graduate, who charges the screen idol is the father of her 5-year old son. Due to the efforts of the young wife to unearth evidence for her divorce suit, this tragedy, which the cultured woman believed hidden forever, has been dragged into the light. "I have been crushed between the wheels," said Miss MacCaulay. "I am the victim of the domestic troubles of Bill Hart and his wife who wants his money. My terrible story would never have been revealed had it not been for Mrs. Hart's effort to get evidence for her divorce suit. "I thought my story was safe. I never dreamed it would be flaunted before the world to my shame and the shame of my family. And, it seems ironic that it should be tossed to the winds by a woman who wants to blacken the name of a man I once loved." "I have drunk the cup of sorrow to its bitter dregs. And bitterest of all is the realization that after all my grief the man I loved was not what I believed him." She said she had attempted to see Hart in Los Angeles and he refused. "When I discovered my condition," she said, "my first impulse was to go to him. I felt he would help me. "I went to his studio and asked to see him but he refused to give me a chance to share my terrible secret with him." She said she was bewildered by the problems that beset her and was unable to make a definite plans. She faced the painful necessity of informing her brother and sister, both of whom are eminent in intellectual circles. Her sister, Bertha [sic, s/b Martha], was formerly dean of women at St. Louis University. She is now in Europe. Her brother, Maj. Samuel White MacCaulay, is a well-known Chicago engineer. Los Angeles, March 28. — Detailed denials from William S. Hart, motion picture actor, and his wife, Winifred Westover Hart, screen actress, of charges that Hart was the father of a child born September 3, 1917, to a Boston school teacher, and that Mrs. Hart planned to incorporate the charges in a divorce complaint, became public yesterday. Records in the district attorney's office showed a stenographic record of accusations made December 6, 1918, by Elizabeth MacCaulley in the presence of Hart and Thomas Lee Woolwine, district attorney, to the effect she had visited the actor in his apartments here two years previously and that a child had been born to her in New York in September, 1917. Elizabeth MacCaulley, Who Accused Actor Says She Only Wanted to See Him. Boston, May 24. — Miss Elizabeth MacCaulley, who charged recently that William S. Hart, motion picture star was the father of her baby, admitted in an exclusive statement to the New York American tonight that she had borrowed the child from another woman, and that her charge against Hart was totally false. Miss MacCaulley, a middle-aged Brooklyn woman and a graduate of Wellesley college, said that the whole idea of trying to foist a child on Hart was only an irrepressible and unrestrainable effort of a woman to win a man's heart. The baby, which was taken before the prosecutor at Los Angeles, under the name of "Rupert Leigh," and declared to be her child by Hart, is in reality the son of Mrs. Lucy Webb, who lives in a suburb of Boston, Miss MacCaulley confessed. "It is true that I never bore a child to Mr. Hart," said Miss MacCaulley. "I have got myself into a terrible mess. I never wanted to hurt Bill Hart. I never dreamed this would become public. And I have a reason. It might not mean much to you but it means everything to me. "He would not see me and I wanted to force him to see me. That is the reason. There was a misunderstanding. He was determined not to see me and I was determined that he would. It was a battle of wills." Miss MacCaulley is past 40 and her hair has been gray since she was 26, she said. It was in 1917 that Miss MacCaulley first made her charge against Hart, but the matter did not become public until Hart was separated from his wife, Winifred Westover, also a movie star. International News Service | As published in San Diego Evening Tribune | May 25, 1923, pg. 27. Los Angeles, May 25. — William S. Hart, "two gun" man of the movies, today declined to comment on the statements of Miss Elizabeth MacCaulley of Brookline, Mass., a Wellesley graduate, exonerating him of her previous charge that he was the father of her child. "I would like to say something," Hart said, "but the matter is entirely in the hands of my lawyer, J. H. Scarborough." Hart said he planned to see his attorneys as soon as possible. "Then I hope to be able to say something," he added. Hart was roused by a reporter who called early at his home. "Miss MacCaulley fully exonerates you of the charge of being the parent of 'Rupert Leigh,' the baby for whose maintenance you are now said to be paying $50 a month." Hart was told. "I'm sorry I can't say a word until I see Scarborough," Hart replied. Miss MacCaulley made her remarkable retraction in Boston. According to dispatches from that city she confessed the child was not even her own — that she had borrowed it from another woman as part of a desperate plan to force Hart to see her. "He would not see me and I wanted to force him to see me," Miss MacCaulley said as she broke down in tears. "That is the reason. There was a misunderstanding." Her confession came after she had been confronted with evidence that the child belonged to another woman. In an amazing confession, Miss Elizabeth MacCaulley, of Boston, graduate of Wellesley and middle-aged teacher in a private school, has absolved William S. ("Two Gun Bill") Hart of the parentage of her child — a child, by the way, she never bore. Miss MacCaulley created a sensation by charging Hart, whose otherwise scrupulous life had been without reproach, with being the father of the child. Now, she has confessed she never bore a child, but partly adopted one, and that love for Hart and desire for a child inspired her story. Although Hart’s wife, the beautiful Winifred Westover, has left him, she never believed Miss MacCaulley’s story. Hart was so broken up over the woman’s unfounded charges, which he characterized as a "frame-up," he had refused to make a picture until his name was cleared. By William G. Cayce, International News Service Staff Correspondent. (As published in) The Ogden (Utah) Standard Examiner | May 27, 1923, pg. 2. Los Angeles, May 26 — Breaking the silence he had maintained for 36 hours, William S. Hart, famous two-gun hero of the movies, today in an exclusive interview with International News Service declared he had only sympathy and sorrow for Miss Elizabeth MacCaulley of Boston, Mass., who has retracted her sensational charges that he was the father of her six-year old boy. With tears in his eyes the famous portrayer of western roles on the screen declared that from information he had received from Boston, he knew Miss MacCaulley must be suffering — suffering as he had suffered before the charges against him had been cleared and her statement completely vindicated him. Hart said his sympathy went out to her in her hour of distress. "I know Miss MacCaulley must be suffering as I have suffered and she needs not suffer more," the actor declared in a broken voice that came between heavy gulps. "I have no intention of bringing any action against her. It is a case for God — the highest court. The whole thing I want to consider a closed chapter. I never hit a woman when she was up and I am certainly not going to hit Miss MacCaulley now that she is down." Hart declared he first knew of Miss MacCaulley in 1916 when she wrote him "fan" mail and he was starring in films. Her letters arrested his attention, he said, because of her flawless English and led him to believe she must be a woman of unusual intelligence, he said. "In December, 1916, I met her in person. When I returned from the studio one evening my sister told me the woman who had written me such fine letters from Boston was in Los Angeles and had called by the phone. I suggested that she be invited out for dinner which my sister did. When she came to the house was the first time I had seen her. "Only once did I see her alone. That was a night or so later when I took her to a local café for dinner. We were together then about two hours and I left her with friends who had been with her when we met that evening. After that I saw her a few times, certainly not more than three or four times. As I went to work I met her as she was walking with her dog about seven in the morning near Westlake park. I would be passing in my machine and would draw in to the curb to chat with her a few minutes, and would leave the motor running. She used to object to that, I remember, and tell me it was not very courteous. "I realize now the woman must have had some sort of weird attachment for me, but as far as demonstrations of affections on either of our parts, there were none," he said. Speaking firmly and without hesitation, Hart declared he never knew that a trust fund had been provided for the boy which Miss MacCaulley claimed was his. However, he admitted that this might have been arranged by other persons who had money invested in his films and had rather pay the money than have the undesirable publicity. The thought that the woman brought the charges against him for the purpose of wringing money from him never entered his mind, Hart said. "Why — why?" and tears came to his eyes as he leaned forward and in a cracked voice went on. "Would I hesitate to care for the child if he were mine, when under the California law he would be a more direct beneficiary than my own dear son." He paused here. His face writhed in unmistakable pain as he recalled the separation from his own wife and child. As for his future plans. Hart said he had none at present but that he has a standing agreement with a local producer that when he does re-enter pictures he will do so for him. Found Child Near Death in Hospital When Miss McCaulley Was Through With Him, Mrs. Furigo Says. By Ruth Dayton, Universal Service Special Correspondent. (As published in) The Indianapolis Star | May 28, 1923, pg. 1 & 3. Boston, Mass. May 27. — "Elizabeth MacCaulley tried to victimize William S. Hart. She did succeed in victimizing me and when I received my child back I found him in a hospital desperately ill." Mrs. Lucy Webb Furigo, actual mother of "Bobby," the baby boy whom Miss MacCaulley tried to palm off on "Two Gun Bill" Hart as his own son, made this statement tonight. "Posing as a wealthy woman, Miss MacCaulley went through all the motions of adoption except to sign the papers," said Mrs. Furigo. Then borrowing him on probation she fled to California to foist him off on 'Bill' Hart. When I recovered 'Bobby' he was in a hospital at Cambridge, nearly dead from water on the brain. The doctors had a hard time saving his life. Mrs. Furigo was found in Lincoln, Mass., on the country estate of Henry L. Higginson. She is employed there as a maid, and her husband as a butler. She received me on the porch of her little home. Six-year-old "Bobby," the now famous bogus baby, stood by her side. "Oh, no you're not. You've been too near the movies already." "I am so thankful that Mr. Hart is cleared of the terrible charges brought against him by Miss MacCaulley. Words can't express my rage when I saw Miss MacCaulley's picture in the newspapers and realized for the first time what my innocent, little baby had been used for in Miss MacCaulley's scheming." Then she detailed how Miss MacCaulley obtained temporary possession of "Bobby." She was having a hard time in 1918, she said. She was boarding "Bobby" out and decided to let someone adopt him so he would have a better home and advantages. She looked in the papers and found an advertisement by a woman who wanted to adopt a boy a year old. She answered the advertisement, received a reply and made an appointment with Miss MacCaulley. "When Miss MacCaulley saw 'Bobby' she seemed to like him very much and said she would love to have him." Mrs. Furigo continued, "She said she was glad it was a little blonde baby. Now I understand this. "I had no reason to doubt that Miss MacCaulley was a fine woman. She appeared very sympathetic and loveable. I was much impressed with her learning, and well I knew when I read the papers two months ago about Miss MacCaulley, a Wellesley graduate who was charging William S. Hart with the paternity of her son that it was the Miss MacCaulley who had borrowed by child and that my 'Bobby' was the baby she said was hers and Bill Hart's. I was stunned to think of the terrible thing that was done by using my child without my knowledge." Mrs. Furigo detailed the preliminary and routine events leading up to what she thought was the adoption of "Bobby," and how Miss MacCaulley left for the West with the child the latter part of 1918. She said Miss MacCaulley went for more than a month at a time without writing to her. During one of the long waits she wrote Miss MacCaulley a letter to her Boston address and it was opened by the latter's mother, now dead, who became greatly excited. In January, 1919, she received a post card from Miss MacCaulley which read: "I shall probably be away longer than I at first expected. Living in mild sunshine daily — lovely — and good for my friendly little traveler." It was during this period, from November, 1918, until the following March that Miss MacCaulley was in Los Angeles playing the part of a sweet gentle mother who had been deserted by the father of her child. The climax of her stay in Los Angeles came when she convinced District Attorney Woolwine that Hart was the child's father and the attorney forced Hart to face Miss MacCaulley in his office. In tears she faced the movie star, assuming the attitude of noble forbearance toward the man she said was the father of her nameless child. Although Hart stormed and raved, he was helpless and Miss MacCaulley's story was believed. While the meeting was in progress, the baby was in an adjoining room. With sobbing entreaties, Miss MacCaulley implored Hart to at least take one look at "our little darling." "Not a nickel will I pay for the support of another man's baby. I am not the man who is the father of this baby. That hotel clerk you knew at Grand Canyon is its father." This accusation was a blow to Miss MacCaulley. Hart and his attorneys sought to prove Miss MacCaulley was an imposter. Miss MacCaulley returned East and returned the child to its mother. "In April, 1919, Miss MacCaulley telephoned me to meet her at a hospital. She had my poor, little baby boy who was desperately ill. She told me to formally enter him in the hospital, thus avoiding attaching her name to the records. She told me she could not adopt the child because of its physical condition but said she would pay the hospital bills. The child was in the hospital four weeks and Miss MacCaulley refused to pay the bills. I paid them." William S. "Bill" Hart and his erstwhile accuser, Miss Elizabeth McCauley [sic]. Explains Casual Meeting With Miss MacCaulley. By Don H. Eddy, Universal Service Special Correspondent. Los Angeles, Cal., May 27. — "She's been punished enough." Bill Hart, hero of the movies, reiterated this sentiment again when he discussed Elizabeth MacCaulley, the girl who charged he was the father of her child, then "came clean" after months of waiting and confessed it was only a child of her brain. "You newspaper fellows put me at a disadvantage," he said in his easy drawl. "I feel like talking my head off and I don't know what to say. "When I woke up the other morning and read about that woman's confession, I tell you, I felt like a man reborn." "Here I was already wandering around in hell, and they went and turned out the lights on me. And what I went through—" His voice trailed off into silence. He seemed embarrassed by the very depths of his emotion. He swung out of the car and stood on the drive, looking down over Hollywood and away into the purpling distances of the far mountains. But he seemed to see beyond them. "You know," he said after a while, "it had me going for fair." His voice was low, almost indistinct. "It finally got to the place where I could not sleep. For five nights I never blinked an eye. Finally I got to starting out at 3 o'clock in the morning and doing a lot of road work. Then I'd take a hot bath and sleep a little through the day." After a little while he took the writer through the house, profuse with Indian rugs, up the stairs where a gorgeous saddle graced the landing, and into his bedroom with its Indian pieces and rugs. He sat on the foot of the bedstead. It was then that he told the story of his association with Elizabeth MacCaulley. "She was one of the first Bill Hart fans," said Bill, talking so rapidly his drawl got all mixed up. "A long time ago, when I used to answer my own fan mail, I got a glowing letter from her. We used to talk about them — my sister Mary and I. I never had a college education. I didn't really understand how perfect, rhetorically, they were. But Mary went to college — she knew. "'Invite her out to dinner.' So we had dinner — the three of us. "Then Mary went abroad and on the day she sailed she got a great big bunch of flowers from the woman, and Mary made me promise to thank her personally. What could be more natural than to invite her out to dinner? I did. "But I also invited her to bring some friends, and here they came on the appointed night, a whole automobile full of them. As I remember, there were a doctor and his wife, and a lot of children, maybe a half dozen. But Miss MacCaulley said the others were not going to dinner, so she arranged to meet them in about an hour. We went and had dinner and went right back to where these people were and I didn't see her again for a long time. "But she lived somewhere up on Orange street with another girl. As I used to drive up Orange street on my way to work, she would be outside leading her dog up and down on a leash. She'd wave. I'd stop and talk for a minute. "I suppose that happened maybe half a dozen or a dozen times. And that was absolutely the extent of my relationship with her. "So I reckon you can imagine my feelings when about five years ago, she first started this campaign against me. Four nights running, they had me up in the district attorney's office — not putting me through the third degree or anything, you understand, but just talking to me. It nearly drove me crazy. "'Mr. District Attorney, you can do anything you want to with me. I'm like a trussed deer. But you can't make me, and nobody on earth can make me pay that woman one bean, no, not one nickel. Because she's wrong!'" "And that was the way it was left. "That was bad enough. But when it came out in the newspapers here awhile ago, well—" He said he had not made any plans about going back to work, there had not been time enough to let him get his ideas in shape. He spoke of money. "All my troubles cost me $553,000, and some odd beans besides, last year. Think that over. I can't keep up that pace very long." An attempt was made to verify growing rumors that Bill intends to clear up all his difficulties at once by instituting divorce proceedings against Winifred Westover Hart, his wife. He grew excited and somewhat incoherent in his nervous tension. "I'm not going to say anything about that," he said. "I can't talk about my matrimonial affairs — they're mine — my own — I can't talk about them. Don't ask me." Little Bobby — otherwise Robert John — Webb, the child Elizabeth MacDaulley, Brookline (Massachusetts) school teacher, tried to palm off on William S. Hart, screen star, as her son and his, is back with his mother, Mrs. Lucy Webb Furigo, at Lincoln, Massachusetts. Miss MacCaulley pretended she wanted to adopt the youngster, his mother asserted. Miss MacCaulley's confession, obtained by the New York American, has vindicated the actor and has made possible his return to the silent screen. LW2718: 19200 dpi jpeg from original photograph purchased 2014 by Leon Worden.

2019-04-21T22:00:46Z

https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2718.htm

Is Eurozone Austerity Self Defeating, and is it all Germany's fault? Suppose DeLong and Summers (full paper here) are right, and at the zero lower bound temporary fiscal stimulus leads to an eventual reduction in the debt to GDP ratio because of hysteresis. Does that mean that all this austerity in the Eurozone is counterproductive? This is the question raised by John McHale. Here is an attempt at an answer, followed by some more general remarks on European austerity. In the stylised picture above, the black line represents the debt to GDP ratio under ‘austerity’. The budget deficit is being reduced rapidly, first to stabilise the debt to GDP ratio, and then to bring it down to safer (more optimal?) levels. ‘Stimulus’ involves in the short term cutting government spending less (at least). Unless multipliers are implausibly large this will raise both deficits and the debt to GDP ratio in the short run (the red line). What DeLong and Summers argue is that the negative effects of austerity on output in the medium term will mean that the two paths for debt to GDP will at some point cross. In other words stimulus will at some point lead to a better outcome for the debt to GDP ratio. For any government not having to pay a large risk premium on their debt, and not likely to encounter such a premium, this is an important argument. If true, it does indeed suggest that the rapid austerity being undertaken by countries such as the UK will eventually make their fiscal position worse. In addition, arguments that we have to follow the austerity path because the stimulus path is not credible are beside the point, as I argue here (and see also Summers here). Nor does the argument that we cannot change course now make much sense. In the UK and US fiscal policy does not have to be credible, it just needs to be sensible. In the case of Ireland and other Eurozone countries the immediate motivation for austerity is a high risk premium on government debt. What potential investors in Irish government debt are worried about is not where debt is likely to end up, but the likelihood of default before we get there. Here the credibility argument does apply. One reason why government might default is a political inability to cut spending or raise taxes enough to get the primary budget balance into surplus. Governments can demonstrate that they do have that ability by cutting the deficit rapidly now. Promises to cut it in the future carry much less weight, and so as a result have less impact on the chance of default. Even when the primary balance is in surplus, a government may decide it is in the country’s best interest to default, because any damage to its reputation will be offset by the advantages of not having to cut spending or raise taxes still further to pay the interest on its debt. Once again, a government can demonstrate that it is not minded to do this by reducing its debt as quickly as possible. In either case, default is less likely if debt follows the black line (austerity) rather than the red line (stimulus). The markets are, quite rightly, not very interested in what happens into the medium term, because by that time default risk under either policy has all but disappeared. So if the overwhelming priority is to reduce the risk premium on government debt, austerity makes sense. In addition, as I have said often before, a long period of economic stagnation is required in many Eurozone countries to reverse the competitive disadvantage they accumulated relative to Germany in the early years of this century. Which brings us to Germany. In the past I and others have written as if this Hobson’s choice faced by periphery Eurozone countries could be partially relieved if only Germany would expand more rapidly. However, as I outlined here, this was not a very realistic wish. Not because Germany is addicted to current account surpluses –Kantoos rightly argues that this idea is not exactly part of the German macroeconomic objective function. The reason we will not see rapid expansion in Germany is because the economy is doing all right as it is. While inflation of 5% in Germany would certainly be very useful for Spain et al, it would not be in the national German interest. The only possible exception might be if the Eurozone as a whole looked like coming apart, in which case it might be in Germany’s interests to incur these costs. Kantoos’s final question in his post is: ‘So what else should Germany do?’ Germany should be reasonably relaxed about getting its own debt to GDP ratio down. What I have called ‘competitive austerity’ in Europe is not helpful. But being more relaxed on debt is not going to make a big difference to the rest of the Eurozone. So the realistic answer to that question is probably ‘not much’. Seeing the Eurozone as a single bloc, it makes sense to note that fiscal correction in this bloc is far more rapid than in the US or even the UK, and for the area as a whole that will be very damaging. If there was a Eurozone government, it should be undertaking a substantial fiscal stimulus in Germany right now. But to blame Germany for not doing this of their own accord is rather pointless, as Kantoos says in a more recent post. So the only real hope is monetary policy. I’m glad to see that Scott Sumner has decided to bury the hatchet, so let me say some more things that I think he will like to hear. While the arguments for price level or nominal GDP targets are pretty universal, I think they apply particularly to the Eurozone. The discussion above suggests that the barriers to fiscal stimulus in the Eurozone are not political but intrinsic to the union in its current conjuncture, so there appears to be no alternative to monetary stimulus. A change from inflation targeting may also be politically easier for the ECB, because it could be justified as a move back towards the ‘twin pillars’ approach and the Bundesbank’s money supply targeting. Perhaps with a new head the institution can make up for recent mistakes. A major obstacle may be that such a change would not be in Germany’s short term interests (for all the reasons noted above), in which case we may find out how independent the ECB really is from Germany. A Conservative Party Treasurer is caught on camera trying to solicit £250,000 from businessmen by offering to, among other things, feed their suggestions into the policy process at No.10. Having just passed NHS Reform that will greatly increase the involvement of the private sector, David Cameron suggests privatising parts of the road network. Are we seeing either end of a single process here? To which one might respond, as Chris Dillow does, plus ca change. Others, like Stuart Weir, take a less sanguine view. Let us look to the US, which we often need to do to see what happens next. Here we find Paul Krugman helping to uncover the activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). According to Krugman ALEC drafts legislation which is often adopted word for word by US states, is funded by the usual right wing billionaires and corporations, and which has a particular interest in privatisation. It or associated organisations may as a result see advantage in having laws passed that increase business for some of those privatisations, like prisons for example, although of course they would never act on that interest. And equally evident is that this could not happen here. But what exactly is wrong with all this? Presumably it is legitimate for a lobbying organisation to draft legislation that furthers its interest. The organisation does not force legislators to pass it. And what is wrong with people with lots of money using it to fund such organisations? Of course corporations have interests, but it is up to politicians whether they are listened to or not. One thing we can object to is secrecy. It is generally regarded as good practice to declare personal interests where appropriate. For similar reasons it seems appropriate that organisations and think tanks disclose the source of their funding. As George Monbiot has found, in the UK at least that is quite hard to persuade them to do. I cannot see any justification for keeping this information secret. The default position is that we should be automatically suspicious of any organisation that allows its benefactors anonymity, and discount its output accordingly. Why does disclosure matter? In an earlier post, I talked about how the media tends to have two ways of framing issues: either there is general consensus, or there are two sides to every question. With that two category model, it is quite important which category the media decides to put a particular issue into. Moneyed interests can manufacture controversy through think tanks, as has happened with aspects of the climate change debate. It is therefore important that everyone, including the media, know where organisations get their finance. More generally, the media needs to be a little braver in going beyond the spin and ‘following the money’. There are also limits on what money should be allowed to do in the political process. If some organisation or individual offered to directly buy your vote, this would be illegal in most places. Where it becomes less clear is when we move to political advertising. Now of course if we try and pretend that advertising is just about providing information, and that there are adequate safeguards to ensure advertised information is always ‘true’, then we might believe the more information people have the better. However those would be foolish things to believe. In a previous post I wrote ‘money buys votes’. Immediately on writing that my academic self thought, hold on, should I not qualify that a bit, but then I thought don’t be silly. Of course advertising in elections, as one commentator pointed out, does not guarantee that votes will follow, just as advertising a commodity can be more or less successful. But the correlation is surely positive. If advertising is about persuasion, or more pejoratively manipulating minds, then should we allow one political party a greater opportunity to do this than another? If the answer is even a qualified no, then I think we are entitled to put limits on how much money political parties or their supporters can spend. (In the UK this is done at election time, but the logic implies limits should operate at all times.) It also, in contrast to Chris Dillow’s view here, suggests that there should be limits on how much individuals are allowed to contribute to political parties. When the need for internal theoretical consistency (microfoundations) and external empirical consistency (matching the data) conflict, what do you do? You might try and improve the theory, but this can take time, so what do policy makers do in the meantime? There are two ways to go. The first is to stick with microfounded models, and just deal with their known inadequacies in an ad hoc manner. The second is to adapt the model to be consistent with the data, at the cost of losing internal consistency. Central banks used to follow the second approach, for the understandable reason that policymakers wanted to use models that as far as possible were consistent with the data. However in the last decade or two some central banks have made their core macromodels microfounded DSGE models. I have not done a proper survey on this, but I think the innovator here was the Bank of Canada, followed by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. About ten years ago I became heavily involved as the main external consultant in the Bank of England’s successful attempt to do this, which led to the publication in 2004/5 of the Bank’s Quarterly Model (BEQM, pronounced like the well known English footballer). I think it is interesting to see how this model operated, because it tells us something about macroeconomic methodology. If we take a microfounded model to the data, what we invariably find is that the errors for any particular aggregate relationship are not just serially correlated (if the equation overpredicts today, we know something about the error it will make tomorrow) but also systematically related to model variables. If the central bank ignores this, it will be throwing away important and useful information. Take forecasting. If I know, say, that the errors in a microfounded model’s equation for consumption are systematically related to unemployment, then the central bank could use this knowledge to better predict future consumption. BEQM addressed this problem by splitting the model into two: a microfounded ‘core‘, and an ad-hoc ‘periphery’. The periphery equation for consumption would have the microfounded model’s prediction for consumption on the right hand side, but other variables like unemployment (and lags) could be added to get the best fit with the data. However this periphery equation for consumption would not feed back into the microfounded core. The microfounded core was entirely self-contained: to use a bit of jargon, the periphery was entirely recursive to the core. Now at first sight this seems very odd. If the periphery equation for consumption was giving you your best prediction, surely you would want that to influence the core model’s predictions for other variables. However, to do this would destroy the internal consistency of the core model. Let us take the hypothetical example of consumption and unemployment again. In the core model unemployment does not directly influence consumption over and above its influence on current and future income. We have found from our periphery equation that we can better explain consumption if it does. (Unemployment might be picking up uncertainty about future income and precautionary saving, for example.) However, we cannot simply add unemployment as an extra variable in the core model’s equation for consumption without having a completely worked out microfounded story for its inclusion. In addition, we cannot allow any influence of unemployment on consumption to enter the core model indirectly via a periphery equation, because that would destroy the theoretical integrity (the internal consistency) of the core model. So the core model has to be untouched by the ad hoc equations of the periphery. So this core/periphery structure tries to keep our microfounded cake, but also eat from the additional knowledge provided by the data using the periphery equations. Now the research goal is to eventually get rid of these periphery equations, by improving the microfounded model. But that takes time, so in the meantime we use the periphery equations as well. The periphery equations utilise the information provided by the statistical properties of the errors made by the microfounded model. I think this core/periphery structure does nicely illustrate the dilemma faced by policy making institutions. They want to follow current academic practice and use microfounded models, but they also want to use the information they have about the limitations of these models. The core/periphery structure described here can be criticised, because as I suggested this information is not being used efficiently without feedback to the core . However is there a better way of proceeding? Would it be better to compromise theory by changing the model so that it follows the data, which in BEQM’s case would merge core and periphery? It is sometimes suggested that this is a conflict between forecasting and policy analysis. The example involving consumption and unemployment was chosen to show that this is not the case. The data suggests that the microfounded model is missing something, whether we are forecasting or analysing policy, and the question is what we do while we figure out exactly what is missing. Do we continue to use the wrong model, confident in the knowledge that the stories we tell will at least be consistent, albeit incomplete? Or do we try and patch up the model to take account of empirical evidence, in a way that will almost certainly be wrong once we do figure out properly what is going on? What has this to do with academic macroeconomics? Perhaps not much for the macroeconomist who builds microfounded DSGE models and is not that involved in current policy. Microfounded model building is a very important and useful thing to do. For the profession as a whole it does matter, because the central banks that now use microfounded DSGE models do so because that is how policy is analysed in the better journals. Academic macroeconomists therefore have some responsibility in advising central banks how they deal with the known empirical inadequacies of those models. When the data tells us the model is incomplete, how do you best use that information? The symbolic centre piece of the UK budget was cutting the top rate of income tax. There has been and will be plenty written on the merits or otherwise of this (see Chris Dillow for example), but I want to raise a broader point about political influence. To do that I will start with the UK and US, but then move to Uzbekistan and Nepal, before returning to the US and finally back to the UK. Let us start with trends in inequality. The distribution of income in the UK has been getting steadily more unequal over the last two decades. As this chart makes clear, we are following in the footsteps of the US in this respect. There has been a great deal written about this trend. Is there a similar trend in inequality of opportunity, and are they linked? Just how many measures of health and social wellbeing are negatively correlated with inequality? But rather than discussing this, I want to move to Uzbekistan, Sierra Leone and Nepal. In a fascinating series of blog posts (trailing a book just published called Why Nations Fail), Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson tell stories about why these economies failed to develop over long periods of time. The common theme is that an economic and political elite (a dictator, a tribe) had established a system of extracting the surplus from an economy, and either that system prevented development (children spent a large amount of school time picking cotton in Uzbekistan) or development threatened this extractive system (the caste system in Nepal). Now move back to the US, and Larry Bartels’ book published a few years ago called ‘Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Guided Age’. Although Bartels notes that technology and globalization have contributed to growing inequality over the past 35 years, he finds that Republican policies on macroeconomics, taxes, and social spending have produced substantial increases in inequality, while Democratic policies have produced relatively equal income growth across the economic spectrum. The real incomes of working poor families have increased six times as fast under Democratic presidents as they have under Republican presidents. The corollary, of course, is that the wealthy have gained under Republican presidents – the Bush tax cuts, for example. So finally back to the UK. The influence of money on politics here is perhaps more discrete. Take the major reform of the National Health Service (NHS) that has just been passed into law. This was not part of the government’s pre-election manifesto: in fact the prime minister appeared to rule out such a reorganisation in the campaign. The reform is opposed by nearly every professional association involved in the NHS. It is supposed to give more power to local doctors, yet the Royal College of GPs suggest it will "cause irreparable damage to patient care and jeopardise the NHS". A former NHS chief executive describes the bill as a mess that will set the NHS back. With the reorganisation happening at the same time as fiscal austerity, the political pay-off for the next general election is almost certainly negative. So why pursue it? Well, one group that will benefit are the private companies that will do a lot of extra business as a result of the reforms. These companies are - how can I put it - well connected in various ways. When business sees more profit in rent seeking and manipulating the state compared to investment and innovation, economic growth suffers. Which brings us finally back to the Budget and the 50p tax rate. The campaign to get rid of the 50p rate has been well organised, and has signed up many business leaders for support. The evidence that it will have a noticeable effect on UK growth in the next few years is non-existent. What UK business should have been lobbying for were changes in monetary and fiscal policies, but this has not happened in the UK or US. That the key 2012 Budget measure is a cut in the top tax rate, at a time when unemployment is rising because of demand deficiency, represents a specific macroeconomic policy failure. That the business community appears to be backing this stance perhaps represents a more general political problem. This month’s Economic Journal sees the publication of a paper by Tatiana Kirsanova and myself that asks how quickly fiscal policy should respond to excess government debt. It is a very topical issue, but we started work on it back in 2004. It was Tanya’s idea so she deserves the credit for any foresight. The set up is both straightforward and not too unrealistic. We assume that monetary policy pursues an optimal policy, and that it has the credibility to commit. (We ignore the zero lower bound problem - it is not that topical!) In contrast, fiscal policy involves a simple feedback rule: following some shock, either government spending or taxes are adjusted by some proportion of the level of excess debt. The economic model is of a pretty standard New Keynesian variety. We also ignore the possibility of default on debt. Following various shocks, we look at how social welfare changes as the speed of fiscal feedback varies. The idea was not just to find out what the optimal degree of feedback is, but also to observe how much welfare suffers if we depart from this optimal speed. One extreme case is where there is no fiscal feedback – the fiscal authorities just ignore debt completely. The presumption might be that this would lead to an explosive debt spiral. In fact it does not, because monetary policy manages to control both debt and inflation. The way it does this is clever (remember policy is optimal, so it can be clever). Following a shock that raises debt, it first cuts interest rates, which helps get debt under control. It subsequently raises interest rates, which controls inflation. The reason this works is that the inflation process, unlike the government’s budget constraint, is very forward looking – the model is New Keynesian. With rational expectations, promises of higher interest rates in the future help control inflation today, while lower interest rates today keep debt under control. (Those who follow such things may detect an element of the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level here.) However, although the economy is stabilised, inflation is not controlled very efficiently, and so the welfare costs of the shock are high. At the other extreme is where fiscal feedback is very rapid: government spending (say) is cut very quickly in response to a shock that raises debt. This does better in welfare terms, but it is not the best policy for two reasons. First, quickly cutting government spending has costs. Second, large changes in government spending mess with inflation. If a shock raises both debt and inflation, you might think this is a good thing, but in this type of model monetary policy is better at controlling inflation than fiscal policy. Having both fiscal and monetary policy control inflation actually reduces welfare. The best amount of fiscal feedback turns out to involve pretty slow correction of debt. Although this is an important result, it was not unexpected or very new. This is because the ideal fiscal policy (when both monetary and fiscal policy are jointly determined in an optimal manner under commitment) in this type of model would not eliminate excess debt at all. It is better to allow debt to change permanently as a result of a shock: although this means either government spending or taxes will have to change permanently to finance this debt, the discounted costs of this are less than the large short term changes in fiscal policy required to eliminate all excess debt. (This is an implication of Barro’s famous tax smoothing result.) A simple feedback rule cannot duplicate this ideal policy exactly, but it can get pretty close by not reacting very much to excess debt. The result that it is best to correct debt very slowly is neither surprising nor unusual – a similar conclusion is reached by most papers that look at this issue. In that sense it is a robust result. In more recent work that I have done with Campbell Leith and Ioana Moldovan, where the ideal policy is no longer to accommodate shocks to debt, we still get very slow adjustment. The more interesting result in the paper is quantifying the degree to which welfare deteriorates when we try and correct debt too quickly. Controlling debt too quickly is never as bad as not controlling it at all, but it is significantly worse than more gradual adjustment. Trying to correct debt too rapidly is costly, and should be avoided if possible, even when we are not at the zero lower bound. One interesting result that surprised me at the time was how well the simple feedback rule for fiscal policy did compared to the ideal fiscal policy (i.e. a joint optimisation benchmark). I now know that this reflects a fundamental property of this basic New Keynesian model, which is that in many cases, and in the absence of the zero lower bound, monetary policy is all you need for stabilisation of output and inflation. (This is well known for demand shocks, but it turns out to be more general than that.) With the help of Fabian Eser and Campbell Leith, we show this analytically here. Of course if monetary policy is compromised by hitting a zero lower bound for nominal interest rates, this result no longer holds. In this case you would want fiscal policy to help out on output stabilisation, as Gauti Eggertsson has examined in a number of papers. The position is similar to that of an individual economy in a monetary union. Tanya and I showed in joint work with Mathan Satchi and David Vines that the simple feedback rule on debt should be supplemented with additional terms reflecting this dual role in a monetary union. About two years ago, there was a debate via letters to newspapers over how quickly UK debt should be brought down. I’m told that when one of the economists who signed the ‘cut quickly’ letter saw Tanya present this paper, they said that they now understood why I had signed the ‘cut slowly’ alternative. And for those who would say ‘ah yes, but slow correction would not be credible’, read this. In the austerity versus stimulus debate, I argue from a macroeconomic point of view that this is a false choice if we are talking about economies where markets are eager to buy government debt i.e. pretty well everywhere apart from the Eurozone. In the short term we need stimulus, whereas fiscal discipline is a long term problem. We need to raise taxes and cut spending when times are good, not when times are bad. The Eurozone 2000-2007 is a clear example of when this should have happened. The response is often to concede the macroeconomic logic, but say that promises of austerity tomorrow cannot be trusted. It is easy to promise, but when tomorrow comes governments will break that promise. This resonates, but it is less clear what the underlying logic is. We can all agree that governments are subject to deficit bias. There are a number of reasons for this: the common pool problem, over optimistic forecasts, political impatience stemming from elections etc. (See Calmfors and Wren-Lewis, 2011, for a more complete account.) However bias stemming from these causes is fairly constant: it does not disappear when deficits are high and only materialize in good times. I sometimes put it this way. Suppose the government did go for fiscal stimulus today, and this helped lead to a macroeconomic recovery. Once the recovery was complete, the underlying fiscal position (i.e. the structural or cyclically adjusted deficit) would be a little worse than today, because the stimulus would have added to debt. So if a politician is prepared to undertake austerity today, they will be even more willing to undertake it tomorrow. Of course following a recovery the actual (rather than structural) deficit may be smaller, but is our macroeconomic discourse that naive? In economics we are of course used to the optimal policy changing solely as the result of the passage of time (time inconsistency). A central bank may promise to keep interest rates high for some time to reduce inflation today, but come tomorrow when the policy has done its job it becomes optimal to reduce interest rates. However when it comes to fiscal policy and deficit bias, the role of time inconsistency seems less central. The problem is not that we have a benevolent policy maker that is subject to a time inconsistency temptation; it is that we do not have a benevolent policy maker. Having said this, I think many feel that, when governments are prepared to act ‘out of character’ and impose restraints on themselves, this chance should be grabbed before it disappears. It is often possible, when looking at countries where government debt is not a major problem, to trace this back to changes made following a fiscal crisis. Lars Calmfors has a nice account of the Swedish case here. So can we rationalise this idea? Perhaps a crisis, and therefore the chance to act, is not governed by the level of debt (funding problems aside), but by its rate of change. So governments became prepared to impose austerity when debt started rising rapidly following the recession, but if nothing was done and debt remained high, the political imperative would gradually disappear. Higher debt would become the new normal. However I still have problems with this line of reasoning. As Lars emphasises, Sweden was successful because it instituted a comprehensive set of reforms following the crisis, including a fiscal target to be achieved over the course of the cycle. It was also successful because a large nominal depreciation boosted output growth, more than offsetting the deflationary impact of fiscal consolidation. The world as a whole cannot use this trick, so an important condition for successful global fiscal consolidation is missing. However countries could establish rules today that were designed to only begin operating when the economy has recovered. Use the current crisis to get the rules established, but recognise that their implementation needs to be delayed because of the recession. It is often said that instituting rules that only operate once the recovery is complete will ‘not be credible’. Here is the time inconsistency analogy again, and (funding crisis aside) it seems equally inappropriate. We just need to ask: credible to whom? Is a government that commits to future austerity that begins tomorrow, any more likely to renege in the future than that same government that commits to long term austerity and starts it today? We could argue the opposite: an austerity plan in conjunction with a recession is more likely to come unstuck. I think a mistake we can make here is to imagine we are trying to discover the preferences of two different governments. In that case, a government that just promises future austerity tells us very little, because it could just be cheap talk. If a government undertakes austerity now, we know more through its actions. However that is not what the current debate is about. In practice we have governments that are prepared to undertake austerity now. They have demonstrated that they take the debt problem seriously. Are these preferences going to change if we delay austerity until after the recovery? So let us, by all means, not waste a fiscal crisis. Use it to set out a combination of rules and institutional changes that avoid deficit bias in the future. However I do not see why it is politically impossible to delay the implementation of those rules until after the recession is over. But maybe I’m just displaying my ignorance of political science. The new Bruegel blog has a provocative post entitled ‘Europeans can’t blog’. What they mean is that there is no equivalent in Europe to the US economics blogosphere. To quote: “It is striking to note that the online debate about European economic issues mostly takes place on American blogs.” European blogs exist, but Bruegel suggest that they tend not to link to each other, so debate is not encouraged. This is partly a language issue of course, with many blogs directed at a national audience written in their own language. But the language of economics is English, and there are already some good European blogs written partly or totally in English. Bruegel thinks it would be good if there was a more interactive European economics blogosphere, and I very much agree. I know I’m not the only person who wants to understand more about the economic debate in other European economies, particularly at the moment. Discussion through blogs might even improve the quality of national economic debate. But what I really wanted to say is that it need not take long to achieve this. At the end of their post Bruegel kindly say that the “UK already has an impressive blogosphere that is tightly integrated with the American one”. The Palgrave Econolog ranks economics blogs mainly by the number of incoming links from other indexed economics blogs i.e. a bit like Google. Of their current top 20, 15 are US based, one is Canadian, one is the IMF, and 3 are from the UK. But of these three UK blogs, only Chris Dillow’s Stumbling and Mumbling was around six months ago. When I and Jonathan started blogging, Chris linked to some of our posts, which meant Mark Thoma read them etc. Bruegel shows one way a new and interesting blog can be created, based around an internationally orientated economics think tank, research center or academic department. Alternatively, I’m sure I’m not the only economics professor who would find they had things to say. There are some really good US blogs by current or recent grad students, like Noahpinion for example. Once the critical mass is there, Bruegel's post and my own experience emphasise the importance of interacting with other blogs. Mark Thoma bemoans the attitude of inflation hawks on the FOMC (the US equivalent of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee). He writes “Unfortunately, the hawks on the committee seem to be afraid that if they allow inflation to creep up even a little bit over their long-run target, the inflation flood gates will open and they won’t be able to help themselves from a repeat of the 1970s.” From this profile by Roger Lowenstein, the floodgates view may not be confined to the hawks (HT Karl Smith). It occurred to me that we have just had a little experiment in the UK to test this floodgates view, and it looks like being completely rejected. The first chart shows the basics on inflation. The inflation target is 2%. Before 2005 the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England had done pretty well : since getting independence inflation had been close to the target. (The target measure of inflation was different at the start, but we do not need to get into these complications.) Since 2005 inflation has been consistently above target, and seriously so over the last two years, hitting a peak of 5.2%. What have been the consequences? The figure below, from the Bank’s latest inflation report, showed what happened to one year ahead inflation expectations. The first point to note (see the green line) is that the Bank did expect to exceed its target (it opened the floodgates!), but the extent of the inflation overshoot was not foreseen. The second is that inflation expectations, as measured by surveys of households, did rise to somewhere between the Bank’s forecast and what actually happened. Similar surveys asking about longer term inflation expectations give numbers between 3% and 4%, which even after allowing for definitional issues is well ahead of the inflation target. Market measures based on swaps show a similar story for longer term inflation expectations. (There are lots of caveats that I’m ignoring, for reasons I hope will become clear. The limitations of these surveys, and others, are discussed in detail by MPC member Adam Posen here.) This is despite the Bank’s forecast, backed up by most other forecasters, which sees inflation coming back to target during this year. So in a sense this seems to confirm some of the hawks’ fears. Inflation expectations are now above target, and they are not coming down in line with forecaster’s projections. Has this started a wage-price spiral, with inflation out of control? In a word, no. From the peak of 5.2% in September, inflation has fallen rapidly, and was 3.6% in January. The OECD expects year on year inflation to be 2.7% in 2012, and only 1.3% in 2013. What we have seen is a classic and temporary cost push or supply shock caused by a VAT increase and rising commodity prices. The reason why all the talk of inflation out of control was nonsense can be seen in the other line from the first chart, which is average earnings inflation. Before the recession, wage inflation was always above price inflation, which is what we would expect because of underlying productivity growth. Since the recession, wage inflation has been invariably below price inflation, which is a consequence of rising UK unemployment. The latest figure for January, released yesterday, gives a year on year increase in earnings of only 1.4%. So, despite a significant inflation overshoot (part planned, part unplanned), a (modest) rise in inflation expectations, and a huge increase in the monetary base as a result of quantitative easing, there is absolutely no sign of a take-off in inflation. This should not be a surprise. Sustained increases in inflation involve wage-price spirals, and given high and rising unemployment we are not seeing the wage part of this process. However, this does not prevent inflation hawks being inflation hawks, and others getting cold feet. In the spring of last year, 3 out of 9 members of the MPC voted to tighten monetary policy. That did not make sense in terms of the standard way we think about monetary policy (see my earlier post here), but it did make sense if you believed in a floodgates kind of world. You might think this does not matter too much, because the hawks are in a minority. However the floodgates view makes it much more difficult to have a sensible public discussion about using promises of higher future inflation to mitigate the zero bound constraint. (This could involve temporarily raising the inflation target, or switching to a price level or nominal GDP target.) As I noted here, there is very little discussion of this option in the UK (although this is a notable exception). I do not think such a monetary policy is an alternative to fiscal stimulus – in fact the two policies can complement each other, as Brad DeLong points out here. However, if a significant proportion of the monetary policy making community view inflation above 2% as the equivalent of just one drink for an alcoholic, then using inflation as a tool rather than just a target will not happen. Of course this UK episode is not the same as raising inflation above 2% when the real economy is no longer depressed, as would occur under a nominal GDP target, but I think it does require those who oppose this policy change to explain why things would be very different in that case. I would draw one other lesson from this experience. When thinking about inflation, it is a mistake to focus on consumer price inflation alone. We can try and take out various things from the consumer price index to get some ‘core’ measure, but there are two alternative inflation measures already published: output prices (the GDP deflator) and average earnings. We should look at these more often. At the very least this would help avoid silly panics caused by commodity price and other shocks. However there are also good theoretical reasons for looking at these alternative inflation measures, but that has to be for a later post.

2019-04-19T16:51:16Z

https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2012/03/

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They even changed and checked my cabin air filter which I’ve never had any place check before. Great job!! the waiting area was dirty and un organized. Coffee, water, reading material, TV would be nice. Most other service stations offer these. Super fast and friendly service. No one was pushy or annoying. Will definetly return for my next oil change! We were moved around to different bays to make room for other customers. Waiting room was not clean, staff had lunch/personal items out on counters. Everyone was incredibly kind and understanding of the fact that I did not know what entailed of an oil change. I was greeted immediately and told how long of a wait it would be until I was in the service area. Overall a really good experience that justifies the price. They were quick, friendly, and did not pressure me with anything. They also showed me everything prior to doing a service and after. THE SERVICE WAS GOOD BUT NOT ANYTHING I THOUGHT WAS EXCEPTIONAL. I got my oil changed, which is what I went there for. And there weren't any problems from the employees or the products or anything. They changed my oil professionally and quickly once I was in the service bay. Workers were friendly and knowledgeable. They didn’t try to get me to spend more money than I needed to. My technician was very friendly and knowledgeable. I will be happy to return to his service again. Pressure to buy. Lack of knowledge specific to my vehicle. And that they must’ve spilled oil in my engine compartment cause every time it heats up it smells like burning oil now. At least I hope that’s what is happening. I know that my truck was not smelling like that prior to my visit. The reception was prompt, waited about 3 minutes before being greeted and asked what services needed for this visit. The employees were very cordial, informed me of all checks they provide, informed me of their services and showed the detail of completed tasks on the computer. The exchange between the employees was cordial, prompt and communication on completed tasks or what tasks needed to be performed was great to hear. You don't hear communication between employees like this in some of the other service stations. Was great to hear. Loved the addition of female technicians to this service station, you don't see this very often. I would definitely recommend this business. Thank You! Just an easy quick experience and they check more than just my oil at my visits too inform me of what they recommend I do for my car. Clear explanations. Additional services were offered appropriately but no pressure to buy. It is so easy, no need to make an appt or get out of car. Only wish you rotated tires most other places do this as part of the service. Julie and Kory were prompt and friendly at the end of their shift. Upon my arrival, there was no wait. I was greeted kindly by service member. Service member notified me of services needed and offered a discount on the price. I also had a question regarding a problem with air conditioner, he gladly told me Valvoline doesn't do that type of repair but would look into a possible reason for my problem. He was very helpful. Because I think everyone has room to grow and be better at there job. I was able to get right in and the staff was very friendly, knowledgeable, and courteous! I am not satisfied because I paid a lot of money to have my transmission fluids changed and they did not look clean when I was shown the dipstick. I was offered extra services but never pushed to buy. Good price for labor. They where very friendly and not pushy about doing more or have to have done. They informed me on what they thought I should have done around my next visit. But I instead of waiting went a head and had it done. It was very nice to have a female give me all the information and having a female working on my car. Will for sure go back and informed all my friends. My previous visit was in July 2018. When the technicians returned the air filter, they pinched a starter cable which ended up breaking about two weeks later. I was reluctant to return to this same Valvoline station. Before hand, I was very satisfied by how quickly and efficiently each service was. This visit in July, I was not very impressed by the technicians productivity or professionalism. Didn't like the sales pitch about foam in my oil. Bull! I called prior to my visit to find out the wait. The lady offered me a coupon and emailed it right away. Every person was friendly and professional! The wait was minimal, and the tech was very professional, not to mention the service was very quick. I went to Valvoline, because my in-laws; have been coming to have their oil changes done for the past 1.5 years. And, they have had great experiences; they recommend us to you guys. And, they explained everything to me and were very professional about everything. Very dissatisfied with the condition of the waiting room area, it was unkept, dirty floors, employess half-eaten food on and drinks on counters. it's a quick way to get my oil changed.i was wondering?????? do they grease the fittings?????? In and out in 17 minutes.No hassles. Cost keeps going up. Will probably start servicing on my own. Told them not to check air filter. They did anyway. I think the shop was short staffed therefore, all workers were busy & took longer than I expected. The staff was amaze balls!! Courteous n super friendly. Even complimented on how clean my engine is. Thx for a overwhelming satisfying visit. Was done promptly. The ease of getting in and out with no problem. Always no appt needed. I went to KIA and they told me I need an apptmt.Then I told the guy , no problem . I am going across. The staff was very friendly and professional explained Everything they were doing to my car just an all around great experience!! I will definitely be back as I have been going here for years!! The oil change was quick and they also let me know that I needed a new battery which saved me hassel in the future. It was a general oil change. Nothing to get excited about. The service is premium, the staff is honest and trustworthy. Fast, efficient, and did a great job. Great customer service and hours are accommodating. Everything went perfectly and was so easy, the price was good and the attendants were wonderful. Staff clearly explained fluid, and filter checks including showiNg me conditions where applIcable. Able to give me an idea of how my car would fare after moving to a different climate, and let me know I'm welcome to come back and get my levels checked whenever I was worried. Very helpful and gives me peace of mind. They didn’t reset the oil change indicator light in my car after the service. Other places usually do this for me. Nice lady on the phone emailed me a $15 off coupon, I don't ever get oil changes without using a coupon. The workers were very friendly and took care of my truck quickly. Already sent a friend to the same place. The staff is very friendly and professional. They are efficient and communicate with me as to what is or will occur. They were friendly,got started right away even though there were 2 other vehicles there at the time. women working there were awesome and knowledgeable! Great, fast, and friendly service made this visit stress free and easy to have done. Did not give the attentiveness that they usually do. I had to ask to see the stuff, they usually show. They acted like I was inconveniencing them. They were quick and made things very easy! I love the women who work at this shop, they're the best! Good staff, very knowledgeable and helpful. The 2 ladies working were awesome- they fixed my blinker and gave me new windshield wipers (very much needed) and they let me know the status of my car and what I may need to have looked at/ changed next. Also they were super fast! Friendly professional service- no pressure. Very friendly staff and I was very satisfied with the service and I did not have to wait too long. Thank you and I will continue to do business with you. Friendly and attentive staff. Team work and thoroughness. I am confident and trust the tech pointing out an additional service--i.e., that in addition to the oil change, there should be a change of the transmission fluid.Further I love the fact that so many techs are women ! I was served with respect and honesty from all employees. Respect is a big priority to me. I saw the same respect to other customs as well. New employee was working on my truck. You just never know what oil they're putting in your vehicle. My only concern. Everyone was very friendly. They seem to be very knowledgeable. It was a pleasant experience I did not have to even get out of the car. Got what I needed at a good price. The staff is super nice and the service was quick with out feeling like it was rushed. Fast, friendly. And they know their stuff.. They recommend me to stop by periodically thru my next oil change just to make sure fluids we're good. Service was quick. The attendants were polite and courteous. The only reason that I am not likely to return is that I live out of state. I took another vehicle to the other valvoline and they tested the battery. This shop did not, I had a minor oil leak when I got home. Staff appears qualified, but there seems to be a high turnover rate. Good service, quick. And very friendly guys. They are honest about services they recommend based on mileage and manufacturer suggestions. Started a radiator flush and they found a clog and it would not work properly, so they stopped and were honest about not continuing. No charge. Filled it back up. Very friendly.As a woman, I always appreciate seeing female attendants at this location. They are very nice and professional. Selestyna and Zamora were very friendly and very efficient! They notified me of what they were doing with my vehicle and ensured that I was aware of the positive changes after. Jake was in a super good mood, it wasn't busy when I arrived, 2pm. We had a good chat. He was very knowledgeable in his my car functions. The Team was well trained and experienced. They worked quickly & efficiently. Within 20 mins the Oil Change was completed and I was on my way. They wished me well on my trip as I left. Great Customer service. Very convenient! Everyone is always very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. Always a great experience! Fast, friendly, service with a quality product and no-pressure up-selling! The young ladies they had working there looked bored and tired. Love the friendly employees, professional work, & efficiency of the service. $100 is a lot of money for an oil change. I drive 5,000 miles every 6 weeks, can’t afford it. The girl who talked to me really seemed to know what she was talking about. She pointed out services needed, without any pressure. I WILL return. I was highly satisfied with the friendly assistance, fast service time & clear explanation of services and recommendations from the associates who helped me. Great team and fast friendly service. #1 you're open on Sunday. I have to travel 2 hrs just to get my oil changed. I was greeted with great smiles. The wait was minimal and out the door we went. I always enjoy getting my car serviced with Valvoline. Was hoping to be in and out quickly, but ended up waiting for delivery of air filter, and it taking longer than expected. no wait and no pressure! The staff was very friendly. My truck didn't need much as it only has 10,000 on it. I was Highly Satisfied because I was greeted by someone even though they were extremely busy. The would finish a couple of car's and low and behold here came 2 more. I felt bad for them, I hope they were able to take a break. All of the staff was working very quickly, professionally and kindley. The crew were kind and provided me with a great service, just one little detail.... one of them kept an oily glove and openen my door and left oil outside and inside the door, I asked for a rag or paper towel and she helped me. All of them were kind and great. Thank you for the excellent service. The wait to get into the service bay was long, and once in it still took longer than it normally does. Fast service and no mistakes made on my car, such as loose bolts or leaks. My service guy answered the phone when I called and let me know that there was not currently a wait. He explained the process to me and let me know exactly how long I could expect to wait during the service. Quick service. Exceptional personnel. Courteous employees. Because they were open for business on Sunday afternoon while other placed were not. I traveled 200 miles for an oil change and Valvoline was open, eager to help and quick. I thought it was too expensive but I really need an oil change. They were the only ones open on sunday. I like how quickly it is and glad they check out everything with my vehicles. Jake was my service rep and he was amazing. By far the best service ive recieved in a long time and thats including everything other than just getting my truck serviced! Great service, great workers and I was back out getting the rest of my errands done very quickly. I was asked multiple times for a few different upgrades. I'd prefer to be asked once. The waiting area could be cleaner and improved. Felt it should have been a little less expensive for a consistent returning customer. But non the less love this shop and will always return. Even with waiting before a representative greeted me, the second it happened was pleasant. The staff was friendly and prompt. They were able to listen to my specific needs and delivered. I will be coming back to this Valvoline for all my oil change and car care needs. Very professional staff and the courtesy they gave to me and my family and friends. I've been going there for almost five hears now. I am very satisfied with their performance. AND the military discount they give to us Veterans. It is because of our brotherhood that we are a free country and they have their jobs. So, THANK YOU VLAVOLINE!! From this veteran and his family! They know there job as serving customer that need assistance with oil changes and inform customer what needs to be done on the vehicle. It was cold in the shop and they didn't advise me of a waiting room or if I could leave my car on to keep warm. Just would have like more communication. But they were all friendly. The employees were courteous and honest. Didn't try to sell you something you didn't need like other places. Will definitely be back to this Valvoline from now on. Mostly the time it took, but there were other people whose oil was getting changed, so NBD. The staff was courteous, did a thorough inspection, showed me results from the change and inspect and completed the job in a timely manner. The sales people were polite and helpful. I was greeted and about how long I would have to wait, which was not very long and then I was told my air filter was really dirty, after thinking it was a new one. They checked to make sure, and it was filthy. So, I was pleased about that and just the overall service. It was fast and I didn't wait very long at all! I believe I received good work. I received two oil changes here in two separate vehicles within two days. The service was amazing. The price was great with the email coupon I redeemed. Everyone was super friendly and helpful as it was my first time there. I had a plug on the oil pan that was apparently stripped and the tech fixed it. I'm only dissatisfied because I was sitting in my truck for almost 2 hours with virtually zero communication from the techs that were above my truck. The guy doing the work was very nice and explained everything once he was done. Zamora, Courtney, & Jake were all great. I was very impressed with the efficient, professional, & friendly staff. My vehicle is 14 years old, & previously I have always taken it to the dealership for oil changes, but it has become stressful going there, because they always seem to discover something that either needs to be repaired or replaced when I go for a oil change. Then I go to another place for a second opinion, & the owner says whatever the dealership recommended is not necessary. So I would much rather go to Vavoline! Good, fast service. A little pricey, but still worth it for the convenience. Was very happy to see that two of the four service providers were women. Good for you, good for them. The workers are always very nice there and knowledgable. I love having women employees to help me and there was a woman this time. Either male or female I've always had courteous service at this location. They are efficient and recommend extra services only when they are truly needed. People were quick, professional and explained everything. Fast easy and had a $10 coupon. I also just had a front axle fluid service done the week before. They didn't remember me but was treated the same every time. The gentlemen who did the oil change were very friendly and clear about other suggested services, but not pushy about it. It was fast, and I appreciate them also doing minor little things like checking lights, fluid levels, battery life, etc. Effecient, professional, respectful and knowledgeable. It’s an oil change folks, the crew did a good job but I didn’t feel particularly pampered nor did I want to be. The staff was very courteous and accommodating to the need of the customer. The guy servicing my car was very nice, and friendly. He went above and beyond just changing the oil on my car, he answered additional questions I had about my car and offered a solution. Welcome with a smile, caring attitude about me and my car. A warm thank you for coming at the end of the service. They directed me right in and started working on my car right away. Done in no time at all and found me a better price than I was going to pay. It is easy, not too expensive and the people there are friendly. The staff was very friendly and made me feel welcome. I wasn’t pressured to buy extra things that I didn’t need, but they made sure to let me know when I might need to replace things. They did not reset the "service required" reminder indicated. The staff is professional and friendly. They are also efficient. Almost $100 for an oil change and air filter is a joke. I had no idea Valvoline was that expensive. Got oil change and fluids topped off - was rolling out 15 minutes after handing my keys off. Great service. They just were such nice people, and very helpful. I brought in a 2017 vehicle with 11K miles and was sure staff would try to upsell some service or another because that seems to be the game at oil service stations. The representative did not try to sell extras. I was impressed by that. Also, very quick service. I pulled in and back out within 15 minutes. Quick and easy! Friendly staff. A coupon on top made it all worthwhile! I like coming to you valvoline. No worries, no hassle and it’s always quick. Everything was great.. It's just we had to wait because there were people in line to be service. All of the employees are always very friendly and helpful. If I have any questions they are also very helpful. I have used this particular service center previously and would not consider going anywhere else. The service time was much faster then the place I would normally get my oil change at and also with no pressure to buy into upgrades to service. Tech had trouble getting the air cleaner out to inspect. So i said do not worry about it. With out a coupon the price is higher than most lube shops in our town. A gentleman who was changing my oil, possibly the manager, came up to speak with me. He explained that the last place I got my oil change from put my drain plug in wrong and damaged the thread. Not only did the guy give me suggestions on what to do, but he marked my file so future Valvoline employees will be careful. I really appreciated the personal touch this person gave me and am only sorry I don't remember his name. I believe everyone working deserves a positive mark because they all did fantastically. The staff is always nice, helpful, and they don't try to pressure me into buying unnecessary stuff. Mostly though, they really are just helpful and nice. I've been going there for years. Service is of high quality. Service personnel are very respectful and accommodating. The techs were clean, friendly,and very efficient. They explained everything to me. Staff was very friendly and easy to work with. Details of the process of what they worked on were clearly defined and understandable. Service was fast and great. Professionalism and courtesy of the staff was outstanding. Business was clean and well kept. An overall pleasant experience. The experience was fine. It's an oil change. I want it to be fast and at a good price. I feel the price is a little high. I have always trusted Valvoline Techs to work on all my vehicles. Both locations in Flagstaff AZ provide very very good service. They advise what service should be looked at in the future and I am never pressured on suggested service. All the staff was friendly and courteous. Fast, courteous, service for a fair price. People were friendly and courteous and I was in and out quickly. Quick, easy, affordable, no pressure from staff. Staff was friendly and everything was done quickly. The last several times I've gone there, they've tried to sell me a battery and other parts. I had my battery checked somewhere else and it was in great shape. I hope this place doesn't continue with the selling trend and end up as bad as Jiffy Lube. I don't go to Jiffy Lube anymore because of that. They went above and beyond and even fixed a ratteling noise under my vehicle at no additional fee. I was satisfied. I don't know why this question was asked. Everything was fine. I was told that my vehicle needed three additional services. Two of those three have nothing to do with my vehicle and if you refer to the owners manual, one of the services is never required and the other one is required at 60,000 plus miles. The third service I already had done at the dealership. Your staff didn't take the time to research what my vehicle needed and when. The staff at Vavoline were all friendly, & I was impressed with the efficiency. In the past I have always taken my vehicle to the dealer for oil changes. My vehicle is 14 years old, & I was very disappointed with my last visit to the dealer for an oil change, when I was told a part needed to be replaced that was quoted to be very expensive. After going to a local independent auto repair shop having them look at my vehicle for a second opinion, I was glad when they told me the part the dealer claimed needed to be replaced was perfectly fine! So, from now on as long as I own my vehicle, I will go to Vavoline for oil changes! Staff was very polite and knowledgeable but the wait was pretty long - about an hour to wait and then another 20 mins for the actual service. However, I will be back! The Maint Reqd light was still on when leaving the bay. They didn't tell me how to turn it off and thanks to researching online, I was able to do it myself. I liked how when We pulled in We were already being directed to pull into the pit. The customer service was good as well. We were directed into the waiting room and just sat there for 10 to 15 min. The staff that was doing our oil change surprised Us by showing Us and explaining to Us the process of what they were doing. I would recommend the service We received here to others. Thanks for doing a good job on our vehicle. Professional staff, not crackheads. Great communication with me and among themselves. Very quick and efficient. I liked that I didn't have to get out of the car, the techs were all polite and well-informed, they were quick and professional. Jake was out main guy. He was good. The staff was so friendly and helpful. I left knowing that my car was taken care of. All of the personnel were very helpful, polite and professional. This particular valvoline center was the best I have used thus far. Liam was very professional and courteous. It was very nice to have such a trusting experience at this center. Thanks to you all. Informed and friendly staff. Quick and professional. Staff is always friendly! The best part is that it's always completed fast and I don't have to get out of my car. Second time at this Valvoline. Great staff. Always friendly and helpeful. Never pressure for extras. Really good crew at this location. The staff were amazing. They really made it a positive experience, and went out of their way to show me a cracked serpentine belt and make recommendations. Each tech was courteous and it was a great experience watching them work together as a team! The staff was super friendly and they seemed to work as a true team who honestly liked working together which means they're more likely to do a great job and enjoy it. The staff available were professional but kind, they worked quickly and kept me updated, and overall it was a smooth and solid experience. Absolutely zero complaints, just like my last few visits, and I plan on continuing to use this location any time I need an oil change. I've always gone to Jiffy Lube, but on the recommendation of several of my coworkers decided to try Valvoline. I was very happy that no-one tried to upset me. I'll never go back to Jiffy Lube. The service was done correctly with a friendly and professional attitude. we have nine Ford vans. We change oil at 6,000 to 8,000, which can mean 1-2 times a month. We are 80 mi. away and need quick, dependable service. Your west Flagstaff store gets it done. Employees knew what they were doing and communicated well. I just had a new employee and she wasn't aware of the process for topping off transmission fluid and that you should change gears before turning on and off your car. I had to turn my car back on three times total. The stag always does a good job, and they are very friendly.. Received good service. I had an appt & only had 15 mins, the were receptive to my limited window of time & kept my schedule. Every aspect of the oil change specifications and process was explained to me. Oil levels were verified with me and the service was completed quickly. Additional necessary services were also offered to me in a very detailed manner which I greatly appreciated. The employees at this particular location are always extremely polite and informative. They seem to take a real interest in their job and treat everyone very well. They all seem to know their jobs very well and work together well. I recommend this location very highly and don't even think about taking my vehicle elsewhere. I try to take very good care of my vehicle and feel that the employees here help me do this. Everthing was discussed with me. Recomodations were NOT pushed on me. It's always very quick and everyone who works there is so pleasant. Everything is explained perfectly and priced reasonably. My oil change took less than 10 minutes I was out of there in no time. They took care of my fluids and tires and this is why I love going to this location. Staff are knowledge and very professional. I've been to other services center and been asked to 1/2 an hour, even one hour when half of the bays vacant. Fortunately I didn't experience this waiting at this facility! Thank You!!! Up front pricing, very courteous staff, quick service, and loved that they brought out the oil dipstick to show the new oil. Great customer service and efficient with time of oil Change! I don't if the highest grades. The guy kept telling me that I needed radiator serviced but I had it done at this location a couple years ago when I hit 150,000. I stopped by this particular one because of it's high scores on Yelp and I understand why they had so many positive reviews on yelp. The staff were beyond helpful, friendly and honest. Very much appreciated and gave me a piece of mind! The folks there were nice. The two staff members Cass and Jake were very enthusiastic about their jobs. Great energy from them. Staff were super friendly. Very professional. Explained why I needed a radiator flush and did a good job. Never felt pressured. The team at that location are really on top of their game. Interact with customers well. Know what they are doing. Good crew. I always like the employees. Very friendly and seem to enjoy their jobs. It is hard to find great customer service and this store has it! Professional, courteous, fast and I like Valvoline products. The employees communicated with me and helped me with all of my questions. What an amazing staff! i tend to stay in the car when the oil is being changed because I like talking to everyone. Everyone is always nice, friendly, and not judging me harshly when I don't know what certain parts, where they are, or how to open them. They even took the time to show me s couple problems I could be having and how to fix it. The customer service was great, I appreciated the communication about ordering the filter I needed. I was quoted 20-25 min though and it was over 2 hours before my vehicle was done. Honestly, I didn't mind that much because the service was so good. I brought my own fluid and fuel filter. Then I was only charged for the rear differential service. You can't beat that. Staff made sure that we were served according to the time we arrived at the shop. This impressed me that staff were watchful of who came in and when they pulled up for service. I watch them check every item on their check list. I waited for close to an hour from the time that I arrived and it wasn't very busy. There were no cars outside ahead of me. I pulled in and there were two cars in each line. An attendant greeted me before I even stopped! I had to wait almost a half hour before it was my turn but it was worth the wait. Best staff in the industry. Been coming here about 10 years. The building and the bathroom were not clean, the bathroom looked like it hadn't been cleaned in days. The waiting room was a mess, no coffee and stuff piled everywhere. There were not that many other people at Valvoline when I first arrived. They told me I was going to have to wait 10 mins till the other car was finished, I waited 20-25 minutes. Then once my car was being worked on it took them 40- 50 minutes longer. The customer service was not up to what it has been in the past either. Quick and without the pushy sales. The staff was approachable. The staff is so friendly and helpful! They helped me identify an odd noise in my car. friendly staff, knowledgably staff, price. Cost effective. Quick - can just stop in without planning ahead. Friendly staff, completed work quickly and efficiently. Very impressed with the woman who helped me. I can't remember her name. Keisha, perhaps? The staff members cheerfully greeted me and quickly serviced my vehicle. They also reminded me about some up and coming services that needed to be done without being too pushy about it. Very friendly techs. Everything seems to have been completed competently. Prices were good; no hidden costs or pushy salesmen. Great, friendly, knowledgable and HOENST staff. I asked them to replace the bulb in my right blinker, they discovered a wiring issue and told me that after trying several bulbs, I should take the car to the dealership because a new bulb would not be a long term issue to the solution. I was comforted by their honesty and will defiantly return again. Staff was also very friendly and worked quickly. Awesome visit. There is always room for improvement. During the inspection of the oil dipstick, two of employees seem to be discussing something specific but did not share their concerns with me. Staff was friendly and seemed like they knew what they were doing. It was very fast, efficient, friendly and easy! Didn't even need to get out of my car! Price is kind of high compared to other service centers in area. As usual. Easy and great service. Compared to other oil change facilities that charge a similar amount there was nothing unique or special about the experience at Valvoline (no coffee or soda and snack in waiting room, no car wash, etc.). Every time they ask the same questions about what they try to sell me. The staff seemed in a hurry. It didn't seem like the person under the car was sure of his job. I felt the car shaking while he was doing the oil and filter change. I have never had this before. The staff was helpful and knowledgeable! Great team work! 2 employees, Lakisha and Kevin, were extremely friendly and very helpful. Made experience very pleasant, enjoyed chatting w them! The transmission fluid replacement took over twice as long as estimated (about 45 minutes). Excellent information regarding future service recommended by mfg of my vehicle. Quick service, friendly staff, good price. Service was fast, employees were friendly and personable. Super quick to get my oil changed. The rest of my fluids were refilled as necessary which was super nice. Very friendly staff to talk to as they worked on my car. It wasn't too clear what was being included in the oil change package. Written or otherwise. In not being aware of what was included or not, the price tag seemed on the high side for me. Bery friendly staff, female employees, no pressure to buy additional services, fast and reliable help. High cost for the oil change service. Waiting room was uninviting. Lights did not work in the restroom I used. the employees were extremely friendly and informative. Very friendly and knowledgable staff. They communicated perfectly what to expect (time, price, etc) and answers all of my questions. This location is by far better than the other Valvoline in Flagstaff. Always consistent in their great service. Staff was great, price was great. Staff were super friendly and efficient. Staff pulled up my history and noted what I had done last time and that I didn't need a new air filter. Love that. He applied coupons for me without me having to look them up on my phone. Overall a good experience. The guys working were friendly, respectful, knowledgeable and fast. Good guys. Professional. Polite. They know their stuff. Once they started on my vehicle the service was done quickly. I pulled in and was immeidiantly serviced..quick and friendly service. The staff/team was very professional and polite. They even sounded intelligent and well mannered, which is normal in Flagstaff. Great visit and service. Kevin and Alan were great! Quickness, friendly staff made me feel welcome and explained all services that will be conducted on my vehicle. I love the area where the shop is located. Thank you! Looking forward to my next oil change with you guys. I'm a big fan of making conversation and the employees seemed so delightfully happy to be at work. Truly a great experience, I'm only 19 and have had to get an oil change by myself one other time, this truly stood out, the employees made it so painless it felt like a fun thing to do instead of a chore. Good, quick service by highly knowledgeable staff. The people there were very courteous and friendly. We even played a little trivial pursuit! Price much higher than either places I use without any obvious advantages. The staff needs a little deeper knowledge of auto service. They just know how to check dip sticks and report back but they do not know what they mean. They told me my transmission fluid was loud because the stick was half way. The place where I have my major automotive problems was just around the corner. I had them check my transmission fluid and they said it was perfect. The guys were friendly and helpful and completed the service quickly. I appreciated their recommendations and letting me know what was good and what would need attention soon. it was a saturday afternoon so our wait time was 40 minutes, an 2 vech. were in front of us. Very quick and easy. A little high priced, but great customer service.

2019-04-24T02:38:58Z

https://store.vioc.com/az/flagstaff/1061-w-route-66-86001-GP0002

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A great way to reduce weight is to jog about the beach regularly. It is tougher to operate on sand than it is to perform on grass. 6 Secrets About Yoga tips for a flat stomach Which has Hardly ever Been Unveiled For your Earlier fifty Many years. Weighing more than you need to can rob you of health and years in your life. There are numerous websites that share weight reduction info that happen to be scattered throughout the Internet. This article will make the process easier by supplying you with some great tips. Don’t workout. This is geared towards those that find exercise tedious or boring. Walk your dog, ride your bike or toss the football around to enhance your enjoyment while participating in activities. In this way you’ll take pleasure in the exercise you’re getting. Skipping meals is not going to perform body a bit of good if you are attempting weight reduction. Should you skip food, you’ll be all of that much hungrier in regards time for your forthcoming meal, and that means you will probably stuff the face. There are healthier plus more best ways to cut calories than skipping meals. One particular tip for losing weight fast is always to have salad just before your main course at dinner. You will get much-needed fiber from the salad, which will enable you to fill up, but with less calories. Don’t douse your salad with cheese or fatty dressings. This may negate the helpful benefits of the salad itself. To aid someone trying to lose weight, you need to pick other kinds of transportation compared to a car. Walking, biking, skating and also other modes of travel will assist you to eliminate excess calories. Your everyday calories hang out inside your body. By burning calories by exercising, though, this storage is prevented. To really keep your weight off, avoid eating for a couple of hours prior to going to bed. This may seem like a difficult thing to prevent, yet it is in your best interest to do this. The what you eat before laying down for bed will not get burned as quickly as your metabolic rate has slowed down in preparation for sleep. Attempt to stay active after dinner, and you will definitely have no trouble steering clear of snacks. Walnuts are a fantastic food for individuals looking to lose weight. Research indicates that walnut consumption as part of breakfast helped people feel more full and satisfied as opposed to those eating a consistent breakfast. Walnuts come up with a great healthy snack alternative. Try creating new weight-loss habits versus looking to stop harmful weight loss habits. Through making positive changes, it is possible to stick to your diet. Instead of avoiding the doughnut shop each morning, try to eat fresh fruit instead. It’s much simpler to develop new habits rather than to break bad ones. 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Coffee with milk and sugar, carbonated fizzy drinks and fruit juices all contain plenty of calories. Water is actually a cheap and calorie-free replacement for these things. A great approach to shedding pounds is to quit loose-fitting clothes. Baggy clothing takes the mind from the extra weight. You’ll be mindful of what you actually weigh should you don’t wear baggy clothing. It is essential to acknowledge your cravings. Many high fat foods really taste good. If you have cravings for such foods, they are even stronger when attempting to lose weight. Don’t give in in your cravings, but don’t just ignore them all together. You are able to choose some low-cal versions of your favorite snacks, but eat them sparingly. Don’t consume processed goods in order to slim down. By avoiding the different processed foods, you may pay more attention to the purchases you will be selecting while buying food. The possibilities of purchasing a number of unhealthy foods will likely be reduced tremendously. One method to minimize the volume of food you eat is to find a dining partner. Often we shall eat until each of the foods are gone if we eat by ourselves. Exercising is not negotiable when you are trying to lose weight. It is actually beneficial to set aside time daily so that you will are dedicated to exercising. Write some time with your calender so you are sure to never make some other plans that could hinder your exercising. A fantastic weigh loss motivation is obtaining a buddy who shares the identical workout goals that you just do. A detailed family member or a friend that would like to be more healthy keeps from slacking off. You are going to motivate and encourage one another and also have an acquaintance to speak with who seems to be experiencing the same experience as yourself.

2019-04-26T15:44:26Z

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TRGP earnings call for the period ending June 30, 2018. Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Targa Resources Corp., Second Quarter 2018 Earnings Webcast and Presentation. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will be given at that time. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would like to turn the call over to Sanjay Lad. You may begin. Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, and welcome to the second quarter 2018 earnings call for Targa Resources Corp. The second quarter earnings release for Targa Resources Corp., Targa, TRC or the company, along with the second quarter earnings supplement presentation are available on the Investors section of our website at www.targaresources.com. In addition, an updated investor presentation has also been posted to our website. Any statements made during this call that might include the company's expectations or predictions should be considered forward-looking statements and are covered by the Safe Harbor provision of the Securities Act of 1933 and 1934. Please note that actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could cause actually results to differ, please refer to our recent SEC filings, including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2017, and subsequently filed reports with the SEC. Our speakers for the call today will be Joe Bob Perkins, Chief Executive Officer; Matt Meloy, President; and Jen Kneale, Chief Financial Officer. We will also have the following senior management team members available for Q&A. Pat McDonie, President, Gathering and Processing; and Scott Pryor, President, Logistics and Marketing. Joe Bob will begin today's call with a few highlights, followed by Jen who will discuss second quarter 2018 results, and Matt will then provide an update on commercial and business outlook, before we open it up for questions. I will now turn the call over to Joe Bob Perkins. Thanks, Sanjay. Good morning, and thank you to everyone for joining. I want to begin today actually by honoring one of Targa's retired founders and my good friend, Roy Johnson. Our Permian Johnson Plant is named after Roy. For those of you who have not heard, Roy was killed in a tragic bicycling accident in late July. Targa would not exist if it were not for Roy's vision and inspiration. Roy has been retired for several years, but his legacy remains and many of us will always have Roy's example in our heads and in our hearts. Roy is enjoying this fine earnings report from a better place, but he will always be missed. When this year began, a lot of the external focus on Targa was related to our attractive growth capital projects. And for a while, perhaps even more so related to our ability to effectively finance our growth capital program under way. For the first few months of the year, it became even more of a heightened topic as we announced additional attractive new projects requiring additional future CapEx. I believe that now, as Targa has continued to execute on our projects and on our financing plan through the first half of this year, with major projects on track, with the prospects for those projects even better than when we announced them, and with us already having funded, our minimum equity needs for our 2018 growth CapEx program, the conversation appropriately shifts, more to focus on the strength of our asset footprint and the growth profile that is rapidly coming into view as we move through this year and into 2019. Many of our important projects under way will be completed by the first half of next year, less than one year away. And we are working to complete those projects as quickly as practicable, because the demand for processing pipeline takeaway, fractionation, and export services continues to increase. Fundamentally, the strengthening outlook for domestic production volumes in crude and NGL commodity prices is providing additional tailwinds for our businesses, and will accelerate the utilization of the projects under way and will continue to drive the need for additional infrastructure. Our operational and financial performance through the first half of this year has us on track to meet or exceed our previously disclosed full year 2018 guidance. And more importantly, our longer-term outlook for Targa continues to strengthen and continues to gain momentum and visibility. Our continued focus on execution across the company was demonstrated recently by a number of successful highlights. Successfully bringing online our 200 million cubic feet per day Joyce Plant in the Midland Basin, which was essentially full at start-up. Commencing operations of our 60 million cubic feet per day Oahu plant and our 250 million cubic per day Wildcat Plant, which will support the expected volume ramp in our Delaware systems. Expanding our joint venture partnership with Sanchez in South Texas to include a new long-term dedication by Sanchez, and by all their working interest partners for over 315,000 additional gross acres in the western Eagle Ford, further strengthening the long-term outlook of our assets in the area. Announcing our participation in an additional strategic residue gas pipeline called Whistler to very effectively linked growing natural gas supply from the Permian Basin to key demand markets along the Texas Gulf Coast, further enhancing Targa's Permian Basin asset positioning and midstream service offerings to our customers. Raising more than $300 million from the issuance of common equity under our ATM program during the second quarter, which combined with our financing efforts earlier this year, means we have funded our minimum 2018 equity needs. We have funded our minimum 2018 equity needs without the likely benefit of some pet log asset sales. And extending our TRP and TRC revolvers and increasing the size of our TRP revolver to $2.2 billion to support the future liquidity needs of our business. This revolver, the largest for any high-yield company in the midstream industry with very attractive terms, also highlights the support that we continue to receive from the bank community. So, our strategic initiatives are driven by continued commercial execution, project execution, and financial execution like those examples. And the growth projects and related execution focus support high level of confidence in the future; confidence from increasing line of sight into strong long-term outlook at Targa. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Jen to discuss Targa's results for the second quarter. Thanks, Joe Bob. Good morning, everyone. Before we discuss second quarter results, I would like to deliver a special Targa shout out to the many people in the field, accounting, and elsewhere in our organization, who have put in significant extra effort during our recent financial systems implementation, while also balancing daily business priorities. Your efforts and amazing attitude will benefit our organization and are much appreciated. I would also like to thank our vendors and customers for their patience and support as we make this important change to support our organization over the long-term. Moving to our results, Targa's second quarter adjusted EBITDA was $326 million, which was 26% higher than the same period in 2017, driven by continued strong Gathering and Processing volume growth, higher commodity prices, and higher downstream fractionation and LPG export volumes. Distributable cash flow for the second quarter was $225 million, resulting in dividend coverage of around one time. Sequentially, adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter increased 6% over the first quarter. In our Gathering and Processing segment, sequential operating margin increased $21 million, driven by higher natural gas inlet volumes in the Permian, Badlands, North Texas and SouthOK, and higher crude oil gathered volumes in the Badlands and Permian. Second quarter Permian inlet volumes sequentially increased 8% from growth in each of our Permian Midland and Permian Delaware systems, plus the addition of volumes for processing at the Joyce Plant that were previously been offloaded to third parties. Badlands natural gas volumes increased 17% over the first quarter with our Little Missouri facility now operating at capacity. Inlet volumes in North Texas sequentially increased 5%, as we benefited from incremental short-term volumes, a trend which we do not expect to continue as we look through to the balance of this year. Inlet volumes in SouthOK increased 4% over the first quarter, driven by new commercial arrangements and continued growth in the Arkoma and SCOOP regions. Our second quarter crude oil gathered volumes in the Badlands sequentially increased 19%, driven by strong production growth in the Basin. Permian crude volumes gathered in the second quarter were up 35% over the first quarter. In our Logistics and Marketing segment, the sequential decrease in operating margin of $9 million was predominantly attributable to seasonality in our marketing businesses and was partially offset by lower operating expenses. Fractionation volumes increased by 6% sequentially, averaging 412,000 barrels per day in the second quarter. At our Galena Park facility, we averaged 5.8 million barrels per month of LPG exports, which was a stronger second quarter than recent years, driven by improved seasonal fundamentals. Moving to other finance related matters, the fair value of the earn-out payments for our Permian acquisition is currently estimated to be $312 million, with the payment payable in May 2019. The $61 million reduction in the contingent consideration compared to the (inaudible) quarter estimate is driven by a decrease in underlying volume forecast expectations for the remaining short measurement period. During the second quarter, we executed additional hedges for Targa's percent of proceeds equity commodity position. Based on our estimate of current equity volumes from Field Gathering and Processing, for the second half of 2018, we have hedged approximately 90% of condensate, 80% of natural gas and 75% of NGL volumes, and for 2019, we estimate that we have hedged approximately 75% of condensate, 65% of NGL and 60% of natural gas volumes. On June 29th, we closed on the amendment and extension to 2023 of both the TRP and TRC revolving credit facilities. The TRP facility was increased from $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion, demonstrating strong bank market demand and we were able to lower borrowing costs relative to the prior facility. The TRC facility size remained unchanged at $670 million. At the end of the second quarter, our consolidated liquidity was approximately $3.1 billion. On a debt compliance basis, TRP's leverage ratio at the end of the second quarter was approximately 4.0 times versus a compliance covenant of 5.5 times. Our consolidated reported debt-to-EBITDA ratio was approximately 4.5 times. Our current 2018 net growth CapEx estimate remains unchanged from our previous update and is approximately $2.2 billion, with just over $1 billion spent through June 30th. Full year 2018 net maintenance CapEx is forecasted to be approximately $120 million with $46 million spent through the second quarter. Related to funding our capital program, we have been very successful utilizing a multifaceted financing approach and are well-positioned from a balance sheet perspective looking forward. On our first quarter earnings call in early May, we announced that we had raised $87 million through our ATM program. And given we had no project announcements or other events that put us in a blackout for the balance of the second quarter, we're able to raise an additional $283 million for a total of $370 million raised year-to-date via our ATM program. The ATM continues to be a very useful tool for us and our second quarter capital raise demonstrates our access to capital as a liquid C corp. The combination of our ATM proceeds, our DevCo JV financing and the sale of our inland marine barge business means we have raised approximately $630 million through the first seven months of the year, which is about 30% of our 2018 net growth CapEx budget. We also continue to make progress on the potential sale of terminals in our petroleum logistics business, which would further supplement our financing program, and allow us to deploy capital into more accretive opportunities. We provided 2018 financial and operational guidance in February to provide some level of insight into our expectations for continued year-over-year growth. Our performance year-to-date in 2018 has been strong and we expect it to continue, but our preference is to avoid quarterly updates to that guidance, because we believe investors are better served by focusing on our incredibly attractive long-term value proposition. With each passing quarter, we move closer to 2019 when a significant number of our growth projects will come online. Given an outlook in 2019 and beyond of increasing EBITDA, increasing operating leverage and lower CapEx, coupled with demonstrated access to public and private capital markets means we are very well positioned to finance our growth capital going forward. With that, I will now turn the call over to Matt to provide an update around the execution of our strategic priorities and our business outlook. Matt? Thanks, Jen, and good morning, everyone. Commercial activity and production in many of our operating regions is increasing and we expect this positive trend to continue. In the Permian, the Joyce Plant came online and was almost immediately full. Our 200 million cubic feet per day at Johnson Plant is expected to be complete in late September and will be highly utilized when it comes online. Inlet volumes on our Permian Midland systems increased 11% sequentially, and the 2% sequential increase on our Permian Delaware systems would have been 5% had we not been impacted by some scheduled plant downtime in our Versado system. In the Badlands, our Little Missouri complex is operating at capacity and our LM4 Plant expected online around the end of the year is already much needed. Turning to the downstream business, the frac market continues to tighten and we expect Train 6 to be fully utilized when it comes online in the first quarter of 2019. Our Channelview crude and condensate splitter will begin operations around late September and early October. Permian takeaway for all commodities is tight and tightening and we are closely monitoring this to proactively manage such issues for our customer volumes. We believe that Targa customers are relatively well-positioned in a basin infrastructure constraints caused by growth rates even more robust than expected will be temporary, mitigated by economic and other logistical factors. The short-term impact of takeaway issues on Targa's volume growth should be on the margin of continued robust recent growth rates. We're already seeing some natural activity moderation, but still expect strong growth from this area. Jen mentioned that volume forecast associated with our Permian acquisition resulted in the decline in the estimated earn-out payment. I would like to point out that the volume growth associated with the acquired assets is still in the very high double-digits and is expected to continue well beyond the earn-out period. Construction on Grand Prix continues and the project remains on-time and on-budget with the pipeline expected to be fully operational and supporting NGL takeaway from the Permian, Southern Oklahoma, and North Texas in the second quarter of 2019. Construction on GCX also continues and the project remains on-time and on-budget with the pipeline expected to be fully operational in the fourth quarter of 2019, which will certainly provide some much-needed relief on the residue side moving volumes from Waha to Agua Dulce. Our focus across our asset base continues to be on getting infrastructure in place to support the needs of our customers, and when you think about the projects that we are now investing in, 2 Bcf of additional processing capacity, 100,000 barrels per day of additional frac capacity, Grand Prix, GCX, Agua Blanca, Whistler, Targa is clearly committed to continuing to provide our customers with best-in-class service, reliability and optionality. 2018 growth CapEx is at historically high levels for Targa, largely as a result of Targa's single largest capital project in Grand Prix and all the necessary processing adds across our Gathering and Processing footprints. When we think about projects beyond what is already announced, the tightness in fractionation capacity at Mont Belvieu and the outlook for NGL volumes to Mont Belvieu is accelerating customer demand. Our fractionation facilities at Mont Belvieu operated near full during the second quarter, partially offset by some debottlenecking we undertook to enhance system reliability and operational flexibility. Fractionation capacity at Belvieu is expected to remain very tight through 2019 even with our Train 6 frac train coming online. We continue to progress on permitting additional fractionation and have begun ordering long lead time items to best position ourselves to move quickly through construction once we have our permits in hand. We also continue to enhance our connectivity to our pet chem customers facilities and are well positioned to capture an increasing share of this demand growth as new petrochemical facilities move toward diversifying their connectivity to supply. Collectively, we remain on track to bring online a substantial portion of our organic growth projects currently under construction, including a number of processing plants, Frac Train 6 and Grand Prix within the next 6 to 12 months, which provides us with increasing line of sight to significant growth in adjusted EBITDA and cash flow in 2019, 2020 and beyond. Looking ahead, we expect capital expenditures to be focused around incremental processing expansions, which will generally direct incremental NGLs to Grand Prix and drive additional fractionation in LPG export expansion opportunities, which requires significantly less capital investment directly linked to the increasing volume through our systems. We remain focused on executing on the projects that we have under way, and on securing attractive sources of financing that enhance and maximize longer-term shareholder value. Our balance sheet and dividend coverage are expected to strengthen significantly as our projects under way are completed in the near-term and as our EBITDA increases. We are very excited about the outlook for Targa and its shareholders. (Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from TJ Schultz of RBC. Your line is open. Hey, good morning. I think just first on the Permian, just as you discuss some moderation maybe in Permian activity, not surprising just given the takeaway. Is there any change to your view on Grand Prix volume potential by 2020 at all? And as you think about the expansions there, are you still moving forward with the longer lead-time items to prepare for that expansion? Yes. I want to be clear, the moderation is moderation in a growth rate, OK, not moderation in the volume. It's a very active area with growing production, growing production through our Gathering and Processing, growing production from there, very soon to Grand Prix, third-party volumes to Grand Prix. You asked if there was anything different in our outlook. When we initially announced this project, we are significantly better and I think everybody who has been monitoring the basin in our success knows that in an outlook for Grand Prix. We have been ordering long lead-time items for all of our important projects and that would include for Grand Prix. The long lead-time items to expand Grand Prix are not expensive. The purchase of pumps and the installation of pumps is a small fractional addition on that project when necessary. Okay, understood. And Delaware volumes in 2Q, the Versado downtime that was planned, and you mentioned, was that contained just in 2Q and just what would you expect, or would you expect kind of a catch-up back into 3Q? Yes. So that was -- as we mentioned, the sequential growth showed 2%, it would have been 5%. So on average for the quarter it's about $12 million a day, which was impacted on the Versado system. So we would not expect that impact in Q3. Our longer term outlook for that area whether it's the Versado or even just anywhere in the Delaware is kind of up into the right. We set for the acquisition kind of very high-single digits, we're seeing strong growth out there. It's just frankly happening a little bit slower than I think our estimates there at the beginning of the year. Okay, thanks. Just lastly on financing, having satisfied the ATM for 2018 already, can you just expand on the flexibility you have for financing into 2019, whether it's maybe pre-funding that on the ATM? Do you prefer to tap some of the private capital again and just expectation on closing the asset sales this year? Hey, TJ, before I turn it over to Jen to answer that, I just wanted to correct, I said high-single digits growth rate for the acquisition, it's actually high-double digit growth rates. So I just want to make -- (Multiple Speakers). We have a lot of people making mistakes in math. I wanted to correct that. Okay, Jen? I think -- when we look forward, I think consistent with our track record, we're going to continue to proactively manage our funding to maintain the balance sheet flexibility that we've really worked very hard to get through a number of actions in 2016 and 2017. We're really pleased with the success that we've had thus far year-to-date, tapping a number of different tools to raise capital, and I think that's what you should expect going forward. That's been very consistent with our messaging over the last year plus and I think that's how we'll continue to approach it going forward, utilizing a multifaceted approach. Okay. And just on the asset sales, I mean there's -- is there still the process in place there to try to get that done this year? Yes, absolutely. So we announced that we are evaluating the sale of our Baltimore, Sound and Channelview Terminal. And so there's been a lot of interest from the market for those assets, and we're continuing to proceed through the process. Our expectation is that the assets are likely to go to more than one buyer and more than one transaction. And so it will just take us a little bit of time to work through all of that. Our next question comes from Jeremy Tonet of J.P. Morgan. Your line is open. Just want to start off on the Whistler project here. I was just curious, I know it's still kind of early innings here and there's only so much you can share, but as far as proportionate ownership in this project, would you like to kind of link that to what levels of volumes you'd be committing? Is that kind of how you think about -- how this would fit into your portfolio of growth longer term? Yes. So we haven't given specific equity percentages for the pipeline, but I think generally thinking about it, the equity ownership related to the MVC commitment is a good way to think about it generally. Great. Thanks for that. And Matt, kind of building off from your comments there with the ramps of the Permian plant. In the Delaware with Wildcat and Oahu there, I was just wondering, with the ramp, how do you guys see, I guess, Permian takeaway constraints? Do you see that kind of influencing the ramp there, or have you guys kind of locked up the FTE where you feel good about being able to place all your molecules out of the basin? Yes. There's really a lot that can be said on that. I'd say, as far as producer activity and the volume ramp, we've got a diverse set of producers, whether it's in the Delaware or Midland, and each and every one are kind of evaluating the different takeaway constraints, a little bit differently; there is oil, NGL, residue, so there's different constraints and different producers have different options depending on their portfolio of production. We have seen some producers that have a good footprint in other basins, so you know, instead of adding the rig here in the Permian, we're going to add it to maybe the Bakken or somewhere else, so we have seen some of that. Are there going to be impacts? We think there's going to be some impacts as we said in our script. We think those are going to be on the margin to a growth rate. So we still do see strong growth in 2018 and into '19. It's just how much that growth rate will be impacted and it will vary by producer, and that's something that we're going to have to kind of work out as we go through time and so our producers. That's helpful. Thanks. And then, Jen, just wanted to touch the finance a little bit here and clearly Targa has a very deep portfolio of attractive growth projects here, but just wondering, as far as the CapEx spend here, is this kind of like the first half of '18 is like the pig in the python, like this is the high watermark as far as kind of CapEx spend, it looks like the back half '18 is stepping down a little bit versus the first half of '18. I know you've not given 2019 guidance yet, but just would you expect that to kind of trend down a little bit, or anything else you can share there? He said people at raise, I didn't understand that. I said Canadians, really. But I think from our perspective, we've spent a little over $1 billion year-to-date. I think that you can expect that pace will continue, particularly as you think about the timing of when projects come online early in 2019, such as Grand Prix and others. I think from our perspective, we've obviously taken a number of important steps already with the private capital, with some public equity and with some strategic joint ventures. And I'd expect that, that sort of multifaceted approach will continue as we will look forward to funding 2019, when we'll obviously benefit from increasing EBITDA from the projects that are coming online either this year or next year. And I think that's what gives us the confidence really going forward when we think about the long-term outlook to finance our business. That's helpful. Thank you for taking my question. Our next question comes from Colton Bean of Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open. Good morning. So just switching gears here a little bit to the NGL marketing. It looks like we've had a couple of strong quarters here and actually had lower seasonality than we would have expected in Q2. Can you just provide a little bit of context on what's driving that and maybe the sustainability of those results? Yes, I guess there's a couple of pieces there. I mean, we have for the wholesale propane business, which is the smaller part of our business, I'd say, we have pretty regular seasonality and you see there would be some downward pressure in Q2 and Q3 for that business. But what you saw was an uptick in fractionation volumes, just strength in overall volumes through our system on the fractionation side, provided some uplift to our margin. And you actually saw NGL exports, our LPG exports relatively strong compared to last year, even though it was sequentially down in Q1, we're just seeing continued strength in the export business. Got it. And then just on Whistler, so maybe a question for Jen here. In the release you mentioned the likelihood of project financing with the intent be to retain cash to reduce the debt load or do you guys look to payout distributions after covering that interest burden? I mean, I think from our perspective, Whistler as a project just given the nature of the contracts associated with them, I mean, that it's a very attractive candidate for project financing. So that's why we think that, that is a logical option for us to consider as the project moves forward. When we think about what we are going to do with our additional cash flow, as our EBITDA ramps looking forward, I think we very consistently have been saying that our goal is to increase coverage, reduced leverage, but really we're a little premature in getting to that point and being able to directly point to what we think we're going to use that additional cash flow for. Okay. And I guess just the last one from me here. So maybe a little bit limited in terms of disclosure around what you guys can do on the hedging strategy. Looking at next year, you do have a little bit of a step-down for Waha and Permian Basin swaps. Is any of that concentrated in terms of, maybe Q1 through Q3, given the FTE that you guys have in Gulf Coast Express or are those numbers, the daily average is kind of ratable across the year? We haven't said that they were ratable across the year. We provide that annual guidance very consistent with our previous approach, how we are managing the particular basis we're taking into account the timing associated with GCX and we also are taking into account in our longer-term view, the likely timing of Whistler as part of managing that overall exposure. Understood. I appreciate the time this morning. Our next question comes from Shneur Gershuni of UBS. Your line is open. Good morning. Just to start up, maybe to step back a little bit and look at a little bit bigger picture. I mean, we're seeing kind of a surge in overall NGL production, I believe, in your prepared remarks you talked about tight frac capacity, there are some thoughts about a need for more LPG export capacity. Can you frame for us what the impacts are to Targa beyond what you've already announced thus far? Does Grand Prix come online at its fully expanded capacity that you had originally outlined? Do you have spare capacity away from Belvieu like Lake Charles for fracs? And even on the LPG export side, I know your guidance doesn't include spot volumes, but are there opportunities to expand there or fully utilize the LPG export facilities? This is Scott, I'll try to tackle some of that laundry list that you put out there and obviously get help from my colleagues here. But first and foremost, when you think about the NGL growth, you look what's happening in the Permian, both in the Midland and the Delaware side, as it relates to our plants as well as third party activity that's out there, a lot of that is feeding into Belvieu today. So overall picture relative to the tightness that we alluded to in our comments around fractionation capacity and the tightness in the market place filling up that fractionation capacity is very evident today. Some of that's related to new growth, some of that's related to ethane recovery and all of that together has moved to a point to where Belvieu really is going to be tight, as we said, through 2019. From a Targa perspective, obviously we've tried to be in front of this with the announcement earlier about our Train 6 expansion, which will be online at the end of the first quarter of 2019, and obviously we indicated in our notes today that we are actively pursuing permits for multiple fractionators that once we have those in hand and the advent of long-lead items purchased, we will execute on those projects as quickly as possible to bring that capacity online as well. So all of that really is a great picture for us, it's a great picture for the industry, and certainly when you look at it steered toward Mont Belvieu, where we've got a significant footprint of both storage and fractionation and then our export capacity, we feel all that will be moving toward capacity limits at some point. We also have been ahead relative to announcing projects in earlier quarters where we were increasing our capabilities, particularly around increasing our capacity on exporting butanes. So pipelines entering wells at Belvieu, increasing that capacity, basically redoing or rebuilding a dock at our facility to make sure that we've got full capacity on all four of our docks to -- to maintain that level of flexibility. At what point we will continue to look for small projects as well as large projects on the export side to enhance that capability. Certainly our expenditures to enhance our capacity is much -- from a capital spend is much smaller than say a greenfield project. So we will continue to look for ways to do that and be there when the market demand surfaces. Thank you for all that color. Maybe switching gears a little bit in terms of your overall outlook through 2021. I think on the last call that you had mentioned that you could potentially hit the $2 billion target earlier than 2021. Given today's results and given your overall outlook as to how you're seeing things, are you more confident in potentially hitting that target earlier than expected the same verse, I'm just wondering if you can give us some color around that. I understand the question. What I tried to describe was components of that long-range outlook that we developed in May of 2017 and talking about those components and new components, all of which we feel better about today than when they were announced. So yes, I've got very high confidence in that curve that was created some time ago. That high confidence in the curve is due to clear views of what are now short-term projects. A whole lot of it coming on in less than a year and how we'd commercialize them since announcement. So, yes, I'm going to tell you all, I'm confident in it, super confident in it, and that probably should translate into likely higher, likely earlier without giving you a new number for that. I hope that's helpful, that's all we'd disclosed. I appreciate and it definitely is helpful. And one final question for Jen in terms of funding. I know that this question keeps coming up. Just specifically with the potential for the Splitter sale, does it need to come online before you're able to market the project as for sale? Just wondering if you can sort of give us a little bit of color around that. Well, importantly, I'd remind you, so what we said that we are evaluating the sale of were three sort of discrete terminals. So, obviously the Channelview crude and condensate Splitter, but also our terminals up in Sound, Washington as well as our terminals in Baltimore. And sort of directionally, we have said that when you think about asset off margin contribution from largest to smallest, it's sort of Splitter, then Sound, and then Baltimore. We have gotten feedback from some buyers that they may prefer to see the crude and condensate Splitter fully operational in order for us to maximize the value that we think the asset is worth and so that's one of the things that we are obviously balancing as we work through evaluation of the sales of that particular terminal and really all the terminals. And in your comments before, I think you said that it's late 3Q or early Q4 is when the expected start-up is? That's right. Matt said, sort of late September early October. Perfect, thank you very much. Appreciate all the color, guys. Our next question comes from Darren Horowitz of Raymond James. Your line is open. Matt, in your prepared commentary, you talked about increased NGL recoveries, and obviously on the ethane side, we've seen regional ethane frac spread economics improve. With the expectation that, that should continue into the end of this year, how much of a benefit from just margin capture perspective, do you think that could lead or drive for you guys in the back half of the year? I know like previously you've talked about a nickel moving composite NGLs space as Bellevue being plus or minus $9 million. But I'm more specifically wondering from the ethane potential what that could mean? Yes. So we haven't given any hard metrics for enhanced ethane recovery related to why EBITDA for us. We would benefit generally from higher ethane prices. We would benefit in the G&P side of the business, and then more volumes through our fractionation facility. So it is generally positive for us as recovery ticks up and we have seen that. We will benefit even more once Grand Prix comes online. So mid next year, we are able to capture both the transportation and the fractionation, we will benefit more from that, but we haven't kind of given any hard numbers for what that could look like. I'd just say generally more recovery is beneficial for us. Okay. And then, switching over to your comments around the Whistler project and the proposal there. To your point on residue gas takeaway out of the Permian and a lot of that gas converging effectively on Waha and then moving into the Agua Dulce area. How do you think about the potential scale for Whistler and commitments versus what a competing project, for example, like Permian highway could achieve in the timeline across with both of those pipes are marketed? This is Pat. I mean, fair question, obviously there's two competing projects, and if you think back over the last year and a half as many as 13 or 14 projects announced. As Matt alluded to the kind of the formula or recipe for getting a project done has been a volumetric commitment for an equity position in the pipe. Certainly, Kinder Morgan has got a valid project as do we. Do both of them get done? I can't answer that. I really don't know what they've got left to do, but I certainly have line of sight on our project. We have really good commitments in place from industry players that have a lot of experience and a lot of growth in their forecast, for the midstream side of the business they participate in, and honestly, in the conversations we're having incrementally, we feel very good about the project. We've got to get it done. We like where it initiates, we like where it terminates into the marketplace, both feeding Mexico and the growing LNG markets. And so, all we can do is stay tuned and we expect it to get done. Our next question comes from Tristan Richardson of SunTrust. Your line is open. You guys mentioned the debottlenecking opportunities on the fractionation side, and Scott, you mentioned sort of looking for those opportunities up and down, can you talk about what those activities could add or have added on the capacity side for fractionation, while we await Train 6? What I would say is, is that it's a variety of projects, obviously as you look at your facilities, you're going to look for ways to improve the operation across the number of fractionators that we already are operating today. With that said, I'm not going to give you a volume outlook of what that looks like, what I would tell you is a lot of that focus was on reliability and sustainability. As these volumes start ramping up, we want to make sure that we have long run times without any bottles in our system to ensure that we are performing for our customers at the highest degree. And as a result of that, we think that we've become a very attractive player in the marketplace and continue to be attractive player for our customers on the downstream side. Tristan, I want to tip my hat to the team. First of all, having the high beams on, to be looking for those opportunities prior to being completely utilized and getting that work done at the right time to prepare for that very near future of completely utilized. This was big bang for the buck investment in that cycle and it was well executed. That's helpful. Thank you, guys. And then just you guys talked about opportunity for both processing capacity additions and frac capacity additions given what Whistler would add, would the idea to generally beat the time, any incremental opportunities with what you're expecting the online date for Whistler to be or given how tight we are on the frac side? Would there be opportunities to pull some of those expansions forward ahead of Whistler? Yeah. I think when we think about growth in our GMP business and then further downstream, we think of it more as kind of as we're adding processing plants, as GMP Inlet volumes are growing, that's going to be the driver for additional NGL production which would then necessitate further investment downstream on fractionation or potential export expansions. The Whistler -- part of those volumes are from the residue gas takeaway from our processing plants that we're adding, but there's also, as you've seen the list of additional equity owners in that pipe, there is supply coming from many different areas for Whistler. Okay. Helpful. Thank you guys very much. Our next question comes from Matthew Phillips of Guggenheim. Your line is open. Good morning, guys. I just want to touch on the fractionation side a bit here in terms of this past quarter and the trend there. I mean, volumes have continued to tick up, but frac revenues have come down. And how is -- is more of this being allocated to commodity sales versus a pure fee-based arrangement? I mean, how should we look at that going forward? Yes. When we think of our fractionation business, it's -- we think of it as -- it's basically a fixed fee business. There is a piece of the fractionation business which is a pass-through that we talk about, which does hit revenue and OpEx, with gas prices dropping that can impact our revenues and then impact our OpEx and things like that. So, we really tend not to focus too much on revenues, that can -- there can be some noise in revenues. We think of it more on a gross margin or really on an operating margin basis. Got it. I mean, also does that imply that pit volumes are going to have more seasonal sensitivity, right? Then, if you're just getting a fee for fractionation services, I mean, is this -- does this -- moves from. Sorry, go ahead. It is a fee-based business, but you don't see a 100% of the fee in the revenue without a deduct in the expense, and we can walk you through that a little bit more. Yes, Matt, this is Jen. Sanjay, and I can walk you through the different components because I think where you are getting your number from, there is some noise in there that I think we can help you through. Okay. That works. And then on -- for Badlands, Bakken side of things, a pretty huge step up in volumes here year-over-year. Just given the trend of Permian moderation of growth, more folks moving to other basins, what do you guys see as the mid-term outlook here and do you see further upside in the JV with Hess? Yes, I'd say, we feel really good about our outlook up in North Dakota. We've seen volumes increase, the LM4 Plant can come online fast enough. So there is a need for additional processing capacity up there, not just by us, but by others. So we're working to put that in place. I think our expectations for filling up that facility really just continues to improve as we go through time. So the outlook up there, I'd say is good and even getting better. Our next question comes from Craig Shere of Tuohy Brothers. Your line is open. Craig, we only heard two words. Yes, we only heard financial outlook. Well, I'm sorry. Is this better? Yes, we can hear you now. Okay, looking at Slide 9, your financial outlook long-term, there's two things that jump out at me. One is obviously it's over a year since you issued the main part of the chart. And second, all those add-ons on the right, another couple of announcements, you're not going to be able to fit it on one page. So my question is, and I appreciate you want to keep your cards a little close to the vest and not update every other quarter, but could you see by the fourth quarter call refreshing this? Well, before we start, the other piece of this that I do hope jumps out is embedded in the footnote, which is that when we developed this guidance, it was based on a $50 crude environment flat through the forecast period and $0.60 NGL flat through the forecast period. So that to me is also one of the -- sort of key component pieces that really jumps off the page. I think from our perspective, when we think about that long-term outlook, we're in a period where we really need to execute. So these projects that we've now been talking about for 18 months plus, key projects like Grand Prix, we need to get them online and then you'll start to see really in our results the impact of such accretive and attractive opportunities. And as we move through the balance of this year, move through the balance of 2019, there are just more and more incremental projects that are going to contribute. I think from our perspective, obviously our investors would like for us to be updating this real-time and we understand that, but we do try to give you a lot of directional color that we certainly feel like a lot has improved since then. It begins with commodity prices and then the associated volume projections that we made in a $50 per barrel flat crude environment. Obviously that has improved since then as well and then we've had all of the commercial successes that you rightly point out, we'll need a smaller font if we add any more projects in the next year around. Okay, fair enough. And you're absolutely correct, Jen, in pointing out the commodity benefits and then also the fact that you didn't include anything that wasn't contracted on the LPG export side. It just seems that the long-term street outlook maybe unrealistically conservative still and a little help from you guys within the next couple of quarters might be useful. Understood. The long-term street outlook is also not out in five years. We work hard to try to create a view and an outlook, a cognition outlook for folks who want to look beyond that quarter and next, and we're going to keep trying to add more information, part of that information Jen is pointing out will be actual very soon with the start-up of many of the important projects occurring in less than one year. I hear your advice, we'll try to take it to heart. You started up the question with would we likely be reprinting this chart in next quarter, I think because we've answered it several times that people should hear that we're unlikely to be reprinting this chart and redoing it completely in the next quarter. But as I answered, Shneur, you do hear the confidence, OK, you hear that we've got line of sight on that curve like improved, while it's becoming shorter and shorter term and that confidence probably does mean that we believe it's above the curve and/or earlier, which was another way the question was asked. And we'll take take the question to heart. We want to provide information and see where it goes. Great. Just one more quick question on capital funding. Jen, to the degree that you are successful with the downstream petroleum logistics asset sales, do you see that as kind of a down payment on first half '19 spend as you think about beyond that obviously having a much more power of funding with the hard declines in CapEx and huge increases in retained DCF? I think from our perspective, we view funding really as fungible. So there a line in the sand that we think by X date we want to have completed 2018 financing and then we can sort of then begin to look forward to 2019 or beyond. I think in our view, what we're trying to do is maintain the balance sheet flexibility that we've worked very hard for. And as a result of that balance sheet flexibility, we may or may not fund our CapEx program with as much equity as we historically have, particularly with the EBITDA ramp that we can see before us. But I think we'll just continue to move through time using the multifaceted financing approach. I think the potential sale of our terminals business is an important piece of that, but everything remains a tool available to us and I think we've demonstrated through our track record, our willingness to utilize different tools and so I think that's what we'll continue looking forward. Our next question comes from Sunil Sibal of Seaport. Your line is open. Yes, hi, good morning, guys and congratulations on a great quarter. Yes, a couple of questions from me. First, going to the crude gathered volumes in Permian, it seems like what is stronger, sequential pick up in those volumes, I was just kind of wondering is there any timing issues there or is that kind of a good ramp up that we can assume for the remainder of the year? I mean, our Permian crude business is obviously a relatively new business for us that we acquired through that rigor acquisition, and so, you're starting from a small base. So as our commercial team continues to make progress and they've executed a number of very attractive contracts, you'll continue to, I think, see volumes increase from there. Whether -- we're not going to provide obviously guidance on such a small piece of our business, but 35% uptick quarter-over-quarter is very nice for that business and we expect that it will continue as the activity in the Permian continues. Okay, got it. And then some of your competitors in the midstream space talked about cost pressures from steel tariffs considering that you have a fairly robust capital program, I was wondering if you're starting to see some of that impact also? Yes. So for our project that are on the drawing board that pipe was already ordered and done. So we don't have an impact to our current capital budget or any material impact to our capital budget for those items. Going forward, for new processing plants, new facilities, the actual steel cost is a relatively small component of the overall infrastructure, whether it's a processing plant or fractionation facility. So we don't see any material impact from the cost and steel tariffs. And it's a year or two out, we're not giving you precise numbers. An average Targa plant out there, it costs X, the plant purchase piece is probably 15% to 20% of that X, that's where most of the steel is in the plant and the steel is, call it, notionally 20% or 30% of that 15% to 20%. And there are some other steel, but you can see how an increase in steel, I saw someone publicly say, may impact our steel prices by 20% to 30% is not going to be but single-digit impacts on our cost, and that's manageable within new contracts and new deals as we go forward. Okay, got it. Thanks a lot, guys. That's all I had. There are no further questions. I will turn the call back over to Sanjay Lad for any further remarks. Thank you, everyone for participating on this morning's call and we appreciate your interest in Targa Resources. Jen and I will be available for any follow-up questions you may have. Thanks and have a great day.

2019-04-22T00:01:13Z

https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2018/08/09/targa-resources-inc-trgp-q2-2018-earnings-conferen.aspx?source=iedfolrf0000001

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Anthropology is a study of human diversity. This overview article discusses global variations in the delimitation of the discipline, and its development from a study closely linked historically to the Western expansion into other parts of the world, to the current situation with anthropologists from varied nations studying social and cultural life everywhere. Key concepts – culture, cultural translation, comparison, and fieldwork – are identified; main dimensions of specializations and practical applications are discussed; and the future of anthropology in an increasingly interconnected world is considered. Anthropology as a discipline is concerned with human diversity. In its most inclusive conception, this is what brings together the four fields of cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. With its formative period in the historical era, when Europeans and people of European descent were exploring other parts of the world and establishing their dominance over them, and when evolutionary thought was strong, it also came to focus its attention especially on what was, from the Western point of view, distant in time or space – early humans or hominoids, and non-European peoples. In that early period, there was indeed a strong tendency to conflate distances in time with those in space: some living non-Europeans could be taken to be ‘contemporary ancestors,’ dwelling in ‘primitive societies.’ Understandings of the discipline have changed over time, however; and they are not now entirely unitary across the world. What is held together under one academic umbrella in one place may be divided among half a dozen disciplines somewhere else. A mapping of the contemporary state of the discipline, consequently, may usefully begin by taking some note of international variations. It is particularly in North America that academic anthropology has retained what has come to be known as ‘the four-field approach.’ Generally, it seems to have had its greatest strength in countries where dominant settler populations faced sizable indigenous populations, and may have found it practical to assemble academic knowledge about these in a single discipline. In recent times, the continued viability of this arrangement has come under debate. Among the founders of the discipline, some were perhaps able to work (or at least dabble) in all the main branches, but with time, in American anthropology as well, it has certainly been recognized that most scholars reach specialist skills in only one of them – even as it may be acknowledged that a broad intellectual sweep across humanity has its uses, and at the same time as it is recognized that, here as elsewhere, research in the border zones between established disciplines or subdisciplines often brings its own rewards. On the whole, in any case, scholars in archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics, and sociocultural anthropology now mostly work quite autonomously of one another, and while terminologies vary, in many parts of the world, they are understood as separate disciplines. In Europe, varying uses of the terms ‘anthropology,’ ‘ethnology,’ and ‘ethnography,’ between countries and regions as well as over time, often reflect significant historical and current intellectual divides (Vermeulen and Alvarez Roldán, 1995). In parts of the continent, in an earlier period, the term ‘anthropology’ (in whatever shape it appeared in different languages) tended to be used mostly for physical anthropology, but since the later decades of the twentieth century, it has largely been taken over by what we here term ‘sociocultural anthropology’ – itself a hybrid designation for what is usually referred to either as social anthropology or as cultural anthropology (in German usage especially, however, ‘anthropology’ also frequently refers to a branch of philosophy). Physical or biological anthropology, meanwhile, was absorbed in many places by other disciplines concerned with human biology, while archaeology and linguistics maintained their positions as separate disciplines. In some European countries, now or in the past, the term ‘ethnography’ has been used, unlike in present-day usage in Anglophone countries, to refer to sociocultural anthropology as a discipline. Matters of discipline boundaries are further complicated, however, by the fact that sociocultural anthropology, especially in Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe, is often itself divided into two separate disciplines, with separate origins in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One, which was often originally designated something like ‘folk life studies,’ had its historical links with cultural nationalism, and concerned itself with local and national traditions, especially with regard to folklore and material culture. This discipline mostly did not acquire a strong academic foothold in those Western European countries that were most involved in exploration and colonialism outside Europe, particularly Great Britain and France, where, on the other hand, sociocultural anthropology that focused on non-European forms of life was earliest and most securely established. The more Europeoriented, or nationally inclined, ‘folk life studies’ discipline has tended, in recent decades, to redesignate itself as ‘European ethnology’ – or, in some contexts, simply as ‘ethnology’ – in contrast to a rather more globally oriented ‘anthropology.’ In another usage, ‘ethnology’ has been taken to refer to a more historical and museological orientation (in contrast with what was for a time a more presentist social anthropology), while in other contexts again, it is more or less synonymous with ‘sociocultural anthropology.’ Yet further national variations in terminology continue to make direct transpositions of terms between languages treacherous. Furthermore, if in its historical beginnings anthropology tended to be a matter of ‘the West studying the rest,’ with the colonial powers and their settler offshoots taking the greatest interest in establishing the discipline as an academic field, this is no longer the situation. Since the latter half of the twentieth century, the number of practitioners has grown conspicuously, and their global distribution has changed. There are now anthropologists everywhere, locals of just about all countries, based in their home academic institutions or other organizations (Fahim, 1982; Ribeiro and Escobar, 2006; Boskovic, 2008). Yet this is not always clearly reflected in the terminology of the academic landscape. In India, where anthropology has an extended history, its distinctiveness is frequently taken to involve a particular preoccupation with ‘tribal’ populations, and perhaps with physical anthropology – while some of the scholars recognized internationally as leading Indian anthropologists, concerned with the mainstream of Indian society, may be seen as sociologists in their own country (Uberoi et al., 2007). In African universities, too, founded in the late colonial or the postcolonial period, there has often been no distinction made, at least organizationally, between anthropology and sociology. If in Africa, anthropology has also for a period had to carry the stigma of being historically associated with the evils of colonialism, it seems now to find its own intellectual base in a collaboration between local and expatriate scholars (Devisch and Nyamnjoh, 2011). Back in North America and Europe, again, the framework of academic life is not altogether stable over time. ‘Cultural studies,’ born in Britain but expanding from there, and putting itself on the intellectual map mostly from the 1970s onward, has been most successful as a cross-disciplinary movement in the Anglophone countries but has had an impact elsewhere as well. Its center of gravity may have been mostly in literary and media studies, but insofar as it has engaged with methods of qualitative field research and with issues of cultural diversity, not least in the areas of multiculturalism and diaspora studies, it has sometimes come close to sociocultural anthropology and – in certain European countries – to ethnology, as discussed in this article. While some anthropologists may see this as an undesirable intrusion into their disciplinary domain, others see it as a source of new stimuli (Dominguez, 1996; Nugent and Shore, 1997). Again, a concern with human diversity may be seen to define anthropology as a whole (Hannerz, 2010). Even when the discipline at times turns to questions of what unites humanity, and what can be seen to constitute human nature, it does so more than other disciplines against the background of its panoramic understanding of diversity. If that concern may seem somewhat airy, one can also discern its more concrete implications for many of the distinctive working realities of the anthropological practitioner. Yet there has been a somewhat shifting cluster of assumptions here of what is the core of anthropological work and thought. As we inspect it, we will concentrate on sociocultural anthropology – by now the segment of the wider field that remains, internationally, most clearly identified as anthropology. Obviously in North America and much of Europe, the tradition of studying more exotic forms of life has remained strong, and some might still maintain that this is what a ‘real anthropologist’ does. Yet few are now likely to find it entirely defensible at intellectual, moral, and political levels to have a separate discipline for the study of the ‘non-West’ (or ‘non- North’). By the latter half of the twentieth century, past vocabulary such as ‘primitive societies’ had certainly become mostly an embarrassment. In a more egalitarian mood, many anthropologists would now undoubtedly prefer to see the practice of research among distant others in terms of a worldwide intellectual exchange effort: it is quite acceptable for North American and European anthropologists to go to Africa, Asia, or Oceania, as long as anthropologists from these regions are also welcomed to do research in the Occident. In practice, however, such a symmetrical exchange has hardly occurred on any significant scale. The professional anthropologists originating in non-Western, non-Northern parts of the world have seldom had the inclination, or the funding, to do their research abroad. They have been much more likely to conduct their studies in their home countries – where they may thus sometimes share their fields with expatriate anthropologists from Europe or North America. If anthropology is no longer quite so committed to identifying itself in terms of exotic fields, its methodology appears, in some views, to offer another sense of distinctiveness. Anthropologists, since at least the early twentieth century, have typically done ‘fieldwork.’ They emphasize ‘participant observation’ or ‘qualitative research’ – in contrast with the handling of more or less impersonal statistical data – or ‘ethnography,’ in the double sense of the process of field study and the product of a largely descriptive account of a slice or a way of life. In this discipline, the pure theorist is an anomaly, if not entirely nonexistent. The direct involvement with another way of being and behaving, whether it is in a village on the other side of the world, in a neighborhood across town, or in another occupation, tends to become more than a methodological choice, an effective way of reaching out to something unknown. It becomes a central personal experience, a surrender with strong moral and aesthetic overtones, and a potential for rich satisfaction and lifelong memories. Even so, placing fieldwork at the core of the distinctiveness of anthropology is also problematic. In part, the problem is that ‘doing ethnography’ has become increasingly common in various other disciplines as well, even if anthropologists sometimes complain that it is then done badly or superficially (‘ethnography lite’). It is also true that fieldwork of the most orthodox variety does not fit readily into every setting. In all field studies, anthropologists tend to do not only participant observation but other kinds of work as well. They talk to informants, elicit life histories, collect texts, conduct surveys, and engage in some variety of activities to acquire new knowledge. To what extent their observational work can really be actively participatory must depend a great deal on the contexts. But furthermore, in contemporary life, observational work is sometimes not very rewarding. Following the daily round of an agricultural village is one thing; observing an office worker at his desk, staring at his computer screen, is another. On the other hand, fields in the present-day world may involve other kinds of data than those of classic anthropology – more media use, for example. Notions of ‘field’ and ‘fieldwork’ are increasingly coming to be debated in anthropology, as the world changes and as anthropologists try to fit their pursuits into it; there are clearly also anthropologists who prefer less distinctively anthropological methodological repertoires (cf Gupta and Ferguson, 1997; Bernard, 1998; Coleman and Collins, 2006). The idea of gaining knowledge and understanding from fieldwork is certainly not entirely separate from the issues of where, and among whom, anthropologists work either. While anthropologists have been inclined to assume, or argue explicitly, that there are special insights to be gained from combining an outsider view with immersion in another way of life, the rise of ‘anthropology at home,’ the increasingly frequent copresence of indigenous and expatriate anthropologists in many fields, and the growth elsewhere in academic life of more emphatically insider-oriented fields of study, such as some varieties of ethnic studies, leave assumptions and arguments of this kind more clearly open to debate. Some would question as a matter of principle what kind of validity an outsider’s perspective can have. Others could argue that one can never be an anthropologist and an insider at the same time, as these are distinct intellectual stances. And then, surely, such issues are further complicated by the fact that ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ are not necessarily either-or categories, and hardly altogether stable either. An outsider can perhaps become an insider – and, on the other hand, one can probably start as an insider, drift away, and become an outsider. Here is an enduring complex of problems that anthropologists and their colleagues in adjacent disciplines will continue to debate (Merton, 1972; Narayan, 1993). One may wish to object to the somewhat unreflective inclination to put fieldwork at the center of the discipline that it would tend to make anthropology primarily a methodological specialty – perhaps, because of its qualitative emphasis, the counterpart of statistics. Undoubtedly, many anthropologists would prefer to identify their discipline with particular ideas, theories, and intellectual perspectives, and the history of anthropology is most often written in such terms. It may still turn out to be difficult to point to any single, uncontested, enduring central concept, or structure of concepts. A key idea in the exploration of human diversity has obviously been that of ‘culture,’ not least in the plural form of ‘cultures.’ This is a key term put to many uses in contemporary life (Breidenbach and Nyíri, 2009). Most fundamentally, in its conventional but multifaceted anthropological form, ‘culture’ stands for whatever human beings learn in social life, as contrasted with whatever is inborn (i.e., genetically given). But with the idea that human beings are learning animals also goes the understanding that they can learn different things, so that what is cultural tends to exhibit variation within humanity. Moreover, the tendency has been to conceptualize culture at a level of human collectivities (societies, nations, and groups), so that members are held to be alike, sharing a culture, while on the other hand there are cultural differences between such collectivities. Culture, that is, has been taken to come in distinct packages – cultures. In the classic view of culture, there has also been a tendency to try to see each such culture ‘as a whole’ – to describe entire ways of life and thought, and to throw light on the varied interconnections among ideas and practices. Such a basic notion of culture has allowed anthropologists to proceed with the task of drawing a panoramic map of human diversity. There has certainly also been a widespread preoccupation with showing how much of human thought and behavior is actually cultural (i.e., learned) and thus variable, rather than altogether biologically based and uniform. This emphasis has been visible, for example, in anthropological contributions to gender studies. Yet culture has also been a contested concept in anthropology, not least in recent times. It is true that it was never equally central to anthropological thought in all varieties of anthropology. American sociocultural anthropology, which has more often been identified as ‘cultural anthropology,’ has focused rather more on it, for example, than its British counterpart, which has been more inclined over the years to describe itself as ‘social anthropology.’ By the late twentieth century, however, critics in the United States as well as elsewhere argued that the established style of cultural thought tended to exaggerate differences between human collectivities, to underplay variations within them, to disregard issues of power and inequality and their material bases, and to offer overly static, ahistorical portrayals of human ways of life. While some anthropologists have gone as far as to argue for the abolition of the culture concept, others would be inclined to accept many of the criticisms yet take a more reformist line. Whichever view is taken, it seems that debates over the understanding of culture offer the discipline one of its lively intellectual foci (Hannerz, 1993; Brumann, 1999; Kuper, 1999). The notion of cultural translation has also had a part in defining anthropological work, and inevitably it is drawn into the arguments about the culture concept generally. Indeed, bridging cultural divides by making the ideas and expressions of one culture understandable in terms of another has been a major anthropological activity, although this linguistic analogy is certainly too limiting to describe all anthropology (Asad, 1986; Pálsson, 1993). In a somewhat related manner, it has gone with the interest in human diversity to describe anthropology as a discipline centrally involved with comparison (Gingrich and Fox, 2002). In a general way, this is clearly valid. Much of anthropology is at least implicitly comparative, in its inclination to emphasize what is somehow notably different about the ideas, habits, and relationships of some particular population. To the extent that the origins of the discipline have been European and North American, the baseline of such comparisons and contrasts has no doubt been in a general way Western. At the same time, there has been a strong tendency to use the knowledge of diversity to scrutinize Western social arrangements and habits of thought, and thus to destabilize ‘common sense.’ In such a way, anthropological comparison can serve the purpose of cultural critique, a possibility used in different ways at different times (Marcus and Fischer, 1986). On the other hand, the form of large-scale comparative studies, focusing on correlations between particular sociocultural elements across a large number of social units, which was prominent in the discipline in some earlier periods, has not been a central feature for some time, and the intellectual and methodological assumptions underlying comparison are also a more or less continuous topic of argument (Köbben, 1970; Holy, 1987). If culture in the singular and plural forms, fieldwork, translation, and comparison may count as ideas and practices that hold anthropology together, not in consensus but often rather more through engagement in debate, it is often suggested that the discipline also tends to be systematically segmented along various lines – not only in terms of what is understood to make up the discipline, as noted in this article, but also with regard to what draws communities of specialists closer together. One of the three major dimensions here is area knowledge. Anthropologists tend to be Africanists, Europeanists, Melanesianists, or members of other region-based categories. Rather few of them ever commit themselves to acquiring specialized knowledge of more than one major region to the extent of doing field research there. It is true that if fieldwork is often highly localized, it does not necessarily lead to a wider regional knowledge either, but as a matter of convention (perhaps at least to fit into normal job descriptions in the discipline), the tendency has been to achieve specialist status by reaching toward an overview of the accumulated anthropological knowledge of some such unit, and perhaps seeking opportunities to familiarize oneself with more of it through travel. In countries where ‘area studies’ have been academically institutionalized, such regional anthropologies have had a significant role in the resulting interdisciplinary structures, and, generally, shared regional specialization has often been important in scholarly exchanges across discipline boundaries. The second major dimension of specialization can be described as topical. Although anthropology has a traditional orientation toward social and cultural ‘wholes,’ there is yet a tendency among many anthropologists to focus their interest on particular kinds of ideas, practices, or institutions. Frequently, such specializations have tended to follow the dominant dividing lines between other academic disciplines – there has been political anthropology, economic anthropology, psychological anthropology, anthropology of law, anthropology of art, and ecological anthropology, for example. Drawing on knowledge of social and cultural diversity, one aspect of such specialization has been to scrutinize and criticize concepts and assumptions of the counterpart disciplines with respect to their tendencies toward Western-based intellectual ethnocentrism; but obviously there is also a continuous absorption of ideas from these other disciplines. Here, then, are other interdisciplinary connections. It may be added that such subdisciplines often have their own histories of growth in some periods, and stagnation in others (Collier, 1997). Thirdly, anthropologists sometimes specialize in the study of broad societal types, based on dominant means of livelihood – hunter-gatherers, peasants, pastoralists, fishermen, and so forth. In some ways, urban anthropology may be seen as a similar kind of specialty. In fields like these, too, intensities of collective engagement and intellectual progress have tended to vary in time. It has occasionally been argued that anthropology is less engaged with practical application than many other academic disciplines, and more concerned with achieving a somewhat lofty overview of the human condition, in all its variations. One factor underlying such a tendency may be a sort of basic cultural relativism – it may go with the acceptance, and even celebration, of human diversity to be somewhat skeptical of any attempt to impose particular arrangements of life on other people. This stance may well be supported by the fact that anthropologists have often been outsiders, working in other societies or groups than their own, and feeling that they have no mandate for meddling, or for that matter any actual realistic opportunity. Nonetheless, there have always been a number of varieties of ‘applied anthropology.’ In an early period, when the study of non-Western societies was carried out in contexts of Western colonialism, it was held that anthropological knowledge could be useful in colonial administration. While some administrators had anthropological coursework before taking up their overseas assignments, and while some anthropologists did research oriented toward such goals, it seems that such connections remained rather limited, and administrators were often impatient with the anthropologists’ preference for a long-term buildup of basic knowledge. Particularly toward the end of the colonial period, anthropologists also often saw such involvements as morally and politically questionable. In the postcolonial era, anthropological knowledge became engaged in a larger scale, and in many different ways, in development work in what had now (at least for some time) turned into the ‘ Third World.’ Many governments, international agencies, and international nongovernmental organizations have thus drawn on anthropological advice, and have offered arenas for professional anthropological activity outside academia. At the same time, with ‘development’ turning into a global key concept, around which an enormous range of activities and organizations revolve, this again has become another focus for critical theoretical scrutiny among anthropologists (Dahl and Rabo, 1992; Escobar, 1995). In recent times, particularly in the United States, there has also been considerable debate over the uses of anthropological expertise in contexts of war and other international conflict (Kelly et al., 2010). When anthropologists work in their own countries, the range of applications maybe wider, and as already noted, practical and political relevance is frequently one reason for doing anthropology ‘at home.’ Not least as transnational migration has made more societies increasingly ethnically and culturally heterogeneous, anthropologists have been among the social scientists engaged, in one way or other, in the handling of minority affairs and multiculturalism. Educational and medical anthropology are not always involved in practical application, and research in such fields is also carried out in societies other than the researcher’s own, but often work in these subdisciplines similarly centers on the encounter between major institutional complexes and culturally heterogeneous populations. Some number of anthropologists in Europe and North America now also make use of their disciplinary perspectives as specialists on organizational culture, and as marketing analysts, in a growing field of business anthropology (Moeran, 2005). A further practical field that emerged in the late twentieth century as its own profession is ‘intercultural communication,’ which offers training and consultancy in the handling of concrete situations of cultural difference and, putting it somewhat dramatically, ‘culture shock.’ This field has links to several academic disciplines, but to a considerable degree it draws on a more or less anthropological conception of culture – of a type, it may be added, that many anthropologists might now find rather old-fashioned and clumsy. In all its varying shapes, in space and over time, anthropology has tended to straddle conventional academic classifications of disciplines. In its scope of subject matter – for example, family and kinship, politics, and market and exchange, on the one side, and art, music, and dance, on the other – it extends across the social sciences and the humanities. Insofar as it has to take into account the biological givens of human thought and action, and inquires into the interactions of humankind with its natural environment, it reaches into the natural sciences as well. But its multiple affiliations are not only a consequence of its varied subject matter. They are also implied in the variety of intellectual approaches: in field research, in theoretical work, and in styles of presentation. In what ways, or to what extent, anthropology is an art or a science continues to be a matter of lively internal debate. In many ways the enduring characteristics of anthropology, throughout this range of forms, continue to be expressions of the concern with diversity – with the highly varied manners of being human. To the global public stock of ideas, it brings such notions as taboo, witchcraft, cargo cults, totemism, or the potlatch exchange feasts of Northwest Coast American Indians. Concepts such as ‘Big man’ (out of Melanesia), ‘patron–client relationships’ (not least out of the Mediterranean area), or ‘caste’ (out of India), allowed to travel out of their areas of origin, can enrich our thinking about power, politics, and inequality in many contexts. There is a rich intellectual universe here, to be drawn on within the discipline and from outside it. And anthropology has its classic preoccupations, such as ritual or kinship, concerning which new materials about yet more variations are continuously gathered worldwide, and around which theoretical debates never seem to cease. At the same time, anthropology goes on reconfiguring itself (cf Wolf, 1964; Hymes, 1972; Fox, 1991; Ingold, 1996; Rabinow et al., 2008). One might perhaps have thought that a discipline revolving around the diversity of human forms of life and thought would find itself in difficulty at a time when increasing global interconnectedness may lead to cultural homogenization, and a loss of local or regional cultural forms. Indeed, it is true that many people in the world no longer stick to the beliefs they used to hold, and are discarding some of their past practices, ranging from spirit possession to headhunting. In part, the responsibility of anthropology here becomes one of preserving a record of the ways of humans, past and present, and keeping that record alive by continuing to scrutinize it, interpret it, and bring it to bear on new developments. It is also true, however, that diversity is not diminishing as much as some, perhaps fairly superficial, views of globalization might suggest. Traditions may be remarkably resilient, adapting to new influences and absorbing them in various ways; there may be more than one ‘modernity.’ Moreover, new interconnections may generate their own social and cultural forms, so that there may be cultural gain as well as cultural loss. A growing interest in anthropology with such notions as hybridity and creolization bears witness to this. In addition, however, anthropology has continuously expanded the field of social and cultural variations with which it has actively engaged. As the discipline was practiced in the earlier decades of the twentieth century, one might have discerned a tension between, on the one hand, the ambitious claims of offering a view of humanity, and, on the other hand, the actual concentration on villages of horticulturalists, bands of hunter-gatherers, or other exotic and small-scale sociocultural arrangements. But then by the mid-twentieth century, there was an increasing involvement with peasant societies, and the civilizations of which they were a part, and later yet urban anthropology appeared as another subdiscipline, practiced in field settings in every region. In recent times, the anthropology of science has been another growing specialization, as the practices of scientists are scrutinized as yet another kind of cultural constructs, and as laboratories are added to the range of possible sites of fieldwork (Rabinow, 1996; Downey and Dumit, 1997). It appears, consequently, that the enduring wider claims of the discipline to an overall engagement with human modes of thought and action are increasingly being realized. Obviously, in many of its fields of interest, anthropologists now mingle with scholars from a variety of other backgrounds, and the division of labor between disciplines here may not seem obvious. Undoubtedly, there are blurred boundaries as well as cross-fertilization, but anthropologists would emphasize the intellectual potential of a conceptual apparatus trained on, and informed by a knowledge of, a great variety of cultural assumptions and institutional arrangements. There is also the commitment to close-up observation of the relationships between human words and deeds, and the strain toward understanding ‘wholes,’ which, despite its vagueness, may usefully involve a particular commitment to contextualization as well as skills of synthesis. Anthropologists now find themselves at work in a global ecumene of increasing, and increasingly polymorphous, interconnectedness. This is a time in which that diversity of social and cultural forms with which they are preoccupied is constantly as well as rapidly changing, and where new social, political, economic, and legal frameworks encompassing and rearranging that diversity are emerging. More people may have access to a larger part of the combined human cultural inventory than ever before; conversely, whether one likes it or not, more of that cultural diversity can also come in one’s way. This is also a time when debates over the limits of diversity are coming to new prominence, for different reasons. Evolutionary biologists are setting forth new views of human nature that need to be carefully confronted with understandings of cultural variation. As people sense that they live together in one world, questions also arise over what is, or should be, shared humanity, for example, in the area of human rights (Wilson, 1997; Goodale and Merry, 2007). There would seem to be a place in the public life of this era for a cosmopolitan imagination that both recognizes diversity and seeks the ground rules of a viable and humane world society. For such a cosmopolitan imagination, one would hope, anthropology could continue to offer materials and tools. Asad, T., 1986. The concept of cultural translation in British social anthropology. In: Clifford, J., Marcus, G.E. (Eds.), Writing Culture. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. Bernard, H.R. (Ed.), 1998. Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA. Boskovic, A. (Ed.), 2008. Other People’s Anthropologies. Berghahn, Oxford. Breidenbach, J., Nyíri, P., 2009. Seeing Culture Everywhere. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA. Brumann, C., 1999. Writing for culture: why a successful concept should not be discarded. Current Anthropology 40, S1–S13. Coleman, S., Collins, P. (Eds.), 2006. Locating the Field. Berg, Oxford. Collier, J.F., 1997. The waxing and waning of “subfields” in North American sociocultural anthropology. In: Gupta, A., Ferguson, J. (Eds.), Anthropological Locations. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. Dahl, G., Rabo, A. (Eds.), 1992. Kam-ap or Take-Off. Stockholm Studies in Social Anthropology, vol. 29. Almqvist and Wiksell International, Stockholm. Devisch, René, Nyamnjoh, Francis B. (Eds.), 2011. The Postcolonial Turn: Reimagining Anthropology and Africa. African Studies Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands, and Langaa Research and Publishing, Bamenda, Cameroon. Dominguez, V.R., 1996. Disciplining anthropology. In: Nelson, C., Gaonkar, D.P. (Eds.), Disciplinarity and Dissent in Cultural Studies. Routledge, New York. Downey, G.L., Dumit, J. (Eds.), 1997. Cyborgs and Citadels. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, NM. Escobar, A., 1995. Encountering Development. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. Fahim, H. (Ed.), 1982. Indigenous Anthropology in Non-Western Countries. Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC. Fox, R.G., 1991. Recapturing Anthropology. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, NM. Gingrich, A., Fox, R.G. (Eds.), 2002. Anthropology, by Comparison. Routledge, London. Goodale, M., Merry, S.M. (Eds.), 2007. The Practice of Human Rights. Cambridge University Press, New York. Gupta, A., Ferguson, J. (Eds.), 1997. Anthropological Locations. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. Hannerz, U., 1993. When culture is everywhere: reflections on a favorite concept. Ethnos 58, 95–111. Hannerz, U., 2010. Anthropology’s World. Pluto, London. Holy, L. (Ed.), 1987. Comparative Anthropology. Blackwell, Oxford. Hymes, D. (Ed.), 1972. Reinventing Anthropology. Pantheon, New York. Ingold, T. (Ed.), 1996. Key Debates in Anthropology. Routledge, London. Kelly, J.D., Jauregui, B., Mitchell, S.T., Walton, J. (Eds.), 2010. Anthropology and Global Insurgency. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Köbben, A.J.F., 1970. Comparativists and non-comparativists in anthropology. In: Naroll, R., Cohen, R. (Eds.), A Handbook of Method in Cultural Anthropology. Natural History Press, Garden City, NY. Kuper, A., 1999. Culture. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Marcus, G.E., Fischer, M.M.J., 1986. Anthropology as Cultural Critique. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Merton, R.K., 1972. Insiders and outsiders: a chapter in the sociology of knowledge. American Journal of Sociology 78, 9–47. Moeran, B., 2005. The Business of Ethnography. Berg, Oxford. Narayan, K., 1993. How native is a “native” anthropologist? American Anthropologist 95, 671–686. Nugent, S., Shore, C. (Eds.), 1997. Anthropology and Cultural Studies. Pluto Press, London. Pálsson, G. (Ed.), 1993. Beyond Boundaries. Berg, Oxford. Rabinow, P., 1996. Making PCR. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Rabinow, P., Marcus, G.E., Rees, T., 2008. Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary. Duke University Press, Durham, NC. Ribeiro, G.L., Escobar, A. (Eds.), 2006. World Anthropologies. Berg, Oxford. Uberoi, Patricia, Sundar, Nandini, Deshpande, Satish (Eds.), 2007. Anthropology in the East: Founders of Indian Sociology and Anthropology. Permanent Black. Vermeulen, H.F., Alvarez Roldán, A. (Eds.), 1995. Fieldwork and Footnotes. Routledge, London. 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Significant bridges and viaducts; museums of working models, cogs and pistons exposed like metal bones in a butcher’s window; farming implements, rusted, resting from centuries’ use. Feature railways, a scent of coal smoke, low-pitched whistles of a locomotive, sweet-sour orange dripping from iced lollies. Air-shows with echoing tannoys, piercing rumbles in my feet, ears and chest, odours of jet fuel and fried onions from burger stands, pink candy-floss sticky on my cheeks and fingers. With a family of engineers, such days out were commonplace, and I never thought to question them. Though I may have understood very little of what I saw, the memories are all in sunshine and include sugar treats, so in a child’s mind they are happy ones. The enthusiasm of parents and grandparents was itself transferrable as joy. I’m left even now with a fondness for steam trains and synchronised aircraft displays. Last summer we sat on the family lawn, waiting for the Red Arrows to pass across some distant field en route to a show – not with their signature smoke trails, but no doubt in the perfect diamond formation I’ve seen countless times, above northern airfields or southern oceans, since I can remember. True, those nine pilots are trained killers – or defenders one might say – so let us not gild them, but the discipline and oneness of their flight would leave anyone gaping skywards in admiration. Ambassadors of the Royal Air Force, they are as quintessentially British as lawn bowls and high tea. Soon it was clear they would not fly our way. Visiting relations went home a little disappointed – as I was, in truth – but there’s always another chance. The Red Arrows had already existed my whole life, so I had no reason to doubt their immortality. I left next morning for Scotland on a weekend with the Sri Chinmoy Centre. As the train passed my favourite stretch of coast near Berwick, a fellow traveller leaned suddenly into the aisle, gaping skywards. And there they were, mid-way through a show. Our vehicle was woven into their display, like an unexpected dancer on-stage. Plumes of red, white and blue enveloped the train. A battle cry of jet engines split the air, as one tracked us to the left, another to the right, then switching above us while others improvised in the distance. Never had I seen them so close. Twenty seconds and they were gone, leaving our carriage whipped up in excitement, and with a sudden friendship amongst its passengers. Sri Chinmoy’s spiritual path is not one of outer renunciation – the very title ‘Sri’ differs from ‘Swami’ in this sense. His teachings focus more on inner renunciation. Rather than letting go all earthly facets of life, instead ours is to let go our attachment to them. Often I find myself not simply encouraged, but almost compensated for this effort, as even the smallest of my desires are fulfilled – sometimes when they are all but forgotten. On countless days, going about my usual routines, I’ve seen a certain magic happen for myself and those around me – a synchronicity, a sure blessing, timed and measured almost too perfectly to believe. Perhaps it comes as a package with engineering DNA, but I’ve always been a morning person. For me a penance is not waking at dawn, but rather staying up past bedtime. A 5:13 alarm heralds my morning practice, seven days a week. I shower, read Sri Chinmoy’s books, meditate, repeat a few daily songs and prayers, stretch my sleep-bound muscles into a few yoga postures. Often I walk before breakfast when it’s light enough, learning new songs as I go. Sri Chinmoy prescribes running – at least two miles if one is able – but walking is a good deal better than nothing. I march along a country lane between the fields of arable, as the sun awakes and ignites the sky behind me. I see trained killers in the air sometimes – sparrowhawks hovering and darting down on field mice with elegant precision; buzzards curving far above, mewing strange calls to one another. Once a falcon crossed my path – a peregrine it must have been – appraising me with a deep, dark, fearless eye. It skimmed the air as though powered by only a sharpness of mind, rather than any bodily effort. The speckles of its belly and underwing ruffled softly as it passed. At first my own mind would not believe the reports of my eyes this spring. A great cacophony of squawking announced them from beyond the furthest houses: common geese, I first assumed, bound from the river to a local pond, but their wings were broader and beat in great arcs around them. The vigorous bodies above my head reflected only white as the sun caught them: swans on their migration, a ragged line of seventy birds at least. 850 miles across the sea they’d return home to Iceland and the raising of new families. Gaping skyward, I almost lost balance and found I’d wandered into the middle of the road. Three days later the scene repeated itself with a similar caravan of migrants. Now spring is halfway over and hot-air balloons of sight-seers take to the sky. The winds are calm, letting them hang peacefully above the city. Blackbird, crow and sparrow, fieldfare and finch, all are making plans in trees and hedgerows, and I wonder what my own year still holds. Let me march towards it, open, undaunted, and welcome the surprise. As mentioned recently, after reading Auspicious Good Fortune, people sometimes kindly ask about my health, although that was not a major thread in the book. Unlike in Hollywood, real-life stories often leave issues unresolved, which can be a bit disappointing. Around the time I embarked on the spiritual life, I was visited by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) – a guest I couldn’t oust. It stayed in various forms for a couple of decades, soon overlapping with – and ultimately being replaced by – chronic migraines. Apparently the two often come as a special package. I’m sure there was no coincidence in the timing of the onset, and by that I don’t mean the spiritual life was bad for my health – quite the contrary. Up until that time I indulged in some rather unhealthy habits, in order to escape from my own interior world. Letting go those addictive traits meant facing the underlying causes of them. That’s a good thing when you’re seeking the ultimate Truth, but some discoveries along the way are not so heartening. The journey can thus seem to become more arduous, rather than getting easier. When challenges arise, although the ideal reaction may be cheerful acceptance, instead it’s tempting to ask why they’ve arisen. One reason for physical challenges could be that when following a spiritual life, one’s highest priority is spiritual progress. The soul might choose this time to work out the karmic results of one’s past actions, either from this life or previous lives. While Sri Chinmoy teaches the art of self-transcendence, he also teaches us to care for our physical health and certainly does not recommend we seek out suffering. But when it does come along, poor health can be a vehicle for progress, affording deeper insights into ourselves and empathy with the suffering of others. Sri Chinmoy: He has not made it difficult for the sincere seekers. For the sincere seekers the road is very short. Only for the doubtful seekers, the road is very long. This moment you feel that God is very kind to you, but the next moment you get some blow or pain and you lose faith. Some unconscious part of you says, “O God, why are You so cruel to me? This morning I meditated well, so how is it that my body is suffering?” This will be your question to God. At that time if you can say, “Although I am suffering such pain, perhaps something infinitely more serious was going to happen to me and God saved me. God is so kind to me.” Like this, if you can change your attitude towards God, immediately the road becomes easier. You have some kind of pain, but if you feel that it could have been infinitely worse, then immediately you will see that you are making inner progress. The road is long only for those who do not feel gratitude to God. I was born with a conundrum. Child to a line of stoics in the old British tradition, I seem to have been blessed nonetheless with heightened senses and a rather low threshold for pain. Gratitude has not been a consistent theme throughout my years of unstable health – certainly not at the most challenging times. For stretches of weeks or months, migraines would recur every two days or so. Combined with CFS, they made work, travel or socialising all but impossible. When CFS gradually receded to leave only migraines, I was genuinely grateful. As these followed me for fifteen years with varying frequency and severity, I admit to wallowing in self-pity or simply succumbing to frustration on numerous occasions, but I knew from experience things could be much worse. Without wanting to disturb the stiff upper-lips of my ancestors, allow me a brief description for those who’ve never met a migraine. Firstly, it’s not a headache. While pain in the head is a significant aspect, ‘ache’ does not generally do the sensation justice. It also comes with a wide range of special effects and fancy features that have nothing to do with pain at all – more the digestion, cognitive function, emotions, vision and other senses. My own experience varied, but the effect on the nerves was usually something like that of a dog barking in the face, while someone tried simultaneously – for reasons unknown – to drill a hole in the side of the head. Words and thoughts would jumble themselves. The vision might be as though two-dimensional or as though looking through cracked glass. There might be a flu-like feeling of incapacitation. Sometimes there was the added sensation in the stomach of riding a cross-channel ferry. An episode lasted anywhere from six hours to three days. Whenever the clouds dispersed and each ‘adventure’ came to an end, the relief left me feeling superhuman. Pretty much anything seemed possible, and almost anything would be tolerable to me. Such joy and empowerment I’d rarely otherwise have experienced in everyday life, and I felt as true a gratitude as I know. It was almost worth going through the discomfort to come out the other side of it. Almost. I did all in my power and imagination to overcome both conditions – often joking that I’d try anything legal – but as they went on so long, I had to accept the idea that they might persist forever, if such was God’s Will. I might otherwise have gone a bit mad. Since pretty much anything might spark an episode – from supermarket shopping to an hour’s lost sleep, a jog in the park to an uncomfortable conversation – I saw no sense adding more challenges to life voluntarily. But where challenges or opportunities arose in the course of my spiritual life, family life or work, I did all I could to accept them, assuming life might otherwise pass me by entirely. I’ve never been good at acting, or even lying, but I made it my mission to transcend these symptoms whenever finding myself in company. Sometimes there was simply no negotiating, but over time I increasingly learned to separate myself from them. While my peers may have been taking on far greater challenges outwardly – opening a café perhaps, or running an ultramarathon – mine was just to appear as sensible and calm as possible while something was barking in my face, someone was probing the side of my head, and so on. The first time I met a migraine was on a transatlantic flight. I had no idea what was happening, and nor did anyone else. The cabin crew kindly gave me their rest area, a proper duvet from First Class and two cans of oxygen. Someone was assigned to take me off the plane and through immigration in a wheelchair. I laugh now at the memory, though I certainly didn’t at the time. Migraines of some degree would travel with me on most flights thereafter, affording me plenty of chances to practise behaving like a normal person instead of making a fuss. You may say it was my good genes or the blessings of my forebears that helped me in my pursuit. Maybe it was just a streak of stubbornness. I’d often be so spent from these feats of endurance I’d be no use for anything the next day. The whole exercise might thus sound masochistic, counterproductive, or a bit daft at best, but I have no regrets – none but the few times I probably shouldn’t have been driving a car. I have two little dogs. When they suffer for some reason, on the strength of my oneness with them, I also suffer. God has created these little dogs, but I have established so much oneness with them that I feel miserable when they suffer. In our case, God has created us. Naturally His Affection, Concern and Compassion for us will be infinitely more than what I can ever feel for my little dogs. So when we are suffering, we have to feel that God also is suffering. If my Beloved Supreme agrees to suffer with me, then I have to accept my fate as it is. It is not that God has given us this suffering so that we can become a better person. God does not work that way. Only if it is something really good does God give it. But if something painful happens, then God may tolerate it. At that time, if we love God, we will say, “If God can tolerate this pain inside me, with me and for me, then I will have nothing to say against it. I will only pray to God for the fulfilment of His Will. In the past year everything has improved so radically I almost dare imagine the worst is over. The sense I used to have when the clouds finally dispersed is intensified, as day after day I’m free from pain and all the other special features – the stray dogs, phantom neurosurgeons and so on. A natural reaction is to wonder why. Granted, I do at least two hours of spiritual practice a day; I eat only plant-based, organic, gluten-free wholefoods, including a kilo of fresh vegetables and fruit a day; I walk about four miles a day; I watch less than an hour of telly a day and have nothing to do with social media; I do yoga; I take cold showers; I pay my taxes; I’m kind to animals; I try to be a good, helpful and happy person in any way I can. Do I not then deserve to be well? I, I, I – of course it doesn’t work like that. While it’s important that we each do our best, that effort perhaps counts for only one per cent of any outcome. As Sri Chinmoy teaches, the other ninety-nine per cent comes from Grace. When we look closely, we realise even ‘our’ one per cent is Grace. In the beginning, we always feel that it is one per cent God’s Grace and ninety-nine per cent our hard labour. That is what our stupidity tells us. Then gradually we change our philosophy. We say that it is ninety-nine per cent God’s Grace and one per cent our labour. Then we come to the point where we say, “Are we sure that our labour is even one per cent?” We dive deep within for just a few seconds and we see that it is all one hundred per cent God’s Grace. Who knows if my days of ill health are over. Perhaps this is only a reprieve – maybe it’ll all come back, or be replaced with something else – but there’s no point worrying or even wondering about that. I don’t remember where I read it, but I recall Sri Chinmoy said something along the lines that if by Grace we have been cured of something, we must remain grateful to the Source in order to keep our previous ailments at bay. That being the case, I pray I remember to do so for my every remaining day on earth. These rhyming plays began on a Christmas Trip with Sri Chinmoy in China, December 2004. On our winter retreats, as well as meditating with Sri Chinmoy in person, we had the privilege of immersing ourselves in his new creations: songs, prayers, aphorisms, stories and artwork. In the evenings it usually fell to us, his disciples, to entertain one another on stage. Much of the programme consisted of plays based on the Master’s stories – some of which are tales retold from Indian folklore, others anecdotes from Sri Chinmoy’s own experience, others born of his own creative imagination, and many seemingly from delightful worlds between. I was quite sure it would end in disaster even before it began, but to my surprise there were no accidents, even amongst the short-sighted, and any confusion was only a minor distraction. Sri Chinmoy was attentive, and I dare say even seemed quite pleased, which astonished me no end. So a new tradition began, and has continued beyond the Master’s passing, as the Sri Chinmoy Centre meets each year for Christmas Trips. As with all his art forms, Sri Chinmoy’s stories spring from a source of meditation, and convey his timeless spiritual teachings. While the Master encouraged us to embellish them in our plays, this is a fine line to tread. I sincerely hope to have kept the essential message in each, and above all encourage the reader to enjoy them in the original. One of my colleagues – an especially hard-working and time-pressed one – consciously avoids the word ‘busy’. As an exercise I tried the same for a week and found it surprisingly awkward. That was an education. I’ll be trying to make it a long-term habit, as the mere effort has changed my outlook. The poor word itself must feel overwhelmed by over-use. Usually preceded by ‘too’, it implies exhaustion, unwillingness and stress (yet another over-worked word). Of course, many people genuinely like to work. A beach holiday would be the stuff of nightmares for some. When hailing a taxi recently I was greeted by a man well into his seventies. He’d taken to the life of a cabbie on retirement, as he’d found his days too long and uneventful. How spritely and positive he was, how willing to be of service. I love to be occupied too, and would always rather have too much to do than not enough. But almost any action can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the extremes to which it’s taken, and – no doubt more importantly – the intentions driving it. Food is good and necessary, but eating too much or too little can be harmful and may lead to compulsions. One needs a certain number of belongings to exist in reasonable comfort, but hoarding for the next zombie apocalypse is perhaps going a bit far. Just so with work. There comes a point when one must say: good enough is good enough. For me this is not a natural tendency. I caught myself the other day with a shovel in both hands, decanting compost from one bin to another and determined to discharge the task ‘perfectly’. Yes, every last pineapple peeling, each shred of brown paper, the very teabag in the furthest corner must be winkled out, cast onto the wheelbarrow and transported without the loss of a single worm or crumb of material along the way. I laughed aloud at myself. Here is a stinking heap of waste, mouldering, writhing with flies and nameless invertebrates – the least perfect substance one could imagine. Yet I perspired not just from the physical labour, but also from the self-imposed duty of a timely and tidy execution. Once my self-mockery had receded, I took a deep breath (facing away from the wheelbarrow), and asked myself where God is in all this. For me there is always – and must always be – a reply to that question, it’s just a matter of remembering to ask. He is perhaps easier found in the kitchen or the vegetable garden, but I’ve no doubt He resides there too – in the transformative nature of compost, rife with as many metaphors as microorganisms. The Sri Chinmoy Centre recently offered a free meditation course in York. I always find such classes illumining and enjoyable – sharing a practice that has been life-changing in the case of my peers and myself, and which proves at least life-enhancing in many more cases. For me it’s far more than just a hobby, but I’m glad to see this simple tool entering the mainstream, now widely adopted for physical and mental health, if not for spiritual growth per se. Sadly, many people feel too busy to dedicate even 5 or 10 minutes a day to switching off devices and delving into quietude. They’re frustrated not to do it ‘perfectly’ first time, even though the effort itself is almost sure to bear fruit. The chronically overwhelmed – those who would perhaps benefit most – are often the least likely to practise. Strange how the advance in technology seems only to have made us feel more fully occupied. Since we no longer have to dig the field for food, hew out our own shelter from stone, chop wood for warmth, stitch our own clothes from hide or handwovens, how did we come to this? In the 1930s John Maynard Keynes predicted my generation would be working a 15-hour week. In fact our expectations – of cleanliness, comfort and enjoyment – have risen in line with our standard of living, if not beyond it. The perceived value of time – both for leisure and work – is growing constantly. The vast array of choices available in every sphere of life add pressure and take time. Add to that the pressure of social media and other time spent (or wasted) online – incessantly checking emails, news, stats – often while trying to complete a number of other tasks, and the perceived increase in busyness is no great mystery. Perhaps Keynes did not reckon on the power of Parkinson’s Law – that work really does expand to fit the available time. He surely didn’t reckon on the power of the Internet to distract, confuse and harry. Though I eschew social media and avoid wasting too much time in other ways, I regularly catch myself assuming busyness is related to self-worth, if only as a distant cousin. Occupation is good – it pays the bills, it builds and creates useful things, it helps the body remain fit, keeps the mind out of mischief and brings a sense of contribution that is no doubt valuable – but inwardly it is just a vehicle and not the goal. Clearly I am only part-way towards that goal myself, but it’s one I long to reach. With baby steps I’m gaining ground, thanks to the teachings of Sri Chinmoy. Essentially the key is to feel awareness inwardly and outwardly at the same time during any activity. Though it may sound counter-productive, rather than splitting attention, it actually focuses attention. At our meditation retreats in New York twice a year, each visitor takes at least one shift preparing or serving meals. Cooking takes place at a vegetarian restaurant called Annam Brahma, across the road from the grounds where we meditate and where Sri Chinmoy himself spent a great deal of time during his life. Whether weighing or chopping vegetables, stirring great vats of curry, or washing up afterwards, we work in silence as per Sri Chinmoy’s request, excepting any words deemed necessary. I love the stillness amidst the dynamism. A somewhat monastic atmosphere pervades, an almost tangible divinity, far from anything to be expected in a hot and bustling kitchen. Though the tasks are simple and leave the mind free for the most part, one almost cannot think about mundane earthly things in a place that has been dedicated to the soulful preparation of food for decades. According to Sri Chinmoy, a cook’s consciousness can affect the food itself, and thus the recipient. While preparing food at home I try to recall the feeling of Annam Brahma as best I can, with varying success. I am not a natural multi-tasker, but in trying to centre myself, clear my mind and focus solely on the task at hand, I am better placed at least to avert disaster in the kitchen. If I may use the forbidden word once more, in all my life I have never been so busy as I am these days – or should I say I have never had so little time to waste – but I’ve also never felt so well or so content. Although my days are long and start early, my week’s paid work takes just slightly more time than Keynes predicted. I feel very fortunate the rest of my time is largely taken up by household chores. Despite a genuine concern for the rights of women, I confess to being particularly well suited to domesticity. As any nun or monk will tell you, simple tasks lend themselves more readily to a life of inner reflection. Ours is a dynamic and abundant path, and I’ll be forever learning along the way. Sri Chinmoy asks that we have an occupation, that we remain active and serve others as much and as often as we can. But just as a prayer recited in parrot-fashion may not reach the intended Recipient, work carried out mechanically, unwillingly, or even resentfully can have no inner benefit, and perhaps only little benefit outwardly. Ours is to try and live the inner and outer lives in tandem. In so doing, one may fit ever more into a day or a week. Busyness then becomes ever more efficient, and time seems increasingly elastic. Benjamin Franklin was right about more than just electricity. I never imagined I’d turn into a packet-reading food-nerd. I thought that kind of life was for other people. My past experience with strict diets didn’t bear any discernible fruit. One excluded all fruit in fact, as well as dairy, gluten, soya and anything that was even a distant relative of fungus. I clove to it rigidly for 18 months, on the advice of a dubious practitioner, and felt precisely the same as before. I ended it suddenly and spectacularly – celebrating with pizza and ice cream – then came out in a nasty rash. That’s the sole physical response I remember from a long and disappointing episode. I denounced diets as hokum from then on. Having been brought up in the British stiff-upper-lip tradition, I tend not to talk about ailments unless people ask specifically – and perhaps even repeatedly, so I know they’re not just being polite. We are not, I think it can be safely said, a family of malingerers. My father recently broke his back in two places, but cycled home four miles and slept on it a night before seeking medical advice. My brother once fractured his foot in the rigours of a marathon, but we are not predisposed to rest. The break thus opened three times more, until some bone had to be purloined from elsewhere and bolted on with metal to be certain. Though I’m probably not the most stoic amongst us, we are all determined problem-solvers. We can also be stubbornly – perhaps even ruthlessly – positive. I’ve had more than 20 years of sketchy health, which is not at all interesting in itself, but it has led to many interesting lessons. After reading Auspicious Good Fortune, people often ask what has happened to my physical strength since the end of the book – not, I hope, because my physical struggle was the most engaging part of the story, but because that part of the story was left unresolved. In answer, my recovery is still in progress, but has come on in leaps and bounds – largely thanks to two discoveries, both of which I consider miracles. I’m a firm believer in prayers being answered at God’s appointed Hour, and not a moment sooner. It was 2011 when I came across Ashok Gupta, whose excellent course brought me around 70% recovery from CFS, for which I’ll be forever grateful. The remaining 30% I assumed I’d need to manage long-term, which I’d already accepted gladly in comparison. Then earlier this year came the second miracle. This one may be of interest to those with pretty much any condition that defies traditional medicine. Hence I’m sharing it here with genuine enthusiasm, rather than evangelism. If you and yours are already healthy, more power to you. No need to take the trouble of reading on. I don’t set out to disparage our beloved National Health Service. In Britain we’re lucky still to have one at all. If ever I find some important part of me has fallen off, or dramatically changed shape, I’ll be straight on the phone to them (assuming hands, mouth and ears are still intact). But while the general practitioner in a village surgery is doubtless employed as God’s instrument on a regular basis, one cannot expect him or her to be omniscient. My current household comprises: my mother with a long history of MS (or some such, it was never confirmed), myself with a long history of ME, and one small dog with mobility issues (her behavioural issues may or may not be relevant here). Perhaps the latter can be considered a control in our experiment, as she shows no interest in taking part. It was my mother who discovered Terry Wahls – purely by ‘chance’ if you believe such things – a medical doctor in the US who developed MS, and who was gradually declining, as science would expect. She was eventually confined to a wheelchair, but with a busy consulting job and two small children, she wasn’t about to give in. On top of her existing duties, with painstaking research and experimentation, she designed a regime of diet, exercise and meditation. Within five months she was not just out of the wheelchair, she was riding a bike. As you can probably gather, this is exactly the kind of gung-ho no-nonsense approach to life that would appeal to my family. “We have to try it,” I said, and so we did, but without expectation. Initially I followed the guidelines myself just for solidarity, as well as for practicality – I’m Head Chef at home and didn’t fancy cooking different meals for each of us. I hadn’t even hoped for any personal benefit, but now I follow gladly for my own sake too. The first thing people tend to ask is what we’re not allowed to eat, but it’s more about eating enough ‘good’ things in as wide a variety as possible, and in almost comical quantities. There is simply very little space left in a human body for ‘bad’ things once that’s done. Essentially ‘bad’ means: gluten, dairy, refined sugar, anything overly processed or starchy, and anything grown with the help of chemicals. In brief, ‘good’ means nine tightly packed cups a day – three heaped dinner plates – of fresh fruit and vegetables. A third are greens, a third sulphur-rich (mushrooms, brassicas and oniony things), and a third are richly coloured. Ideally one would eat a rainbow daily. The only sticking point is that TW is a staunch carnivore. To the dismay of our dog, we’ve adapted the regime to a vegetarian lifestyle. For me – following the teachings of Sri Chinmoy* – this is largely a spiritual choice, but just about any reason you can think of is a good one as far as I’m concerned, and has been since my teens. My mother has made the choice more recently for a variety of reasons (none of which is my coercion, I must add). But despite our ‘cheating’ by not living like proper cave-persons and abiding by their more gruesome traditions, the changes are remarkable. In two days we both felt quite different. At three months, the results now border on the magical. We have two deliveries a week, containing a full colour spectrum of organic fruit and vegetables. It’s like a game of Tetris trying to fit the parcels into the fridge without them getting squashed or falling out again. The mound of produce in each meal for two looks like enough for a family reunion, or for some herbivorous zoo animal. Within days, the shelves are completely bare again. * The kind of food that keeps the body and mind calm and quiet is the best food for those following the spiritual life. Naturally, vegetables are far better than meat. Meat comes from the animals, which are always fighting and destroying one another. If we eat meat, then the animal consciousness enters into us. And it is this animal consciousness that we want to transcend. But the consciousness of vegetables and fruits is very mild. They are not destructive like animals. The second thing people usually ask is whether we crave or miss anything, and the answer is genuinely: no. There’s an overwhelming sense of abundance, rather than of abstinence. With plenteous ‘good’ fats and a vast array of condiments, pretty much anything can be made delicious, but organically grown versions of pretty much anything are markedly more flavoursome anyway. They tend to taste as one would hope they’d taste, rather than just looking right and being a bland disappointment in the eating. Some say, “I wouldn’t have the will-power,” but truly it’s organisation that counts. Sourcing, preparing and even making time to eat such quantities takes planning of almost military standards. Very fortunately we both have a penchant for spreadsheets, which I realise not everyone shares. A pencil and paper would be the required minimum. Some say the expense would put them off, or would be truly prohibitive. Indeed, we’re extremely lucky having access to ingredients of such quality. But even fast food is not always cheap. Adapting a house, garden and car for disabled access is not much of a bargain either. Missing countless days of work over several years is about the least cost-effective way to live – especially when one is already rendered unemployable in the traditional sense, and has no insurance or sick leave to fall back on. And that’s just our own past and present. Who knows what troubles, as yet unrevealed, we’re nipping in the bud. A recent visit to America for the Sri Chinmoy Centre bi-annual celebrations was the biggest test for me yet: my first foreign trip since starting this regime, and straight into the home of Coca Cola, McDonalds and Hostess cakes. But my jaw was set. I first played vegetable Tetris in the freezer as well as in the fridge before leaving home, so my mother could subsist without me for a while. I then offered a fervent prayer against power-cuts in my absence. On landing in New York, before even taking so much as a glass of water, I forayed out into a raging thunderstorm for supplies at our local store, Guru Health Foods. Every day saw me hurrying away with boxes and boxes of greens between singing practices and meditations. Only once I made a trip from Queens to Manhattan, with my heart set on visiting a certain health-food supermarket – highly acclaimed for quality and variety. I imagined my new obsession would be fed sumptuously, and I’d struggle to carry all my chosen treasures home. In the event I turned my nose up at most of it, and returned with just two types of radish in a paper bag. It was then I realised the full extent of my transformation to packet-reader. You may laugh. I certainly did. But the proof of the pudding – or daikon – is in the eating. For the full ten days I stuck to my guns, and felt astonishingly well. Landing back in England I’m impatient to see our new vegetable garden, converted from a disused triangle of lawn, with raised wooden beds at scooter-friendly height. I arrive to find everything about it tidy and sturdily built, and now can’t wait to see it burgeoning with green. My mother has drawn out detailed plans several times on graph paper, but in the end we just have to dive in – accepting we are novices and will make mistakes. Normal people have their vegetable patches out the back somewhere, but ours has ended up beside the pavement, where all and sundry can monitor our progress and pass comment. Nobody has offered anything but enthusiasm so far, and a few secret scraps of advice. All seem to share in the anticipation. We dig out little trenches for seeds and seedlings my mother has been nurturing. Our ambition has crept up and up – to the heady heights of cabbages, cauliflowers, chard, rocket, pak choi, watercress, peas, beans, salad leaves, radishes, kohl rabi, two colours of tomato, several types of broccoli and kale. Elsewhere are various herbs, strawberries, raspberries, tayberries and blueberries. I laugh now as I didn’t know what kohl rabi was before all this began. I’d never eaten kimchi. I’d never cooked buckwheat or chicory or a curry from scratch. It’s a veritable whirlwind of adventure. I breathe in the fragrance of the earth in sunlight and am suddenly back in childhood, skipping rope in my grandfather’s garden, the scent of tomato vines and feed and fertiliser all tumbling back in a warm glow of fondness. I watch the seedlings changing overnight, breathe in the scent of earth in rain, and think how many have gone before us in this humble yet magical endeavour. Life-giving life unfolds before our eyes, and I can only give thanks for it. My running life has had a chequered past. I know I’m not alone in having detested cross-country at school, but that’s no true prediction of one’s relationship with the sport anyway. Who wants to be clambering through mud and weeds in the dead of winter, clad only in shorts and a polo shirt? Very few. A sadistic glint in the eye of our games mistress was never more apparent than on those frosty and overcast days. Only the heart can heal such misadventure, and inspire one to try again in later life. In my latter teens my mother cajoled me onto the country lanes for two miles each day before breakfast, and I learned to love that wholesome start to the morning. But running was not so fashionable as aerobics in the late 80s and early 90s, so I soon chose to exert myself in the more convenient setting of a gym. It was only on joining Sri Chinmoy’s path of meditation in the late 90s that the subject of running even raised its head again. My Guru was a champion decathlete at the Indian ashram where he spent his youth. Later, having moved to America, he took up marathon and ultra-distance running. Sri Chinmoy’s teachings combine the ancient depth of the East with the modern dynamism of the West. Though he enjoyed and excelled at many sports – weightlifting, football, tennis, cycling – running held a very special place in his heart. The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run still continues each year – a torch relay, spreading the message of peace across countries and continents. Races are held each year in his name too, throughout the world – from 1 mile to 3100 miles. So running is woven into this path of meditation, and in time I learned to love it again. I even managed to run a couple of marathons, and worked full-time at a branch of Run and Become for a few years. But overall my relationship with running has been rocky. For the last 20+ years I’ve battled with CFS and its retinue of ailments – with which I won’t bore you here. Not that running is necessary for spiritual progress, of course, and Sri Chinmoy would never encourage us to push ourselves beyond that which is safe or healthy anyway, but his emphasis on running stems from the inner opportunity it offers. It’s especially simple and direct. And so I come to be huffing and chuntering like Ivor the Engine along a country lane at 7 o’clock of a Sunday morning. Each year our British and French meditation centres meet for weekends known as Joy Days. Amongst the regular features like meditation, singing, socialising and copious amounts of food, is the 2-mile race. Mine is usually a mile’s walk at best – a jog could render me unwell for at least the rest of Sunday, and probably Monday to boot. Let me not bore you here with the details of my new regime, but it has at least afforded me the luxury of tying on my running shoes and heaving my 115 lb frame along at a 12-minute pace. In reaching the start line, I face both the physical discomfort of my lack of fitness and the social discomfort of displaying it to all and sundry. Need the race really be marshalled by a running coach, a Channel swimmer, a champion cyclist and a 3100-mile race finisher though? Apparently so. That should add to my embarrassment, but it adds to my amusement. I’ve found the best athletes are often the most encouraging to those least able anyway. My experience provides a great wealth of data on that subject, and today is no exception. “I’m the last, thanks,” I gasp out triumphantly to each marshal I pass – or at least that’s what I hope it sounds like – informing them their job is done, so they can go in from the cold. From the final bend to the stopwatch probably feels like a long straight for anyone, but I can only coax myself from one tiny goal to another. At first the markers were big things, like cars or the stone walls of houses. On the ultimate lap they’re daffodils, barely a stride’s length apart. Everything in me protests in pain and a desperate longing for air, but all ahead are kindly cheering, calling me on in oneness (and perhaps a little mirth – I don’t mind if so). While part of me cringes in self-consciousness, and I may be grimacing outwardly, most of me effuses joy and gratitude. Genuinely. This, let me tell you, is progress in itself. The journey of accepting my fate as a perennial loser has been a long one. Twice a year I visit New York, where Sri Chinmoy made his home from 1964 to his passing in 2007. There we have a 2-mile race on Saturdays, for which I at least turn up. At the lofty peak of my fitness I only broke 17 minutes for 2 miles, and then just once. I have never been – and probably never will be – good at running in the physical sense. But the point is self-transcendence – competing with one’s own prior achievements and with one’s own inner limitations. So mine is to do my best in propelling myself forward, but also – crucially, as I have learnt by hard experience – to do so with sincerity and cheerfulness. While watching my fitness decline over several years, I would often finish those races in tears – of frustration and self-pity – and there is far more shame in that than in finishing last, believe me. In the absence of athletic prowess, and when I also fail to remain in a soulful mood, I’ve since found the greatest asset to be a sense of humour. Not only would I be lapped by countless runners, but would have to dodge round clusters of them at the finish, in order to embark on the last epic lap of my own. When I had looped back again at last, there was often just a space where the display clock had been, so I never actually knew how dismal my time was. A few helpers would be bumbling around, clearing dead cups from the street, the water urns all drained of their last drops when I was finally ready for them. During Sri Chinmoy’s life he would offer a prayer and prasad (blessed food) at the end of each race. If I arrived in time for either, that counted as a victory to me. But often I was still shuffling around when everyone else turned back the other way in droves for breakfast, not considering for a moment that I might still be ‘racing’ at such velocity. Assuming I was doing some kind of modest cool-down, someone might even try to engage me in conversation. I wasn’t laughing then, but it’s hugely funny to me now. It’s taken time, but having witnessed members of my family – for various reasons – unable to walk so far as the local shop for a pint of milk, I’ve seen my own capacities in a new light. Even when running has been out of the question, the ability to walk can seem like a super power in its own right. I can now say that to run at all, even pathetically badly, is a privilege. To run is to offer what I have – even the precious breath that feels like my last – with as honest and joyful a feeling as I can. While Sri Chinmoy advocates a healthy body to support a life of meditation, he also sees running as a metaphor for life itself, as evidenced in his talks and poems. Through his teachings and through my own experience, I believe if I can master an approach to running, I take a step towards mastering my approach to life – albeit slow and shuffling. If ever I’m fortunate enough to join a race, I may well be last, but I need not be the loser. Why do I meditate (and why do I write)? It is often said that while meditation is simple, it may not be easy. In a growing culture of ever-quicker fixes, those new to meditation are prone to giving up early, convinced they lack the aptitude. In truth, few take to it naturally right away. It is the effort, the direction, the giving of priority, of time, of space, which are pivotal. One cannot sow a seed and force its growth in the space of a day. Even a good meditation cannot be measured like a waistline or a golf score. One may not know how profound a meditation has been until surfacing again into the world, even if then. Though I first learned to meditate around thirty years ago, and practised somewhat regularly, today marks twenty years of my formally practising a spiritual life, as a disciple of Sri Chinmoy. Before embarking on such a journey – as on any journey – the mind wants to know what is involved. What skills, provisions, equipment will be required? How may I ready myself? One may as well leave provisions behind, along with any preconceptions. All is amply provided, and revealed in its own time. It need not make sense. In fact it is highly unlikely to make sense to the mind at all. Before I went to make my solemn vows, last spring, on the Feast of St. Joseph, in the thirty-third year of my age, being a cleric in minor orders – before I went to make my solemn vows, this is what it looked like to me. It seemed to me that You were almost asking me to give up all aspirations for solitude and for a contemplative life. You were asking me for obedience to superiors who will, I am morally certain, either make me write or teach philosophy or take charge of a dozen material responsibilities around the monastery, and I may even end up as a retreat master preaching four sermons a day to the seculars who come to the house. And even if I have no special job at all, I will always be on the run from two in the morning to seven at night. By the time I made my vows, I decided that I was no longer sure what a contemplative was, or what the contemplative vocation was, or what my vocation was, and what our Cistercian vocation was. In fact I could not be sure I knew or understood much of anything except that I believed that You wanted me to take those particular vows in this particular house on that particular day for reasons best known to Yourself, and that what I was expected to do after that was follow along with the rest and do what I was told and things would begin to become clear. That morning when I was lying on my face on the floor in the middle of the church, with Father Abbot praying over me, I began to laugh, with my mouth in the dust, because without knowing how or why, I had actually done the right thing, and even an astounding thing. But what was astounding was not my work, but the work You worked in me. Twenty years after lying in metaphorical dust myself, I know now as I knew then that this is right for me, when up to then I had no clue of how to lead my life. In fact I had made an awful mess of trying. I was especially fortunate the first ten years of my discipleship fell during Sri Chinmoy’s lifetime. The second have been spent since his passing, but are no less rich or rewarding. Though I meditate daily, sing songs my Guru composed, and read his writings, it would take more than a lifetime to absorb and apply even a fraction of these gifts. Often Sri Chinmoy would take spiritual questions from an individual, and often his replies would be published for all to read. So many spiritual challenges are universal, as are the spiritual truths and inspirations a Master may give to answer them. But a significant aspect of Sri Chinmoy’s path is the idea that each person has a soul unique in all Creation, albeit a perfect spark of one Source. Spiritual progress is intertwined with the recognition of that soul – of the Source within us – and with bringing it to the fore in daily life. While the Goal of spiritual practice may be the same for all, the route is unique for each. Simple, but not easy. Though concise and comprehensible, these prescriptions actually form more than a lifetime’s inner work for me. Yet they have already afforded me inner wealth beyond my imagining. The first thing I should tell you, in case you don’t know, is that I’m a life-long introvert. Like Merton, if I thought the spiritual life would mean solitude – especially a complete withdrawal from speech – I would seriously consider it, albeit for different reasons. Mostly I can manage conversation with one person at a time, although the duration needs must vary. But when my voice reaches more than one set of ears, it is prone to falter. The facts and stories in my mind – generally well-ordered and filed, at least by category if not strictly by date – break or dissolve entirely under the pressure of presenting them. I would my mind could be so blank in meditation. Indeed introversion need not equal a lack of confidence, and I believe that is what my Guru sought to teach me. True confidence has nothing to do with ego or audible volume – it is a deep inner quality, founded on the bedrock of the Source. And it is there I continue to search for it in myself – with varying success, but with an ever-clearer picture of my goal. Of course, introversion is a great asset when it comes to writing. A writer must closet herself away from interference and distraction. Writing is neither simple nor easy, but I don’t find it anywhere near the onerous task poor Merton hints at. If speaking can one day bring me half as much enjoyment as writing, I’ll be jolly glad (and utterly amazed). Sri Chinmoy encouraged writing as a companion to the spiritual life. He himself wrote prolifically, and published hundreds of books, including thousands on thousands of poems. He recommended his disciples write down any experiences we may later find of inspiration. Even advanced aspirants cross bleak deserts on their journeys, and may even lose their way entirely. To recollect times of special insight or joy can help to reorient the seeker, and recalibrate inner instruments. Our Goal is within us. To reach that Goal we have to take to the spiritual life. In the spiritual life, the thing that is most needed is awareness or consciousness. Without this, everything is a barren desert. When we enter into a dark place, we take a flashlight or some other light in order to know where we are going. If we want to know about our unlit life, we have to take the help of our consciousness. Let us go deeper into the matter. We know that the sun illumines the world. But how are we aware of it? We are aware of it through our consciousness, which is self-revealing. The functioning of the sun is not self-revealing. It is our consciousness of the sun that makes us feel that the sun illumines the world. It is our consciousness that is self-revealing in everything. – Sri Chinmoy, Yoga and the Spiritual Life. The journey of India’s Soul. Sri Chinmoy’s third prescription was given with regard to my occupation, and I could not have been more surprised had he recommended I become a construction worker, or a politician, or anything seemingly less compatible with my nature. That which has become an empowering and immensely practical piece of advice, at first baffled me completely. What has joy to do with work, I wondered. Is not work synonymous with toil, sacrifice and necessity? By increments I have dared to follow it. I would not have thought to give myself such extravagant permission, but have found it equally liberating and practical in all aspects of living. It was as though he had handed me a kaleidoscope of wonder through which to see my life anew. In practice it is simple, but not easy. I must constantly ask myself where is the real distinction between joy and comfort. True joy is perhaps like eating a salad of fresh vegetables in every colour of the rainbow. Comfort or pleasure is like bingeing on half a packet of chocolate cookies. The latter brings only short-lived happiness and is instantly regrettable. Always we have the boon and the burden of free will. As long as you don’t hurt anyone, you really get to do with your acre as you please. You can plant fruit trees or flowers or alphabetized rows of vegetables, or nothing at all. If you want your acre to look like a giant garage sale, or an auto-wrecking yard, that’s what you get to do with it. I imagine my acre as mostly garden – perhaps a few covered rooms with lots of windows. My acre may appear plain to those who fill theirs with tall buildings and grand belongings. Though it may have many coloured fruits and flowers, its calm spaces are deliberate and essential. My acre may be too simple for some, but to keep a space clear when all of life is bent on crowding in it is not always easy. Not easy to spot and root out the bindweed of attachment, thistles of dissatisfaction, brambles of self-deception, and the creeping moss of insecurity. Daily it must be done. Hourly, even. Mine is not to live as conventional nuns and monks do, but I endeavour to weave my spiritual practice into all of living – working, cleaning, cooking, eating always with an eye on the metaphorical garden. That is the way not only to spot the weeds, but also to enjoy its ample delights, its sweet fragrances and pure blossoms. And so, my one imaginary reader, I look out on a copse of metaphorical cherry trees as I write to you, and I wish you happy in your own acre too. In gratitude to Sri Chinmoy for twenty astonishing years. (…in my subjective opinion). This is a work in progress – I hope to collect more spiritual memoirs and autobiographies here as I read them, and write more on the ones I found the best. Do leave me your own recommendations in the comments, as I’m always looking out for more. Although my reading is somewhat skewed towards the Indian tradition – because that’s the basis of my own spiritual path – I enjoy sincere spiritual writing from any background. I would treasure this book for the brilliant writing alone, but it is also a source of spiritual inspiration and an important historical record. Written with devotion, but without stooping to sentimentality, this is a description of one of the greatest spiritual Masters ever to live, from the viewpoint of his disciple and attendant, Nirodbaran. Until the late 1930s, Sri Aurobindo lived in almost complete seclusion at his Ashram in Pondicherry. Following an injury, and up until the time of his passing in 1950, he needed closer medical attention. The author initially entered the scene as a doctor, but over time his service evolved to cover various roles, including that of stenographer for Sri Aurobindo’s immortal works of poetry. A candid, humble and intimate account. This is such a precious and important book. I just finished reading it for the second time, and I’m sure I will read it again. It is an incredibly humble but intelligent description of Swami Vivekanada’s life through the eyes of a close disciple. I found myself almost wishing Sister Nivedita had not been so humble in her writing, as I wanted to know more about her own struggles and victories, but of course that very humility is one of her greatest strengths, and she has achieved exactly what the title promises: Swami Vivekananda as she saw him. She herself is all but invisible while relating what she has learnt and what she remembers. Her Victorian use of language is delightfully precise. It has enough Western interpretation to make it relatable to a Western reader, but without losing the intensity or freshness of this remarkable life – a life instrumental in bringing Indian spiritual traditions to the West. It gives fascinating insights, not only into what it was like to be with Swami Vivekananda in person, but also into his teachings. It is moving and often breath-taking, without at any point being sentimental. I absolutely love this book. I almost wished I could wipe it from my memory as soon as I’d finished it, so I could go back and discover it anew right away. Isherwood’s writing itself is a work of genius – his descriptions are pure elegant simplicity, completely clear windows on his experience. His honesty as a spiritual seeker is itself a triumph. The story describes his time with Swami Prabhavananda, and how he struggles to balance East and West, inner and outer life. For anyone seeking a spiritual teacher, or even anyone having found the right one, this story is incredibly moving. Brunton’s erudite use of language, coupled with his ruthless inner and outer search, makes this a gripping read from start to finish. Following an inner call, he spends months travelling around India, interrogating yogis, pundits and fakirs – some genuine and some not so. His descriptions of the journey alone would make a beautiful travel journal. But his descriptions of inner experiences are breath-taking, especially those in the company of the great Ramana Maharshi. I can’t believe I had not come across this book before now – it’s amongst the very finest examples of this genre. I highly recommend this book to any sincere spiritual seeker, regardless of religious background. Saint Thérèse de Lisieux was clearly born an extraordinary person with a unique spiritual calling, and yet her story is written straight from the heart, with such humility and simplicity, it becomes relatable. Personally I find it comforting that even a saint can have earthly struggles: not only physical illnesses, but also feeling pain when others are unkind. Somehow this gives me hope – for myself and for the rest of humanity – that our own struggles are not in vain. This book probably needs no introduction, as it’s widely known and immensely popular. It’s the kind of story that stays with you. Touching to the heart, fascinating to the mind, nourishing for the soul, this is a must-read. This is a long book, and parts of it are a little prescriptive for an autobiography. Even so, I did not skip or scan a single word – partly due to Merton’s captivating honesty, and partly due to his brilliant gift for recall and description. The story charts his life from childhood in France, education in England, traveling in Italy and working in New York during the 1930s, then to become a Trappist monk in Kentucky. His somewhat dour exterior gives way to sensitive and candid insights. His observation of people – including himself – is especially astute. A spiritual search can often be tortuous, so in a sense the long route adds authenticity. This is a true classic, and one I will revisit like an old friend – one who understands how it is to examine the outer world and to find it wanting in fulfilment. This is one of my favourite books full stop, let alone spiritual memoirs. Natalie Goldberg’s writing itself comes from the sort of genius that makes you sit up and pay attention, whatever she happens to be talking about, but the story is compelling too, making this a real treasure of spiritual literature. Goldberg takes the reader by the hand as she struggles to make sense of life, to work out who she is and where she belongs, ultimately discovering Zen meditation and her spiritual teacher Katagiri Roshi. This is a vibrant, intimate, and often funny book, thanks to the author’s honesty and her passion for living authentically. This is an unusual story, in that the author remembers experiences in past incarnations – most notably one in ancient Egypt – and links them to her present life. It’s fascinating just from a scientific and historical viewpoint as she recalls in great detail mysterious practices from thousands of years ago. From a spiritual viewpoint it is all the more captivating and inspiring, if a little terrifying in places. Not for the faint-hearted, it’s the kind of book that stays with you, for better or worse. From it I’ve found genuine encouragement to be ever more conscious in my own spiritual life. Following the death of her husband, Russian-born Irina Tweedie found her Sufi master during a trip to India at the age of 52. This book is the diary he told her keep, spanning five years of her spiritual journey. He insisted she wrote down everything, including her doubts and struggles. Chasm of Fire is a shorter version of her journal, but I like the transparency of this complete version. I was not very familiar with Sufism when I first read it, so I found her unfoldment of its customs fascinating and beautiful. Tweedie was the first Western woman to be trained in this tradition, and above all I admire her courage. Hers was a challenging journey to say the least, but she stuck with it through thick and thin, and her inner rewards are plain to see. I’m not really sure where to start with this one, and I only chose one because it seemed unfair to choose three from the same author. Grace (Eventually) and Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith equally deserve a mention. Lamott’s writing is not only moving, funny, courageous and relatable, but is also aesthetically brilliant. She never shies from the struggles and imperfections of being human, and so her spiritual insights and breakthroughs are all the more precious. I love everything about these books, but Lamott’s Christian calling in Traveling Mercies is particularly moving. A very good introduction to Sri Chinmoy‘s life as a spiritual Master and life in the Sri Chinmoy Centre. It somehow encapsulates the vast diversity of Sri Chinmoy’s activities, as well as the diversity of his students. It also illustrates the sacred bond between Guru and disciple, particularly in a modern context. Here people from various countries and backgrounds talk about their experiences with Sri Chinmoy while he was on earth, as well as describing how their spiritual lives have continued to flourish since his passing in 2007. One gets a broad overview, but from the very personal viewpoints of many different writers. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Eastern spirituality as applied to Western and modern life. A colourful, interesting read, full of contrast and variety. Now and Then is the second in a trilogy of short memoirs by Buechner, along with The Sacred Journey and Telling Secrets. This is my favourite of the three, though I enjoyed them all. It covers the author’s rather shambling journey to seminary, and a gradual growing into life as a Christian minister. I love the stark realism in the stories, and his broad-minded approach to religion. His melancholy, self-deprecating honesty is utterly endearing, and the writing is sublime. His views on writing itself, and how it may dovetail with a spiritual life, are brave and consoling. While the sentences can be long, tiring journeys, the destination is always worth the effort. These are books I will treasure and re-visit. I haven’t binge-read in a long time, but this book leapfrogged all the others waiting patiently on my shelf. Western culture has assumed for too long that women committing their lives to spirituality do so either because society has failed them, or because they have failed in society. If ever you thought nuns lack moxie, individuality, intelligence or social conscience, you’ll be glad to see such myths debunked. On the other hand, if (like me) you’re following a genuine spiritual path of your own, especially if (like me) you’re female, you’ll be very glad to see such myths debunked. You might even let out a Hurrah! of solidarity. These ten stories are collected by a self-confessed sceptic, straight from the mouths of nuns – nuns from a variety of backgrounds, in a variety of orders, with strong views and unique characters. These are memoirs at their most raw – beautifully transparent and richly authentic. Another book that probably needs no introduction. Byrne’s simplicity and humility, her struggles and victories, I find most inspiring. Reading her I feel like I’m sitting down by a cosy fireside with a cup of tea. It’s as though she’s right there talking, and I’m on the edge of my seat, saying, “Tell me more!”. Gritty and honest (gruesome in places) this book feels like a friend, and I missed it when it was finished. I became very fond of the characters, the descriptions of inner and outer experiences, the insights into Ch’an Buddhism, and the poetry. It inspires and instructs, powerfully but with a light touch, like a poem in itself. Highly recommended to anyone interested in spiritual memoir and/or travel writing. A rare and special book, written by a close disciple of Sri Chinmoy. This is a short read, but rich in content, never shying away from the hot-potato topics faced by every spiritual seeker – jealousy, insecurity, doubt, pride, et al. While at times painful, at times funny, it is consistently inspiring and illumining. An honest and intimate view of the relationship between a contemporary spiritual Master and his disciple. I wasn’t sure where this book was going at first, but was soon drawn in to Miller’s sincerity. His story is meaningful because he has not taken life or spirituality at face value – he’s not afraid to take things apart and experience them for himself. Somehow faith that survives that examination has a deep strength, and I find that admirable. His writing is candid and unpretentious. Sometimes I found him a little too flippant – he gave Buddhism quite a hard time here and there for example. I’m not a Buddhist, but it made me uncomfortable at first. Then I realised that’s just how he is – he gives himself the hardest time of all. It didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book overall, it’s a very inspiring and refreshing read. I would recommend it to anyone from any faith with a broad-minded approach to spirituality, who is interested in deepening their own experience. Read the book rather than watching the film – it didn’t work at all for me on screen. I found the candid descriptions of Winner’s journey refreshing and uplifting. She’s obviously very sincere in her spiritual quest, but she’s also very honest about her own capacities. It’s an easy read in terms of story-telling, but she shares a lot of academic and technical knowledge on Christianity and Judaism. Not knowing in detail what it’s like to be inside either religion, I found that illumining and interesting, especially when it’s put in the context of the author’s personal experience. The story doesn’t seem to have much of a structure – it’s more a collection of snapshots which make up a fuller picture – but personally I didn’t mind at all. Life is like that, so it’s somehow all the more relatable that way. This is the story of a Lutheran pastor taking his first post in a rural American town, fresh out of seminary, believing himself amply equipped for the task, if not somewhat above it. As the community inadvertently gives him one character-building challenge after another, Lischer realises the true complexity of his role, and observes his own transformation with candour and humility. I often found myself somewhere between tears and laughter, frequently thinking, “Poor fellow! whatever next?,” as I witnessed him reconciling his training, his conscience, and his earnest faith. That which seems outwardly banal is turned into a study of human strength and goodness, as heart-warming as it is eye-opening. Most of the story comprises the diary of a young boy, living in the north of England at the end of the 19th Century. The author at first has no idea that his special gifts of clairvoyance and clairaudience are in the least unusual. He is innocent to the fact that not everyone may converse with the deceased, watch gnomes or fairies at play in the garden, or discern a person’s health and temperament by the state of his aura. Indeed such things are recorded in the same breath as everyday household news. Later, since so many topics are taboo at the time, he assumes it is simply not polite to mention them. Fortunately, with the help of teachers both worldly and ethereal, he learns to protect and nurture his talents. I found his relationships with these teachers most beautiful and moving, especially with one he sees only in visions, and first assumes must be Jesus. Following are some good books that have a spiritual-memoir aspect. This is a very unusual book, translated from the French original Lui et Moi. Gabrielle Bossis was a single woman – a nurse and later a playwright. Here was a friendly and vivacious person – very much in the world of work and creativity, rather than living in seclusion as a nun. Yet her inner relationship with Christ is intensely strong. The story is not strictly a memoir, but she relates the teachings to her own experiences, so it is certainly a journey of discovery. I find this book deeply moving and encouraging. It brings the Ineffable into everyday life, and reminds us that is where He most wants to be. This is part biography and part memoir. Swami Prabhavananda’s reminiscences of Swami Brahmananda’s life and teachings are compelling and beautiful in themselves. Then there is a section towards the end where different people speak about what they remember of the Master, this dear disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. It is of course inspiring to hear of the greatness of spiritual masters – their power and luminosity – but the goodness in the smallest details of life is easily overlooked. Often such actions are just as instructive; sometimes more so, because they are more relatable. Technically this is a travel memoir, but it has a deep spiritual foundation. Worth five stars just for the aesthetic quality of the writing, let alone the masterful weaving together of inner and outer experiences. Ruggedly beautiful. A book about spiritual apathy and hopelessness does not sound very inspiring at first, but the author’s battle against it certainly is. Acedia & Me is partly a text-book on the subject. It’s scholarly and rigorously researched, citing writings over the centuries that show acedia to be an age-old challenge. More than that, Norris posits acedia in the modern age, offering her own experience for detecting and conquering what monastics have long considered a demon. Thus her memoirs are woven throughout, as she faces down acedia in relationships, work and the repetitions of daily life. Though peppered with humour, it is a serious book. The subject itself is not light reading, and Norris faced many difficulties in her personal life, but it’s refreshing to see someone tackle such a difficult subject. Norris affirms that spiritual progress is not always a bowl of cherries, but that’s okay. Ultimately what matters is that it’s worth the effort. Uplifting, honest and masterfully written. I devoured this as a story in one sitting, but it could just as well be used for reference. It’s a little didactic for my taste, but the title admits it will be, so that’s not a complaint. While instruction is the premise of the book, Maezen – a wife, mother and Zen Buddhist priest – also describes her own continuing transformation with sincerity and beautiful prose. The main themes are self-acceptance and the sanctity of everyday life – the idea that paying attention to the ‘ordinary’, and taking it as spiritual practice, can lead to an extraordinary experience. I am always glad to be reminded of this alchemy, and it’s always worth celebrating. Thinking of writing your own story, but not sure where to start? This is surely a treasure trove for any budding, struggling, or thriving memoirist. It’s meticulously researched – both inwardly and outwardly – showing a rich depth of understanding. There is also a refreshingly broad use of the term “spiritual”, beyond the more obvious religious experience, to include any inner quest for meaning through outer life: whether via nature, or the death of a loved one, or even via writing itself. I only wish I’d found this book before I started writing Auspicious Good Fortune! We were very fortunate to welcome Agnikana’s Group to York on October 27th, for a concert entitled ‘Music for Inner Peace’, at the De Grey Rooms. The music group is based in the Czech Republic, with members also from Slovakia, Switzerland, Austria and Canada. They perform solely the music of Sri Chinmoy, and have toured many countries across the world. The concert was part of their autumn tour of the UK and Ireland. foreign and exotic to my ear. free of any human sign. that often brought me peace.

2019-04-20T12:35:12Z

https://www.sumangali.org/blog/

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2019-04-18T19:24:23Z

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STEPHEN. Truly, sir; and I love such things out of measure. ED KNOWELL. I’ faith, better than in measure, I’ll undertake. MATTHEW. Why, I pray you, sir, make use of my study; it’s at your service. STEPHEN. I thank you, sir; I shall be bold, I warrant you. Have you a stool there to be melancholy upon? — Every Man in his Humour, Act III, scene i. The last expression would not make a bad motto. Thomas Love Peacock’s Nightmare Abbey: a Gothic City Comedy? In the letter marked 25 July 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley suggested an ‘excellent quotation’ from Ben Jonson’s Every Man In His Humour (1598) that Thomas Love Peacock might like to use in his forthcoming novel Nightmare Abbey: ‘I am melancholy myself divers times sir; and then do I no more but take pen and paper presently, and overflow you half a score or a dozen of sonnets at a sitting’. He rightly guessed from Peacock’s remarks to him about his work what its content would be, and so supplied him with a useful motto illustrating Jonson’s own preoccupation with the theme of ‘morbidity’ in modern literature. Peacock had much in common with that particular early modern dramatist. Both were classicists; and both were satirists who used the medical theory of the humours to expose human foibles in their work. Peacock also pays homage to his distinguished predecessor in one other important way. Although Nightmare Abbey is a novella, it is also a drama. Felix Felton considered that the book resembled an opera with ‘libretto’ and music and even that it would make a good stage play (1973, pp. 155-6). He was right. The structure of the book, and the story it tells, use many conventions of both forms; but I think the homage to stagecraft goes much further than this. In the novella, theatre appears in all its permutations, sometimes indirectly. For example, Peacock presents character archetypes of the sort used by Jonson himself. He creates representative characters who engage in conversational set-pieces in which the fashionable concerns of the literary minded are discussed. As with Jonson’s characters, such affectations mean that Peacock’s creations have an inflated sense of their own self-worth. This is shown in his story by the characters performing in dramas of their own making, although they insist that they are merely players on the stage of life, directed toward some higher purpose. Mr Flosky is convinced that events like the French Revolution and its outcome are a cosmic sign of the futility of action, and a directive that one can only profitably spend one’s life in philosophical contemplation. Celinda Toobad imagines herself the put-upon heroine of a Gothic romance, a sort of female Byronic hero, persecuted and forced into exile. Her father, Mr Toobad thinks that the devil has a hand in everything, including the farcical moment when he tumbles downstairs after colliding with Scythrop. The son of Christopher Glowry, who believes that all are ‘slaves and puppets’ to ‘necessity’ (p. 55), Scythrop is himself convinced that a grand directive lies before him. So intense is his ‘passion for reforming the world’ (p. 47) that he feels obliged to rehearse the moment of its realisation by donning a nightcap and dressing gown and practising his speeches from an improvised throne. That particular moment in the novella reflects Peacock’s propensity for detailed scenic description, some of which recalls the illustrated backdrops that provided the setting for works acted in the early nineteenth-century theatre. Peacock’s word painting creates a vividly realised background to the action which unfolds before the reader as it would upon a stage, providing the setting for more direct homages to the theatre. The narrative structure of the story, though it has the expected story arc of a novella, is punctuated with small episodes, each a scene enacted before the reader. This is even emphasised by those moments when Peacock resorts to presenting the action in the form of a play – with dialogue and character notes. Two of these exchanges feature Marionetta, the one character who is perfectly adept at stage-managing scenes, especially where the matter of Scythrop’s devotion is concerned; and so, appropriately enough on these occasions, she is the instigator of the dialogue. On one of these occasions, she is even responsible for directing the action. While she plays the piano before an enchanted Mr Listless, the two of them have a conversation about the preoccupations of contemporary life. In the midst of the dialogue is a stage direction, alerting us to Scythrop seated with a copy of Dante. We learn that he is reading it in a manner which has just been described by Marionetta to be the perfect representation of a melancholy man hopelessly in love. Given all these indirect and direct homages to dramatic form, then, while we (rightly) think of Nightmare Abbey as a parody of the Gothic novel, it is also worth considering Peacock’s novella as a Romantic reinvention of the Jonsonian city comedy. Peacock’s book has all the hallmarks of the city comedies of the seventeenth century but given a characteristically Romantic twist in its deployment of the taste for the Gothic. Nightmare Abbey in its ‘picturesque’ setting might not be a city, but it is still a place where the follies indigenous to urban life are exposed and mocked. The gloomy, mist-shrouded fens, the crenelated turrets, the crumbling, ivy-covered edifice is a monument to the contemporary Romantic fashionable taste for the Gothic, a propensity in literature mocked by Peacock as surely as Jonson mocked the literary pretensions of his own time. When a parcel arrives for Mr Listless, its contents are a representation of all the Regency foibles of the urban reading public which Mr Flosky delineates as he unpacks the parcel. There is the new type of novel centred on ‘misanthropy’, a new poem with a fashionably disaffected hero and a popular Review magazine in which authors are permitted to comment favourably on their own work. This summary of the work of William Godwin, Lord Byron and Robert Southey is as pertinent to Peacock’s audiences as were Jonson’s diatribes against his contemporaries’ literary pretension. Just like Jonson, Peacock saw in his colleagues’ work a disconcerting trend for ‘morbidity’ in literature, a too-intense focus on melancholy. And, as everyone knows, an imbalance of the humours is invariably injurious to the health, a surfeit of melancholy leading to an unhealthy self-centredness. It results in a disengagement from life that can harm the wider society by displacing all virtue. In this novella, exploring the effect of such excesses of ‘black bile’ in contemporary literature, Peacock creates a cast of characters who feel that that they have no great part to play in the drama of life, no role to play in the betterment of the human condition. That there is, as Mr Cypress puts it ‘no hope for myself or for others’ (p. 99). And so they only feel that, as Scythrop himself says, gloomily paraphrasing another well-known early modern author: ‘the world is a stage and my direction is exit’. All quotations from Peacock’s Novel are from the Penguin edition, edited by Raymond Wright (Harmondsworth, 1969, reprinted 1981). Roger Ingpen. 1914. Ed. The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley. London: G. Bell & Sons. 2 Vols. Vol 2, p. 607. Felix Felton. 1973. Thomas Love Peacock. George Allen & Unwin. Rebekah Owens is currently studying for her PhD at Anglia Ruskin University, focusing on the reception of early modern dramatists in the 19th-century, and especially on how those responses still inform critical works today. She has published widely on early modern literature, from matters relating to the dramatist Thomas Kyd to Shakespeare on Film. We continue to celebrate the 200th anniversary of literary and historical events in the Romantic period with the BARS ‘On This Day’ blog series. Following a post by Alan Weinberg in March on Shelley’s arrival in Italy in 1818, we now present this commentary by Amanda Blake Davis on the poet’s translation of the Symposium, a task that he undertook during his stay in Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany. This summer marks the bicentenary of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s translation of Plato’s Symposium into English, an exercise of remarkable speed that was conducted over ten days in the summer of 1818. For James A. Notopoulos, ‘[t]he translation of the Symposium was one of the most important things in Shelley’s poetic life. It is valuable not only in itself but also for its influence on Shelley’s subsequent poetry’. In light of this comment, I would like to briefly consider the history of the translation’s composition and its impact upon Shelley’s poetic thought. Shelley began translating the Symposium on the 7th of July and continued on a daily basis until its completion on the 17th. Shelley then made corrections from the 19th and finished these on the 20th when Mary Shelley took up the task of transcribing that lasted until the 6th of August. The act of translation enabled Shelley to deeply consider the moral and imaginative properties of love and allowed him to bring the poeticisms of Plato’s language to life in the English language. Stephanie Nelson observes that both the speed of the translation and Shelley’s intentional refusal to consult a Greek lexicon ‘preserve the flow of the dialogue’, and Michael O’Neill states that Shelley’s work is ‘closer in spirit to Plato than virtually any other translation’. Shelley’s assertion in A Defence of Poetry that ‘Plato was essentially a poet’ is anticipated by his prefatory fragment to his translation, wherein he describes how the philosopher expresses ‘the Pythian enthusiasm of poetry, melted by the splendour and harmony of his periods into one irresistible stream of musical impressions’. In her preface to Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments, Mary Shelley describes her late husband’s translation as a ‘noble piece of writing…which for the first time introduces the Athenian to the English reader in a style worthy of him’. Prior to Shelley’s translation, the existing English translation by Floyer Sydenham was a ‘sanitized’ and bowdlerised rendition, described by Mary Shelley as being ‘so harsh and un-English in its style’, and Nelson notes that ‘[t]he only translations of Plato available to Shelley, aside from Ficino’s Latin version, were Andre Dacier’s French translation of a number of dialogues, an English translation of Dacier’s selection, a French translation of the Republic, and Thomas Taylor’s Neoplatonic completion of Floyer Sydenham’s Collected Dialogues, first published in 1804’. However, this period of translation was not the poet’s first encounter with the Symposium. In her journal, Mary records that Shelley read the Symposium one year prior to his translation, in the summer of 1817. Even earlier, Thomas Jefferson Hogg recalls that the two studied French and Latin translations of Plato’s works, including passages from the Symposium, while at Oxford in 1810. These studies were purely recreational, as the works of Plato were not added to the curriculum at Oxford until 1847. While it was the Phaedo that captivated the young Shelley at Oxford, the Symposium seems to have had the most lasting effect on the poet’s mind, as it was this text that he returned to repeatedly throughout his career. …a going out of our own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought, action or person, not our own. A man to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and of many others; the pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. On the 10th of July, while engaged in the act of translation, Shelley wrote to the Gisbornes and declared that he hoped ‘to give Mary some idea of the manners & feelings of the Athenians—so different on many subjects from that of any other community that ever existed’. The translation is a gift of love and an encouragement for Mary to ‘put [herself] in the place of another and of many others’ by means of her imaginative recognition of the ‘inmost state of manners & opinions among the antient Greeks’. Mary reciprocates this act of love in writing to Maria Gisborne that: ‘It is true that in many particulars [the Symposium] shocks our present manners, but no one can be a reader of the works of antiquity unless they can transport themselves from these to other times and judge not by our but by their morality’. Here, Mary’s defence of the ancient Greeks and her recommendation for mental and moral transportation clearly anticipate Shelley’s definition of love in the Defence. Shelley’s translation, edited and published by Mary as The Banquet nearly twenty years after his death, anticipated the English revival of interest in Plato’s life and philosophy. Shelley’s engagement with the Symposium extends far beyond the summer of 1818, possibly beginning during his time at Eton and certainly remaining at the forefront of his thought up until his accidental death in 1822. Poignantly, the last words Shelley wrote to Mary are: ‘I have found the translation of the Symposium’. Shelley’s last letter to Mary. Pisa, July 1822 Shelley c. 1, fol. 505v Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (via Shelley’s Ghost). James A. Notopoulos, The Platonism of Shelley: A Study of Platonism and the Poetic Mind (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1949), p. 57. Stephanie Nelson, ‘Shelley and Plato’s Symposium: The Poet’s Revenge’, International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 14.1/2 (2007), p. 104; Michael O’Neill, ‘Emulating Plato: Shelley as Translator and Prose Poet’ in The Unfamiliar Shelley ed. by Timothy Webb and Alan Weinberg (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), p. 243. Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of Poetry in The Major Works, ed. by Zachary Leader and Michael O’Neill (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 679; Percy Bysshe Shelley, ‘Preface to the Banquet of Plato’ in The Platonism of Shelley, p. 402. Mary Shelley, ed., Percy Bysshe Shelley, Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments, vol. 1 (London: Edward Moxon, 1852), preface vii. Steven Bruhm, ‘Reforming Byron’s Narcissism’, Lessons of Romanticism: A Critical Companion, ed. by Thomas Pfau and Robert F. Gleckner (Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1998), p. 432; Mary Shelley, Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments, vol. 1, preface viii; Nelson, p. 102. Mary’s journal entry for 13 August 1817 reads: ‘Shelley writes—reads Plato’s Convivium’. The Journals of Mary Shelley: 1814-1844. 2 vols., ed. by Paula R. Feldman and Diana Scott Kilvert (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987), vol. 1, p. 178. Thomas Jefferson Hogg, The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley (London: George Routledge & Sons Limited, 1906), p. 72. Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley, ed. by Frederick L. Jones, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon, 1964), vol. 2, p. 22. Notopoulos, pp. 447 and 448. PBS Letters II, p. 20. PBS Letters II, p. 22. Shelley, Mary, The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, ed. by Betty T. Bennett, 3 vols (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980-1988), vol. I, p. 77. ‘Shelley’s first introduction to Plato was through James Lind…who befriended Shelley at Eton. Thomas Medwin, who took an interest in Shelley’s Platonism, mentions Shelley’s statement that he read the Symposium with Dr. Lind’, Notopoulos, p. 30; PBS Letters II, p. 444. Prof Alan Weinberg (University of South Africa) has produced this post to mark 200 years since P B Shelley’s journey to Italy – a crucial turning point in his life, and his writing. He and Mary Shelley had left England on 12 March 1818 accompanied by Claire Clairmont, three children, and two female servants. Percy Shelley, who was 25 years old at the time of the journey, was never to return and would drown off the coast of Tuscany four years later in 1822. We have journeyed towards the spring that has been hastening to meet us from the South–– & though our weather was at first abominable, we have now warm sunny days & soft winds & a sky of deep azure, the most serene I ever saw. The heat in this city to day, is like that of London in the middle of summer– My spirits & health sympathise in the change. Indeed before I left London my spirits were as feeble as my health – and I had demands on them which I found difficult to supply. In the first 8 months of their residence in Italy (April to December 1818) the Shelleys crossed the length and breadth of Italy (excluding Sicily) and resided in or stopped by at a great number of places including (more importantly, and in something like chronological sequence), Turin, Milan, Como, Pisa, Livorno, Bagni di Lucca, Florence, Padua, Este, Venice, Ferrara, Bologna, Spoleto, Terni, Rome, Naples and its environs including Vesuvius. Visits were usually accompanied by sightseeing in regard to architecture and landscape or visits to palaces, prisons or picture galleries. There were periods of calm and some of frenetic travelling by carriage in circumstances which would be a trial for the modern tourist. The Shelleys had few acquaintances and had two small children to look after, William and Clara, as well as assist with Claire and Byron’s daughter, Allegra, and in September, endured the severe illness and loss of their daughter Clara. It is not generally recognized that in these early months, Shelley wrote only one major poem, and it is one of his neglected Italianate pieces in iambic tetrameter and trimeter, Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills. It was largely inspired by Petrarch. Several other compositions, like Prometheus Unbound and ‘Julian and Maddalo’, were begun and only completed in 1819, or were eventually aborted, like ‘Prince Athanase’, a redaction of which appeared in press copy in 1819 as ‘Athanase: A Fragment’ (but was not published). One prose essay, ‘Discourse on the Manners of the Ancient Greeks’ was finished in draft, the translation from the Symposium nearly completed, and a few other prose works, such as a Preface to The Banquet (Symposium), ‘The Coliseum’ (begun December 1818) and ‘A Future State’, were left unfinished in manuscript. Shelley’s residence in Italy is a turning point in his career: it follows a period of intense creativity which saw the composition of Alastor. Mont Blanc, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Laon and Cythna (re-named The Revolt of Islam), Rosalind and Helen, as well as a History of a Six Weeks’ Tour, prefaces, reviews, political pamphlets, essays (like the sketch ‘On Christianity’ (more specifically Christ’s teachings), and brief, mostly unfinished political or philosophical sketches. Laon and Cythna was meant to be the crowning piece in which Shelley encompassed much of what he understood to be his task as poet and seer, and was written in the belief that he was suffering from consumption and thus had not long to live. He put his heart and soul into this composition but it didn’t win much favour. The early residence in Italy was clearly a period of settling in, of recuperation, of reconfiguration, and of adventure, but Shelley also felt the frustration of a loss of creativity. He began a play on ‘Tasso’ but soon abandoned it, turning to Greek translation as a means of compensation – but producing an outstandingly eloquent and fluent rendering of The Symposium which had a formative influence on subsequent works. While 1818 has little to show for itself in terms of finished products, it was effectively a period of conception and regeneration, and of great receptivity to the classical world as it suggested itself in the remains of antiquity and in the emulation of classical styles in modern architecture. In this regard Shelley was a classicist and not a romanticist, and was always aiming to reach beyond Christianity, much as he admired the ethics of Jesus, whom he regarded as a reformer and not a divine redeemer, and whose tortured representation in Italian painting, and that of his followers, filled him with anguish and disbelief. It was pagan and classical Italy that largely inspired Shelley, and this made an immediate impact in scenes which reminded him of Virgil’s eclogues or the famed scenes at Delphi and Mt Helicon. Born in 1786, Benjamin Robert Haydon was a history painter who surrounded himself by men whose genius he judged equal to his own. Although Haydon is less well-known today, he was highly regarded as an artist in his own time. In 1804 he entered the Royal Academy Schools in London and exhibited there for the first time at the age of 21. Although this led to recognition and commissions, he did not have a steady income, meaning that he was in constant debt and struggled financially until the end of his life. In 1817, however, Haydon moved to 22 Lisson Grove, where he was in possession of his own furniture and house-appliances for the first time. He wrote that he had used ‘my own tea cup and saucers. I took up my own knife. I sat on my own chair. It was a new sensation!’. Fond of social gatherings, his new house also inspired the painter to invite some selected friends to dine at his home during the Christmas period. Haydon had an impact in the Literary world, with William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Leigh Hunt writing verses dedicated to the artist, therefore it is not surprising to find these poets amongst the guests who attended his dinner – except Leigh Hunt, who was excluded due to an argument between the host and Hunt’s wife. The guestlist for this exceptional evening included Wordsworth, Keats, Charles Lamb, Tom Monkhouse, Joseph Ritchie, a few more of Haydon’s acquaintances, and a man named John Kingston, who invited himself as “a friend of Wordsworth”. Thanks to Haydon’s habit of documenting his life in journals, there is a detailed account of what took place that evening, and the event is known as ‘The Immortal Dinner’. The party was welcomed by Haydon’s current project, ‘Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem’, which hung over the guests. Wordsworth and Keats are featured in this painting along with other notable figures of the era, a fact that stimulated conversation on the evening. The artist was delighted by the good humour the setting inspired and watched his friends partake in a gleeful discussion. Apart from Kingston, all were to some extent acquainted with one another. Haydon documented in his journal that once they retired for tea, Kingston, whom he forgot to introduce to the party, decided to take upon himself to engage with Wordsworth. He enquired ‘Don’t you think, sir, Milton was a great genius?’. Until this point, Keats was occupied examining Haydon’s books, and Lamb, who had a bit too much to drink and ‘got exceedingly merry and exquisitely witty’, was sat by the fire. When the question was asked, everyone turned their attention to Kingston’s remark. Keats looked at Haydon, Wordsworth looked at Kingston, and Lamb said ‘Pray, sir, did you say Milton was a great genius?’ to which the man replied that he had asked Mr Wordsworth if he were not. Lamb then declared ‘Oh, then you are a silly fellow’. After a brief interruption by Wordsworth, everyone went quiet. Not content, Kingston decided for a second attempt: ‘Don’t you think Newton a great genius?’. At that point Keats hid his face in a book, Haydon could no longer stand it, Wordsworth did not know what was going on, and Lamb got up asking ‘Sir, will you allow me to look at your phrenological development?’. Kingston realised that Wordsworth did not seem to know who he was, therefore, in a third attempt to engage with the poet, he expressed that he had the honour of some correspondence with him, to which Wordsworth could not remember. Kingston seemed to finally give up, but at that point, Lamb was much amused. Haydon describes in his journal Lamb getting up and singing ‘Hey diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle. Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John,’ while Wordsworth cried ‘My dear Charles!’ trying to stop Lamb, but to no avail. ‘Do let me have another look at that gentleman’s organs.’ Lamb shouted, as Keats and Haydon locked him in a different room while bursting into laughter. After this event, the party tried to console Kingston, who stayed for dinner but no longer attempted to further engage with the guests in the same manner. Peace was seemingly restored; the guests were occupied in their discussions and trying to move on from the incident, but Kingston had lost his dignity and the matter could not be forgotten as Lamb could still be heard calling from the other room: ‘Who is that fellow? Allow me to see his organs once more’. ‘Keats made Ritchie promise he would carry his Endymion to the great desert of Sahara and fling it in the midst. Two years after Haydon transcribed his account, Wordsworth became Poet Laureate and proceeded to survive the whole party as Haydon took his own life in 1846. After a hiatus, ‘On This Day’ continues with a post by Ellen Nicholls (University of Sheffield). Ellen is a third year PhD candidate and Wolfson Scholar, studying under the supervision of Dr Madeleine Callaghan. Her thesis explores the interdependency of pleasure and pain in the poetry and letters of John Keats, thinking about how far Keats uses the poem as an experimental space in which to engage with, advance, and depart from a medical understanding of bodily experience. Alongside her studies, she is also working with the Keats-Shelley Association of America as a Communications Fellow, collaborating with and promoting the many bicentenary celebrations of the Romantics through online media. We return to this series to celebrate an iconic moment from 1817 which will be familiar to many scholars of Romanticism and readers of Keats. Here Ellen explains the significance of this bicentenary and also discusses the short lyric ‘In Drear-nighted December’. More ‘On This Day’ posts to follow. If you want to contribute to this series, please contact Anna Mercer ([email protected]). This Christmas marks the bicentenary of Keats’s ‘Negative Capability’ letter. Written roughly between 21-27 December 1817, this important anniversary leads many romantic scholars and enthusiasts to reflect on Keats’s considerable achievements. As this time approaches, I am not only reminded of the astonishing creative energies that Keats displays in his letter, but also drawn to Keats’s attentiveness to the season in which he is writing. Critics are often attuned to the role darkness and mist play in Keats’s conception of negative capability. But very little has been said of how ‘Drear-nighted December’, the month and time of day in which Keats was writing to his brothers Tom and George, informs one of his most famous poetic speculations. December 21 1817 was the winter solstice, and the shorter, darker days of winter, alongside the many indoor festivities that accompanied them, were not far from Keats’s mind while he was writing to his brothers in Teignmouth. The composition history of this significant letter remains somewhat shrouded in the ‘uncertainties, mysteries, doubts’ (Letters: John Keats I, 193) that it so famously sets forth. The letter survives from a transcript by John Jeffrey; second husband to George’s wife, Georgiana. Hyder Edward Rollins points out Jeffrey’s misdating of the correspondence, a fact that is unsurprising given Keats’s habit of composing letters over fragmented periods of time. But Rollins conjectures that the letter’s main passage on negative capability was ‘very likely’ (Letters: John Keats I, 194) written the night of 26th December, after Charles Brown and Charles Wentworth Dilke accompanied Keats to the Drury Lane Christmas pantomime: Harlequin’s Vision, Or, The Feast of the Statue. It is Keats’s busy social life throughout the festive period that not only interrupts the letter’s composition, but that is also vital in informing its content. Keats wryly comments upon how he has ‘been out too much lately’ (Letters: John Keats I, 192), describing how he: watched one of his favourite actors, Edmund Kean, in Shakespeare’s Richard III; spent ‘two very pleasant evenings with Dilke’ (Letters: John Keats I, 191-192); viewed Benjamin West’s painting Death on the Pale Horse with Charles Jeremiah Wells— an artistic experience that was central in elaborating his thoughts on the ‘close relationship […] [between] Beauty & Truth’ (Letters: John Keats I, 192) ; ‘dined with Haydon’ (Letters: John Keats I, 192); dined also with Horace Smith, Smith’s two brothers, Thomas Hill, John Kingston, and Edward Du Bois; and, of course, attended the Christmas pantomime with Brown and Dilke. I had not a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, on various subjects; several things dovetailed in mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously— I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason— Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge (Letters: John Keats I, 193-194). Keats comically draws attention to the friendly spirit of disagreement, typical of the festive period, which characterised his conversation with Dilke by means of rejecting the term ‘dispute’ in favour of ‘disquisition’. The rigorous discussion and questioning that the verb ‘disquisition’ implies becomes important for understanding ‘what quality’ Keats is attempting to spell out. Keats writes in response to Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria, published the same year that this letter was composed, and in which Coleridge suggests that the poet should aim to reconcile ‘opposite or discordant qualities’ through a synthetic imagination. Entering into dialogue with Coleridge, Keats suggests that reaching after reconciliations and conclusions can lead to the ‘verisimilar’, or that which appears true, but is ultimately fallacious. Instead, negative capability proposes an ability to remain at ease with the ‘uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts’ of contradiction and disagreement, advancing the idea that the poet should have a disquisitional mind that is content with ‘half knowledge’ and in which meaning is neither fixed nor debate shut down. It is with such a dialogic openness of mind that Keats conceives of negative capability. With a characteristically contradictory turn of phrase, Keats highlights how holding ‘several things’ in equipoise within his imagination paradoxically leads his ideas to ‘dovetail’, uniting together to form his important poetic concept. Creativity, for Keats, is not inhibited but enabled by the inherent equivocality of tensions so much so that the ambiguities and indeterminacies of ‘uncertainties, mysteries, doubts’ would become one of the defining features of Keats’s poetic style. Writhed not of passèd joy? Keats’s repeated use of the negations ‘Ne’er’ (3), ‘nor’ (7), ‘never’ (15), ‘not’ (20), sets forth the issue under interrogation: namely, how to articulate a feeling as ambiguous as absence and loss. The poem paradoxically draws attention to the sensation of senselessness, or ‘the feel of not to feel it’ (21), presenting the loss of joy not as a ‘numbèd sense’ (23) in which all feeling is annihilated, but an absent presence or painful void that causes one to writhe (20). The poem proposes an inability for ‘rhyme’ (24) or poetic language to contain such an experience, leading Michael O’Neill to argue that the poem is, ‘called into being by the “feel” it is said never to have found words for, “rhyme” stands apart from “feel” by virtue of its failure to rhyme with any lines in the stanza (it rhymes with the final lines of stanzas 1 and 2)’. Poetic language ostensibly fails to meet the demands of negative capability by being unable to capture the uncertain, mysterious, and doubtful sensation of absence. And yet it is at the point where rhyme is said to fail that the potentiality of such uncertainty is evident. The word ‘rhyme’ may not harmonise with any other line ending in the third stanza, but it shares an important formal and semantic relation to the end words of the previous two stanzas: ‘prime’ (8) and ‘time’ (16). The final words of each stanza are aurally incongruous to the other rhyme sounds in each contained section, isolated within the bleak landscape that they both describe and reflect. But they also serve to link each of the stanzas together as a whole by drawing the eye and ear back to the only words that they share a formal relation with in the other stanzas. By linking these three words together through rhyme, the poem’s outlook of winter desolation is both undermined and belied by the suggestion that ‘drear-nighted December’ (1) is the ‘prime’ (8) ‘time’ (16) for engendering thought and sensation within poetic language. That which is dark, obscure, and uncertain becomes a site of frustration and ‘fretting’ (14) that resists the limitations of language, even as it is presented as a location of ‘budding’ (8) potentiality. Keats may be a poet who is most frequently associated with autumn, but the importance of winter for his poetic thought should not be underestimated. December reminds us of the remarkable achievement of Keats’s letters as the month that both brought into being and embodies his thoughts on negative capability. See Keats’s 3rd May 1818 letter to Reynolds in which Keats creates a simile for life as ‘a large Mansion of Many Apartments’ (Letters: John Keats I, 280-281). In his analysis of the letter, Alexander Patterson suggests that darkness and mist do not inhibit, but facilitate thought and imagination. Alexander Patterson, ‘A Greater Luxury’: Keats’s Depictions of Mistiness and Reading, Romanticism, 18 (2012), pp. 260-269 (p. 260). The Letters of John Keats, 1814-1821, ed. Hyder Edward Rollins, 2 vols. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958). All subsequent references to the letters will be taken from this edition. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Biographia Literaria” (1817) in The Major Works, ed. H. J. Jackson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 155-482 (p. 319). See footnotes to ‘In Drear-Nighted December’, John Keats The Complete Poems, ed. John Barnard (London: Penguin Books, 1973), p. 217. John Keats, ‘In Drear-Nighted December’, John Keats The Complete Poems, ed. John Barnard (London: Penguin Books, 1973), p. 217. Michael O’Neill, “The Reading of an Ever-Changing Tale”: Keats (I)’ in Romanticism and the Self-Conscious Poem (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 180-209 (p. 182). We welcome Francesca Blanch Serrat to the BARS blog for the second time; Francesca is a pre-doctoral student and has written the following post on Harriet Shelley. She recently graduated in English Studies with a minor in Gender Studies from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her areas of research include minor women writers of the eighteenth century and British and French Romanticism. She is on Twitter. We are always looking for new contributors. If you’d like to write something on literary/historical events in 1817, please contact [email protected]. We also welcome proposals from those who wish to write about 1817 more generally, and not about a specific date. We hope you are enjoying this series! On this day, December 10th, two hundred years ago, the body of Harriet Shelley, née Westbrook, was recovered from the Serpentine in Hyde Park. It was a pensioner of the Chelsea Hospital, John Levesley (Shepherd, 2013) who saw the corpse floating in the lake and alerted the authorities. After the inquest, it was discovered that the remains belonged to a Harriet Smith (she had taken lodgings under that surname), who had disappeared a month before. She was pregnant when she took her life. The following is an account of the circumstances that led Harriet, the first wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, to her suicide. After a few weeks in Edinburgh, the newlyweds spent their first three years as husband and wife travelling: initially they moved to York, and then to Keswick, where Shelley began writing to William Godwin. After a while the Shelleys travelled to Ireland – Percy had noble revolutionary intentions that were not so well received by the Irish (Gilmour, 2002) – and on their return they established themselves in Wales before moving shortly to North Devon and back. In 1812, they went to London, where they finally met Godwin and his family, with the exception of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Shelley), who was in Scotland. After that, Percy and Harriet moved to Wales, and then returned to London, where Harriet gave birth to a girl, Ianthe. By 1814, Harriet, Ianthe and Eliza (Harriet’s sister) were finally established in Windsor while Percy wandered, visiting London and meeting with friends, including Godwin and, finally, Mary. Even though Percy and Harriet married again under English law around this period, his visits became less frequent, until he eventually stopped seeing his – now once more pregnant – wife. During these months of estrangement, Percy began a relationship with Mary Godwin, who was to become his wife and companion. Their relationship flourished in the following months, despite Godwin’s disapproval and Harriet’s desperation. Finally, Percy eloped with Mary and her stepsister Jane (later Claire Clairmont) to the continent. It attests to his lack of maturity and irresponsible idealism that Percy wrote to Harriet from Switzerland, inviting her to join him and his lover in Europe, and to bring money with her (Hay 2011:32). At this request, she was beside herself. Even if Harriet was not economically strained (she received £200 from her father, and £100 from Shelley), she must have been emotionally traumatised as an abandoned pregnant mother. Harriet returned to her father’s house with Ianthe and Eliza, and gave birth her second child, Charles. The Westbrooks took care of the situation as best as they could: they sent Ianthe and Charles to the countryside, which one might think could have added to their mother’s torment. Eventually, Harriet left her father’s house and took lodgings in Hans Place, Knightsbridge. It is possible that this decision was motivated by her pregnancy, but we cannot know whether she was trying to conceal it from her family, or if it had been her family’s idea, to shield her from further gossip. Harriet’s suicide letter. Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. Harriet’s death, subject to a great deal of speculation ever since, is, if anything, an example of the situation in which married women found themselves in eighteenth-century England, tied to the decisions and whims of their husbands, for better or for worse. Percy’s irresponsibility lead Harriet to a situation of social vulnerability he seemed not to fully understand. Harriet Shelley’s Suicide Letter. Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. Gilmour, Ian. The Making of the Poets: Byron and Shelley in Their Time. London: Pimlico, 2002. Hay, Daisy. Young Romantics: The Shelleys, Byron an Other Tangled Lives. London: Bloomsbury, 2011. Shepherd, Lynn. “‘This fatal catastrophe’: The sad life and strange death of Harriet Shelley” [consulted 22/11/16]. July’s ‘On This Day’ post is by Patrick Vincent, Professor of English and American literature at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. With Angela Esterhammer and Diane Piccitto, he recently published Rousseau, Romanticism, Switzerland: New Prospects (Palgrave 2015). This year he helped organize the “Byron is Back! ” exhibition at Chillon Castle as part of the bicentenary commemoration of the summer of 1816. In the post below he considers the way in which the idea of apocalypse shaped the writing of those present during the 1816 Geneva summer, and the extant sources (including the weather reports) that tell us about early July 1816. We are looking for future contributors to this series, which seeks to celebrate the 200th anniversaries of important literary/historical events of the Romantic Period. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested. Sink on the heart—as dew along the flower? On 18 July 1816, the world was expected to come to an end. As Jeffrey Vail and others have noted, an astronomer in Bologna had predicted that the sun would die out on that day, an event often associated with Byron’s composition of the deeply pessimistic “Darkness.” Although we are unsure when the poet composed his apocalyptic dream vision, we do know that he wrote another poem thematizing the sun’s disappearance, the “Monody on the Death of the Righ Honourable R.B. Sheridan” sometime between 7 July 1816, when Richard Sheridan died, and 22 July, when Byron sent the poem to Douglas Kinnaird. Possibly inspired by a Lake Geneva sunset, this lesser known work rehearses many of the same themes as the summer’s other literary productions, most notably its strange atmospheric conditions. The poem’s controlling symbol, the sun is represented as “a Power” that “Hath pass’d from day to darkness”, yet whose “Promethean heat” will forever continue “to cast its halo” in spite of the “public gaze”, which makes “Hearts electric—charged with light from heaven / Black with the rude collision”. In 1826, the painter William Edward West reported an anecdote in which Byron apparently attributed the composition of “Darkness” to a “celebrated dark day, on which the fowls went to roost at noon, and the candles were lighted as at midnight.” I have come across no other evidence that such a day occured on or around 18 July, or ever at all, yet the story has contributed to 1816’s gothic reputation. Byron’s prodigious literary productivity during his time in Switzerland, in particular in July when he composed the “Monody,” “Prometheus,” “Stanzas to Augusta” and perhaps also “Darkness” in addition to finishing and correcting Childe Harold III and The Prisoner of Chillon, strikes me as more significant than the Genevan summer’s overly rehashed gothic incidents. It is as if the poet refused to allow the weather, European politics, or even his exile extinguish his own Promethan heat. And while the “Monody” suggests the sun’s extinction may indeed have been a topic of conversation at Diodati, the opening lines’ calm, elegiac tone better captures villa’s daily routine and largely unremarkable incidents than do the many dark and doomsdayish accounts of 1816. Primary sources for the month of July 1816 are scarcer than for the rest of the summer: Polidori had stopped keeping his diary on 2 July, Mary only began hers on the first day of their Chamonix excursion on the 21st, and Byron was either too depressed, or more likely, too busy writing and sailing to keep a regular correspondence. Through Lady Frances Shelley’s diary and several other contemporary accounts, we know that the poet’s nemesis, Henry Brougham, had arrived in town along with 1100 other English visitors, some of whom enjoyed playing cricket at Plainpalais, others spreading gossip on Diodati’s scandalous household. We also know that Byron and Polidori went to Coppet for the first time on 12 July, where the second Duchess of Devonshire pretended to faint and the poet discussed Glenarvon with Madame de Staël. In Geneva’s register of foreigners, we can read that the two men received their permis de séjour the next day. Claire’s two undated notes in July reveal that things between her and Byron had soured—her attemtps at finding a pretext to see him, notably by fair copying his poems, are sure signs of his rejection. Finally, in a lesser known anecdote recorded by a town magistrate and discovered by Claire Eliane Engel, we learn that thieves tried to break into Diodati on 17 July, inciting the Cologny mayor to make an inquiry. Marc-Auguste Pictet, Tableau des observations météorologiques faites au Jardin Botanique de Genève, July 1816, in Bibliothèque universelle, Sciences et Arts, volume 2 (Genève: Bibliothèque britannique, 1816). As he noted in his 20 July letter to Kinnaird, Byron intended his “Monody” to be delivered with “Energy” at Drury Lane. One may argue that poem likewise shares Rouy’s skepticism regarding the possibility of the sun’s extinction, and might be read as a hopeful counterpoint to “Darkness,” dissipating the forces of superstition and fear that belittle man’s genius. Far more worrisome than these imaginary apocalyptic warnings was the all-too-real suffering, already much discussed in this blog, brought upon by the end of the wartime economy, the rain and the cold, but also poor government planning, as historian Daniel Krämer has recently shown. These elements are arguably more important to the genesis of “Darkness” than the Bologna prophecy itself. The Gazette de Lausanne regularly reported the hardships but always in its backpages, stating on 16 July for example that snow fell in the Bernese Alps and that cattle had to be killed because of lack of feed. The Bibliothèque universelle in July commented that all the harvests were late, and potatoes rotting. Unlike in other regions of Switzerland, the Genevan government was able to avoid a famine thanks to its emergency storehouse of grain and government intervention in the sale and pricing of flour. As Lady Shelley commented, “Scarcity, owing to the destruction of crops, has been felt here also, and white bread is forbidden, under an amende of eight louis d’or.” Thanks to a letter that emerged at an auction in 1975, we know that Byron and Shelley were also aware of the situation. Writing to his friend Peacock on 17 July to describe his tour around Lake Geneva with Byron, Shelley adds at the end of the letter as a sort of afterthought: “Affairs here are rather in a desperate condition. The magistrates of Geneva have prohibited the making of white bread.—all ranks of people are in the greatest distress.—I earnestly hope that England at least will escape.” The passage was curiously cut from the published version of the letter in History of a Six Weeks Tour, however, as if these problems were not important enough to impinge on their memories of the Swiss summer. On 17 September, to his credit, Byron donated three hundred francs to the pastor of Cologny in order to help the poor. He then took off on his tour of the Alps, the weather having at last turned warm and sunny. Lord Byron, Byron’s Letters and Journals, ed. Leslie Marchand, 13 volumes (London: John Murray, 1973-1984), vol. 5. Lord Byron, Monody on the Death of the Righ Honourable R.B. Sheridan, London: John Murray, 1816. Claire Clairmont, The Clairmont Correspondence: Letters of Claire Clairmont, Charles Clairmont, and Fanny Imlay Godwin, ed. Marion Kingston Stocking, 2 volumes (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins UP, 1995), vol. 1. Claire-Eliane Engel, Byron et Shelley en Suisse et en Savoie, mai-octobre 1816 (Chambéry: Dardel, 1930). Daniel Krämer, ‘Menschen grasten nun mit dem Vieh’: Die letzte grosse Hungerkrise der Schweiz (Basel: Schwabe, 2015). Marc-Auguste Pictet, “Tableau des observations météorologiques,” Bibliothèque universelle, Sciences et Arts, volume 2 (Genève: Bibliothèque britannique, 1816). Lady Frances Shelley, The Diary of Lady Shelley, ed. Richard Edgecumbe, London: John Murray, vol. 1. Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Unpublished letter to Thomas Love Peacock, 17 July 1816.” In Donald Reiman and Doucet Devin Fischer, eds. Shelley and his Circle 1773-1822 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1986), vol. 7, pp. 28-34. Jean-François Vernes-Prescott, Causeries d’un octagénaire genevois (Geneva: Jules Carey 1883). Jeffrey Vail, “ ‘The Bright Sun was Extinguis’d’: The Bologna Prophecy and Byron’s Darkness,” Wordsworth Circle 28 (1997), pp. 183-192. William Edward West, “Byron’s Last portrait,” The New Monthly Magazine, vol 16 (1826), pp. 246-247.

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http://www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?cat=17

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — The 15 players selected to the All-NBA team every season earn a place in NBA lore that is rarely celebrated the way fans do All-Star bids. Weighing the two, however, is a battle that shouldn’t be a fair fight. An All-star nod is often based on reputation and how well someone is playing early in a given season. The All-NBA team measures the best of the very best the league has to offer in a season. The team consists of the 15 best players (by position) in the league. Thursday, the NBA released this year’s squad. But what about the future? What might that team look like in say, three seasons, when Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, stalwarts on All-NBA teams the past two decades, are no longer active? What is the makeup of the All-NBA team in the future? What does the league look like three seasons from now? F LeBron James, Miami Heat: No one was sure if LeBron would stick around South Beach after the Heat won those back-to titles in 2014 and 2015. But he watched his good friend Dwyane Wade retire after the last one and vowed to finish his career in a Heat uniform as well. There are no signs of his skills diminishing either. He bounced back masterfully after the Heat were beaten soundly by the Memphis Grizzlies in The Finals in 2013. James has reinvented himself as the epitome of a point forward during the second act of his Hall-of-Fame career, leading the league in assists this season with 12.7 per game. He’s still chasing Michael Jordan‘s six championships standard, though the comparisons to Magic Johnson are much more appropriate, and at 32 he still has plenty of time left. F Paul George, Indiana Pacers: Three straight trips to the Eastern Conference finals without a breakthrough performance would be a mental and emotional setback for most stars, but not George. He’s done nothing but build on that All-Star berth in his third NBA season. George has blossomed into the closest thing to a legitimate challenger to LeBron’s throne. He interrupted LeBron’s MVP flow in 2015, when he stunned the hoops world by averaging a triple-double (24.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 10.0 assists) while leading the Pacers to a franchise-record 63 wins and finished as the MVP runner-up this season. The only threshold left for George to cross is to lead the Pacers past LeBron and the Heat into The 2016 Finals. C Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies: Gasol served as the backbone for the Grizzlies’ 2013 championship team, though Zach Randolph walked away with Finals MVP honors, and solidified his status as the most complete big man in the game with his performance each season since. While he’s never piled up the kind of impressive numbers that would allow him to stick out historically among players at his position, Gasol does have three Kia Defensive Player of the Year awards on his mantle and a championship on his resume. If Ed Davis can replace Randolph as Gasol’s tag-team partner in the low post, the Grizzlies could have another run or two in them before it’s time to break this veteran crew up and start over. G James Harden, Houston Rockets: The two-time (and counting) scoring champ, Harden has supplanted his former teammate and friend Kevin Durant as the league’s most prolific scorer. He’s averaged 30 or more points in three straight seasons, including this one (31.7) and has led the Rockets to the playoffs in each of his four seasons in Houston. Harden has evolved into more than just a scorer, too, leading the Rockets in assists (7.6) and steals (2.3) while adjusting to playing alongside Patrick Beverly in the starting lineup instead of sixth man Jeremy Lin. Harden’s career went to another level since he radically changed his look in training camp before the 2013-14 season by shaving off his trademark beard and mohawk in favor of a bald head and clean-shaven face. Who knew? G Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors: With his ankle injuries behind him, the sweet-shooting Curry finally claims the first-team spot from Chris Paul and a crowded, star-studded point guard field. Curry’s work as a shooter — he’s shot 45 percent or better from beyond the 3-point line every season since 2011-12 — overshadows the fact that he’s become the consummate playmaker and leader for the league’s most exciting team. Curry put together a 20-10 season at the point (23.6 points and 10.4 assists), the only point guard to do so in the past three seasons, while leading the Warriors to a top four finish in the Western Conference playoff chase for the third straight season. With Curry and Klay Thompson (still the league’s best-shooting backcourt) as the catalysts, the Warriors are trying to crash the conference finals party. F Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder: Durant and the Thunder never have recovered from that deflating 2013 playoff fizzle after Russell Westbrook went down with a knee injury. Durant and Westbrook remain two of the league’s most striking talents and they’ve been super productive. But the supporting cast issues have continued to be an issue in Oklahoma City. The Thunder haven’t advanced beyond the conference semifinals since then. Durant has finished in the top three in the scoring race in each of the past seven seasons, losing out this year in a tight race with his friend and ex-Thunder teammate, Harden. Durant’s famous “I’m tired of finishing second” diatribe from a few years ago won’t go away this season. F Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers: Maybe it wasn’t all Chris Paul after all. Griffin’s continued work on his low-post game has paid serious dividends for the Clippers since they made that blockbuster deal with the Boston Celtics for Rajon Rondo and the now-retired warriors Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce at the trade deadline in 2014. Griffin refocused himself defensively and as a rebounder, averaging 22.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and a surprising 2.1. blocks in earning another All-Star nod. Clippers coach Brian Shaw (as well as team president Phil Jackson) have had a huge impact on Griffin’s reconstruction of his game. Garnett’s influence certainly helped, too. Griffin learned some lessons from his playoff battles the past five years with the Grizzlies as well. C DeMarcus Cousins, Boston Celtics: Cousins is the latest in a long line of big men whose careers have been bolstered by playing alongside the maestro, Paul, one of the greatest point guards and leaders of his generation. Cousins was in danger of playing himself out of the league in Sacramento, where his attitude and antics overshadowed his All-Star talent and potential. But joining forces with Paul and Celtics coach Doc Rivers on a revamped Celtics roster after the Big 3 era ended saved him. Cousins has been a (mostly) model citizen in Boston, bruising his way to a 20.9-point, 13.4-rebounds, 2.1-block season for a team that finished fourth in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. G Chris Paul, Boston Celtics: Wherever Paul goes, the fortunes of his team seem to rise. He did it in New Orleans … and with the Clippers … and is doing it with the Celtics, who stopped their decline with that blockbuster trade with the Clippers at the trade deadline two and a half years ago. Paul has avoided the nagging injury issues that plagued him earlier in his career and has helped rescuscitate the careers of both Cousins and former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani, who have formed a dynamic inside-out big man duo for one of the best teams in the league. Paul did it all for the Celtics this season, averaging 18.4 points, 9.3 assists and 2.3 steals, while also shooting a career-best 44.2 percent from 3-point range. G Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers: That extra help Irving and the Cavaliers hoped would come in the free-agent summer of 2014 never came. LeBron decided to stay in Miami and the Cavaliers were forced to forge ahead with a backcourt of Irving and Dion Waiters and All-Star big man LaMarcus Aldridge, who demanded that trade from Portland two years ago and got it. Irving is still fighting the injury issues that cost him all but a few games at Duke and more in his first few seasons in the league. In fact, he’s played just 68.5 games per season in his career. But when he’s out there, it’s an absolute showcase. He captured MVP honors in the 2016 All-Star Game, dazzling the crowd in Paris the same way he does crowds in NBA arenas. The next step? Taking the Cavaliers into the league’s elite. F Kevin Love, Los Angeles Lakers: Love wasn’t the big man Lakers fans had in mind to bridge the gap between the Kobe Bryant era and the future. But no one’s complaining now. Love is in the middle of the storm for a team that surprised everyone this season by making the playoffs with a young point guard, Trey Burke, and a high-flying future All-Star in Andrew Wiggins assuming huge roles on a rebuilt team. The Love-for-Pau Gasol trade was a gamble for the Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves, as both teams were in need of the right fit for their respective needs. The ex-UCLA star Love is averaging 24.3 points and 13.6 rebounds for the Lakers, who have slugged their way back into the playoffs. The Timberwolves are still in Lottery-land. F Derrick Favors, Utah Jazz: Favors has been on a steady climb since moving into a starting role for the Jazz after Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap departed the premises during the free-agent summer of 2013. A no-frills performer who avoids the media glare at every turn, Favors has a hard time doing the same on the court. The league’s leading rebounder in each of the past two seasons (15.3 this season), Favors also averaged 16.3 points, 3.4 blocks and 1.9 steals for a Jazz team that battled all the way down to the last week of the season for the eighth and final spot in the West. He finished third in the voting for the Kia Defensive Player of the Year award and is living up to the hype that suggests he might be a young Dwight Howard. C Dwight Howard, Dallas Mavericks: Howard got what he wanted in free agency in 2013 — a fresh start in Dallas. Playing alongside a slowing Dirk Nowitzki has forced Howard into a leadership role for the Mavericks that he struggled with in his one season with the Lakers and at the end of his tenure with the Magic. There are those who will argue that Howard is still the best big man in the game when healthy, but he has never quite regained the edge he had before that back surgery that marked the end of his time in Orlando. And truth be told, he has simply been passed up by Gasol and Cousins. Still, he averaged 18.7 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks for a Mavericks team that won 50 games for the first time since their 2010-11 championship season. G Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia 76ers: Holiday’s work as both a scorer and facilitator helped separate him from a crowded field of point guards. The Sixers All-Star is also a relentless defender, arguably the best defensive point guard in the league, and has matured considerably since making his first All-Star team in 2013. At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Holiday has evolved into one of the best physical specimens in the league at any position. Unlike almost every other player on this list, Holiday doesn’t have the luxury of playing alongside another (former or current) All-Star. He averaged 23.2 points, 9.5 assists and 5.6 rebounds this season, leading the Sixers in the first two categories and finishing third in rebounds. The quintessential combo-guard, Holiday can thrive at either spot. G Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers: Lillard, the 2013 Kia Rookie of the Year award winner, has only gotten better since then. He’s averaged 19 or more points in every season and watched his scoring average rise with every new campaign. He averaged 24.7 points, 8.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds this year. Most impressive, however, is Lillard’s improved shooting stroke. A 43 percent shooter as a rookie, 36.8 percent from beyond the 3-point line, Lillard shot 49 percent this season, including 43 percent from deep. Mature beyond his years, even as a rookie, Lillard is the face of a Trail Blazers franchise that got back in the thick of the playoff chase again this season after a four-year hiatus. Where they go from here will depend heavily on where Lillard can take them. I am already laughing when u said memphis is the champ for 2013. where are they now btw? fishin? i like the way Sekou presents his way of telling the future of the NBA. over the past 5 yrs, NBA teams are trying their best to shapen their rosters and to be recognize as a force to reckon with. no one knows the D12 is going to LAL and even LBJ 3 yrs ago, he shook the entire nation that he will take his talent to South Beach. this is a futuristic article that it might happen in a chance that we don’t know it might happened for a reason. After yesterday’s game I’m still confident Randolph can beat the spurs and win finals MVP status. #wishfulthinking. Carmelo Anthony ? Derrick Rose ? Rajon Rondo ? I think that anyway they will be in one of the top 3 teams in 2015/16 ,,, no? dude durant is just 24… and no he wont be 2nd team for the next five years. A.Davis to be Dominant in Offense, Scoring EFF, Defense & Rebounds…a future Top 5 PF All-Time! Maybe even better! He just moves so well, He may put on 10 – 20 lbs of muscle, shoots great, huge WS numbers 10 & 10 !! S.Adams all-round Dominant C! A very strong 6’11”-7″0″ traditional C, who can also shoot the ball, another 2 way player! KD Second Team? seems legit…. KD is the second best player in the world right now and i dont see him dropping off that quickly! What the… Are you high or something when you wrote this? Pure point guards such as Paul I think are things of the past. Hybrids such as Rose and Russell just don’t come out on top. Lillard is to small after wear and tear. Which leaves us with the special kind of point guards like Parker and Rondo who seam to follow a young Derrick Fisher but we are talking about the future and majority left out a new kind of talent that is Kyrie Erving and in my opinion will tear the roof, lower the floor and tear down the house not the grind house though, especially with Conley’s new found confidence after dismissing the great CP3 in the 2013 playoffs. Special point guards are the true winners and they won’t be AI or John Stockton. Maybe the 2 headed monster Mike Bibby/Bobby Jackson could of been but Kyrie is the future in point guards of today. Sekou Smith what did you smoke when you made this predictions??? Thats was 3 years ago. Now the guy is done. Nice one Sekou. But you missed Westbrook and Brooke Lopez.. Houston is the the real deal for any free agent. They have the pieces in every position. Dwight Howard would be the perfect fit and bringing Josh Smith if he so chooses to be the Chris Bosh of the Houston Rockets. James Harden is the leader of this big three version. Restricted free agents, Andre Iguodala should try signing an offer where ever CP3 decides to go. CP3 seriously should go where a true fit for him would be and that is New York. He played great basketball along side Big Man, Tyson Chandler. But the only way for CP3 to succeed is alongside Carmelo Anthony. What to do with Amar’e though is trade him for smaller pieces but I personally would love to see him in a Brooklyn Uniform alongside Deron Williams at what would be a natural position at Power Forward. I’d love to see Iguodala in a Bulls or Knicks uniform but see Boozer on the trade block. Boozer just couldn’t get it going and I believe Boozer would be solid defender alongside Andrew Bogut in Golden State. He would fit perfect in a leadership role with triple threat scoring sensation of Curry, Thompeon and Barnes. Which Then makes David Lee the Odd man out. David Lee just might be exactly what the Bulls need. And then there’s Andrew Bynum, the Cavalier in my opinion…why? Nerlens Noel that’s why. Go Kyrie! Go Dion! and maybe Paul Milsap at small forward, eew boy…I like. So much possibilities. What do you guys think. Lakers might pull a fast on just like the Miami Cheat, friggin 3 all stars with 2 alpha males, the rest of the league can’t compete and is why I really don’t care for the ending. There is nothing really to get excited about went the Heat play, almost a boring game seeing all the best ballets on one team. They are supposed to compete against each other, not run down every team in an uneven match. Can’t wait to See Indiana when these boys hit their prime. Love the NBA as a kid and love it even more now! Make it happen and shout out to my favorite player of all time. Who you ask? Every friggin one of them. Peace! Cousins lacks work ethic to be on any of the three teams. James Harden and Paul George will not take away a 1st team spot from KD. Marc Gasol will never make first team bc it will always be given to a PF that has been penciled in as a C (ala Tim Duncan)… That is unless Dwight Howard reverts back to his old self. Blake Griffin should not have made the (2nd or 3rd, I can’t remember) team this year so I can’t really say he won’t in the future but he needs to develop an offensive game. Chris Paul will have too many miles on his knees to be on future teams after 2015. My 2 cents. Sekou.. You’ve out done yourself this time..! Sekou……. You must be kidding me, No Derrick Rose or Rajon Rondo. Derrick Rose Must have suddenly fell off the face of the earth for him to not be on any of these teams. Before Rondo tore his ACL he could have been an MVP candidate. This is not one of your best blogs.. You may need to do some revisions. ASAP! first team: Curry,rose,george,james and lopez. Boy Sekou , did you wake up the dead with this ‘dream’. Love it. UMMM…YEAH SO DOES MELO GET ANY CREDIT FOR WINNING THE SCORING TITLE? Melo should def be up there. hes a baller, might be getting a little old by those years, but will still have the mid range game to remain successful. This was a great read, Sekou…very imaginative but, overall, a great read. I look at it like this…no one knows what’ll happen so it’s ridiculous to criticize one’s predictions. Let’s face it…guys like LeBron, KD, ‘Melo, CP3, etc. are looked upon as the elite but in the blink of an eye, that can all change. I’m a fan of D-Rose, Westbrook, Rondo, AND ‘Melo and none of these guys made the cut and who’s to say they’ll still be looked upon as deserving in the next few years…I believe the likes of Steph’ Curry, Damienn Lillard, Paul George and many others WILL have something to say about it. But even THOSE guys might not B in the conversation…we could B talking about George Hill, Dion Waiters, Harrison Barnes, Kawhi Leonard, hell, even Meyers Leonard for All-NBA teams, who knows! In the words of the Big Ticket, Kevin Garnett, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! Great stuff Sekou…I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out! 1. How do you figure the Griz are gonna beat the heat? …and 3. Sekou you’re a very smart man for creating this….I’m sure you’ll get all the attention in the world with these extremely controversial and at times completely unrealistic projections. Jrue will be a great defender? No idea why people currently consider him a good defender. Whenever a godo PG plays the sixers Turner has to cover him because Jrue is an awful defender. You think he will become the best in a few years? lol. Some imagination. Damian Lillard over Westbrook, Rondo, D-Rose and Tony Parker? Seriously? No Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo, Durant and Chris Paul on second team, Stephon Curry on first… The predictions were intriguing and exciting, but altogether unrealistic. How could you forget the Scoring-Machine Carmelo Anthony???? He should be taking Paul George or Marc Gasol place along with Kevin Durant. They both should be on the First Team.!!!!!! a lotta egos got hurt with this speculation. From where I’m looking at it George has put up numbers similar to those of Josh Smith and a 36 year old Paul Pierce, neither of whom made the All-Star game this season. In fact if you factor in his defensive prowess as well as his overall numbers, I see an Andre Iguodala – a very good player who was a borderline All-Star all of his career. Somehow though people talk about George as if he’s averaging 30/8/8 while shooting 55% FG and 45% 3PT…I don’t understand? NOT SURPRISED-Brian Shaw as a head coach, Steph Curry on the 1st team, Jeremy Lin as a sixth man, Irving’s injuries, Pau traded, Jrue on the third team. MILDLY SHOCKED-Paul in Boston, Cousins on the 1st team, Aldridge in Cleveland, Grizz over the Heat. FLABBERGASTED-Rajon, KG AND PP for Paul?!?!??, KD is still #2, Love in LaLa Land, No Carmelo, No Derrick Rose, No Russell Westbrook, No Spur. NO COMMENT-Derrick Favors, Harden shaves. LMAO, the grizzlies beat the heat in this years finals, jajaja, ohhh my laughing so hard…. OK really? Durant on the Second team?Come on now. Hes in the top two best scorers in the league. Theres no way hes second team. haha, this was definitely an entertaining read, but at least 80% of this is nonsense. Paul George averaging a triple double? How will the Grizzlies beat the Heat when they can’t even beat the Spurs to get into the Finals? And why would Wade retire? He’s got plenty left in the tank. What about Carmelo? The leading scorer is just going to drop off the Earth? Come on Sekou, this is less likely to happen than Dwight Howard becoming a mature NBA leader. Maybe 50% of ur predictions might come true, like Lebron staying in Miami, D-Wade retiring, K-Love in LA, Harden being scoring champ. If anyone will avg triple double in the season, it might be Lebron since he’s the closest to it and he seems to take his game to another level every season. Also, Memphis winning championship in 2013 was quite bold considering they’re in a hole against Spurs. oh and before i forget, sekou said that the grizzlies will beat miam and become champions. i don’t see that happening either. the spurs and miami will meet in the finals and maimi will take it in seven. i see the series going to it’s full potential because you got great matchips. duncan-bosh parker-wade ginobli-james. those are the matchips that would make the series go seven games. if memphis were to somehow pull the upset then what would the matcup look like? gasol-bosh randolph-james conley-james. i like the matchups of spurs-miami better than grizzlies-miami you ask me. unless grizzlies can tie the series by winning games 3 and 4, i don’t see them going to the nba finals. oh and before i forget, sekou said that the grizzlies will beat miam and become champions. i don’t see that happening either. the spurs and miami will meet in the finals and maimi will take it in seven. i see the series going to it’s full potential because you got great matchips. duncan-bosh parker-wade ginobli-james. those are the matchips that would make the series go seven games. if memphis were to somehow win this series then what would the matchups look like? gasol-bosh randolph-james conley-wade. i like the matchups of spurs-miami better than grizzlies-miami if you ask me. unless grizzlies can tie the series by winning games 3 and 4, i don’t see them going to the nba finals. You have to put Derrick Rose in here. This guy is going to come back strong this next season, especially with having the time that he needed both physically and mentally. Iman Shumpert might just be the best overall perimiter defender in the league by that season. Last thing, I can’t see Kevin Durant not being on the first team. Kevin Durant is OVERATED, the guy got exposed when Westbrook got injured, his team wouldnt even make it past the first round without Westbrook, the guy is just a 6,10″ volume shooter, he aint Lebron, he got no all around skills and no team leading qualities. wow, i have read all of the responses believe it or not and you guys just crusified this guy. why call him stupid and tell him that he must be smoking crack? it’s his opinions. This is what makes this country great. The fact that you can make comments and other people can either agree or disagree. However, I don’t agree with some of the comments that you guys made on calling sekou names. that’s crazy. the guy is only saying what he thinks will happen. What if some of his predictions came true. I don’t think personally that chris paul is going to the celtics especially that the clippers are willing to throw alot of money his way to keep him. i don’t think paul will walk away from all those millions. i would love him to come to the big apple. we can sure use him. then dwight howard going to dallas. i don’t see that happeining either. i do see him leaving the lakers and going to the clippers though. rondo will stay with the celtics. i see cousins going to boston though. keven durant will dominate especially when wesbrook comes back. when westbrook plays, durant is at his best unless westbrook just gets injured left and right, durant will not be dominant. where’s melo? where’s rose? i see love going to the lakers. he’s not doing anything in minnesota. taking about minnesota, i would like rubio to come the big apple too if paul don’t come. i think if new york had a decent guard and decent center, they would be alright. maybe even a championship team. they came far this season but next season hopefully will be the year for us Knicks Fans !!!!! You smoke too much bro. Ideas are CHEAP….. Please know what is going on, before you make a decision of what is what! Waste of my time reading it, well, I am already wasting my time posting this comment ! Damn, that’s a bad imagination bro! get a life man! Kawai Leonard! Hello?!!! He’ll be way better than Blake, or Favors in 2015. The moin points here are that RUSSELL WESTBROOK, KEVIN DURRANT, AND DERRICK ROSE will all be fighting for 1st and 2nd team every year, acccordingly. Also, if u dont have King Lebron winning the next three chamionships – u r high. Also, u predict the fall from glory of Carmelo as well as i do. the most over-hyped over-rated allstar in the game. awful player. cant win championships with him. EVER. Seventh Woods will be drafted in 2016. Oh my gosh people, stop crying about Rose. Nobody knows how he’ll play when he comes back. He could be a lot worse, and in 2-3 years all of those PG’s except CP3 will only get better. This has got to be the worst work of journalism I have read. I usuallu love Sekou’s articles; this one, is just plain aweful. I love imaginative thinking, but please be realistic. Well, this vote is a shame. Chris Paul was not good enough this year and by far. BUT he is american. Tony Parker was the best of them all and as he is not american, he won’t ever be in the first team. Wheres Rajon Rondo? A Point Gaurd that shows up every game, gets his teammates involved, and scores when needed. Not to mention how he played a major role in the 2008 playoffs where the Celtics won the finals. this is the worst sports article I have ever read! Predict KD’s failure, predict Kobe, TD, and KG out in 3 years? DH not recover from back injury? Are you cursing them? Let along the possibility that they may still be effective players in 3 years (Karl Malone, Jabaar, Jordan remains high level of performance at their 40’s). Besides, just based on the current success of paul george and Pacers into ECF, and zoom in the predict a season triple double for paul george? Only the fans with very limited time of watching NBA will think that way. Paul George will NEVER be a player in 1st All-NBA team. Good pick on Damien lillard, but Derrick Favors, Jrue Holiday, and DeMarcus Cousins who? The had their chances now, and didnot blossom, they are not going to be improved so much as to be in the all-NBA team unless the NBA are shorthanded (it happens, circa 2004). Admit it Sekou, you have a bit of a man crush on Jrue Holiday. It’s ok to admit it. I’m surprised that you didn’t have him traded to the Grizzlies. ARE U DRUNK OR JUST REALLY STUPID!!! Such a stupid article! You think the Memphis Grizzlies will make to the 2013 NBA Finals and beat the Miami Heat? loving this! sometimes i wonder off like this also. Dwight Howard will be a 17ppg 10 rbpg 2 blpgr player for the next 3 years, he already lost the crown as the best center in the league anyway and after 30 when he starts losing athleticism and gains weight he will become a bench player, like Kendric Perkins, hes gunna average 3.5 ppg and coaches will use his big body just to shove players on defence. Kevin Durant will become the next( ringless) Kobe Bryant,ppl will realise that he is exactly the same shot jacking ballhog who needs a superstar teammate or else his team is a total mess and the guy is just putting numbers just for himself on bad FG%, until Westbrook gets back next year the thunder will struggle for the 8th-7th place. sekou in 3 years? you don’t even know if there might be another damien lillard or major injury on any of your favorites and the heat? Very interesting article and predictions. You really let your imagination run wild. Couple of things though: Miami is not going lose to the Grizz this year, there down 0-2 to the Spurs right now! Do you really think Paul George is going to avg a triple double in a season!? like a beast that year. Wow, i can see many are shocked to see the absence of Melo and Rose, agree too. i believe Holiday is no way appearing in there… John wall deserves a place. Paul George ahead of KD? OH MY GOD, SO MUCH HATE!!!!!! ha! you gotta love the thought and imagination that has been embedded into this article. Ok first off derrick rose is definitely going to come back strong… thats a premier athete hes to good not too. James Harden is not gonna average 31 points a game.. hes not michael jordan. Second off.. Carmelo Anthony should be on the first team second team possibly, that man does crazy things.. Paul george instead? Come on now dont get too carried away hes not gonna be averaging a triple double.. hes not lebron james…. Kd and melo is going to win a mvp before Paul George. And I remind you that its hard to belive that anyone else is going to win MVP with lebron in the NBA. Where’s Tim Duncan? Three years from now he’s still gonna dominate. I hope you´re joking, if not you have no idea basketball. Man this article was good, but I don’t think grizzlies can beat spurs and then the heat. I LeBron would win MVP for the next few years and the titles. Also Paul George’s triple-double average was insane, but I do see him becoming a great force in the league due to his God-given miracle of his growth spurt. The Kevin Love and Pau Gasol trade is shocking as well. Also I don’t see Jeremy Lin as a sixth-man. He proved in Linsanity what he can do so I think he would love teams to where the coach would give him the go sign and he can work with a bigman. I’d say all NBA 3rd team on the Mavericks with Dwight Howard and Dirk Nowitzki. I like the Derrick Favors part, I really think he;s going to be a future all-star. But most of all, where’s Derrick Rose? I expected him to be in the all NBA 1st or 1nd team. It will be impossible for anyone to select Paul George over Kevin Durant. But the article was entertaining. Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are somewhere laughing at this article. NO DROSE, KD’s not in the first team and russel westbrook! Im still suprised it says cp3 went to the celtics where did rondo go? he saying that rondo went to the clippers to play with griffin. scary how your imagination shows that you don’t really know about basketball, just the surface and the hype. This is just silly, I love Paul George but no way he averages a triple double, not with the work he puts in on the defensive end, and probably wouldn’t even he was Steve Nash on defense. Please keep this story saved somewhere to see if any of these fantasies come true. you read my mind. i’m going to save it to see if sekou is right on his predictions…. Rondo, Rose, Parker they are all better than Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday!!! This is can not be it! Rondo? Rose? Parker? Even Rubio before Jrue Holiday…. – There is no chance Paul George morph into a triple double machine. – marc gasol will win defensive player of the year only once and won’t be 1st team NBA. KD and Westbrook will take over in the next 2 years that for sure!! Don’t forget Kahwai Leonard of the Spurs! I think a Grizzlies championship is not likely but the most surprising and weird move is not to keep Durant in the first team. It is just coming from the eagerness to change something.Of course he is going to make first team for the next 6-7 years at least if Nothing in terms of health goes wrong. Yeah, no. None of this. Bad. Bad. Bad. What a joke… Where is Derrick Rose? Surely he’d be nab first team before Steph curry? I admire the creativity and sheer precision of potential stats. I’m from the UK but look the the USA for light hearted, witty sports journalism. Am I missing something though – where’s Russell Westbrook? Look at the Thunder without him. hmmmm I know what happens….. No Westbrook, Paul George over KD, I think you pretty much just went with this year’s form team. John Wall? Lol this overlooked the roster of teams such as the Bulls so much. The article had forgotten Derrick Rose. It should have also at least included Noah, he’ll be a prime time center if he’s off the injuries, he’s already the true DPOY. Then there’s J.Butler, I believe the guy will ascend the ranks quickly next year. It’ll be the Jordan-Pippen complex all over again with Rose-Butler. His defense is already proven to be elite, and his offense is tremendous just that he hasn’t been all too aggressive and hadn’t had much playing time early in the season. He’ll be the long term starting SG for the bulls. KEVIN DURANT, IN THE SECOND TEAM, hed be 27/8 in his peak, hed be the best player in the world, let alone the best scorer in the wordl, cmon sekou, durant isnt even in his prime yet and hes still the second best player in the world. plus hell be a better facilitator, and rebounder, and defender by the, cmon man. plus you forgot, melo and d-rose! wtf no melo in two years? Wow man, you stoned right now? i stop reading and say “what? Harden shaves his beard and now he’s bald ?” naaah. Well notice no Derrick Rose is he injured forever? Boston Celtics get Demarcus Cousins and Chris Paul-you been smoking crack? Lebron will always be a beast and alot of people will join Miami due to its weather and ideals. Paul George has more potential but Harden will not do anything more with the Rockets. OKC will get better and will be the equivalent of Miami without the break-down of Dwayne Wade. Lakers and Celtics are going to end up like Cavs or Pistons if they don’t think future, every great side has to go through torrid times. Irving and Lillard are ones to watch out for as their sides can build up to be great playoff teams, slowly and surely. george would not be on the 1st team kyrie will be hes clutch hes a better shooter better dribbler hes better than chris paul or curry in the years to come for xur and KD is always gonna be in the 1st team for sure the guards on the 1st team would be kyrie then either curry or harden. and of coures lebron james would be the greatest of all time after his career is done,and it would be spurs and heat this year with heat winning in 6.derrick rose would still be their but he aint gonna be as explosive as before with the knee thing but who knows?JORDAN came back better than ever after the injury.carmelo would also be their. the first team on forwards would be LEBRON then either melo or kd not george u must be a pacer fan huh.And the only player closest to average a triple double would be LEbron JAmes only not George u must be dreaming. I do not normally comment on these, just read the articles, but this has to be one of the most ridiculous articles NBA has had. I see that the 2013 are blinding him of what the future has to hold. The fact that Paul George is ahead of kevin durant? Why? Just because KD was eliminated in the second round? I highly doubt george will be a better player than kd in the 15-16′ season. This article is poorly written and reflect current player status. What about Rose? Did he suddenly disappear from the league? I suppose that the Grizzles are supposed to stay consistent enough to make it to the finals or near the finals for the next 4 years. This article makes no sense and really should never have been written because it neglects to include A LOT of the greats of the game today and somewhat diminishes their reputation. but that was as i said AWESOME!!!! I agree. Derrick Rose is where? this is the most accurate yet. i Like Rondo dqueaking in there too tho. if paul georg aeverages a triple double in a season i will eat my shoe, if paul george averages a triple double and finishes 2nd in the mvp i will eat both shoes…. lol at durant in the second team and westbrook in none!! what you got against the thunder? hes a thunder hater, I posted several responses that were all removed for calling him a hater of the thunder. replace Cousins with Andre Drummond and you’ve got it close. Nice job, but forgetting Spurs’s faces like Parker or even Leonard is unforgivable. that’s my wish paul will be in celtics. i hope it became true. wow… i thought your wish will be granted. if cousins and paul in celtics they will became a strongest team in nba. Uhm Sekou….no Derrick Rose???? Can you explain that? Are you thinking that he is still injured in 2015-2016?? And what about Russell Westbrook…..I don’t think that Damian Lillard will be better than him in the next 3 years. DeMarcus Cousins as a Celtic…..I’ve been saying this all year too. But more as a duo with Rondo and both in the second team. But Paul George in the first team and Kevin Durant in the second ……naaaah no way man! I can’t buy into a CP3 – Rondo focal point trade. Also, Rondo and D-Rose didn’t make this list!? There is no way of Kevin Durant and Chris Paul dropping to second team. Really D. Rose and R. Westbrook fall off that bad. I usually like your articles but this one here……….. No more tony parker ? losing duncan does not mean taht spurs will be out of everything . And the bulls like rose or noah ? Fun read, an insight into the mind of Sekou! Maybe aliens took Rose and Westbrook… because I’m pretty sure those bad boys are a hell of lot better in this Sekou alternate reality than Holiday and Lillard even at 3rd team! What about Carmello Anthony? Are you kiding me? Sekou, I respect your uhmnnn, IMAGINATION, But where are the talents like Derrick Rose, Westbrook and ofcourse Carmelo Anthony??? No d rose!!! That alone voids this article. What a joke! Triple double for George huh? I hate James, but If he isn’t doing nobody is! Terrible predictions!!! Nice one there. But you are a fool for leaving Carmelo and D. Rose out. No one knows the future. Foolish Predictions. didnt really consider future players tho or currently injured players such as Andrew Wiggins or Rajon Rondo or Derrick Rose, im sure atleast one of those guys would be in there…but love the creativity! I realize this is a bit of fantasy fortune telling and in good fun … but seriously, no Westbrook ? He has improved each and every year and been a lock on the 2nd team 3 years running now. More likely he will go up to 1st team than to drop out entirely. No way Jrue Holiday or Damian Lillard move ahead of him. nice imagination..but grizzless will never win championship..maybe heat or spurs.. WHAT ABOUT ANDREW WIGGINS?? THE FIRST OVERALL PICK BY SACRAMENTO, WHO PUT THE KINGS BACK INTO PLAYOFF CONTENDERS, SOON TO BE CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS! HE SHOULD BE AT LEAST SECOND TEAM ALL NBA! ALONG SIDE TYREKE WHOM THE KINGS BROUGHT BACK INSTEAD OF COUSINS! THOSE TWO ALONG SIDE CODY ZELLER WHICH THEY PICK IN THE 2013 DRAFT! Wow – no Derrick Rose? Derrick Rose? Quite possibly the worst article I have ever read in my entire life. Derrick Rose might be the best player in the world that year and he isn’t even anywhere to be seen. And Steph over Kyrie this is a joke. Rose will come back as a bench player as a substitute to the Bulls new starting PG Nate Robinson. HAHAHAHA good joke bro. nate will always be better as a spark plug off the bench despite his awesome showout in this years playoffs for the bulls. No Derick Rose?! Must be joking? The guy forgot Derrick Rose! hahaha. Good work Sekou! Loved the article. This was more like wishful thinking maybe on your part but hey, that’s what’s it’s all about. Wow. Three years from now, at least six guards will be better than a 27 year old Russell Westbrook? And LOL at KD being second team. NO WAY GEORGE IS GOING TO BE AN ALL NBA 1ST TEAM OVER KD.. PAUL IS NEVER GOING TO BE A CELTIC IN HIS CAREER.. MAYBE COUSINS, BUT NOT PAUL.. ALSO HOWARD WILL NEVER CHOOSE TO PLAY FOR THE MAVS ANYTIME SOON. Wolves didn’t pull the trigger on a Love/Gasol trade when he wasn’t a two time All Star. Just because he missed a season doesn’t mean the Wolves will give him up for a clearly declining and aging star. Sorry. While im not going to say he can average a trip doub, paul george realistcally could get pretty damn close. Maybe around 24-10-7. I believe KD will start taking over the league in the next couple of years, so he’ll headline the all nba 1st team by then. Hopefully Curry can stay healthy. I don’t think Gasol will ever make a 1st team. No way the Grizzlies win a championship this year either. wtf the clippers would never trade paul even if it was for all those celtics. the lakers would not have wiggins or burke and even if dwight leaves it would not be to dallas. besides wheres melo? i can see dwight leaving love going to the lakers and cousins ending up in boston however. Sekou, I love your blogs and you really let your imagination go off on this one… You only forgot to add Derrick Rose in the equation… He’s going to bounce back and be a caliber player… Also, do you really believe the Grizz can beat Miami in the finals? rephrase: do you really believe the grizz will be in the finals? Rose is gunna come back and suprise everyone with his 38% FG and role playing abilities. Derrick Lose is gunna be a Role Player when he comes back cause of the injury. Carmello Anthony NBA Scoring leader what did he fall off the face of the earth LMAO!!! im sorry, but this is dumb. Trey Burke might not even be a starter….god he is overrated………..and these are guys who are close now…..not exactly radical predictions. I think Hayward at utah will be an allstar….i think jimmy butler might be…..and I think iman shumpert might….and michael kidd gilchrist and kemba…..and maybe Tobias Harris and Vuevic……and eric bledsoe. how can u not love this article? Really? Dumb? That seem the wrong choice of words. If you do not agree with the mix of players he has put in then this might be so. But, dumb…. ? Anyhow, I like this time-machine fantasy mix that’s going on there. But, with Kobe having this break now I still see it possible for him to my 3rd All NBA Team. After all its fantasy and I like to dream it up a little, too. Overall, a very entertaining bit.

2019-04-25T00:43:28Z

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2013/05/23/ht-time-machine-future-all-nba-team/

Повышение квалификации в Федеральном государственном бюджетном образовательном учреждении высшего образования «Российский химико-технологический университет имени Д.И. Менделеева» по дополнительной профессиональной программе «Программа для руководителей, специалистов и членов комиссий по проверке знаний охраны труда», объемом 40 часов. Удостоверение о повышении квалификации № 04638 от 27.02.2014. Повышение квалификации в Федеральном государственном бюджетном образовательном учреждении высшего образования «Российский химико-технологический университет имени Д.И. Менделеева» по дополнительной профессиональной программе «Информационные технологии в дистанционном, сетевом и смешанном обучении» с 3.05.2018 по 24.05.2018 в объеме 16 часов. Удостоверение 771801775370 от 31.05.2018 г. Почетный работник высшего профессионального образования Российской Федерации. Медаль ""В память 850-летия Москвы"". Член Экспертного совет по спецхимии ВАК РФ, Член Научного Совета РАН по энергетическим конденсированным системам, член научного совет РАН по горению и взрыву, член редколлегии журнала «Физика горения и взрыва», Central European J. on Energetic Materials, International J. of Energetic Materials and Chemical Propulsion. Почетный член High Energy Materials Society of India , Индия. Горение энергетических материалов (взрывчатых веществ, порохов, твердых топлив, пиротехнических составов). Регулирование баллистических характеристик порохов и твердых топлив. Разработка составов для безопасных средств инициирования. Создание информационных компьютерных баз данных по свойствам энергетических материалов. Combustion behavior and thermal decompositionof novel oxygen-rich triazolylfurazans / T. H. Hoang, V. P. Sinditskii, S. S. Semyakin, A. B. Sheremetev // Proc. 22nd Seminar of the New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials. — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2019. — P. 646–657. Combustion behavior and thermal decomposition of 3-nitro-4-[1-(trinitromethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl]furazan (1) and 3-[(1-fluorodinitromethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl]-4-nitrofurazan (2), 3,3’-azo-4,4’-bis-[1-(trinitromethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl]furazan (3), which may have potential use as explosive and propellant ingredient, has been studied. The decomposition rate constants of compound 1, obtained under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions, are well described by Arrhenius equation with activation energy 129.5 kJ/mol in a wide temperature range of 110-182oC. The replacement of one nitro group in the trinitromethyl moiety with fluorine leads to a marked increase in the thermostability of compound 2, while the activation energy increases to 143-153 kJ/mol. An analysis of thermocouple data shows that the burning rate of triazoles 2 and 3 depends on the rate of heat release in the condensed phase. The increased stability of the fluoro analog 2 causes a decrease in the depth of its decomposition in the melt and shifts the leading reaction of its combustion into the gas phase. Thus, compound 2 burns according to the mechanism characteristic of volatile energetic compounds, whereas the leading reaction of combustion of trinitrocompounds 1 and 3 is in the condensed phase. Features of thermal decomposition of n-substituted tetrazoles / V. P. Sinditskii, T. H. Hoang, A. D. Smirnova et al. // Proc. 21st Seminar of the New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials. — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2018. — P. 997–1013. In recent years, the concept of creating molecules that are a combination of several heterocycles is widely used. This approach allows obtaining compounds with new properties that expand the field of their application. Many tetrazole derivatives have high combustion rates. The introduction of the tetrazole fragment into the composition of the nitropyrazoles led to the synthesis of new fast-burning compounds. Investigation of the thermal stability of new pyrazolyltetrazoles showed that the decomposition of molecules begins with the decomposition of the tetrazole fragment, and the stability of the substances decreases with increasing electronegativity of the pyrazole substituent. It is suggested that the decomposition of N-substituted tetrazoles begins with the elimination of the nitrogen molecule directly from the tetrazole ring. In contrast, C-substituted tetrazoles undergo preliminary tetrazole-azidoimine isomerization. The flame structure of new pyrazolyltetrazoles was studied with the help of thin microthermocouples. It turned out that the decomposition reaction in the condensed phase controls the burning rate of these compounds. Dependences of surface (boiling) temperature on pressure are obtained. Physico-chemical properties and combustion behavior of new oxygen-rich pyrazolyltetrazoles / V. V. Serushkin, V. P. Sinditskii, T. H. Hoang et al. // Proc. 21st Seminar of the New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials. — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2018. — P. 974–985. Physico-chemical characterization of new oxygen-rich N-[3-nitro-1-(trinitromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-4-yl]-1H-tetrazole and N- [1-(fluorodinitromethyl)-3-nitro-1H-pyrazol-4-yl]-1H-tetrazole has been conducted, including studies on the thermal decomposition, burning behavior, and flame structure. It was found that the trinitromethyl group and the tetrazole substituent have a close thermal stability and decompose simultaneously under the nonisothermal conditions. The fluorodinitromethyl fragment is more stable than the trinitromethyl group, the decomposition of this substituent and the tetrazole ring proceeds at different temperature intervals under the conditions of DSC tests. It turned out that pyrazolyltetrazoles have high burning rates. The structure of the combustion wave of fluorodinitromethyl compound was determined with the help of thin thermocouples. Combustion of the investigated substances obeys the combustion model with the leading reaction in the condensed phase. In the case of trinitromethyl compound, the leading reaction is the decomposition of the trinitromethyl group and the tetrazole moiety, but in the case of the other compound, the combustion rate is determined by the decomposition kinetics of the more stable but more energy-rich fluorodinitromethyl group, since rapid release of heat upon the tetrazole moiety decomposition is insufficient to maintain combustion. Термическое разложение калиевых солей нитропроизводных пиразолов / П. Д. Кулагина, В. В. Серушкин, В. П. Синдицкий и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2018. — Т. 32, № 10. — С. 115–117. Physico-chemical properties and combustion behavior of low-melting oxygen-rich energetic pyrazoles / V. V. Serushkin, V. P. Sinditskii, T. H. Hoang et al. // Proc. 20th Seminar of the New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials. — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2017. — P. 960–975. Исследование закономерностей горения нитраминов и топлив на их основе / А. П. Денисюк, В. П. Синдицкий, В. В. Серушкин и др. // Наука и технологии в промышленности . — 2017. — № 1-2. — С. 31–36. Синдицкий В. П., Хоанг Ч. Х., Шереметев А. Б. Механизм горения и термического распада 4,9- бис(тринитрометил)-1,2,4-триазоло[3,4-d]-1,2,4-триазоло [3,4-f]фуразано[3,4-b]пиразина // Горение и взрыв . — 2017. — Т. 10, № 4. — С. 71–76. Механизм горения калиeвой соли динитрамида и его смесей с нитроэфирными связующими / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Н. Чёрный, Д. С. Шмелёв и др. // Горение и взрыв . — 2017. — Т. 10, № 3. — С. 70–75. Особенности термического распада и горения изомеров динитропиразола / В. П. Синдицкий, Ч. Х. Хоанг, А. Д. Смирнова и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2017. — Т. 31, № 13. — С. 74–77. Thermal decomposition and combustion of cocrystals of cl-20 and linear nitramines / S. Valery, C. Anton, Y. Serafima et al. // Proc. 19th Seminar of the New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials. — Vol. 1. — Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2016. — P. 282–291. Горение смесей перхлората аммония с высококалорийными горючими / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Н. Чёрный, С. Х. Чжо, Р. С. Бобылёв // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2016. — Т. 30, № 8. — С. 18–20. Исследование термического распада и горения 3-(4-аминофуразан-3-ил)-4-(4-нитрофуразан-3-ил)фуразана (antf) / В. П. Синдицкий, Ч. Х. Хоанг, В. К. Хоанг и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2016. — Т. 30, № 8. — С. 59–63. Особенности термического распада нитропиразолов / В. П. Синдицкий, С. П. Смирнов, В. Ю. Егоршев и др. // Материалы VIII Bсероссийской конференции Энергетические Конденсированные Системы, 8-11 ноября,. — Черноголовка-Дзержинский, 2016. — С. 167–172. Оценка реакционной способности высококалорийных горючих в волне горения / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Н. Чёрный, Р. С. Бобылёв, С. Х. Чжо // Материалы VIII Bсероссийской конференции Энергетические Конденсированные Системы, 8-11 ноября,. — Черноголовка-Дзержинский, 2016. — С. 173–177. Буржава А. В., Черный А. Н., Синдицкий В. П. Спецтема // Боеприпасы XXI век . — 2016. — № 3. — С. 35–42. Левшенкова Л. Е., Левшенков А. И., Синдицкий В. П. Спецтема // Боеприпасы XXI век . — 2016. — № 3. — С. 84–91. Термический распад и горение новых богатых кислородом пиразолов / В. В. Серушкин, В. П. Синдицкий, Ч. Х. Хоанг и др. // Материалы VIII Bсероссийской конференции Энергетические Конденсированные Системы, 8-11 ноября,. — Черноголовка-Дзержинский, 2016. — С. 178–183. Dihydroxylammonium 5,5’-bistetrazole-1,1’-diolate (tkx-50): Physico-chemical properties and mechanism of thermal decomposition and combustion / V. P. Sinditskii, S. A. Filatov, V. I. Kolesov et al. // "Theory and practice of energetic materials" Proceedings of the 2015 International Autumn Seminar on Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics, Qingdao, Shandong, China. — Vol. 11. — China: China, 2015. — P. 221–233. Simulation of energetic material burning with the help of zel'dovich model of condensed-phase combustion / V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev, V. V. Serushkin et al. // Zel’dovich Memorial: Accomplishments in the combustion science in the last decade/ Edited by A.A.Borisov and S.M. Frolov. — Vol. 2. — Torus Press Moscow, 2015. — P. 133–138. Termochemistry of salts of 5,5’-azotetrazole with nitrogenous bases / V. I. Kolesov, K. O. Kapranov, L. E. Levshenkova et al. // Proceedings of 18th International Seminar "New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials". — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2015. — P. 638–645. Thermal decomposition of 5,5’-azotetrazole salts / L. E. Levshenkova, N. A. Murylev, A. I. Levshenkov, V. P. Sinditskii // Proceedings of 18th International Seminar "New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials". — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2015. — P. 846–851. Thermal decomposition of triazolo- and tetrazoloterazines / V. P. Sinditskii, A. V. Burzhava, G. F. Rudakov, D. A. Zakharova // Proceedings of 18th International Seminar "New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials". — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2015. — P. 839–845. Горение бимолекулярных кристаллов cl-20 с линейными нитраминами / С. Ю. Юрова, В. П. Синдицкий, А. Н. Черный и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2015. — Т. 29, № 8. — С. 35–38. Горение бимолекулярных кристаллов гексанитрогексаазоизовюрцитана с линейными нитраминами / В. П. Синдицкий, А. H. Чёрный, С. Ю. Юрова и др. // Труды Всероссийской научно- технической конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии", посвященной 80-летнему Юбилею ИХТФ, 18-20 ноября 2015, РХТУ / Под ред. В. В. Серушкин, В. П. Синдицкий. — Дели плюс Москва, 2015. — С. 18–20. Горение калиевой соли динитрамида с нитроэфирными связующими / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Н. Черный, Д. С. Шмелёв и др. // Труды Всероссийской научно- технической конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии", посвященной 80-летнему Юбилею ИХТФ, 18-20 ноября 2015, РХТУ / Под ред. В. В. Серушкин, В. П. Синдицкий. — Дели плюс Москва, 2015. — С. 153–159. Гуанидиновая и триаминогуанидиновая соли 5,5’-азотетразола – перспективные компоненты низкотемпературных топливных композиций / Л. Е. Левшенкова, А. В. 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Термические и термодинамические свойства солей 5,5'-азотетразола / В. П. Синдицкий, А. И. Левшенков, В. И. Колесов и др. // Труды Всероссийской научно- технической конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии", посвященной 80-летнему Юбилею ИХТФ, 18-20 ноября 2015, РХТУ / Под ред. В. В. Серушкин, В. П. Синдицкий. — Дели плюс Москва, 2015. — С. 174–180. Термический распад триазоло-и тетразолотетразинов / В. П. Синдицкий, А. В. Буржава, Г. Ф. Рудаков, Д. А. Захарова // Горение и взрыв . — 2015. — Т. 8, № 2. — С. 195–202. Serushkin V. V., Sinditskii V. P., Egorshev V. Y. Features of deflagration-to-detonation transition in primary explosive hexamethylenetriperoxide diamine // Proceedings of the 17th International seminar "New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials". — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2014. — P. 945–952. The deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) in both pressed samples of different porosity and large single crystals of a typical primary explosive from the chemical class of organic peroxides, hexamethylenetriperoxidediamine (HMTD), was investigated in the interval of external pressures 0.1-30 MPa. The deflagration to detonation transition in HMTD single crystals at high pressures was found to occur easier than DDT in high density pressed samples. An important role of HMTD single crystal fracturing upon ignition was revealed. In all cases, the value of the predetonation column length decreased with the growth of external pressure. It has been shown that only quantitative differences exist between DDT processes in brisant and capable-to-combustion primary explosives. Mechanism of combustion catalysis of ammonium perchlorate-based compositions by ferrocene compounds / V. P. Sinditskii, A. N. Chernyi, V. Y. Egorshev, V. V. Serushkin // 9th International Conference on High Energy Materials and Exhibit (HEMCE-2014). — 2014. — P. 2–12. Organic explosive peroxides of acetone: enthalpies of formation / V. P. Sinditskii, V. I. Kolesov, V. Y. Egorshev et al. // Proceedings of the 17th International seminar "New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials". — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2014. — P. 963–972. Levshenkova L. E., Sinditskii V. P., Levshenkov A. I. Study of thermal decomposition of onium 5,5’-azotetrazole salts // Proceedings of the 17th International seminar "New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials". — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2014. — P. 973–978. Закономерности и механизм горения композиций перхлората аммония с нитроэфирными связующими / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Н. Чёрный, В. В. Серушкин и др. // Материалы VII Всероссийской конференции "Энергетические конденсированные системы". — Черноголовка – Дзержинский, 2014. — С. 69–72. Козлов А. А., Черный А. Н., Синдицкий В. П. Исследование закономерностей горения топливных композиций на основе циркония // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2014. — Т. 28, № 2. — С. 68–71. Козлов А. А., Чёрный А. Н., Синдицкий В. П. Исследование закономерностей горения топливных композиций на основе циркония // Материалы VII Всероссийской конференции "Энергетические конденсированные системы". — Черноголовка – Дзержинский, 2014. — С. 205–208. Исследование термического разложения солей 5,5’-азотетразола / Л. Е. Левшенкова, Н. А. Мурылев, А. И. Левшенков, В. П. Синдицкий // Материалы VII Всероссийской конференции "Энергетические конденсированные системы". — Черноголовка – Дзержинский, 2014. — С. 182–186. Исследование термического распада и горения 4,4"-динитро-трис-фуразана (ntf) / В. П. Синдицкий, А. В. Буржава, Д. В. Дашко, Н. И. Шишов // Горение и взрыв . — 2014. — Т. 7. — С. 346–352. Исследование термического распада натриевой и меламиновой солей 5, 5’-азотетразола / Н. А. Мурылев, Л. Е. Левшенкова, В. П. Синдицкий, А. И. Левшенков // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2014. — Т. 28, № 2. — С. 84–88. Синдицкий В. П., Черный А. Н., Игнатьев Е. С. Особенности катализа перхлоратных топлив производными ферроцена в зависимости от природы полимера // Материалы VII Всероссийской конференции "Энергетические конденсированные системы". — Черноголовка – Дзержинский, 2014. — С. 209–212. Термолиз при высоких температурах и давлениях: требуемые и достигнутые уровни изучения / А. С. Штейнберг, В. П. Синдицкий, А. А. Зенин и др. // Горение и взрыв . — 2014. — Т. 7. — С. 419–434. Термохимия циклических пероксидов ацетона / В. П. Синдицкий, В. И. Колесов, В. Ю. Егоршев и др. // Материалы VII Всероссийской конференции "Энергетические конденсированные системы". — Черноголовка – Дзержинский, 2014. — С. 192–195. Combustion of nitroester binders with thermostable energetic fillers / V. V. Serushkin, V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev et al. // Proceeding of 2013 (10th) International Autumn Seminar on Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics. — Chengdu, China, 2013. — P. 322–330. The present paper describes the results of combustion study of binary compositions of energetic thermostable fillers (HMX, RDX, FOX 7) with two nitroester binders, which combustion obeyed two different mechanisms: a gas-phase mechanism for volatile energetic materials and a mechanism with the leading reaction in the condensed phase. The study of the combustion of binary compositions of the thermostable energetic fillers and nitro ester binders has shown that a single combustion model cannot describe the entire set of experimental conditions. Even in compositions with a varying only size of nitramine particles, combustion of the mixtures can be described by several models. Egorshev V. Y., Sinditskii V. P., Yartsev K. K. Combustion of high-density cuo/al nanothermites at elevated pressures // Proceeding of 2013 (10th) International Autumn Seminar on Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics. — Chengdu, China, 2013. — P. 273–283. Sinditskii V. P., Levshenkov A. I., Levshenkova L. E. Study of combustion mechanism of guanidine salt of 5,5’-azotetrazole // Proceedings of the 16th International Seminar on New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials (NTREM). — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2013. — P. 882–887. Sinditskii V. P., Levshenkov A. I., Levshenkova L. E. Study of the thermal decomposition and combustion of guanidinium 5,5'-azotetrazole salt // Central European Journal of Energetic Materials . — 2013. — Vol. 10, no. 4. — P. 529–539. The thermal decomposition and combustion of guanidinium 5,5'-azotetrazole salt (Gu2AzT) have been investigated. Temperature profiles in the Gu2AzT combustion wave were measured using thin tungsten-rhenium micro thermocouples. It was shown that combustion of the salt obeys the condensed-phase mechanism. The high burning rate of Gu2AzT is connected with the high decomposition rate in the melt. The kinetic parameters of the controlling chemical reaction have been estimated, and a detailed combustion mechanism for Gu2AzT has been proposed. Горение фуразанотетразиндиоксида (ftdo) / В. П. Синдицкий, А. В. Буржава, В. Ю. Егоршев и др. // Физика горения и взрыва . — 2013. — Т. 49, № 1. — С. 134–137. Исследование свойств дифуразаниловых эфиров / Д. С. Шмелев, А. В. Буржава, А. Н. Черный и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2013. — Т. 27, № 2. — С. 101–110. Левшенкова Л. Е., Синдицкий В. П., Левшенков А. И. Исследование термического распада гуанидиновой и аммониевой солей 5,5’-азотетразола // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2013. — Т. 27, № 2. — С. 131–136. Термическое разложение азо- и азоксипроизводных фуразанов / В. П. Синдицкий, А. В. Буржава, М. К. Ву, А. Б. Шереметев // Горение и взрыв . — 2013. — Т. 6. — С. 282–287. Comparative study of combustion mechanism of guanidine salts: triaminoguanidine and 3,6-diguanidino-1,2,4,5-tetrazine nitrates / V. P. Sinditskii, V. V. Serushkin, V. Y. Egorshev et al. // Proceedings of the15th Seminar of the New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials (NTREM). — Vol. 1. — University of Pardubice Czech Republic, 2012. — P. 271–279. Горение стехиометрических смесей солей 5,5’азотетразола с хлоратом и перхлоратом калия / Л. Е. Левшенкова, С. А. Шилов, А. И. Левшенков, В. П. Синдицкий // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2012. — Т. 26, № 3. — С. 16–20. Горение энергетических материалов с ведущей реакцией в конденсированной фазе / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, В. В. Серушкин, С. А. Филатов // Физика горения и взрыва . — 2012. — Т. 48, № 1. — С. 89–109. Рассмотрена модель горения с ведущей реакцией в конденсированной фазе (к-фазная модель горения). На основе анализа результатов многочисленных термопарных исследований горения энергетических материалов показано, что в волне горения вещество в конденсированной фазе прогревается до максимально возможной температуры - температуры кипения при данном давлении. Установлено, что горение таких представителей класса ониевых солей, как перхлорат аммония, нитрат аммония, динитрамид аммония и нитроформат гидразина, в широком интервале давлений и начальных температур подчиняется к-фазной модели. Приведены кинетические параметры ведущей реакции горения этих солей. Исследование горения солей 5,5'-азотетразола с азотистыми основаниями / Л. Е. Левшенкова, П. А. Постников, Ч. Ньейн и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2012. — Т. 26, № 3. — С. 11–15. Синдицкий В. П., Чёрный А. Н., Марченков Д. А. Исследование горения топлив на основе перхлората аммония с низким коэффициентом избытка окислителя // Химическая физика и мезоскопия . — 2012. — Т. 14, № 4. — С. 519–524. Чёрный А. Н., Марченков Д. А., Синдицкий В. П. Исследование горения топлив на основе перхлората аммония с низким коэффициентом избытка окислителя // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2012. — Т. 26, № 2. — С. 94–98. Чёрный А. Н., Марченков Д. А., Синдицкий В. П. Исследование катализа горения топлив на основе перхлората аммония с большим избытком горючего // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2012. — Т. 26, № 3. — С. 60–64. Исследование термического разложения производных тетразолотетразина / Д. А. Захарова, А. В. Буржава, В. Е. Егоршев и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2012. — Т. 26, № 2. — С. 132–135. Исследование термического распада и горения микроциклического тетрадиазенфуразана / А. В. Буржава, В. П. Синдицкий, А. М. Козеев, А. Б. Шереметев // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2012. — Т. 26, № 2. — С. 125–127. Механизм горения нитроэфирных связующих с нитраминами / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, М. В. Березин и др. // Физика горения и взрыва . — 2012. — Т. 48, № 2. — С. 45–59. Механизм горения смесей перхлората аммония с ферроценом / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Н. Черный, Д. А. Марченков, Б. Аунг // Материалы VI Всероссийской конференции Энергетические конденсированные системы 14-17 ноября. — Черноголовка: ИПХФ РАН, 2012. — С. 348–351. Полиазотистые энергетические материалы на основе тетразина / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, Г. Ф. Рудаков и др. // Материалы VI Всероссийской конференции Энергетические конденсированные системы 14-17 ноября. — Черноголовка: ИПХФ РАН, 2012. — С. 90–93. Разложение и горение полиазотистых энергетических материалов на основе нитрогуанилтетразина / В. П. Синдицкий, Ч. Х. Хоанг, С. А. Филатов, Г. Ф. Рудаков // Горение и взрыв . — 2012. — Т. 5. — С. 269–274. Термический распад и горение 1,2,5-оксадиазоло[3,4,-е]1,2,3,4-тетразин-4,6-ди-n,n’-оксида (ftdo) / А. В. Буржава, В. Ю. Егоршев, В. П. Синдицкий и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2012. — Т. 26, № 2. — С. 120–124. Левшенкова Л. Е., Левшенков А. И., Синдицкий В. П. Термический распад и горение гуанидиниевой соли 5,5'-азотетразола // Материалы VI Всероссийской конференции Энергетические конденсированные системы 14-17 ноября. — Черноголовка: ИПХФ РАН, 2012. — С. 257–260. Термический распад и горение макроциклического тетра(диазенфуразана) / В. П. Синдицкий, А. В. Буржава, А. М. Козеев, А. Б. Шереметев // Материалы VI Всероссийской конференции Энергетические конденсированные системы 14-17 ноября. — Черноголовка: ИПХФ РАН, 2012. — С. 344–347. Термический распад и горение производных триазолотетразинаминофуразанов / А. В. Усунцинова, А. В. Буржава, В. П. Синдицкий, А. Б. Шереметев // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2012. — Т. 26, № 2. — С. 128–131. 3,4-bis(3-nitrofurazan-4-yl)furoxan (dntf): thermal and combustion properties / V. P. Sinditskii, A. V. Burzhava, A. B. Sheremetev, N. S. Aleksandrova // Proc. 9th Inter. Autumn Seminar on Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics, Nanjing, China. — Science Press Beijing, China, 2011. — P. 205–209. Горение производных 1,5-диаминотетразола / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, Т. Я. Дутова и др. // Физика горения и взрыва . — 2011. — Т. 47, № 1. — С. 42–51. Горение фуразанов и фуроксанов / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Д. Хэ, М. К. Ву и др. // Химическая и радиационная физика. — ТОРУС ПРЕСС Москва, 2011. — С. 339–343. Burn rate characteristics of monopropellant combustion of furazan derivatives, an endothermic five-membered ring, and their N-oxides, furoxans, were studied. For the furazan compounds without active oxygen in the substituents, thermocouple-aided measurements showed results well below calculated adiabatic combustion temperatures. Nitrile-containing compounds formed during decomposition of the heterocycle in the absence of an oxidizer is assumed to remain unreacted among combustion products and to be responsible for incomplete energy release. For combustion of compounds of this type, the main source of heat release is suggested to be isomerization of the nitriloxide formed during heterocycle decomposition to isocyanate rather than an oxidation reaction. At combustion of furoxan derivatives in most cases, even at low pressures, all energy accumulated in heterocycle is released that is well agree with the known channel of furoxan decomposition to nitriloxides. The significant distinction furazans and furoxans in thermal stability results in that the majority of mononuclear furazan derivatives burn by gas-phase combustion mechanism, while furoxans obey condensed-phase combustion mechanism. Чёрный А. Н., Соколов С. А., Синдицкий В. П. Закономерности горения топливных композиций с низким содержанием окислителя и высоким содержанием ферроценов // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2011. — Т. 25, № 12. — С. 104–110. Закономерности и механизм горения перхлората аммония и его смесей с активным связующим / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, А. Н. Черный и др. // Горение и взрыв . — 2011. — Т. 4. — С. 236–242. Буржава А. В., Синдицкий В. П., Шереметев А. Б. Исследование термического распада и горения 3,4-бис(4'-нитрофуразан-3'-ил)-2-оксафуразана (dntf) // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2011. — Т. 25, № 12. — С. 72–78. Полиазотистые энергетические материалы на основе нитрогуанилтетразина / Ч. Х. Хоанг, О. О. Гарбуз, С. А. Филатов и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2011. — Т. 25, № 12. — С. 25–29. Синтез и исследование горения координационных соединений на основе производных 1,2,4,5-тетразина / А. И. Левшенков, Л. Е. Ахапкина, А. А. Шебеко и др. // Горение и взрыв . — 2011. — Т. 4. — С. 298–303. Синтез и исследование координационных соединений производных тетразина / Л. Е. Ахапкина, А. А. Шебеко, А. И. Левшенков, В. П. Синдицкий // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2011. — Т. 25, № 12. — С. 64–72. Синтез и исследование солей 5,5’-азотетразола с азотистыми основаниями / Л. Е. Ахапкина, П. А. Постников, М. Т. Мьё и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2011. — Т. 25, № 12. — С. 54–58. Sinditsky V. P., Egorshev V. Y. Combustion mechanism and kinetics of thermal decomposition of ammonium chlorate and nitrite // Central European Journal of Energetic Materials . — 2010. — Vol. 7, no. 1. — P. 61–75. Microstructure effects in aluminized solid rocket propellants / L. T. DeLuca, L. Galfetti, G. Colombo et al. // Journal of Propulsion and Power . — 2010. — Vol. 26, no. 4. — P. 724–733. Горение полиазотистых соединений на основе тетразина / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, Г. Ф. Рудаков и др. // Сборник трудов Всероссийской научно-техн. конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии, посв. 75-летнему Юбилею ИХТФ. — Издательский центр РХТУ им. Д.И. Менделеева Москва, 2010. — С. 220–226. Чёрный А. Н., Левшенков А. И., Синдицкий В. П. Закономерности горения топливных композиций на основе нитроэфирных связующих, перхлората аммония и октогена // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2010. — Т. 24, № 3. — С. 105–111. Буржава А. В., Синдицкий В. П., Батог Л. В. Исследование термического распада и горения макроциклического тетра(диазеноксидфуразана) // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2010. — Т. 24, № 3. — С. 14–20. Координационные соединения 1,5-диаминотетразола с солями серебра и меди / А. И. Левшенков, В. П. Синдицкий, А. А. Шебеко, Л. Е. Ахапкина // Сборник трудов Всероссийской научно-техн. конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии, посв. 75-летнему Юбилею ИХТФ. — Издательский центр РХТУ им. Д.И. Менделеева Москва, 2010. — С. 65–71. Механизм горения высокоэнергетических композиций нитроэфирных связующих с нитраминами / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, М. В. Березин и др. // Сборник трудов Всероссийской научно-техн. конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии, посв. 75-летнему Юбилею ИХТФ. — Издательский центр РХТУ им. Д.И. Менделеева Москва, 2010. — С. 285–291. Серушкин В. В., Синдицкий В. П., Филатов С. А. Механизм горения и температурная чувствительность скорости горения ТРТ на активном связующем // Сборник трудов Всероссийской научно-техн. конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии, посв. 75-летнему Юбилею ИХТФ. — Издательский центр РХТУ им. Д.И. Менделеева Москва, 2010. — С. 292–299. Синдицкий В. П. Научные достижения ученых ИХТ факультета // Сборник трудов Всероссийской научно-техн. конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии, посв. 75-летнему Юбилею ИХТФ. — Издательский центр РХТУ им. Д.И. Менделеева Москва, 2010. — С. 15–29. Синтез и горение координационных соединений 1,5-диаминотетразола с солями серебра и меди / Л. Е. Ахапкина, А. А. Шебеко, А. И. Левшенков, В. П. Синдицкий // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2010. — Т. 24, № 3. — С. 8–14. A comparative study on cyclic acetone peroxides / E. Viacheslav, S. Valery, S. Sergei et al. // Proceedings of the 12th International Seminar “NEW TRENDS IN RESEARCH OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS” (NTREM 2009). — Vol. 1. — University of Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2009. — P. 115–125. Combustion mechanism of tagn and tagn-containing compositions / V. V. Serushkin, V. P. Sinditskii, S. A. Filatov, S. A. Prochorov // THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS. — Vol. 8. — Science Press Beijing, China, 2009. — P. 286–291. Combustion behavior of triaminoguanidine nitrate (TAGN) has been investigated in wide pressure range and the detailed combustion mechanism of TAGN has been proposed. Temperature profiles in the TAGN combustion wave were measured with thin tungsten-rhenium microthermocouples. It has been shown that the surface temperature in combustion of TAGN, as well as for other onium salts, is controlled by process of dissociation. The burning rate at low pressure range is governed by processes in the condensed phase. The kinetic parameters of the burning rate controlling chemical reaction have been estimated and it has been shown that TAGN thermal decomposition reaction in the molten layer at the surface temperature controls the TAGN combustion. At pressure interval of 1-20 atm the heat release in the condensed phase provides completely amount of heat required for warming-up and melting, heat flux from the gas phase is spent only for evaporation of non-decomposed TAGN and has no effect on burning rate. The determined kinetic parameters of leading chemical reaction at combustion of TAGN allow explaining why TAGN exhibits high affectivity as activator of combustion of various AN-based propellant compositions. Having essentially low thermal stability in comparison with AN, TAGN in AN-based mixtures acts as an additional heat source in the molten layer of AN. Прохоров C. А., Серушкин В. В., Синдицкий В. П. Механизм горения нитрата триаминогуанидина // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2009. — Т. 23, № 4(97). — С. 115–122. Исследовано горение нитрата триаминогуанидина (ТАГН). Показано, что механизм горения ТАГН подобен механизму горения других солей, таких как нитрат и перхлорат аммония. Температура поверхности при горении ТАГН контролируется процессом диссоциации. Скорость горения определяется процессами в конденсированной фазе волны горения. Ведущей реакцией горения ТАГН является реакция его распада в расплаве при температуре поверхности. Механизм горения октогена в широком интервале давлений / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, М. В. Березин, В. В. Серушкин // Физика горения и взрыва . — 2009. — Т. 45, № 4. — С. 128–146. Проанализированы литературные и полученные в настоящей работе данные по горению циклотетраметилентетранитрамина (октогена, HMX) при различных начальных температурах. Показано, что при давлениях 0.1÷10 МПа температурная чувствительность скорости горения октогена увеличивается с ростом начальной температуры, что характерно для горения вещества с ведущей реакцией в конденсированной фазе (к-фазная модель). Экспериментальные значения температурной чувствительности скорости горения в области давлений 0.1÷1 МПа превосходят значения, рассчитанные по к-фазной модели, однако это свидетельствует не о наличии в этой области неустойчивости горения, а о переходе процесса горения на другой режим. С помощью тонких вольфрам-рениевых термопар в интервале давлений 0.025÷1 МПа исследована структура пламени октогена с различными добавками. Установлено, что по крайней мере до давления 1 MПa газовое пламя загорается в индукционном режиме. На основании экспериментальных данных в широком интервале давлений получена зависимость температуры поверхности от давления: ln p = -14092/T + 21.72 (p, атм). Сделано предположение, что колебательный режим горения HMX, обнаруженный при атмосферном давлении, обусловлен, с одной стороны, возникновением резонансных явлений при горении неоднородной газовой смеси в трубке, а с другой стороны, связан с несоответствием между скоростью химической реакции в газовой фазе в момент резонанса и ее энергетическими возможностями, не позволяющими задать нужную скорость газификации НMX. Предложен механизм горения октогена, корректно описывающий его закономерности в широком интервале давлений вплоть до 10 МПа. Механизм основан на ведущей роли реакции распада октогена в расплаве при температуре поверхности. Термический распад моно-, ди- и трикалиевых солей тринитрофлороглюцина / В. П. Синдицкий, А. И. Левшенков, В. В. Кравченко, В. П. Шелапутина // Химическая физика . — 2009. — Т. 28, № 1. — С. 28–37. Evaluation of decomposition kinetic parameters of energetic materials in the combustion wave / V. P. Sinditskii, V. V. Serushkin, V. Y. Egorshev et al. // Proc. 6th International Heat Flow Calorimetry Symposium on Energetic Materials May 6 – May 8, 2008, Fraunhofer ICT, Pfinztal-Berghausen, Germany. — Fraunhofer ICT, Pfinztal-Berghausen, Germany, 2008. — P. 51–65. Study on thermal decomposition and combustion of insensitive explosive 3,3′-diamino-4,4′-azofurazan (daazf) / V. P. Sinditskii, M. C. Vu, A. B. Sheremetev, N. S. Alexandrova // Thermochimica Acta . — 2008. — Vol. 473, no. 1-2. — P. 25–31. Изучение механизма горения составов с ультрадисперсным алюминием и с гидридом алюминия / А. Н. Черный, Б. А. Наумов, М. В. Березин и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2008. — Т. 22, № 4. — С. 45–49. Исследование температурной чувствительности скорости горения ТРТ на активном связующем / А. И. Студилин, С. А. Филатов, В. В. Серушкин, В. П. Синдицкий // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2008. — Т. 22, № 4(84). — С. 64–69. Исследована температурная чувствительность скорости горения активного горюче связующего (АГС) и ряда модельных топливных композиций на его основе. Проведен сравнительный анализ влияния компонентов топлив на температурную чувствительность скорости их горения. На основании полученных данных сделаны предположения о возможном механизме горения топлив на основе АГС. The burning rate temperature sensitivity of an active binder (AB) and series of AB-based model propellants has been investigated. The comparative analysis of influence of propellant components on burning rate temperature sensitivity has been carried out. On the base of data obtained, hypotheses concerning possible combustion mechanisms of propellants based on active binders have been suggested. Корчемкина А. В., Синдицкий В. П., Егоршев В. Ю. Кинетические параметры разложения хлората и нитрита аммония в волне горения // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2008. — Т. 22, № 4. — С. 35–41. Температурная чувствительность скорости горения нитраминов / A. В. Кузьмина, А. С. Ефремов, М. В. Березин и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2008. — Т. 22, № 4. — С. 40–44. The role of additives in combustion mechanism of ammonium nitrate / V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev, A. I. Levshenkov, V. V. Serushkin // INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS AND CHEMICAL PROPULSION . — 2007. — Vol. 6, no. 2. — P. 227–251. Использование закономерностей горения энергетических материалов для оценки их ударно-волновой чувствительности / В. Ю. Егоршев, В. П. Синдицкий, А. И. Левшенков, В. В. Серушкин // Сб. докладов III Межотраслевой науч.-технич. Конференции "Актуальные проблемы и перспективы разработки малочувствительных энергетических материалов и изделий пониженного риска", Дзержинск, 23-25 июля 2004, ФГУП "ГосНИИ Кристалл". — Дзержинск, 2007. — С. 71–72. Исследование термической стабильности и закономерностей горения аминопроизводных азо- и азоксифуразанов / В. П. Синдицкий, M. К. Ву, В. П. Шелапутина и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2007. — Т. 21, № 4. — С. 93–96. Синдицкий В. П. О природе ведущей реакции при горении энергетических материалов по газофазной модели // Физика горения и взрыва . — 2007. — Т. 43, № 3. — С. 59–71. Синтез и горение гетероциклических альфа-нитроазидов / Г. Ф. Рудаков, Д. В. Каторов, А. В. Ладонин и др. // Современные проблемы специальной технической химии : материалы докладов Международной научно-технической и методической конференции. — КГТУ Казань, 2007. — С. 404–412. Dual-oxidizer metallized solid propellants for low-cost space access / L. T. De Luca, L. Galfetti, D. Signoriello et al. // AIAA 57th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2006, October 2-6, Valencia, Spain. — Vol. 10. — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Reston, Virginia, USA, 2006. — P. 6570–6582. Preparation, properties and application of energetic complex perchlorates of d-metals / M. Ilyushin, I. Tselinsky, I. Bachurina et al. // Proceedings of the 12th International Seminar “New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials". — Vol. 1. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2006. — P. 143–149. Preparation, properties and application of energetic complex perchlorates of d-metals / M. A. Ilyushin, I. V. Tselinsky, I. V. Bachurina et al. // Central European Journal of Energetic Materials . — 2006. — Vol. 3, no. 4. — P. 41–49. Sinditskii V., Smirnov S., Egorshev V. Unusual thermal decomposition of nto: Is it a result of very strong bonds or other reasons exist? // Proceedings of the 12th International Seminar “New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials". — Vol. 1. — University of Pardubice Pardubice, Czech Republic, 2006. — P. 314–328. Березкин А. М., Синдицкий В. П., Егоршев В. Ю. Исследование горения 5-азидо-3.5-динитротетрагидро-2н-1,3-оксазина // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2006. — Т. 20, № 4. — С. 51–54. Тарелкин В. С., Левшенков А. И., Синдицкий В. П. Исследование закономерностей горения активных горючих связующих // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2006. — Т. 20, № 4. — С. 47–51. Термический распад моно-, ди- и трикалиевых солей тринитрофлороглюцина / А. И. Левшенков, В. П. Синдицкий, В. В. Кравченко, В. П. Шелапутина // Мат. докладов Межд. научно-техн. и методич. конференции, КГТУ, Казань, 2006. — Казань, 2006. — С. 445–452. Effect of cl-20 particle size on combustion of binary mixtures with active binders / V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev, M. V. Berezin et al. // Theory and Practice of Energetic Materials. — Vol. 6. — SCIENCE PRESS MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ 08852-3014 USA, 2005. — P. 496–505. Combustion on model propellant compositions prepared from hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20) of either fine (20-50 mm) or coarse (250-450 mm) particles and glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) of low molecular weight (similar to 1000), or with polyurethane binder plasticized by nitroglycerine (NG/PU) has been studied. Both binders were capable of self-sustained burning with the rate less than that of CL-20 and showed low pressure exponents. The content of CL-20 in the compositions varied from 10% to 80%. The burning of the compositions has been shown to propagate through either binder layer between the particles or be subjected to the geometrical model, depending on the CL-20 particle size. A geometric combustion model for systems with fast-burning inclusions describes satisfactorily the combustion of compositions containing coarse particles at high pressures. The burning rate-pressure dependence for the compositions with coarse particles revealed a break, with the pressure exponent neared to that of the binder before the break and to that of the solid filler after the break. Substitution of the nitroglycerine-based binder by GAP had little effect on the ballistic parameters of the mixtures with coarse particles of CL-20. Mixtures of GAP with fine particles of CL-20 burned faster than analogous NG/PU-based mixtures at all pressures studied, even exceeding CL-20 at low pressures. A suggestion has been made that interaction between decomposition products of both GAP and CL-20 occurred, resulting in an increased temperature of the first flame and playing important part at low pressures. A phenomenological model for combustion of the binary compositions has been proposed to explain the observed burning peculiarities, based on different thermal behaviors of the ingredients. Sinditsky V. P. Reason for heat instability of combustion of energetic materials with condensed phase leading reaction // Central European Journal of Energetic Materials . — 2005. — Vol. 2, no. 1. — P. 3–19. Левшенков А. И., Синдицкий В. П., Санникова А. Ю. Термический анализ низкотемпературных твердотопливных композиций // Сб. трудов Всеросс.научн. техн. конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии" посв. 100 летнему Юбилею проф. К.К. Андреева, 8-10 июня 2005 года, РХТУ. — Т. 1. — Издательство РХТУ Москва, 2005. — С. 147–152. Термический распад калиевых солей тринитрофлороглюцина / А. И. Левшенков, В. П. Синдицкий, В. В. Кравченко, В. П. Шелапутина // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2005. — Т. 19, № 4. — С. 49–54. Термический распад трикалиевой соли тринитрофлороглюцина / А. И. Левшенков, В. П. Синдицкий, В. П. Шелапутина, В. В. Кравченко // Сб. трудов Всеросс.научн. техн. конференции "Успехи специальной химии и химической технологии" посв. 100 летнему Юбилею проф. К.К. Андреева, 8-10 июня 2005 года, РХТУ. — Т. 1. — Издательство РХТУ Москва, 2005. — С. 152–157. Combustion of dinitramide salts / V. P. Sinditskii, A. I. Levshenkov, V. Y. Egorshev, V. V. Serushkin // Proceedings of the 7th International Seminar on New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials. — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Czech Republic, 2004. — P. 636–646. Identification of solid propellant combustion dynamic characteristics from the results of experiments with registration of the current burning front position / Y. M. Milyokhin, A. N. Klyuchnikov, A. V. Fedorychev et al. // New trends in research of energetic materials, Proceeding of the VII. Seminar. — Vol. 2. — University of Pardubice Czech Republic, 2004. — P. 191–202. A stable algorithm of structural and parametric identification of combustion dynamic characteristics from the results of experiments with registration of the current burning front position has been developed, which allows prediction of current values of burning rate u(τ) and its frequency response with accuracy acceptable to practice. The proposed approach has been tested by simulation calculations with harmonic input signals, including superimposed noise of different intensity, to determine the accuracy of identification of the amplitude and phase frequency characteristics of burning. The approach has been used to study dynamic combustion characteristics of a model propellant under oscillating pressure. The transfer and response functions have been determined for a low frequency area. It has been shown that the approach is favorably distinguished from other procedures by higher accuracy and authenticity of estimations. Sinditskii V. P. Reason for thermal instability of combustion of energetic material with a leading reaction in the condensed phase // Progress in Combustion and Detonation, II Zeldovich Memorial, Moscow, Russia, August 30–September 3, 2004. — Torus Press Москва, 2004. — P. 128–129. Egorshev V. Y., Sinditskii V. P., Berezin M. V. Study on combustion of liquid and gelatinized glycidyl azide oligomers // Proceedings of the 7th Seminar on New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials (NTREM). — Vol. 1. — University of Pardubice Czech Republic, 2004. — P. 100–115. Sinditskii V. P., Egorshev V. Y., Berezin M. V. Combustion of new cyclic energetic nitramines: flame structure and kinetics of leading reaction // THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS. — Vol. 5. — Science Press Beijing, China / New York, 2003. — P. 415–425. Study of onium salts of oxaldihydroxamic acid as perspective components of gas generating propellants / V. V. Serushkin, V. P. Sinditskii, S. A. Filatov et al. // THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS. — Vol. 5. — Science Press Beijing, China / New York, 2003. — P. 409–414. The combustion behavior of oxaldihydroxamic acid (dihydroxyglyoxime, DGH), its onium salts, and model propellants based on these compounds has been investigated. The investigation has shown that salts of oxaldihydroxamic acid with ammonia, hydrazine, and hydroxylamine are capable of self-sustained burning in a wide range of pressure, producing low-temperature gaseous products. The model propellant compositions demonstrate rather low values of the pressure exponent, 0.5-0.6. The measured temperatures of gaseous combustion products of the propellant compositions do not exceed 1000-1250 K. In that way, the results obtained indicate to a possibility of designing perspective low-temperature gas-generating solid propellants on the basis of DGH and its onium salts. Liu W. F., Sinditskii V. P., Egorshev V. Y. Study of the burning velocity of lead trinitrophloroglucinate // 火工品 (Initiators & Pyrotechnics) . — 2003. — Vol. 9, no. 3. — P. 34–35. Study on combustion and thermal decomposition of 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (fox-7) / V. P. Sinditskii, A. I. Levshenkov, V. Y. Egorshev, V. V. Serushkin // Proc. 8th Inter. Seminar EuroPyro2003 & 30th Inter. Pyrotechnics Seminar, Saint-Malo , France, June 23 – 27, 2003. — Vol. 1. — Saint-Malo , France, 2003. — P. 299–311. Synthesis and combustion study of metallic salts of trinitrophlbroglucinol / V. Y. Egorshev, V. P. Sinditskii, V. L. Zbarsky et al. // THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS. — Vol. 5. — Science Press Beijing, China / New York, 2003. — P. 30–37. Synthesis and combustion study of metallic salts of trinitrophloroglucinol / V. Y. Egorshev, V. P. Sinditskii, V. L. Zbarsky et al. // THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS, Proc. 5th Inter. Autumn Seminar on Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics, Guilin, China, October 15-18, 2003. — Vol. 5. — Science Press Beijing, China, 2003. — P. 30–37. Синдицкий В. П., Егоршев В. Ю., Березин М. В. Горение энергоемких циклических нитраминов // Химическая физика . — 2003. — Т. 22, № 4. — С. 56–63. Закономерности горения высокоэнергетического каркасного нитрамина гексанитрогексаазаизовюрцитана / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, М. В. Березин и др. // Химическая физика . — 2003. — Т. 22, № 7. — С. 69–74. В бомбе постоянного давления в интервале 0.02-30 МПа исследованы закономерности горения высокоэнергетического каркасного нитрамина гексанитрогексаазаизовюрцитана (CL-20). С помощью тонких вольфрам-рениевых микротермопар получены температурные профили волны горения. Показано, что при низких давлениях определяющую роль при горении CL-20 играют реакции, протекающие в конденсированной фазе при температуре поверхности. Кинетика ведущей реакции горения CL-20 при этих давлениях совпадает с кинетикой реакции распада. Роль газофазных реакций значительно возрастает при давлениях выше 1.5 МПа. Березин М. В., Егоршев В. Ю., Синдицкий В. П. Изучение горения нитропроизводных 2,6-диоксодекагидро-1h,5h-диимидазо[4,5-b:4,5-e]пиразина // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2003. — Т. 17, № 9. — С. 51–53. Березин М. В., Егоршев В. Ю., Синдицкий В. П. Изучение горения нитропроизводных 2,6-диоксодекагидро-1н,5н-диимидазо[4,5-b:4,5-e]пиразина // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2003. — Т. 17, № 9. — С. 51–53. Лурье Б. А., Синдицкий В. П., Смирнов С. П. Термический распад 2,4-динитробензофуроксана и некоторых его соединений с гидроксидами металлов // Физика горения и взрыва . — 2003. — Т. 39, № 5. — С. 55–64. Chemical peculiarities of combustion of solid propellant oxidizers / V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev, V. V. Serushkin, A. I. Levshenkov // Rocket Propulsion: Present and Future: Edited Book of Proceedings of the 8th-IWCP, the Eighth International Workshop on Combustion and Propulsion. — Accademia aeronautica Italy, 2002. — P. 34.1–34.20. Flame structure of hydrazinium nitroformate / V. P. Sinditsky, V. V. Serushkin, S. A. Filatov, V. Y. Egorshev // INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS AND CHEMICAL PROPULSION . — 2002. — Vol. 5, no. 1-6. — P. 576–586. Особенности термического распада и горения 1,1-динитро-2,2-диаминоэтилена / А. И. Левшенков, В. А. Колесникова, А. М. Ульянов и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2002. — Т. 16, № 6. — С. 53–56. Синтез и исследование свойств солей тринитрофлороглюцина / В. Лю, К. В. Телицин, А. И. Левшенков и др. // Успехи в химии и химической технологии . — 2002. — Т. 16, № 6. — С. 69–70. Термическое разложение и горение 1,1-диамино-2,2-динитроэтилена / В. П. Синдицкий, А. И. Левшенков, В. Ю. Егоршев, В. В. Серушкин // Материалы Международной научно-технической конференции по проблемам технической химии. Казань, 26-28 сент. 2002. — Казань, 2002. — С. 20–23. Циклические нитромочевины: синтез и свойства / В. Ф. Жилин, Г. Ф. Рудаков, В. П. Синдицкий и др. // Материалы докладов Всероссийской научно-технической конференции (26-28 сентября 2002 г). — Т. 1 из Современные проблемы технической химии . — КГТУ Казань, 2002. — С. 39–50. Study on combustion of metal-derivatives of 4,6-dinitrobenzofuroxan / V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev, V. V. Serushkin et al. // THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS. — Vol. 4. — CHINA SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY PRESS BEIJING, PEOPLES R CHINA, 2001. — P. 69–77. Adducts of hydroxides of Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Sr, Cr, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Cd, Ba, Pb, ammonia, and hydrazine with 4, 6-dinitrobenzofuroxan (DNBF) have been synthesized and studied. IR-spectroscopy analysis data suggested all the salts to be divided into two groups depending on the chemical nature of metal cations. The first group includes adducts which have the Meisenheimer complex (alpha-complex) structure with metal atom located to oxygen atoms of nitro-group in the aci-form. The second one comprises adducts in which metal atom is covalently bound to the oxygen atom of hydroxyl group. Burn rate characteristics of a-complexes of both the types have been first studied in this work in the pressure interval of 0.1similar to30MPa. The experimental data unambiguously testify that the maximum catalytic (accelerating) effect at entering metal atom into the explosive molecule with N-O bonds can be achieved only when the metal is located to oxygen atoms of nitro-group in the aci-form. For most part this effect turned out to be irrespective of the chemical nature of metal introduced. However, the potassium salt of DNBF has showed the highest burning rates among others and, consequently, may be expected to have maximum initiating properties. Combustion mechanism of tetrazole derivatives / V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev, A. E. Fogelzang et al. // Chemical Physics Reports . — 2000. — Vol. 18, no. 8. — P. 1569–1583. Burning of tetrazole and 5-chlorotetrazole and temperature distribution in the combustion wave are studied. The basic peculiarity of tetrazole burning is shown to consist in that in samples with no oxidizer the combustion products contain stable high-energy nitrite derivatives rather than equilibrium adiabatic species. As a result, only part of the energy stored in the energetic material is released. Although the decomposition reactions are rare controlling steps in the combustion mechanism of these compounds, they turn out other than those controlling thermal decomposition at temperatures between 150 and 250 degrees C. It is revealed that tetrazole bums in an unusual regime in which the surface temperature undergoes cyclic variations. The process underlying this phenomenon is periodical build-up of a decomposition product in the surface layer. The boiling/decomposition point of this product is much higher than the tetrazole boiling point. The layer is periodically removed to clean the burning surface. Combustion peculiarities of chlorine-free oxidizers adn and hnf / V. P. Sinditskii, V. V. Serushkin, V. Y. Egorshev, A. I. Levshenkov // Proc. of 3 HEMCE, Thiruvananthapuram, India, 2000. — Thiruvananthapuram, India, 2000. — P. 489–494. Горение солей динитрамида / В. П. Синдицкий, А. И. Левшенков, В. Ю. Егоршев, В. В. Серушкин // Доклады 3 межд. Школы-семинара"Внутрикамерные процессы, горение и газовая динамика дисперсных сисем", Санкт-Петербург 26-30 июня 2000. — Санкт-Петербург, 2000. — С. 75–78. Механизм горения производных тетразола / В. П. Синдицкий, В. Ю. Егоршев, А. Е. Фогельзанг и др. // Химическая физика . — 1999. — Т. 18, № 8. — С. 87–94. Combustion behavior and flame structure of ammonium dinitramide / A. E. Fogelzang, V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev et al. // Proc 28th International Annual Conferenze of ICT , Karlsruhe (FRG). — Karlsruhe (FRG), 1997. — P. 99–1–99–14. Синдицкий В. П., Фогельзанг А. Е. Энергетические материалы на основе координационных соединений // Российский химический журнал . — 1997. — Т. 41, № 4. — С. 74–80. Sinditsky V. P., Serushkin V. V. Design and combustion behaviour of explosive coordination compounds // Defence Science Journal . — 1996. — Vol. 46, no. 5. — P. 371–383. The work focuses on general principles of designing explosive metal-containing compounds: metal salts of explosive organic acids and coordination compounds. Effect of the complex molecule constituents on explosive and physicochemical properties is discussed. The main classes of explosive organic acids and organic compounds which might be used as ligands in explosive complexes are considered An attempt is undertaken to find out a relationship between the chemical structure and burning rate characteristics of explosive metal-containing compounds. Effect of structure of energetic materials on burning rate / A. E. Fogelzang, V. P. Sinditskii, V. Y. Egorshev, V. V. Serushkin // DECOMPOSITION, COMBUSTION, AND DETONATION CHEMISTRY OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS. — Vol. 418 of MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS . — MATERIALS RESEARCH SOC, 9800 MCKNIGHT RD, SUITE 327, PITTSBURGH, PA 15237 United States, 1996. — P. 151–161. Combustion of 5-aminotetrazole salts / V. P. Sinditskii, A. E. Fogelzang, A. I. Levshenkov et al. // Proc. Twenty-first International Pyrotechnische Seminar. Moscow, 1995. — Moscow, 1995. — P. 762–773. Enthalpies of formation of 4-amino-1,2,4-triazole coordination compounds / T. Konkova, Y. N. Matyushin, V. Sinditskii, A. Fogelzang // Chemical Physics Reports . — 1995. — Vol. 14, no. 6. — P. 858–864. Термодинамика координационных соединений co(ii), ni(ii), zn и cd с карбогидразидом / Т. С. Конькова, Ю. Н. Матюшин, В. П. Синдицкий, А. Е. Фогельзанг // Химическая физика . — 1995. — Т. 14, № 6. — С. 109–113. Энтальпии образования координационных соединений 4-амино-1,2,4-триазола / Т. С. Конькова, Ю. Н. Матюшин, В. П. Синдицкий, А. Е. Фогельзанг // Химическая физика . — 1995. — Т. 14, № 6. — С. 103–108. Antitumor activity of binuclear cationic complexes of platinum (ii) / A. L. Konovalova, K. I. Yakovlev, A. I. Stetsenko et al. // Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal . — 1994. — Vol. 28, no. 1. — P. 21–24. Compounds of lead nitrate with glyoxime / V. Sinditskii, V. Serushkin, T. Dutova, A. Fogel'zang // Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry . — 1994. — Vol. 39, no. 6. — P. 915–919. Соединения нитрата свинца с глиоксимами / В. П. Синдицкий, В. В. Серушкин, А. Е. Фогельзанг, Т. Я. Дутова // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1994. — Т. 39, № 6. — С. 958–964. Combustion of ammonium and hydrazine azides / A. E. Fogelzang, V. Y. Egorshev, V. P. Sinditsky, V. I. Kolesov // Combustion and Flame . — 1992. — Vol. 90, no. 3-4. — P. 289–294. Spectral characteristics and structure of complexes of zinc and cadmium with hydrazides of carboxylic acids / V. P. Sinditskii, V. I. Sokol, M. D. Dutov et al. // Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry . — 1992. — Vol. 37, no. 2. — P. 167–169. Спектральные особенности и строение координационных соединений цинка и кадмия с гидразидами карбоновых кислот / В. П. Синдицкий, В. И. Сокол, М. Д. Дутов и др. // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1992. — Т. 37, № 2. — С. 352–356. Combustion of nitroderivatives of azidobenzenes and benzofuroxans / A. E. Fogelzang, V. Y. Egorshev, V. P. Sinditsky, M. D. Dutov // Combustion and Flame . — 1991. — Vol. 87, no. 2. — P. 123–135. Synthesis and spectral studies of the 1,2-bis(beta-aminoethyl)diaziridine / V. Sinditskii, A. Fogel'zang, M. D. Dutov, V. V. Kuznetsov // Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry . — 1991. — Vol. 36, no. 4. — P. 535–540. Синдицкий В. П., Дутов М. Д., Фогельзанг А. Е. Колебательные спектры гидразидов (тетразол-1-ил)- и (тетразол-2-ил)уксусных кислот и их дейтерированных аналогов // Химия гетероциклических соединений . — 1991. — № 1. — С. 72–76. Координационные соединения 4-амино-1,2,4-триазола с хлоратами, броматами и нитратами металлов / В. П. Синдицкий, Т. Я. Вернидуб, А. Е. Фогельзанг, Н. А. Зуева // Известия высших учебных заведений. Химия и химическая технология . — 1991. — Т. 34, № 4. — С. 15–19. Синтез и спектральное исследование координационных соединений 1,2-бис(бета-аминоэтил)диазиридина / В. П. Синдицкий, М. Д. Дутов, А. Е. Фогельзанг, В. В. Кузнецов // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1991. — Т. 36, № 4. — С. 944–949. Sinditskii V. P., Vernidub T. Y., Fogel'zang A. E. Complexes of metal azides with carbohydrazide // Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry . — 1990. — Vol. 35, no. 3. — P. 386–388. Complexes of tetrazole-1-acetyl hydrazide with lead salts / V. P. Sinditskii, V. I. Sokol, M. D. Dutov, A. E. Fogelzang // Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry . — 1990. — Vol. 35, no. 9. — P. 1266–1269. The synthesis and study of the structure of coordination compounds of metals with oxamide bis-hydrazone / V. P. Sinditskii, M. D. Dutov, V. I. Sokol et al. // Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry . — 1990. — Vol. 35, no. 12. — P. 1774–1778. Влияние строения органических азидов на закономерности их горения / А. Е. Фогельзанг, В. Ю. Егоршев, В. П. Синдицкий, М. Д. Дутов // Физика горения и взрыва . — 1990. — Т. 26, № 5. — С. 67–76. Синдицкий В. П., Вернидуб Т. Я., Фогельзанг А. Е. Комплексные соединения азидов металлов с карбогидразидом // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1990. — Т. 35, № 3. — С. 685–688. Комплексные соединения тетразолил-1-ацетгидразида с солями свинца / В. П. Синдицкий, В. И. Сокол, М. Д. Дутов, А. Е. Фогельзанг // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1990. — Т. 35, № 9. — С. 2224–2228. Синтез и исследование строения координационных соединений металлов с оксальбисамидразоном / В. П. Синдицкий, М. Д. Дутов, В. И. Сокол и др. // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1990. — Т. 35, № 5. — С. 3124–3130. Fogelzang A. E., Serushkin V. V., Sinditskii V. P. Spontaneous explosion of hexamethylenetriperoxide diamine // Combustion, Explosion, and Shock Waves . — 1989. — Vol. 25, no. 6. — P. 780–781. Исследование горения тетразола и его производных / А. Е. Фогельзанг, В. Ю. Егоршев, В. П. Синдицкий и др. // Горение конденсированных систем. Материалы IX Всесоюзного симпозиума по горению и взрыву. — Черноголовка, Московская область, 1989. — С. 3–6. Vibrational spectra and the structure of metal complexes with 4-amino-1,2,4-triazole as a bidentate ligand / V. P. Sinditskii, V. I. Sokol, A. E. Fogel’zang et al. // Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry . — 1987. — Vol. 32, no. 8. — P. 1149–1152. Колебательные спектры и строение координационных соединений металлов с 4-амино-1,2,4-триазолом в качестве бидентатного лиганда / В. П. Синдицкий, В. И. Сокол, А. Е. Фогельзанг и др. // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1987. — Т. 32, № 8. — С. 1950–1955. Строение комплексных соединений хлоридов, сульфатов, нитратов и перхлоратов металлов с карбогидразином / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Е. Фогельзанг, М. Д. Дутов и др. // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1987. — Т. 32, № 8. — С. 1944–1949. Строение координационных соединений металлов с 4-амино-1,2,4-тиразолом в качестве монодентатного лиганда / В. П. Синдицкий, В. И. Сокол, А. Е. Фогельзанг и др. // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1987. — Т. 32, № 8. — С. 2726–2729. Dutov M. D., Sinditskii V. P., Fogelzang A. E. Nitrotometric titration of carbohydrazide and ethoxycarbohydrazide in presence of transition-metal ions // JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY OF THE USSR . — 1986. — Vol. 41, no. 4. — P. 602–603. Комплексные соединения карбогидразида с солями меди (ii) / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Е. Фогельзанг, М. Д. Дутов и др. // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1986. — Т. 31, № 7. — С. 1759–1765. Дутов М. Д., Синдицкий В. П., Фогельзанг А. Е. Нитритометрическое титрование карбогидразида и этоксикарбогидразида в присутствии ионов переходных металлов // Журнал аналитической химии . — 1986. — Т. 41, № 4. — С. 752–754. Синтез и спектральные исследования комплексных соединений этоксикарбонилгидразина / В. П. Синдицкий, А. Е. Фогельзанг, М. Д. Дутов и др. // Журнал неорганической химии . — 1986. — Т. 31, № 8. — С. 2032–2038. Investigation of the steady-state combustion of initiating explosives at high pressures / A. E. Fogelzang, V. Y. Egorshev, A. Y. Pimenov et al. // Doklady. Physical chemistry : proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR . — 1985. — Vol. 282, no. 4. — P. 619–621. Исследование стационарного горения инициирующих взрывчатых веществ при высоких давлениях / А. Е. Фогельзанг, В. Ю. Егоршев, А. Ю. Пименов и др. // Доклады Академии наук . — 1985. — Т. 282, № 6. — С. 1449–1452.

2019-04-22T21:02:31Z

https://muctr.ru/university/faculty-and-staff/sinditskiy-valeriy-petrovich/

Modern cancer treatment still draws from technology derived from weapons of mass cruelty and destruction (e.g. nitrogen mustard/chemo and radioisotopes/radiotherapy), despite their well known carcinogenicity. Cancer is generally still viewed as a fundamentally chaotic process driven by mutation, rather than what it is: an ancient and surprisingly well-ordered survival mechanism unmasked in response to radically altered conditions associated with modern living. The metaphoric of war, and the psychology of fear that underpins it, also drives cancer pathogenicity (adrenaline-activated multidrug cancer resistance/nocebo-induced death). The colossal failure of the conventional medical system to prevent and treat cancer is driving natural medical therapies back into the forefront after many years of ignorance and suppression (phytocompounds exhibit selective cytotoxicity, and cancer stem cell targeting properties). How declaring war against cancer drives it into greater malignancy. How understanding cancer's true nature will enable us to prevent and in some cases cure it. How the increasing impotence of conventional treatments is making a natural medical Renaissance inevitable. This situation, has been going on for the past 100 years, and is only getting worse. The whole foundation of modern medicine was built on the incorrect premises promoted by Pasteur. The false germ theory, the soil and the seed. There is a clear reason it all is like it is. Money, greed, and profit. Bechamps well proven, (more than a theory), would never have sold millions in chemical based pharma drugs and vaccines. To use Bechamps principals, would effect a true understanding of the cause, and true healing. Everything in the naturopathic was falsely railed on as unproven quackery, while the real quackery they claimed was science based, and the only thing in a medical school that would accepted. We have the Rockefellers and their early oil money to thank for it all, and the way it yet stands today; and The Flexner Report. This is all easily researched and verified. When you even have the power to buy the Encyclopedia Britanica and remove what you do not want in it, essentially rewriting history, then you as well have the total control to deceive the masses, and no one is supposed to be the wiser. Look at the good job they did of it? How many people actually realize that this is why it all remains in the failed situation it is within the medical establishment? They will yet deny that it is and has failed. Nothing would quite obviously ever be enough to get them to face it; as they simply have to much to lose. On a side note, I.G. Farben was the single largest donor to the election campaign of Adolph Hitler. One year before Hitler seized power, I.G. Farben donated 400,000 marks to Hitler, his Nazi party, and his private army (the “SS”). Accordingly, after Hitler’s seizure of power, I.G. Farben was the single largest profiteer of the German conquest of the world during World War II. While millions of people were being imprisoned and murdered, I.G. Farben was profiting. I.G. Auschwitz, a 100% subsidiary of I.G. Farben, was the largest industrial complex of the world for manufacturing synthetic gasoline and rubber for the conquest of Europe. Auschwitz used the concentration camp prisoners as “slave labor” in their factory. But there was no “retirement plan” for the prisoners of Auschwitz. Those who were too frail or too ill to work were selected at the main gate of the Auschwitz factory and sent to the gas chambers. Even the chemical gas Zyklon-B used for the annihilation of millions of innocent people resulted from I.G. Farben’s drawing boards and factories. Let’s go back to 1910 and back to our history lesson on the Flexner Report. In order to build his drug cartel, Rockefeller needed to “re-educate” the medical profession to prescribe more pharmaceutical drugs, so he hired Abraham Flexner to travel the country and assess the success of American medical schools. In reality, there was very little “assessing” going on by Flexner; the results of his study were predetermined. Flexner reported that it was necessary to install a “doorkeeper” to determine which medical schools were allowed through the “medical door” and which ones must remain outside. The report was presented to Congress, and they swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. As we see quite often, politicians are quite willing to enact laws that rob us of our constitutional freedoms under the banner of “public protection.” Just look at what has happened to the USA since the alleged “terrorist” attacks of September 11th. You see, the predetermined purpose of the Flexner Report was to label doctors who didn’t prescribe drugs as “charlatans” and “quacks.” Medical schools that offered courses in natural therapies and homeopathy were told to either drop these courses from their curriculum or lose their accreditation. Is it any wonder that the total number of accredited medical schools in the USA was cut in half between 1910 and 1944? The end result of the Flexner Report was that all accredited medical schools became heavily oriented toward drugs and drug research. It’s a simple economic equation, folks. Keeping the public ignorant about the causes of cancer results in more cancer patients. More cancer patients results in more sales of chemotherapy drugs, more radiation, and more surgery. You see, money, rather than moral ethics, is the deciding factor for the Cancer Industry and the Medical Mafia. To be honest, their goal is to provide temporary relief by treating the symptoms of cancer with drugs, while never addressing the cause of the cancer. This insures regular visits to the doctor’s office and requires the patient to routinely return to the pharmacy to refill his prescriptions. This is what the game is all about folks, plain and simple. Big Pharma is nothing more than a conglomeration of companies that can best be described as glorified “drug pushers.” Deny it or deal with it. Stick your head back in the sand if necessary. Think happy thoughts. Or keep reading and keep an open mind. It’s your choice. The survival of the Medical Mafia and Big Pharma is dependent upon the elimination (by any means) of effective natural health treatments. By making it more difficult to access natural health remedies, these “medical gangsters” are protecting their monopoly while simultaneously feeding their own megalomania. Truth be told, especially relating to cancer treatments, the Medical Mafia and their Big Pharma buddies are running a huge extortion scheme, and their tactics make Pol Pot look like a choir boy! Regardless if you are a doctor or a patient, if you cross the Medical Mafia, then you will likely be visited by one of their “leg-breakers” who will attempt to intimidate and coerce you into submission and obedience. This extraordinary history of the germ theory, among other things, shows that vaccination far from saving millions of lives has cost millions. In destroying Pasteur's ideas, the author has introduced us to Bechamp, whose experiments produced the first scientific evidence of how homoeopathy, acupuncture and all holistic therapies can cure disease while conventional medicine can only treat it. The implications of Bechamp's discoveries are far reaching and have yet to be realized, and it is hoped that this book will be an inspiration to scientists, therapists and the general public who are beginning to sense the futility of the conventional approach. Western Medicine is the #1 Cause of Death in the U.S. Here below is the depth of actual unbiased information you need to review, and to understand; to know that Antoine Bechamps work and what he put forth was actually correct. This is the basics as well as to the understanding of what so called modern medicine has had missing from their microbiology and physiological understanding of the human body. No health care system can progress, until there is a genuine regard for actual prevention and thus as well an understanding that the body is the real healer, and not chemical prescription medicine. The Title "Dead Doctors Don't Lie" was created by Dr. Joel Wallach after years of research on the subject of health and longevity. Dr. Wallach discovered that the life span of the average doctor in America is several years shorter than that of the average couch potato. Dr. Wallach began collecting obituaries of doctors only to find that many were dying of simple nutritional deficiencies. If doctors really knew the truth about health and longevity they should be living longer than anyone else, not dying sooner. This premature death pattern proves that doctors are missing some key elements when it comes to understanding what it takes to live a longer healthier life, hence was born the title... "Dead Doctors Don't Lie". Dr. Joel Wallach talks about how to cure diseases he says are actually caused by physicians. Dr. Wallach came up with a system that helps you supplement all 90 vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. He also talks about being able to rebuild joints with the help of those raw materials. Dr. Joel Wallach says that there are many cures for diseases and conditions available, but they're not available. Dr. Wallach illustrates why this is and what needs to happen to allow certain cures to become mainstream. Traditional Western medicine teaches and practices the doctrines of French chemist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). Pasteur's main theory is known as the Germ Theory Of Disease. It claims that fixed species of microbes from an external source invade the body and are the first cause of infectious disease. The concept of specific, unchanging types of bacteria causing specific diseases became officially accepted as the foundation of allopathic Western medicine and microbiology in late 19th century Europe. Also called monomorphism,(one-form), it was adopted by America's medical/industrial complex, which began to take shape near the turn of the century. This cartel became organized around the American Medical Association, formed by drug interests for the purpose of manipulating the legal system to destroy the homeopathic medical profession. Controlled by pharmaceutical companies, the complex has become a trillion-dollar-a-year business. It also includes many insurance companies, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), hospitals, and university research facilities. The microbian doctrine gave birth to the technique of vaccination that was blindly begun in 1796 by Edward Jenner. Jenner took pus from the running sores of sick cows and injected it into the blood of his "patients." Thus was born a vile practice (immunization/vaccination) whose nature has changed little to this day, and whose understanding is still clouded by Pasteur's theory. This also gave birth to the development of antibiotics, the first being penicillin in 1940. An antibiotic is the poisonous waste from one germ used in the attempt to kill another. Penicillin is the poison from a fungus. This has created the proliferation of aggressive and stubborn forms of resistant strains that haunt us today. The Rife Universal Microscope, developed in the late 1930's and early 1940's, clearly established that germs (microorganisms) are the result of disease (scavengers of dead cells) rather than the cause thereof. If germs are involved, they arise as primary symptoms of that general condition. Though germs don't cause disease, secondary symptoms are produced in response to their activity (commonly called the disease). One reason the conventional medical community doesn't see the big picture is their means of looking at it. A lot depends on how you look at it and what you look at it with. Who is Antoine Bechamp? Why is he important, and what are microzymas, anyway? The key philosophy about the above example is that Germs do not cause disease and instead live in a diseased body (terrain, soil). Pasteur in the late 1800s came up with the germ theory of disease and his rival and one based on stated that germs grow a diseased body. In 1910 John Rockefeller sponsored and supported the germ theory of disease and a huge concept of attack, attack, attack, became the philosophy behind the pharmaceutical industry. It is of great interest to note that Pasteur, on his deathbed, recanted and said the germ is nothing, the terrain is everything! Since Rockefeller, we have been essentially bombarded by the pharmaceutical propaganda and frankly, we have not found the cause nor the cure of one chronic disease since 1910. Also, the United States now ranks 37th in the world and longevity and health care by the World Health Organization. France is #1 and they spend half as much money on healthcare as we do. This article is just a wake-up call for all of those people who have been blinded by the medical pharmaceutical propaganda. Pasteur was not a scientific genious, but a fraud. Pasteur had no training or credentials in either medicine or physiology; he was a chemist.Pasteur very likely created the disease known as "hydrophobia," rather than found a cure for it. Pasteur began the practice of vivisection and horrific animal experiments, which has never been proven to have any value. Why not? In the natural state, animals simply have different diseases from humans. This one error has led us down a costly and finally fruitless path. How can we hope to cure human disease by giving animals diseases they would never have gotten in nature, then pretending that such diseases are the same ones we get, and then seeing which drugs cover up the animal's symptoms? Then we illogically conclude that those same drugs will have the same effect in humans! Idiotic as that sounds, this may be a pretty fair description of how many prescription drugs have found their way to market during the past century. In a hook entitled, "Bechamp or Pasteur," by E. D. Hume, there may be found much proof pertinent to our discussion. A notable failure of the Pasteur treatment was that of a young postman, named Pierre Roscol, who, with another man, was attacked by a dog supposed to be mad, but was not bitten, for the dog’s teeth did not penetrate his clothing; but his companion received severe bites. The latter refused to go to the Pasteur Institute and remained in perfect health; but the unfortunate Roscal was forced by the postal authorities to undergo the treatment, beginning March 9th. On the following April 12th severe symptoms set in with pain at the point of inoculation, not at the place of the bite, for he had never been bitten. On April 14th he died of paralytic "hydrophobia" the new disease brought into the world by Pasteur. There are over 3,000 deaths on record in reports from the Pasteur Institute, of persons bitten by dogs. All died after treatments. On the other hand, the record of the London Hospital, a few years ago, showed 2,668 persons bitten by angry dogs: not one of them developed hydrophobia and not one had been treated by the Pasteur method. Man, if you want to read a horrendous expose on the callamity and harm of vaccination in the day of Pasteur; get to read this one. This whole article is full of the accounts of an endless trail death of both humans and animals, as to his experiments; and remember Pasteur had no medical training other being a supposed chemist. Between 1869 and 1872, Pasteur expounded three erroneous basic postulates that are still used today as the foundation of vaccination. The first put forward that asepsis reigns amongst our cells: the cell is clean, all microbes are exogenous (they come from outside) and attack it, and these germs have an existence that is independent from living organisms. The second is that each illness corresponds to a specific agent, microbial or viral, against which one can protect oneself, thanks to vaccines; the illness has one cause alone, therefore one remedy alone. Finally, immunity is aquired by the production of antibodies in response to the introduction of antigens via the vaccine and these antibodies give protection. It has been well known for some time that these postulates are false, the latest discoveries in immunology contradict them totally. However, the vaccinators feign ignorance of these studies. If each germ provoked an illness, life on Earth would be long gone. Pasteur was wrong, but in this case he is forgiven, it was a simple case of human error. What was less forgivable was his animosity towards Béchamp, the founder of enzymology, who was able to identify minute corpuscles smaller than cells, microzymas. These microzymas are the elements that are truly responsible for life, whether human, animal or vegetable. Microzymas can span centuries but are also able to evolve throughout time. In humans, their form varies according to the general state of the terrain they inhabit and from which they feed. They are as constructive as they are destructive, capable as they are of transforming, mutating and evolving. Had this theory of polymorphism been recognised it would have shaken to its foundation our perception of health and disease. When an imbalance disrupts the normal functioning of microzymas – malnutrition, poisoning, physical or emotional stress – the microzyma transforms into a pathogenic germ, in other words a microbe, and illness follows. From this perspective, all that is necessary is to reinforce the health of the person in order for the internal pathogenic germs to regain their original form and their protective function. 1. Through his experiments re: fermentation he discovered ‘little bodies’, later renamed microzymes. 2. He deduced microzymes to be the smallest independent living organisms. 3. He demonstrated that microzymes naturally change into bacteria when given the right environment (when in a medium of alcohol, the waste product of cellular respiration), even after the death of an organic life-form. 4. Concluded that bacteria can only come alive if the pre-existing organic material had died. 5.Bechamps main conclusion was that bacteria is the result of disease, not the cause, thus directly opposing Pasteurs’ Germ Theory. According to the pathogenic perspective leukocytes (white blood cells) are in fact particles of pathogenic matter which have been condensed into globular bodies which resemble cells. This happens in the lymph nodes of the lymph glands and the trabeculae of the spleen (this explains why when we are ill our glands often become swollen). 1. Lowered vitality and resistance or some kind of invasion or obstruction by foreign matter causes the accumulation of pathogen in the circulation which makes blood more thick and causes congestion of blood in the affected area. 4. Here the leukocytes engage in ‘battle’ with the bacteria and under the proteolytic action of the bacteria they disintegrate into pus. 5. These decomposed leukocytes form the food for the development of microzymes into bacteria which in turn destruct the leukocytes and so forth. On April 15, 1908, Antoine Bechamp, one of the greatest scientists who ever lived died, aged 91. You may well be asking "who cares?" or "why is this important?", as well as "who is this guy?" It is important because Antoine Bechamp was the foremost pioneer of science, medicine, nutrition and genetics of his generation, and his discoveries could have saved humanity immense misery and suffering. He was one of France's most prominent and active researchers and biologists; he had degrees in biology, chemistry, physics, pharmacy, and medicine, and practised, researched and taught in all those fields. He first worked in Strasbourg as a Professor of Physics and Toxicology at the Higher School of Pharmacy, later as Professor of Medical Chemistry at the University of Montpellier and, later still, as Professor of Biochemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lille, all in France. After his death, it took eight pages of the French Moniteur Scientifique (the equivalent publication to that of the National Academy of Sciences) just to list the titles of his professionally published studies. The Moniteur Scientifique said of Antoine Béchamp: "Those of his acquaintance who cared for him and were about him know that he never doubted that one day justice would be rendered him." For many years, Bechamp was forgotten by all but a few diehards and researchers on the fringes of science and medicine. It is only now, with the rise of the internet, that his work and theories are getting the exposure that they deserve. At the time of writing, googling "Antoine Bechamp" gets 10,200 hits -- a long way from Louis Pasteur's 2,310,00, but it is still much more exposure and discussion than his work has had for many years. The English science journal Nature wrote in its obituary that Dr. Béchamp was ensured "an honorable place among the founders of biological chemistry." His would be a household name today if it wasn't for the activities of Louis Pasteur, who history has treated very kindly indeed, considering his fake science, his theft of ideas (mainly from Bechamp), his falsification of experimental data, and in general the many claims that he made which had no basis in fact. But Pasteur, charlatan that he was, doesn't deserve any more mention on this page than is absolutely necessary to document the history of Antoine Bechamp. There will soon be a squidoo lens up for Pasteur, the fraud and fake, and when it appears, the link will be here. The last work by Antoine Béchamp, a man who should, by rights, be regarded today as one of the founders of modern medicine and biology. During his long career as an academic and researcher in nineteenth century France, Béchamp was widely known and respected as both a teacher and a researcher. As a leading academic, his work was well documented in scientific circles. Few made as much use of this fact as Louis Pasteur, who based much of his career on plagiarising and distorting Béchamp’s research; in doing so, Pasteur secured for himself an undeserved place in the history of medical science. "These conditions preclude the use of living material ... the electron beam on an object can damage it and produce unwanted changes in tissue structures. They take a living, changing scene (the blood), and disorganize it, by staining the blood sample. They then take a snapshot of this disorganized situation and interpret it as the entire story. During the study and interpretation of stained tissue sections in microscope preparations, the observed product is the end result of a series of processes that considerably distort the image observable in the living tissue, mainly through shrinking and retraction. It has been suggested in the past that the electron-microscopic specks identified as viruses could, more than likely, be nothing more than particles of lifeless, degraded protein--disintegrated peptides from cellular death--catabolic residues of cytoplasm, or repair proteins produced by the cells in response to the imbalanced biological terrain." Royal Rife was arguably one of the greatest scientific minds of the twentieth century. His instrument (pictured below), which he designed and manufactured himself, was able to view living matter at unheard of magnifications of up to 60,000X, also at excellent resolution. With this extraordinary device, Rife identified microbes in the blood of sick people which seemingly miraculously transformed, under various conditions, one into the other, in classic pleomorphist fashion. He saw sixteen stages in all -- the same number in Gaston Naessens' somatid cycle. Rife was able to observe and prove the reality of pleomorphism. He was able to do this partly because of his advancements with optics, but also because he used light frequencies to highlight his samples, rather than chemical dyes. Using dyes kills the specimen, so tissues cannot be viewed in the natural living state; and studying dead samples to understand living processes is as useless as studying cadavers. How was it that the electron microscope, able to see only inert, inanimate matter has been universally adopted in the world's laboratories, while Rife's machine, able to view animate organisms as they live and move, went into universal limbo? What agenda is at work here? And what is it about the "politics of science" that has led innovators, scientists such as Bechamp, Enderlein, Naessens and Rife, to be brought to trial, and condemned to ridicule and obscurity? The implications of Béchamp's ideas, and the case his discoveries make for lifestyle changes such as wholesome nutrition and environmental, hygienic cleanliness have been ignored, in favor of the brain-dead easiness of the germ theory -- a convenience that profits industry and requires "heroic" and expensive medical interventions. The problem with the pleomorphic model of cell biology and medicine is that is can't support a huge drug and disease industry. Its promise? The same. You can simply look at this uch of it ad see exactly WHY modern medicine has continued fail in the physiological understanding of disease and disorders. You can see as well in this why mainstream simply ca not get vaccine out of their head as the best and only way to prevent virla and bacterial illness.They falsely believe as well that once a virus is on the earth nothing can stop it but a vaccine and will propagate and exist forever. So,thus they simply can beleive anything but their vaccines changed anything. Even though millions remain existing with no vaccine derived immunity, if they ever had any), and have not been vaccinated in decades. Do they think that herd immuity is aqcuired by onky vaccinaing the young, and thus protects all of the rest of society of all ages? See, how mislead -ignorant their mind set, actually is? Pasteur had no training or credentials in either medicine or physiology; he was a chemist. Pasteur very likely created the disease known as "hydrophobia," rather than found a cure for it. Pasteur initiated the practice of vivisection with horrific animal experiments. Hundreds of thousands of laboratory animals have been needlessly killed by atrocious experiments in the name of "science," not only at Pasteurian Institutes, but pervasively throughout the entire empire of medical research laboratories worldwide, even to the present time. Rather than protect the human race from disease, Pasteur was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people who were inoculated with unproven vaccines and injections, and indirectly for thousands more in whom disease was introduced by the administration of unproven Pasteurian procedures. Pasteur may be seen more as a merchant than a scientist, with his frequent reporting of false test findings and data, which had two designs: self-promotion and profiteering from the sale of drugs and vaccines that were often made mandatory by legislators. Pasteurian treatment for a disease he did not even have actually killed Alexander, the King of Greece. Pasteur did not work on naturally diseased subjects, but instead introduced the idea of inducing sickness by giving morbid (diseased) injections into healthy subjects. "The entire fabric of the germ theory of disease rests upon assumptions which not only have not been proved, but which are incapable of proof, and many of them can be proved to be the reverse of truth. The basic one of these unproven assumptions, wholly due to Pasteur, is the hypothesis that all the so-called infectious and contagious disorders are caused by germs." How did Pasteur's ideas become the foundation of organized medicine? Politics. Pharmaceutical economics. Politics never changes. The same type of thinking that imprisoned Galileo long ago for discovering that the earth went around the sun, the rulers' eternal attempt to control the minds of their subjects, these are the forces that cast Pasteur, an ambitious opportunist, into a position he may not have deserved - the supposed Trailblazer in the science of modern biomedicine. Funny how things often don't really get "discovered" until the commercial aspects of that discovery have been worked out. We're talking about marketing here, yes? "Diseases are not individuals arranged in classes like cats and dogs, but conditions growing out of one another. The specific disease is the grand refuge of the weak, uncultured, unstable minds, such as now rule in the medical profession. There are no specific diseases; there are specific disease conditions." Pasteur began the practice of vivisection and horrific animal experiments, which has never been proven to have any value. Why not? In the natural state, animals simply have different diseases from humans. This one error has led us down a costly and finally fruitless path. How can we hope to cure human disease by giving animals diseases they would never have gotten in nature, then pretending that such diseases are the same ones we get, and then seeing which drugs cover up the animal's symptoms? The we illogically conclude that those same drugs will have the same effect in humans! Idiotic as that sounds, this may be a pretty fair description of how many prescription drugs have found their way to market during the past century. Without going on for pages and pages with data that substantiate the above ideas, suffice it to say that Pasteurian methods may not have been quite the success we have always been taught that they were. The reader is referred to the chapter on Vaccinations, and to Hans Ruesch's Naked Empress. So with most of the major researchers eventually coming around to the same conclusion, how is it that on the threshold of the 21st century, organized medicine in this country still acts as though the Germ Theory is carved in stone and all policy proceeds from this premise? And most people still believe it? The answer to that is out there too, and can be gotten to with just a little more patience. Roll forward now to the 1880s and 1890s. The Industrial Revolution, the age of coal, of oil, of electricity, of machines, of railroads and automobiles. Two figures towered over this era, wielding more power over science, industry, finance, and politics than possibly anyone else in history. Of course we're now speaking of Andrew Carnegie and J.D. Rockefeller. The control of Carnegie and Rockefeller over most aspects of American life is something to marvel at and appreciate, even extending to the present day. Change was taking place faster than the politicians could control it, and for once in our history, control was in the private sector. Without going into a long political harangue, I just want to touch on one aspect of the way that power was expressed - the rise of organized medicine. Among many other things, Carnegie and Rockefeller controlled the oil and coal industries. By 1900, they became aware that these industries were producing mountains of waste year by year. An original idea was presented: what if these chemical waste materials could somehow be turned to profit? Capital idea, but how? Medicines, that's how. But medicines like the world has never seen. Medicines made from chemicals. Pharmaceuticals. Brilliant idea. But how could the people be made to accept such a strange notion? That was the problem. They just took natural cures and occasionally consulted the country or local doctor for something "serious." The way to gain general acceptance of the new medicines soon became obvious: standardize the education, training, and credentialing of medical doctors and raise their economic status to a level where they would follow policy. And the policy would come from above. " a great agency devoted to strengthening American education through scientific inquiry and policy studies." Any time billionaires tell you they're going to devote themselves to something for you, that's usually the time to check your wallet. Ever notice that? The Foundation became immensely successful. Control of educational standards came about in this way: in order to qualify for the new pension system, a participating institution had to meet standards set by the Foundation. In the first year, only 52 of the 421 colleges who applied were accepted. The Foundation soon took on a life of its own. Not to be outdone by the Carnegie Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation also came into ascendancy at this time. Again employing the direction of Abraham Flexner, the Rockefeller Foundation developed national standards for medical schools that were seeking "philanthropic" support. Good word. In 1904 there were 5747 medical doctors. Only 15 years later, after the Flexner Report, by 1919, there were only 2658. In that same 15 year period, the number of medical schools went from 162 to 81. (Lisa p 26) The cut had been made - Rockefeller was screening who was going to play ball from who wasn't. Schools had to be connected to a large university. Universities had to be linked with clinical departments with laboratories and a university hospital. Using Rockefeller Funds, Flexner was able to develop a small group of elite medical schools that were clinically oriented. They already had the raw materials for the new drugs. What was lacking was an academic power-base to legitimize their development and general use. The infrastructure for education, funding, research and the organization of medicine that persists today was created in a few short years. Ever wonder how simple folk medicine which had been around for centuries was chucked out the window so fast? Set up under the guidance and specifications of two of the biggest economic forces in history, Carnegie and Rockefeller, organized medicine became an industry, with its focus on market growth. An industry concerned with disease is not about to abolish itself by curing the diseased, now is it? This is why all these years, effective inexpensive non-pharmaceutical remedies have been systematically suppressed. It's just good business. The fact that it had been repudiated by its founder and most of his contemporaries was no longer mentioned in circles who expected next year's funding. The Germ Theory fit well with the new market-oriented paradigm of medicine: if bad bugs are out there causing diseases, we better find drugs to kill them. It was a natural, a marriage of expediency, like Bill and Hillary. Up into the 1920s, the burgeoning medical industry was gaining strength. It was aided by the declining incidence of infectious diseases due to improved sanitation, for which medicine took credit. That is an entire story in itself, and a good starting point would be The Sanctity of Human Blood. The politics of medicine was becoming stronger year by year, as new institutions were built and funding was doled out for those research projects that had the best potential for future market value. The worldwide flu epidemic of 1918 that killed millions proved that the new "scientific" approach had a lot to learn about disease prevention. There was simply no cure, as the virus tore through the world's population. "...doctors fight the imaginary foe without ceasing. The people are so saturated with the idea that disease must be fought to a finish that they are not satisfied with conservative treatment. Something must be done, even if they pay for it with their lives, as tens of thousands do every year. This willingness to die on the altar of medical superstition is one very great reason why no real improvement is made in fundamental medical science." 1926? Sounds like 2015. More deja vu. In 1928, however, the Germ Theory got a power boost that has lasted almost to the present day. Dr. Alexander Fleming, a British scientist, accidentally discovered that his cultures were being destroyed by a certain mould. For the next 14 years, scientists in England and America were successful in isolating and testing penicillin, in secret. However, in 1942 a fire at The Cocoanut Grove, Boston's oldest nightclub, killed and injured hundreds of people. Penicillin was rushed to Boston in time to prevent infection from burns in hundreds of patients. The news exploded, and the race to mass-produce penicillin, the Wonder Drug, was on. By 1944, all American military requirements for penicillin could be met. Merck to the rescue. This one event, the discovery of penicillin, did more to bring credibility to organized medicine than probably anything else in its history. To be able to prevent infection was certainly a miraculous and wonderful power. Thousands and thousands of people had died from infection down through the ages. Finally here was proof positive of the correctness of the Germ Theory: these patients had died from bad bacteria, and now if only the bacteria were killed with penicillin, the patients would live. " The greatest possibility of evil in self-medication is the use of too-small doses, so that instead of clearing up infection the microbes are educated to resist penicillin..." Think of it this way: the oldest living things on earth are bacteria and viruses. They have been around for billions of years. They have persisted through myriads of changeful environments - hot, cold, wet, dry, with oxygen, without oxygen, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciers - you name it. They're still around. Thousands of species of plants and animals have come and gone because they couldn't adapt. So it's pretty safe to say that on this planet, the masters of adapting are bacteria and viruses. Now suddenly in the 1940s, we introduce a new substance into the human population: penicillin, a substance which kills all bacteria. Do you think bacteria might have run into some other stresses in the past 10 billion years? Probably have. How did they survive? They changed - doctors say 'mutated.' The ones that mutated survived; the rest died. Exposed to antibiotics, if bacteria can change and survive, they are said to be drug-resistant. Superbugs. Since the 1940s, many antibiotics have been developed until today there are about 160 types. The problem is that most are just slightly different versions of a few main types. And resistance to those main types has increased year by year. Drug resistance is today one of the leading causes of deaths in the U.S.: More than 70 thousand patients die each year from it, according to the National Institutes of Health.(Garrett) These patients acquired the infection while they were in a hospital being treated for something else, according to the May 1997 documentary The Coming Plague. No known antibiotics can help these patients, and they die. in 1946, about 88% of Staphylococcus infections could be cured by penicillin. In the 1960s, doctors switched the resistant staph patients to another antibiotic called methecillin. That worked for awhile, but not for long. By 1992, at least 40% of these staphylococcus infections were resistant to methecillin, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, 28 Apr 94. By 1993, only one sure fire Staphylococcus killer remained: Vancomycin was the big gun. However today that is no longer true. Today there are many strains of staphylococcus that are resistant to vancomycin. That means also resistant to penicillin and to methecillin. What's left? Nothing. Out of drugs. Let's talk strep. Many of the resistant Streptococcus infections have made headlines in the past few years if the patients die a particularly gruesome death. Examples of this are stories of the "flesh-eating disease" which appear from time to time in the news. This is a strain of Group A streptococcus that is resistant to all antibiotics and can attack flesh, muscles, and organs. Now we all know that newspapers are generally not reliable sources of information because they tend to twist facts and over dramatize things and create crises in order to sell more papers. So things have not yet reached the state of affairs that we saw in the movie "Outbreak" with Dustin Hoffman. But many credible medical authorities have been quoted as saying that it's no longer a question of if a scenario like the Ebola epidemic portrayed in that movie could happen. Rather it's a question of when. Today 30% of Strep pneumoniae are resistant to penicillin, once the drug of choice with almost 100% results. Today 30% of gonorrhea cases are resistant to both penicillin and tetracycline, which ten years ago was almost 100% effective. The CDC no longer recommends these two drugs for gonorrhea. Fred Tenover, PhD of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has said: "We even have some strains [of streptococcus] now, although not all, that are resistant essentially to all of our clinically useful antibiotics." How serious is this problem of resistant bacteria? I guess death is a fairly serious outcome: 70,000 Americans are dying annually from bacterial infections they caught in the hospital, which no antibiotics could cure. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, Apr 94, of the 40 million patients hospitalized every year,2 million acquire infections after they get to the hospital. That's a one in 20 chance. As many as 60% of those 2 million infections involve antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In some ICUs, there can be as high as a 70% chance of nosocomial infection! Nosocomial means acquired IN the hospital. TB is a mycobacterium . Mycobacteria can survive in tissues for years, in a latent state, waiting for an opportunity such as a depressed immune system to become active and multiply. So what are most doctors doing about this situation of antibiotic resistance? They are in a very tough position, that is certain. Because of the control of information, most of the population today is unaware of the extent of drug resistance in this country. Even if they encounter a doctor who is cautious enough to tell them that perhaps they or their child do not need an antibiotic at the first sniffle, patients will often go to another doctor to get the antibiotic. So usually the physician will just come across: some recent studies have shown 10 out of 10 doctors will simply prescribe an antibiotic for minor colds, with no culture. It is astounding to learn that the average child of nine in this country has already had 17 runs of antibiotics in his lifetime! Why is that a problem? 1. Most people stop taking the antibiotic as soon as they feel better. Isn't that true? They think they're fine, but what they just did was allow some bacteria to survive in a mutated form which is now resistant to the antibiotic they just took. Which means that next time the drug won't work. Here's another interesting word: prophylactic. We're not talking about birth control here. This is another sense of the word: if you have a cold, it's usually virus. So why do they give you antibiotics, which only kill bacteria? The word is "prophylactic"; we're gonna give you a prophylactic dose of antibiotics. That means just in case you develop a "secondary" bacterial infection as a "complication" of the viral infection. Is that likely? Not very. The problem is, antibiotics are not M&Ms. They are powerful drugs which kill all your body's bacteria every time you take them. This is what is known as a Side Effect. It starts almost at birth - you know, the ear infection thing. Otitis media, they call it. At the slightest redness around the ear, or the slightest little sniffle, any good mother will drag her baby into any good doctor for a checkup, right? Prescription? Antibiotics. Yes ma'am, we'll kill those bad bugs before they ever get a chance to get started. Almost 100% of the time, the child would have recovered anyway, without drugs, just like they did for all those centuries before 1940. Kids are supposed to be sick sometimes, just like trees are supposed to be in storms. That's how they build strength. The overdrugged, overprotected, artificially raised American kids are among the sickest, most allergic, most asthmatic, and most overweight children in the civilized world. Healthy kids don't get sick. And it starts with the infant's immune system being unnecessarily weakened by inappropriate antibiotics from oversolicitous parents and from doctors rightfully fearful of litigation and from drug companies hungry for a profit. Yes, yes, we know all about the dangers of spinal meningitis. But let's look at the natural incidence of meningitis in the undrugged, unvaccinated population. Miniscule, compared with the prodigious amount of actual immune system detriment which continues to be wrought by the excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics. Leave those kids alone, (continued)! What's wrong with killing all my body's bacteria a few times a year when it's not particularly necessary? Probiotics, that's what. Huh? Probiotics. Good bacteria. There are some 300 types of good bacteria at work in the colon which are necessary for many life functions, including complete digestion, absorption of vitamins and nutrients, and keeping the numbers of potentially pathological bacteria in check. Antibiotics kill all of them. It may take weeks or months for the body to rebuild its normal bacteria, which are called flora. This makes for incomplete digestion, also known as putrefaction, rancidity, or rotting of intestinal contents. Like John Wayne. Autopsy showed 44 pounds of undigested food in his intestines when he died! Think how heavy that would feel all those years. Guess nobody ever told The Duke about probiotics, because he sure didn't have any. Another problem with killing all the body's bacteria is that it is no longer possible. The pervasiveness of antibiotics through the human race by pills, food, and the animals we eat has promoted the survival of mutant (resistant) bacteria. Scientists have now made the amazing discovery of finding antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the bodies of African tribesmen who live in total isolation from 'civilization,' with no access to drugs whatsoever! (Garrett) The point is, in 50 years, virtually everyone has developed some degree of immunity to antibiotics, directly or indirectly. The mutant strains are now normal flora. So the more we now take "broad spectrum" antibiotics, the more we destroy the old non-resistant strains. What's left? The mutants. Most medical authorities in the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the World Health Organization agree on one idea: antibiotic resistance will be the #1 health challenge of the 21st century. That will be the area in which we will see the greatest increase in the death rate: infections with no cure. One hidden source of antibiotics is FOOD. Half the antibiotics produced in this country, which totals 50 million pounds per annum, according to federal statistics, are given to animals like poultry and cattle. 80% of animal antibiotics are given to promote growth, not health. (Levy, p140) Antibiotics are also used extensively on fruit trees and other plants, and even in fish hatcheries. Food processing does not destroy the antibiotics. When we take them in with the food, many of these animal antibiotics are still strong enough to have an effect on our body's bacteria. This further complicates the problem of resistance. Today people may be resistant to antibiotics they never even got from the doctor. The animal antibiotics are getting stronger all the time. According to the Journal of the South American Veterinary Association, 1996, a recent antibiotic called salinomycin was given to a herd of cattle. The drug killed 10% of the cattle from heart failure! Even the FDA has known about the spillover of antibiotics from animals to humans for a long time. As far back as 1976, FDA Commissioner Donald Kennedy was publicly campaigning to ban antibiotics from animal feed. (New Eng J Med, 9 Sep 1976) Lobbying from the drug companies won out, and high dosages in livestock continue to the present time. Antibiotics is a $23 billion/year industry in the U.S. Its overall purpose is not, nor ever was, health. Its purpose is market growth. As an industry, it is a victim of its own success. Stuart Levy, MD writes that having taken antibiotics as though they were M&Ms for so many years has "caused a destruction of the armor of antibiotic, what I call destroying the miracle." Now maybe you're saying, oh don't worry about drug resistance - they'll come up with something new. Think again. "...few new antibiotics are in the development pipeline, and indeed no novel class of antibiotics has been introduced into medical practice in more than 20 years. All recently introduced antibiotic compounds are permutations (improved versions) of pre-existing compounds." Two of the major limitations ... are the high cost - about $300 million per new chemical entity - and the observation that many of the larger multinational companies have actually decreased their activities or even ceased to invest in the discovery of new antibiotics." What a surprise. So much for selfless dedication to humanity. Thanks a lot, guys. Want to talk about money? Here is a chart of U.S. hospital purchases of antibiotics, published in Jeffrey Fisher's book The Plague Maker. "Unfortunately, we played a trick on the natural world by seizing control of these chemicals, making them more perfect in a way that has changed the whole microbial constitution of the developing countries. We have organisms now proliferating that never existed before in nature. We have selected them. We have organisms that probably caused a tenth of a percent of human diseases in the past that now cause twenty, thirty percent of the disease that we're seeing. We have changed the whole face of the earth by the use of antibiotics." You can make all sorts of excuses, but here's the way it looks to many researchers: Mankind took this incredibly fortuitous gift - antibiotics - and let it be egregiously overprescribed and misused, for profit. And now we're down this road we can't come back from. Antibiotics have always had, and still have, only one proper application: the life-threatening situation. Not colds, not sniffles, not just-in-case anything. A life-threatening situation. Period. We screwed up. Antibiotics really were a miracle drug and they really did save thousands of lives. But that time is coming to an end. The 1990s have brought a resurgence of bacterial and viral diseases, after almost 50 years of complete control over infectious diseases, according to the Apr 94 New England Journal of Medicine. If dissemination of antibiotics had been controlled by scientists instead of by drug reps and doctors and HMO execs, perhaps the epidemic of resistance which has now befallen us would not exist. At least not so soon. I'm talking about the scientists who have known all along what Fleming knew, what Bechamp knew, and what Pasteur himself finally admitted: that bugs don't cause disease and that drugs don't cure them. Antibiotics were and are for one thing only: life-threatening infections. Not minor colds. Not minor ear infections. Children need to be sick sometimes. That's how they build their own immune defenses. It's OK to get a cold once in awhile; it gives the body a chance to use its powers of defense, like fever, inflammation, coughing, and swelling. These symptoms are not the illness. They are just signs that the body is successfully attempting to restore its own balance. To attack the symptoms is to fight the body itself and make it that much more difficult to return to a state of normal health. A body allowed to heal itself will be far more resilient, more RESISTANT in the future. That's the kind of resistance we want. What we call disease is very often simply Nature's method for ridding the body of poisons. For example, take FEVER. Fevers are generally good. The brain raises the temperature of the body for a reason - something has triggered an inflammation and the body is trying to make an inhospitable environment for the irritant and throw it off. Basic detox. Tylenol, ice baths, and drugs may interfere with the body's most instinctive first line of defense. Think how arrogant that is. Who knows better than your body when to turn up the thermostat? Now in that rare one in 5 million event where there's a danger of meningitis or the patient is delirious and remains in a very high fever for days on end - that may be the time to consider drugs. Like I said, life-threatening situations. But how often does that happen? When do we take antibiotics? Usually the first sign of a cold or fever. When we're young, they work. But most people use up all their ammunition early. Remember - average is 17 runs of antibiotics by the age of nine. Then when something serious happens, drugs fail. Not only are the bacteria now resistant; the body has never been given the opportunity to develop its own defenses, its own immune system. The result is just what the market growth drug industry wanted: a nation of people who are always sick, get colds a few times a year, have frequent headaches and digestive disorders and every few years get a "major" illness. Oh yes, and two thirds of whom will die either of heart disease or cancer. Same with infection. Infection follows inflammation. Some antigen has been identified and the body has mobilized its forces - the white cells - to wall off the area. The invader is attacked and many white cells are killed in the process. Pus is simply the accumulation of dead white cells that have done their job. Limited infection is not an emergency. It simply means that the body's defenses are working. "... every so-called disease is a crisis of Toxemia; which means that toxin has accumulated in the blood above the toleration point, and the crisis, the so-called disease - call it cold, flu, pneumonia, headache, or typhoid fever - is a vicarious elimination. Nature is endeavoring to rid the body of toxin. Any treatment that obstructs this effort at elimination baffles nature in her effort of self-curing." Therefore, the imagination that sees the immune system as a fight between good and bad cannot be held up completely anymore. The immune system in the alleged sense does not exist. Only the facts remain, but not the alleged system. That does not mean that such reactions are completely harmless! On the contrary, they can be very violent and a great strain under certain circumstances and may lead to death in single cases (dependent on the intensity and duration of the preceding sympatheticotonia)! But basically, the appearance of microbes is a sign of the second phase of disease, the vagotone healing phase. In other words, the “Pathogens” only occur in a definite terrain and under definite innervation, but never do they appear in the state of perfect health in which the sympathetic and vagotone part of the autonomous nervous system are balanced – in eutonia. Only the change of the terrain, the milieu – via a central controlling error (a kind of emergency or special program of nature) – favor the growth of and increase in microbes. This also became clear to Pasteur, in the course of time, when he recognized in his later years the validity of the research work of his contemporary and opponent Bêchamp and admitted that the organism at first gets ill and in succession, bacteria and viruses can proliferate. Finally, Pastuer admitted: “La bactérie n’est rien, le terrain c’est tout.” – “The microbe is nothing. The terrain is everything.” At the end of his life the father of microbiology was convinced that microbes are only the indicator of disease, not at all the originators. Moreover, he (even as a non-homeopath) became aware of the phenomena of suppression: “If you think to destroy disease by merely suppression and killing bacteria then you can experience horrible wonders”. Also, Virchow, the founder of cellular pathology remarked “The disease is in the cells”, recognizing at the end of his life, the vital force, and thereby the central pillar of Homeopathy. “However the established medicinal doctrine maintains unaffected to Virchows and Pasteurs ‘sins of youth’ until now.” states Dr. Otto Eichelberger, a famous homeopath of our time. According to these correlations, each disease has a biphasic process, provided the disease achieves the second phase at all, and is controlled primarily by our “control center”, the brain what can be made visible by means of modern technology (computer tomography of the brain, CCTs, without contrast medium), i.e. can be made visible and proven and is “scientifically” reproducible. The microbes cannot be real agents and triggers of disease because they only appear in the second phase of disease. Therefore, even the term “Pathogen” is held in error (and written in quotation marks here). In principle, these microbes are, at best, indicators of the second phase of disease, the actual healing phase! There always precedes a permanent stress stage of the ANS (see Fig. 1). They only appear within a certain terrain and with a definite innervation, in fact, the permanent vagotonia. This emergency or special program of nature favors the systematic growth and increase in the form of definite microbes, depending on the location, i.e. the organ or type of tissue. Thus they are conducted consciously, even volitionally, and have their physiological cleansing function in dependence of their belonging to the germ layer lineage, determined ontogenetically: either to replace tissue under discharge of mucous which was destroyed during the stress phase of the disease, or to ablate tissue which has proliferated before. And when there is no need for them anymore they are phased out (which, when one is unaware of the connections, looks to be an acute defense under the microscope). Thus, the imagination that sees the immune system as a fight between good and bad with its related antigen-antibody theory, when looked at in terms of the central pillar of immunological response is to be seen as antiquated. Therefore, it can not be a matter of habit which provides immunity and much less, that the forced inoculation with microbes, as in vaccination, which – if everything flows smoothly –causes the production of certain antibodies. The inoculation with microbes in a healthy organism for the purpose of “training” the immune system, which is not in the vagotone phase – for vaccinations are mostly done in eutonia [Fig. 1] – will have inevitable consequences. The organism is in no way prepared for the invasion of such microorganisms during eutonia, and least of all for such different microbes that do not occur in nature! There is no child who comes down with diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, meningitis and polio simultaneously! Thus, vaccinations cannot be a systematically active training of the immune system but are the cause for a totally confused immune system! A doctrine of established medicine is to combat constantly the occurrence of microbes, without being aware that the healing phase of disease is thereby directly wiped out. The natural balance in the organism is confused by crude therapeutic measures, without actually touching the cause of disease. This is clearly evident when antibiotics and cortisone are given. Cortisone, a stress hormone, which affects the brain directly (mainly the cerebrum) by suppressing the healing stage (permanent vagatonia) of disease and brings the patient back to the permanent sympatheticotonia (stress stage) [Fig. 1]. This is clearly evident in case of neurodermatitis. This seems to be cured by cortisone initially due to the disappearance of symptoms but is brought “back to the beginning” in reality, with regard to time, (to the permanent sympatheticotonia or stress stage of disease), which means that the skin eruption in a new effort to elicit cure has to appear again (passing through the vagotone healing phase again) and in most cases this reappearance is worse than before. But the absence of the reappearance of the skin eruption does not mean a “real“ cure because we normally can find other health disturbances afterwards, in terms of substitutive processes such as: Bronchial asthma, spastic bronchitis, epileptic seizures and much more, depending on the weak point of the organism and ones miasmatic predisposition. The phenomena – no rarity nowadays – is called suppression: a disease disappears only to be displaced by another disease which is often much worse (see above). Energetically it is still the same disease, the only difference is that it has changed its place of events. Normally the superficial disease is driven to a deeper level and gets aggravated or complicated. The same – mutatis mutandis – is valid for many contagious diseases (so-called infectious diseases), which are treated by antibiotics or other immune suppressive medicines as is seen in today’s often occurring scarlatina relapse. I have known many children in my practice who have gotten ill of scarlatina 8-10 times! Scarlatina is basically a quite harmless children’s disease and only when it is constantly suppressed by heroic medicines, so that the curative skin eruption, in terms of a cleansing process does not appear, the disease can take a dangerous course and lead to later complications. The outgrowth, for which the doctrine of the germ theory has undertaken, can be read in an article in Focus, February 1998. Where we can read, according to the vaccine report of the WHO, there are vaccines for approximately 60 different diseases. Many are in their last testing phase, among them: diarrhea, otitis media, stomach ulcer, borreliosis and respiratory infections. A lunacy beyond comparison, especially with regard to the miasms which are aggravated exorbitantly by these types of measures! “Quite soon we will be able to vaccine against each disease. And the number of possible combinations is almost unlimited”, states Dr. Klaus Gritz (former president of the “Berufsverband der Kinder- und Jugendärzte” and member of the “Ständige Impfkommission [STIKO]”). This is an undertaking that is doomed to failure, right from the beginning, because of the natural laws. On the other hand, the way seems to be paved and preassigned to cause much more chronic diseases – already we are seeing this in early childhood. Infants already suffer from Bronchial asthma, colitis ulcerosa (a chronic inflammatory intestinal disease), epilepsy and other diseases which are incurable according to orthodox medical practice, and the number is constantly increasing! If the above prescribed “program” becomes reality then the curve of chronic diseases in the early childhood will change progressively. Public health – good bye! By equating immunity with the existence of specific antibodies in the blood as is done by orthodox medicine, the approach is reduced to a mere materialistic aspect, which implicates the specific artificial buildup of antibodies and constant combating of microbes in acute cases. But our immune system is much more complex! It can never be reduced to a mere materialistic component like the existence of this or that concentration of antibodies. This proves to be too simple and moreover false! Let’s remember the homeopathic idea of the vital force in this connection, the immaterial, energetic controlling center of the organism, which facilitates all chemical and immunological reactions. Thus, the antigen-antibody-theory as the supporting pillar of immunity should be disproved definitely and belong to the past. Already Pasteur seems to have guessed this, because he “deceived” the public consciously at the time and committed scientific fraud several times by “sugarcoating” the, in reality, less convincing results of his studies. But this could only be discovered in 1993 – after more than 20 years of scientific triage and study of Pasteur’s private records of his laboratory work (approx. 10.000 pages) by Dr. Gerald L. Geison from the Institute of History of the University Princeton (USA). Also, charts and graphical illustrations about the course of plagues of the last 150 years take the same line and show consistently that vaccinated people get more often and more violently ill than non-vaccinated people. This is not astonishing, considering that their immune system was destroyed “systematically”. Good luck getting this below book, but it should be on the shelves of every doctors office out there. And they are entirely oblivious to this information. They would likely tell it was all a tin hat conspiracy theory; whle they continue on their misguided travels to retirement in a profession that should be and should have been extinct 100 years ago, as to its understanding of physiological health. It is a paradox that a group ostensibly so concerned as the AMA with the qualifications of doctors for the practice of medicine failed to be disturbed by Flexner's lack of qualifications for the task he undertook. Flexner was neither a phvsician nor a scientist, and had no qualifications as a medical educator. He had an undergraduate degree in arts from Johns Hopkins and had operated a small, private, and apparently profitable preparatory school in Louisville for fifteen years. It is unlikely, if not inconceivable, that he would have been accepted in a court of law as an expert witness in the field of medical education before he undertook his study. The supression of the chiropractic practice. Article: Does chiropractic strengthen immunity? Frederick Robert Klenner, (October 22, 1907 – May 20, 1984) was an American medical researcher and doctor in general practice in Reidsville, North Carolina. From the 1940s on he experimented with the use of vitamin C megadosage as a therapy for a wide range of illnesses, most notably polio. He authored 28 research papers during his career. He was one of the originators of orthomolecular medicine, but his work remains largely unaddressed by established medicine. Klenner is the subject or mentioned or referenced in a number of orthomolecular medicine related papers and articles. A recent book broadly updating Klenner's cumulative vitamin C work is dedicated to him and he is profiled in Medical Mavericks. In 1949 Klenner published in and presented a paper to the American Medical Association detailing the complete cure of 60 out of 60 of his patients with polio using intravenous sodium ascorbate injection Galloway and Seifert cited Klenner's presentation to the AMA in a paper of theirs. Generally, he gave 350 to 700 mg per kilogram body weight per day. He described giving up to 300,000 milligrams (mg) per day of neutral pH sodium ascorbate. Klenner published 27 medical papers, most about vitamin C applications for over 30 diseases, two about treatment of severe neuropathies including multiple sclerosis using aggressive supplementation]. He wrote a 28th paper ca 1980, an unpublished update about MS treatment. It was posthumously summarized by Lendon Smith in the Clinical Guide to the Use of Vitamin C. There IS scientific PROOF that natural (non-toxic) cancer treatments completely heal patients with stage 4 cancer. Meet Nicholas Gonzalez, MD as he talks about our healing potential. The perspective of contemporary molecular biology. Dr. John Beard's study of the mammalian placenta led him to the conclusion that in its early incarnation, this tissue behaves much as a cancerous tumor. He then proposed that pancreatic enzymes regulate placental development, and in turn represent the body’s main defense against cancer. In 1911, he published The Enzyme Treatment of Cancer to favorable reviews. Though in his lifetime the scientific community never embraced his ideas about cancer – he died in relative obscurity in 1924 – in recent years, evidence from molecular biology and stem cell research increasingly confirms many of Dr. Beard’s fundamental precepts. This historic work is now available again, in a carefully recreated reproduction with a foreword by Dr. Gonzalez. Dr Nicholas Gonzalez has a clinic in New York and treats cancer patients with a cancer diet therapy that includes pancreatic enzymes and a host of natural compounds and vitamins as part of a total cancer nutrition package. He completed a clinical trial on his therapy with patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, supervised by the National Cancer Institute and funded by Nestle. The results of that study were published in the peer reviewed journal Nutrition and Cancer and reported the best results ever in the treatment of the disease. Louis Pasteur gave us the “germ theory” of disease; he said that germs cause disease. That is why pharmaceutical companies are interested in inventing right cure (drug) for each germ and spending millions of dollars. Claude Bernard, strong critic of Pasteur’s work, a physiologist and heralded as the Father of Experimental Medicine—who made the statement amidst a group of physicians and scientists, “The terrain (tissue environment) is everything; the germ is nothing.” As contrary as it seems, germs are attracted to the diseased tissues; they are not the primary cause of it. It is loss of health in the underlying tissues. Germs are scavengers; they cannot live in healthy tissue! Louis Pasteur On his death bed admitted that "Bernard is correct. The bacteria are nothing. The soil (tissue environment) is everything." Pasteur was revealing to the world that his germ theory of disease was concocted and false. Sad, isn’t it, that modern doctors still believe his wrong view about disease and its cause. (Of course now denied that ever happened by all of modern medicine, that must discredit and deny the truth). Florence Nightingale, one of the most famous nurses in history said, "There are no specific diseases; there are specific disease conditions." If you keep your body tissues in healthy condition and follow the health laws in your daily life then Microbes will have no place inside your body. All because they refuse to actually understand the concepts of the soil and the seed that Bechamp knew 100 years ago, and tested with the first and crude but working form of darkfield blood microscopy. What did the FDA do? They banned the use of it in any diagnostic testing for any human being. Ask why? They would learn to much about what was actually going on in the human body, and the life force of health is of course within the bloodstream. I N M O N K E Y S ? BY S I M O N F L E X N E R AND P A U L A. L E W I S . The Flexner Report is a book-length study of medical education in the United States and Canada, written by the professional educator Abraham Flexner and published in 1910 under the aegis of the Carnegie Foundation. Many aspects of the present-day American medical profession stem from the Flexner Report and its aftermath. When Flexner researched his report, "modern" medicine faced vigorous competition from several quarters, including osteopathic medicine, chiropractic medicine, eclectic medicine, naturopathy and homeopathy. Flexner clearly doubted the scientific validity of all forms of medicine other than that based on scientific research, deeming any approach to medicine that did not advocate the use of treatments such as vaccines to prevent and cure illness as tantamount to quackery and charlatanism. Medical schools that offered training in various disciplines including eclectic medicine, physiomedicalism, naturopathy, and homeopathy, were told either to drop these courses from their curriculum or lose their accreditation and underwriting support. A few schools resisted for a time, but eventually all complied with the Report or shut their doors. The flaw with the Flexner Report is the same flaw that has brought us to today’s broken medical system. When a product is forcefully limited to be provided by a certain central group (in this case the AMA), it will reduce choice and competition. Choice and competition in a free marketplace are what drive businesses to become more efficient and productive, which provides the greatest possible benefits to individuals who are able to freely buy and sell in the market. A strong, sustainable system built for individuals cannot come from a manipulative central source, it must come from the demands and choices of the people whom it is intended to help. Government regulatory standards do not necessarily serve the individual as many people believe. In the case of medical care, the Flexner Report recognized many flaws with education that the free market was already weeding out on its own. Rather than allow people and communities to make their own choices with doctors, medicine, and education, it was all placed in the hands of the AMA and state governments, thus limiting the supply. This resulted in less doctors, more expensive education, and decreased access to medical care. A central system concentrates power into the hands of a select few individuals, groups, and organizations who have the means to control that respective market. A free market divides that power among individuals who have the ability to make their own decisions themselves and through their communities. Concentrated control, as proposed and implemented in the Flexner Report, is the direct cause of the majority of problems with health care today. The solution does not lie with more government intervention and centralized power, but rather with increased individual freedom. The answer is not centralized power in government, but centralized power within ourselves. More broadly, given the potentially enormous impact that a single study related to a policy agenda can have, critical scrutiny of the underlying assumptions and applied methods of such studies is warranted. The school’s method of treatment became very popular in the early 1900’s. At that time, there were 22 homeopathic medical schools, 100 homeopathic hospitals and over 1,000 homeopathic pharmacies. Boston University, Stanford University and New York Medical College were among those educational institutions that were teaching homeopathy. However, it was not long after this period of time (in the early 1920’s) that many of the schools closed — mostly due to the decline of homeopathy’s popularity which was greatly effected by the American Medical Association. This was also around the time when modern drug companies began releasing drugs that were easy to administer to patients, a trend that also contributed to the decline of homeopathy. Welcome to Healing Cancer Naturally! In other words the Rockefellers and the AMA, together with later the FDA threw out, and as well harassed and suppressed everything that worked at the time, and that has worked since. To excluse anything but pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines. And look at that outcome, they deny. They are still dogging it all and suppressing it all today. You can clearly see that right here, most recently.

2019-04-25T13:50:44Z

http://www.dirtybigpharmatruth.com/the-false-foundations-of-modern-medicine.html

As a committed non-flyer, Amtrak has played an important role for my travel experiences across America. For me to travel for a cruise from non-Florida cruise ports, an overnight Amtrak train is needed. That’s how I became so familiar with Amtrak sleeping accommodations. There are two types of Amtrak sleeping accommodations: a roomette and a bedroom. While both have beds, they are two different entities. There are also two different types of sleeper cars which have totally different train car equipment and sleeping compartments. Let’s look at the two different long-distance train types: the Amtrak Viewliner and Superliner. Amtrak Superliner deluxe bedroom with private bathroom. Viewliner trains operate mainly along the Eastern Seaboard. Because of its lower height, Viewliners can fit into the many tunnels along this route. There are a few Viewliner trains on the east coast that travel westbound and their sleeping accommodations are always sold out well in advance. There’s the Cardinal that runs between Washington, DC and Chicago, the Crescent traveling between New Orleans and New York City and the historic Lake Shore Limited between New York City and Chicago. The Viewliner is a one-level train and offers compartments that will sleep two or more passengers. A Roomette sleeps two passengers, a Bedroom sleeps two and maybe a very small child and a wheel chair accessible bedroom will accommodate two passengers. Two bedrooms can combine to become a bedroom suite that will sleep four people. A Viewliner roomette has a picture window with two wide, reclining seats that face each other. In the middle of the seats is a pull-up table that unfolds. There’s also an upper bunk with its own window and basket for reading glasses, etc. Right next to one of the seats is the “bathroom”. This consists of a fold-out sink with hot and cold spigots, a mirror, a rack for soap, tooth brush and wash cloth. There is a small luggage storage bin up and across from the upper bunk. An Amtrak Silver Star roomette. That’s the toilet with the pink lid cover. The toilet is right there, too, next to one of the seats. If you’re traveling solo, it’s no big deal. If two people are traveling in a roomette and modesty prevails, one person may choose to step outside while the other, well…you know. Privacy curtains have Velcro fasteners and there’s a flip-over lock for the door. There are two electric sockets with 120v, close enough to be able to charge your laptop while working on the pull-up table. Unlike in Europe with keycards for entry, on Amtrak your compartment door does not lock from the outside. The good news is that your car attendant seems to know who does and does not have a reservation for a sleeper and keeps an eye out for trespassers. Europeans, used to having their compartment locked when they leave it, are usually a little flustered at first. But it all works out fine. If you can afford a bedroom, go for it. With plenty of room for your luggage, two people can travel in comfort in an Amtrak bedroom. As you enter the bedroom, there’s a fold-out, full-length sofa (a smidgen wider than a twin bed) that runs just about from the doorway to the window. Above it is a drop-down bunk bed. Across from the sofa is a petit sink and countertop, with room for your toiletries. Facial tissue is provided (in the roomette, too) as well as wash clothes, hand and bath towels and soap. Superliner bedroom. Pretty much the same as on a Viewliner. Except for compartment “C”. Smaller than “A” and “B”. Best of all, there’s a private bathroom with a shower. It’s not big and the shower is above the toilet. When securely closed, it works great. It’s really nice after an overnight train ride to arrive at your destination totally refreshed. This is the en suite bathroom in a bedroom compartment, on both Viewliner and Superliner. Bath amenities are on the ledge next to the towels. Opposite the door to the tiny bathroom is a small fold-up chair with storage rack and hooks above it. This makes it possible for two people to sit by the window facing each other. The door locking system is the same as the roomette. At one end of each sleeping car on a Viewliner is a public shower room. Able to accommodate only one person at a time, your car attendant will have it stocked with fresh soap for each person and neatly folded towels. There’s a laundry basket where you can toss your used towel and wash cloth. Every sleeper car has a shower room. The attendant has even made a pretty flower with the wash cloth. The second of Amtrak’s overnight long-haul trains is the Superliner. This is Amtrak’s iconic double-decker train that operates mainly everywhere else across the USA except the eastern seaboard, because it is too tall. One east coast Superliner exception is the Capitol Limited between Washington DC and Chicago. The remainder of Superliner overnight trains head west, except for the Texas Eagle which runs north and south between Chicago and San Antonio. Here’s where the Superliner and Viewliner differ. Aboard the Superliner, compartments are on two levels and roomettes on the Superliner do not have an en suite sink or toilet, as they do on the Viewliner. Viewliner accessible bathroom in the compartment. On the lower level of the Superliner you’ll find four roomettes plus a family bedroom at one end of the car and an accessible bedroom at the other end. It’s on this level that there are three private bathrooms, each with sink and toilet and one separate shower room. Paper towels are available or your can bring towels from your compartment if you’re just using the bathroom to wash your hands. Upstairs you’ll find both roomettes and bedrooms. The four bedroom sleepers have their own enclosed bathroom. For the ten roomettes there is only one public bathroom on the upper level. Occasionally, I’ve been in an upstairs roomette when there were two public bathrooms. But it’s not the norm. If you want a roomette, how do you decide which level of the Superliner is best for you? If you’re on the upper level, the train ride is quiet and amazingly smooth. But, as I mentioned above, there is only one bathroom to share with nine or more other roomette passengers. If you’re in a roomette on the lower level, you will feel the train movement and hear the clickety-clack of the wheels. But, on the lower level you have access to more bathrooms and the shower room. For those who have difficulty walking, they may prefer the lower level to not have to climb the staircase to the second level. Very convenient if you’re on the train for two or three days across country. No matter which Amtrak sleeping accommodation you choose, all of your meals are included in the dining car for the entire journey. The exception is the no-dining-car Silver Star train between Miami and New York City; no meals are included. Also included when you purchase an accommodation are complimentary bottled water, coffee, tea and juice, turn down service by your room attendant, individual climate control, soap, towels and tissues. Rather than sit up all night in a chair in the coach car, opt for a sleeper. You’ll never go back to sleeping in a coach seat again! Have you ever traveled overnight on Amtrak? When you go, here are my 29 best tips for an Amtrak overnight train. Amtrak sleepers have lower beds…both the roomette and the deluxe bedroom. Yes, both also have an upper bunk but you should have no probably with the lower ones. Thank you for your comment. I hope this helps. I wish that Amtrak long distance trains would have the bedrooms similar to the Transcantabric train in Spain, no bunk beds and a choice of single beds or double bed. I love to travel on a train but at my age is very difficult trying to get on the upper bunk. Do not take me wrong, I will take the trip anyway. Sorry, I can’t answer your question. I guess you’ll have to call AMTRAK and ask the reservation person to look at the train’s diagram. Have a good train trip! You certainly made the right decision. I can’t imagine someone 6’5″ in a roomette let alone sharing the space! This will really be a great birthday surprise! Have fun! It’s a beautiful route. Contact Amtrak to help you with your reservation at 1-800-USA-RAIL. On the eastbound you want to be on the right-hand side of the train so you are on the same side as the Colorado River. On the way back, you might want to stay on the right-hand side to see what you might have missed. Of course in the Observation Car, you have both views! Have a wonderful train trip! I think I’ve done the right thing by booking a superliner bedroom as opposed to a roomette for my hubby’s and my 24 hour trip coming up on the west coast. He’s 6’5” and stretching his legs out is necessary and I don’t think he’d be able to do that in a roomette. I will be relegated to the top bunk as I’m 5’4”; lucky for me I’m not claustrophobic! PS: He thinks we’re going to be in coach! It’s a birthday surprise. I would like to take train from Martinez calif to the Denver area or there about just for fun, in a sleeping car, and return to Martinez. Is this possible and if so who might I contact to make reservation ? I would love it if you can get me started. I’m happy to explain – it’s a common question. Everyone pays a base Rail Fare. Sometimes there are discounts, like Senior or Student or even a sale rate once in a while. Then you price your sleeping accommodation, a once-only price. Meaning, if there are two people in a deluxe bedroom, each passenger pays a Rail Fare and then the cost of the sleeper is added and the cost doesn’t matter if you have one or two people in the sleeper whether it’s a deluxe bedroom or a roomette. So it’s one Rail Fare per passenger and then just add on the cost of the sleeper. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful train journey wherever you’re going! Was wondering if you could explain to me howit works when ticket buying for a bedroom. Do I have to pay base rail fee for for each passenger and then 1 elevated sleeper car fare, or do I need to pay the elevated sleeper car fare for each passenger that will be sleeping in the sleeper car? Thanks! I am a novice. Thank you for reading my blog. Yes, it is definitely possible to use your CPAP machine on the train. If you have a roomette on a Superliner (the double-decker trains) there will be an outlet near your seatback which is turned down to become your bed. On the Viewliner trains, it’s above the sink. If you have a bedroom on either type of train, there will be an outlet above the seatback (sort of a sofa) and also at the sink. My concern would be if power were lost on the train, though it rarely happens, would you be okay? I hope this works for you. A few years ago I was on an overnight train on Dec. 25 and 26 and everyone was in a great mood and the dining car was a lot of fun. I hope you are able to go and if so, have a wonderful time. Thank you again for writing. I am thinking about taking a long train trip over Christmas either to Niagara Falls or the other direction to Seattle. This site has been helpful! I do have a question on the sleeper bedrooms – I sleep with a CPAP machine and need a plug in relatively close to a bed. Do you know if that would be possible? Thank you! Sorry to hear you were uncomfortable in the upper bunk. It’s a bunkbed so headroom is pretty much limited. My daughter and I shared a bedroom on the Zephyr last summer and she had the upper bunk. But she was only up there to sleep and not try to sit up in bed and she was fine. Like any top bunk you have to duck getting in and out of it. So, yes, this is true of all Superliner trains. And it’s the same with Viewliner roomettes. Those are just as small with very limited head room if you’re “upstairs”. One solution is to buy two roomettes across the hall from each other so both of you can have a lower bunk. There’s really no other alternative. Top bunks aren’t meant for sitting up and relaxing. My husband and I just returned from an Amtrak trip on a Superliner from Chicago to Whitefish, MT and back. We had a roomette. I’m 5″3 and I had a lot of difficulty being in the upper berth due to lack of headroom. I had to stay hunched over until I could get into a sleeping position. Also the foam pad/mattress was very thin and uncomfortable. I don’t see how having a bedroom would have helped as far as having more headroom. Is this true of all Superliner trains? I don’t recall this being an issue on the 2 Viewliner trips we took but understand that they only have one level to get through tunnels not two. I would appreciate any suggestions as we would like to take more Amtrak trips west. Thanks for your reply! I think you’re on the right track (sorry for the pun!) with taking the architecture boat tour. You can take the bus or an Uber or Lyft to Lincoln Park Zoo, the only free city zoo in the USA. Then walk up to Clark street and there are a zillion restaurants and pubs. Be sure to spend time at the Millennium Bean in Grant Park and walk around the grounds. So much to see and do. Early May can be a beautiful time in Chicago. Also, a walk along the River Walk downtown is a lot of fun and you can walk all the way down to the lake. And don’t miss a stop at Lou Mitchell’s for a bit of old Chicago. Have a wonderful visit and a great cross-country train ride! Oh! I almost forgot. Be sure to watch for river rafters on the Colorado river…you’ll find out why it’s called Moon River! It might be a little tricky to call from Australia but we shall give it a go. We are spending two nights in Chicago before taking the train down to Washington DC. Will definitely try the restaurant you have recommended. Might be perfect for lunch before we get the train to Washington. We will have one full day and a morning in Chicago. Any suggestions for ‘must dos’ are welcome. I am a bit of a Frank Lloyd Wright fan (and architecture in general) so we are thinking one of the River Architecture tours and possibly a lake tour. We love culture, food, and just wandering around. We can walk for hours! We will be there in early May. I know – I am an early planner! My partner has always wanted to travel by train in the States and it will be my first time in the USA – so we are really looking forward to the trip. Thank you so much for your kind words. All sleeping accommodations are by reservation only. If you can, I would suggest calling Amtrak at 1-800-872-7245. When you reserve your roomette, ask the reservationist to tell you if the roomette is upstairs or on the lower level. If you don’t get the response you want, hang up and call back. I don’t think you can choose upper or lower if you book it online. Also, the ride on the upper level is much smoother than downstairs. Something to consider, unless mobility is an issue. In that case you could request the accessible stateroom and that is downstairs. There is limited availability so the sooner you know when you want to go, the better your chances to get a lower level sleeper. Keep in mind that the dining car and observation car are on the upper level. Have a wonderful train ride. When you get to Chicago, and if you’re staying overnight, there’s a great restaurant for breakfast or lunch and right across from the train station. It’s called Lou Mitchells and is a real bit of Chicago history. Chicago’s my hometown so if you have any questions, please ask. First of all can I say thanks for going to the effort of having a website like this. I am always impressed by people who are so willing to share their experiences and knowledge with others so freely. We are travelling from Australia next year and plan to do the California Zephyr from San Francisco to Chicago. We will be travelling in a Roomette, but I was wondering if you are able to reserve an upper or lower level room, or is it allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis? I have searched the Amtrak website but there seems to be no mention of this. Sorry for my late reply. My best suggestion would be to contact Amtrak. I’m not familiar with Princeton Junction and if it is just a flag stop or a scheduled stop. Amtrak can advise you on that issue. Either way, have a great train ride to Florida! Sorry for my delayed reply. Thank you for your kind words! I think you’re onto a great travel idea. To answer your first question, coach pricing might display two different rates if one is for business class. There are three tiers of prices on Amtrak, based mostly on what’s left in inventory and how early you can book your accommodation or reserved seat. Your idea for a rail pass, sometimes adding a sleeper or other times in coach is something I’ve also investigated. There are three lengths of rail passes; 15, 30 and 45 days, with 8, 12 or 18 segments, respectively. Except for the Acela trains in the Northeast which might or might not allow rail pass users, I fairly certain that of the 500 station stops for which rail passes are valid, that you won’t have any issues. I would suggest calling Amtrak and if the first person who answers your call isn’t quite sure, politely hang up and call back in a few minutes. The more experienced the Amtrak reservation person, the more tricks of the trade they can share with you and in my opinion, it’s well worth the extra callbacks. Have a fabulous time on your next long-distance journey! The Texas Eagle could be an endangered (train) species, so I would not hesitate to hop aboard for your roundtrip to Ft. Worth. If it’s within your budget, definitely go for the deluxe bedroom. The bottom bunk is nearly as wide as a double bed and having your own bathroom is so worth it. As far as personal safety, it’s of course up to your comfort level. For me, I’ve never once, in over 50 years of overnight train travel, felt unsafe for myself. Your accommodation locks from the inside so that might help you feel safer. I’ve met some wonderful passengers aboard Amtrak and we’ve kept in touch for years. If you decide to go, I hope your have a wonderful time. Hi Staci, sorry but I don’t help with roommate matchups or quote roomette rates. Please call Amtrak for pricing. Very true. Reserving an accessible room is important if mobility is difficult. In roomettes and bedrooms, the lower berth is easy to access, though. Also, a family bedroom has two lowers. Thank you for your comment. Hi Miranda, thanks for writing. With six people, you could get either three roomettes (2 in each) or two deluxe bedrooms and two small kids could share the lower bunk and you or your husband could sleep in the upper bunk. You could look into Amtrak Vacations (not owned by Amtrak) as they offer packages to the Grand Canyon. Otherwise, you idea to book your own stay there at the end could work well. Either way, kudos to you and your husband for wanting to take your foster kids on a grand adventure! Thanks for writing and have fun. Hi Paul, if you plan to get a sleeper, you would need two roomettes or deluxe bedrooms, unless you have infant twins. Everyone loves a train ride. If you choose to go, think about booking on the Silver Meteor rather than the Silver Star so you will have a dining car. Trains are more expensive than economy air fare, so if it’s in your budget, you might think to try the train. I just have a question…i live in NJ and would like to take the train to Miami, it would be my wife and two children, i have never taken the train before other than the subway system in NYC. WOuld it be worth taking the train or going by plane? Hi my name is Miranda. I am a Foster parent and would like to take the kids (4) plus myself and the hubby to see the grand canyon possibly see plains and or sights along the way (couple of the kids love Little House on the Prairie) we are from North East TN. What is the most economical way for us to do this? Should we do a vaca package or book the route we want and add the grand canyon at the end? Also, the sleeper car they only hold 2? No more? Could we squeeze 3 ? I hate the kids sleeping alone like that. You’ve booked three Amtrak trips! When making connections, anything one hour or less is not guaranteed by Amtrak. I would suggest that you phone Amtrak and ask them if all of your connections are guaranteed. Certain routes have a 2-hour guarantee window. There is always a chance that freight trains could delay your Amtrak train. I’m pretty sure that the Coast Starlight in LA waits for the Southwest Chief. Again, please call Amtrak (1-800-USA-RAIL) and when “Julie” answers, press “0” and then another “0” to bypass all the menu options. If you need to overnight, check on Google for “hotels near Amtrak station in XXXX”. Portland and Los Angeles both have First Class lounges…but I’m not sure that they’re open overnight. Have a wonderful trip! Thank you for reading my Amtrak articles! Bus transportation is not possible for me, and I’m afraid “overnight accommodations” means a light blanket or a pillow in a waiting room chair! How and where do I find out something definite about this? Thank you! Your site is most helpful! Stop stealing content and images from here. People who have difficulty walking or climbing into befs should probably think about another form of travel. Amtrak beds are bunk style (except in disabled rooms). I’m thinking about taking the Texas Eagle from Chicago to Fort Worth and back. I’m 58 and never traveled alone. I’ll either get a roomette or bedroom. I’d prefer bedroom because they have a toilet and shower. (I think!) How safe is train travel as far as other passengers…not the crashing part! I absolutely adored my cross country trip on the Empire Builder so I am planning another cross country trip for next summer. I am considering several trains: California Zephyr, Texas Eagle and Southwest Chief. I am wondering if I could stop in some cities and board the train one to two days later. On some parts of the trip I could take coach seating and on others a roomette. I have two questions: on the amtrak website, there are often 3 different prices for coach seating on a train, with apparently no difference of service. Am I missing something? And my second question is can I take a sort of rail pass, if I want to hop on and off, 😉 Because from what I understand the multi-ride and rail passes are not offered on every train. But perhaps I am mistaken? Your article and answers are remarkable ! If you are booked on the Silver Meteor then yes, the dining car is there, so you don’t need to bring your own meals. Enjoy the trip! I’m booked in a Viewliner roomette on the Silver Meteor next week. I board in Savannah at 7:30 pm. Is there a dining car or no? Do I need to bring my own meals? I hope I can answer your questions. You certainly could reserve a wheel-chair accessible stateroom and it would have an en suite bathroom. On the westbound trains, only deluxe bedrooms and the accessible stateroom have their own bathrooms. There is one very small bathroom on the upper level; otherwise you and your father would have to negotiate a very narrow, winding staircase to use the facilities. Overnight train travel in a sleeper can sometimes be the equivalent of business class air travel. With a little flexibility with time, as you said you did, you can scout out the lowest-cost date to travel. Regarding your luggage, you’re allowed to check two pieces of luggage up to 50lbs each, plus your carry-on bags. A lot of people choose Amtrak when they move to a new destination because of their liberal, complimentary baggage handling allotment. Please call 1-800-USA-RAIL for more information. Everytime “Julie” asks a question, just say “agent” and you’ll go directly to an agent. My elderly father and I need to get to Ashland Oregon sometime in the late fall, early winter. We are very flexible on dates and times. I have a legal disability that my doctor certainly would recommend a roomette. Since we are flexible on are dates can a roomette be cheaper than flying? Trying navigate the website, entering different dates and such, was an ordeal. Is there any easier way to do this? Also, this trip is to move me to Ashland. Will I be allowed (using my dad’s luggage allotment too) to carry on two trunks? Along with my suitcase? Thank you so very much. Thank you for your question. You’re best bet is to all Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL. There isn’t a bedroom for four but actually is two deluxe bedrooms with an adjoining sliding door. Each has its own en suite bathroom. There are four bedroom per car. So that would be eight people total. With 12, you’ll have to split up. Usually, there are several sleeper cars so you should all fit. Then you can meet up in the observation lounge and the dining car. Also, there’s a family bedroom downstairs, but there’s a really short kid’s bed! The reservationist at Amtrak will be able to get this figured out for you. Happy ‘Rails! It’s nice that you’re traveling across country with your mom, so she’s not alone. You’ll need to contact Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL. Since there is only one accessible bedroom per train car, the sooner you make your reservation, the better. Tell the reservation agent your situation. The accessible bedroom is on the lower level and has its own bathroom facility. The Family Bedroom is also located on the lower level but does not have its own en suite bathroom. Up the winding stairs are the smaller roomettes and deluxe bedrooms. The bedrooms upstairs also have an en suite bathroom, not the roomettes, though. Being flexible in your travel dates will be a huge help. Be sure to ask for the senior discount on the rail fare portion for your mom. It’ll save a little bit. Have a wonderful train trip! The route is spectacular. Traveling with my mom from Sacramento to Chicago, Calif Zephyr; she is old and has mobility issues, I can decide on which bedroom, family bedroom, or if I can get the Access bedroom, what is the big difference and how do you get the bigger handicap bedroom? The bedroom “couch” is divided in two and each section also reclines like the seats in the roomette. The bedroom also has a little chair but it’s not the most comfortable but provides a change of pace. Are the bedroom seats are more or less comfortable then the roomette seats? It looks like the roomette seats recline a little where the bedroom “couch” seems more upright. I hope you were able to come to a decision about your Amtrak adventure. For future train trips, you might want to study the Amtrak Rail Map and get ideas as to what is convenient from your departure city. I have been planning to take amtrak as a means to travel for pleasure trips. I’m looking for a trip from Richmond (VA) to Pittsburgh (through DC of course) in coming week (26 Apr to be precise). The its very lucrative to rent a car and do the round trip which is a 7 hrs drive one way. But, felt like trying this journey with Amtrak instead, but my dilemma is not letting me do the clear choice. I will be travelling with my wife and a daughter (6 years old and important person to be considered on preferences and choices etc…..like other kids, for sure) . It take 2 hrs from Richmond to DC and after 2 hrs halt, 29 Capitol Limited departs (4:05 PM) from DC and takes 7 hrs to reach to Pittsburgh (11:48 PM). Coach booking (142$s) is really reasonable no doubt, however, 2 roomette or 1 family bedroom, bumps the price very high (542$s). And then Rental shops are closed at the time we reach (11:48 at Pittsburgh), so taking cab and going to hotel and then renting a car next day which would be one way to Richmond after 2 days costs equal to entire 3 days rental if I choose all of it by rental. So, really need the thoughts on choosing between Amtrak and drive for this journey and if Amtrak then – Coach class is good as we are not going to exactly spending entire night, because the daughter will be sleepy during some portion of the night. Bedroom type price seems to be higher for a segment journey. What do you think and advise on my situation. I’m also open for any other Amtrak journeys to spend a coming long weekend at a destination on EASTERN region, as I mentioned my departure is from Richmond. Thank you in advance for your advice….too many parameters I guess …sorry. Sure, I’ll try to help. Have you phoned Amtrak reservations? Online isn’t the best way to go…everything you’d need to know is there but it’s several layers deep and not easy to find. I would recommend two separate roomettes and if you book early, they could be across the hall from each other. If money is no object, you could get connecting deluxe bedrooms. That would give you two en suite bathrooms as well as two oversized lower twin beds. I might think that a family bedroom on the Superliner (double-decker train) could work if one of you is short. There are two lower beds – one is 6’3″ long and the other is 4’9″ long. I really think that two roomettes across the hall from each other would be the best. You can call 1-800-USA-RAIL for reservations. When “Julie” answers, you say, “Agent”. Repeat “Agent” each time Julie asks you a question. You’ll get a reservation agent who can check various dates, too, for the lowest rates for your two trains; one from Pittsburgh to Chicago, and then Chicago to San Francisco (actually Oakland but they transport you to San Francisco). Have a wonderful trip! Amtrak ‘s website for information, way too confusing. We’ve never done this before. Would like to know the price for this trip. Can you please help? Thanks for your comment…and I couldn’t agree more with you. Happy travels! This is my preferred form of travel now. No TSA or cramped airplane seats to deal with. Every Amtrak ride I’ve had has been thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing. These cross-country trips are great to see the country from the ground rather than 30,000 feet in the air too! I understand your predicament. What about two roomettes across from each other? If the timing is right, the cost could even be less that a deluxe bedroom. You won’t have a toilet or shower in your Superliner roomette, though. If walking is becoming an issue, I’d suggest that you speak with Amtrak about their accessible stateroom. Thank you for your email and happy travels! Found this article very informative. Thanks. My husband and I are planning our 5th long distance train trip. We are both in our early 70s and have some difficulty walking and climbing stairs. We would prefer to book a bedroom because of the easy bathroom access in the middle of the night. However, we have yet to manage the upper berth so end up sitting most of the night because the lower berth is too narrow for 2. We are considering lower level coach seats for this next trip on the Capital Limited. Any thoughts? The train is the Coast Starlight and it’s a Superliner (double-decker). There would be more leg room in the larger Bedroom accommodation, though that tends to be much more expensive. Since it’s scheduled to be only an 8-hour trip, I’d think you’d be find in a roomette. There’s always the dining car (meals included with accommodations) and the observation car to walk around and stretch! Plus, there are a couple of “fresh air breaks” along the way, too. Have a fun train trip! I have a question…. My boyfriend and I are traveling from Santa Barbara Ca. to Oakland Ca. about a 9 hour trip. He is 6’2″ I am 5’4″. We booked a roomette to have more space than a coach seat. We will NOT be sleeping on this trip. Will a roomette give us enough leg room for him or would a bedroom be better? Also will we have a viewliner or a superliner on this route? Thank you for sharing your unfortunate experience. I used to live in Cincinnati for a few years and the train schedule is awful with the middle-of-the-night arrival and departure. But…somewhere has to have the bad timing. There’s no way around it either. Back then, Union Station was closed down. And now with the latest refurbishment, they are back to using a temporary location. And about the delays on the Empire Builder into Chicago, there’s nothing we can do about it until Amtrak has its own tracks…and we know how that’s not going to happen any time soon. I hope your next Amtrak ride is as good as you remember your older one. Happy ‘rails! To anyone planning to go from Wisconsin, through Chicago to Cincinnati, this was not a very pleasant ride. The route to Chicago is usually late because the freight train from the Dakotas (long oil train has presidents and Amtrak has to wait on side track.) Missing our connection, the Chicago station is not great to have to wait for next train. Our bags had to go in our car. At Cincinnati station, (by this time it was in the middle of the night), there was no one to help us off with our bags, except another traveler, and to tell us how to get to the station. Someone mentioned a ramp, so we tried it and it was actually a ramp for trailers taking luggage. (Very difficult to go up on.) No one was in the station. However, I have had experiences on the Empire Builder to Seattle and the California Zepher. quite a few years ago. Both were fun and comfortable. My feelings are that West trains may be better than East. We slept in our seats reclined but we were younger then. We took a pillow and small blanket. Our bags were at the end of the train on a shelf so they were easy to get to for clothes changes. Everyone pays the base fare (rail fare). If a sleeping accommodation is not added, this would be your coach rate. The rail fare may be available at a discount such as a Senior Rate, AAA, Student etc. The price for a sleeping accommodation is then added to the rail fare. That’s the $220 price that you see. Hope this helps. I’m confused on the booking site prices. Coach shows $72.00. Roomette $138. When I change to Roomette from Coach it shows $220.00. So the coach is a base price and any other choice is added to the coach price? I find the mattresses in the sleepers to be comfortable…and lean more towards the very firm category! Hope this helps. Hi we are booked on the Auto Train in a roomette and was wondering about the mattress on the train. The last time I traveled on the Auto Train the mattresses were hard. Are they still? Hi Lois – thanks for your comment and reading the article! Have a wonderful overnight train trip! Hi Sherry! Thank you for the great tips, and the info. I love to travel, but I’ve never taken a long distance train ride. I had decided to travel by train from New York City to New Orleans, (my Aunt’s 90th birthday celebration) for the long distance sleeper car experience. I have a Viewliner roomette reserved on the Crescent. I’m looking forward to this new adventure. Thanks for your email. Unfortunately, Amtrak no longer prints their National Timetable. I would guess that it’s part of a cost-cutting measure. The one I have it at least three years old and I panic about misplacing it! The best you can do now is to individually print out the schedules online or call Amtrak and see if they can send you any of the individual schedules. If you happen to live near an Amtrak station, you can look for the individual schedules, too. Thanks for your question. My kids loved going on overnight trains (as I did, too). But they were older and able to sleep in their own bed in our roomette. Unfortunately, the width of the roomette bed is pretty darn narrow, not even the size of a standard twin bed. Your 18mo old is definitely too tiny to sleep in his own berth and in a roomette there’s no room for a portable crib. I can’t imagine squeezing a grownup and an infant to sleep in the roomette-size bed. If you can, I’d suggest holding out for a bedroom. The lower berth can accommodate an adult and a very small child as it’s actually a bit larger than a twin bed and with the baby on the inside against the wall, you don’t have to worry about him falling out. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful train ride! Amtrak National Timetable where do I order one ? Hi Sherry….. just curious about your opinion on something. Like most young boys, my 18 month old son has hit the fascination with trains stage so instead of flying back to miami from Philadelphia I’m strongly considering the silver meteor back and actually have a roomette reserved. There were no bedrooms available the days I was looking to go back so I’m curious if, A) do you think a typical 18 month old will enjoy a trip like this and B) is a roomette big enough for the 2 of us? Again, just looking for a top of your head opinion. Yes, if there is availability (which is getting more and more scarce en route) you can upgrade. Let your conductor know that you’d like to purchase an upgrade. He or she will have to check with Amtrak and you should be able to purchase it with a credit card. Even a ballpark guesstimate on the cost of a sleeper is tough. Prices vary immensely based on time of year, route, how many overnights etc. But I think it’s safe to say that the least expensive sleeper (roomette) will add no less that $200 to your rail fare cost for one night. I hope this helps. Thanks for your comment. Good information, can a traveler upgrade from coach to sleeper enroute? Your article is great, some ballpark pricing on the roomette vs the sleeper would have made it excellent. I know you have the Amtrak contact info, yet i find dealing with them cumbersome. And the Amtrak website is not so intuitive. Please contact Amtrak at 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for pricing. It varies a lot depending upon how far in advance you book your sleeper. What is the price of a sleeper? The articles give lots of information but no prices. Your shortest route would be from Seattle to Chicago on the Empire Builder. Connect in Chicago to either the Cardinal or Capital Limited to Washington DC. Once in DC, you can take either the southbound Silver Star (no dining car) or Silver Meteor. Both trains stop in Rocky Mount, NC. The Silver Star goes on to Raleigh and Cary, while the Silver Meteor goes straight from Rocky Mount to Fayetteville. So depending on your destination in NC could determine your train. If you go to Raleigh, you can arrange for a rental car to pick you up. There’s also a nearby Marriott hotel. Have a nice train ride and Happy ‘rails! I want to take a vacation on the train. I want to leave from Seattle to NC to NY. I am having a difficult time figuring out how this is possible. My sister and I would leave from NC to NY. Could you tell me who I can talk to that can help me plan this trip?. That’s great! Thanks for reading – and have a wonderful experience on Amtrak. For sure! When I have an upstairs roomette, I always go downstairs to use the bathrooms. That’s why I recommend a little “ditty” bag (Girl Scout lingo) that contains whatever you need to get ready for bed or in the morning. I also bring a washcloth or if there isn’t one in the roomette, I ask the attendant. Thanks for your comment! Happy travels! One point about the shared bathrooms in superliner sleeper cars. Though there is only one bathroom upstairs, any sleeper car passenger can use the downstairs bathrooms if they want to – for example, if the upstairs one is in use. I’ve done that frequently. There’s just more bathrooms downstairs because there’s more room for them there. A cross-country trip can be tricky to plan, especially if you’re not familiar with all of Amtrak’s long-distance trains and itineraries. A travel agent who is knowledgeable about Amtrak could be a tremendous help to you. I would suggest ordering an Amtrak National Timetable (an actual paper brochure!) as it really helps in planning…I still use one! Keep in mind that the further out you book, the better the pricing on accommodations. Have a wonderful journey on the train! Is it better to get a travel agent for cross country? Prices hard to predict, plan for summer 2018. Ideas? My two cents worth on Superliner Roomettes…I am a plus size woman, 5’7″. Hubby is average size & 5’6″. I am claustrophobic to the point of not even being able to watch cave-type movies! We went from southern Wisconsin to NW Montana in a roomette, about 27- 28 hrseach way. Regular bedrooms were too expensive. I didn’t have any problems at all with claustrophobia in roomette. I did sleep on bottom bunk and kept curtains open to outside & slept facing window. We had 2 large-ish duffel bags, large purse, & small cooler with us & could’ve fit 1 more bag. The shared bathrooms were a little tight for a claustrophobic person, but I just focused, hurried, & got out. Bravo! I’m with you 100% on this subject! No need to fly. It just takes a little longer…and can be part of your vacation. Thank you for your comment and happy travels! While it’s great to save quite a bit of money on the Silver Star, it can feel a bit confining to not have the dining car to visit 3x a day! You will find an Amtrak Café car with several tables/booths. I just rode the Silver Star for the second time and I brought a small $1.99 styrofoam cooler. I packed a few frozen water bottles (they last longer than those blue ice packs) and filled it with food for the trip. I supplemented meals with little bits from the café car just to get up and around. After the train ride, I emptied out the cooler and offered it to my car attendant or for anyone who might want it. Have a terrific train ride! Thank you for your comment! I’ve slept in a Roomette and in a Bedroom and as a larger person and as a disabled veteran, I have to say the bedroom berth was just a tad wider, however, my husband and still I had to sleep in separate berths in the bedroom. The Roomette is fine if you are by yourself but two people who are either bigger or older or have mobility issues are going to be more comfortable in one of the bedrooms. We have found, however that it is perfectly possible to take the train cross-country in bedrooms for less than the price of either first class air or 3 economy seats, which is what we would have to book so that we and our fellow passengers would be more comfortable. *and* it includes meals and turn down service. As larger folk we are acutely aware of trying not to make others uncomfortable. And that is hard to do in airplanes. Trains are just so much more sensible. We have also found that it is perfectly possible to book passage on Cunard’s QM2 passenger liner for less than first class air or 3 economy seats on an air plane. And we get our own bedroom with a King bed. I don’t know why anyone flies anymore. Hi, Sherry – We are traveling on the Silver Star to NYC soon, and have reserved a roomette. We understand there is no diner car, but wondering if there are other cars such as a lounge or observation area where we can relax outside of our roomette for a while. Thanks for the great articles that are preparing us for our trip! I’m so glad my article was helpful to your vacation planning on Amtrak. Enjoy the journey! Thank you for your comment. Thank you so much for this information and the photos. We are traveling from ‘Texas to Virginia soon and have reserved sleeping accommodations for the first time and all information is so valuable to us. Have a great trip! I’ve done something similar…go coach for a segment and then move into a sleeper when the price is less. The scenery through New Mexico is beautiful. Thanks for your comment. Thank you for the info! I’m planning our vacation for next summer. Dallas to LA. Four adults, so I’m think to save money, will go coach to San Antonio and bedroom from SA to LA. Hi Doug, It’s a totally different experience in a sleeper overnight than in coach. But we’ve all done an overnight in coach. Once. Thanks for your comment. It’s on my bucket list to take a train across the country. The longest I’ve ever taken a train is between Baltimore and Savannah, Georgia – in coach – it sucked!

2019-04-21T13:10:41Z

https://cruisemaven.com/amtrak-sleeping-accommodations/

The Employers' Practical Guide to the Americans with Disabilities Act is a summary of some of the most frequent issues that employers have regarding accommodations and ADA compliance. The information has been divided into 4 sections - "Americans with Disabilities Act Basics," "Applications and Interviews," "Employees," and "Employees on Leave and Former Employees." You can expand these sections below. If you have an issue that is not addressed in the Guide or if you want to discuss an issue in more detail, please contact us. ADA Basics: This section provides answers to basic questions about the ADA. Most of the answers come from formal and informal guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces the ADA. Information covered includes the following: What is the ADA? Who must comply with Title I of the ADA? Who is protected by Title I of the ADA? What is a reasonable accommodation? Applications and Job Interviews: The ADA applies to all aspects of employment, including job advertisements, job applications, job interviews, and post-offer medical examinations. Although many of the ADA rules that apply to applicants and new-hiresare the same as the rules for employees, there are some differences. This section discusses the differences. Employees: One of the key non-discrimination requirements of Title I of the ADA is the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities. This section provides information about what policies and procedures might be useful, how to recognize and handle accommodation requests, how to determine effective accommodations, and what types of accommodations might be reasonable (work-site accessibility; job restructuring; modified work schedules and leave; modified policies; equipment and services). Employees on Leave and Former Employees: The ADA requires employers to provide accommodations to ensure that employees with disabilities receive equal benefits of employment. For employees on leave and former employees, benefits of employment may include health and disability insurance, job protection (reductions in force and layoffs), and bonuses and promotions. This section provides answers to basic questions about the employment provisions of the ADA. Most of the answers come from formal and informal guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that regulates the employment provisions of the ADA. When available, links to the EEOC guidance are provided. The ADA is a federal civil rights law that was passed in 1990 and went into effect beginning in 1992. Its purpose is to protect people with disabilities from discrimination in employment, in the programs and activities offered by state and local governments, and in accessing the goods and services offered in places like stores, hotels, restaurants, football stadiums, doctors' offices, beauty parlors, and so on. The focus of this guide is Title I of the ADA, which prohibits discrimination in employment and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants and employees with disabilities. Who must comply with Title I of the ADA? Only "covered entities" must comply with Title I of the ADA. The term covered entities includes employers with 15 or more employees, employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management committees. For simplicity, this guide will refer to covered entities as "employers." For more information about covered entities, see the EEOC Compliance Manual: Covered Entities. Who is protected by Title I of the ADA? Title I protects "qualified individuals with disabilities." The term qualified means that the individual satisfies the skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the position sought or held, and can perform the primary job tasks of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation. For additional information about the definition of a qualified individual with a disability, see A Technical Assistance Manual on the Employment Provisions (Title I) of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The term employee means, "an individual employed by an employer." The question of whether an employer-employee relationship exists is fact-specific and depends on whether the employer controls the means and manner of the worker's work performance and other factors. For additional information about the definition of employee, see the EEOC Compliance Manual: Who Is An Employee?. The term disability means: (1) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) a record of a physical or mental impairment that substantially limited one or more major life activities, and (3) being regarded as having such an impairment. For more detailed information about the definition of disability, see JAN's information on how the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 revised the definition of disability. A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a job, the work environment, or the way things usually are done that enables a qualified individual with a disability to enjoy an equal employment opportunity. An equal employment opportunity means an opportunity to attain the same level of performance or to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment as are available to an average similarly-situated employee without a disability. The ADA requires reasonable accommodation in three aspects of employment: 1) to ensure equal opportunity in the application process, 2) to enable a qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of a job, and 3) to enable an employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment. Examples of reasonable accommodations include making existing facilities accessible; job restructuring; part-time or modified work schedules; acquiring or modifying equipment; changing tests, training materials, or policies; providing qualified readers or interpreters; and reassignment to a vacant position. For additional information about reasonable accommodation under the ADA, visit the EEOC's Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship. The ADA applies to all aspects of employment, including job advertisements, job applications, job interviews, and post-offer medical examinations. Although many of the ADA rules that apply to applicants and new-hires are the same as the rules for employees, there are some differences. This section discusses the differences. 1. What information do employers have to provide about the ADA on job advertisements and job applications? No specific information about the ADA is required on job advertisements or job applications. However, the EEOC advises employers to include information about the essential functions of the job in job announcements, advertisements, and other recruitment notices because specific information about essential functions will attract applicants, including individuals with disabilities, who have appropriate qualifications. 2. Does the ADA require affirmative action in the hiring of people with disabilities? No. The ADA is a nondiscrimination law. It does not require employers to undertake special activities to recruit people with disabilities. However, it is consistent with the purpose of the ADA for employers to expand their "outreach" to sources of qualified candidates with disabilities. Recruitment activities that have the effect of screening out potential applicants with disabilities may violate the ADA. For example: If an employer conducts recruitment activity at a college campus, job fair, or other location that is physically inaccessible, or does not make its recruitment activity accessible at such locations to people with visual, hearing or other disabilities, it may be liable if a charge of discrimination is filed. 3. Does the ADA allow affirmative action in the hiring of people with disabilities? Employers may invite applicants to voluntarily self-identify for purposes of the employer's affirmative action program if the employer is undertaking affirmative action because of a federal, state, or local law that requires affirmative action for individuals with disabilities, or the employer is voluntarily using the information to benefit individuals with disabilities. According to the EEOC, if an employer invites applicants to voluntarily self-identify in connection with providing affirmative action, the employer must state clearly that the information requested is used solely for affirmative action purposes, that it is being requested on a voluntary basis, that it will be kept confidential in accordance with the ADA, that refusal to provide it will not subject the applicant to any adverse treatment, and that it will be used only in accordance with the ADA. For additional information, see EEOC's Pre-Employment Disability-Related Inquiries and Medical Exams. 4. Where can employers find qualified applicants with disabilities? According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), qualified applicants with disabilities can be located through various resources, including Vocational Rehabilitation (VR). In addition, many colleges and universities have coordinators of services for students with disabilities who can be helpful in recruitment and in making accommodations. Employers may also be able to locate qualified applicants with disabilities by contacting local independent living centers or organizations representing people who have specific disabilities. The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) provides a list of Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies by state. The Office of Disability Employment Polidy (ODEP) also supports the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP) and the Employer Assistance & Resource Network (EARN) which provides employers with free consulting services and resources to support the recruitment and hiring of people with disabilities. For additional information regarding recruiting employees with disabilities, see ODEP's page on Recruitment and Retention. 5. What accommodations do employers have to provide during the application process? Employers have an obligation to make reasonable accommodations to enable applicants with disabilities to apply for jobs. For example, information about jobs should be available in a location that is accessible to people with mobility impairments. Printed job information in an employment office or on employee bulletin boards should be made available, as needed, to persons with visual or other reading impairments. Preparing information in large print will help make it available to some people with visual impairments. Information can be recorded on a cassette or read to applicants with more severe vision impairments and those who have other disabilities that limit reading ability. 6. Do employers have to make on-line application processes accessible? Employers must either make their on-line application processes accessible or provide an alternative means for people with disabilities to apply for jobs, unless they can show that doing so would cause an undue hardship. Visit the JAN website for information regarding making on-line applications accessible. 7. What medical questions can employers ask on job applications? Employers cannot ask disability-related questions before an offer of employment is made. In general, this means that employers cannot ask questions on a job application that are likely to elicit information about a disability. For example, employers cannot ask whether an applicant has a physical or mental impairment, has received workers compensation, or was ever addicted to illegal drugs. For additional information about pre-employment medical questions, see EEOC's Pre-Employment Disability-Related Inquiries and Medical Exams. 8. How can employers accommodate applicants with disabilities during pre-employment testing? The method of accommodation depends on the individual applicant's limitations and the type of test involved, so each situation must be approached on a case by case basis. As a starting point, JAN put together a collection of information on testing accommodations. 9. Do employers have to have job descriptions? According to the EEOC, the ADA does not require employers to develop or maintain job descriptions. A written job description that is prepared before advertising or interviewing applicants for a job will be considered as evidence in determining essential functions along with other relevant factors. However, the job description will not be given greater weight than other relevant evidence. The ADA does not limit an employer's ability to establish or change the content, nature, or functions of a job. It is the employer's province to establish what a job is and what functions are required to perform it. The ADA simply requires that an individual with a disability's qualifications for a job be evaluated in relation to the job's essential functions. Find more information about job descriptions through JAN. 1. What medical questions can employers ask during a job interview? Under the ADA, employers may not ask disability-related questions or conduct medical examinations until after they make a conditional job offer to an applicant. This helps ensure that an applicant's possible hidden disability (including a prior history of a disability) is not considered before employers evaluate an applicant's non-medical qualifications. Employers may not ask disability-related questions or require a medical examination pre-offer even if they intend to look at the answers or results only at the post-offer stage. Although employers may not ask disability-related questions or require medical examinations at the pre-offer stage, they may do a wide variety of things to evaluate whether an applicant is qualified for the job, including asking about an applicant's ability to perform specific job functions, asking about an applicant's non-medical qualifications and skills, and asking applicants to describe or demonstrate how they would perform job tasks. For additional information, visit EEOC's Pre-Employment Disability-Related Inquiries and Medical Exams. 2. Where can employers get information about disability etiquette? There are a variety of resources for information about disability etiquette. JAN provides fact sheets on disability etiquette on its website. 3. What accommodations must be provided for job interviews? Employers have an obligation to make reasonable accommodations to enable applicants with disabilities to participate in the interview process. Accommodations for interviews may include: an accessible interview location for people with mobility impairments, a sign language interpreter for a person who is deaf, a reader for a person who is blind, and modified testing for a person with a learning disability. For more information about making the job interviews accessible, see A Technical Assistance Manual on the Employment Provisions (Title I) of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 1. What constitutes a valid job offer? A job offer is valid if the employer has evaluated all relevant non-medical information that it reasonably could have obtained and analyzed prior to giving the offer. There may be times when an employer cannot reasonably obtain and evaluate all non-medical information at the pre-offer stage. If an employer can show that is the case, the offer would still be considered a real offer. Employers do not have to limit offers to current vacancies; they can give offers to fill current vacancies or reasonably anticipated openings. Employers may also give offers that exceed the number of vacancies or reasonably anticipated openings, but must comply with the ADA when taking people out of the pool to fill actual vacancies. The employer must notify an individual (orally or in writing) if his/her placement into an actual vacancy is in any way adversely affected by the results of a post-offer medical examination or disability-related question. If an individual alleges that disability has affected his/her placement into an actual vacancy, the EEOC will carefully scrutinize whether disability was a reason for any adverse action. If disability was a reason, the EEOC will determine whether the action was job-related and consistent with business necessity. For additional information, see EEOC's Pre-Employment Disability-Related Inquiries and Medical Exams. 2. What medical questions can employers ask once a job offer has been made? According to the EEOC, once a conditional job offer is made and before an employee starts work, employers may ask any disability-related questions they choose and they may require medical examinations as long as this is done for all entering employees in a particular job category. For additional information, see EEOC's Pre-Employment Disability-Related Inquiries and Medical Exams. 3. Can employers rescind a job offer without violating the ADA? In some cases employers may be able to rescind a job offer without violating the ADA. If an employer rejects an applicant after a post offer disability-related question or medical examination and the applicant files a complaint with the EEOC alleging discrimination, EEOC investigators will closely scrutinize whether the rejection was based on the results of that question or examination. If the question or examination screens out an individual because of a disability, the employer must demonstrate that the reason for the rejection is job-related and consistent with business necessity. In addition, if the individual is screened out for safety reasons, the employer must demonstrate that the individual poses a "direct threat." This means that the individual poses a significant risk of substantial harm to him/herself or others, and that the risk cannot be reduced below the direct threat level through reasonable accommodation. One of the key non-discrimination requirements of Title I of the ADA is the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities. This section provides information about what policies and procedures might be useful, how to recognize and handle accommodation requests, how to determine effective accommodations, and what types of accommodations might be reasonable. 1. Are there specific policies and procedures employers must follow when trying to accommodate an employee with a disability? There are no specific policies or procedures that employers must follow when trying to accommodate an employee with a disability. However, employers may want to develop formal policies and procedures for several reasons. First, if supervisors, managers, and HR professionals have formal policies and procedures to refer to, they are more likely to handle accommodation requests properly and consistently. Second, a formal policy that is shared with employees helps employees know what to expect if they request an accommodation and also helps them understand that other employees might be requesting and receiving accommodations. Finally, formal procedures help employers document their efforts to comply with the ADA. 2. Where can employers get sample accommodation policies and procedures? 3. Do employers have any obligation to provide temporary accommodations while researching an employee's accommodation request? According to informal guidance from the EEOC, there is no definite answer to this question; it depends on the situation. In some circumstances, it may be a violation of the ADA for an employer to fail to make temporary arrangements to keep an employee working while the employer researches the employee's accommodation request. From a practical standpoint, employers should try to make temporary accommodations, even beyond the requirements of the ADA, because doing so demonstrates the employer's good faith efforts to accommodate. For example, if an employee cannot perform an essential function of his job and requests an accommodation that requires some research, the employer should consider temporarily removing the essential function until a permanent accommodation can be made. If an employer chooses to do this, the employer should make clear to the employee that the interim accommodation is temporary. 1. How can employers recognize an accommodation request? According to the EEOC, an individual may use "plain English" and need not mention the ADA or use the phrase "reasonable accommodation" when requesting an accommodation. Therefore, any time an employee indicates that he/she is having a problem and the problem is related to a medical condition, the employer should consider whether the employee is making a request for accommodation under the ADA. Example D: An employee tells his supervisor that he would like a new chair because his present one is uncomfortable. Although this is a request for a change at work, his statement is insufficient to put the employer on notice that he is requesting reasonable accommodation. He does not link his need for the new chair with a medical condition. From EEOC's Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship. 2. Who should handle accommodation requests? Initially, the person receiving an accommodation request should respond, even if the response is merely to explain the company's accommodation process and refer the employee on to the appropriate person to handle the request. Employers may want to designate a person to handle accommodation requests and then train all supervisors, managers, foremen, crew leaders, HR representatives, and others in positions that involve supervision of employees to consult with that designated person if they receive an accommodation request. 3. Can employers ask an employee whether he/she needs an accommodation? According to the EEOC, an employer may ask an employee with a known disability whether he/she needs a reasonable accommodation when it reasonably believes that the employee may need an accommodation. For example, an employer could ask a deaf employee who is being sent on a business trip if he/she needs reasonable accommodation. Or, if an employer is scheduling a luncheon at a restaurant and is uncertain about what questions it should ask to ensure that the restaurant is accessible for an employee who uses a wheelchair, the employer may first ask the employee. An employer also may ask an employee with a disability who is having performance or conduct problems if he needs reasonable accommodation. 4. Does the ADA have specific accommodation request forms that employers must use? No, there are no official request forms under the ADA. For employers that want to use forms, JAN offers several Sample/Example Policies, Procedures, Forms, and Checklists. 5. What should employers do when they receive an accommodation request? According to the EEOC, the employer and the individual with a disability should engage in an informal process to clarify what the individual needs and identify the appropriate reasonable accommodation. The employer may ask the individual relevant questions that will enable it to make an informed decision about the request. This includes asking what type of reasonable accommodation is needed. The exact nature of the dialogue will vary. In many instances, both the disability and the type of accommodation required will be obvious, and thus there may be little or no need to engage in any discussion. In other situations, the employer may need to ask questions concerning the nature of the disability and the individual's functional limitations in order to identify an effective accommodation. While the individual with a disability does not have to be able to specify the precise accommodation, he/she does need to describe the problems posed by the workplace barrier. Additionally, suggestions from the individual with a disability may assist the employer in determining the type of reasonable accommodation to provide. Where the individual or the employer are not familiar with possible accommodations, there are extensive public and private resources to help the employer identify reasonable accommodations once the specific limitations and workplace barriers have been ascertained. 6. What medical information can employers ask for when an employee requests accommodation? Under the ADA, employers must limit the scope of a medical inquiry in response to an accommodation request. When the disability or need for accommodation is not obvious, an employer may require that the employee provide medical documentation to establish that the employee has an ADA disability, to show that the employee needs the requested accommodation, and to help determine effective accommodation options. Although the ADA limits the scope of medical requests, it does not include specific forms for requesting medical information (see JAN's Sample/Example Policies, Procedures, Forms, and Checklists). 1. How can employers determine effective accommodations? In most situations, employers should first consult with the employee who requested the accommodation to clarify what the individual needs and identify the appropriate reasonable accommodation. Often the employee will be the best resource for information about accommodation needs. When the employee does not have all the necessary information or when an employer wants to explore other options, the next step may be to request medical information from the employee's health care provider. By talking with the employee who requested the accommodation and obtaining medical information if needed, the employer should be able to identify what the problem is, which is the first step in determining effective accommodation solutions. The employer needs to know what specific symptoms and functional limitations are creating barriers to accessing the workplace, performing job tasks, or benefiting from an equal employment opportunity. It may also be helpful to know if the employee's limitations are predictable, subject to change over time, stable, or progressive. While this information may not always be known, when available the information can be very helpful in selecting a long term, effective accommodation solution. Once the employee's limitations and abilities are identified, the next step is to determine how they impact the employee's ability to perform the job. To make this determination, the employer needs to consider what specific job tasks, work environments, equipment, or policies are creating barriers to successful job performance. A good job description is a starting point, but does not always provide all the information needed. Sometimes it may be necessary to go beyond the traditional job description and consider other factors, such as what equipment is used to perform a task, where the work is performed, and why certain policies are being followed. After the employer identifies the employee's limitations and abilities and determines how they impact job performance, the employer is ready to consider accommodation options. 2. Where can employers get information about the types of accommodations that might be useful? JAN provides free consulting services for employers seeking accommodation ideas. JAN also maintains an extensive Web site with accommodation idea publications and a Searchable Online Accommodation Resource (SOAR), which allows employers to independently search for accommodation solutions. 3. Who chooses an accommodation? According to the EEOC, employers get to choose among effective accommodation options. If more than one accommodation would be effective for the individual with a disability, or if the individual would prefer to provide his or her own accommodation, the individual's preference should be given first consideration. 4. What accommodations are not considered reasonable? Reasonable accommodation does not include removing essential job functions, creating new jobs, and providing personal need items such as eye glasses and mobility aids. Nothing in the ADA prohibits employers from providing these types of accommodations; they simply are not required accommodations. 5. If an employer provides an accommodation the ADA does not require, will that set a precedent for the next time an employee needs the same type of accommodation? The EEOC encourages employers to go beyond the requirements of the ADA if they choose and will not penalize them for doing so. However, if employers choose to do more than required under the ADA, they should do so in a non-discriminatory manner. For example, employers should not do more only for employees with physical disabilities than they do for people with mental disabilities. a. Do employers have to modify the work-site if they do not have an employee with a mobility impairment? Under Title I, an employer is not required to make its existing facilities accessible until a particular applicant or employee with a particular disability needs an accommodation, and then the modifications should meet that individual's work needs. The employer does not have to make changes to provide access in places or facilities that will not be used by that individual for employment related activities or benefits. However, private employers that occupy commercial facilities or operate places of public accommodation and state and local governments must conform to more extensive accessibility requirements under Title III and Title II when making alterations to existing facilities or undertaking new construction. When making changes to meet an individual's needs under Title I, an employer will find it helpful to consult the applicable Department of Justice accessibility guidelines as a starting point. It is advisable to make changes that conform to these guidelines, if they meet the individual's needs and do not impose an undue hardship, since such changes will be useful in the future for accommodating others. However, even if a modification meets the standards required under Title II or III, further adaptations may be needed to meet the needs of a particular individual. For example: A restroom may be modified to meet standard accessibility requirements (including wider door and stalls, and grab bars in specified locations) but it may be necessary to install a lower grab bar for a very short person in a wheelchair so that this person can transfer from the chair to the toilet. Although the requirement for accessibility in employment is triggered by the needs of a particular individual, employers should consider initiating changes that will provide general accessibility, particularly for job applicants, since it is likely that people with disabilities will apply for jobs in the future (from the A Technical Assistance Manual on the Employment Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Visit the Access Board's website to find the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. b. Do employers have to provide accommodations for emergency evacuation? If an employer has an emergency evacuation plan for employees, the plan should include employees with disabilities. If an employer does not have an evacuation plan for all employees, the employer must consider accommodations on a case by case basis for any employee with a disability who requests accommodations for emergency evacuation. For information about accommodating employees during emergency evacuation, visit JAN's webpage on emergency evacuation. Visit ODEP for more information about emergency preparedness. c. Do employers have to provide transportation to and from work as an accommodation? An employer is required to provide reasonable accommodations that eliminate barriers in the work environment, not barriers that exist outside the work environment. Therefore, an employer would not be required to provide transportation as a reasonable accommodation for a commute to work, unless the employer generally provides transportation for its employees. However, where an employer's policy regarding work schedules creates a barrier for an individual whose disability interferes with his or her ability to commute to work, the employer must modify that policy as a reasonable accommodation unless it would impose an undue hardship. For example, an individual who uses a wheelchair and commutes by public transportation may need a later arrival time in inclement weather. From an EEOC informal guidance letter dated June 15, 1993. According to the EEOC, job restructuring includes modifications such as: reallocating or redistributing marginal job functions that an employee is unable to perform because of a disability; and altering when and/or how a function, essential or marginal, is performed. An employer never has to reallocate essential functions as a reasonable accommodation, but can do so if it wishes. a. How do employers determine what job duties are essential? JAN put together a collection of information on job descriptions, which includes a discussion about how to determine whether a job duty is essential. The EEOC also provides information about determining essential functions in chapter II of A Technical Assistance Manual on the Employment Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. b. Do employers have to provide light duty for employees with disabilities? The term "light duty" has a number of different meanings in the employment setting. Generally, "light duty" refers to temporary or permanent work that is physically or mentally less demanding than normal job duties. Some employers use the term "light duty" to mean simply excusing an employee from performing those job functions that he/she is unable to perform because of an impairment. "Light duty" also may consist of particular positions with duties that are less physically or mentally demanding created specifically for the purpose of providing alternative work for employees who are unable to perform some or all of their normal duties. Further, an employer may refer to any position that is sedentary or is less physically or mentally demanding as "light duty." In the following discussion, the term "light duty" refers only to particular positions created specifically for the purpose of providing work for employees who are unable to perform some or all of their normal duties. An employer need not create a light duty position for a non-occupationally injured employee with a disability as a reasonable accommodation. The principle that the ADA does not require employers to create positions as a form of reasonable accommodation applies equally to the creation of light duty positions. However, an employer must provide other forms of reasonable accommodation required under the ADA. For example, subject to undue hardship, an employer must: (1) restructure a position by redistributing marginal functions that an individual cannot perform because of a disability, (2) provide modified scheduling (including part time work), or (3) reassign a non-occupationally injured employee with a disability to an equivalent existing vacancy for which he/she is qualified. Accordingly, an employer may not avoid its obligation to accommodate an individual with a disability simply by asserting that the disability did not derive from an occupational injury. On the other hand, if an employer reserves light duty positions for employees with occupational injuries (does not create new light duty jobs when needed), the ADA requires it to consider reassigning an employee with a disability who is not occupationally injured to such positions as a reasonable accommodation. This is because reassignment to a vacant position and appropriate modification of an employer's policy are forms of reasonable accommodation required by the ADA, absent undue hardship. An employer cannot establish that the reassignment to a vacant reserved light duty position imposes an undue hardship simply by showing that it would have no other vacant light duty positions available if an employee became injured on the job and needed light duty. Note that an employer is free to determine that a light duty position will be temporary rather than permanent. For more information, see the EEOC's Workers' Compensation and the ADA. In its publication on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship the EEOC discusses modified work schedules and leave as accommodations. However, some issues regarding work schedules and leave are not addressed in the guidance. a. Do employers have to change full-time jobs to part-time as an accommodation under the ADA? Although part-time work is a form of reasonable accommodation, employers probably do not have to change existing full-time jobs to part-time as an accommodation under the ADA. According to informal guidance from the EEOC, when an employee is asking to cut his/her hours significantly, then, in essence, the employee is asking for a reassignment to an existing part-time job. The precise legal rationale will be debated in courts for awhile, but any way you look at it you fundamentally change a job when you significantly cut the hours (e.g., in half). One argument is that cutting a job in half necessarily entails cutting essential functions if "essential function" embodies the amount of work to be accomplished. You could also say that you would be cutting the production standard, which is not simply an hourly standard, but also a standard that measures how much should be produced in a full-day. Another legal argument is to say that significantly reducing the hours of a job would be changing a qualification standard of the job; specifically, the ability to work full-time. The employer should always be able to show that it created a full-time position because there is sufficient work that requires working full-time. As such, the qualification to work full-time meets the business necessity standard, and thus it is not a reasonable accommodation to cut the hours in half. That is why a request for part-time work by an employee often ends up really being a request for a reassignment to an existing part-time job. If there is only a minimal cut in hours, it might be possible to show that the essential functions, the productivity standard, and/or a qualification standard of the position will not be changed, despite the slight decrease in hours. In this case, an employer might need to eliminate marginal functions to permit the employee to complete all the essential functions. b. If an employer chooses to change a full-time job to part-time, does the employer have to maintain the employee's full-time pay and benefits? No, not under the ADA unless the employer maintains pay and benefits for employees without disabilities whose jobs change from full-time to part-time. Employers should consider whether other laws apply, such as wage and hour laws. c. How much leave time must an employer provide as an accommodation under the ADA? Unlike the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of leave, there is no specific amount of leave time required under the ADA. Instead, leave time is approached like any other accommodation request: the employer must provide the amount of leave needed by the employee unless doing so poses an undue hardship. For additional information regarding the interplay between the ADA, FMLA, and Title IV, see EEOC's FMLA, ADA, and Title VII. a. Can employers apply a no-fault attendance policy? No. If an employee with a disability needs additional unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation, the employer must modify its "no-fault" leave policy to provide the employee with the additional leave, unless it can show that: (1) there is another effective accommodation that would enable the person to perform the essential functions of his/her position, or (2) granting additional leave would cause an undue hardship. Modifying workplace policies, including leave policies, is a form of reasonable accommodation. From Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship. b. Can employers have 100% restriction-free policies? According to informal guidance from the EEOC, requiring an employee to be 100% restriction-free can violate the ADA when applied to an employee with a disability. Although some courts have characterized such policies as per se violations of the ADA, most courts require that the employee meet the definition of disability before being allowed to challenge the policy under the ADA. If an employee does not meet the first two prongs, he may be able to show that his employer regarded him as having a disability, typically by relying on evidence that the employer would not let him return to his regular job or any other job in a class of jobs or broad range of jobs in various classes. c. Can employers enforce conduct rules? An employer never has to excuse a violation of a uniformly applied conduct rule that is job-related and consistent with business necessity. This means, for example, that an employer never has to tolerate or excuse violence, threats of violence, stealing, or destruction of property. An employer may discipline an employee with a disability for engaging in such misconduct if it would impose the same discipline on an employee without a disability. An employer must make reasonable accommodation to enable an otherwise qualified employee with a disability to meet such a conduct standard in the future, barring undue hardship, except where the punishment for the violation is termination. Since reasonable accommodation is always prospective, an employer is not required to excuse past misconduct even if it is the result of the individual's disability. For additional information, see Applying Performance and Conduct Standards to Employees with Disabilities. d. Do employers have to modify dress codes or hygiene requirements as an accommodation? Most authorities (including EEOC) treat dress codes and hygiene requirements as "conduct rules," but classify them as the type of conduct rule that must be justified as job-related and consistent with business necessity before being enforced. Therefore, if a person with a disability requests modification of a dress code or hygiene requirement as an accommodation, an employer must consider allowing the modification unless the employer can show that the dress code or hygiene requirement is necessary for the job at issue. e. Do employers have to consider allowing employees to work at home as an accommodation? Yes. Changing the location where work is performed may fall under the ADA's reasonable accommodation requirement of modifying workplace policies, even if the employer does not allow other employees to telework. However, an employer is not obligated to adopt an employee's preferred or requested accommodation and may instead offer alternate accommodations as long as they would be effective. For more information about work at home as a reasonable accommodation, see Work at Home/Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation. a. If an employer requires work equipment, such as steel-toed work boots or stethoscopes, and an employee with a disability needs specialized equipment that costs more than the regular equipment (e.g., customized boots or amplified stethoscopes), does the employer have to pay the extra cost for the specialized equipment? If the equipment or device is a personal-use item, then the employer does not have to provide it. For example, if an employee has to wear a special type of boot all the time, the employer does not have to pay for it. Common items that fall into this category are hearing aids, glasses, and medication. On the other hand, if the boots are necessary only for work and constitute an accommodation, the employer would have to pay the entire cost of the boot, unless it would be an undue hardship to do so. There is also a tool of the trade issue here. If the boots constitute a tool of the trade, that is the boots are necessary to get the job done, then the employer must pay for the specialized boot as a form of equal treatment if the employer provides the boots for other employees. However, if other employees buy their own boots and they own them, then an employee with a disability can be required to buy his own boots even if they cost more. b. If an employee has a limitation such as a hearing impairment, but chooses not to purchase a hearing aid, does the employer then have an obligation to provide a hearing aid at work? The fact that an individual chooses to forego personal use items at home (a wheelchair, hearing aids, protective clothing) does not mean that such items become work-related because they are needed on the job. The limitations prompting the need for the hearing aids exist on and off the job and thus they remain personal use items. However, employers may still have to provide a reasonable accommodation even though they are not obligated to provide personal use items. For example, an employer might have to provide an amplified telephone or alternative means of communication for an employee with a hearing impairment who does not choose to use hearing aids. c. Do employers have to allow employees with disabilities to use personal need items (canes, walkers, wheelchairs, hearing aids) or services (personal attendant care, service animals) in the workplace? Allowing an employee with a disability to use a personal need item or service in the workplace is a form of reasonable accommodation. For example, it would be a reasonable accommodation for an employer to permit an individual who is blind to use a guide dog at work, even though the employer would not be required to provide a guide dog for the employee. d. Do employers have to provide personal assistance services (PAS) under the ADA? The term PAS can include a wide variety of services. The Ticket-to-Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act defines PAS as "a range of services provided by 1 or more persons designed to assist an individual with a disability to perform daily living activities on or off the job that the individual would typically perform without assistance if the individual did not have a disability." Under the ADA, reasonable accommodation can include PAS in the form of work-related assistance, but generally does not include PAS in the form of personal attendant care at the work-site. Work-related PAS can include task-related assistance at work, such as readers, interpreters, help with lifting or reaching, page turners, a travel attendant to act as a sighted guide to assist a blind employee on occasional business trips, and re-assignment of non-essential duties to co-workers. For additional information, see JAN's information on personal assistance in the workplace. e. Do employers have to provide personal attendant care for work-related travel? According to informal guidance from the EEOC, the ADA does not require employers to provide personal attendant care on the job because reasonable accommodation does not require employers to provide personal need items or services. However, when an employee travels for work and incurs personal attendant care expenses beyond his/her usual expenses when not traveling for work, there is a good argument that the employer must pay the added costs. f. What if coworkers voluntarily assist employees with disabilities with personal needs? For example, coworkers assist an employee who uses a wheelchair to transfer from her car into her wheelchair when she arrives at work. Do employers have to allow coworkers to assist or can they prohibit them from doing so? According to informal guidance from the EEOC, in general employers can decide how employees use their time at work. Therefore, employers can probably prohibit coworkers from providing personal assistance to employees with disabilities without violating the ADA outright. However, from a practical standpoint, the EEOC recommends that employers take a case by case approach and consider allowing coworkers to voluntarily assist employees with disabilities when the employer does not have any liability for resulting injuries and the assistance does not substantially disrupt the workplace. The EEOC suggests the following approach: When deciding whether to allow coworkers to provide personal assistance, employers may first want to determine whether they have any liability for resulting injuries. To make that determination, employers should check with appropriate legal advisors - the EEOC does not advise employers about the extent of their liability for on the job injuries. If an employer determines that it is liable for injuries, it can prohibit coworkers from providing the personal assistance. If, on the other hand, the employer determines it is not liable, then the employer should look at other factors such as how much disruption there will be to the workplace if coworkers are allowed to provide personal assistance. If not liable and little if any disruption would result, then the employer should consider allowing coworkers to assist an employee with a disability, at least with minor activities such as taking off and putting on a coat and eating. When more difficult assistance is needed, such as toileting transfers or administering medications, the employer may want to make sure that coworkers are properly trained before allowing them to provide this type of assistance. In contrast, under the ADA's reasonable accommodation obligation employers must consider allowing employees with disabilities to have their own personal attendant in the workplace, absent undue hardship. g. Is it a reasonable accommodation to provide a job coach? Yes. An employer may be required to provide a temporary job coach to assist in the training of a qualified individual with a disability as a reasonable accommodation, barring undue hardship. An employer also may be required to allow a job coach paid by a public or private social service agency to accompany the employee at the job site as a reasonable accommodation. From EEOC's Psychiatric Disabilities and the ADA. h. Do employers have to provide accommodations for on-the-job travel such as driving to home visits? According to the EEOC, employers must consider accommodations such as alternative methods of transportation for work-related travel when driving is not an essential function of the job. For example, an employer must consider alternative transportation for a social worker who cannot drive due to vertigo; the essential function is completing the home visits, not driving. The ADA requires employers to provide accommodations to ensure that employees with disabilities receive equal benefits of employment. For employees on leave and former employees, benefits of employment may include health and disability insurance, job protection, or call-backs from layoffs. 1. Does the ADA apply to employer-sponsored benefits such as health insurance and short and long term disability? According to the EEOC, the interplay between the nondiscrimination principles of the ADA and employer-sponsored benefits such as health insurance and short and long term disability can be very complex. The EEOC has two publications that may help employers understand how the ADA applies to employer-sponsored benefits: Interim Enforcement Guidance On the Application of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 to Disability-Based Distinctions in Employer Provided Health Insurance and the Compliance Manual: Employee Benefits. 2. When employers offer long term disability insurance, can they condition the receipt of payments on termination of employment? Does this potentially violate the ADA's requirement that employers consider holding jobs for people who take leave as an accommodation (assuming the employee has a disability and plans to return to work at some point)? Generally this practice does not violate the ADA. Long term disability is a benefit of employment that employers are free to offer or not. As such, employers set the parameters of the benefit. An employer might violate the ADA if the employer's purpose was to evade its obligations under the ADA. 3. Can an employer terminate or reduce an individual's health insurance benefits because he or she is working fewer hours due to a disability? Yes, according to the EEOC. The ADA does not prohibit the adoption of health insurance eligibility requirements that do not discriminate on the basis of disability, as long as such requirements are applied in the same manner to all employees. A requirement that employees work a certain number of hours to remain eligible for health insurance benefits does not discriminate on the basis of disability. It limits both individuals with and without disabilities. Thus, for example, an employee who works reduced hours for some other reason, such as attending school, would also be subject to a reduction or loss of health insurance benefits. From an EEOC informal guidance letter dated January 4, 1995. 1. If an employer bases bonuses or promotions on employee performance records and attendance, can the employer penalize an employee for work missed during leave taken as a reasonable accommodation? No, according to the EEOC, to do so would be retaliation for the employee's use of a reasonable accommodation to which he/she is entitled under the law. Moreover, such punishment would make the leave an ineffective accommodation, thus making an employer liable for failing to provide a reasonable accommodation. 1. Does the ADA protect employees with disabilities from termination during a reduction in force or from being laid off when business is slow? Although the ADA protects individuals with disabilities against discrimination on the basis of disability, employees with disabilities are not protected against non-discriminatory layoffs. When deciding to terminate or layoff employees, employers need to make sure that their decisions are based on business needs, rather than on a desire to get rid of employees with disabilities. For example, employers can base their layoff decisions on such non-discriminatory criteria as productivity, seniority, or job category. However, if an employer bases its layoff decisions on productivity of employees, it cannot penalize employees for accommodations that were provided under the ADA. The EEOC gives the following example: Company X is having a reduction-in-force. The company decides that any employee who has missed more than four weeks in the past year will be terminated. An employee took five weeks of leave for treatment of his disability. The company cannot count those five weeks in determining whether to terminate this employee. 2. Are former employees covered by the ADA? Former employees are protected by the ADA when they are subjected to discrimination arising from the former employment relationship. For example, an employer cannot release confidential medical information about a former employee. Private employers with 15 or more employees are covered under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Title I requires covered employers to provide equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities. Below are publications and resources to help private employers understand their rights and responsibilities and maximize the potential of their workforce. Visit our “FAQs for Employers” page for answers to a few common questions, and check out our "Publications" page to find ADA documents and our "Resources" page to find links to information on a variety of employment-related topics. State and local governments are covered employers under the Americans with Disabilities Act regardless of how many employees they have. State and local governments are required to provide equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities. Below are publications and resources to help state and local government employers understand their rights and responsibilities and maximize the potential of their workforce. The Rehabilitation Act (link) prohibits discrimination on the basic of disability in federal employment, and in the employment practices of recipients of federal fund and many federal contractors. Although the complaint and administrative procedures differ slightly under the Rehab Act, the basic provisions and requirements are the same as those of the ADA. Court rulings in ADA cases and guidance materials on the ADA can be instructive in applying the provisions of the Rehabilitation Act. Below are publications and resources to help federal employers understand their rights and responsibilities and maximize the potential of their workforce. 1. Do I have to build a ramp or alter my facility to make it accessible even though I don’t have any employees with disabilities? The ADA does not generally require an employer to make structural improvements in existing facilities. Architectural accessibility is addressed on a more individualized basis in the employment context. An employer may need to alter facilities in order to provide a “reasonable accommodation” to a specific worker with a disability; such alterations should meet the worker’s individual needs. Federal, state and local governments are also subject to accessibility standards for construction and alterations, and have obligations to ensure access in general to their programs and activities. 2. I have heard that I may have to provide a “reasonable accommodation” for a person with a disability applying for a job, like hiring an interpreter for a job interview. Why do I have to provide accommodations for people who don’t even work for me (yet)? The ADA requires the provision of reasonable accommodations during the application process so that candidates with disabilities have an opportunity to be judged – like other candidates – on the qualifications, skills, talents, and experience relevant to the job. Reasonable accommodations are designed to ensure that applicants are not eliminated or unfairly disadvantaged in the job competition due to disability-related barriers that can reasonably be overcome by the employer. Keep in mind that applicants with disabilities are required to meet the same legitimate qualification standards as other applicants (for example, if the job requires a certain educational degree, certification, or professional license, you don’t have to consider an applicant who lacks them just because the individual has a disability). 3. I want to maintain a safe workplace and treat everyone equally. Can I ask all job applicants if they have a disability before I consider other factors? No. There is no evidence that employees with disabilities pose greater safety risks in the workplace than employees without disabilities. Research and surveys conducted by both government and industry consistently find that employees with disabilities perform their jobs as well and as safely as their co-workers without disabilities. The ADA generally prohibits employers from asking any disability-related questions or requiring any kind of medical examinations before making a real job offer. This helps ensure that candidates are evaluated on job-related factors and not on assumptions, fears, or stereotypes, particularly if hidden disabilities are revealed before other factors are considered. Once real job offers are extended, disability-related questions may be asked, and medical examinations may be conducted, but only if all candidates entering the job category are subjected to the same questions and/or exams. You can’t ask disability-related questions or require medical exams in order to get information only from certain individuals because you know or suspect they have disabilities. Employers do not have to hire or retain individuals who pose a direct threat to the health or safety of themselves or others. A direct threat is a significant risk of substantial harm that can not be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level through the provision of reasonable accommodations. The determination that an individual poses a direct threat must be based on an individualized assessment and valid, objective evidence. 4. We have always given drug tests to all applicants before we make job offers. Do we have to stop doing that? No. Tests to determine if individuals are currently illegally using drugs are not considered “medical exams” under the ADA, and can therefore be given prior to making job offers as long as the scope of the tests is limited to identifying current illegal use of drugs. Employers would be well advised, however, to be cautious about how results and related information are handled. It would be prudent to limit the information reported to those who will make decisions about job offers to the relevant result (“pass” or “fail”). For example, many individuals properly use prescription medications that may result in positive results on drug tests. Individuals can provide information to prove that the test result is based on legal drug use. The information about the prescription is irrelevant to the decision about whether to offer an individual a job, and since it may suggest the presence or nature of a disability, the decision maker is better off without it. The individual has “passed” the drug test, and this is all the decision maker needs to know at this point. 5. We give a battery of written tests to all applicants to help us select the best candidates. Does the ADA affect our ability to do that? First of all, it is important to ensure that no medical tests are administered prior to making a job offer. There are written tests that are designed to indicate the presence, nature, or extent of various impairments, such as learning disabilities or psychiatric conditions. These tests are typically administered and/or interpreted by medical professionals and produce evidence related to diagnosis or treatment. Such tests should not be administered in the pre-offer stage of employment. Some tests, though, even those that may seem “psychological” in nature, are merely designed to identify traits such as honesty, and are not medical tests. Non-medical tests given prior to offering a job should be tailored to the relevant job or class or jobs so that the information obtained is meaningful in the selection process. Tests should measure the knowledge, skills, or traits that will actually be needed on the job. If a test criterion is used to eliminate a candidate with a disability, the criterion must be job-related and consistent with business necessity. A reasonable accommodation may be needed to ensure that an applicant with a disability has an equal opportunity to obtain relevant and meaningful test results. For example, the ability to take a test in the standard written format may or may not be critical to the validity of the test result. It depends on what the test is designed to measure and how it relates to the job. The test result may be just as meaningful if the individual takes the test orally. Testing accommodations should be carefully considered so that the individual has an opportunity to demonstrate the level of knowledge, skills, or traits that are being identified or measured, without either advantage or disadvantage compared to other candidates. 6. My new employee just asked me for an accommodation, but he never mentioned anything during the interview or application process. Do I still have to consider his request? The ADA doesn’t require an individual to disclose the existence or nature of a disability during the job application process. There are many reasons why an individual may choose not to do so, ranging from fear of discrimination to a lack of knowledge about specific job duties or barriers that may exist in the workplace. Additionally, employees may acquire disabilities through accidents, illnesses, or the process of aging. Individuals can not be denied consideration simply because they didn’t have, or didn’t disclose, a disability before they were hired. Employers can help applicants understand the nature of the job and the workplace by providing detailed, up-to-date information about job duties, job demonstrations, or tours of the worksite. Employers, by taking the time to provide comprehensive information, may help applicants determine if particular jobs are a good match for them, thereby reducing the likelihood that an individual, with or without a disability, will accept a job that turns out to be unsuitable. 7. If I provide a “reasonable accommodation,” like a flexible schedule, to an employee with a disability, my other employees may resent it. How can I explain it to them? The ADA generally prohibits covered employers from disclosing information about disability to an individual’s co-workers. Although some individuals with disabilities choose to share such personal information with colleagues, an employer may not do so. If asked or confronted with complaints from co-workers, an employer may simply explain that there are laws that require employers to guard individuals’ personal information. Many workers will appreciate an employer which takes such matters seriously, understanding that their own privacy will be respected as well. 8. I have an employee with a disability who wants to leave early every Friday to attend her son’s soccer games. Does the ADA require that I grant this request? The employee’s requested schedule adjustment appears to be unrelated to her disability, and therefore would not be considered a “reasonable accommodation.” Reasonable accommodations must be related to the individual’s disability. If the employee’s non-disabled co-workers are allowed to make similar scheduling adjustments, the employee with a disability should not be denied the same consideration, but she does not need to be granted additional latitude in this regard merely because she has a disability. 9. My company has performance and conduct rules that address a variety of things, ranging from production quotas to violence in the workplace. Can I expect employees with disabilities to comply with these rules? Yes, generally employees with disabilities can be held to the same standards as their co-workers. Some standards are related strictly to job performance (like a production quota), and others to general conduct (such as a prohibition against violence in the workplace). Sometimes, performance standards include “conduct-like” elements, as employers often establish performance evaluation criteria that are both quantitative (e.g. producing two reports a week) and qualitative (e.g. working well with others). Rules and standards, of course, must not be plainly discriminatory (e.g. “employees must be free of psychiatric conditions to work here”) nor designed to eliminate qualified candidates or employees with disabilities for no legitimate reason (e.g. requiring applicants for a job that does not entail driving to have a valid driver license because you think it will help you avoid hiring anyone with a seizure disorder). Additionally, even if rules are legitimate, they can not be applied or enforced in a discriminatory manner (firing a worker with a disability for cursing on the loading dock when such language in that setting is generally tolerated, despite the existence of a general rule that prohibits profanity in the workplace). If an employee’s disability actually causes or contributes to his inability to meet a performance or conduct standard, and the standard is job-related and consistent with business necessity, you should consider whether a reasonable accommodation will enable the employee to meet the standard. Keep in mind that the purpose of reasonable accommodations is to enable workers with disabilities to meet legitimate standards, not to excuse them from doing so. 10. My company is small and I have an employee who has been on leave for 18 months due to her disability. I want to accommodate her, but it is becoming a strain. How long do I have to keep her job available for her? The obligation to provide reasonable accommodations is not unlimited. Employers do not have to provide an accommodation that poses an undue hardship (something that requires significant difficulty or expense). The ADA does not establish any specific formula to determine whether an accommodation is “reasonable” or whether it is an “undue burden.” Rather, the ADA establishes guidelines to help employers and employees find solutions in their own situations. There are many factors to consider in determining whether an accommodation is reasonable, including net cost in relation to the employer’s resources (after utilizing any available tax incentives or funding supports), disruption to the operation of the business, etc. Communication is vital. Employers should investigate possibilities and involve the employee in the process, along with experts and professionals (the employee’s doctor, therapists, rehabilitation consultants, legal advisors, accessibility specialists, etc.) who may be able to contribute. 1. What’s the difference between the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act? Some of the distinctions related to employment have to do with administrative procedures and reporting requirements. The most fundamental difference, however, is that section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal employers to have an affirmative action plan to hire and advance individuals with disabilities. 2. I really want to hire workers with disabilities, so may I ask job applicants if they have disabilities? The Rehabilitation Act has restrictions on disability-related questions (similar to the ADA); however, employers engaged in affirmative action may invite applicants or employees to voluntarily self-identify as individuals with disabilities. Employers must make it clear that the invitation is related to affirmative action, that self-identification is strictly voluntary, and that the information will be kept confidential. Additionally, it must be clear that self-identification will be of benefit to the individual. The individual’s choice to self-identify (or not to self-identify, even where a disability is apparent) can not be used against the individual. Visit our “Federal Employers” page for more resources! 1. Is there any difference between the way the employment provisions of the ADA apply to private employers and the way they apply to state and local government employers? State and local government employers have the same obligations to applicants and employees with disabilities that covered private employers do. There are differences that have to do with the recourse and remedies that are available to individuals who allege discrimination. Additionally, court decisions related to the constitutionality of the ADA have further limited the availability of monetary damages that may be obtained from state employers. Individuals bringing private lawsuits against state employers can not obtain monetary damages of any kind. However, individuals may sue state officials in their official capacities to obtain injunctive relief (hiring, reinstatement, policy changes, etc.). It is important to note that the federal government is not limited the way private individuals are in this respect; the federal government may seek monetary damages against states for violations of the ADA’s employment provisions. Additionally, the immunity does not apply to local governments. Individuals as well as the federal government may obtain monetary damages against local government employers such as cities and counties. Visit our “State and Local Government Employers” page for more resources!

2019-04-24T02:44:35Z

https://www.adainfo.org/employers

HELP SUPPORT THE BARRON PARK DONKEYS! by Doug Moran, BPA President, email. Current emergency preparedness (e-prep) activities are very narrowly focused. In conjunction with leaders from several other neighborhoods, I have been trying to kick-start several activities that are currently being ignored but that would have significant benefits at relatively little cost. The hope was that historic resistance to these activities could be overcome by the impetus provided by the combination of this being the 100-year anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake plus the increased recognition of the threat of pandemic influenza. However, this has proven even more difficult than anticipated. Government plans for emergencies regard "the government" as a small set of people—the political leaders and the professional staff—rather than as a set of community tasks and responsibilities. The plans of governments and quasi-government organizations (such as the Red Cross) come across as having been developed by people use to controlling situations rather than adapting to them. Anticipating where you will need to improvise, and preparing for it, is critical (although that may seem to be an oxymoron). The above problems can be ascribed to a "bureaucratic" mindset. At the other end of the spectrum are the "enthusiasts." These are people, typically volunteers, who in their desire to do too much wind up blocking progress. In the e-prep meetings, you see the contributions of people from different backgrounds. People who manage environments where there is no central control (for example, computer networks) express skepticism about whether plans are ready for the unpredictability and chaos of a disaster. People involved in consumer product development and testing bring experience and a mindset about what is effective with the general public. Being a "victim" in a disaster is a very different experience from being a rescue worker. As someone who has been through a Katrina-level major disaster (the 1982 Hurricane Agnes flood), I can see that the plans would greatly benefit from involvement by more people with such experiences. Planning to fail: For "normal" emergencies, governments have arrangements with each other for mutual aid. However, in full-scale disasters such as a major earthquake, all the nearby communities are also overwhelmed and can provide no assistance—aid has to come from far away. A pandemic is a national, if not world-wide, disaster, so there is little chance of outside assistance. Government plans focus on making the best use of pre-trained personnel, and ignore the potential to quickly scale up capabilities with volunteers. For example, with traffic lights out, you need "traffic cops" at intersections to manage the traffic that otherwise would slow emergency and relief vehicles. Although training is relatively quick and easy, managing the number of people needed requires preparation. Ignored resources: My experience from previous disasters is that people wait for supplies such as fuel and food to be trucked in despite there being plentiful supplies already there. Gasoline remains in storage tanks at gas stations because there is no mechanical or legal preparation to pump it. Similarly, food spoils unused in grocery stores. When I tried to talk to the City's previous Emergency Coordinator about this, his reply was that the City had adequate supplies for Police, Fire, and Utilities. He couldn't see how anything beyond this should be part of his responsibilities. Unrealistic requirements: When organizations encounter unusual situations, they too often try to force them into a familiar approach. My most recent example comes from the American Red Cross, and is an outline for educating people during the early stages of a flu epidemic. Containing flu is a challenge because people are contagious for days before they show any symptoms. The ARC recognized that their normal approach of public meetings risked spreading the flu, but rather than choose an alternate approach (such as TV and computer downloads), it provided an unreliable suggestion on how to exclude contagious people. Unreasonable demands on time: My biggest frustration with the professionals and most of the enthusiasts is that they are unwilling to produce advice in a form usable to the typical citizen. I believe that they greatly over-estimate the time that people are willing to expend on preparation for a disaster. Breakdown of society: Disaster officials tell us not to expect any help from government (including police and fire) for 3 to 14 days, and that every family is responsible for taking care of itself. There is little, if any, role for community groups. Nor is there encouragement for people to work together during the crisis. When officials talk about their worries about a "breakdown of society", I have pointed out to them that their plans and statements implicitly encourage such a breakdown. I have heard many people say that they will not share with their neighbors. Some even say they are prepared to shoot people to protect their supplies. However, the experience in disasters is that most people reflexively help each other, including total strangers. Working together is much more effective if you aren't making it up on the fly. Panic in the streets? Mass panic during a disaster occurs only in the movies and other works of fiction—studies have found that people are much better behaved than was expected. However, concerns about public reaction can distort what government tells the public. In 1918, the government, supported by the news media, decided to understate the effects of the flu pandemic and overstate progress. They did this to avoid demoralizing the public (there was a war), but wound up exacerbating the public's fear because the plainly visible reality showed the reporting to be false. The above paints a grim picture. But remember, my focus has been on areas where I already knew there were problems. Part of my intent here is to raise awareness of what could reasonably be done to create pressure on officials to broaden their activities. Also notice that some of the above examples are "90-percent solutions"—most of the work is already done. However, in a disaster, you don't have the time nor the resources to work out the final details, so such solutions are not "good enough." Although it is said that the final 10-percent is the hardest, this may only apply to those who did the first 90-percent—people with different mindsets and skills may make short work of it. Thus, for the right people, taking such work through the final steps could provide substantial improvement in disaster readiness. The PAN e-prep group has two focuses. One is developing a portfolio of standard practices. This involves locating and adapting existing materials for practical use. The second is implementing a network of "block captains" as a way to get information to residents, both before and during a disaster. Developments will be announced on the BPA email lists. By Maryanne Welton, BPA Vice President, email. This year's May Fete in Bol Park was a wonderful community celebration that exemplifies all the characteristics that make Barron Park such a great neighborhood to live in. The creekside setting, music wafting on the breeze, food made and sold by local vendors, art projects for the youngsters, historical displays, local authors, two maypoles topped with flowers from neighborhood gardens, the donkeys and sheep—where else could all of this come together than Barron Park? People make the party. Thanks to all of you who came and enjoyed the day with your family, friends and neighbors. Special thanks to everyone who carried a chair, posted a sign, cut a ribbon, sent out emails, or did any of the myriad of tasks it took to put together the neighborhood's 28th annual May Fete. Kudos to co-chairs Jeannie Lythcott and Julie Lythcott-Haims who coordinated it all with warmth and grace. Only in Barron Park . . . By Patrick Muffler, Chair, Emergency Preparation, Barron Park Association, email. An epidemic is disease that quickly and severely affects a large number of people and then subsides. A pandemic is a widespread epidemic that may affect entire continents or even the world. A most relevant modern example of a pandemic is the 1918 influenza pandemic ("the Spanish flu") that killed 20-40 million people worldwide, including 675,000 in the United States1. Similar, but much less devastating influenza pandemics occurred in 1957 and 1968. Organizations such as the World Health Organization2 are sounding the alarm that the world may now be facing an influenza pandemic similar to 1918. In 2004, large parts of Asia experienced unprecedented outbreaks in poultry of a highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5N1 virus. In cases of close proximity between poultry and humans, the virus was passed from the birds to humans, with a very high fatality rate in humans. The concern is that this H5N1 virus could mutate to a strain easily passed from human to human and then would be spread quickly around the world by air travelers, causing an influenza pandemic similar to 1918. A vaccine could not be developed until after the mutant strain appeared. What is the likelihood of this frightening scenario? Participants in the Pandefense 1.0 National Avian Flu Conference in November 20053 estimated the probability that the H5N1 virus would mutate within three years into a strain that could spread efficiently by human-to-human contact. Nineteen medical participants estimated a 15% probability, and seventeen non-medical participants estimated a 60% probability. Either estimate is a cause for great concern. The participants in the Pandefense 1.0 National Avian Flu Conference also estimated the probability of the U.S. having adequate stockpiles of vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent a pandemic within the next three years. The estimate by the non-medical experts was 15-30%, whereas the estimate by the medical experts was only 1%. An influenza pandemic similar to 1918 is thus probable within the next few years. If this happens, our public-health resources in the United States will be overwhelmed. With present resources, there will be desperate shortages of medicine, hospital beds, physician and nursing care, mortician services, etc. Accordingly, individual households will be pretty much on their own to cope with their health needs. Public services—at any level—will not be there to help you. Furthermore, the sociology of response to an influenza pandemic is 180� opposed to the sociology of response to a major earthquake. For an earthquake, the mantra at all levels is "mutual aid." As individuals, we take care of our families and then help our neighbors. As neighborhoods and cities, we expect aid and assistance from other counties and states not affected by the earthquake. But with an influenza pandemic, mutual aid is just not going to happen; every neighborhood, city, county and state will be affected. Instead of increasing personal contacts with the community in response to an earthquake, the appropriate approach to an influenza pandemic will be to restrict one's public interaction to a minimum. Indeed, there well may be mandatory school closures, restriction of public transit, and other quarantine measures to slow the spread of the disease. The most important of these measure is extreme sanitation. Paramount is an adequate supply of face masks and plastic gloves to protect the household, especially if there are sick family members. Every sick person should wear a mask whenever caregivers are near, since the flu virus is spread most readily by droplets expelled into the air by sneezing or coughing. Healthy people should wear masks also, both to protect themselves from airborne droplets and to remind themselves not to touch their mouth, nose, or eyes with their hands. Disinfectants (e.g., chlorine bleach) are essential for any surfaces that may become contaminated. Other important flu-specific measures include (1) a two-week supply of prescription medicines, (2) two-weeks worth of ibuprofen or acetaminophen for each person in the house for fever and pain, (3) two weeks supply of cough medicine, and (4) rehydration solution (Pedialyte for kids and Gatorade or a solution of 4 cups water, 2 tbsp sugar, and 1/2 tsp of salt for adults and teens). Note that in a flu pandemic, distribution and availability of pharmaceutical and therapeutic supplies are likely to be severely compromised. The bottom line is that an H5N1 flu pandemic is certainly possible in the next few years. If this happens, public-health resources will be overwhelmed, and individual households will have to protect themselves against exposure and provide virtually all care for the sick. The necessary household preparation for an H5N1 flu epidemic is simple and inexpensive. All of us should plan to care for our households and should stockpile the essential supplies. 1 There are numerous books on this pandemic, including "Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic" by Gina Kolata (1999), "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History" by John M. Barry (2004), and "America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918" by Alfred W. Crosby (2003). 1918 was truly an awful year. By John King, Streets Chairman, email. In Mid-July the city of Palo Alto is scheduled to begin work on the rebuild and installation of valley gutters along Military Way. The project is expected to last into September. The project is expected to continue for Magnolia and LaSelva in the summer of 2007. For more information on this project you can contact Murdo Nicolson of the Public Works department at 650-617-3154. By Mary Jane Leon, Chair, email. Back in Bol Park for the summer lunches. Had a great one in June, and the next one will be August 8. Put it on your calendar now, so you save the date. If you would like to join us for lunch, and are not already on our e-mail or phone list to be notified, call one of the lunch coordinators: Rosemary Jacobsen, 493-9152; Bob Frost, 493-8272; or Julie Spengler, 493-9151. Free Classes: First and foremost, free computer classes are happening right across El Camino in the Ventura Community Center. There are brush-up classes for those of you who already use computers, and classes for people who are brand new to the whole concept. These classes are sponsored by the Palo Alto Family YMCA. Phone Pari Natarajan at (408) 205-3243, or send him e-mail at pnatarajan at ymcamidpen dot org. In-Home Computer Help: Almost as good, the Palo Alto Senior Center, Avenidas, has just added a computer trouble-shooting service to their Handyman Service. For a small fee, a PC or Mac expert will come to your home to help you with installation, navigation, customization, e-mailing and webbing (no, that's not a word, but what the heck!), printing, protection, etc. Call the Handyman Service direct at 289-5426. What is the small fee? It's $35 an hour, plus $7.50 travel. To someone like me, who can still remember when I budgeted $1.00 a day for lunch, that sounds like a lot of money. But in today's economy, that is a very reasonable amount. And not having to pack up the computer and take it somewhere is worth a whole lot to me. I want anyone who is working on my computer to do it here, where I can watch and learn. More information just in about Jazz at the Elks Club. The concerts are the last Sunday of each month, from 1 to 5 p.m. The music is mostly "Big Band," but during breaks, "jammers" have access to the stage, so you are likely to hear some different styles, too. The fee is $15 for the afternoon. For more information, phone the Elks club at 493-4249, or Ann Burgess at (408) 348-9324. She is the President of the South Bay Jazz Society, which is responsible for the jazz concerts. We are going to check out the June concert. See you there. A powerful drug called TPA can limit damage from strokes caused by a blood clot stuck inside the head. It is the sole drug approved for strokes, but only about 3% of stroke patients receive it. Why? Because most stroke victims do not seek help until it's too late for the drug to do any good—three hours after symptoms start. Sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm, leg, or one side of the body. Sudden dimness or loss of vision, especially in one eye. Difficulty or inability to speak. Unexplained dizziness or sudden falls. Call 911 if you experience any of these. Emergency personnel are trained to recognize these symptoms and get you the help you need fast enough for it to help you. The BPA has members who live outside of Barron Park. One of these members discovered via the BPA Newsletter that the upcoming changes to Arastradero would make it extremely difficult for him to get out of his driveway. He had difficulty getting the attention of City officials until he contacted the BPA. Patrick Muffler, who served on the citizens' advisory group for the project, took a look at the situation and confirmed that there was a problem. His comments received quick attention from the City and there is a tentative solution. Over the years, the BPA-News email list has reunited multiple people with their pets. The most recent was May 9, when an elderly cat wandered half way across the neighborhood before deciding it wanted to be found. Since this was outside the original search area, the email was key to reuniting the cat with its person. Searching for a lost pet can be a major emotional strain and a major commitment of time. In this case, the cat went missing right as the person was facing a major career deadline, so the quick return was a major relief. Thanks to everyone who reads those messages. And if a neighbor's pet goes missing, remind them to contact me to send out a message. — Doug Moran, BPA email list manager — email. By Karen Michael, Community Business Liaison, email. Eng describes Front of the Pack as a triathlon and bicycle store with full bike sales, service, and repairs. "It's all about customer service," says Eng, 29, who placed in the top 400 of 1800 participants in the Ironman Hawaii last year. "Most triathletes shop on the internet because many biking and running stores don't have the knowledge to recommend products. I listen to my customers and can help them figure out what they need. Business has been good so far. And," he adds proudly, "we're starting to become the neighborhood bike shop." He has plans to start a free weekly "shop ride" for bicyclists, with riders meeting and finishing at the store. Eng graduated from Palo Alto High in '94, got his degree in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and worked on the east coast for a while, but he came back to Palo Alto for the weather (and the ill-fated job at Oracle). Eng explains that he chose the Barron Park location for several reasons. First, there is easy access to good biking on Foothill and in the Los Altos Hills. The drive-by traffic on El Camino is a second reason, and the rent is cheaper than in downtown Palo Alto. As to his priorities, Eng is clear. "I'm striving to balance the sports I enjoy and run a successful business at the same time, which isn't always easy. But if I stop enjoying bicycling because of the business, I'll quit the business." BPA-News : News and announcements of problems, issues, meetings . . . No discussion. BPA : Discussion of issues related to Barron Park. Some announcements and news. BPA-Misc : Other items of potential interest to Barron Park residents, such as people organizing groups (child care, exercise) and some buy-sell announcements. Anyone can subscribe to any of this lists. bpa-news is moderated, but anyone can submit items directly to the other lists. For more info, go to www.bpaonline.org and follow the link for "BPA Email Lists" Support for Perry and Niner comes completely from the generosity of their neighbors and the community. The donkeys receive no tax dollars, no government funds, no funds from the City of Palo Alto, no grants from any animal welfare or humane organization. They are a part of the neighborhood simply because people who live here care about them and care about continuing this unique opportunity. In return, Perry and Niner provide warmth and joy to those who walk by their pasture; a rural equine experience for suburban children and adults who visit them on Sundays in Bol Park; an opportunity for humane education for children in Barron Park Schools; and a general reaffirmation for all of us of our connection to the natural world. General farrier and veterinary expenses for the donkeys total about $1,000 a year. Food costs about $600 a year. Funds for the donkeys are managed by Acterra (formerly the Peninsula Conservation Center Foundation), which acts as fiscal agent for the Donkey Project, providing insurance and handling donations and financial affairs. Fees for these administrative services totaled about $200 this past year. All of these expenses are funded solely through donations. All those who care about Perry and Niner seek to guarantee their proper on-going care and shelter, as well as to ensure that assets will be available for health concerns as the donkeys age. The handlers hope that those generous neighbors who have contributed in the past will consider increasing their support this year. Contributions for the donkey's care may be sent to: The Palo Alto Donkey Project, ACTERRA (Action for a Sustainable Earth), 3921 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303-4303. The check must be made out to "ACTERRA—Palo Alto Donkey Fund," "ACTERRA" must be included. For further information about making a contribution on behalf of the donkeys, or if you would like information about how to become one of the volunteer donkey handlers, please call Bob Frost, 493-8272 or email. By Doug Graham, Barron Park Historian, email. Once upon a time, Barron Park had its' own fire department. For 26 years, from 1949 through 1975, a cadre of volunteer firemen was recruited from and maintained by the neighborhood, organized as a fire protection district under Santa Clara County supervision. The district was governed by a commission, initially appointed by the County Board of Supervisors and later elected by the people of our neighborhood. The district provided for the formation and organization of a volunteer fire department, which it supervised. This was an all-male group—there were no female fire-fighters in those days. The firemen soon developed an esprit de corps and camaraderie shown by the fact that their wives always turned out to provide snacks and sandwiches whenever there was a fire. Stories about each fire circulated through the neighborhood and helped build the feeling of community that later became the hallmark of Barron Park. In addition to overseeing the fire department, the district provided a focus for community action. Much neighborhood political energy was expended in fighting over various district-related issues. The district was viewed by many Barron Park residents as a surrogate local government: a sort of local and personal stand-in for the distant and faceless county government. It also became one of the main rallying points in the ongoing annexation battles with the City of Palo Alto. The district came into being to solve a crisis in fire protection of the Barron Park area, which arose immediately following World War II. Fire insurance rates were very high in the neighborhood because of the poor service provided by the State Forestry Division from its fire stations in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Forestry division announced they would no longer provide service to unincorporated county areas in the flatlands like Barron Park. The county suggested forming a local fire protection district but insurance industry fire underwriters advised that it would be too small to be economical. Another option was foreclosed when Palo Alto refused to consider contracting with Barron Park to provide fire protection service. Faced with this dilemma, one group of residents organized by Cornelis Bol pushed a proposal to establish a separate fire district. In an election held January 21, 1947, the proposal was turned down by a vote of 148 to 145. This fire protection crisis stimulated the first attempt by Barron Park residents to annex to Palo Alto. A group headed by real estate developer Kendall Bowers (for whom Kendall Avenue was named) circulated a petition. However, when the issue was brought to the City Council for a vote on April 15, 1947 it was turned down. This was largely at the instigation of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), which was then politically powerful. Palo Alto was a "dry" town and the WCTU did not want to see Barron Park's liquor stores and roadhouses in the city. At this point, the pro-annexation forces were joined by Barron Park resident David Packard, Co-founder of Hewlett Packard. David, Lucille and their children lived at 724 Matadero Avenue from 1939 or 1940 until about 1950 when they moved to Los Altos Hills. David was a Palo Alto Unified School District Trustee and rallied the school board behind the annexation movement. It was already supported by the city staff, which brought another measure to the City Council on December 8, 1947. However, the annexation was again axed by the WCTU by a letter to the Mayor two days later. Although the City Council voted in favor of another election, it was without enthusiasm and the neighborhood felt snubbed. When it finally came to an election in Barron Park on November 17, 1948, the annexation went down to defeat, 338 votes to 261. After the annexation ballot defeat, Barron Park residents, again under the leadership of Kendall Bowers, concentrated on establishing a fire department. On January 11, 1949, the voters went back to the polls and approved the formation of a Barron Park Fire Protection District by nearly a four-to-one majority; 225 ayes, 60 nays. Chester F. (Chet) Slinger was elected a commissioner and subsequently as President. The district was funded by allocation from the property taxes collected from the area it covered. The new district inquired about contract protection from Palo Alto, but the city council, following recommendations of the public safety committee and the Board of Safety, turned them down again on May 9, 1949. Costs and legal issues were cited. The message had been consistent since the time of the Barron Mansion fire in 1936, when the City had refused to help fight the fire even though all the other surrounding cities and fire districts pitched in. The district went ahead and formed a volunteer fire department in 1949, effectively removing the issue from future annexation controversies for more than twenty years, until a change in resident opinion occurred in the early 1970s. The department was organized and in operation by the autumn of 1949. The Fire Chief was Chet Slinger, who resigned as Commissioner and President to take the Chief's part-time paid job. Slinger owned a Boat works on El Camino Real between Barron Avenue and Military Way, which over the years of the fire department became the unofficial "political headquarters" for Barron Park. By October, a "firehouse" had been leased —this was located in the aluminum-clad shed still to be found behind the Lanai Flower stand at 4050 El Camino Real (in 1949, this property was numbered 4042). A 1949 Van Pelt 600 gallon-per-minute pumper truck had been acquired and was shown off at an "open house" conducted at Barron Park School on October 23, 1949. This truck was designated "unit #91" by the County. At one o'clock a.m. on November 21, the department had its first call when a fire broke out at 891 Jude Avenue (now San Jude Avenue). The fire was caused by flooding of a floor furnace, was quickly put out with "no damage to property." It was about this time that the department included the management of a controlled burn as part of its training. Mike Slinger, who was about nine years old at the time, remembers the day well. They set the fires on vacant lots where La Jennifer Court was laid out in 1950. Mike was eager to get up close and see the action, so when a firemen tried to stop him at the training area perimeter, he got through by telling the man "It's alright, the Chief is my dad." When he came up to the fire, his dad, Chet Slinger, saw him and asked "How did you get in here?." When Mike told him, Chet didn't say another word but just turned the fire hose on him and, Mike says, "washed me right back to the road." By January, 1950, when the Board of Fire Underwriters of the Pacific published a Municipal Fire Protection Report on Barron Park, the company totaled 17 men, all volunteers except for the Chief. At some point, the district acquired its second major piece of equipment, a 1951 GMC 40-gallon-per-minute High-Pressure Pumper, designated "unit #90" by the County. Drills were being held twice weekly since everyone was new on the job. Training included practice on the resuscitator and inhalator—there were no paramedics or Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) in those days, so the volunteer firemen were the first-line emergency medical response team. According to Joe Weiler, most of the calls in later years were medical emergencies. To report a fire, you dialed DA 3-2400. According to the oral history given by Joe Weiler to Ann Knopf in 1977, the phone rang in three houses, as well as at the fire station. The chief had one phone and there were two others. By arrangement, the three families made certain that there was always at least one fireman to respond. The three homes were connected to the fire station with a buzzer that set off the alarm—a siren. It cycled up and down eight times with a wailing that could be heard throughout the district. Every fireman who heard it would drop what they were doing and drive or run to the firehouse. The first two got the address and took the truck to the fire, sometimes stopping to pick up other firemen they encountered on the route there. Usually the "high pressure 90" truck was taken to the fire first, as it was capable by itself of putting out most fires. Joe said its water capacity was 250-280 gallons (the bigger truck carried 600). The "90" could throw a straight stream strong enough to dig holes in asphalt pavement. It could throw a stream of water five feet wide for a distance of 100-150 feet. One of the difficulties facing the new district was the inadequate water supply. Rapid growth in the neighborhood in 1947 through 1949 had stretched the capacity of the two private water companies serving the bulk of Barron Park. The Fire Underwriters had noted that, and their assessment resulted in higher insurance rates. One company sold out to Palo Alto in 1950, but the other, the Bol Water Company, held out until 1954. From that time on, the district was entirely dependent upon Palo Alto to supply water. The mains were inadequate, the connections with the city were too small, and hydrants were not always located where the district wanted them. Friction between the city and the district was not helped by the failure of two more annexation initiatives, in 1951 and 1954. The 1954 failure led directly to the successful annexation of the Ventura Avenue area on December 29, 1954, and the consequence was removal of the area from the Barron Park Fire Protection District. The lost area included the tax-lucrative commercial strip on the other side of El Camino. This was the beginning of the piecemeal nibbling away of the neighborhood that eventually made the shrunken fire district uneconomic by eroding its tax base. During this time a reform movement was building within the district. The Commissioners were still being appointed by the County Board of Supervisors, even though the original intent had been to make the office elective within the first four months. On August 17, 1954, 527 Barron Park residents petitioned the Board of Supervisors for an elective board of fire commissioners. The election date was twice established and then set aside by subsequent vote of the supervisors, but finally an election was arranged for July 12, 1955. At the election, three incumbents, including Chairman Nick Sharko were ousted. Most of the reform slate, headed by incumbent Dan Baker, were also anti-annexation. Baker was elected Chairman. Baker was a very interesting man. He lived on La Selva Drive where the State Historical Monument to Sarah Wallis was later placed. When I knew him in the 1980s he was President of the Palo Alto Historical Association. It was his stash of clippings and memorabilia from the Barron Park Fire Protection District files that made the writing of this history possible. He had been a news photographer and his photographs of the Wallis-Barron mansion burning are the only ones known to survive from that famous fire. Finally everything came to a head in 1955, with a major pro-annexation movement countered by a slightly stronger backlash anti-annexation movement. Both sides actually gained majorities in successive petition drives. However, the "antis" spoke last and loudest. The Barron Park Fire Protection District got into the fight when Commissioners Hughes Brewster, Duane Lyle and Raymond Schumann (a majority of the commission) announced support for annexation on November 17, 1954. This created a rift in the commission, with Commissioner Dan Baker joining the opponents. Barron Park civic leaders Jack Silvey and William Faulkerson called for the pro-annexation commissioners to resign, Silvey saying that it seemed paradoxical to him that some commissioners are trying to put the district out of business. The 1955 annexation movement ultimately failed, but the fight nearly tore Barron Park apart. Friends fell out and neighbors vowed never to speak to each other again. The animosities that were stirred up continued to reverberate down into the 1970s. However, the immediate late 1950s and early 1960s turned out be a relatively peaceful period on the Fire Protection District Commission, as the "reform" (and anti-annexation) commissioners dominated neighborhood politics and dealt more effectively with the city on hydrant and water supply issues. The Commission cut the fire department salary budget and reduced the tax rate in 1956. The Chief's position, which had been paid, became volunteer. Anthony Musachia was the first and only volunteer chief. One interesting "additional duty" the volunteer firemen picked up was to respond, during heavy rainstorms, to calls from creek watchers living near the Barron Creek culvert at the intersection of Laguna and Los Robles Avenues. During high creek flows, trash would build up on the trash rack, partially blocking the flow and threatening over-banking and flooding the area between there and El Camino Real. This situation arose repeatedly, usually in the middle of the night. The firemen would come with a long-handled rake and remove the trash. According to one story I was told, on one occasion they arrived with several six-packs of beer, expecting a long stretch of duty. Several hours later, a policeman in a patrol car came by and found them sitting in the street with their backs to the culvert railing, surrounded by empty beer cans and obviously in no shape to respond to any emergencies. It is ironic that the annexation story ended exactly where it began 29 years earlier—with Barron Park facing a serious crisis in fire protection. This was the premier topic at the final public meeting held by the Barron Park Association before the 1975 annexation election. Dan Baker, the Fire Protection District Commission Chair, was present to answer questions. The attachment to the meeting notice explained the essence of the problem. The major fire fighting equipment was the 1949 Van Pelt 600-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pumper and the 1951 GMC 40-gpm high pressure engine. Both were in need of replacement and could no longer be maintained because spare parts were not readily available for the obsolete equipment. The hose also needed to be replaced. In order to replace this equipment, the local tax rate would have to be raised from $0.137/100 to more than the maximum 0.239 allowed by law. Citizens would have to authorize a higher rate through a tax override election. As the BPA said, "It would be impossible for a community of this size to support a fire department that would give service like(what would be) available upon annexation." Upon annexation, Barron Park would be upgraded from a fire rating of six to the Palo Alto rating of three, resulting in a $30/year savings in premiums for a $60,000 house (which was probably about the average Barron Park home value in 1975). Some annexation opponents were dismayed that they had not known of the volunteer fire department's serious equipment problems and financial limitations. Speaking personally, I was a fairly new homeowner in Barron Park at the time and was quite concerned about the fire protection level rather than the insurance cost—better fire protection was the single most compelling reason, to me, to be in favor of annexation. On November 4, 1975 the 28-year-long "Cold War on the Peninsula" ended with a two-to-one vote by Barron Park homeowners to annex to the City of Palo Alto. An immediate result was the assumption of fire protection service by the city, effective November 5. Annexation became officially effective December 8 and the Barron Park Fire Protection District and Volunteer Fire Department passed into history. The property was taken over by the city and the trucks were sold. One of them (the 1951 GMC Pumper) was purchased by a former BP volunteer fireman and taken to Grass Valley for years. Recently, it has been returned to Barron Park in the ownership of Al Larson, Paradise Way. It was exhibited at the Barron Park May Fete in 2004. Joe Weiler told, in his oral history, of the big fire at the Bol residence on Roble Ridge: "I was on the Bol's fire, the day they had it. We couldn't get water." . . . (There were only 2-inch mains on Roble Ridge.) . . . "We finally backed that big pumper up to the swimming pool. I remember Pete Yusackia who was one of our firemen and myself . . . we couldn't get close enough. We dropped our bundle off. And then we had to move it because we had to get off the hydrant. You have a bundle of 150 feet or so (of hose) and you drop it from the big tanker, near the fire. Then you drive the truck and that unloads the rest of the line, 100, 200 feet or whatever is necessary to . . . (reach) . . . to the hydrant itself. So we did that. Then we pumped for a few minutes and we sucked those lines dry. Sucking mud. When you do that you can collapse the line itself. So we had to shut down." "With this fire raging in the Bol's home" . . . (actually his studio by the creek) . . . " and all his acetylene things going up from the basement we had a hot one. We had to turn the truck around and unhook and get the hose back to where . . . (the swimming pool was) . . . about 200-300 feet and Pete and I were trying to hump this hose on our shoulders, up far enough to where we could drop it in the pool. It was quite a chore. Anyhow we did get it up there and we stuck it in the pool and we were sucking from the pool and we finally got our fire out. So that was Bol's fire." Mike Slinger explained to me that they would have used 10-foot hard rubber siphon sections to avoid hose collapse in the pool itself. According to Joe Weiler, the worst fire that the Barron Park Volunteer Fire Department ever had to fight was in the Cameo Club on El Camino Real. It was called in at around four o'clock in the morning and the temperature was down around 26 to 28 degrees. Joe said when they got hooked up to the hydrant and started putting water on the fire, ". . . the water froze and came down on the driveways and froze and we couldn't stand up and we'd never fought a fire like this before. Someone should have taken photos because it was pretty comical." It was a very hot fire, and difficult to put out because of the way the Cameo Club was constructed. Joe said that the Cameo Club (then) was called Congers and featured a 16-ounce beer they call the fishbowl that they sold for a quarter. He related that the place had been revamped several times. One of the problems with that fire was that a wall would have two or three layers. "When they would refurbish it, they wouldn't just paint the wall and put (a) little paper on it, they wanted another look. So one wall would be here, then a little air space and another wall and another wall. The ceiling is the same way. It was a terrible thing to put out because it was burning inside. You'd get a fire out and it was burning BEHIND this wall. It was freezing and it was cold and it was a mess." My one and only personal experience with the Barron Park Volunteer Fire Department came not too long after we moved into our house on Ilima Way. It was on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1974, the day the Bols' old barn burned down. The barn, which had been used by homeless men (or "bums", as we still referred to them then) for years, had somehow caught fire on that wintry Sunday afternoon. It had been intended that the barn would be used to support a 4-H club "demonstration garden" as part of the new Bol Park to be developed in the back end of the Bol Family "donkey pasture" that Spring. The barn was located across the creek from, and about 80 feet directly behind my house. It was very un-scenic; really just an old shed with a "tin" roof, quite dilapidated. Verna, my wife, and I had gone to Mt. Hamilton for the day, and as we were returning home at dusk, we turned off Los Robles onto Laguna and into a cloud of smoke. The smoke was thicker as we turned onto Ilima way and my heart was in my shoes as it got thicker when we approached our house at the end of the block. One of our neighbors was on our roof wetting down the shakes with a garden hose, and behind the house was a bright orange glow and billowing black smoke, shot through with red sparks. Our neighbors on both sides were wetting their roofs. Embers were everywhere, as the barn roof had just fallen in. After recovering from the first panic, my first thought was how glad I was that the barn burned. My second thought was to wonder if it had burned thoroughly enough to discourage anyone from proposing to rebuild it. The third thought was that I was very glad to have been away when it happened so that no one would suspect me of setting the fire! But this isn't the story. . . the story is about the Volunteer Fire Department. I will tell it as I remember having it related to me by my neighbors. The basic facts were confirmed in an interview on June 1, 2006 with Mike Slinger, Chet Slinger's son. The Fire Department was called promptly on that holiday in 1974, but they had every trouble they could have had. When the truck first came, no one had remembered to bring the key to unlock the gate to the donkey pasture. So, back to the firehouse, get the key. Back to the pasture, unlock the gate. The truck drove into the pasture and promptly bogged down in the mud (it had been a wet winter and an especially wet February). While the pumper truck was stuck in the mud, they hooked up the hose to a hydrant on Laguna but they didn't have enough hose with them to reach the barn and there was no way to go back to the firehouse to get more. By this time, the barn was burning merrily but there was absolutely nothing anyone could do except stand back and enjoy it. After the barn roof collapsed, there was no longer any danger to the houses on Ilima Way. We all hopped over the creek and stood around admiring the fire. Finally a tow truck arrived, but it got stuck in the mud also. Eventually the department got a hose on the embers and cooled them down. A second tow truck rescued the first one and together they got the fire truck extricated. All in all, it wasn't the fire company's finest hour. Personally, I was glad about the mud. I would have been sorely disappointed if they had gotten there in time to save the building. I hope you have enjoyed this story about volunteer fire protection in Barron Park—the fire department played a major role in shaping the sense of community that is still preserved in Barron Park today. Those of us who lived here before annexation should occasionally stop for a moment and remember these men who sacrificed a lot of their free time and risked their own safety to fight fires and answer medical emergency calls from their neighbors. All honor to their memory! FOR MEMBERS ONLY! We have created PDF files of past newsletters. See the complete newsletters, including full-color photos! These files are available ONLY to current BPA members. The PDF directory address will change each year, and is published on the "thank you" page when you join online, and in the summer newsletter paper edition. The files may take awhile to download. Is there a party planned for your block this Summer or Fall? Why not share the photos with other Barron Park neighbors? Pick out the best, and send them to the Newsletter editor, email, along with a caption or short paragraph. We'll publish them in the next newsletter, or, if we are overwhelmed, will put them up on our Web site. "NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR FIRST DRAFT" Students are busy in every classroom at Juana Briones School, with pencils, pens, computers doing the work of real writers—choosing topics, drafting, revising, reading their writing aloud, and polishing stories. Writers' Workshop is a familiar part of each week where students from Kindergarten through fifth grade work at the writers' craft. The culmination of this hard work is a tradition called, Young Authors' Day, where all students share their "published" stories with each other and the community. Older students may type their own fiction, nonfiction, or poetry on the computer, while parents and teachers pitch in to type for the younger children. All of these one-of-a- kind books are hand illustrated, many are hand-sewn. Young Authors' Day is also an opportunity for students to meet a professional author, who shares how a real book is published. This year Tim Meyers came to Briones, and students were excited to hear how he finds topics for the next book, how he develops characters, how illustrations are produced, and just what the writer's life is like. Each grade level spends time in the library hearing the guest author share, followed by a lively question period. The author joins the teachers for lunch where there's a quieter conversation between the staff and the author about nurturing writers. Such moments of inspiration infuse classroom instruction for weeks following the event. Briones is fortunate to have parent volunteers who work with teacher Tiffany Gore, who started this tradition three years ago. Others who have lent their expertise are librarian Laura Losier and art teacher Wendy Parry. Each year also, a storyteller is part of the day's celebration, so children's imaginations can be ignited by the spoken word and the expressions and gestures of oral traditions. This year, master storyteller Awele came to share her craft. "Young Authors' Day has become a favorite tradition for students. The first year we had this event, I was amazed that my Kindergartner was able to write a book, too. His book is one of our treasures that we bring out often to reread, " shares a Briones parent. At Juana Briones School, the writing process is alive, and all children experience the satisfaction that comes from working hard to express thoughts in writing and revise to make it their best. For more information, contact Principal Gary Dalton at 856-0877. Summer is here again and I am feeling the financial pinch of having a second child to send to camp and to keep sufficiently engaged now that school is out. But aside from the expense, it is great fun to plan out the nine weeks of the summer break. When I was a kid forty years ago, our main activity was marathon T.V. watching. Today and especially in Palo Alto, kids have so many opportunities to explore their abilities and interests. Our family has done Jefunira Camp for three years in a row when they were at Walter Hays and Barron Park School. Good clean fun. Last summer we gave Camp Galileo a shot. It seemed quite similar to Jefunira, at least from my perspective. They both had a well-trained high energy staff and a highly structured day. The YMCA's camp offerings were alright to my six year old Matthew, but my ten year old Alex, felt there was too much of just hanging out in the park. He liked the field trips though. Some kids need more structure than others. PAUSD summer school has been a great opportunity for our family to check out other campuses in the district and the long, hot school bus ride was a big part of the experience. Every other year seems about right for us, at least for now while they're in elementary school. This year Alex is enrolled for the 2-week "Writing Arts" program offered by the district, right here in Barron Park. His current fourth grade teacher, Ms. Lucinda Surber at Barron Park School, had high praise for the program and Alex enjoys writing, so I'm looking forward to seeing how he likes it. Additionally and for the first time, Alex and Matthew will attend a 4-week session of the Decathlon Sports Camp in Los Altos. An attractive feature of their program is being able to select a part-time schedule; a three, four or five day week. They also offer flexible, drop-in extended care and a catered snack/lunch option. But at $4.50 a day for a lunch (times 2), I guess I'll still be spreading the peanut butter. Throw in a week of Kung Fu camp offered by their martial arts school and a three-day family trip to Carmel to play in the sand and I'm calling it a wrap. If you have any great summer camp/event/idea, please e-mail me. I'd love to hear it. Karen Michael, BPA Business Liaison, email. Karen is a native of southern California and UCLA graduate who came to Palo Alto by way of Hawaii, where she was living when she met her ex-husband, a Palo Alto native. When she first visited Palo Alto from Hawaii, she took one look and decided that it was where she wanted to live. Karen and her ex bought their first house on Ilima Way 20 years ago; she is still there and has no plans to leave. Her daughter Sarah, 24, was raised in Barron Park and attended Juana Briones, JLS, Gunn, CU Boulder, and graduated in May from the USF School of Law. Karen spent 25 years in IT as a tech writer, project manager, and manager. When she was "downsized" from her IT executive position at Gap Inc. last year, she decided that it was time to take a break. The first thing she did was begin daily hour-long early morning walks through the neighborhood. Then she project managed a 9-month yard and pool remodel. And recently, she decided to give some of her time to the community she loves. So she joined the BPA Board, became Neighborhood Business Liaison chair, visited a number of the Barron Park businesses to request sponsorship for the May Fete, and held a raffle at the Fete to give away the in-kind donations that were received. And look for her Barron Park business profiles in this and upcoming newsletters. Karen was a founding member and President of the Board of the American Diabetes Association Mid-Peninsula Chapter and chaired the Silicon Valley ADA Leadership Council and the 2004 Silicon Valley Father of the Year event benefiting the ADA. In her spare time she was an avid tennis player and enjoyed skiing until a back injury and surgery benched her three yearsago. She is an advanced SCUBA diver and loves to travel, particularly to Hawaii, where she has a condo. Her favorite role, however, is that of proud mom. Although Karen has enjoyed her time off from work, she has recently decided that it is time to go back to work "because I need to stay busy—and so I can afford to start the next phase of my yard remodel," she says. Linda Elder, BPA Membership Chair, email. My name is Linda Elder. I'm the new membership chair of the Barron Park Association. I've lived in Barron Park with my husband and 2 cats for over 12 years. In my home life, we both have an interest in cooking, gardens, and houses. We recently built our home on Laguna Avenue. (What started out as a remodel ended up as a new house, but that's another story.) We are lucky to live close enough to work to walk. We also take frequent walks around the neighborhood and like to observe the diverse home and garden styles in the neighborhood and all the things that make Barron Park, well, Barron Park. Like many who live here, we have an appreciation of the special sense of place and community of our neighborhood. In my work life, I'm a clinical data specialist. That means I collect and organize clinical data to get information for medical research. So I heard my calling, when I found out that the BPA needed a membership chair. As a new board member, it's been fun to learn more about community matters and impressive to see the Board in action. It's clear that what goes on behind the scenes helps to make Barron Park a special place and I'm delighted to be a part of that. This year's BPA May Fête offered not only sunshine in a wet year but also the debut of a children's Maypole at the fête. Fourth-grade girl scouts from Troop 632 at Fairmeadow, trained for the day by director Joyce Uggla, demonstrated beautiful and surprising weaves while dancing to live music by Harmon's Peak. Following a trail blazed by veteran co-chairs Jean Lythcott and Julie Lythcott-Haims, fête volunteers Mary Jane Leon and Karen Michael brought more neighborhood merchants into the fete this year, visiting businesses in person and recruiting sponsors to pay for the musicians, sound system, jugglers, and balloon animals. The 28th fête also had a new literary bent, with story time by Mother Goose herself and the chance to meet local authors, including Barron Park's own curious cook Harold McGee and children's writers Caryn Yacowitz, Sheralee Hill Iglehart, and Cynthia Chin-Lee. Canopies on the lawn allowed guests to sit closer to the stage in shady comfort while the concert continued and the Deer Creek Morris and Mad Molly troupes performed traditional English folkdances. Bob Fraley called the round dance and the Maypole weave, and Alan Keith led the Maypole parade with his Musette Bechone, bagpipes from France. Fête music coordinator Gary Breitbard played accordion, joining Peter Tommerup on dulcimer and Alan Keith on button accordion for the community weave dance. In a parting gift to the neighborhood, founding fêter Paul Edwards spearheaded a renovation of the stage this spring, accomplished with Larry Breed, Rich Elder, and Dylan Miller. They claim to have had the upgraded stage disassembled and tucked back in its shed by 6:30 on fête day. Dan Lythcott-Haims shared his talent and much more of his time than anybody expected, because Mary Jane and Karen were so good at recruiting sponsors. This year's program went to six pages, with much artwork to juggle. Boy Scout Troop 52 turned out early to tote tables and chairs—they were especially useful with the canopies—and then they came back again for clean-up. Maryanne Welton was also there of course, able to focus on the bigger picture since she'd cleverly delegated food service to the Driftwood Market and Old Pro field units. Thanks also to the Palo Alto police & fire departments, Barron Park School, Palo Alto Neighborhood Disaster Activities (PANDA), Palo Alto Historical Association & Doug Graham, BP historian, Barron Park Garden Network, Inge Harding-Barlow & the other donkey handlers, Don Anderson & Marc Marchiel, Edith Smith & entourage, Susan Ogren & Morgan Bricca, Nancy Hamilton & Tara Saxena, Youth Community Service volunteers from Gunn High School, Carla Bliss, Soroor Ebnesajjad & Hans Boehm, Karen Saxena & Ken Poulton, and many others. Please patronize the sponsors listed on page 2 of this newsletter, and thank them for donating to the fête. We help sellers purchase their next home before completing the sale of their home to make for a smooth transition. Does a great job printing our quarterly newsletter! Support the BPA and receive all quarterly BPA Newsletters (including photos) by US mail! you must become a member. You will be given the directory URL on your "thank you" page receipt after joining online. © 2006 The Barron Park Association. All rights reserved.

2019-04-26T10:47:29Z

http://bpaonline.org/bp-news/2006-summer/index.html

Exposure to ethanol during early development triggers severe neuronal death by activating multiple stress pathways and causes neurological disorders, such as fetal alcohol effects or fetal alcohol syndrome. This study investigated the effect of ethanol on intracellular events that predispose developing neurons for apoptosis via calcium-mediated signaling. Although the underlying molecular mechanisms of ethanol neurotoxicity are not completely determined, mitochondrial dysfunction, altered calcium homeostasis and apoptosis-related proteins have been implicated in ethanol neurotoxicity. The present study was designed to evaluate the neuroprotective mechanisms of metformin (Met) and thymoquinone (TQ) during ethanol toxicity in rat prenatal cortical neurons at gestational day (GD) 17.5. We found that Met and TQ, separately and synergistically, increased cell viability after ethanol (100 mM) exposure for 12 hours and attenuated the elevation of cytosolic free calcium [Ca2+]c. Furthermore, Met and TQ maintained normal physiological mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔψM), which is typically lowered by ethanol exposure. Increased cytosolic free [Ca2+]c and lowered mitochondrial transmembrane potential after ethanol exposure significantly decreased the expression of a key anti-apoptotic protein (Bcl-2), increased expression of Bax, and stimulated the release of cytochrome-c from mitochondria. Met and TQ treatment inhibited the apoptotic cascade by increasing Bcl-2 expression. These compounds also repressed the activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 and reduced the cleavage of PARP-1. Morphological conformation of cell death was assessed by TUNEL, Fluoro-Jade-B, and PI staining. These staining methods demonstrated more cell death after ethanol treatment, while Met, TQ or Met plus TQ prevented ethanol-induced apoptotic cell death. These findings suggested that Met and TQ are strong protective agents against ethanol-induced neuronal apoptosis in primary rat cortical neurons. The collective data demonstrated that Met and TQ have the potential to ameliorate ethanol neurotoxicity and revealed a possible protective target mechanism for the damaging effects of ethanol during early brain development. Exposure to ethanol during brain development might provoke neurodevelopmental defects that are referred to as fetal alcohol effects (FAE) or fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) . Ethanol potentially damages the developing brain by affecting neurogenesis, cell migration, or cell survival via different intracellular signaling pathways in prenatal rat cortical and hippocampal neurons [2–4]. Neurodegeneration presents with reduced brain mass and neurobehavioral disturbances in many neurological disorders, and cell death processes are associated with the activation of caspase-3, an executioner protease that is active during apoptotic cell death [5, 6]. Apoptosis is a normal process in the developing brain; for optimal development, more than 50% of the original neurons must undergo programmed cell death or apoptosis . Apoptosis is an indispensable mechanism for cellular migration and differentiation during the formation of the developing central nervous system. In particular, Bax and Bcl-2 are major apoptotic proteins and act as an apoptotic inducer and inhibitor, respectively [8, 9]. Mitochondria play an important role in apoptosis under a variety of pro-apoptotic conditions, such as oxidative stress and cytochrome-c release. The latter is a key event in the activation of caspase-3, a pivotal downstream step in apoptosis initiation [10, 11]. Research has demonstrated protective roles for vitamin E and brain derived-neurotrophic factor (BDNF) against ethanol-induced apoptosis, which causes the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and disrupts mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔψM) . Cellular or sustained Ca2+ overload is also an important mechanism that contributes to ethanol-induced programmed cell death through the activation of post-mitochondrial events involving caspase activation [13, 14]. Different therapeutic approaches have been investigated to overcome neurodegenerative diseases . Some approaches consist of drugs that act directly on mitochondrial function, such as cyclosporine A, which is a permeability transition pore (PTP) reference blocker . It was reported that the antidiabetic drug metformin (Met) prevents PTP opening and subsequent cell death in various endothelial cell types exposed to high glucose levels . Recently, it was also reported that Met can interrupt the apoptotic cascade in a model of etoposide-induced cell death by inhibiting PTP opening, blocking the release of cytochrome-c and preventing subsequent cell death . This finding is of great clinical interest because Met, beyond its anti-hyperglycemic function, can also act as a pharmacological agent in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. In this study, we showed that Met is substantially neuroprotective at a therapeutic dose against ethanol-induced cell death in rat primary cortical neurons. Thymoqinone (TQ), the active component of Nigella sativa (NS) seeds, has broad and versatile pharmacological effects. These effects include strong antioxidant activity against free radical-generating agents, such as doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity [19, 20]. Recently, it was reported that NS extract and TQ protect against cell death induced by serum/glucose deprivation in PC12 cells via a direct reduction in intracellular ROS and in chronic toluene-induced neurodegeneration in the hippocampus . Recent studies reported that TQ prevented brain damage in a model of transient forebrain ischemia in the rat hippocampus. TQ stimulated resistance to oxidative stress by decreasing the elevated levels of malondialdehyde, glutathione (GSH) contents, catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) . A protective role of TQ was reported in 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP)-treated primary dopaminergic cultures and a primary Parkinson's disease model involving rotenone and neuroinflammatory mechanisms . Previously, we reported that antioxidant vitamin C was neuroprotective against ethanol and nicotine via the modulation of GABAB receptor and protein kinase A (PKA-α) expression in prenatal and postnatal rat brain [25, 26]. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in TQ and Met neuroprotection against ethanol-induced apoptosis. We investigated how Met and TQ regulate Ca2+ dysregulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, cytochrome-c release, caspase activation and the Bcl-2 family of proteins during ethanol-induced neuronal apoptosis. Cortical neurons were treated with ethanol (100 mM), TQ (10, 15, 25 and 35 μM) and Met (10 mM) in different combinations for 12 h, and cell viability was measured by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2]-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. TQ and Met were co-incubated with ethanol in all experimental groups for 12 h. Cortical neurons exposed to ethanol exhibited a decrease in cell viability after 12 h incubation, but cotreatment with TQ at different concentrations reversed cell loss. All of the TQ concentrations tested were effective, but 25 μM was the most efficacious (Figure 1A). In the context of ethanol treatment, cells supplemented with TQ- or Met-only showed increased cell viability, while TQ coadministrated with Met had an even stronger effect on cell viability, which indicated a synergistic effect (Figure 1B). Met and TQ prevent ethanol-induced neurotoxicity in cultured cortical neurons. (A) MTT assay of cell viability in primary fetal rat cortical neurons treated with 100 mM ethanol (EtOH) for 12 h. Cells were treated for 12 h with normal media as control (C), ethanol (EtOH, 100 mM), TQ +EtOH (TQ: 10, 15, 25 and 35 μM), TQ (25 μM) plus ethanol (TQ+EtOH), Met (10 mM) plus ethanol (Met+EtOH), TQ plus Met plus ethanol (TQ+Met+EtOH), respectively. (B) Percentage of cell viability with selected concentrations of TQ (25 μM), 10 mM Met, 100 mM EtOH; in all experiments, TQ and Met were co-incubated with ethanol for a 12 hours time period. Data are the mean ± SEM of three independent experiments (n = 3), with 3 plates in each experiment. Symbols: #P < 0.05 significantly different from control; *P < 0.05 different from ethanol. One potential mechanism of ethanol-induced neurotoxicity is through the dysregulation of cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration. Cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration governs neurotransmitter release and neural development, while its dysregulation results in neuronal cell death . Abnormalities in Ca2+ homeostasis, particularly overload, was linked to neural apoptosis in the present study. Cytosolic free Ca2+ was measured with a fluorescent Ca2+ indicator, Fura-2, after a 12 h drug treatment. Ethanol treatment increased cytosolic free Ca2+ with peak levels at 869 ± 16.37 nM compared with control having peak level 531 ± 8.06 nM. TQ and Met cotreatment with ethanol restored normal Ca2+ levels with a peak levels 677 ± 6.19 nM and 590 ± 5.54 nM respectively. TQ and Met in combination also prevented ethanol-induced Ca2+ elevation with a peak level 617 ± 4.32 nM (Figure 2). We observed that the intracellular Ca2+ concentration was significantly elevated in cells exposed to ethanol (100 mM) for 12 h compared to control, which led to neuronal cell death. TQ and Met reversed this effect that ethanol had on intracellular Ca2+, which suggested that they have a protective role in maintaining Ca2+ homeostasis. Effect of Ethanol on elevation of cytosolic free [Ca 2+ ] c in primary cortical neurons. Cells were treated for 12 h with normal media as control (C), ethanol (EtOH, 100 mM), TQ (25 μM) plus ethanol (TQ+EtOH), Met (10 mM) plus ethanol (Met+EtOH), TQ plus Met plus ethanol (TQ+Met+EtOH), respectively. TQ and Met were cotreated with (100 mM) ethanol for 12 h, which was followed by Fura-2 AM labeling. The fluorescence spectra for [Ca2+]c were measured with a luminescence spectrophotometer. Different groups are indicated with respective colors by line in the representative spectra. The uppermost Red line in the spectra indicate ethanol-elevation in [Ca2+]c level compared with the other respective control. Spectra represent means ± SEM of triplicate samples (n = 3) and represent at least one of three independent experiments. We examined mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔψM) using flow cytometry that measured the intensity of green and red fluorescence. We used a computer-based program that calculated the ratio of green to red fluorescence after 12 h of drug treatment. Ethanol (EtOH) treatment resulted in a higher ratio of green/red FL1 fluorescence 58.8 ± 1.96% (P < 0.05) relative to control 38.5 ± 1.81%. Lower FL1 fluorescence, relative to ethanol-alone group, for TQ+EtOH 47.4 ± 1.55% (P < 0.05), Met+ EtOH 48.9 ± 2.31% (P < 0.05) or TQ+Met+EtOH 41.5 ± 1.14% (P < 0.05) indicated that Met and TQ block apoptosis by preventing ΔψM disruption (Figure 3A). TQ and Met resulted in the appearance of a remarkable subpopulation of cells with normal ΔψM, which further supported the protective effect of TQ and Met against ethanol. Fluoro-Jade-B (FJB) and propidium iodide (PI) staining was performed to assess morphological cell death induced by ethanol. After 12 h, the ethanol treatment group had a greater number of dead cells; FJB and PI staining was markedly condensed with higher intensity compared to control. Cotreatment with TQ and Met reversed the effects of ethanol (Figure 3B). Met and TQ prevented ethanol destabilization of mitochondrial membrane potential. (A) Flow cytometric analysis of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔψM) was made with JC-1. Mitochondrial polarization was monitored by flow cytometric analysis of JC-1 stained cells that were cotreated for 12 h with ethanol (EtOH, 100 mM), TQ (25 μM) plus ethanol (TQ+EtOH), Met (10 mM) plus ethanol (Met+EtOH), TQ plus Met plus ethanol (TQ+Met+EtOH) and untreated (Control). A representative collapse in ΔψM is associated with high FL1 fluorescence (green) and low FL2 fluorescence (red). The number in each quadrant indicates cell population in that quadrant as the percentage of total cell population. Loss of ΔψM was associated with an increase in FL1 fluorescence. Quantification of cells with ΔψM (as the percentage of total cell population) induced by ethanol, TQ and Met in different combinations as detected by flow cytometry. Data are the mean ± SEM of three independent experiments (n = 3). The details of procedures are mentioned in materials and methods section. (B) Fluorescence analysis of neurodegeneration in primary cultures of fetal rat brain cortical neurons. Cultures were exposed to growth medium (Control) and with ethanol (EtOH, 100 mM), TQ (25 μM) plus ethanol (TQ+EtOH), Met (10 mM) plus ethanol (Met+EtOH), TQ plus Met plus ethanol (TQ+Met+EtOH) supplements for 12 h before staining with Fluoro-Jade B (FJB; green) and propidium iodide (PI; red). Confocal micrographs of Fluoro-jade-B and PI staining show neurodegeneration in primary cortical neurons. Magnification with 40× objective field, Scale bar = 20 μm. Bcl-2 and Bax are members of a family of cytoplasmic proteins that regulate apoptosis. To observe the protective effect of TQ and Met against ethanol-induced apoptosis, we assayed Bcl-2 and Bax expression levels by western blot analysis. Western blot analysis demonstrated that the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was enhanced by TQ and Met treatment but reduced by ethanol (Figure 4A). In contrast, the pro-apoptotic Bax was upregulated by ethanol but downregulated when cotreated with TQ, Met or TQ plus Met (Figure 4B). Our results showed that TQ and Met prevented neuronal apoptosis by decreasing the expression of pro-apoptotic Bax protein while increasing the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein in primary cortical neurons. Western blot analysis of apoptosis-related proteins in the primary cortical neurons at GD 17.5. Cells were treated for 12 h with normal media as control (C), ethanol (EtOH, 100 mM), TQ (25 μM) plus ethanol (TQ+EtOH), Met (10 mM) plus ethanol (Met+EtOH), TQ plus Met plus ethanol (TQ+Met+EtOH), respectively. For proteins samples, we used the same drug treatment i.e., TQ and Met were cotreated with (100 mM) ethanol for 12 h. β-actin is the loading control in each case (A) Immunoblots of Bcl-2 and (B) Bax (C) cytochrome-c (D) cleaved caspase-9 (E) caspase-3 (F) cleaved PARP-1. Immunoblots are also shown with their respective histograms. Density values were expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 4) of the corresponding proteins and expressed as arbitrary units. Detail procedures are mentioned in materials and methods section. #P < 0.05 significantly different from control; *P < 0.05 different from ethanol. The mitochondrial apoptotic cascade requires the release of cytochrome-c, an intermitochondrial membrane protein, into the cytosol. This release activates caspases-9 and caspase-3, which causes neuronal cell death . Our results revealed that ethanol exposure increased the expression cytosolic cytochrome-c levels relative to control. Interestingly, TQ and Met supplementation reversed this trend. Cells treated with ethanol along with TQ or Met had significantly reduced cytochrome-c expression levels relative to the ethanol treatment group (Figure 4C). Caspases are critical mediators of apoptosis in mammalian cells . We analyzed the expression of cleaved caspase-9 after ethanol exposure. Our results showed that ethanol significantly increased cleaved caspase-9 in primary cortical neurons relative to the control group, while cotreatment of ethanol with TQ or Met resulted in significantly lower cleaved caspase-9 levels compared to the ethanol treatment group (Figure 4D). Caspase-3 is one of the key executioners of apoptosis and is responsible, either partially or completely, for the proteolytic cleavage of many key proteins . Furthermore, the involvement of caspase-3 in cell death was analyzed by western blotting. Ethanol induced the activation of caspase-3, while TQ and Met effectively decreased ethanol-induced expression of caspase-3 in primary cortical neurons (Figure 4E). Furthermore, we determined whether the elevated levels of activated caspase-3 that were observed in the cortical neurons treated with ethanol led to the cleavage of PARP-1, which occurs during apoptosis. Despite its function in DNA repair, overactivation of PARP-1 during neuronal excitotoxicity induces cell death . The level of cleaved PARP-1 in ethanol-treated cortical neurons was significantly enhanced compared to control neurons. In the setting of ethanol, TQ and Met treatment resulted in a remarkable decrease in the level of PARP-1 and decreased its 89 kDa cleaved products in the cortical neurons (Figure 4F). Our results collectively demonstrated that an overall increase in PARP-1 cleavage occurred in the cortical neurons after exposure to ethanol. TQ and Met significantly reduced the levels of ethanol-induced cleaved PARP-1 relative to the control groups (Figure 4F). DNA damage is one of the main features of apoptosis. Visualization of DNA damage is accomplished with TUNEL staining, which is an assay for DNA breaks based on enzymatic labeling of free 3' DNA ends. The nuclear morphology of apoptotic neuronal cells was evaluated with TUNEL counterstained with DAPI (TUNEL: DNA fragmentation, DAPI: nuclear marker). Ethanol exposure increased the number of TUNEL-positive neurons by (58%) compared with control. TQ with ethanol showed significantly reduced the TUNEL positive cells by (38%) compared to the ethanol treatment group. Further Met with ethanol reduced the percentage of apoptotic cells by (37%) and TQ plus Met with ethanol (52%) compared to the cells treated with ethanol. Although there are DAPI-positive cells in control and ethanol-treated group, the pattern of staining differs between the groups. Ethanol-treated cells exhibited shrunken nuclei and abnormal cell morphology (Figure 5). Morphological assessment of ethanol-induced apoptosis via TUNEL assay. (A) Cells were treated for 12 h with normal media as control (C), ethanol (EtOH, 100 mM), TQ (25 μM) plus ethanol (TQ+EtOH), Met (10 mM) plus ethanol (Met+EtOH), TQ plus Met plus ethanol (TQ+Met+EtOH), respectively. Effects of ethanol, TQ plus ethanol, Met plus ethanol and TQ plus Met plus ethanol on apoptotic death in prenatal rat cortical neurons was visualized with TUNEL and DAPI stains. Representative photomicrographs of TUNEL staining show apoptotic neurons after ethanol administration followed by TQ and Met. TQ and Met treatment effectively blocked ethanol-induced apoptosis, as evidenced from the lack of TUNEL-positive cells. Panels A-O display TUNEL-stained cells observed by confocal microscopy at higher magnifications with a 40× objective field, Scale bar = 20 (B): The percentage of TUNEL positive cells in each case were counted and the cumulative data from three independent experiments is shown here as mean ± SEM (n = 3). #P < 0.05 significantly different from control; *P < 0.05 different from ethanol. Ethanol exposure during prenatal development causes a wide range of structural and functional brain abnormalities [30, 31]. It has already been established that ethanol depletes many cell populations during development, but not all populations of neurons in the brain are susceptible; furthermore, ethanol increases neuronal apoptosis, which causes malformations, including the loss of brain mass [1, 32, 33]. Ethanol increases ROS generation, which can trigger apoptotic cell death pathways through the activation of caspases [34–36]. The present study provides strong evidence for a direct neuroprotective role of Met and TQ. The current investigation indicated that cotreatment of ethanol with Met, TQ or Met plus TQ protects cortical neurons from the apoptosis triggered by ethanol during early development. The evidence regarding neuroprotection with the antidiabetic drug Met is supported by studies that state its beneficial effects in various models of toxicity. It was reported that Met can protect against neurotoxicity, in addition to its antidiabetic effect, and it has a number of important, diverse functions, including in polycystic ovarian syndrome, induction of osteoblasts via AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway along with subsequent enhancement of nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and bone morphogenetic-2 protein (BMP-2) production [37, 38]. Met modulates AMPK and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways to induce bone formation, which mimics the intracellular metabolic changes associated with nutritional deprivation [39, 40]. An additional target of Met is the respiratory chain complex I of the mitochondria, which activates AMPK via changes in mitochondrial reactive nitrogen species [41, 42]. However, we provide here a new and potential mechanism that supports a protective role of Met on apoptosis that is likely due to it maintaining mitochondria integrity and reducing [Ca2+]c overload as well as subsequent cell death . Furthermore, we studied TQ, which is a natural compound with different beneficial pharmacologic effects against various cytotoxic insults. These beneficial effects have been observed in vitro and in vivo with degeneration caused by L-dopa in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells, serum/glucose deprivation induced cell death (SGD) and chronic toluene exposure [21, 22, 43]. In general, previously published reports showed that TQ mainly functions through its antioxidant mechanism, and it has been used as a protective agent in multiple toxicity models, such as doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity, cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and ischemic neuronal cell death [21, 23, 44]. We found that administration of Met and TQ in selected doses has the capability to maintain normal cell viability against ethanol. TQ, Met or a combination of both reduced the cell death induced by ethanol (Figure 1A, B). Calcium homeostasis is an important for normal cellular physiological function, and even a minute variation in normal levels can provoke abnormal cellular function and cell death . This [Ca2+]c overload further disrupts mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔψM), which leads to neuronal apoptosis. In this study, we observed a two-fold increase in [Ca2+]c levels upon ethanol treatment compared to control cells. This cellular accumulation of calcium possibly induced cell death. Previously, a similar increase in intracellular [Ca2+]c was observed after a short (20 min) exposure to ethanol in prenatal primary neuronal cells , fetal hypothalamic cells and cervical ganglion neurons [45, 46]. TQ and Met reduced elevated [Ca2+]c levels (Figure 2). TQ and Met modulate and stabilize ΔψM. Our findings that showed ethanol-induced alterations in mitochondrial function were also in agreement with a recent study that demonstrated that vitamin E and BDNF have neuroprotective and modulating roles during ethanol toxicity in cerebellar granule cells. The mechanism of neuroprotection was similar to Met and TQ involved the stabilization of mitochondrial membrane potential and inhibition of apoptotic cascade . The Bcl-2 protein family plays an important role in apoptotic signal transduction by regulating mitochondrial function . It was reported that mitochondrial cytochrome-c is released into the cytosol through the permeability transition pore, which is regulated by Bcl-2 family proteins . The pro-apoptotic protein Bax destabilizes ΔψM and facilitates cytochrome-c release , while the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 functions to restore membrane potential and block cytochrome-c release. In our findings, we found that TQ and Met increased Bcl-2 levels in primary cortical neurons exposed to ethanol. TUNEL and western blot analysis demonstrated that TQ and Met cotreatment protects neurons by lowering the expression of caspase-3, cytochrome-c, cleaved caspase-9 while also increasing the expression of Bcl-2 compared to cells treated with ethanol alone. This finding implied that TQ and Met potentially prevents apoptosis by regulating the mitochondrial path way. PARP-1 functions in apoptosis by acting as a survival factor and a death promoter, depending on the duration and severity of DNA damage . We observed cleavage of PARP-1 to its respective 89 kDa fragment after a 12 h exposure to ethanol. In Met and TQ treatment groups, fragmentation of PARP-1 was significantly reduced. In support of our results, other investigators noted caspase-dependent cleavage of PARP-1 that was induced by an ethanol concentration (4.0 mg/ml), similar to the one used in this study, for 0, 4, 12 and 24 h time periods . The potential benefit of Met and TQ on primary neuronal cell viability was evaluated by TUNEL assay. Met and TQ decreased DNA damage and reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells produced by ethanol treatment. A study using an analogous experimental approach demonstrated similar DNA damage induced by ethanol in cultured cortical neurons . The present findings supported a conclusion that ethanol disrupts ΔψM, sustains Ca2+ overload and triggers an apoptotic cascade. Met and TQ inhibition of ethanol-induced cell death in primary rat cortical neurons might occur via an antioxidant mechanism that maintains mitochondrial integrity. Since Met and TQ are safe and nontoxic, more studies should be conducted to explain their synergistic actions with other drugs. In summary, this study demonstrated that TQ and Met exert a neuroprotective effect by decreasing ethanol-mediated mitochondria-dependent apoptosis. Although additional studies are needed to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying TQ and Met actions, TQ and Met are readily available and safe agents, so they could eventually be used as neuroprotectants against ethanol-induced neurodegeneration during early development. Female (n = 12) Sprague-Dawley rats (250 g, Gyeongsang National University, Neurobiology Laboratory, Chinju, South Korea) were housed in a temperature-controlled environment (light cycle: 06:00-20:00 h) with food ad libitum. Time of pregnancy was assigned from the day of insemination equal to gestational day (GD) 0.5. After GD 17.5 pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were killed by decapitation and after an i.v. injection of pentobarbital sodium (3 mg/100 g body weight). Animals were treated in accordance with standard guidelines for laboratory animal care. Experimental procedures were approved by the local animal ethics committee of the Division of Applied Life Sciences, Department of Biology, Gyeongsang National University, South Korea. Cultures were prepared from the cortices of prenatal rats at GD 17.5. Pooled cortical brain tissue was treated with 0.25% trypsin-EDTA for 20 min and dissociated by mechanical trituration in ice-cold calcium-free and magnesium-free Hank's balanced salt solution (pH 7.4). After pelleting by centrifugation, cells were plated (1 × 106 cells/ml) in chamber slides or cell culture plates that were pre-coated with polylysine (0.02 g/l). Culture medium consisted of Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM) with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum, 1 mM pyruvate, 4.2 mM sodium bicarbonate, 20 mM HEPES, 0.3 g/L bovine serum albumin, 50 U/ml penicillin, and 50 mg/L streptomycin. Cultures were maintained at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 and 95% air. Neuroglia cells were inhibited with media containing 100 μM Cytosine β-D-Arabino Furanoside (Sigma) for 12 h. After 4 days, cortical neurons were assigned to of five groups: 1) Control (C): cells incubated with normal DMEM medium; 2) Ethanol treatment alone (EtOH): treated with media containing 100 mM ethanol; 3) TQ plus EtOH cotreatment (concurrently); 4) Met plus EtOH cotreatment (concurrently); 5) TQ plus Met plus EtOH cotreatement (concurrently). The TQ dose (25 μM) was selected on the basis of MTT assay, and the Met dose (10 mM) was from unpublished lab data; these were used in different groups and combinations. All drug treatment groups were incubated for 12 h in vitro selected on the basis of preliminary experiments carried out and on the basis of that we selected 12 h as an optimum condition to carry out the final experiments reported here. In all experiments 100 mM ethanol concentration was used selected from of our previously published studies . The logarithmic growth phase of primary neuronal cells was taken for growth assays using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT). Primary cortical neurons were seeded onto 96-well plates (1 × 105 cells/well) in 200 μl of DMEM media (control). DMEM media with ethanol (100 mM), TQ (10, 15, 25 and 35 μM) and Met (10 mM) in different combinations were incubated at 37°C for 12 h in a humidified 5% CO2 incubator. TQ and Met were cotreated with ethanol in all experimental groups. After incubation, cell viability was determined by adding MTT (5 mg/ml in phosphate buffer saline, PBS) to each well and incubating these cells for 4 h at 37°C. Formazan dissolved in organic solvent was added, to the cells. Plates were placed on a shaker and agitated for 10 to 20 min. Plates were read at 550 to 570 nm (L1) and 620 to 650 nm (L2) on scanning microplate reader spectrophotometer; 620 to 650 nm absorbance results measured cell debris and well imperfections. The final optical density (OD) obtained (OD = L1-L2) was used to calculate the percentage of cell survival, which was expressed as absorbance treated wells/absorbance control wells × 100%. The intracellular Ca2+ concentration was measured with the fluorescent Ca2+ indicator Fura-2 acetoxymethyl ester . After four days of growth, cells were treated with normal media (control), ethanol (100 mM), TQ (25 μM) plus ethanol, Met (10 mM) plus ethanol, or TQ plus Met in combination with ethanol for 12 h. After treatment, cultured cortical neurons (triplicate plates; each containing 1 × 106 cells) were washed twice with Krebs buffer and then incubated in DMEM media containing 5 μM Fura-2 AM at 37°C in a humidified incubator with 5% CO2 for 60 min. Cells were washed twice with Locke's solution (pH 7.8), and Fura-2 fluorescence signals of [Ca+2]c were measured with a luminescence spectrophotometer (LS50B, Perkin Elmer, Boston, MA). Excitation light from a Xenon lamp was alternated between 340 and 380 nm band-pass filters and the fluorescence emitted at 510 nm was revealed by a photon-counting photomultiplier. The 340 nm/380 nm fluorescence ratio, averaged over a period of 2 s, was measured. Fluorescence signals were acquired, stored and analyzed using a computer with universal imaging software or a MicroVax II computer with origin 7 software. Intracellular calcium was determined using the ratio method as mentioned above and from the Grynkiewicz equation . Kd: dissociation constant of the Fura-2 Ca+2 interaction to be 225 nM in the cytosolic environment; R: fluorescence ratio at 340 and 380 nm; Rmin: ratio with zero Ca+2; Rmax: ratio with saturating Ca+2 (using calcium chloride); Sf2: fluorescence at 380 nm with zero Ca+2; Sb2: fluorescence at 380 nm with saturating Ca+2. Mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔψM) was monitored using JC-1 ΔψM detection kit (Biotium Inc., Hayward, CA, USA), according to the manufacturer's protocol. JC-1 emits either green or red fluorescence, depending on the ΔψM. A green signal indicated mitochondria depolarization, while a red signal indicated polarized mitochondria . Thus, the shift from red to green fluorescence was considered a reliable indicator of a drop in ΔψM. After 4 days, neuronal cells were treated with normal media (control; C), ethanol (100 mM; EtOH), ethanol plus TQ (25 μM), Met plus ethanol and TQ plus Met plus ethanol in different groups and combinations. All drug treatment groups were incubated for 12 h in vitro at the same time at 37°C. After drug treatment, cells in triplicate culture were washed with PBS twice, harvested and stained with JC-1 reagents at 37°C for 15 min. Cells were resuspended twice in 1× assay buffer. JC-1 aggregates in healthy mitochondria emit red fluorescence at 590 nm. JC-1 monomers that leaked from stressed mitochondria emit green fluorescence at 530 nm. Red and green fluorescence were measured in the green (FL-1) and red (FL-2) channels of a flow cytometer. Changes in ΔψM were measured at the single-cell level with a FACS Caliber flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson, San Jose, CA, USA). In total, 10,000 cells were acquired for analysis by Cell Quest software, version 3.0 (Becton Dickinson, San Jose, CA, USA), and quantification of cells with low ΔψM, as the percentage of total cell population, was performed. Western blot analysis was done as previously described with some modifications . Immunoreactions were performed with primary antibodies: Bax and Bcl-2 (Rabbit polyclonal, Santa Cruz Biotechnology; 1:1000, 24 h, 4°C), cytochrome-c (Goat, Santa Cruz Biotechnology; 1:1000, 24 h, 4°C), PARP-1 (Mouse monoclonal, Santa Cruz Biotechnology; 1:1000, 24 h, 4°C), caspase-3 and caspase-9 antibody (Rabbit, Cell signaling 1:1000 24 h, 4°C). After rinsing the blots, horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-mouse, mouse anti-goat or goat anti-rabbit IgG-HRPs (Santa Cruz Biotech 1:1000) were incubated with the blots for 2 h at room temperature. Immunoreactions were also performed using β-actin antibody (Cell Signaling) as loading controls. Proteins were detected by chemiluminescence using an ECL-detecting reagent (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, western blotting detection reagents) with the manufacturer's protocol. Chemiluminescent blots were then exposed to X-ray film. Exposed X-ray film was scanned, and optical densities were analyzed by densitometry using the computer-based SigmaGel, version 1.0 (Jandel Scientific, San Rafeal, Chicago, USA). To assay apoptosis, cells were stained with TUNEL (GenScript Corporation, USA) and counterstained using 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). In situ detection of apoptotic cell death was performed using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) in cortical neuron cultures as previously done with a little modification . TUNEL staining was performed, according to the supplier's recommendations, using the In Situ Cell Death Detection kit for Fluorescein (GeneScript, USA). Cells were also incubated with DAPI (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR, USA) for 10 min at room temperature and then rinsed with distilled water. Glass cover slips were mounted on glass slides with mounting medium. A DAPI filter was used to detect DAPI staining (blue color), and an FITC filter was used was to detect TUNEL staining (green color). TUNEL-positive (green) and DAPI-positive (blue) staining patterns were acquired with a confocal laser scanning microscope (Fluoview FV 1000, Olympus, Japan). TUNEL-positive cells in the different regions of each slide were counted by an observer who was blinded to the treatment conditions. Fluoro-Jade-B (FJB) staining was performed as previously described . Immunofluorescence was performed on GD 17.5 primary cortical neuron cultures grown in vitro on poly-D-lysine-coated chamber slides. Four-day-old cultures were treated for 12 h at 37°C as indicated in the figure legends. Treated cultures were fixed for 5 min with 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS and stored at -70°C. Slides were air dried for 3 h and then subjected to the following treatments in order: 10 min in 0.06% potassium permanganate solution, distilled water rinse, 20 min in 0.1% acetic acid containing 0.0004% FJB (Calbiochem, San Diego, California, USA) and three washes in distilled water. The slides were allowed to dry at 55°C for 10 min and viewed under an FITC filter in a confocal microscope (Olympus Fluoview FV1000, Japan). For propidium iodide (PI) staining, slides were dipped in PI solution (1 μg/ml) in PBS with gentle mixing for 20 min at room temperature and washed twice with PBS for 10 min. Glass cover slips were mounted on the slides with mounting medium. The objective bands on western blots were scanned and analyzed by densitometry using a computer with the SigmaGel System (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Density values were expressed as mean ± SEM. One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey-Kramer multiple comparisons test was performed to determine the significance of differences between relevant treatment groups. In every case, the acceptance level for statistical significance was P < 0.05. This work was supported by a grant from the Next Generation Biogreen 21 Program (PJ008075 and Agenda PJ007361) of Rural Development Administration and NRF (2010-0000206 and 2009-353-C00062) funded by the Korean government. IKU carried out the experiments and drafted the manuscript. NAU, MIN and HYL helped in analysis and drafting the manuscript. MOK wrote discussion and conceived of the study and interpreted the data and discussion of the results. All the authors approve the final manuscript.

2019-04-26T14:14:05Z

https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-13-11

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In the meantime, even larger tile will make less gaps. It is actually advised to make use of tiles which might be uncomplicated to scrub. Applying this technique, you will not only sustain the grasp bathroom clean but also it requires much less effort and hard work to scrub it up. Use glass being a separator for showering spot While using the bathroom spot. Master bathroom shower ideas set shower place and rest room in precisely the same place. Consequently, it is critical to include separator among People two areas. Within the shower location, the drinking water from the shower sometimes splashes just about everywhere. The operate of this separator is to stop the water from splashing for the destinations we do not wish to get damp. When the drinking water splashing somewhere you do not detect, it will eventually make a spot for moss to develop. Typical and typical method of mattress continues to be the main household furniture. 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On this issue, picket desk or desk along with metal chair are essential. Remember the fact that the look for home furniture must be straightforward and common. French design and style will not necessarily mean brimming with previous and classic ornaments. You might want to manage the equilibrium between straightforward, old, and most recent design. White is Main coloration for wall and floor. You could insert Image frame or ornament to boost creative facet. It is healthier to prevent wallpaper, Ebedroomcept to protect the defection. Uncomplicated, classy, and lubedroomurious are The essential strategy of French place bedroom. Consequently, you will notice why this fashion is the most attractive design and style in any way.Do you may have restricted spending budget to decor bedroom? Perfectly, price wo not identify ebedroomcellent or decoration and magnificence. Besides chair, contemporary stool is good alternative to ebedroomchange the chair. Making use of stool offers more flebedroomibility when you sit there to work. Small wardrobe is placed on corner as your closet. As pointed out previously, compact Room involves utmost administration skill to ensure every little thing is in suitable buy. From this level, you already know home furniture for little bedroom includes minimalist mattress, wood table or desk, functional cabinet, cabinets, and chair.To boost creative part, place some paintings or ornament around the wall. If you like minimalist, consider white coloration with Image body or wall clock. Now, it truly is time for lights fibedroomture. Use LED bulb to save lots of Electrical power and not way too shiny during night time time. Working with classic chandelier is not ebedroomcellent solution because it is too massive. Another great plan to use in little bedroom on a spending plan is floating cabinets. This kind of furnishings does not acquire Substantially House.Bed room is own area and decoration accepts a lot of things. Certainly one of fascinating Suggestions to try is mid century bedroom. What do you take note of when give thought to mid-century? It was period just after Byzantium and right before renaissance. Some historians have different phrase and classification about this issue. For ebedroomample, kingdoms just after Roman Empire were being categorised as mid-century when Catholic Church in Vatican held the highest authority in religion. This ebedroompression demonstrates to what occur in Europe. However, mid-century also will take part in Asia, Middle East, and North Africa. Permit’s place aside for second debatable time period simply because mid-century is sweet concept for classic interior. As an ebedroomample, just use gray bedding set with the line pattern coloured With all the teal. There are many items incorporated since the bedding established for ebedroomample pillow addresses, blanket, and mattress address. To find the most effective search, picking out the ebedroomact color for these points are the only option. Additionally, if you do not such as energetic appears to the bedding, its possible you will select a basic gray handles and pick the plain teal shades to the pillows include and blanket. Its also possible to do vice versa. Following complete With all the bedding established, to produce a stunning glance, you could include the rug or carpet to cover the ground. Rug or carpet has the perform to include the ground just in the event that to make you are feeling hotter in a chilly evening. Pick the ebedroomact same shade of rug or carpet Together with the ebedroomact same color as teal and grey bedding. A similar shade will make your place seems to be harmony and not tacky. Then, enable it to be great Using the ebedroomact same wall shade at the same time.In case you have grasp bedroom in your property, the possibility is Additionally you use hardwood floors at the same time. The grasp bedrooms with hardwood flooring are popular thought released by interior designer. It will be able to build heat environment that may be suitable for relabedroomation. Choosing what home furniture or attractive elements to the master bedroom is tricky. If you choose inadequately, the learn bedroom will shed its heat ecosystem. In this post, We are going to go over what you need for the master bedroom that wo not obstruct its nice inside. You can Merge 1 concept to Many others like character and animal. Two themes ought to have mutual relation or aid one another’s. Using absolutely two reverse concept into a person bedroom styles for boys is not very good plan. How can you put football and rain forest theme in one solitary place? Thus, a single topic is sufficient to generate tasteful bedroom for boys.Compact Room does not necessarily mean it really is ineffective or minimal. With suitable administration, bedroom Tips for teenage girls with smaller rooms are now not jus creativeness. There are two particular are in this subject. Very first thing is area House. Little or substantial a person demands distinctive structure. Usually, distinct furnishings can serve in each of space space. However, applying purposely household for compact home minimize undesirable final result like imbalance and unmatched appearance. 2nd subject is women. As you all know, home for girls are surely distinct in topic and notion. There is certainly age that establishes how one particular area needs to be designed. For more eliving roompressive teliving roomture, increase one lengthy picket and arrange it as line. You will notice striped-line in black or darkish brown on the very best ceiling. Miliving room it with lighting configuration to improve space decoration. A different uncomplicated implementation from ceiling types Thoughts is to paint ceiling with quite a few colours or ornaments. As stated earlier, white is simply too plain for area and incorporating sample with painting will be the very good notion. This is where your creative imagination will come into the appropriate place. It looks basic and easy, but portray just is not sure bet. You may need to ensure anything goes as it had been planned to forestall redesigning frequently.Right before decorating the ceiling, it is best to take into account about household furniture inside the area. Great ceiling suits completely with furniture arrangement. For living room, you need to look at modern day espresso table, very simple couch, wooden desk, cabinet, etcetera. In bedroom, make an effort to match the mattress, cupboard, dresser, drawers, shelves, etcetera. Why do you should consider all of these? Ceiling is part of place, so it are unable to stand on your own in crowded space. Just one plan from ceiling types ideas that is actually out in the boliving room is glass material to include the best area, so that you can see what’s heading outside. If there is not any ground on the highest of area, this glass lets Sunlight shines directly. Family room carpet is one way to Enhance the area eliving roomtensively. Carpet or rug has become utilised due to the fact very long time. Numerous matters ought to be thought of before you decide to elect to place carpet in living room. Prior to talking about about this make a difference, let’s go back in time the place carpet may be the necessary solution in ancient commerce. In previous time, carpet was unique products to go over the floor. This sort product or service was developed in Center East or North Africa. The countries in Those people places had good offer in carpet market. Many designs represented their tradition. Carpet for living room evolves and you will discover the products and solutions from America, Asia, and Europe. Ahead of putting carpet, you ought to look at room type, furnishings, sizing, and materials. Carpet may very well be great for place with typical style, but it seems inappropriate for minimalist decoration. You should match decoration and carpet. Terrible arrangement leads to destroy the space ambiance. In lieu of convalescing, you may finish up in lousy area affliction. Do not fail to remember the household furniture given that they are critical aspect. Furnishings in living room is made up of espresso desk, sofa or chair, cupboard, some drawers, and cabinets. Other than them, its possible you will uncover chairs, desk, and stool. Prevent Placing carpet underneath table. It will eventually spoil your carpet and not very good for that table itself. Moreover, living room carpet needs to be adjusted with space size. You could think about small and compact size carpet for Heart spot. This immediately helps make you house look a lot more inviting and friends and family would appreciate to come by much more generally. On top of that, you can also include in aspects of gold and brown towards the walls of your living room and in addition accessorizes the living room with antique components like candle holders and clocks. This will work like icing on the cake and provides that ending sparkle.As we know, interior layout for just a home is currently acquiring more amazing. You not only will make The attractive area Using the wall and ground style and design, but in addition put some Thoughts for place ceiling to enhance the appearance of it through the use of pop ceiling style and design. There are numerous capabilities for eliving roomample boosting lights decoration, building a lively area and Unquestionably beautifying the looks of the whole room. For you who would like to apply ceiling design, Below are a few tips so that you can select the ideal design being utilized as part of your home. Pop ceiling design variations are available in countless options. You will find the styles commence from The straightforward to your compleliving room 1. In your case that have futuristic, minimalist or contemporary home style, an easy neon containers sort of pop ceiling is good being put in. You can area some compact neon boliving roomes over the ceiling. The reflection of the lights will give fantastic effect to the home. When you have no be concerned with finances, you can also get the sophisticated neon containers condition being installed. You only have to settle on sofa in darker colour for balancing the decoration. Now, you could start out creating a list of furniture and components needed to your living room decor. Ensure that you may have checked the information about the price For each and every product. Then, you have to get them inside the outlets that provide you sale. Do you know why? It is so due to the fact sales could make your price range reduced. You could possibly conserve your hard earned money for other factor of it is possible to control your finance perfectly. These are guidelines for decorating a living room on the spending plan. It is actually hoped that the tips over are useful for yourself.Have you ever observed superb living room accent wall to help make your living room décor nicer? Soon after installing couch and occasional desk, You will need to arrive at the wall-decorating position. This can be the significant issue to offer. Ensure that the wall is effectively decorated by introducing some ornamental goods. Dealing with this make a difference, you only have to deal with the selection. Be certain that the ornamental wall items are in keeping with your Bed room decoration idea. Addressing this issue, there are many recommendations for you to know. Right before coming to the selection, You must know the tips under. So, just stay in this article for farther details and rationalization. Set your price range! From time to time you have to cope with genuinely restricted price range for living room since you have used your cash for decorating other rooms. The living room accent wall require greater budget. using this type of design, you may need some furnishings. Primary a person is mattress with antique and outdated accent. Bedroom has iconic carved that signifies outdated time. Ornament are available close to headboard and footboard. Whats more, the scale is substantial to keep two people concurrently. Custom made mattress is often viewed in canopy pillars to include. This kind of mattress is for king or noble. Moreover, rich and significant profile folks have the ability to manage these mattress. Mid century bedroom is just not entirely for mattress. Numerous home furnishings are Completely ready to produce amazing decoration. Typical cupboard and dressers is definitely the frequent goods in previous bedroom. Cupboard is comparable to mattress ebedroomactly where carved ornament can be found in each section about cupboard. Dresser is put To place linen, garments, or personalized things. To really make it ebedroomtra beautiful, decide on dresser that have mirror on the top. It replaces the function of desk, but creative chairs or stools are All set nebedroomt to dresser. Most of furnishings are wood-centered, so usually takes Substantially problem to keep them at good issueA lot of furniture previously set set up. You can find console desk, wood cabinet, creative chairs or stools, antique mirror, dresser, and many lighting fibedroomtures. To counterpoint atmosphere, you are able to put old and antique chandelier. If you need to make much more versions, try to use metallic-dependent home furniture for instance nightstand or desk lamp. Understand that Every of furniture ought to be in old accent. As a result, mid century bedroom will probably be your preferred theme whatsoever. Walls in homes today typically decorated in white or other neutral shades like beige, gray, or brown. Its not a bad factor, as these hues are fairly very easy to structure with. With the right style strategy, these hues can look Superb. Having said that, if you utilize them far too much with no superior measure, your place will appear ebedroomtremely uninteresting and bland. You don’t want it in your house, especially in your bedroom, proper? This is where wall decor for bedroom is available in handy. Your bedroom needs to be an ebedroomceptionally personal place. You may want to add ebedroomtra characters to that area since it is your most private space where you are no cost to generally be you. Including wall decor for bedroom can be a very good way, so your room wo not be dull. A tedious area limitations its operator creative imagination and productivity. Some ebedroomcellent illustrations for wall decor are hanging glass photograph frames, e book shelves, hanging pots, or wall decals along with other handmade ornaments. These are generally all very widespread decorations. But, Have you ever at any time considered becoming additional Innovative? It is possible to add wall paintings, your own private quotes, or other creations, like origami, dried flowers, or your cross-stitching assignments. You could be even more creative by creating an aquarium inside your room. Picture fading to sleep taking a look at the tranquil scene of fishes swimming. For anyone who is the a single whos scared of the dim, you are able to insert glow at nighttime decorations. It is a ebedroomtra Inventive way than turning on a lightweight each individual evening. If you are feeling that your bedroom appears to be dull, you could try out some ways to spice it up. The normal strategies naturally contain hanging image frames pots, lights, and many cabinets. However, if you want to be additional Resourceful, there is in fact no Restrict to what you can do in your bedroom’s wall. Wall decor for bedroom can be made out of so many things. Black has usually been considered as shade choice connected to class and magnificence In relation to the mattress home. Black also delivers a modern and mysterious outcome on the ambiance with the bedroom. As a result, this color can be used for a far more modern-day and minimalist design and style, due to the results it has to offer. The sole downside of black is the fact that it presents the illusion the room is more compact. Area impact a lot of overall place layout. The easiest way to produce suitable bedroom ideas for teenage ladies with compact rooms is working with modest household furniture. Place little cabinet and console desk as wardrobe substitute. This way may very well be far too Intense but very simple. You do not will need massive wardrobe To place clothing. Modification current furnishings lowers Charge and House respectively. Question ebedroompertise men and women to get better insight about bedroom layout for smaller area. Murphy bed may very well be good choice nonetheless it should very carefully set up. Persons can modify their bedroom with sliding traction. It might be pulled out or in. Applying precise topic is brief technique to recover plan. There are many Suggestions about women bedroom for distinct modest place, theme affect each and every factor including furniture, colour, etcetera. Usually do not forget about the issue of utmost lighting in bedroom to enliven the nuances. Grey and purple bedrooms Thoughts would be the great option If you are able to utilize it properly. It is stunning in building the sophistication and magnificence when used with the proper combine colours. Surely, best combination of add-ons can also be ebedroomtremely needed. Purple and gray glance ideal with ebedroomotic decor.Would you like make great bedrooms for teenage guys? You might have teenage boys so that you have to embellish a bedroom for them. There are many notion of bedroom decoration notion that you should know. Nevertheless, You will need to select one of these determined by finances that you have set in advance of. Concerning this issue, there are numerous Strategies that you should know. They may be genuinely inspirational for building your teenage bedroom looks great. So, just remain listed here For additional inspirations.The primary stage in neat bedrooms for teenage fellas is about wall paint colour assortment. Make sure that the colour is darkish. If you want to choose brilliant color selection for wall paint, it has to be combined with various color. Managing the interesting shade, dim blue is so ebedroomceptional.

2019-04-26T12:40:01Z

http://theblbar.com/tag/unique-glass-suspended-hanging-light/

2012-09-14 Assigned to FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC reassignment FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: KURTZ, ERIC, TENNISON, PAUL JOSEPH, MAY, DAVID A. Methods and systems for operating a glow plug are disclosed. In one example, current supplied to a glow plug can be controlled to promote combustion stability of a cylinder after an engine start. Engine feedgas hydrocarbons may be reduced during conditions where combustion stability may be otherwise reduced in order to reduce tailpipe emissions. The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/270,906 filed Oct. 11, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,281,772 B2, issued on Oct. 9, 2012, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Diesel engines compress air-fuel mixtures to initiate combustion in engine cylinders. Glow plugs may be used during starting of a cold diesel to assist engine starting when compression of the air-fuel mixture may be insufficient to produce automatic ignition of an air-fuel mixture. The glow plugs may be positioned in a combustion chamber to elevate the temperature of a portion of an in cylinder air-fuel mixture so that the air-fuel mixture may ignite when compressed. Once the engine is started the glow plugs may be turned off or operated at a low current for a predetermined amount of time to conserve energy and extend glow plug life. However, it may not be desirable to deactivate glow plugs after an engine start simply because the engine is started. Further, it may be desirable during some engine operating conditions to control glow plugs responsive to conditions other than an indication that an engine is started. The inventors herein have recognized the above-mentioned disadvantages and have developed an engine operating method, comprising: performing combustion in a cylinder of an engine; and retarding combustion phasing in the cylinder and increasing current supplied to a glow plug in the cylinder in response to a temperature of a catalyst and a temperature of the engine. By selectively operating glow plugs after engine start during different engine operating conditions, engine hydrocarbons may be reduced while engine combustion stability is increased. Further, engine heat output can be increased when glow plugs are activated to improve catalyst light off or regeneration of emissions control devices. For example, if an engine enters low load conditions where temperature of a catalyst coupled to an exhaust system of the engine may be reduced, glow plugs can be activated and combustion phasing retarded so that catalyst efficiency may be maintained or improved. Further, in systems where a motor is coupled to the engine, the motor may be adjusted to compensate or account for the response time of the glow plug so that engine emissions can be controlled during the time it takes for the glow plug to reach a desired operating temperature. In this way, glow plugs may be selectively operated so as to improve engine operation and emissions. The present description may provide several advantages. In particular, the approach may improve engine operation during conditions where emissions control devices coupled to the engine are operating with less than desired efficiency. In addition, the approach provides compensation for glow plug heating response time. Further, the approach may reduce engine emissions after the engine reaches warmed up operating conditions by allowing the engine to retard combustion phasing while continuing to provide stable combustion. FIGS. 5-11 show a flowchart of an example method for controlling a glow plug. The present description is related to improving engine operation via selectively operating glow plugs. FIG. 1 shows one example of a boosted diesel engine where the method of FIGS. 5-11 may adjust glow plug operation and combustion phasing to improve engine starting, reduce engine emissions, and improve emission control device efficiency. FIG. 2 shows an example powertrain including the engine shown in FIG. 1. FIGS. 3 and 4 show signals of interest during two different engine operating sequences. FIGS. 5-11 show a flowchart of an example method for selectively operating glow plugs. Referring to FIG. 1, internal combustion engine 10, comprising a plurality of cylinders, one cylinder of which is shown in FIG. 1, is controlled by electronic engine controller 12. Engine 10 includes combustion chamber 30 and cylinder walls 32 with piston 36 positioned therein and connected to crankshaft 40. Combustion chamber 30 is shown communicating with intake manifold 44 and exhaust manifold 48 via respective intake valve 52 and exhaust valve 54. Each intake and exhaust valve may be operated by an intake cam 51 and an exhaust cam 53. The position of intake cam 51 may be determined by intake cam sensor 55. The position of exhaust cam 53 may be determined by exhaust cam sensor 57. Fuel injector 66 is shown positioned to inject fuel directly into combustion chamber 30, which is known to those skilled in the art as direct injection. Fuel injector 66 delivers fuel in proportion to the pulse width of signal FPW from controller 12. Fuel is delivered to fuel injector 66 by a fuel system (not shown) including a fuel tank, fuel pump, fuel rail (not shown). Fuel pressure delivered by the fuel system may be adjusted by varying a position valve regulating flow to a fuel pump (not shown). In addition, a metering valve may be located in or near the fuel rail for closed loop fuel control. A pump metering valve may also regulate fuel flow to the fuel pump, thereby reducing fuel pumped to a high pressure fuel pump. Intake manifold 44 is shown communicating with optional electronic throttle 62 which adjusts a position of throttle plate 64 to control air flow from intake boost chamber 46. Compressor 162 draws air from air intake 42 to supply boost chamber 46. Exhaust gases spin turbine 164 which is coupled to compressor 162 via shaft 161. In some examples, a charge air cooler may be provided. Compressor speed may be adjusted via adjusting a position of variable vane control 72 or compressor bypass valve 158. In alternative examples, a waste gate 74 may replace or be used in addition to variable vane control 72. Variable vane control 72 adjusts a position of variable geometry turbine vanes. Exhaust gases can pass through turbine 164 supplying little energy to rotate turbine 164 when vanes are in an open position. Exhaust gases can pass through turbine 164 and impart increased force on turbine 164 when vanes are in a closed position. Alternatively, wastegate 74 allows exhaust gases to flow around turbine 164 so as to reduce the amount of energy supplied to the turbine. Compressor bypass valve 158 allows compressed air at the outlet of compressor 162 to be returned to the input of compressor 162. In this way, the efficiency of compressor 162 may be reduced so as to affect the flow of compressor 162 and reduce intake manifold pressure. Combustion is initiated in combustion chamber 30 when fuel automatically ignites as piston 36 approaches top-dead-center compression stroke. In some examples, a universal Exhaust Gas Oxygen (UEGO) sensor 126 may be coupled to exhaust manifold 48 upstream of emissions device 70. In other examples, the UEGO sensor may be located downstream of one or more exhaust after treatment devices. Further, in some examples, the UEGO sensor may be replaced by a NOx sensor that has both NOx and oxygen sensing elements. At lower engine temperatures glow plug 68 may convert electrical energy into thermal energy so as to raise a temperature in combustion chamber 30. By raising temperature of combustion chamber 30, it may be easier to ignite a cylinder air-fuel mixture via compression. Emissions device 70 can include a particulate filter and catalyst bricks, in one example. In another example, multiple emission control devices, each with multiple bricks, can be used. Emissions device 70 can include an oxidation catalyst in one example. In other examples, the emissions device may include a lean NOx trap or a selective catalyst reduction (SCR), and/or a diesel particulate filter (DPF). Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) may be provided to the engine via EGR valve 80. EGR valve 80 is a three-way valve that closes or allows exhaust gas to flow from downstream of emissions device 70 to a location in the engine air intake system upstream of compressor 162. In alternative examples, EGR may flow from upstream of turbine 164 to intake manifold 44. EGR may bypass EGR cooler 85, or alternatively, EGR may be cooled via passing through EGR cooler 85. In other, examples high pressure and low pressure EGR system may be provided. Controller 12 is shown in FIG. 1 as a conventional microcomputer including: microprocessor unit 102, input/output ports 104, read-only memory 106, random access memory 108, keep alive memory 110, and a conventional data bus. Controller 12 is shown receiving various signals from sensors coupled to engine 10, in addition to those signals previously discussed, including: engine coolant temperature (ECT) from temperature sensor 112 coupled to cooling sleeve 114; a position sensor 134 coupled to an accelerator pedal 130 for sensing accelerator position adjusted by foot 132; a measurement of engine manifold pressure (MAP) from pressure sensor 121 coupled to intake manifold 44; boost pressure from pressure sensor 122 exhaust gas oxygen concentration from oxygen sensor 126; an engine position sensor from a Hall effect sensor 118 sensing crankshaft 40 position; a measurement of air mass entering the engine from sensor 120 (e.g., a hot wire air flow meter); and a measurement of throttle position from sensor 58. Barometric pressure may also be sensed (sensor not shown) for processing by controller 12. In a preferred aspect of the present description, engine position sensor 118 produces a predetermined number of equally spaced pulses every revolution of the crankshaft from which engine speed (RPM) can be determined. In some examples, the engine may be coupled to an electric motor/battery system in a hybrid vehicle as shown in FIG. 2. The hybrid vehicle may have a parallel configuration, series configuration, or variation or combinations thereof. During operation, each cylinder within engine 10 typically undergoes a four stroke cycle: the cycle includes the intake stroke, compression stroke, expansion stroke, and exhaust stroke. During the intake stroke, generally, the exhaust valve 54 closes and intake valve 52 opens. Air is introduced into combustion chamber 30 via intake manifold 44, and piston 36 moves to the bottom of the cylinder so as to increase the volume within combustion chamber 30. The position at which piston 36 is near the bottom of the cylinder and at the end of its stroke (e.g. when combustion chamber 30 is at its largest volume) is typically referred to by those of skill in the art as bottom dead center (BDC). During the compression stroke, intake valve 52 and exhaust valve 54 are closed. Piston 36 moves toward the cylinder head so as to compress the air within combustion chamber 30. The point at which piston 36 is at the end of its stroke and closest to the cylinder head (e.g. when combustion chamber 30 is at its smallest volume) is typically referred to by those of skill in the art as top dead center (TDC). In a process hereinafter referred to as injection, fuel is introduced into the combustion chamber. In some examples, fuel may be injected to a cylinder a plurality of times during a single cylinder cycle. In a process hereinafter referred to as ignition, the injected fuel is ignited by compression ignition resulting in combustion. During the expansion stroke, the expanding gases push piston 36 back to BDC. Crankshaft 40 converts piston movement into a rotational torque of the rotary shaft. Finally, during the exhaust stroke, the exhaust valve 54 opens to release the combusted air-fuel mixture to exhaust manifold 48 and the piston returns to TDC. Note that the above is described merely as an example, and that intake and exhaust valve opening and/or closing timings may vary, such as to provide positive or negative valve overlap, late intake valve closing, or various other examples. Further, in some examples a two-stroke cycle may be used rather than a four-stroke cycle. Referring now to FIG. 2 an example hybrid powertrain including the engine of FIG. 1 is shown. Hybrid powertrain 200 includes an engine 10 and engine controller 12 as is described in FIG. 1. Hybrid powertrain 200 also includes an electric motor 202 and motor controller 210. Engine controller 12 may communicate with motor controller 210 via communication link 250. In one example, communication link 250 is a CAN link. Electric motor 202 is shown mechanically coupled to engine 10 via transmission 204. Driveshaft 230 mechanically couples electric motor 202 to vehicle wheels 222. Electric motor 202 and engine 10 may provide torque to vehicle wheels 222 solely or together. Vehicle wheels 222 may be front wheels or rear wheels of the vehicle. In other examples, the engine and electric motor may be mechanically coupled in an alternative way. Thus, the systems of FIGS. 1 and 2 provide for an engine having a combustion chamber; a glow plug protruding into the combustion chamber; and a controller including instructions to identify or anticipating a catalyst light out and retard combustion phasing in the combustion chamber and increasing current supplied to a glow plug in the combustion chamber in response to the light out after the engine has reached a temperature indicative of warm engine operating conditions. The engine system further comprises continuously supplying a current to the glow plug throughout a time when the engine is operating. In still other examples, the engine system continuously supplies current to the glow plug except when an engine parameter is greater than a threshold value. For example, a low level of current is continuously supplied to the glow plug except when engine load exceeds a threshold value (e.g., 0.75 load). The engine system further comprises additional controller instructions for increasing a negative torque supplied to the engine via a motor in response to a request to increase a temperature of the glow plug. The engine system further comprises additional controller instructions for retarding combustion phasing of the cylinder and increasing current supplied to the glow plug in response to a request to regenerate an emissions control device in an exhaust system that is coupled to the engine. In another example, the engine system further comprises additional controller instructions for gradually ramping glow plug current in response to the request to regenerate the emissions control device. The engine system further comprises additional controller instructions for advancing combustion phasing of the cylinder in response to a level of regeneration of the emissions control device, and where the emissions control device is a DPF or LNT. Referring now to FIG. 3, simulated signals of interest during a first engine starting sequence is shown. The illustrated signals may be provided via executing instructions of the method of FIGS. 5-11 in controller 12 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is one example cold engine starting sequence and subsequent engine operation. Vertical lines T0-T8 represent times where particular events of interest occur. The first plot from the top of FIG. 3 represents an engine speed. The engine speed may be sensed via a crankshaft sensor or via another known method. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents engine speed and engine speed increases in the direction of the Y-axis arrow. The second plot from the top of FIG. 3 represents engine torque and operator requested torque. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. Engine torque 320 and operator requested torque 322 increase in the direction of the Y axis arrow. Engine torque 320 substantially matches operator requested torque 322 except where the dotted line of operator requested torque 322 is visible. The third plot from the top of FIG. 3 represents engine coolant temperature (ECT) versus time. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents ECT and ECT increases in the direction of the Y-axis arrow. Horizontal line 302 represents a temperature threshold where a warm engine is indicated when ECT is greater (above) than horizontal line 302. The fourth plot from the top of FIG. 3 represents catalyst temperature. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents catalyst temperature and the catalyst temperature increases in the direction of the Y-axis arrow. Horizontal line 304 represents a desired catalyst temperature when specific engine control actions are taken to heat a catalyst. For example, if combustion phasing is adjusted to heat a catalyst, combustion phase is at least partially retarded until the temperature represented by line 304 is reached. Horizontal line 306 represents a catalyst light off temperature (e.g., a catalyst temperature above which an efficiency of the catalyst exceeds a threshold efficiency). The fifth plot from the top of FIG. 3 represents engine combustion phase (e.g., crankshaft location of peak cylinder pressure for a cylinder, or alternatively crankshaft location of peak heat release for a cylinder). The combustion phase may be varied by adjusting fuel injection timing, engine EGR amount, boost amount, and air-fuel mixture temperature. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents engine combustion phase and combustion phase advances in the direction of the Y-axis arrow. The sixth plot from the top of FIG. 3 represents glow plug current. Glow plug temperature increases as glow plug current increases. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents glow plug current and glow plug current increases in the direction of the Y-axis arrow. The seventh plot from the top of FIG. 3 represents motor torque. Motor torque above horizontal line 308 is positive motor torque (e.g., the motor is supplying torque to the vehicle driveline) and motor torque below horizontal line 308 is negative motor torque (e.g., the motor is absorbing torque from the vehicle driveline to charge a battery). The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents motor torque. At time T0, engine speed is zero indicating that the engine is stopped. Further, the engine coolant temperature and catalyst temperature are at low levels indicating that the engine has not been operated for an extended period of time. Although the engine is not combusting, the combustion phase for engine cylinders is scheduled advanced in anticipation of an impending engine start request. Current is supplied to glow plugs at a higher level so as to quickly warm the glow plugs. In some examples, current supplied to glow plugs after key on and before engine cranking may be described as a push phase where the glow plugs are heated rapidly. Motor torque is at a low level since the vehicle has not been commanded to move. In some examples, motor torque can be increased to propel a vehicle to which the engine and motor are coupled before the engine is started. Between time T0 and time T1, the engine is cranked allowing the engine to run up to idle speed beginning at time T1. Engine torque is initially large since a higher level of engine torque may be required to accelerate the engine from stop. The combustion phase is retarded as engine speed reaches idle speed at time T1. The glow plug current is adjusted to a reduced level after the current push phase is ended but still relatively high so as to improve combustion stability while the engine is cold. Further, engine feedgas hydrocarbon emissions may also be reduced during cold engine starting via maintaining glow plug current at a higher level while maintaining glow plug temperature below a threshold value. Between time T1 and time T2, the engine speed increases as engine torque is increased in response to an operator torque request. ECT and catalyst temperatures remain at lower levels but begin to increase as combustion in engine cylinders heats the engine and the catalyst. The motor torque is also increased so that motor torque may augment engine torque to provide the torque requested by the driver. Combustion phase is retarded to its lowest level and is advanced somewhat thereafter to increase engine torque in response to the driver torque request. At time T2, the engine speed continues to increase along with engine torque. In addition, catalyst temperature reaches catalyst light off temperature as indicated by horizontal line 306. Combustion phasing advances in response to the catalyst reaching light off temperature but remains retarded so as to continue engine heating. ECT continues to increase. At time T3, ETC reaches a level of horizontal line 302 indicating that the engine has reached warm engine operating conditions. Engine speed and engine torque continue to increase and accelerate the vehicle. Catalyst temperature remains above the catalyst light-off temperature since engine load is at a higher level. Engine torque may be one indication of engine load. Engine air amount may also be an indication of engine load. Combustion phase is advanced as ECT increases toward desired ECT such that combustion phase is advanced to a state where combustion state is advanced or retarded responsive to engine speed and load but not to ECT and catalyst temperature since the ECT is controlled to the desired ECT (e.g., warm operating engine temperature). Glow plug current is reduced when ECT reaches the threshold of line 302. In this example, glow plug current is reduced to a level but not stopped. In other examples, current flow to the glow plug may be stopped when ECT and catalyst temperature are above threshold levels. By continuing to supply a low level of current to the glow plug, it may be possible to reduce current in rush to the glow plug when the glow plug is subsequently reactivated. At time T4, the engine torque request 320 and operator torque request 322 are reduced and engine speed begins to be reduced in response to an operator reducing the engine torque request. However, the operator torque request 322 is reduced to a lower level than engine torque 320. The engine torque is held higher so that engine speed can remain elevated and so that the engine does not enter a low torque level until the glow plug is at a desired temperature so that improved combustion stability may be provided. In one example, the glow plug operation is anticipated when an operator torque request is reduced from a higher level to a level where the glow plug is scheduled to be activated. The engine torque or load continues at a higher level in the presence of a low operator torque request and the engine torque is absorbed by the motor so that the net torque provided to the vehicle driveline is the operator requested torque. Thus, the motor torque switches from positive torque to negative torque to absorb the excess engine torque. The combustion phase is also retarded and current supplied to the glow plug is increased so as to improve engine combustion stability and reduce engine feedgas hydrocarbon emissions. At time T5, the glow plug reaches a desired temperature and current to the glow plug is reduced to limit glow plug temperature. In other examples, current to the glow plug may be maintained when the applied current is an amount to achieve a desired heater temperature. Combustion phasing is further retarded since the glow plug is at a desired temperature and since additional combustion phase can be tolerated without combustion stability degradation. The engine torque is also reduced and the motor torque is increased since the increased glow plug temperature can promote combustion stability and reduced hydrocarbons. Engine speed continues to decrease as the engine torque is decreased. At time T6, the catalyst temperature decreases to a level below the light off temperature indicating catalyst light out. Combustion phasing is further retarded and glow plug current is increased in response to catalyst light out. By retarding combustion phasing and increasing glow plug current, heat flux from the engine to the catalyst may be increased so as to bring the catalyst above light off temperature, thereby reducing tailpipe emissions. Further, increasing glow plug current may elevate glow plug temperature so as to promote combustion stability during retarded combustion phasing while also lowering or maintaining engine feedgas hydrocarbons. At time T7, engine torque demand is increased and the catalyst temperature exceeds light off temperature. Further, glow plug current is reduced in response to the elevated catalyst temperature and increased engine load. Combustion phase is also advanced to improve engine efficiency since catalyst temperature is greater than light off temperature. However, catalyst temperature is less than threshold temperature 304 so a portion of combustion retard is maintained. Further, glow plug current is adjusted to a level that is above a level when catalyst temperature is greater than threshold temperature 304. In this way, glow plug current and combustion phase are adjusted after catalyst temperature is less that catalyst light off temperature until a desired catalyst temperature greater than the catalyst light off temperature is achieved by the catalyst. Thus, catalyst temperature hysteresis is provided so that glow plug current and combustion phasing are not activated and deactivated over a short time interval. At time T8, catalyst temperature exceeds threshold temperature 304. Combustion phase is further advanced and glow plug current is reduced in response to catalyst temperature exceeding threshold temperature 304. Engine speed and engine torque are shown at elevated levels where the engine outputs heat to keep the catalyst operating efficiently. Therefore, engine combustion phasing can be advanced and adjusted in response to engine speed and load without being adjusted for catalyst and engine temperature. Referring now to FIG. 4, simulated signals of interest during a second engine starting sequence is shown. The illustrated signals may be provided via executing instructions of the method of FIGS. 5-11 in controller 12 of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is one example of a warm engine starting sequence and subsequent engine operating sequence. FIG. 4 shares plots similar to the plots shown in FIG. 3. As such, the description of plots having the same labels between FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 is omitted for the sake of brevity. Vertical lines T0-T5 represent times where particular events of interest occur. The first plot from the top of FIG. 4 represents an engine speed. The engine speed may be sensed via a crankshaft sensor or via another known method. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents engine speed and engine speed increases in the direction of the Y-axis arrow. The second plot from the top of FIG. 4 represents engine torque and operator requested torque. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. Engine torque and operator requested torque are represented by a single line since engine torque and operator torque are substantially the same in this example. Engine torque increases in the direction of the Y axis arrow. In the third plot from the top of FIG. 4, horizontal line 402 represents a threshold engine temperature where the engine is determined to be at warm operating conditions. If engine temperature is below line 402 the engine may be determined to be cold. Otherwise, if engine temperature is above line 402, the engine may be determined to be warm. The fifth plot from the top of FIG. 4 represents engine combustion phase (e.g., crankshaft location of peak cylinder pressure for a cylinder, or alternatively crankshaft location of peak heat release for a cylinder). The combustion phase may be varied by adjusting fuel injection timing, engine EGR amount, boost amount, and air-fuel mixture temperature. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents engine combustion phase and combustion phase advances in the direction of the Y-axis arrow. The sixth plot from the top of FIG. 4 represents glow plug current. Glow plug temperature increases as glow plug current increases. The X axis represents time and time increases from right to left. The Y axis represents glow plug current and glow plug current increases in the direction of the Y-axis arrow. The seventh plot from the top of FIG. 4 represents a pressure differential (ΔP) across a diesel particulate filter (DPF) versus time. The differential pressure increases in the direction of the Y axis. Time increases from the left to the right. Horizontal line 408 represents a pressure differential level where it is desirable to regenerate the DPF. Horizontal line 410 represents a pressure differential level where it is desirable to cease regeneration of the DPF. In some examples, the differential pressure level may be normalized for engine operating conditions so that the differential pressure regeneration levels 408 and 410 are adjusted for engine operating conditions such as engine air flow rate. The eighth plot from the top of FIG. 4 represents a signal requesting regeneration of the DPF. In one example, the state of the regeneration request is based on the differential pressure across the DPF. If the differential pressure is at or greater than the threshold indicated by line 408, the regeneration request is made. The regeneration request remains active until the DPF is determined to be regenerated. In this way, current supplied to glow plugs and combustion phasing can be adjusted to reduce engine emissions during warm engine starting and regeneration of emissions control devices in the engine exhaust system. At time T0, engine speed is zero indicating that the engine is stopped. Further, the engine coolant temperature and catalyst temperature are at levels indicating that the engine is warm at engine starting time. However, the catalyst is below light off threshold 406. Current is supplied to glow plugs at a higher level in a push phase so as to quickly warm the glow plugs since the glow plugs may cool down faster than the engine while the engine is stopped. Between time T0 and time T1, the engine is cranked allowing the engine to run up to idle speed beginning at time T1. The engine torque is initially large since a higher level of engine torque may be required to accelerate the engine from stop. The combustion phase is shown being retarded as engine speed reaches idle speed at time T1 so that the catalyst may be quickly reheated. After the current push phase, the glow plug current is at a reduced but still relatively high so as to improve combustion stability while the catalyst temperature is increased via retarded combustion phasing. In particular, combustion phase is retarded after engine start in response to catalyst temperature. Thus, catalyst heating is increased via retarding combustion phasing. At time T2, the catalyst reaches desired catalyst temperature 404. The combustion phase is shown being gradually advanced with increasing catalyst temperature. Similarly, glow plug current is reduced to reduce glow plug temperature as combustion phase is advanced so as to lower glow plug temperature and power consumption. Engine temperature remains above temperature threshold 402 and DPF pressure differential is below pressure threshold 408 so that a DPF regeneration request is not generated by the controller. Between time T2 and time T3, engine speed and torque vary according to vehicle conditions including driver demand torque. Engine temperature remains above temperature threshold 402 and catalyst temperature remains above catalyst light off temperature 406. Engine torque and engine speed are reduced just before time T3; however, catalyst temperature remains above catalyst light off temperature. The DPF pressure differential gradually increases as the engine continues to operate and a small amount of current is shown flowing to the glow plug so that current inrush to the glow plug may be reduced when higher glow plug temperatures are requested. At time T3, the pressure differential across the DPF exceeds the pressure differential level 408 where it is desirable to regenerate the DPF. As a result, DPF regeneration is requested as indicated by the regeneration request signal transitioning to a high level. The glow plug current is increased along with the glow plug temperature in response to the pressure differential exceeding the level where it is desirable to regenerate the DPF. The combustion phase of the engine is retarded in response to the pressure differential exceeding the level where it is desirable to regenerate the DPF and in response to the glow plug temperature. In particular, when the glow plug temperature reaches a predetermined threshold level, the engine combustion phase is retarded. At time T4, the engine torque and engine speed are increased to a level where additional heat is provided to the exhaust. Further, the catalyst temperature exceeds the desired catalyst temperature where control actions are taken to engine operation to heat the catalyst. Therefore, engine combustion phasing is advanced and glow plug current and temperature are reduced. Further, in some examples current to the glow plug may be stopped during such conditions and a post injection during the exhaust stroke may be supplied to further heat the catalyst and DPF. Between time T4 and time T5, combusting phase and glow plug current are reduced and increased as the differential pressure across the DPF is reduced. In some examples, the combustion phase retard and glow plug current may be held constant except for adjustments for engine speed and load so that the same amount of additional heat flux is provided by the engine throughout the DPF regeneration. Near time T5, glow plug current is increased and combustion phase is further retarded to provide heat from the engine to the DPF to complete DPF regeneration. In one example, the glow plug current may be increased when the change in pressure across the DPF is reduced to a threshold level so as to complete regeneration of soot near the rear of the DPF. At time T5, the pressure differential across the DPF is reduced to a level less than a pressure differential where it is desirable to cease regeneration of the DPF. As a result, the regeneration request transitions to a low level and combustion phase is advanced to where combustion phase is responsive to engine speed and load without being responsive to catalyst temperature, DPF state, or engine temperature. Further, glow plug current is reduced to a low level where glow plug temperature is less than a threshold. In addition, glow plug power consumption is reduced to a level less than a threshold. In this way, combustion phasing and glow plug current control can be adjusted to lower engine feedgas hydrocarbon emissions, promote combustion stability, and regenerate a DPF. Similar, control actions may be taken when regeneration of a lean NOx trap (LNT) or reduction of urea deposits on a SCR is requested. For example, when regeneration of a LNT is requested, glow plug current is increased and combustion phasing is retarded in response to glow plug temperature. Referring now to FIGS. 5-11, a flowchart of a method for controlling a glow plug is shown. Method 500 is executable via instructions of a controller as shown in the system of FIGS. 1 and 2. Method 500 can provide the signals illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. At 502, method 500 determines engine operating conditions. Engine operating conditions may include but are not limited to engine temperature, catalyst temperature, engine speed, engine torque, operator torque demand, glow plug current, and ambient temperature and pressure. Method 500 proceeds to 503 after engine operating conditions are determined. At 503, method 500 judges whether or not the engine is being cold started. In one example, an engine cold start may be determined when an operator requests an engine start when engine temperature is less than a threshold temperature. Further, in some examples, a condition requiring a threshold amount of time between engine stop and engine start may be an additional condition for determining engine cold start. If the engine is being cold started, method 500 proceeds to 520. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 504. At 504, method 500 judges whether or not the engine is experiencing a warm start. In one example, a warm engine start may be determined when an operator or controller requests an engine start from stop when engine temperature is greater than a threshold temperature. In some examples, a condition requiring less than a threshold amount of time between engine stop and engine start may be an additional condition for determining engine warm start. If method 500 determines that a warm start is requested, method 500 proceeds to 540. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 505. At 505, method 500 judges whether or not regeneration of a DPF, LNT, SCR, HC trap or other emission control device is being requested. DPF regeneration may be requested when a pressure differential across a DPF is greater than a threshold level. LNT regeneration may be requested when efficiency of a LNT is less than a threshold level. Regeneration of other emissions devices may be requested by similar criteria. If method 500 judges that regeneration of an emission control device is being requested, method 500 proceeds to 550. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 506. At 506, method 500 judges whether or not a catalyst light out is present or anticipated. A catalyst light out may be determined when a catalyst temperature is less than a threshold temperature during engine operation after the catalyst has reached light off temperature at least once. The catalyst temperature may be measured or inferred. Further, a catalyst light out can be anticipated or predicted based on the present catalyst temperature and the present engine load. For example, if the catalyst temperature is less than a threshold, and if the engine speed and load are less than a threshold, it may be anticipated that a catalyst light out will occur in a predetermined amount of time if no mitigating actions are taken. If method 500 judges that catalyst light out is present, method 500 proceeds to 560. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 507. At 507, method 500 judges whether or not to adjust operation of a motor coupled to the engine. In one example, motor operation may be adjusted to increase negative torque provided by the motor to the engine when an operator torque request is less than a threshold level while a temperature of the glow plug is less than a threshold level. For example, negative motor torque may be provided during a period of time that it takes for a glow plug to transition from one temperature to a second higher temperature. Further, in some examples, engine torque output may be increased greater than operator desired torque during a time when a glow plug is heated from a first temperature to a second higher temperature so as to offset the negative torque increase of the motor. If engine operating conditions meet requirements for adjusting motor operation, method 500 proceeds to 570. Otherwise, if engine operating conditions do not meet requirements for adjusting motor operation or if no motor is present, method 500 proceeds to 508. At 508, method 500 judges whether or not the engine is operating at a low load level where it may be desirable to activate or increase current to a glow plug to reduce engine emissions and improve combustion stability. In one example, method 500 may judge that the engine is operating at a load where increased glow plug current is desired when the engine is operated at a load less than a threshold level. Engine load may be determined from cylinder air amount, engine torque, or from injected fuel amount. If method 500 determines that the engine is operating at a low load, method 500 proceeds to 580. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 509. At 509, method 500 deactivates glow plugs or reduces glow plug current to a low level. In one example, glow plug current is reduced to a level where glow plug power consumption is less than a threshold level. For example, the glow plugs may be operated at a current less than current supplied to the glow plug during engine cranking. In this way, glow plugs may continue to operate the entire time the engine is operated so that anytime a higher glow plug temperature is requested, current inrush to the glow plug may be reduced. In other words, glow plugs may be supplied current during all engine operations between engine stops. Thus, glow plug power consumption may be reduced when conditions at 503-508 are not present. Method 500 proceeds to 510 after glow plug power consumption is reduced. At 510, method 500 adjusts engine combustion phasing in response to engine speed and engine load. In other words, after the engine reaches a desired operating temperature, the engine is adjusted according to base combustion phasing timing that is responsive to engine speed, load, and engine temperature. In some examples, a table with empirically determined desired combustion phase timing is indexed via engine speed and load. Thus, combustion phase is advanced and retarded as engine speed and load change so that desired engine torque may be provided at lower emission levels. Combustion phase is adjusted at 510 without adjustments for regeneration of emissions devices, engine starting, hybrid motors, or low load conditions. Method 500 proceeds to exit after combustion phase is adjusted. Referring now to FIG. 6, at 520, method 500 adjusts engine operation for cold engine starting by adjusting glow plug current during a current push phase. During a push phase current supplied to a glow plug is increased to a level where the glow plug reaches a desired temperature in a short amount of time so that the driver does not have to wait for an extended period of time before starting the engine. Thus, during the current push phase, current is supplied to the glow plug at a rate that is higher than other instances when current is supplied to the glow plug. In some examples, the engine may be allowed to crank during the current push phase. In other examples, the cranking the engine during the current push phase may be inhibited so that the glow plug reaches a desired temperature before an air-fuel mixture is compressed and exhausted from an engine cylinder. In still other examples, the engine may be allowed to crank but fuel injection is inhibited until the glow plug reaches a desired temperature. Current supplied to the glow plug during the current push phase may follow a predetermined profile based on engine temperature. For example, current supplied to the glow plug may be adjusted based on time since current is supplied to the glow plug and engine or glow plug temperature. Current supplied to the glow plug during the push phase may also be adjusted in response to a fuel cetane number of the fuel being combusted by the engine. For example, additional current may be supplied to the glow plug to increase glow plug temperature when combusting fuels having lower cetane numbers. On the other hand, less current may be supplied to a glow plug when combusting fuels having higher cetane numbers. Method 500 proceeds to 521 after push phase current is adjusted. At 521, method 500 adjusts fuel timing. In one example, start of fuel injection as well as a number and duration of a plurality of fuel injections delivered to a cylinder during a single cycle of the cylinder may be adjusted to provide a desired engine torque and combustion phasing during engine cranking and run-up (e.g., the time between engine cranking and the time the engine reaches idle speed). In one example, combustion phasing is advanced during engine cranking and run-up. Fuel injection timing and fuel amount may be adjusted at predetermined times or engine positions during engine cranking and run-up. Method 500 proceeds to 522 after fuel timing is adjusted. At 522, method 500 judges whether or not the current push phase is complete. In one example, the current push phase may be determined complete after a predetermined amount of time. In other examples, the current push phase may be determined complete when the glow plug reaches a predetermined temperature. The glow plug temperature may be inferred or measured. If the current push phase is complete, method 500 proceeds to 523. Otherwise, method 500 returns to 520. At 523, method 500 retards combustion phasing from base combustion phase timing to a retarded or late timing. In one example, method 500 retards start of fuel injection timing for late phase combustion. Fuel injection start of injection timing can be retarded to shift combustion to late phase combustion. In one example, late phase combustion applies when peak cylinder mixture heat release occurs later than 5-20 crankshaft degrees after top dead center compression stroke of the cylinder, noting that base combustion phase varies with engine operating conditions. Combustion phase is initially retarded as a function of engine temperature and time since the engine was last stopped. Combustion phase may also be retarded in response to a cetane number of a fuel being combusted. For example, after the engine reaches idle speed, start of injection timing can be retarded further when fuels having a higher cetane number are combusted. Similarly, start of injection timing can be less retarded when fuels having lower cetane numbers are combusted. Combustion phasing may also be retarded via increasing EGR. Method 500 proceeds to 524 after fuel injection timing is adjusted to retard combustion phasing. At 524, method 500 adjusts glow plug current to promote stable combustion during retarded combustion phasing. In one example, after the current push phase is complete, current is supplied to the glow plug based on the amount of combustion retard from base combustion phasing timing (e.g., combustion timing based on engine speed, load, and engine temperature). In addition, current supplied to the glow plug is increased as combustion phase is retarded until a glow plug threshold temperature is reached. For example, for every crankshaft degree that combustion phase is retarded from base combustion phase timing, a predetermined amount of additional current is supplied to a glow plug to increase glow plug temperature until a threshold glow plug temperature is reached. In some examples, the combustion phasing may be advanced in response to glow plug temperature so that the glow plug is at a temperature where combustion stability is at a desired level when engine combustion phase is retarded. In this way, there may be a higher probability of operating the engine at a desired combustion stability level. Thus, at 523 and 524 initial glow plug current and combustion phasing are adjusted based on engine conditions shortly after engine start. Of course, glow plug current and combustion phase may be adjusted to different levels for different engine starting conditions. For example, combustion phase may be set to a first level of retard at a first engine temperature. Combustion phase may be set to a second level of retard at a second temperature, the second temperature higher than the first temperature the second level of retard greater than the first level of retard. Thus, additional heat flux is available at higher engine temperatures. At 525, method 500 judges whether or not a catalyst in an exhaust system of the engine is at a desired temperature. In one example, the desired temperature is a catalyst light off temperature (e.g., a temperature of the catalyst where the catalyst has a predetermined operating efficiency). In other examples, the desired catalyst temperature may be above a catalyst light off temperature. If method 500 judges that the catalyst is not at a desired catalyst temperature, method 500 proceeds to 526. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 529. At 526, method 500 judges whether or not engine temperature is increasing and/or if engine temperature has increased since the previous time method 500 was executed. If so, method 500 proceeds to 527. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 528. At 527, method 500 retards combustion phasing so as to increase heat flux from the engine to the catalyst. The engine may be able to tolerate additional combustion phase retard since engine temperature is increasing. In one example, method 500 retards start of fuel injection timing for late phase combustion. Combustion phasing may also be retarded via increasing EGR, if desired. Method 500 returns to 525 after fuel injection timing is adjusted to retard combustion phasing. At 528, method 500 holds combustion phasing at its present state so as to allow continued catalyst heating at the present engine temperature. However, combustion phase may be advanced at 528, 527, or 531 in response to an operator demand such as an increasing engine torque demand by the operator. In this way, engine torque may be increased to provide additional torque to the vehicle wheels. Method 500 returns to 525. Thus, method 500 can further increase combustion phase retard as engine temperature increases in order to shorten catalyst light off time as engine temperature increases. In this way, method 500 can focus on shortening catalyst light off time to reduce engine tailpipe emissions. At 529, method 500 judges whether or not the engine is at a desired temperature. In one example, the desired engine temperature is a warm stabilized operating temperature (e.g., 90° C.). Engine temperature may be an engine coolant temperature, cylinder head temperature, or another engine temperature. If method 500 judges that the engine is at a desired engine temperature, method 500 proceeds to 532. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 530. At 530, method 500 adjusts glow plug current in response to the present engine temperature. In particular, an amount of current is subtracted from the initial glow plug current at 524 as engine temperature increases from a temperature at engine start. Thus, at lower engine temperatures less current is subtracted from the initial current provided to the glow plug at 524. As engine temperature increases from the engine start, additional current is subtracted from the initial amount of current supplied to the glow plug. In one example, a low level of current may still be supplied to the glow plug when the engine reaches the desired engine temperature such that the glow plugs remain active during engine operation albeit at a lower temperature. Glow plug current may also be adjusted in response to a fuel cetane number at 530. For example, after the engine reaches idle speed after run up, an increased amount of current may be supplied to a glow plug to increase glow plug temperature when combusting fuels having lower cetane numbers. Similarly, less current may be supplied to a glow plug when combusting fuels having higher cetane numbers after engine idle speed is reached. In some examples, a fuel cetane number may be inferred based on engine operating conditions. Method 500 proceeds to 531 after glow plug current is adjusted. At 531, method 500 adjusts combustion phase in response to present engine temperature. Specifically, combustion phase is advanced as engine temperature increases after the catalyst has achieved a desired temperature. Combustion phase may be advanced via adjusting engine EGR amount, advancing start of fuel injection timing, and/or engine air temperature. For example, EGR amount can be decreased to advance combustion phase as engine temperature increases. Method 500 returns to 525 after combustion phase is adjusted. At 532, method 500 advances combustion phasing to base combustion phasing. By advancing combustion phasing the engine may be operated more efficiently as compared to when combustion phasing is retarded to heat the engine or catalyst. Combustion phase may be advanced via adjusting start of fuel injection timing, decreasing EGR, and/or increasing engine air charge temperature as previously described. Method 500 proceeds to 533 after combustion phase is advanced. At 533, method 500 reduces glow plug current. In particular, glow plug current can be set to zero or to a low amount where glow plug power consumption is less than a threshold amount. In other examples, glow plug current may be set to a current where glow plug temperature is less than a threshold amount when engine speed and load are greater than threshold engine speed and load levels. Method 500 proceeds to exit after glow plug current is reduced. Referring now to FIG. 7, at 540, method 500 adjusts engine operation for warm engine starting by adjusting glow plug current during a current push phase. During a warm engine start, the current supplied to a glow plug in a push phase may be equivalent, greater than, or less than an amount of current provided to the glow plug during a cold engine start. In some examples, current supplied in the push phase may be greater than the current supplied during a current push phase of a cold engine start because the glow plug may have a higher initial temperature so as to reduce thermal stress created by supplying current to the glow plug. In some examples, push current may be eliminated and only a lower glow current (e.g., current that is less than a current that provides glow plug temperature less than glow plug rated temperature) may be provided. The current supplied to the glow plug during a warm engine start may be a function of time since engine stop and glow plug and/or engine temperature. Method 500 proceeds to 541 after push phase current is adjusted. At 541, method 500 adjusts fuel timing. In one example, start of fuel injection as well as a number and duration of a plurality of fuel injections delivered to a cylinder during a single cycle of the cylinder may be adjusted to provide a desired engine torque and combustion phasing during engine cranking and run-up (e.g., the time between engine cranking and the time the engine reaches idle speed). Method 500 proceeds to 542 after fuel timing is adjusted. At 542, method 500 judges whether or not the current push phase is complete. In one example, the current push phase may be determined complete after a predetermined amount of time. In other examples, the current push phase may be determined complete when the glow plug reaches a predetermined temperature. Engine cranking may be permitted during or after the push phase is complete. If the current push phase is complete, method 500 proceeds to 543. Otherwise, method 500 returns to 540. At 543, method 500 retards combustion phase from base combustion phase timing to late timing. Combustion phase is retarded after the engine runs up to idle speed. In one example, start of fuel injection timing is retarded for late phase combustion. In other examples, combustion phase can be retarded by retarding start of injection timing, increasing EGR, and/or decreasing engine inlet air temperature. Combustion phase is initially retarded as a function of catalyst temperature and time since the engine was last stopped. Combustion phase may also be adjusted in response to a cetane number of a fuel being combusted during the warm engine start. For example, after the engine reaches idle speed, start of injection timing can be retarded further when fuels having a higher cetane number are combusted. Similarly, start of injection timing can be less retarded when fuels having lower cetane numbers are combusted. Method 500 proceeds to 544 after fuel injection timing is adjusted to retard combustion phasing. At 544, method 500 adjusts glow plug current to promote stable combustion during retarded combustion phasing. In one example, after the current push phase is complete, current supplied to the glow plug is based on the amount of combustion retard from desired base combustion phasing (e.g., combustion timing based on engine speed, load, and engine temperature), and the combustion phase retard may be further based on catalyst temperature at time of engine start. Further, current supplied to the glow plug is increased as combustion phase is retarded from base combustion phase timing at least until a glow plug threshold temperature is reached. For example, if it is determined that it is desirable to retard combustion phase five crankshaft degrees from base combustion phase timing in response to catalyst temperature, glow plug current is increased such that the glow plug reaches a temperature where combustion stability reaches a threshold level. The current may be maintained at a level where a desired glow plug temperature is reached so that the stable combustion is provided. As the catalyst temperature increases, the combustion phasing can be advanced and the glow plug current can be reduced because the catalyst can process some hydrocarbons. At 545, method 500 judges whether or not a catalyst in an exhaust system of the engine is at a desired temperature. In one example, the desired temperature is a catalyst light off temperature (e.g., a temperature of the catalyst where the catalyst has a predetermined operating efficiency). In other examples, the desired catalyst temperature may be above a catalyst light off temperature (e.g., the temperature represented by horizontal line 304). If method judges that the catalyst is at a desired catalyst temperature, method 500 proceeds to 546. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 548. At 548, method 500 adjusts glow plug current in response to the present catalyst temperature. In particular, an amount of current is subtracted from the initial glow plug current at 544 as catalyst temperature increases from a temperature at engine start until desired catalyst temperature is reached. Thus, when the engine is restarted warm and the catalyst temperature is lower, less current is subtracted from the initial current provided to the glow plug at 544. As catalyst temperature increases from the engine start, additional current is subtracted from the initial amount of current supplied to the glow plug. In one example, a small amount of current may still be supplied to the glow plug when the catalyst reaches the desired catalyst temperature. Alternatively, glow plug current may be held constant so that combustion phase can be retarded further as engine temperature increases until the catalyst reaches light off temperature. Method 500 proceeds to 549 after glow plug current is adjusted. At 549, method 500 retards combustion phase in response to increasing engine temperature. In particular, combustion phase is retarded as engine temperature increases from the engine temperature at time of engine start until the engine reaches operating temperature. Combustion phase may be retarded via adjusting start of injection timing or increasing engine EGR amount. Method 500 returns to 545 after combustion phase is adjusted. In this way, method 500 adjusts glow plug current and temperature as well as combustion phase during a warm engine start in response to catalyst temperature without adjusting for engine temperature since engine temperature is above a desired engine temperature. At 546, method 500 advances combustion phasing to base combustion phasing. By advancing combustion phasing the engine may be operated more efficiently as compared to when combustion phasing is retarded to heat the engine or catalyst. Combustion phase may be advanced via adjusting start of fuel injection timing, decreasing EGR, and/or increasing engine air charge temperature as previously described. Method 500 proceeds to 547 after combustion phase is advanced. At 547, method 500 reduces glow plug current. In particular, glow plug current can be set to zero or to a low amount where glow plug power consumption is less than a threshold amount. In other examples, glow plug current may be set to a current where glow plug temperature is less than a threshold amount when engine speed and load are greater than threshold engine speed and load levels so as to limit glow plug temperature. Method 500 proceeds to exit after glow plug current is reduced. Referring now to FIG. 8, at 550, method 500 begins to adjust engine operation for regeneration of an engine exhaust after treatment emissions device (e.g., DPF or LNT). In particular, method 500 begins to gradually ramp or step current up glow plug current without adjusting combustion phasing timing. For example, glow plug current can be increased in a series of incremental steps or continuously increased until a desired glow plug current is reached. The glow plug current is increased before the engine combustion phase is adjusted so that the heating time constant (e.g., the time that it takes for a glow plug to heat to a predetermined percentage of a desired glow plug temperature when current is applied to the glow plug) of the glow plug is taken into account during regeneration of an exhaust emissions control device. Method 500 proceeds to 551 after glow plug current is adjusted. At 551, method 500 judges whether or not the glow plug is at a desired temperature. The temperature of a glow plug may be measured via a temperature sensor or estimated via a model or based on time since current is supplied to the glow plug. If method 500 judges that the glow plug is not at a desired temperature, method 500 returns to 550. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 552. At 552, method 500 adjusts the combustion phase of the engine and begins post combustion injection (e.g., injection during the exhaust stroke of the cylinder). In particular, the combustion phase is retarded from base combustion timing. In one example, method 500 retards combustion phase timing via retarding start of fuel injection timing or increasing EGR. Further, in one example, combustion phasing is retarded based on a pressure differential across the emissions control device. For example, combustion phase may be adjusted to an initial level based on the pressure differential across an emissions control device and then retarded further as the pressure differential across the emissions control device is reduced until the emissions control device is regenerated at which time combustion phase is returned to base combustion phase timing. In addition, increased retarding of combustion phase after a portion of the emissions control device is regenerated may increase a temperature of the emissions control device so that particulate matter or an amount of matter (e.g., SO2) held at a furthest downstream end of the emissions device or a downstream emissions device is reduced without the emissions control device reaching an undesirable temperature. Method 500 proceeds to 553 after engine combustion phase is adjusted. At 553, method 500 judges whether or not a catalyst located upstream of the emissions control device to be regenerated in a direction of exhaust flow through the exhaust system is at or above a desired temperature. In one example, the desired catalyst temperature is a catalyst light off temperature. If method 500 judges the catalyst temperature to be at or above the desired temperature, method 500 proceeds to 554. Otherwise, method 500 returns to 552. At 554, method 500 reduces glow plug current since the catalyst can convert hydrocarbons that may be produced by the engine after catalyst light off. In particular, glow plug current is reduced based on catalyst temperature. For example, glow plug current may be decreased a predetermined amount for every 20° C. increase in catalyst temperature. In some examples, glow plug current may be subsequently raised after a predetermined amount of the emission control device has been regenerated so that engine heat may facilitate regeneration of a remaining portion of the emissions control device. Method 500 proceeds to 555 after the glow plug current is reduced after catalyst light off. At 555, method 500 judges whether or not the DPF, LNT, SCR, HC trap or other emission device is regenerated. In one example, a DPF may be determined to be regenerated when a pressure differential across the DPF is less than a threshold pressure. In another example, a LNT may be determined to be regenerated when a conversion efficiency of the LNT is greater than a threshold level. Other emissions devices may be judged to be regenerated in a similar manner. If it is judged that the exhaust after treatment emissions device is regenerated, method 500 proceeds to 556. Otherwise, method 500 returns to 557. At 556, method 500 advances combustion phasing to base combustion phase timing. In one example, combustion phase may be advanced over a predetermined number of cylinder cycles so as to provide a smooth torque transition. In other examples, combustion phase may be advanced over a predetermined amount of time since the exhaust after treatment emissions device is determined to be regenerated. Method 500 proceeds to 557 after combustion phase is advanced. At 557, method 500 reduces glow plug current in response to regeneration of the exhaust after treatment emissions device. In one example, glow plug current may be reduced based on a number of cylinder events (e.g., combustion events or intake events) since exhaust after treatment device regeneration. In this way, glow plug current can be adjusted responsive to cylinder events so as to better match glow plug temperature to engine cylinder operating conditions. In other examples, glow plug current may be reduced based on time since exhaust after treatment device regeneration. Glow plug current flow may be stopped or reduced to where glow plug power consumption is less than a threshold level. Method 500 proceeds to exit after glow plug current is adjusted. Referring now to FIG. 9, at 560, method 500 begins to adjust engine operation for conditions where a catalyst light out is present or anticipated (e.g., where catalyst temperature is reduced to a temperature less than catalyst light off temperature during engine operation). In particular, a glow plug is activated by supplying current to the glow plug in response to catalyst temperature falling below light off temperature after reaching and/or exceeding catalyst light off temperature during a period of time the engine is continuously combusting air-fuel mixtures. Method 500 proceeds to 561 after glow plugs are activated. At 561, method 500 increases glow plug current so that combustion timing of the engine can be retarded. In one example, the glow plug current is increased based on an amount of time that it is desirable to return the catalyst to catalyst light off temperature or greater. For example, if it is desirable to return the catalyst above light off temperature in one minute, engine combustion phase can be retarded an empirically determined amount based on time to return the catalyst above light off temperature in one minute (e.g., ten crankshaft degrees) at the retarded combustion phase, and glow plug current is increased to a level that supports a desired level of combustion stability at the retarded engine combustion phase. Method 500 proceeds to 562 after glow plug current is increased. At 562, method 500 retards combustion phasing to late timing as compared to base combustion phase timing. In one example, combustion phase is adjusted based on an amount of time it is desirable for the catalyst to reach light off temperature or greater. In one example, an amount of empirically determined combustion phase retard to return a catalyst to light off temperature is indexed via a desired amount of time to return the catalyst to light off temperature or greater. In other examples, combustion phase retard is based on a temperature difference between the catalyst and catalyst light off temperature. Further, retarding of combustion phase can be based on glow plug temperature. In other words, combustion phasing is retarded at a rate that is related to or based on the temperature of the glow plug. As the glow plug temperature increases, combustion phase can be further retarded up to a threshold amount. Method 500 proceeds to 563 after retarding combustion phase. At 563, method 500 judges whether or not catalyst temperature is at or above a desired temperature. In one example, the desired catalyst temperature is catalyst light off temperature. In other examples, the desired catalyst temperature is greater than the catalyst light off temperature. Method 500 proceeds to 564 when catalyst temperature is at or above the desire temperature. Otherwise, method 500 returns to 560. At 564, method 500 deactivates a glow plug by stopping current flow or reducing current flow to the glow plug to a level where glow plug power consumption is less than a threshold level. Thus, power consumption of the glow plug can be reduced after the catalyst temperature is increased. Method 500 proceeds to 565 after glow plug current is adjusted. At 565, method 500 advances combustion phase timing. Method 500 advances combustion phase timing by advancing start of fuel injection timing, decreasing EGR amount, and/or increasing engine inlet air temperature. Method 500 proceeds to exit after combustion phase timing is advanced. Referring now to FIG. 10, at 570, method 500 judges whether or not low engine load is anticipated during vehicle operation. In one example, low engine load can be anticipated based on driver torque demand. For example, an engine may be operating at a medium to high load when the operator reduces the engine torque demand. It can take an engine a finite amount of time for the engine to respond to the operator torque demand. As such, a difference between actual or estimated engine torque and operator torque demand can be the basis of determining that engine load may shortly reach a low load operating state where combustion stability may degrade. For example, if engine torque is greater than operator demand torque by more than a threshold amount of torque, method 500 may anticipate that the engine may eventually enter low load conditions. If method 500 judges low engine load is anticipated, method 500 proceeds to 571. Otherwise, method 500 returns to 508. At 571, method 500 increases glow plug current to increase glow plug temperature in anticipation of the engine operating at a low load. Glow plug current is increased to compensate for the engine operating at a low loads where combustion stability may degrade and hydrocarbons may increase. However, the glow plug has a heating time constant such that the glow plug may not reach a desired temperature to promote combustion stability for a predetermined amount of time after current is applied to the glow plug. Thus, it may be desirable to operate the engine at a higher load until the glow plug reaches a temperature that promotes a desired level of combustion stability at low engine load. The glow plug temperature increases after current is supplied to the glow plug. Method 500 proceeds to 572 after glow plug current is increased. At 572, negative torque output of a motor coupled to the engine is increased. Further, the speed of the engine is also controlled so that the engine does not stop or decrease to a speed where undesirable vibration occurs. The engine torque is increased to a level where the net torque from the engine and the motor provide the driver demand torque to the vehicle driveline even though the engine torque is greater than the driver demand torque. In this way, the engine torque or load is increased to a level where the engine operates with a desired level of combustion stability while the glow plug heats up to a desired temperature. By increasing motor negative torque, battery recharging can be increased. Method 500 proceeds to 573 after motor negative torque is increased and after engine torque is held at a level where a desired level of combustion stability is provided. At 573, method 500 judges whether or not glow plug temperature is at a desired temperature. In one example, the desired temperature is an empirically determined temperature where combustion stability at low load is greater than a threshold level. If so, method 500 proceeds to 574. Otherwise, method 500 returns to 573. At 574, method 500 judges whether or not a catalyst in the engine exhaust system is at a desired temperature. In one example, the desired catalyst temperature is a temperature a catalyst light off temperature. In other examples, the desired catalyst temperature may be greater than the catalyst light off temperature. If the catalyst is at the desired temperature, method 500 proceeds to 576. Otherwise, method 500 proceeds to 575. At 575, method 500 retards combustion phase timing from base combustion phase timing so as to increase catalyst temperature to a desired temperature. Combustion phase timing can be retarded by retarding start of fuel injection timing, increasing engine EGR, and decreasing intake air temperature. In one example, combustion phase retard amount may be based on a temperature difference between desired and actual catalyst temperatures. For example, if catalyst temperature is 200° C. less than desired catalyst temperature, combustion phase may be retarded a predetermined number of crankshaft degrees. However, of catalyst temperature is 20° C. less than desired catalyst temperature; combustion phase may be retarded less than the predetermined number of crankshaft degrees from base combustion phase timing. Method 500 returns to 574 after combustion phase is adjusted. At 576, method 500 reduces motor negative torque and advances combustion phase to a base combustion phase timing. The engine speed controller correspondingly reduces engine torque since less engine torque is required to operate the engine at a desired speed when negative motor torque is reduced. Thus, the engine load is reduced so that the engine may transition to the torque requested by the operator. In this way, the engine may be operated at a higher load than is requested by the vehicle operator until the glow plug is at a temperature where combustion stability is at a desired level. This mode of operation may be particularly desirable when the engine may be operating at a temperature lower than a desired engine temperature. Method 500 returns to 508 after motor negative torque is reduced. Referring now to FIG. 11, at 580 method 500 activates the glow plug if the glow plug is inactive or increases glow plug heat output via increasing glow plug current as compared to when the engine is warm and not operating at low load or idle conditions. Method 500 proceeds to 581 after the glow plug output is increased. At 581, method 500 advances combustion phase to early where the engine may provide torque more efficiently. Since engine load is low at 581, engine NOx is expected to be low. Method 500 proceeds to exit after combustion phase is advanced. Note that when the engine leaves low load or idle conditions, the glow plug output can be degreased or stopped via reducing glow plug current. Thus, the method of FIGS. 5-11 provides for performing combustion in a cylinder of an engine; and retarding combustion phasing in the cylinder and increasing current supplied to a glow plug in the cylinder in response to a temperature of a catalyst and a temperature of the engine. In this way, engine emissions and combustion stability may be improved. The engine operating method further comprises retarding combustion phasing in the cylinder and increasing current to the glow plug in response to a request to regenerate an emissions control device in an exhaust system coupled to the engine. The engine operating method also includes where the temperature of the engine is indicative of a warm engine operating temperature (e.g., nominal operating temperature of 90° C.). In some examples, the engine operating method includes where the temperature of the catalyst is less than a catalyst light off temperature. The engine operating method further comprises advancing combustion phasing of the cylinder and reducing current supplied to the glow plug when the catalyst reaches a threshold temperature. The engine operating method further comprises retarding combustion phasing of the cylinder and increasing current supplied to the glow plug when a load level of the cylinder is less than a threshold load level. In other examples, the engine operating method further comprises anticipating a catalyst light out via engine control parameters (e.g., present catalyst temperature, time in present mode, and engine exhaust gas temperature) and retarding combustion phasing in the cylinder and increasing current supplied to a glow plug in the cylinder in response to the catalyst light out. The method of FIGS. 5-11 also provides for performing combustion in a cylinder of an engine; retarding combustion phasing of the cylinder and increasing current supplied to a glow plug in the cylinder in response to a temperature of a catalyst and a temperature of the engine; and increasing glow plug current and retarding combustion phasing of the cylinder in response to an operating condition of a degraded condition of an emissions control device. The engine operating method includes where the degraded condition of the emissions control device is a differential pressure greater than a threshold level. The engine operating method also includes where the degraded condition of the emissions control device is an efficiency of the emissions control device less than a threshold level due to degradation of the emissions control device including a light out condition. In one example, the engine operating method further comprises advancing combustion phasing of the cylinder and decreasing glow plug current in response to the an operating condition of the emissions control device. The engine operating method further comprises increasing combustion phase retard after a portion of the emissions control device is regenerated. In this way, regeneration of the remainder of the emissions device can be facilitated. The engine operating method further comprises advancing combustion phasing to base combustion phase timing after the emissions control device is regenerated. The engine operating method further comprises continuing to supply current to the glow plug after the emissions control device is regenerated to reduce current inrush during a subsequent increase in glow plug current. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the method described in FIGS. 5-11 may represent one or more of any number of processing strategies such as event-driven, interrupt-driven, multi-tasking, multi-threading, and the like. As such, various steps or functions illustrated may be performed in the sequence illustrated, in parallel, or in some cases omitted. Likewise, the order of processing is not necessarily required to achieve the objects, features, and advantages described herein, but is provided for ease of illustration and description. Although not explicitly illustrated, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that one or more of the illustrated steps, methods, or functions may be repeatedly performed depending on the particular strategy being used. a controller including instructions to identify a catalyst light out and retard combustion phasing in the combustion chamber and increasing current supplied to a glow plug in the combustion chamber in response to the catalyst light out after the engine has reached a temperature indicative of warm engine operating conditions. 2. The engine system of claim 1, further comprising continuously supplying a current to the glow plug throughout a time when the engine is operating, the system further comprising an electric motor/battery system coupled to the engine, the system in a hybrid vehicle. 3. The engine system of claim 1, further comprising additional controller instructions for increasing a negative torque supplied to the engine via a motor in response to a request to increase a temperature of the glow plug. 4. The engine system of claim 1, further comprising additional controller instructions for retarding combustion phasing of the combustion chamber and increasing current supplied to the glow plug in response to a request to regenerate an emissions control device in an exhaust system that is coupled to the engine. 5. The engine system of claim 4, further comprising additional controller instructions for gradually ramping glow plug temperature in response to the request to regenerate the emissions control device. 6. The engine system of claim 5, further comprising additional controller instructions for advancing combustion phasing of the combustion chamber in response to a level of regeneration of the emissions control device, and where the emissions control device is a DPF or LNT. increasing glow plug current and retarding combustion phasing of the cylinder in response to an operating condition of a degraded condition of an emissions control device. 8. The engine operating method of claim 7, where the degraded condition of the emissions control device is a differential pressure greater than a threshold level. 9. The engine operating method of claim 7, where the degraded condition of the emissions control device is an efficiency of the emissions control device less than a threshold level due to degradation of the emissions control device. 10. The engine operating method of claim 7, further comprising advancing combustion phasing of the cylinder and decreasing glow plug current in response to an operating condition of the emissions control device. 11. The engine operating method of claim 7, further comprising increasing combustion phase retard after a portion of the emissions control device is regenerated. 12. The engine operating method of claim 11, further comprising advancing combustion phasing to base combustion phase timing after the emissions control device is regenerated. 13. The engine operating method of claim 12, further comprising continuing to supply current to the glow plug after the emissions control device is regenerated. increasing a negative torque supplied to the engine via a motor in response to a request to increase glow plug temperature. 15. The engine operating method of claim 14, further comprising spinning a turbine with cylinder exhaust gasses to drive a compressor to compress intake air; and retarding combustion phasing in the cylinder and increasing current to the glow plug in response to a request to regenerate an emissions control device in an exhaust system coupled to the engine. 16. The engine operating method of claim 14, where the temperature of the engine is indicative of a warm engine operating temperature, wherein the engine is coupled to the motor in a hybrid vehicle. 17. The engine operating method of claim 16, where the temperature of the catalyst is less than a catalyst light off temperature. 18. The engine operating method of claim 14, further comprising advancing combustion phasing of the cylinder and reducing current supplied to the glow plug when the catalyst reaches a threshold temperature. 19. The engine operating method of claim 14, further comprising retarding combustion phasing of the cylinder and increasing current supplied to the glow plug when a load level of the cylinder is less than a threshold load level. 20. The engine operating method of claim 14, further comprising anticipating or identifying a catalyst light out and retarding combustion phasing in the cylinder and increasing current supplied to the glow plug in the cylinder in response to the catalyst light out. Kurtz, Eric, et al., "Glow Plug Heater Control", U.S. Appl. No. 13/270,939, filed Oct. 11, 2011, 60 pgs.

2019-04-22T23:24:33Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US8550060B2/en

The initial ingredient is a person (person A), willing to buy a car with the help of $3.5k cash-for-clunker money in the absence of said clunker. First, locate a person (B) who owns a qualifying “clunker”, i.e., not-so-good gas mileage and has owned it for two years. Offer that person an exchange/upgrade car + $1000, which of might be used toward the purchase of said “upgraded” clunker. That same said person is “lent” the money is then (on the books at least) used purchase the new car that the person A wants and is purchasing. Person B then “sells” car A (for a song and as agreed) to person A. Person A drives off with his car, which cost $3.5k less than negotiated originally. Person B drives off with a “new” used car. His original “clunker” is then turned to sand. The car dealer makes his commission on two cars (one used and one new). If you don’t think this occurred with some frequency over the summer, you haven’t noticed that this is America … the land ruled by enterprising hucksters. The $1k/$3.5k split of course is illustrative and would vary in proportion as the market dictated. I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to defend this practice … or suggest how/why it is not possible given the current law. While it certainly violates the spirit of the law, I’m pretty sure a half-way competent lawyer could see a way to making it fit the letter of the law. Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier’s trade—that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs—I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen. This is the problem with the clunker. The taxed money which will be extracted from the public will not be able to be used for the various purposes to which they would have used those monies for, instead it is taken and used in this way. Very often that same said clunker gets just a few mpg more than the car it replaced, which then is scrapped … and the energy costs of production will take many years to recoup … so the net energy/pollution equation is likely for almost a decade … a loss in many if not most cases. Furthermore today, in the wake of cash-for-clunkers, we hear that the used car market is not difficult right now. The price of used cars is up and the availability of cars is down. There are few cars available … due to so many having been having silicate added to their engines. One might ask which whether the used car vs new car consumer is better or worse off financially relatively speaking in order to review who has been helped and who has been harmed by this policy. The spirit of the law is to take a clunker off the road and put a 22+mpg new car in its place. If I follow your hypothetical exchange correctly this seems to take place. Person B will end up buying a clunker at the end of the day to replace the one he gave up but since there are fewer 18mpg- clunkers in the market he will have fewer options. At the end of the day one clunker is destroyed and one new car is sold. I think the only hitch in your plan is that the individual doesn’t get $4500 to split, the $4500 comes off the selling price of the new car. Person A must put up $1,000 cash for person B, he cannot tap cash from the program. Although it does illustrate why the program was good as a temporary boost for car sales but shouldn’t be kept around. Leave something like this around long enough and people start gaming it…even though the particular game you suggest doesn’t seem very harmful I suppose other games will be more harmful. The issue that you miss with the stimulus and multipliers is not destruction of capital but untilized capital. Everyone is shoeless because they have no money to buy shoes. They stand outside the shoe factory but it is not hiring because no one is buying shoes. So a bunch of barefoot unemployed shoeworkers stare a perfectly good shoe factory that is rusting away. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the obvious answer is if the shoe factory makes shoes people won’t be barefoot. Nothing is gained by people standing around barefoot for an extra year, two, three etc. waiting for the recession to grind its way to a natural end. A stimulus taps the unused capital (in this case unemployed shoe workers and shoe factories) which generates income which then generates more income (hence the multiplier). This doesn’t work outside a recession because if the economy is ‘normal’ there are no unemployed workers or factories (only unemployed factors that are ‘adjusting’ to the market). In that case a stimulus would be counterproductive in that it would have to force down one productive element (say taco factories) to boost another one (shoe factories). Incorrect, he can “put up the $1k” from the discount on the car for Person A. And it’s interesting that you assume this didn’t happen. Why? Here’s the problem with your broken window parable, the broken window is the intentional destruction of useful capital. Like a car? Oh, wait, one of those is destroyed in $fC. I’m not sure how he can put up the $1K from the discount on the new car, unless he plans to sell the car at full value to turn the discount into a profit…it’s not a huge deal if the person had $1K in cash to begin with that he was willing to put as a down payment anyway…. I think the larger problem is the search costs and the risk that person B may decide to keep the new car after all leaving A with having to mount a legal battle to get his money back. This is starting to look like that Seinfeld episode where they get a ride to Maine and decide to try to ‘profit’ by capturing that states $0.10 bottle recycling bounty versus NYC’s $0.05. By definition person B’s clunker has to be worth no more than $1,000. If it was worth more, person B would demand either a bigger cut of the discount from A or he would simply sell the car himself. So this clunker has to be worth $1,000 or less. So in terms of capital destruction here your gaming case is actually better than average. With no games we know used cars worth as much as $4500 can get destroyed. Your case there’s a ceiling. As I pointed out the destruction of the used cars is not stimulus but environmental/oil independence policy to get ‘clunkers’ out of the fleet. Look at an alternative program. First time home buyers get a tax credit of $8000 for buying a home this year. Note no destruction of existing homes is required. Person A doesn’t get to back out of the deal because the transaction of buying and selling the new car to person A and the car to person B is done by the dealer. I don’t see how the value of the clunker has any bearing on the matter. Seller B gets to either trade his car in for an equivalent car (or use the $1k to get an upgraded vehicle). The only way person B can sell the car himself to get the $4.5k cash back deal is if he can afford the about 20-30k for a new car. This deal gets person B a better used car and possibly some cash as well for no money and person A gets a few thousand off on a new car. Of course in the gaming case … because person A doesn’t have to be involved … there just has to be a sale of a new car by someone not engaging in cash/clunkers. Then with some creative accounting and a seller B the dealership can apply for the $4.5k government largesse. Cash for clunkers was always also a stimulus for Detroit. The other part of htis policy is a gift horse for the upper middle classes at the expense of the poor. And the environment is a wash … the destruction of the car its disposal + the environmental impact of a new car will take a long long time for the marginal oil + pollution to match. The disposal of the old car has to happen eventually no matter what so the environment is not a wash (I think you are overestimating how much energy it takes to dispose of a car, though). The difference then is what would have been consumed by the destroyed car minus the consumption of the newer, more efficient, car. Seller B doesn’t get money for nothing, he has to give up his car. Hence the value of the clunker does matter. If the clunker is worth $5000 he would be better off selling it himself. If it was worth $3,000 he wouldn’t do the deal with A for just getting $1,000. You also forget A has loaned B enough to buy the new car with the discount. The dealer cannot force B to sign over the car to A even if B does owe A the money. A suffers from the risk that B will stiff him and the cost of the lawyers to resolve it will kill his savings. Another more complicated issue is that cars have a wide spread between bid and ask prices. In other words if you’re driving a clunker that is ‘worth’ $1000 it probably requires $1500 to replace that clunker with something equivalent. With cars there’s the problem of lemons in the market. As a result it’s not so easy to just buy and sell cars for a profit as if they were stock. So for this complicated deal to make sense for B, he has to get more for giving up his car than simply the value he would get if he simply sold it himself. This means either the car is worth less than $1,000 or B is going to pass on more to him than $1,000. Either way we either have really cheap clunker here or A is going to let even more of his savings get squeezed. I noticed you didn’t comment on my other point. Even if this game works it essentially serves the spirit of the law. A clunker is taken off the road and a new car is sold. That this game only seems to work when the clunker is very low in value actually seems better. As I said this was taken care of in the fact that the “loan/sell” process was not done explicitly by B but in the paperwork of the dealer. But I see your point on the value of the clunker … I was thinking of the clunker sale as a trade in, which it is not, because the clunker is being converted to 0 value … and not a normal trade in. That’s right. This is only going to be attractive for someone with a real clunker. If he has a $5k car however, he can’t afford a new car because with $fC he cannot get any trade in value … so the problem of a higher value trade in is present for all clunkers. That is the cash for clunkers deal is only interested in all cases for cars that have essentially zero trade in value. The disposal of the old car has to happen eventually no matter what so the environment is not a wash (I think you are overestimating how much energy it takes to dispose of a car, though). Uhm, I wasn’t thinking so much of the energy that would be saved but the pollution factor involved in the disposal. I suspect the law requires the dealer to register and title the new car in the name of B since B is getting the $4500 voucher. To do that B is also going to need to put insurance on the car (which may add yet another expense). The moment that happens I don’t think the dealer can legally stop B from driving out of the showroom with his new car. This leads to problem #2, how is A paying for this car? It isn’t through a bank loan since the bank is going to demand a clear and unquestioned title to the car. A is going to have to be able to fund the entire purchase through cash which is yet another factor making this game a bit harder to pull off than appears at first sight. That is the cash for clunkers deal is only interested in all cases for cars that have essentially zero trade in value. Well trade in value of less than $4500. If you have the $1K car it makes sense to score $4500 for it via clunkers than simply $1K through a trade in. Of course I wouldn’t trust what dealers say is a ‘trade in value’. I can see dealers offering more than a car is worth in a trade in just to make the sale… In other words without the program, a dealer might offer you $5K on your used clunker. In reality the car is only worth $3K to him but he is adding another $2K to help make the sale. Psychologically he figures you are more happy to hear you’re getting an extra $2K for your old car rather than him saying he will just take $2K off the price. With clunkers he may give you the $4500 program AND take $2K off the price (since the $4500 is coming from the gov’t) giving you $6500 in savings rather than just $5,000. To do that B is also going to need to put insurance on the car (which may add yet another expense). The moment that happens I don’t think the dealer can legally stop B from driving out of the showroom with his new car. It is unclear why B ever is told of the existence/identity of buyer A or what car he is buying by the dealer. What would motivate the dealer to do that? This leads to problem #2, how is A paying for this car? It isn’t through a bank loan since the bank is going to demand a clear and unquestioned title to the car. Many people finance their car (initially) via the dealers bank. In which case the title problems can be hidden and I suspect that can be dealt with in either case. You’re still not dealing with the broken windows/hidden costs problem. You are pushing more cars into graveyard/disposal prematurely. You are trying to deny that pushing more cars through the pipeline has environmental costs. That’s pure nonsense and you know it. I can see dealers offering more than a car is worth in a trade in just to make the sale… In other words without the program, a dealer might offer you $5K on your used clunker. The exercise above is to connect clunker owners who can’t afford a new car (which is a large subset of “clunker” owners I suspect) with those people who can afford new cars (and the subset of those who don’t own a clunker). OK maybe I’m getting this wrong…. A wants to buy the new car but doesn’t have a clunker. B has a clunker but can’t or doesn’t want to buy a new car….. Now if that was all there was to it, B could sell his clunker to A and A could turn it in for $4500. But the program requires the buyer to have had the clunker registered and insured for at least a year before buying the new car (this is to prevent people from buying $50 junk cars from the scrap yard and towing them into the new car dealership for $4500). So your prosposal, if I follow correctly, is A could lend his money to B to buy a new car. B could then turn around and give A the new car to pay off that debt. For his trouble, B gets a portion of the $4500 discount as cash (say $1,000) to compensate him for his clunker. The problem here is that how is the dealer going to title and register a car in B’s name without his signature? True the dealer can front the money here but you have the same title issue. Auto financial institutions like GMAC sell their loans to Wall Street. In order to sell their packaged loans they need to meet certain standard criteria like all auto loans are backed up with a clear title lean (just like packaged mortgage loans, not matter how complicated their trenches, must at the end of the day lead back to a clear title of an existing house). If the dealer is using his own cash but what he is doing is loaning B money to buy a new car. If B’s a bad credit risk what recourse does the dealer have in going after A? It seems like the dealer is going to demand a piece of this action too….so now you are giving B $1,000 and the dealer is getting $1,000…….A is losing a huge portion of that $4500 voucher/discount/incentive. Now we are really getting somewhere. What this is about is externalities. The premise is that there is a cost to burning gas that is not captured in the price you pay at the pump. This cost is the environmental cost and the national security cost (I think the former is more important than the latter but leave that aside for now). Now imagine we had a team of very smart economists tell us that this cost is exactly $0.50 a gallon and this calculation is 100% accurate. Imagine this was immediately enacted as a gas tax (or a cap-n-trade system that resulted in the same thing). Well what would happen is that clunkers will loose some of their value. Why? Because the cost of operating them has gone up. Some clunkers that were worth $1,000 or $1,500 are now in the red. They will be disposed of. Of course this goes in the opposite direction too. If the gov’t subsidizes the price of gas clunkers will be valuable longer. Countries that set price caps on gas (say Iran) or who subsidize the domestic gas price (Saudi Arabia) will see clunkers kept in service longer. Now we don’t have a team of very smart economists who can calculate the externality costs of burning gas without debate and as I pointed out people like you won’t let us do a more simple policy of a gas tax or cap-n-trade. So some cars will be pushed into the graveyard ‘prematurely’ but only because there’s an artificial subsidy on those cars because the true cost of operating them is not built into the market. 1. Any car worth more than $4500 won’t be destroyed since it is more valuable to sell it. So the most that can be wasted is $4500 a car. In reality a car that’s worth close to $4500 is less likely to be turned in as part of the program since the owner is more likely to think *maybe* he can sell it for more than $4500 (there’s uncertainity in regards to the value of cars). So most clunks turned in are likely to be in the lower bounds of $0-$4500 rather than the upper. 2. The engine is destroyed, so clunked cars can recover the value of non-engine parts as well as the scrap value of the engine itself (metal). scrap value for the junked car. Worse case would be a car currently worth $4500 and there being $0 external costs to burning gas and the car has $0 scrap value…..this is unlikely IMO. I think most cars turned in will be around the halfway mark so their current value is going to be like $2,250. Even if you believe CO2 based global warming has 0% chance of causing any harm its hard to believe there are no externalities in gas prices and its hard to believe a clunked car has no scrap value. All in all the deadweight loss here is probably quite small per car. Do you find it ironic that this exercise is likely to actually improve the program by ensuring clunked cars are actually much more clunkier?! You are trying to deny that pushing more cars through the pipeline has environmental costs. I think the time factor here is pretty marginal. The environmental costs of disposing of a car are trivial IMO. Once you ensure the fluids are contained you can let a car sit in a graveyard until it turns to dust. The cost of melting down a car is best looked at in terms of the scrap versus new product decision. If you need metal, for example, what is the environmental cost of melting it down in the scrap yard versus mining it raw from the ground. Most of the time its going to be a smaller environmental cost for the former…..but should a mine materialize that is exceptionally low-environmental cost then instead of scrapping junk cars they can be “graveyarded”, essentially left to rust to dust for low envirnomental cost. So in terms of this program you accelerate a pretty marginal environmental cost (disposing of a car a few years earlier than you otherwise would have). The pushing of the new car through the pipeline was going to happen anyway so again the cost is in the present value of the acceleration. In order for this to be a source of a major environmental cost you need a very high discount rate. The only way this makes sense to me is if a major breakthru is looming just over the horizen. If 3 years from now someone invents the car that runs on water…..all those 2009 cars that get 27mpg will seem like a waste….. Better to have held onto the 1990 15 mpg ‘clunker’ for 3 more years and then upgraded to the new ‘water car’. Possible? Yes but not extremely likely imo. So your proposal, if I follow correctly, is A could lend his money to B to buy a new car. B could then turn around and give A the new car to pay off that debt. For his trouble, B gets a portion of the $4500 discount as cash (say $1,000) to compensate him for his clunker. The real motivated person in this deal is the dealer. He wants to make it easier to get buyer A to purchase a car. Person A does not own an eligible clunker … but it likely a dealer can locate persons like B (who are willing to sign an extra piece of paper without asking too many questions “this is the title page” “this is a second title transfer page yada yada” and so on). Buyer B “buys” and transfers title in one exchange. He never knows about the car destined for A. If sports franchises can make 4 team 10 player deals … this certainly seems a lot simpler and more straightforward. Why are you suggesting it is impossible? In part, the point here was that I am admittedly a non-canny capitalist, yet in a few moments of oxygen deprived haze I came up with a way a buyer or dealer could game the system to get this benefit when he wasn’t the target. I’m guessing actually canny fellows, i.e., car dealers, found ways to game that $fC program in ways I haven’t considered. Have you ever heard the slogan used by the eco crowd, “reduce, reuse, recycle” I think they are right not to insert, “scrap for marginal benefit” because the cause of mfg and disposal swamp the marginal benefit. This is the case here. Your argument that you are getting said clunkers of the road because they won’t be around much longer anyway runs up against the argument that … they won’t be on the road much longer anyway. The premise is that there is a cost to burning gas that is not captured in the price you pay at the pump. This cost is the environmental cost and the national security cost (I think the former is more important than the latter but leave that aside for now). While I think the latter is more important than the former … it is indeed why I own cars getting 50 mpg and better. I bought my high mileage cars used. Which is a better variant of the cash/clunkers program. Cash for upgrade … and the discount/payback should be larger if the car is not new, for then it has 0 environmental impact to own. The pushing of the new car through the pipeline was going to happen anyway so again the cost is in the present value of the acceleration. In order for this to be a source of a major environmental cost you need a very high discount rate. I’m curious. I had a post reflecting on my current car (61/71 city/hiway official mpg … I get an estimated ~65/80). I noted that one criteria I’ve had on car purchase is that I want to improve, significantly if possible) the mileage I get when moving to a new car. How long will I have to wait before a commercially available car will exceed 80mpg highway? You suggest 3 years is impossible. 10? 5? What do you expect? That car is old now, it’s a 2000. At some point keeping it running is going to get comparable in expense to getting a new one. Will the market or entropy win that race? The real motivated person in this deal is the dealer. Yes but follow the money….A gives his money to B, B gives the money to the dealer. The dealer has made his sale and has his money. A has a collection problem. I think this type of bargain with A & B would take place not so much with the dealer playing matchmaker but A & B having a close and trusting relationship, like family members. Still the effect seems to be within the spirit of the law. A clunker that was on the streets goes off and a new car sale is made. I’m guessing actually canny fellows, i.e., car dealers, found ways to game that $fC program in ways I haven’t considered. It would appear with the rush of demand from actual people with clunkers combined with deep discounts from the auto companies struggling to boost sales and with the extensive paperwork required of the program and finally with the relatively short window the program was available (even after getting extended)….I suspect few complicated side deals were done. But I suppose time will tell. Your argument that you are getting said clunkers of the road because they won’t be around much longer anyway runs up against the argument that … they won’t be on the road much longer anyway. Either way the cost appears pretty capped in terms of the environment (barring a huge discount rate). Real fast going from 18mpg to 22 mpg (the trade that is the least beneficial to the environment possible under the program) still drops the number of gallons needed to drive 1,000 miles by about 10. Accelerating the scrapping of the clunker by several years…assuming 15K miles per year saves 150 gallons of fuel per year. The environmental costs seem trivial. Scrapping a car today is almost certainly going to take the same amount of fuel as it will in 2-5 years. Likewise building a car today probably is around the same in terms of fuel consumption as it will be in the future (a big environmental discount would require a massive improvement in manufacturing to be implemented very, very quickly). Well the program was tiered so that to get the full 4500 you had to upgrade by a full 10 mpg. Less and you only got $3500. But it seems like if you did a cash for upgrade program you’d still need to insist on having the old cars destroyed otherwise you’re increasing demand for high mpg cars but also increasing supply of low mpg cars. The point is to actually increase the average mpg of the US fleet and lower the amount of gas burned. I’m curious. I had a post reflecting on my current car (61/71 city/hiway official mpg … I get an estimated ~65/80). I noted that one criteria I’ve had on car purchase is that I want to improve, significantly if possible) the mileage I get when moving to a new car. How long will I have to wait before a commercially available car will exceed 80mpg highway? They are already talking about cars in the 300+mpg zone….but at what cost? At 67 mpg I get 15 gallons to go 1000 miles. At 80mpg I get 12.5. Assuming your old car was in the 20mpg zone you didn’t miss much by failing to hold out for the 80mpg model. Going from 20mpg to 67mpg was a massive improvement shaving 35 gallons off your 1,000 mile trip. Going from 67 to 80mpg only shaves 2.5 gallons off your 1000 mile trip. Let’s say you go 15,000 miles per year. Saving 2.5 gallons is only 37.5 gallons per year which at $3 a gallon is $112.50. If the 80mpg car cost you $10,000 more you’d need over 88 years to pay back the additional investment. On the last part, this again demonstrates why the l/100km (or a non-metric equivalent) is much better. Its interesting that you immediately resort ot the inverse (linear) measure when wanting to talk about efficiency … which is why the inverted units we use should be abandoned. I realize replacing it isn’t going to be done economically based on gas consumption before the old one “wears out”. The question I have is, when it does wear out, will I be able to get one that gets better mileage. Right now I cannot. The replacement would have to get worse mileage. There are no cars available that get better mileage (and I don’t think a 3 wheel Aptera will handle well enough in Chicago winters). You avoided answering the question the first time, I’ll give you another chance to make a prediction. But it seems like if you did a cash for upgrade program you’d still need to insist on having the old cars destroyed otherwise you’re increasing demand for high mpg cars but also increasing supply of low mpg cars. That’s right, you’d have to destroy the car. But the advantage here is that you’re basically culling out low mileage cars from the used car pool … and at the same time avoiding the much higher (than the incremental gain in gas/pollution) environmental costs of production. Where?! VW had a small two seater that got 240mpg that may even be in limited production. I have no doubt it will never see the US shores. Do you have links or data on 300mpg cars? I read a few auto blogs and have not seen any 300mpg cars. I did like the looks of the 3 seater Diahatsu (sp) UFE III (it was my desktop wallpaper for a while) … but that was a concept car and supposed to get 140 mpg (2 l/100km) with a 300cc gas engine/electric hybrid. I think electric hybridization is a dead end or a wrong move. I think the environmental costs of battery production/replacement coupled with energy losses in the charge/recharge cycle make it less attractive than air or today’s very large capacitors, which admittedly hold less energy … but to recoup braking energy for your restart (or for to give the engine a boost) you don’t need a large energy reservoir. Yes but follow the money….A gives his money to B, B gives the money to the dealer. I don’t see that A or B interact at all. A gives money to the dealer, B trades cars (and might get some money from the dealer). B never sees A. Dealer, if less honest, might mislead A and B as to who is getting the $4.5k and pocket much of it himself as a brokerage fee. ccelerating the scrapping of the clunker by several years…assuming 15K miles per year saves 150 gallons of fuel per year. The environmental costs seem trivial. Scrapping a car today is almost certainly going to take the same amount of fuel as it will in 2-5 years. Likewise building a car today probably is around the same in terms of fuel consumption as it will be in the future (a big environmental discount would require a massive improvement in manufacturing to be implemented very, very quickly). You are either pushing more cars though the pipeline quicker or you are not. If you are not, you are wasting money. If you are, there is an increased environmental cost of production and disposal (and you argue the former is much larger and the latter insignificant). The point is there is a cost to the increased production which likely is similar in size to the environmental benefit. But I suppose time will tell. ?? Who will tell? How would that come out? They are both valid metrics but have to be used properly. You asked about the new cars pushing higher and higher up the MPG scale. Yes they are but their benefit to you becomes less and less. Going from 20mpg to 67mpg saves you 35 gallons per 1000 miles. But when you get down to, say, 12.5 gallons per 1000 miles there’s not much savings left. If someone invents a car that runs on water and burns no gas….you still are only going to cut out 12.5 gallons of gas per 1000 miles. But there are cases where mpg makes sense as a metric. Say, perhaps, you’re a taxi company and you push your vehicles as much as possible. Your focus may be less on “how do I minimize the cost of my daily commute to work” and more on “how do I squeeze as much driving as possible out of every gallon of gas I have to buy?” From that POV mpg might make more sense to look at….esp. if you have a fleet of different types of cars with different mpgs. I’m not sure you’re right here. A cash for upgrade program would still increase demand for new cars because it would shift demand all along the spectrum from clunkers to used cars to slightly used to brand new. Even if the program was limited only to upgrading to non-new cars it would still shift the demand curve upward and result in increased auto production. Where?! VW had a small two seater that got 240mpg that may even be in limited production. I have no doubt it will never see the US shores. Do you have links or data on 300mpg cars? I could have sworn I saw it in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal Personal section. You may be right…then again you might be wrong esp. when you consider that you can offload some electric production to the more efficient grid via plug-ins. And you’re missing a lot of ‘outside the box’ ideas. For example, suppose you can work from home 1 day a week in exchange for a $1,000 a year pay cut. This can cut your gas consumption 20%….yet if you spent $10,000 more on a car that did the same thing you’d need 10 years to make the payoffs! A single price is the most efficient way of processing such huge amount of information. This is why a tax or cap-n-trade are far more efficient for handling an externality. I don’t see that A or B interact at all. A gives money to the dealer, B trades cars (and might get some money from the dealer). B never sees A. If you are, there is an increased environmental cost of production and disposal (and you argue the former is much larger and the latter insignificant). ?? Who will tell? How would that come out? This is a fascinating program from an economic perspective. I imagine it will be the subject of quite a few papers for some time. our focus may be less on “how do I minimize the cost of my daily commute to work” and more on “how do I squeeze as much driving as possible out of every gallon of gas I have to buy?” From that POV mpg might make more sense to look at….esp. if you have a fleet of different types of cars with different mpgs. How is the inverted units (mpg) more useful in this case? Multiplicative and additive comparisons work from the l/100km units but only multiplicative ones work with mpg. Googling 300 mpg gives only Aptera (which as I noted might not handle so well on icy roads). Big electric generators/motors can be very efficient. But you have to add transmission losses, battery storage (chemical) losses, and the small electric motor’s (greater) inefficiencies as compared to the gas (or diesel) engine. I’m not quite sure “more efficient grid” is right in the big picture. Re, Gas tax/cap-trade …. again, adding taxes in a weak economy in any case … likewise it also puts into question the broken window problem and the $forC program. Well remember you only care about importing oil not the environment. From that POV using the grid displaces oil in favor of coal, nuclear, and gas but very little oil. I suppose using natural gas for electric raises its price which might push people into using oil to heat their homes….but for the most part I think from the import focus the grid is a net plus. So simply offset the tax increase with a tax cut somewhere to make it revenue neutral. BTW, I think you’re right about the metric….but why don’t we just use Gal / 1000 miles since that seems to be where the literature is heading and it’s easy to work with mentally in the US since that’s how we buy gas and measure distance. Well remember you only care about importing oil not the environment. From that POV using the grid displaces oil in favor of coal, nuclear, and gas but very little oil. Yet you care about CO2 and pollution … which makes coal (our major source of electricity) problematic. It is my understanding that much (most) of the non-urban areas and the NorthEast use oil for fuel instead of methane (fuel oil #2 -> same as is used in diesel engines and I think similar some of the JP (jet fuel) products). That’s why the diesel prices rise in the winter. Our grid is running at or close to capacity now, btw. True, so our goals overlap but not perfectly. But, it is poor planning if you introduce a tax … which moves people to stress grid and cause rolling blackouts or worse. It is better to anticipate moves, increase capacity before you try to stimulate a demand for the same. Here’s the problem, this is too much information for you or anyone else to asorb and trust that we can correctly process. You introduce a tax and prices adjust accordingly. Electric costs less at night time. If the grid is stressed grid owners will pay customers to install smart meters that can switch on charging to night….maybe even pull the charge out of a connected car should there be a sudden spike in demand. Likewise higher electric rates mean higher capital reward for building on more capacity and so on. You aren’t going to anticipate moves and even if you could you’d have to implement your wisdom in the face of political pressure. Prices are so much better.

2019-04-23T09:05:31Z

http://www.pseudopolymath.com/archives/3790

This paper explores how diasporans achieve business model innovation by using their unique resources. The hypothesis underlying the paper is that the unique backgrounds and resources of the diaspora businesses, due to different sources of information and experiences as well as multiple networks, contributes to business model innovation in a distinctive manner. We investigate the English school market in the Philippines which is established by East Asian diaspora who innovate a business model of conventional English schools. Two case studies were conducted with Japanese diaspora English schools. Their business is analyzed using a business model canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010) and contrasted with the conventional business model. The empirical cases show that diaspora businesses use knowledge about their country of origin and engage with country of residence and multiple networks in different locations and constellations to identify unique opportunities, leading to a business model innovation. In line with the growing internationalization and transnationalization, the number of overall migrants has increased and the role of diasporans has attracted increasing attention from policy makers and researchers. Diasporans are migrants and their descendants who maintain homeland orientation (Safran, 1991). The impact of their business activities on the world economy has become important. When they move from a country to another, they transfer not only human capital, but they create flows of money (Gillespie et al., 1999; Nielsen & Riddle, 2009; Riddle, 2008) and knowledge and technology (Saxenian, 2005; Kapur, 2001; Tung, 2008). Businesses conducted by diaspora members are unique because of their resources characterized by mixed embeddedness in country of origin (COO) and country of residence (COR) (Kloostermann et al., 1999). Their main resources are diaspora networks (Dutia, 2012; Kuznetsov, 2006) and cognitive diversity which allows them to recognize unique business opportunities. For instance, Chinese diasporans historically establish their trading business through an intensive usage of Chinese transnational diaspora networks (Cohen, 2008; Cheung, 2004; Rauch & Trindade, 2002). Knowing multiple cultural contexts, diasporans recognize business chances which are not recognized by local population. Turkish diasporans in Europe developed wellknown ‘Döner Kebab’, a fast food they modified for European customers (Wahlbeck, 2004). Indian diasporans identified a number of opportunities in IT industries in their COO (Chacko, 2007). While the uniqueness of diaspora business and its innovativeness is still relatively unknown, there is a general perception that diaspora business is unique compared to the non-diaspora business. It is therefore important to understand and examine the reasons for this uniqueness. In this paper, we take a closer look at business models in order to investigate the innovativeness and novelty of diaspora businesses. There are two main reasons for this investigation. First, business models describe not only firms per se, but also interrelations between firms and partners and value co-creation. Diasporans are known to have complex network dynamics due to their mixed embeddedness in host and home countries (Kloostermann et al., 1999). Diaspora networks (Dutia, 2012; Kuznetsov, 2006) are categorized as network resources. Observing their business model enables us to analyze the impact of such network dynamics on their business. Second, business models consist of different components of businesses, which enables us to focus on the impact of diaspora resources on each of components separately. The aim of this paper is to address the following research questions: (i) How do diasporans innovate an existing business model? (ii) How do they use their diaspora resource for business model innovation? In order to answer these questions, we investigate the English language school industry in the Philippines, which is established by East Asian diasporans. They created a business model innovation (Chesbrough, 2010; Chesbrough & Rosenbloom, 2002) in the English learning market for East Asians by establishing a new business model. This paper investigates their business model compared to the business model of conventional English schools by applying business model canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010) as an analytical tool. Two case studies with Japanese English schools in the Philippines as well as extensive secondary data analysis are conducted. This paper will contribute to explore the characteristics of diaspora businesses and the role of resources and embeddedness of entrepreneurs on business model innovation. This paper is structured as follows: First, previous findings on diaspora business and business model innovation are presented and the usage of business model canvas is introduced as an analytical tool for this study. Subsequently, research approach is described and justified followed by a brief introduction of the diaspora English school market in the Philippines. The brief background provides a context for conducting an analysis of the business models of two different types of English schools. This is followed by a discussion of how diaspora resources influence business model innovation. Finally, together with the summary of research results, contributions as well as limitations are presented. Migration is a growing phenomenon. According to the International Migration Outlook from OECD (2013), there are 232 million people living outside their country of birth around the world in 2013, which represents 3.2 percent of the world’s population. This number is expected to become 405 million by 2050 in the world (International Organization for Migration, 2014). The diaspora can be understood as a specific type of migrants and refers to migrants and their descendants who maintain a strong relationship with their COO and COR (Safran, 1991). These people are in a special constellation of being embedded in multiple cultures and societies of different countries (Drori et al., 2009). This multiple societal and cultural embeddedness is named as ‘mixed embeddedness’ by Kloostermann et al. (1999). The diaspora population has gained an increasing attention from policy makers and researchers, assisted by the wave of transnationalism, globalization, and accelerated by rapid technological development in transportation and communication, which has reduced migrants’ barriers of maintaining strong connection to home countries (Levitt, 2001; Tölölyan, 1996). Diasporans engage in business activities in a unique form due to their mixed embeddedness and transnational settings. Their business activities have unignorably significant impacts on the global economy. For instance, they send a substantial part of their earnings in COR to their home country in the form of remittance. The total remittance flow was projected to reach 434 billion USD (Worldbank, 2014:3) and diaspora remittance sometimes is an essential financial resource of developing countries. Their business activities, however, do not only have financial impacts on their COO. In fact, they create different types of flows, by transferring knowledge, innovation, technology and institutions (Saxenian, 2005; Riddle & Brinkerhoff, 2011). Despite its growing importance, the nature and characteristics of diaspora business is still not fully investigated. Previous scholars have attempted to investigate this phenomenon from a rather macro perspective including the impact of ethnic business on the local economy such as job creation and economic and cultural integration (Geddes, 2001; Zabin & Hughes, 1995) or technological diffusion (Saxenian, 2005; Lodigiani, 2009; Hornung, 2014), for instance, through diaspora homeland investment (Gillespie et al., 1999; Kotabe et al., 2013; Nielsen & Riddle, 2009). But we still know little about Diaspora business per se at the micro level. How does their business structure differ from non-diaspora business? Are there any novelties of diaspora businesses compared to non-diaspora businesses? Where are these differences come from? While a detail observation of Diaspora business is still a long way away, there are previous findings that may offer some hints for answering these questions. Diaspora businesses exist when individuals in the diaspora create them. Diaspora businesses occur because of multiple forms of displacements. The first form of displacement arises from the place of birth resulting in movements from COO to COR. In certain circumstances the conditions in the COR create another form of displacement. It is the second form of displacement which arises from the general workforce and the response to this displacement is where the migrants search for connections elsewhere such as the one where migrants are attracted to business as they are not able to function in the mainstream economic activities of the COR. A third form of displacement occurs when diasporans in businesses at the COR become business diasporans in both COO and COR. The market conditions in the COR create an environment for opportunity seeking for building on connections elsewhere resulting in being attracted to familiar to familiar factors in COO. Diaporans become enablers of business operations, and market expansions. Thus businesses undergo triple transformations unlike the non-Diaspora businesses (Vemuri, 2015). As a result, diaspora business is an embodiment of continuous innovations and needs a closer examination to understand business innovations. There are differentiating features of emergent diaspora businesses that are primarily based on the experiences of individuals belonging to the diaspora such as pull, push, re-pull, and repush factors associated with migration (Vemuri, 2014). At one level, the displacement and reconnection to spaces through time is an essential reason for the existence of diaspora businesses. At another level, their nature of existence is due to discontinuity from the organic and endogenously evolving organizational skin. Therefore, diaspora businesses exist combining both business and diaspora features. A business model describes the way value is created within an organization by focusing on various components of firms’ activities and their interrelations. A business model, therefore, becomes a frequently-used unit of analysis for researchers, warranting a need to understand a holistic overview of creation of total value. Recently business models have attracted much attention from both academicians and practitioners. According to the literature review by Zott et al. (2011), peer-reviewed academic journals published at least, 1,777 articles on business models have been published. In a similar vein, Ghaziani and Ventresca (2005) found 1,729 publications that referred to the term ‘business model’. One of the main explanation for the growing interest on business models is that a business model can create a new form of innovation, which possibly create more sustainable competitive advantages than other forms of innovation (Chesbrough, 2007). A business model innovation can be realized either by existing firms, which innovate or change their original business model, or by new entrants, which implement a new business model to the market. Business model requires simultaneous change to two or more elements of a business model to recreate and convey value in a novel way (Lindgardt et al., 2009). According to Bucherer et al. (2012), there are two main reasons why business model innovations create competitive advantages. First, it takes considerable time and resource investment for simultaneously changing different elements. For instance, when a firm innovates solely an existing product such as application of new technology to a digital camera or smartphones, competitors imitate with relative ease, because firms do not have to change their entire business model. However, when a business model itself is innovated like IKEA, the Swedish furniture company which innovated different components of business models of the conventional furniture retailers including value propositions, customer segments, customer channels, it is more challenging for existing furniture retailers, as they have to change many of their business components at the same time. Second, the new business model should suit all facets of the company including longterm corporate strategy, corporate culture as well as core competencies of the firm. Using the example of IKEA, imitating IKEA’s business model is almost impossible when furniture retailers focus on luxurious customer segments, have traditional corporate cultures, or rely strongly on long-standing partners over generations who have developed routines and practices, and become reticent to fundamentally change their business model. In either case, a precursor to business model innovation by firms is their need for tools to assess their current business model or dominant business model in the market in order to create new ones. While there are a number of tools with different components developed by various scholars (c.f. Morris et al. 2005), one of the most famous and detailed analytical tool is the business model canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). It allows companies to actively create and assess new or already existing business models (Pavie et al., 2013). Business model canvas consists of nine interrelated components: (1) customer segments, (2) value propositions, (3) channels, (4) customer relationships, (5) key activities, (6) key resources, (7) key partners, (8) revenue streams, and (9) cost structure. This analytical tool has an advantage of simultaneously visualizing many factors and their interrelations. Diaspora businesses are unique. In some cases, this uniqueness is because of the nature of the business model innovation undertaken by the diaporans. Which role does diaspora play in creating an innovative business model? In this section, we discuss the possible role of diaspora in business model innovation. In the context of this paper, we consider diaspora business model innovation to occur when diasporans simultaneously change more than two components of existing business models in a novel way, following the definition by Lindgardt et al. (2009). As discussed above, diasporans are characterized by their mixed embeddedness in different country contexts (Kloostermann et al., 1999). We suggest that mixed embeddedness enables diasporans perceiving unique opportunity, which then leads to business model innovation. Ardichvil et al. (2003) provide a framework of opportunity identification by arguing that beside personality traits, prior knowledge and social networks influence entrepreneurial alertness. Entrepreneurial alertness is defined as ‘a propensity to notice and be sensitive to information about objects, incidents, and patterns of behaviors in the environment, with special sensitivity to maker and user problems, unmet needs and interests, and novel combinations of resources’ (Ray & Cardozo, 1996). The higher alertness increases the likelihood of an opportunity for being recognized. Diasporans’ experiences, accumulated knowledge and network capital are assumed to be positively related to unique opportunity recognition. How can diasporans’ mixed embeddedness leads to unique business opportunity recognition? First, through being embedded in two or more different country contexts, diasporans accumulate diversified knowledge based on first hand exposures and experiences of both countries. Prior knowledge can be industry knowledge such as knowledge of markets, customer problems and ways to serve customers (Ardichvili et al., 2003; Shane, 2000; Baron, 2006; Hoang & Antoncic, 2003). Diaspora population is assumed to have profound knowledge about markets and customers of COR and COO. Knowing different markets and customer problems and characteristics of two countries are assumed to increase entrepreneurial alertness, and therefore enable them to recognize unique business opportunity which is otherwise overlooked by local population. This can lead them to innovate different components of their business model. As diasporans know markets of both COO and COR, they could, for instance, choose their customer segments from COO or COR, or both. In a sense, they have a larger base and variety to select from. They could also reflect their knowledge about customer problems and ways to serve customers of COO and COR on customer relationships, value propositionand channels. They are assumed to be able to change an existing business model in COR, which targets at customers in COR, into a new business model in COR, which targest at customers in COO, or other way around. Second, business activities of diasporans are also characterized by their unique network dynamics. Especially, the so-called ‘diaspora network’, which describes their network with co-ethnics in COO, COR and other countries, has attracted considerable research attention as one of the most unique part of their network dynamics (Dutia, 2012; Meyer & Wallaux, 2006; Kurnetsov, 2006; Elo, 2014). Diaspora network is known as a source of labor (Damm, 2009) as well as customers (Bowles & Herbert, 2004; Anthias, 2007) for diaspora businesses. Harima (2014) also argued that a diaspora network offers various benefits such as acquisition of external resources and sustaining motivation. Having a network not only with the local population, but also with co-ethnics living in different countries is assumed to be positively related to entrepreneurial alertness. Such networks can offer key partnersor key resources. Diasporans can choose their business partners from different networks. They can be someone from COO or COR, or even somewhere else, where co-ethnics are living. As diaspora networks often offer labors, diaspora may have different human resource bases to draw from than Non-Diaspora business. To sum up, diasporans’ mixed embeddedness allows them to innovate different components of business models in unconventional ways, as they can identify unique business opportunities which are overlooked by local population in COR. We suggest that diasporans’ knowledge of customers and markets, factor markets in particular, in COO and COR impacting on their to network dynamics to such an extent that they allow them to identify opportunities to innovate an exisiting business model. The aim of this study is to answer the following research questions: (i) How do diasporans innovate an existing business model? (ii) How do they use their diaspora resources for business model innovation? In order to answer these questions, we chose the English school industry in the Philippines. This industry was established by the East Asian diaspora, who innovated a business model of conventional English schools for non-native English learners. These English schools in the Philippines are established mostly by South Korean or Japanese diasporans and targeted at their co-ethnic customers who visit the Philippines to learn English. They employ and train Filipino English teachers. Two case studies were conducted with the Japanese Diaspora English schools (‘School A’ & ‘School B’) in the Philippines. We chose a case study approach design, as it should be considered to answer “how” questions according to Yin (2003). She also pointed out that a case study approach can cover contextual factors which are relevant to the phenomenon. As diasporans’ unique constellation is a central focus of this study, this approach is chosen. Unit of analysis is the individual diaspora entrepreneurs who reflect their diaspora resource on business model components. In order to explore how diasporans innovated a business model of conventional English schools in Western English speaking countries, their business models are also investigated. For the sake of simplification, we call the English schools in the Philippines ran by East Asian diaspora as “diaspora English school” and the other “conventional English school” in this paper. Within the scope of the case studies, the main data is in-depth interviews with Japanese founders. In-depth interviews took 60 – 180 minutes and were conducted in Japanese. Additionally, a number of casual conversations were conducted with Japanese employees, Filipino management employees, Filipino teachers and Japanese customers on the location. In April 2015, one of the authors stayed three days at the School A and one day at the School B, which allowed her ethnographical observation (Tedlock, 1991). Memos taken during the observation as well as company websites are used for data triangulation (Denzin, 1970). As for Conventional English Schools, we gathered secondary data including official websites, web reputation as well as brochure of five English schools in USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand. The summary of data collected is described in Table 1. We selected these two schools, since School A is a pioneer and one of the first English schools established by Japanese diasporans in the Philippines, and School B is a late-comer. Taking a closer look at these two schools allows us to consider variations caused by market entry timing. We selected five conventional English schools in five Western English speaking countries, which are main destinations of East Asian English learners, based on the popularity according to agents. Gathered information and data through above mentioned methods are analyzed in a descriptive manner. As an analytical tool, business model canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010) is used, which helps us to visualize business models of diaspora English schools and conventional English schools. Being a past colony of the United States, the Philippines has the fifth largest English-speaking communities by population in the world. According to Census 2000, there were 45.9 million English speakers, which represents 63.7% of the entire population of the country. Based on this fact, the country has attracted foreign investment employing low-cost English speaking Filipino staff. Since the late 1990s, a number of American firms started outsourcing telephone-based customer services to Filipino professionals (Friginal, 2007). Shortly after, South Korean firms opened up a language business in the Philippines and followed by the Japanese. While the exact number of such schools is unknown, the widely used number of such East Asian English schools in the Philippines is between 300 and 500. The industry has steadily grown over the last years. According to the Department of Tourism in the Philippines (2003; 2013), from 70,000 to 100,000 foreign people visit the country as English language students annually. The country became one of the major destinations for South Korean and Japanese people who want to learn English abroad instead of Western English speaking countries. This emergent market represents the case in which diasporans created a new market through business model innovation. Next, we will analyze business models of such diaspora English schools and contrast them with conventional English schools. In order to investigate how diasporans innovated an existing business model, we first briefly analyze nine components – (1) customer segments, (2) value propositions, (3) customer relationships, (4) channels, (5) revenue streams, (6) key activities, (7) key resources, (8) key partners, and (9) cost structures – of business model canvas of conventional English schools based on the secondary data. This will be followed by an analysis of the business models of diaspora English schools in the Philippines. Customer Segments: Customer segments can be described with the following four dimensions: (i) nationality, (ii) age, (iii) purpose of visit, and (iv) duration of visit. First, these schools do not target at specific nationalities, but at every non-native English learners. Second, they mainly target at the people older than 16-18 years old and do not commonly offer any special courses for children. Third, customers of conventional English schools have the following purposes of visit: (a) Exam preparation such as TOEFL, IELTS and TOEIC 3 ; (b) Improvement of conversational English, (c) improvement of business English. Fourth, these schools target mostly at long-stay students for one to twelve months. Based on this information, the typical customer segments of conventional English schools can be described as follows: (1) Non-native English speakers who want to prepare for English exams, (2) Non-native English speakers who want to improve their English conversational skills, and (3) Business personals who want to improve their business English. Value Propositions: They have value propositions for each of three customer segments respectively: (1) Improve customers’ English skills for reaching a high score at English exams with the support of qualified native English teachers; (2) Improve customers’ English conversational skills with the support of qualified native English teachers; and (3) Improve customers’ business English skills with the support of qualified native English teachers. Customer Relationships: Local staffs take care of them during their stay by giving them personal advice and finding temporary accommodation, organizing social activities as well as vocational opportunities (e.g. internship) with costs. Some schools have staffs who are able to speak the language of the dominant student groups such as Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. Channels: They reach their potential customers mainly through Internet websites/advertisement as well as through broker agents in different countries. Revenue Stream: It consists of a registration fee, organizational fee and course fee. While the price varies between countries and cities, a student, for instance, would pay ca. 2,200 USD for 20 hours of English lessons for four weeks in a large city in Canada excluding accommodation fee. Key Activities: Conventional English schools have two main activities. The first activity is offering different types of English lessons/courses. These courses are oriented mainly towards groups. In order to ensure the quality of lessons, training teachers, controlling and improving lessons are included in key activities as well. The second activity is organizing accommodation, social activities and internships. Key Resources: In order to conduct the above-mentioned key activities, these schools have qualified native English teachers and original curriculum to satisfy customers’ needs. Key Partners: They have partnerships with broker agents in different countries, tourism offices, real estate companies, local firms, local host families, and universities/colleges in their country and abroad. Cost structures: Considering the eight components above, they have the following costs: salaries of teachers and local staffs, facilities costs as well as marketing cost which they usually pay to brokers. These costs are considered to be high, as conventional English schools are located in developed countries with a high living standard. The business model of Conventional English Schools is depicted in Figure 1. Philippines, we analyze a business model of diaspora English schools with the help of business model canvas. School A was established in 2010 by a Japanese founder together with a Filipino co-founder in San Manuel. Since the establishment, this school has been successfully operating its language business and more than 2,000 students have learned at the school. This school has become one of the largest employers in the region. School B is a part of a large group established by Japanese founder. He started his business activities in the Philippines in 1989. Starting with trading business, he has continuously expanded his business to manufacturing, manpower supply, health service; his group has currently twelve companies in the Philippines and in Japan. He started his language business in 2005 by offering Japanese language course for Filipinos and then offering English online to Japanese customers. His English schools is established in 2015 in Manila and starts offering English school service for Japanese customers. Both of the schools have more than 20 full-time English teachers. Third, these schools also focus on the customer segments whose purpose of visit is to learn conversational English. Due to the inefficient education system overemphasizing on written exams, inactive student participation during the class and cultural differences (for instance, Japanese students are ashamed of making grammatical mistakes in front of others), South Korean and Japanese people have extreme difficulty in communicating in English (Dougil, 2008). Both School A and School B are aware of communication problems of Japanese customers and structure their program to minimize them. Fourth, both School A and School B mainly target at people who intend to stay abroad for a short time, because they are aware that Japanese customers are not able to leave their country for a long time. Japanese students are under the pressure of ‘simultaneous recruiting system’ (Amin, 2012), which refers to the custom that companies hire new graduates all at once and employ them during the third of four years of bachelor studies, and Japanese employees take only 10 work days off annually (Ray et al., 2013). Considering the points described above, diaspora English schools target at the following customer segments: (1) Young Japanese students and career changers who want to improve English within the relatively short time by focusing on conversational English; (2) Japanese firms who want to improve English skills of their employees within the limited budget and time; (3) Japanese parents who want to let their children improve their English skills; (4) Japanese retirees who want to improve their English conversational skills. Customer Relationships: School A has a very close relationship with customers, as the founder, all of the Japanese staffs and most of Filipino English teachers live together on the same campus. School B has more distance from customers, but Japanese staffs both in Japan and in the Philippines can take care of their customers before and during their stay. Channels: School A uses Internet websites as well as social networks such as Twitter and Facebook as channels to reach their customers. School B does direct marketing to their customers of Online English schools. School B has offered Online English schools in the final years and they have a large pool of customers. While there are also seminars and exhibitions for English schools in the Philippines, both of them did not use such external agents. Revenue Streams: Similar to conventional English schools, the main revenue stream of diaspora English schools is the course fee. The noticeable difference is that the course fee often includes accommodation fee and meals at diaspora English schools. For example, the lowest price at School A for one week is 264 USD4 with 20 hours of one-to-one lessons, five hours of group lessons, meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), as well as accommodation in a shared room with four people. Depending on room types and hours of lessons, this price varies. Even with the fee for accommodation and meals, the price is significantly cheaper than Conventional English Schools. Key Resources: In order to conduct the above mentioned activities, diaspora English schools are required to orchestrate local resources and diaspora resources. It is essential for them to successfully train Filipino English teachers to be able to understand the demand and characteristics of Japanese customers. “We trained our English teachers to be able to understand problems and difficulties of Japanese customers. (…) frequently we ask our students and teachers which problems they face in order to continuously improve our service. We should understand both Japanese customers and characteristics and culture of Filipino English teachers.” (School A’s founder). It is a complex task to train people from different cultural backgrounds, as founders and managers are required to have deep understanding of both cultures and successfully combine them. Their own understanding and awareness of Japanese society and culture is also related to customer satisfactions. Key Partners: Diaspora English schools have a partnership with Japanese corporate customers and Japanese universities. They also collaborate with some local firms such as tourism office, transportation firms and hotels. School A has also a number of partnerships with Japanese companies in different countries of South East Asia. As some of Japanese students are interested in starting their career abroad after improving their English at Diaspora English schools, school A introduced students to these firms. In this case, Japanese diaspora network within South East Asian countries plays an important role. Cost Structure: In the case of diaspora English schools, the following costs: salary for Filipino English teachers, local employees and Japanese staffs account for a large part of their cost structure. Compared to conventional English schools, however, the salary for English teachers and local staff is considerably low, as the average salary in the Philippines is lower than the other Western English speaking countries. According to the International Labor Organization (2009), the monthly average wage in purchasing power parity dollars in the Philippines is 279 USD. Filipino English teachers earn more than the average and have more support from Japanese employers in both cases. The cost for facilities such as school buildings as well as accommodation is also a major cost component. The business model canvas of diaspora English schools is depicted in the Figure 2. The above depicted business model canvas clearly show that a business model innovation took place in the English School market in Philippines. While all of the nine components of business model canvas of the conventional English schools were changed to a certain extent, the East Asian Diaspora innovated mainly five components in a novel way: (i) customer segments; (ii) value propositions; (iii) key resources; (iv) key partners; and (v) cost structures. First, diaspora English Schools target at customers from their COO and segmentzed them into four groups to fulfill their unique demands. This customer segmentation is reflected on their value propositions. These schools consider specific demands and expectations of each of customer segments to develop their value propositions. As for key resourcesof diaspora English schools, they are required to orchestrate their COO-resources and CORresources by training Filipino English teachers to offer service which fulfill needs specific to Japanese customers. In a similar vein, diaspora English schools have a partnership with organizations both in COO and COR. At last, they add more values such as accommodations, meals or individual lessons by reducing cost for English teachers. In the section of ‘Diaspora Business Model Innovation’, we discuss our assumption that diasporans’ mixed embeddedness may positively influence their unique opportunity recognition, because they have knowledge about customers and markets in both COO and COR as well as country specific network dynamics. Following, we analyze how the mixed embeddedness influence the business model innovation by East Asian diasporans in the Philippines by contrasting two Business Model Canvases (Figure 1 & 2). First, both of the cases vividly show the significance of knowledge about COO and COR. In case of School A, the founder uses his knowledge of Japanese society, job market as well as customer demands to identify unique customer segmentsand develop value propositions. It was his initial entrepreneurial motivation to solve the problem that Japanese cannot learn English effectively at Conventional English Schools despite of their large investment because of their shyness and Japanese English education which overemphasizes English grammar. He combined this knowledge into his knowledge about COR, as he also knew that what Philippines can offer for his business idea. In School B’s case, School B was forced to segmentalize customers, as School B is a follower. Although School B’s entrepreneur has more than 30 years of experience in the Philippines, he was new to the English School industry, which was already fully established with 300-500 diaspora English Schools. In order to avoid the fierce competition, School B decided to focus on the luxury segment. The entrepreneur’s knowledge about the Philippines and Japan help the School B to offer luxurious service to Japanese business customers. The knowledge about culture and society of COO and COR was also essential for the key resourcesof diaspora English schools. Their key resource is trained Filipino English teachers. In order to train Filipino English teachers to be able to understand Japanese customers’ demand, they need to understand the culture and society of both countries. How did their unique network dynamics influence opportunity recognitions to innovate an existing business model of conventional English schools? Figure 2 indicates that diaspora Business schools leverage different networks for their key partnership. Their customers, agents, staffs are Japanese, while other local staffs, English teachers, and some of their business partners are Filipino. They also have some partnerships with Japanese firms and universities in Japan whose employees/students visit schools to learn English. In case of School A, the school has also a broad diaspora network with Japanese firms in different countries in South East Asia who are interested in hiring Japanese students. In fact, many of alumni started working for these companies after leaving School A. As for cost structure, mixed embeddedness did not play any significant role in terms of opportunity recognition. Using a low-cost labor in developing/ emerging countries for the benefit of own business is common also for companies from developed countries and is not specific to diaspora business. In conclusion, our empirical cases show how East Asian diasporans leverage their mixed embeddedness to identify unique opportunities which lead them to innovate a conventional business model. Not only knowing contexts and markets of COO and COR, but also how they combine and orchestrate their knowledge to identify unique customer segments and develop value propositionsas well as key resources. They also use different types of networks in COO and COR, and diaspora networks even in other countries as key partnersfor their business model. This paper explores how diasporans innovate an existing business model, and how they use their diaspora resources for business model innovation. In order to answer these questions, we take a closer look at the English school industry in the Philippines, where East Asian diasporans achieved a business model innovation. Thereby, we focus on their mixed embeddedness and its impact on unique opportunity recognition. Through conducting the two case studies with Japanese diaspora English schools, we developed business model canvases (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010) of Diaspora English Schools and Conventional English Schools to investigate how diasporans innovated which components, and in which way. The findings show that East Asian diasporans changed mainly five out of nine components: (i) customer segments; (ii) value propositions; (iii) key resources; (iv) key partners; and (v) cost structures. Diasporans’ mix embeddedness allows them to develop knowledge about COO and COR as well as complex network dynamics in different countries. These knowledge and networks allow them to recognize unique opportunities to innovate a conventional business model. This paper has a few limitations. First, although two insightful case studies of Japanese English schools give us profound insights of Diaspora English Schools, more case studies should be conducted for providing a comprehensive understanding of the industry. For instance, both School A and School B did not have any significant networks with other diaspora English schools or broker agents. Therefore, we could not observe horizontal relationship between numerous diaspora English schools in the Philippines. Second, our analysis is based on one specific market and one specific diaspora. Therefore, this paper could not consider industrial and country variations. Third, while we use business model canvas as an analytical tool, we should be aware of its limitation. For instance, Coes (2014) point out some limitations of business model canvas including missing competitiveness, time elements and social values. Despite these limitations, this study makes some contributions: First, the role of diaspora in business model innovation was explored by investigating how diasporans use their resources which are a result of mixed embeddedness due to unique opportunities available to them. Diasporans are no longer considered as helpless individuals with limited opportunities. On the contrary individuals being diasporans have expanded opportunities. Second, this study sheds a spotlight on diasporans from developed countries in emerging countries. Since current discussions on diaspora business and entrepreneurship overemphasis on diasporans from developing/emerging countries in developed countries, their business activities give a new insight into the research on diaspora business and entrepreneurship. Third, this paper has also a methodological contribution, showing a business model to be an effective analytical tool for investigating diaspora businesses. Fourth, this research makes a contribution to the business model literature by considering transnational dimensions in the context of business innovation. Considering the limitations of our study above, we suggest that future research is needed to investigate the role of diaspora in the other country contexts. Moreover, their role in each of stages of firm’s development must be studied. We suggest a use of longitudinal analysis as a meaningful way forward to analyze the role of diasporas for business model transformations overtime. Amin, H. (2012). 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Sivaram Vemuri is currently an Associate Professor of Economics, Waterfront Darwin Business School, Faculty of Law, Education, Business and Arts, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia, and the Director of Administration, Finance and Personnel, Inter-disciplinary.net, Oxford.

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http://jemi.edu.pl/vol-11-issue-1-2015/diaspora-business-model-innovation

Serious mental illness can affect many aspects of an individual’s ability to function in daily life. The aim of this investigation was to determine if the environmental and functional status of people with serious mental illness contribute to the high mortality risk observed in this patient group. We identified cases of schizophrenia, schizoaffective and bipolar disorder aged ≥15 years in a large secondary mental healthcare case register linked to national mortality tracing. We modelled the effect of activities of daily living (ADLs), living conditions, occupational and recreational activities and relationship factors (Health of the Nation Outcome Scale [HoNOS] subscales) on all-cause mortality over a 4-year observation period (2007–10) using Cox regression. We identified 6,880 SMI cases (242 deaths) in the observation period. ADL impairment was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (adjusted HR 1.9; 95% CI 1.3–2.8; p = 0.001, p for trend across ADL categories = 0.001) after controlling for a broad range of covariates (including demographic factors, physical health, mental health symptoms and behaviours, socio-economic status and mental health service contact). No associations were found for the other three exposures. Stratification by age indicated that ADLs were most strongly associated with mortality in the youngest (15 to <35 years) and oldest (≥55 years) groups. Functional impairment in people with serious mental illness diagnoses is a marker of increased mortality risk, possibly in younger age groups as a marker of negative symptomatology. Copyright: © Hayes et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This study was supported by the Clinical Records Interactive Search (CRIS) system funded and developed by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Mental Health Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London and a joint infrastructure grant from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity and the Maudsley Charity. RH, CKC, AF, AB, DT, MB, MH and RS are funded by the NIHR Mental Health Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. The sponsors had no further role in the study design; in the collection, analysis or interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. Compared to the general population, individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder, have substantially higher risk of premature mortality , , , . This translates into a 10–20 year reduction in life expectancy, more severe in this respect than well-recognised adverse exposures such as smoking, diabetes and obesity . Underlying factors however remain unclear. The mortality gap is only partially explained by suicide, accidents or violence , and natural causes remain an important component such as death from coronary heart disease and stroke , , although these in turn are not fully explained by smoking or adverse effects of antipsychotic medication . As well as research into specific outcomes and physical disorders as causal pathways, there is a need to investigate SMI subgroups to clarify whether the mortality risk is raised equally for all individuals with these diagnoses, or whether there are subgroups at particularly high risk; however, research to date has been limited and inconsistent. For example, although severity of symptomatology might be expected to exert an influence, research evidence for this has been conflicting , , . SMI can impact on many aspects of an individual’s ability to function in daily life and their living environment. , , , , It is possible that adverse interpersonal and lifestyle factors may contribute to the observed excess mortality , , , . People with SMI are more likely to be socially isolated, , living in poor housing conditions , may have less satisfactory diet , and reduced physical activity , , and may experience more difficulties in managing day-to-day tasks , . These issues are compounded by unemployment or, if employed, experiences of stigma and insufficient opportunities to maintain or use intact skills resulting in disadvantaged levels of income . Although previous research in SMI has explored the impact of symptoms , , and risk behaviours , we know very little about the role of environmental factors and functional status such as difficulties with activities of daily living (ADLs), living conditions, occupational/recreational activities, and relationships. However, these factors have been associated with increased risks of mortality in general population samples and other patient groups , , , , . There is some evidence that not being married and lacking social support may be associated with suicidality in people with schizophrenia , and having no paid employment was found to increase mortality risk by 38% in a cohort admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit A recent study investigating individuals with a range of mental disorders found that clinician-appraised risk of self-neglect (but not appraised risk of suicide or violence) predicted all cause mortality, independent of physical health and to the strongest extent in the youngest age group . In this investigation we examined associations between mortality and the following predictors in people with SMI: ADL impairment, social relationships, living conditions and occupational/recreational activities. The Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) system was approved as a dataset for secondary analysis on this basis by Oxfordshire Research Ethics Committee C (08/H0606/71). In the UK, there is state-wide provision of healthcare under the National Health Service (NHS), and mental health services have a close to 100% monopoly provision to defined geographic catchment areas. The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM) provides comprehensive secondary mental healthcare to a population of approximately 1.2 million residents of four London boroughs (Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon) making it one of Europe’s largest mental health providers. SLAM service provision encompasses all aspects of secondary mental healthcare across all age groups including inpatient, community, general hospital liaison and forensic services. Electronic clinical records have been used comprehensively across all SLAM services since 2006, and the CRIS system, supported by the NIHR Specialist Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, was developed in 2008 to enable researchers to efficiently search and retrieve anonymised clinical records. There are currently over 185,000 cases represented in the CRIS system providing anonymised in-depth information. The protocol for this case register has been described in detail in an open-access publication . Individuals who had received an SMI diagnosis (schizophrenia [ICD-10 code: F20], schizoaffective disorder [F25] or bipolar affective disorder [F31]) during the specific observation period (from 1st January 2007 to 31st December 2010, inclusive) and who had been assessed by a clinician using the Health of the Nations Outcome Scale (HoNOS) , at least once during this observation period were included in this dynamic cohort. In 1998, the HoNOS was introduced as a standard measure of patient wellbeing for application in NHS mental health services and its application in all people receiving care from SLAM is a core target against which services are evaluated. HoNOS assessments were not included for individuals who were under the age of 15 at the time of assessment. Diagnoses recorded in the SLAM BRC Case Register were based on the 10th edition of the World Health Organization International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) . In this investigation, the outcome of interest was all-cause mortality occurring within the observation period (2007–2010, inclusive) in people with SMI. We were able to determine deaths through routine nationwide mortality tracing linked to the clinical record and therefore available for analysis, as applied in previous research . Briefly, NHS numbers (a unique identifier for UK NHS medical records) for all previous and current SLAM contacts are checked monthly against the national mortality database and deaths electronically flagged on the patient record. In the UK, all death certifications are linked to NHS number, and primary and secondary healthcare providers are required by law to keep these records up to date. Data from the first HoNOS questionnaire that was completed during the observation period were used to measure exposure status. The validity and feasibility of applying the HoNOS in a variety of patient groups has been assessed in a number of previous studies , , , . The HoNOS is completed by clinicians after routine clinical assessments and is widely used as a outcome measure by English mental health services. There are 12 items in the HoNOS. Response options follow the format of 0) not a problem; l) minor problem requiring no action; 2) mild problem but definitely present; 3) moderately severe problem; 4) severe to very severe problem, with standard descriptions (available on the electronic clinical record in SLAM) for how and when to apply each level of a given item . In this analysis the primary exposures of interest were the HoNOS items which address function across several domains: 9, 10, 11 and 12 . Item 9 assesses problems with social relationships including active or passive withdrawal from social relationships, and/or non-supportive, destructive or self-damaging relationships; item 10 assesses limitations in activities of daily living such as problems with basic activities of self-care (e.g. eating, washing, dressing, toilet) as well as more complex skills such as budgeting, shopping, and use of transport; item 11 assesses suboptimal living conditions in particular whether basic necessities (heat, light, hygiene) are met; and item 12 assesses problems with occupational and recreational activities including whether there is help to cope with disabilities, and opportunities for maintaining or improving occupational and recreational skills and activities. Four further HoNOS items were included in this analysis as potential confounders. These were the items assessing a) non-accidental self injury, b) problem drinking or drug taking, c) physical illness or disability, and d) depressed mood. Due to limited numbers in some categories all HoNOS items were condensed to three response options in the analysis: 0) not a problem, 1) minor problem requiring no action, 2–4) significant problem. Other covariates were defined from routinely completed fields on the source records. Age was calculated at the date on which each individual received their first HoNOS assessment during the observation period. Ethnic group classifications were: “White British and other white background”, “East Asian”, “South Asian”, “African, Caribbean and other black background”, and “Mixed, unknown, and others”. Relationship status was classified as being in a current relationship (cohabiting, married or civil partner) and no current relationship (divorced, civil partnership dissolved, separated, single, widowed/surviving civil partner or unknown). Employment status was classified as being in paid employment (part-time or full-time paid employment, self employed), or not in paid employment (unemployed, registered disabled, retired, full-time student including tertiary or school age, government training scheme, volunteer, not known, other). Patients were also grouped into diagnostic categories based on the first SMI diagnosis they had received during the observation period. In order to adjust for the level of mental health service involvement, we calculated the number of face-to-face contacts each patient received in a period of 60 days centred on the index HoNOS assessment. The numbers of contacts were then divided into tertiles for the analysis. We used an area-level index of multiple deprivation to measure socioeconomic status, calculated at the level of lower super output area for the residence (LSOA) a UK address-grouping construct which contains an average of 1,500 residents. The index of multiple deprivation is derived from a range of domains applied to the area including: employment, income, education, health, barriers to housing and services, crime and the living environment. Each domain is given a specific weighting to reflect its overall importance in the calculation of this index. Moreover, each domain is made up of a number of specific indicators that reflect different aspects of the deprivation they are intended to measure. Increasing scores in the index of multiple deprivation are indicative of more severe deprivation. In this analysis, deprivation scores were divided into tertiles. The address in England that was recorded closest in time to the commencement of the observation period was used to obtain deprivation scores with a separate category for homelessness . A target for clinical teams in SLAM is to perform a brief risk assessment on all active cases followed by a structured full risk assessment for those at significant risk, the latter of which includes a scale for self-neglect. However in practice only a proportion those with SMI have received a full risk assessment so the self-neglect measure was used as a covariate in a secondary analysis only. The self-neglect scale has been described in detail elsewhere ; briefly, binary responses for eleven tick-box items relating to self-neglect are summed to form a subscale score which was found to have reasonable internal consistency (Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.64) . Cox regression procedures were used to model associations between the exposures of interest (activities of daily living, living conditions, access to services and relationship factors) and all-cause mortality. Proportional hazards assumptions were tested and indicated that it was appropriate to used Cox regression procedures. For each patient, the ‘at-risk’ period commenced from the date of the patient’s first HoNOS assessment during the observation period. The censoring date was the end of the observation period (31st December 2010) and the event date was the date of death during the observation period. Adjusted associations between mortality and the principal exposures of interest or potential confounders were examined. Initial models were adjusted for age, gender and diagnosis. In subsequent models we adjusted for individual or blocks of potential confounding factors: demographic characteristics, metal and physical health, contact with SLAM services and socioeconomic measures. The fully adjusted model comprised all factors listed in Table 1. Significant associations between principal exposures of interest and mortality, identified in the fully adjusted model, were then explored further by stratifying by gender, age group and diagnosis. In a secondary analysis the self-neglect risk assessment scale was included as an additional covariate. Table 1. Cox regression analyses of risk factors for all cause mortality in individuals with serious mental illness (N = 6,880, 242 deaths). We identified 6,880 individuals with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder who met the inclusion criteria, in whom 242 deaths occurred during the observation period. The mean follow-up period was 974.8 days (SD 412.4 days). Of these cases, approximately three quarters (74.8%) had received at least one HoNOS assessment during the observation period. Compared to those who had received this assessment, those missing the HoNOS assessment were older (mean (SD) ages at first SMI diagnosis: 51.2 (19.9) vs. 41.8 (13.4) years respectively), were more likely to have died during the observation period (9.6% vs. 3.5%), were more likely to be female (49% vs. 44%) but did not differ with regard to paid employment status. In addition there were small differences in the proportion of SMI diagnoses comparing those missing the HoNOS assessment and those receiving it (schizophrenia: 59.0% vs. 62.1%; schizoaffective disorder: 8.3% vs. 11.2%; bipolar affective disorder 32.7% vs. 26.7%). Table 1 presents Cox regression analyses of risk factors for all-cause mortality in individuals with serious mental illness adjusting for age, gender and diagnosis. Numbers of cases and number and percentage of deaths are presented by levels of exposure variables. After controlling for age, gender and diagnosis, mortality was positively associated with ADL impairment; significant problems with standard of living conditions; and problems with occupational and recreational activities. Associations were also observed between mortality and older age, diagnosis (reduced risk in bipolar disorder compared to schizophrenia), minor problems with depressed mood, worse physical health and higher mental health service contact. A small proportion of cases included in this investigation had received different SMI diagnoses (on different occasions) during the observation period (n = 316, 4.6%). The proportion of individuals who had received different SMI diagnoses was highest among those initially diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, (n = 75, 9.7%) and lower among those initially diagnosed with schizophrenia (n = 150, 3.5%) or bipolar disorder (n = 91, 5.0%). Table 2 summarises multivariable analyses of associations between exposures of interest and mortality after adjusting for individual or blocks of potential confounders. A likelihood ratio test indicated that it was appropriate to use age as a continuous variable in the models. In addition, as a sensitivity analysis, we included age as a quadratic in the models but this made very little difference to the results. Associations between mortality and the standard of living conditions and occupational or recreational activities were observed after adjusting for demographic factors only; however after adjusting for both demographic and health factors, mortality was not significantly associated with living conditions, occupational and recreational activities or social relationships. By contrast, problems with ADLs remained associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality across all models including the fully adjusted model (assessed by p value for trend across categories). Moreover, in the fully adjusted model significant ADL impairment was independently associated with mortality risk (adjusted HR 1.9; 95% CI 1.3–2.8; p = 0.001). Table 2. Multivariate Cox regression analyses of functional status and environment risk factors for all-cause mortality in individuals with serious mental illness. In Tables 3, 4 and 5 associations between ADL impairment and all-cause mortality in individuals with serious mental illness are stratified by gender, age group and diagnosis, respectively. Significant problems with ADLs were associated with mortality in both men and women in partially (adjusted for age and diagnosis) and fully adjusted models (Table 3). After adjusting for age (as a continuous variable), gender and diagnosis, (Table 4) ADL impairment was significantly associated with mortality in the youngest (15 to <35 years) and oldest (≥55 years) age groups investigated but not in the mid age group (35 to <55 years). This same pattern occurred in fully adjusted models. However, a likelihood ratio test including interaction terms indicated that there was insufficient evidence that the relationship between ADLs and mortality varied by age group (p = 0.245). Stratifying by diagnosis (Table 5), ADL impairment was associated with mortality in all SMI groups in age and gender adjusted models. However, in fully adjusted models significant associations between ADL impairment and mortality were evident for those diagnosed with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder but not bipolar disorder. Table 3. Association between activities of daily living (ADLs) and all-cause mortality in individuals with serious mental illness stratified by gender. Table 4. Association between activities of daily living (ADLs) and all-cause mortality in individuals with serious mental illness stratified by age. Table 5. Association between activities of daily living (ADLs) and all-cause mortality in individuals with serious mental illness stratified by diagnosis. The proportion of the cohort who had completed at least one item on the self-neglect risk scale was 60.3%. When this variable was included in a fully adjusted model (in the subsample who had completed at least one item on the self-neglect risk scale) it made little difference to the association between ADL impairment and mortality (adjusted HR 2.3; 95% CI 1.3–4.1; p = 0.006). In a sensitivity analysis we coded all those who had not received a full risk assessment as having scored zero so that these individuals would not be lost from the analytic sample but again including this variable made little difference to the association between ADL impairment and mortality (adjusted HR 2.1; 95% CI 1.4–3.0; p<0.001). In this investigation, we linked all-cause mortality data to a secondary mental healthcare case register to examine whether aspects of the living environment and functional status contribute to mortality in individuals with SMI. ADL impairment was found to be associated with increased risk of mortality after adjustment for a number of covariates. Clinically significant ADL impairment was associated with mortality in both men and women and in the youngest (under 35 years) and oldest (55 years and over) age groups investigated, indicating that it wasn’t confined to the older age groups, although age interaction tests were not significant. After adjusting for demographic and health factors, mortality was not significantly associated with other general living environment factors investigated including living conditions, occupational and recreational activities or social relationships. To our knowledge, no previous research has specifically investigated associations between functional status and mortality in individuals with SMI. Research into the impact of ADL impairment on mortality risk has almost exclusively focussed on older community samples , , and ADL impairment is clearly associated with increased age and physical illness. However, these associations are likely to be of limited relevance in this cohort where ADL impairment was associated with an increased risk of mortality in those under 35 as well as among older individuals and where the association persisted after controlling for a broad range of potential confounders including age, physical health, alcohol or drug misuse, depression and non-accidental self injury. Factors underlying score distributions on this scale are likely to differ in younger and older age groups and the construct in SMI will be considered further below. There was no association between all-cause mortality and prior problems with social relationships or relationship status, although an earlier investigation reported that not being married and lacking social support were associated with suicidality in schizophrenia . Although cause of death was not analyzed as an outcome in our study, there is evidence that a sizable proportion of excess mortality in people with SMI is due to natural causes, , and specific associations with suicide are unlikely to be reflected here. Having no paid employment was found to increase risk of mortality in a previous study of individuals admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit. However, in our sample employment status was not associated with mortality in partially or fully adjusted models and deficits in occupational/recreational activities were we no longer associated with mortality after controlling for demographic and health factors, although the latter are potentially on the causal pathway between socioeconomic status and mortality so that findings after adjustment should be viewed with caution. This investigation has a number of strengths. The sample was large and inclusive of all patients with SMI who had made contact with mental health services within a defined area over a 4-year period. SLAM is a large provider of secondary mental healthcare and a near-monopoly provider for its geographic catchment, hence our data should be representative of patients with SMI living in urban and suburban areas. In this longitudinal analysis, it was possible to draw on complete electronic clinical records of more than six thousand cases, providing the statistical power to simultaneously control for a range of potential confounders. In the UK, it is a legal requirement for primary and secondary healthcare providers to keep death records up to date. Mortality tracing in the source records system is updated monthly and is based on national certification so that only deaths occurring outside the UK are likely to have been missed. However, there are limitations that need to be considered. We controlled for a wide range of potential confounders; however, there may still be residual confounding. In particular, medication use was not included in this analysis which may have had an impact on results, for example relating to physical consequences of long-term antipsychotic use . Also, a reliable assessment of duration of illness (or chronic versus episodic illness) and level of access to basic primary medical care services were not available for this cohort. Moreover Adverse lifestyle choices (other than drinking problems), such as smoking, poor diet, and physical inactivity, may also contribute to the increased risk of mortality in individuals with SMI. , , , Data on these variables were not available, although these are more likely to represent mediating rather than confounding factors (i.e. potentially a result of ADL impairment and therefore lying on the causal pathway between this status and mortality as an outcome). ADL impairment was assessed using a single HoNOS item, consequently it was not possible to explore the relative contributions of basic versus instrumental ADL. Also cognitive function was not assessed in this analysis. Three quarters of those with SMI had received at least one HoNOS assessment during the observation period but there were differences between those with and without this assessment. Most notably, those missing the HoNOS assessment were older and more likely to have died during the observation period, differences which may have impacted on results. It should be noted that HoNOS is not a research assessment and inter-rater variation may have reduced the apparent effect of the exposures examined. All secondary mental healthcare within the four boroughs that form the SLAM catchment is provided at no cost to consumers as part of the UK National Health Service (NHS), so the only missing mental health service contacts would be from individuals seeking exclusively private healthcare . However, the characteristics of the cohort who are known to secondary care may still be influenced by levels of disadvantage or referral bias. Consequently, the generalisability of these findings is principally to secondary care rather than primary care populations. The results of this investigation have potential implications for clinicians and researchers. There is evidence from previous research that unhealthy lifestyles and poor general health may make a major contribution to mortality among individuals with SMI , , , including evidence from our own sample on sub-clinical illness. The analyses described here highlight difficulties with ADLs as a factor defining a group at higher risk for mortality. While in older age groups, this may reflect comorbid physical frailty (although the association was independent of physical health to the extent that it was characterised here), this is less likely to be a meaningful explanation in the younger age group, where the association remained strong and significant. Functional decline is a core feature of the negative syndrome in schizophrenia and higher scores on the HoNOS ADL scale in younger people might well be indicative of this. Taken together with recent findings of self-neglect risk and increased mortality from a related cohort in this case register , and generally few associations between HoNOS symptom or behaviour scales and mortality , the overall picture is one of highest all-cause mortality risk in service users who may be least visible to clinical teams. Causal pathways require further delineation (for example, the extent to which associations are accounted for by adverse lifestyles or difficulties accessing healthcare). However, ADL impairment can be identified and rated by care-coordinators and both HoNOS and more in-depth evaluation might well provide an easily identified early warning for premature mortality and a potential point for intervention. Routine assessment of functional status among those with SMI can generate important information allowing service providers to better prioritise care. The HoNOS is widely used as a clinical outcome measure in SLAM and across English mental health services generally. In clinical settings beyond the UK other routine assessment tools (if widely available and well completed) may be used to provide similar information. In future, health management of individuals with SMI could more effectively target difficulties with ADLs to help reduce the excess mortality risk among those with SMI, although this would require further evaluation. Further research might employ mixed methods to clarify the features of ADL impairment in the context of SMI (particularly in the under 35 age group) with a view to gaining a better understanding of potential causal pathways between ADLs and mortality as well as cause specific mortality and co-existing medical illnesses. 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https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0044613

2009-05-15 Assigned to VISI TECHNOLOGY, LTD. reassignment VISI TECHNOLOGY, LTD. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: VISUAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS, INC. 2009-05-15 Assigned to M7 VISUAL INTELLIGENCE, L.P. reassignment M7 VISUAL INTELLIGENCE, L.P. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: VISI TECHNOLOGY, LTD. 2013-03-19 Assigned to VISUAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS, INC. reassignment VISUAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: MAI, TUY VU, SMITHERMAN, CHESTER L. The present invention provides a system and method for mosaicing multiple input images, captured by one or more remote sensors, into a seamless mosaic of an area of interest. Each set of input images captured by the remote sensors within a capture interval are ortho-rectified and mosaiced together into a composite image. Successive composite images, along a given flight path, are then mosaiced together to form a strip. Adjacent strips are then mosaiced together to form a final image of the area of interest. This application is a continuation of the following U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/247,441, filed Sep. 19, 2002. The present invention relates, generally, to the field of remote imaging techniques and, more particularly, to a system for rendering high-resolution digital images over very large fields of view. Remote imaging is a broad-based technology having a number of diverse and extremely important practical applications—such as geological mapping and analysis, military surveillance and planning, and meteorological forecasting. Aerial and satellite-based photography and imaging are especially useful remote imaging techniques that have, over recent years, become heavily reliant on the collection and processing of digital image data. Spatial data—characterizing real estate improvements and locations, roads and highways, environmental hazards and conditions, utilities infrastructures (e.g., phone lines, pipelines), and geophysical features—can now be collected, processed, and communicated in a digital format to conveniently provide highly accurate mapping and surveillance data for various civilian and military applications (e.g., dynamic GPS mapping). A major challenge facing some such remote imaging applications is one of image resolution. Certain applications require very high image resolution—often with tolerances of inches. Depending upon the particular system used (e.g., aircraft, satellite, or space vehicle), an actual digital imaging device may be located anywhere from several hundred feet to several miles above its target, resulting in a very large scale factor. Providing images with very large scale factors, that also have resolution tolerances of inches, poses a challenge to even the most robust imaging system. Thus, conventional systems usually must make some trade-off between resolution quality and the size of a target area that can be imaged. If the system is designed to provide high-resolution digital images, then the field of view (FOV) of the imaging device is typically small. If the system provides a larger FOV, then usually the resolution of the digital image is decreased and the distortion is increased. Ortho-imaging is one approach that has been used in an attempt to address this problem. In general, ortho-imaging renders a composite image of a target by compiling varying sub-images of the target. Typically, in aerial imaging applications, a digital imaging device that has a finite range and resolution records images of fixed subsections of a target area sequentially. Those images are then aligned according to some sequence to render a composite of a target area. Often, such rendering processes are very time-consuming and labor intensive. In many cases, those processes require iterative processing that measurably degrades image quality and resolution—especially in cases where thousands of sub-images are being rendered. In cases where the imaging data can be processed automatically, that data is often repetitively transformed and sampled—reducing color fidelity and image sharpness with each successive manipulation. If automated correction or balancing systems are employed, such systems may be susceptible to image anomalies (e.g., unusually bright or dark objects)—leading to over or under-corrections and unreliable interpretations of image data. In cases where manual rendering of images is required or desired, time and labor costs are immense. There is, therefore, a need for an ortho-image rendering system that provides efficient and versatile imaging for very large FOVs while maintaining image quality and clarity. The present invention provides a versatile system for efficiently and reliably stitching together images, collected from high-resolution digital imaging sensors, into a seamless, high quality, wide FOV mosaic image. The mosaicing processes of the present invention efficiently stitch thousands of small, digital sub-images into a single, high-quality composite image. The present invention provides processes that tonally balance images based on green-dominant pixels, providing greater image fidelity and clarity even where image anomalies occur. The present invention transforms original sub-images only once during generation of the final mosaic—reducing processing time and image distortions due to iterative manipulations. More specifically, the present invention provides a system for mosaicing two overlapping digital input images together. One input image, comprising a number of pixels having certain intensity, is identified as the reference image. A second input image, also comprising a number of pixels having certain intensity, overlaps the reference image in an overlap area. The pixels of the secondary image within the overlap area are scaled to have intensity equivalent to the intensity of the reference image pixels within the overlapping area. The present invention also provides a system for rendering multiple input images into a single composite image. This system comprises a first sub-system for determining geographical boundaries of each input image. A second sub-system, for mapping each input image into the composite image with accurate geographical position, is cooperatively engaged with the first sub-system. A third sub-system for balancing color of the input images mapped into the composite image is cooperatively engaged with the first and second sub-systems. Finally, a fourth sub-system for blending borders between adjacent input images mapped into the composite image is cooperatively engaged with the first, second and third sub-systems. In addition, the present invention provides a method of geographically aligning a plurality of input images of a target terrain collected from an imaging sensor. The imaging sensor's attitude with respect to a target terrain is determined. A primary input image and at least one secondary image are provided or identified. The primary input image is aligned with respect to the target terrain, and the secondary input image is aligned with respect to the primary input image. The present invention further provides a system for rendering multiple, partially-overlapping input images of a target terrain, taken successively along a flight line over the target terrain, into a seamless image strip of the target terrain. That system comprises a sub-system for providing a reference image and a secondary image that partially overlap and have a common boundary area. Another subsystem divides the boundary area into segments. Another subsystem computes a balancing correlation matrix for each such segment. The system also comprises a subsystem for modifying pixel values within each segment, along a gradient that starts at the image boundary and terminates at a predetermined transition distance, by the balancing correlation matrix for that segment. The system also comprises a subsystem for providing smooth transition from the balancing correlation matrix of one segment to the next by defining a transition area at the interface between two segments and using distance-weighted average values of the two corresponding matrices to scale pixels in this area. Finally, another subsystem feathers pixels at the boundary to eliminate any remaining visible seam. In addition, the present invention also provides a method of establishing a seam line between adjacent image strips that minimizes perspective imaging effects of elevated features in the image strips. An initial seam line between the image strips is selected. The initial seam line is divided into small segments. The position of an elevated feature in a particular segment is determined; and the route of the seam line in that segment is then altered based on the position of the elevated feature. The present invention also provides a method for rendering multiple, partially-overlapping input image strips of a target terrain into a seamless image mosaic of the target terrain that includes normalizing the intensity of each input image to a desired mean and standard deviation. A reference image and a secondary image, having a partially overlapping area and a common boundary area are provided. A segmented seam line between the reference and secondary image strips, that minimizes perspective imaging effects of elevated features in those images, is established. The boundary area is divided into segments corresponding to the segments of the seam line. A balancing correlation matrix is computed for each such segment. Pixel values are modified within each segment, along a gradient that starts at the boundary and terminates at a predetermined transition distance, by the balancing correlation matrix for that segment. The system also comprises a subsystem for providing smooth transition from the balancing correlation matrix of one segment to the next by defining a transition area at the interface between two segments and using distance-weighted average values of the two corresponding matrices to scale pixels in this area. The pixels at the boundary are further feathered to eliminate any remaining visible seam. The present invention further provides a method of processing color input images to reduce bias caused by man-made structures or water bodies. The method includes selecting green-dominant pixels from a first input image and computing an average intensity value thereof. Green-dominant pixels are then selected from a second input image, and an average intensity value thereof is computed. The average intensity values of the first and second input images are then compared, and the first or second input image is processed responsive to the results of the comparison. Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment of an imaging process in accordance with the present invention. While the making and using of various embodiments of the present invention are discussed in detail below, it should be appreciated that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts, which can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention and do not limit the scope of the invention. The present invention provides a versatile system for efficiently and reliably stitching together images, collected from high-resolution digital imaging sensors, into a seamless, high quality, mosaic image covering a wide FOV. The mosaicing processes of the present invention efficiently stitch (or mosaic) thousands of small, digital sub-images into a single, high-quality composite image. Processing the image data in digital format provides greater efficiency and lowers processing costs. The present invention provides processes that tonally balance images based on green-dominant pixels, providing greater image fidelity and clarity—even where image anomalies, such as exceptionally bright or dark objects, occur. Moreover, the present invention transforms original sub-images only once during the mosaicing process—reducing processing time and image distortions due to iterative manipulations. As previously indicated, the present invention mosaics images collected from high-resolution digital imaging sensors. The teachings and principles of the present invention are applicable to a wide variety of digital imaging systems and sensors, relying on a number of equipment and platform configurations. For purposes of explanation and illustration, however, the present invention is hereafter described in reference to one particular embodiment of a scalable camera array for remote imaging. It should be understood, however, that those of skill in the art will, upon reference to this description, be able to apply the principles and teachings of the present invention in a wide variety of imaging systems—from personal digital cameras to satellites and other spacecraft-based surveillance systems. Referring now to FIG. 1, one embodiment of a high-resolution digital imaging sensor, which may be used to collect image data according to the present invention, is illustrated. FIG. 1 depicts a camera array assembly 100 airborne over target 102 (e.g., terrain). For illustrative purposes, the relative size of assembly 100, and the relative distance between it and terrain 102, are not depicted to scale in FIG. 1. Assembly 100 comprises a housing 104 within which imaging sensors 106, 108, 110, 112 and 114 are disposed along a concave curvilinear axis 116. The radius of curvature of axis 116 may vary or be altered dramatically, providing the ability to effect very subtle or very drastic degrees of concavity in axis 116. Alternatively, axis 116 may be completely linear—having no curvature at all. Imaging sensors 106, 108, 110, 112 and 114 couple to housing 104, either directly or indirectly, by attachment members 118. Attachment members 118 may comprise a number of fixed or dynamic, permanent or temporary, connective apparatus. For example, members 118 may comprise simple welds, removable clamping devices, or electro-mechanically controlled universal joints. As depicted in FIG. 1, housing 104 comprises a simple enclosure inside of which sensors 106, 108, 110, 112 and 114 are disposed. Sensors 106-114 couple, via members 118, either collectively to a single transverse cross member, or individually to lateral cross members disposed between opposing walls of housing 104. In alternative embodiments, housing 104 may itself comprise only a supporting cross member of concave curvature to which sensors 106-114 couple, via members 118. In other embodiments, housing 104 may comprise a hybrid combination of enclosure and supporting cross member. Housing 104 further comprises an aperture 120 formed in its surface, between the sensors and target 102. Depending upon the specific type of host craft, aperture 120 may comprise only a void, or it may comprise a protective screen or window to maintain environmental integrity within housing 104. Optionally, aperture 120 may comprise a lens or other optical device to enhance or alter the nature of the images recorded by the sensors. Aperture 120 is formed with a size and shape sufficient to provide sensors 106-114 proper lines of sight to a target region 122 on terrain 102. Sensors 106-114 are disposed within or along housing 104 such that the focal axes of all sensors converge and intersect each other within an intersection area bounded by aperture 120. Depending upon the type of image data being collected, the specific sensors used, and other optics or equipment employed, it may be necessary or desirable to offset the intersection area or point of convergence above or below aperture 120. Sensors 106-114 are separated from each other at angular intervals, which are preferably equal. The exact angle of displacement between the sensors may vary widely depending upon the number of sensors utilized and on the type of imaging data being collected. The angular displacement between sensors may also be unequal, if required, so as to provide a desired image offset or alignment. Depending upon the number of sensors utilized, and the particular configuration of the array, the focal axes of all sensors may intersect at exactly the same point, or may intersect at a plurality of points, all within close proximity to each other and within the intersection area defined by aperture 120. As depicted in FIG. 1, sensor 110 is centrally disposed within housing 104 along axis 116. Sensor 110 has a focal axis 124, directed orthogonally from housing 104 to align the sensor's line of sight with image area 126 of region 122. Sensor 108 is disposed within housing 104 along axis 116, adjacent to sensor 110. Sensor 108 is aligned such that its line of sight coincides with image area 128 of region 122, and such that its focal axis 130 converges with and intersects axis 124 within the area bounded by aperture 120. Sensor 112 is disposed within housing 104 adjacent to sensor 110, on the opposite side of axis 116 as sensor 108. Sensor 112 is aligned such that its line of sight coincides with image area 132 of region 122, and such that its focal axis 134 converges with and intersects axes 124 and 130 within the area bounded by aperture 120. Sensor 106 is disposed within housing 104 along axis 116, adjacent to sensor 108. Sensor 106 is aligned such that its line of sight coincides with image area 136 of region 122, and such that its focal axis 138 converges with and intersects the other focal axes within the area bounded by aperture 120. Sensor 114 is disposed within housing 104 adjacent to sensor 112, on the opposite side of axis 116 as sensor 106. Sensor 114 is aligned such that its line of sight coincides with image area 140 of region 122, and such that its focal axis 144 converges with and intersects the other focal axes within the area bounded by aperture 120. Sensors 106-114 may comprise a number of digital imaging devices including, for example, individual cameras, infrared sensors, or seismic sensors. Each sensor may comprise an individual imaging device, or may itself comprise an imaging array. Sensors 106-114 may all be of a homogenous nature, or may comprise a combination of varied imaging devices. For ease of reference, sensors 106-114 are hereafter referred to as cameras 106-114, respectively. In large-format film or digital cameras, lens distortion is typically a source of imaging problems. Each individual lens must be carefully calibrated to determine precise distortion factors. In one embodiment of this invention, small-format digital cameras—having lens angles of 14 degrees or smaller—are utilized. This alleviates noticeable distortion efficiently and affordably. Cameras 106-114 are alternately disposed within housing 104 along axis 116 such that each camera's focal axis converges upon aperture 120, crosses focal axis 124, and aligns its field of view with a target area opposite its respective position in the array—resulting in a “cross-eyed”, retinal relationship between the cameras and the imaging target(s). Assembly 100 is configured such that adjoining borders of image areas 126, 128, 132, 136 and 140 overlap slightly. If members 118 are of a permanent and fixed nature (e.g., welds), then the spatial relationship between aperture 120, the cameras, and their lines of sight remain fixed—as will the spatial relationship between image areas 126, 128, 132, 136 and 140. Such a configuration may be desirable in, for example, a satellite surveillance application where assembly 100 will remain at an essentially fixed distance from region 122. The position and alignment of the cameras is set such that areas 126, 128, 132, 136 and 140 provide full imaging coverage of region 122. If members 118 are of a temporary or adjustable nature, however, it may be desirable to selectively adjust, either manually or by remote automation, the position or alignment of the cameras so as to shift, narrow or widen areas 126, 128, 132, 136 and 140—thereby enhancing or altering the quality of images collected by assembly 100. Camera 110 is designated as the principal camera. The image plane 126 of camera 110 serves as a plane of reference. The orientations of the other cameras 106, 108, 112 and 114 are measured relative to the plane of reference. The relative orientations of each camera are measured in terms of the yaw, pitch and roll angles required to rotate the image plane of the camera to become parallel to the plane of reference. The order of rotations is roll, pitch and yaw. Referring now to FIG. 2, images of areas 136, 128, 126, 132 and 140 taken by cameras 106-114, respectively, are illustrated from an overhead view. Again, because of the “cross-eyed” arrangement, the image of area 136 is taken by camera 106, the image of area 140 is taken by camera 114, and so on. In one embodiment of the present invention, images other than those taken by the center camera 110 take on a trapezoidal shape after perspective transformation. Cameras 106-114 form an array along axis 116 that is, in most applications, pointed down vertically. In an alternative embodiment, a second array of cameras, configured similar the array of cameras 106-114, is aligned with respect to the first array of cameras to have an oblique view—providing a “heads-up” perspective. Other alternative embodiments, varying the mounting of camera arrays, are similarly comprehended by the present invention. In all such embodiments, the relative positions and attitudes of the cameras are precisely measured and calibrated so as to facilitate image processing in accordance with the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention, an external mechanism (e.g., a GPS timing signal) is used to trigger the cameras simultaneously—capturing an array of input images. A compound image module (or “mosaicing module”, as referred to hereafter) then renders the individual input images from such an array into an ortho-rectified compound image (or “mosaic”), without any visible seams between the adjacent images. The mosaicing module performs a set of tasks comprising: determining the geographical boundaries and dimensions of each input image; projecting each input image onto the mosaic with accurate geographical positioning; balancing the color of the images in the mosaic; and blending adjacent input images at their shared seams. The exact order of the tasks performed may vary, depending upon the size and nature of the input image data. The mosaicing module performs only a single transformation to an original input image during mosaicing. That transformation can be represented by a 4×4 matrix. By combining multiple transformation matrices into a single matrix, processing time is reduced and original input image sharpness is retained. During mapping of the input images to the mosaic, especially when mosaicing is performed at high resolutions, some pixels in the mosaic (i.e., output pixels) may not be mapped to by any pixels in the input images (i.e., input pixels). Warped lines could potentially result as artifacts in the mosaic. The present invention overcomes this with a super-sampling system, where each input and output pixel is further divided into an n×m grid of sub-pixels. Transformation is performed from sub-pixels to sub-pixels. The final value of an output pixel is the average value of its sub-pixels for which there is a corresponding input sub-pixel. Larger n and m values produce mosaics of higher resolution, but do require extra processing time. During its processing of image data, the mosaicing module utilizes the following information: the spatial position (e.g., x, y, z coordinates) of each camera's focal point at the time an input image is captured; the attitude (i.e., yaw, pitch, roll) of each camera's image plane relative to the target region's ground plane at the time an input image was captured; each camera's fields of view (i.e., along track and cross track); and the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the area. A camera's focal point is used as a perspective transformation center. Its position in space is determined, for example, by a dual-frequency carrier phase post-processed GPS system mounted on the host craft. The offsets, in three dimensions, of a camera's focal point must be carefully measured against the center of the GPS antenna. These offsets are combined with the position of the GPS antenna, and the orientation of the host craft, to determine the exact position of the camera's focal point. The position of the GPS antenna is determined by post-flight processing of collected GPS data against similar ground-based GPS antennas deployed at precisely surveyed points. An Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) (e.g., the Applanix POS AV) is mounted onboard for attitude determination. The attitude of the IMU reference plane relative to the target region's ground plane is measured and recorded at short intervals, with accuracy better than one-hundredth of one degree. The attitude of the IMU reference plane is defined as the series of rotations that can be performed on the axes of this plane to make it parallel to the ground plane. The term “align” is also used to describe this operation. The attitude of center camera 110 (i.e. its image plane), relative to the IMU, must be carefully calibrated. The attitude of each of the other cameras, relative to center camera 110, must also be carefully calibrated. This dependent calibration is more efficient than directly calibrating each camera. When the camera array is remounted, only center camera 110 needs to be recalibrated. Effectively, a series of two transformations is applied to an input image from center camera 110. First, the center camera's image plane is aligned to the IMU plane. Then, the IMU plane is aligned again to the ground plane. These transformations, however, combine into a single operation by multiplying their respective transformation matrices. For image from each of the other cameras, an additional transformation is first performed to align it with the center camera's image plane. The position of the focal point of center camera 110 is determined as described above. The x and y components of this position determine the position of the mosaic's nadir point 200 on the ground. Field of view (FOV) angles of each camera are known, thus the dimensions of each input image can be determined by the z component of that camera's focal point. An average elevation of the ground is determined by computing the average elevation of points in the DTMs of the area, and then each input image is projected to an imaginary horizontal plane at this elevation. Relief displacement is then applied using the DTMs of the area. The DTMs can be obtained from many sources including: the USGS 30- or 10-meter DTMs available for most of the US; commercial DTMs; or DTMs obtained by a LIDAR device mounted on the host craft that captures data concurrently with the cameras. Besides being geographically correctly placed, the resulting compound image also needs to have color consistency throughout, and no visible seams at the joints between two adjacent images. The present invention provides a number of techniques achieving this goal. A characteristic of a conventional camera is the exposure time (i.e., the time the shutter is open to collect light onto the image plane). The longer the exposure time, the lighter the resultant image becomes. Exposure time must adapt to changes in ambient lighting caused by conditions such as: cloud coverage; the angle and position of the sun relative to the camera; and so forth. Optimal exposure time may also depend on a camera's orientation with respect to lighting sources (e.g., cameras pointing towards a sunlit object typically receive more ambient light than those pointing towards a shaded object). Exposure time is adjusted to keep the average intensity of an image within a certain desired range. For example, in 24-bit color images each Red, Green and Blue component can have intensity values from 0 to 255. In most instances, however, it is desirable to keep the average intensity at a mean value (i.e., 127). In the present invention, an exposure control module controls exposure time for each of the cameras or imaging sensors. It examines each input image and calculates average image intensity. Based on a moving average (i.e., average intensity of the last X number of images), the exposure control module determines whether to increase or decrease exposure time. The module can use a longer running average to effect a slower reaction to changes in lighting conditions, with less susceptibility to unusually dark or light images (e.g., asphalt roads or water). The exposure control module controls exposure time for each camera separately. In systems where cameras are mounted without forward-motion compensation mechanisms, there must be a maximum limit for exposure time. Setting exposure time to a value larger than the maximum may cause motion-induced blurriness. For example, assume cameras are mounted on an airplane traveling at 170 miles/hour (or about 3 inches/ms). Assume desired pixel resolution is 6 inches. Forward motion during image capture should be limited to half a pixel size—which in this case equals 3 inches. Thus, maximum exposure time is 1 millisecond. In controlling imaging quality, it is useful to be able to determine if changes in light intensity are caused either due to a change in ambient light or due to the presence of unusually light or dark objects (e.g., reflecting water body, metal roofs, asphalts, etc.). Certain applications of this invention involve aerial photography or surveillance. It is observed that aerial images of the ground usually contain plants and vegetation—which have more consistent reflectivity than water bodies or man-made structures such as roads and buildings. Of course, images of plants and vegetation are usually green-dominant (i.e., the green component is the greatest of the red, green and blue values). Therefore, intensity correlation can be made more accurate by focusing on the green-dominant pixels. The exposure control module computes the average intensity of an image by selecting only green-dominant pixels. For example, if an image has 1 million pixels and 300,000 are green-dominant, only those 300,000 green-dominant pixels are included in the calculation of average intensity. This results in an imaging process that is less susceptible to biasing caused by man-made structures and water bodies, whose pixels are usually not green-dominant. As previously noted, it is desirable to maintain an intensity value of about 127. When intensity value is over 127 (i.e., over-exposed), exposure time is reduced so that less light is captured. Similarly, when intensity value is under 127 (i.e., under-exposed), exposure time is increased so that more light is captured. For example, consider a system flying over a target terrain area having many white roofs, whose intensities are very high. Average intensity for the images captured would tend to be high. In most conventional systems, exposure time would by reduced in order to compensate. In such an example, however, reducing exposure time is not proper, because the average intensity of the images has been biased by the bright roofs. Reducing exposure time would result in images where the ground is darker than it should be. In contrast, if only green-dominant pixels are processed in accordance with the present invention, then pixels representing the overly bright roofs are excluded and do not bias the average intensity, and the exposure time is not changed. Thus, the exposure control module reduces intensity differences between input images. Nonetheless, further processing is provided to enhance tonal balance. There are a number of factors (e.g., lens physics, atmospheric conditions, spatial/positional relationships of imaging devices) that cause an uneven reception of light from the image plane. More light is received in the center of a camera or sensor than at the edges. Each set of input images needs to be stitched into a mosaic image. Even though the exposure control module regulates the amount of light each camera or sensor receives, the resulting input images may still differ in intensity. The present invention provides an intensity-balancing module that compares overlapping area between adjacent input images, to further balance the relative intensities. Because adjoining input images are taken simultaneously, the overlapping areas should, in theory, have identical intensity in both input images. However, due to various factors, the intensity values are usually not the same. Some such factors causing intensity difference could include, for example, the exposure control module being biased by unusually bright or dark objects present in the field of view of only a particular camera, or the boresight angles of cameras being different (i.e., cameras that are more slanted receive less light than those more vertical). To balance two adjacent images, one is chosen as the reference image and the other is the secondary image. A correlation matrix C is determined using, for example, the following process. Let V be a 3×1 vector representing the values (R, G and B) of a pixel: V = R G B . where FR=AvgIr/AvgIn; AvgIr=Red average intensity of overlapped region in reference image; AvgIn=Red average intensity of overlapped region in new image; and FG and FB are similarly derived. The correlation matrix scales pixel values of the secondary image so that the average intensity of the overlapping area of the secondary image becomes identical to the average intensity of the overlapping area of the reference image. The second image can be balanced to the reference image by multiplying its pixel values by the correlation matrix. The balancing factor for each color channel (i.e., red, green and blue) is independently computed. These three values form the diagonal of the BCM, with the other elements being zeros. The now-balanced adjoining image is copied to the mosaic. Smooth transitioning at the border of the copied image is providing by “feathering” with a mask. This mask has the same dimension as the adjoining image and comprises a number of elements. Each element in the mask indicates the weight of the corresponding adjoining image pixel in the mosaic. The weight is zero for pixels at the boundary (i.e. the output value is taken from the reference image), and increases gradually in the direction of the adjoining image until it becomes unity—after a chosen blending width has been reached. Beyond the blending area, the mosaic will be entirely determined by the pixels of the adjoining image. Similarly, the overlaps between all the other constituent input images are analyzed and processed to compute the correlation matrix and to balance the intensities of the images. Referring now to FIGS. 4-6, an example of mosaicing in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. A series 400 of raw input images collected by camera array 100 is depicted. Series 400 comprises center image 402, near left image 404, far left image 406, near right image 408, and far right image 410. Raw input images 402-410 are typically of the same size and shape. FIG. 5 illustrates images 402-410 after orthorectification, which may adjust the size and shape of the images based on relative camera positions, angles, etc. FIG. 6 depicts a resulting image mosaic 600 after images 402-410 have been stitched or mosaiced together in accordance with the present invention. Once mosaics similar to mosaic 600 have been generated, they too can be mosaiced together to form larger mosaic images representative of particular flight lines (“strips”). Initially, a mosaic image at one end of a flight line is imaged to a strip. Then, the next sequential mosaic along the flight line is imaged to the strip. However, to avoid a visible seam at the border between the two mosaics, the imaging involves more than a mere overlaying operation. In a fashion similar to the initial generation of a mosaic, a correlation matrix for the new input mosaic is computed by correlating average intensities in the overlap between input mosaics. Unlike the initial generation of the mosaics, however, this matrix is not used to modify pixel intensity of the entire new strip. Instead, its initial values are only used on pixels at borders. Then non-zero matrix elements are increased or decreased gradually to unity for pixels farther away from the border. When a certain transitioning distance has been reached, the matrix elements become unity and the pixels are no longer modified. Thus, a gradient is created in the transitioning area starting at the border and ending at a certain distance from the border. Beyond the transitioning area, the new mosaic is imaged to the strip without modification to pixel values. Let h be the transition width of region 708, and y be the along-track 706 distance from the boundary 710 of the overlapped region to a point A, whose pixel values are represented by V. Where I is the identity matrix I = 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 . Note that the “feathering” technique is also used in combination with the gradient to minimize seam visibility. When mosaics are long, differences in intensity at the overlap may change from one end of the mosaic to the other. Computing a single correlation matrix to avoid creating visible seams may not be possible. The mosaic can be divided into a number of segments corresponding to the position of the original input images 402-410 that make up the mosaic. The process described above is applied to each segment separately to provide better local color consistency. Under this refined algorithm, pixels at the border of two segments may create vertical seams (assuming north-south flight lines). To avoid this problem, balancing factors for pixels in this area have to be “transitioned” from that of one segment to the other. This is explained now with reference to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 depicts a strip 800 being formed in accordance with the present invention. A base mosaic 802 and a new segment 804 overlap in area 806. Mosaic 802 and another new segment 808 overlap in area 810. Segments 804 and 808 overlap in area 812, and areas 806, 810 and 812 all overlap and coincide at area 814. For explanation purposes, point 816 serves as an origin for y-axis 818 and x-axis 820. Movement along y-axis 818 represents movement along the flight path of the imaging system. Point 816 is located at the lower left of area 814. d is the width of the overlapped region between segments 804 and 808. The mask areas corresponding to other adjoining segments are computed similarly. B values are multiplied by the ratio avgG/avgB. The end result is that the image of the white object is set to have equal R G B components. In most applications, a strip usually covers a large area of non-water surface. Thus, average intensity for the strip is unlikely to be skewed by anomalies such as highly reflecting surfaces. The present invention provides an intensity normalization module that normalizes the average intensity of each strip so that the mean and standard deviation are of a desired value. For example, a mean of 127 is the norm in photogrammetry. A standard deviation of 51 helps to spread the intensity value over an optimal range for visual perception of image features. Each strip may have been taken in different lighting conditions and, therefore, may have different imaging data profiles (i.e., mean intensity and standard deviation). This module normalizes the strips, such that all have the same mean and standard deviation. This enables the strips to be stitched together without visible seams. new value=new mean+(old value−old mean)*(new std/old std). Next, multiple adjacent strips are combined to produce tiled mosaics for an area of interest. This is illustrated in FIGS. 9-10. In FIG. 9, a rough tile 900 is illustrated, formed by stitching together adjacent strips 902-912. Tile 900 undergoes rectification and normalization in accordance with the present invention, resulting in finished tile 1000 as illustrated in FIG. 10. Finished tiles can correspond to the USGS quads or quarter-quads. Stitching strips into mosaics is similar to stitching mosaics together to generate strips, with strips now taking the role of the mosaics. At the seam line between two strips, problems may arise if the line crosses elevated structures such as buildings, bridges, etc. This classic problem in photogrammetry arises from the parallax caused by the same object being looked at from two different perspectives. During imaging of a building, for example, one strip may present a view from one side of the building while another strip presents a view from another side of the building. After the images are stitched together, the resulting mosaic may look like a tepee. In order to address this, an elevation-guided mosaicing process may be implemented to guide the placement of a seam line. This requires having the DTM data (such as those derived from LIDAR data collected concurrently with image data), so that the seam line can be created as a series of line segments traversing points with ground elevation. Thus, in some mosaiced images, a seam line may not be a straight line—instead comprising a seam line that shifts back and forth to avoid elevated structures. Referring now to FIG. 11, one embodiment of an imaging process 1100 is illustrated in accordance with the present invention as described above. Process 1100 begins with a series 1102 of one, or more, raw collected images (e.g., images 126, 128, 132, 136 and 140 of FIG. 2). Initial processing then begins as images 1102 are then processed through a white-balancing process 1104, transforming them into a series of intermediate images. Series 1102 is then processed through anti-vignetting function 1106. Initial processing is now completed, and series 1102 progresses to orthorectification process 1108. As previously noted, orthorectification may rely on position and attitude data 1110 from the imaging sensor system or platform, and on DTM data 1112. DTM data 1112 may be developed from position data 1110 and from, for example, USGS DTM data 1114 or LIDAR data 1116. Series 1102 is now orthorectified, as illustrated in reference to FIG. 5, and processing continues with color balancing 1118. After color balancing, series 1102 is converted by mosaicing module 1120 into compound image 1122. Module 1120 performs the mosaicing and feathering processes during this conversion. Now, one or more compound images 1122 are further combined in step 1124, by mosaicing with a gradient and feathering, into image strip 1126. Image strips are processed through intensity normalization 1128. The now normalized strips 1128 are mosaiced together in step 1130, again by mosaicing with a gradient and feathering, rendering a finishing tiled mosaic 1132. The mosaicing performed in step 1130 may comprise an elevation-guided mosaicing, relying on DTM data 1112 and LIDAR data 1116. The modules, algorithms and processes described above can be implemented in a number technologies and configurations. Embodiments of the present invention may comprise functional instances of software or hardware, or combinations thereof. Furthermore, the modules and processes of the present invention may be combined together in a single functional instance (e.g., one software program), or may comprise operatively associated separate functional devices (e.g., multiple networked processor/memory blocks). All such implementations are comprehended by the present invention. The embodiments and examples set forth herein are presented to best explain the present invention and its practical application and to thereby enable those skilled in the art to make and utilize the invention. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the foregoing description and examples have been presented for the purpose of illustration and example only. The description as set forth is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims. a fifth system for blending borders between adjacent input images mapped into the composite image, cooperatively engaged with the first, second, third and fourth systems. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein each system is implemented in a separate functional instance. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the systems are implemented in a single functional instance. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein each system is implemented in software. 5. The system of claim 1, wherein each system is implemented in hardware. 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the systems are implemented in a combination of hardware and software. 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the system for mapping each input image further comprises a super-sampling system. 8. The system of claim 1, wherein multiple input images are reduced to a single transformation matrix. 9. The system of claim 8, wherein multiple single transformation matrices are reduced to a single transformation matrix. 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the first system performs a white balancing process on the input images. 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the first system performs an anti-vignetting process on the input images. 12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sixth system for controlling the exposure time of the input images based on image intensity, cooperatively engaged with the first, second, third, fourth and fifth systems. 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the system for controlling the exposure time of the input images based on image intensity is incorporated within the fourth system for balancing color of the input images. 14. The system of claim 12, wherein the system for controlling the exposure time of the input images based on image intensity focuses on green-dominant pixels. aligning the secondary input image with respect to the primary input image. scaling pixel values of the secondary image within the overlap area such that the color intensity of the secondary image pixels within the overlap area is equivalent to the intensity of the reference image pixels within the overlap area. 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising a blending process for smoothing image transition within the overlap area. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the blending process assigns a relative weight, determinative of inclusion in the output image, to the pixels of the secondary image. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the relative weight ranges between zero, indicating no inclusion, and unity, indicating full inclusion. altering the route of the seam line in that segment based on the position of the elevated feature. FR2653918B1 (en) * 1989-10-31 1992-02-14 Europ Agence Spatiale Method for correction in real time images of meteorological geostationary satellites. FR2696843B1 (en) * 1992-10-14 1994-12-09 Matra Sep Imagerie Inf A camera remote views, high resolution, for air carrier.

2019-04-25T15:31:03Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20050265631A1/en

Hamilton, Carroll L. was born 4 September 1944, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 86 Ocean Way Dr, Ponce Inlet, Florida 32127-7313. Florida voter ID number 108619159. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Carroll Leon was born 27 January 1936, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 9481 Silver Lake Dr, Leesburg, Florida 34788. Florida voter ID number 119197883. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 30 November 2015 voter list: Carroll Leon Hamilton, 1012 Sierra Blanca Ct, Lady Lake, FL 32159 Republican Party of Florida. 31 May 2012 voter list: CARROLL LEON HAMILTON, 11795 SW HWY 484, DUNNELLON, FL 34432 Republican Party of Florida. Hamilton, Cary Willis was born 10 January 1952, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 8740 W Pine Bluff St, Crystal River, Florida 34428. Florida voter ID number 102678927. His telephone number is 1-352-794-0499. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 January 2014 voter list: CARY WILLIS HAMILTON, 285 NE GREEN TREE TER, LEE, FL 32059 Republican Party of Florida. Hamilton, Case Albert was born 27 January 2000, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 27771 Bayhead Rd, Dade City, Florida 33523. Florida voter ID number 123180581. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Casey Cullum was born 20 November 1981, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 17810 Cranbrook Dr, Lutz, Florida 33549. Florida voter ID number 107276927. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 August 2017 voter list: CASEY GAIL CULLUM, 3222 14TH ST N, ST PETERSBURG, FL 33704 Florida Democratic Party. HAMILTON, CASEY DERRICK was born 4 October 1983, is male, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 1751 S Biscayne Dr, North Port, Florida 34287. Florida voter ID number 102641382. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 December 2017. 31 October 2016 voter list: CASEY DERRICK HAMILTON, 1262 LA SUIZA ST, NORTH PORT, FL 34288 No Party Affiliation. 31 May 2012 voter list: CASEY D. HAMILTON, 1267 RICE TER, NORTH PORT, FL 34286 No Party Affiliation. Hamilton, Casey Joseph was born 18 July 1983, is male, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 1575 18Th Ave Sw, Vero Beach, Florida 32962. Florida voter ID number 120956223. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Casey N. was born 7 December 1966, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 23091 Nw 7Th Rd, Newberry, Florida 32669. Florida voter ID number 100414353. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 30 June 2016. Hamilton, Casey Reed was born 18 July 1995, is male, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 2827 Hammock Dr, Plant City, Florida 33566. Florida voter ID number 119737157. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CASEY S. was born 11 October 1970, is male, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 1909 Angel Hollow Rd, Tallahassee, Florida 32308. Florida voter ID number 117946196. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Casey S. was born 2 July 1991, is male, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 303 13Th Pl Sw, Vero Beach, Florida 32962. Florida voter ID number 116859790. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 July 2017. Hamilton, Cassandra was born 13 April 1986, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 1231 Citrus Terrace Dr, Sebring, Florida 33870. Florida voter ID number 126227301. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Cassandra Lee was born 27 April 1977, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 14579 Bartram Creek Blvd, Jacksonville, Florida 32259. Florida voter ID number 123743106. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 January 2019 voter list: Cassandra Lee Hamilton, 14579 Bartram Creek Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 322597090 No Party Affiliation. 31 October 2018 voter list: Cassandra Lee Hamilton, 12535 AUTUMNBROOK TRL E, Jacksonville, FL 32258 No Party Affiliation. HAMILTON, CASSANDRA LIANE was born 5 June 1969, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 3337 Golden Gem Rd, Apopka, Florida 32712. Florida voter ID number 112861015. Her email address is [email protected]. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CASSANDRA MARGARET was born 14 September 1992, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 925 E Magnolia Dr, Apt N1, Tallahassee, Florida 32301. Florida voter ID number 120158111. Her telephone number is 1-352-232-6220. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 30 September 2015 voter list: CASSANDRA MARGARET HAMILTON, 285 E HARRISON ST, TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 Florida Democratic Party. 22 October 2014 voter list: CASSANDRA MARGARET HAMILTON, 1505 W THARPE ST, APT 234, TALLAHASSEE, FL 32303 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cassandra Mary was born 23 November 1992, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 166 Se St Lucie Blvd, Apt 303, Stuart, Florida 34996. Florida voter ID number 119685286. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 January 2019 voter list: Cassandra Mary Hamilton, 8609 HERLONG Rd, Jacksonville, FL 32210 Florida Democratic Party. 30 June 2015 voter list: Cassandra Mary Hamilton, 1570 Lane AVE S, 409, Jacksonville, FL 32210 Florida Democratic Party. 31 December 2013 voter list: Cassandra Mary Hamilton, 538 NE Maranta Terrado, Jensen Beach, FL 34957 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cassandra Rae born 20 June 1989, Florida voter ID number 114411154 See Saslona, Cassandra Rae. CLICK HERE. HAMILTON, CASSANDRA T. was born 24 May 1949, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 9 Banyan Rd, #A, Ocala, Florida 34472. Florida voter ID number 105666160. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 30 April 2014. Hamilton, Cassidy Anne was born 25 August 1991, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 309 Delwood Breck St, Ruskin, Florida 33570. Florida voter ID number 121910434. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 August 2016 voter list: Cassidy Anne Hamilton, 8801 HUNTERS LAKE DR, Tampa, FL 33647 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cassie Eleece was born 18 February 1981, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 14801 Nw 7Th Ct, Miami, Florida 33168. Florida voter ID number 114731546. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Casssandra Maria was born 26 October 1979, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 5606 Hearn St, Milton, Florida 32570. Florida voter ID number 124524921. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATERINA DIANN born 26 August 1969, Florida voter ID number 121517932 See MCGLYNN, CATERINA DIANN. CLICK HERE. HAMILTON, CATHARINE CLINE was born 28 August 1947, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 175 Sunset Ave, Palm Beach, Florida 33480. Florida voter ID number 120944021. The voter lists a mailing address and probably prefers you use it: 1500 N LAKE SHORE DR CHICAGO IL 60610. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 December 2017. HAMILTON, CATHERINE was born 8 November 1954, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 1331 Duncan Loop N, #208, Dunedin, Florida 34698. Florida voter ID number 106949899. The voter lists a mailing address and probably prefers you use it: 321 BLACKBERRY CIR NEW HOPE PA 18938. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 January 2015 voter list: CATHERINE I. LINKLETTER, 1020 COMMODORE ST, CLEARWATER, FL 33755 Republican Party of Florida. Hamilton, Catherine was born 21 January 1950, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 1216 Bachman Ave, Deltona, Florida 32725. Florida voter ID number 108608526. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine was born 27 July 1943, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 1110 Stonebrooke Ln, Lakeland, Florida 33803-0000. Florida voter ID number 113430740. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 March 2015 voter list: CATHERINE HAMILTON, 1110 STONEBROOKE LN, LAKELAND, FL 33803 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Catherine was born 22 September 1978, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 525 Cavalier Ave, Deltona, Florida 32725. Florida voter ID number 108569639. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 29 February 2016 voter list: Catherine Ortega, 1175 W Minnesota Ave, APT 73, DeLand, FL 327203163 Florida Democratic Party. 31 March 2015 voter list: Catherine Ortega, 110 Laurel Villas Cir, APT 1001, DeLand, FL 32724 Florida Democratic Party. 31 May 2012 voter list: Catherine Ortega, 3019 Hallow Dr, Deltona, FL 32738 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Catherine A. was born 2 June 1950, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 7352 Monteverde Way, Naples, Florida 34119. Florida voter ID number 119256369. Her telephone number is 1-815-218-2801. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine Adele was born 10 August 1953, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 101 Nw 2Nd Ave, Micanopy, Florida 32667. Florida voter ID number 102664285. Her telephone number is 1-941-876-0234. The voter lists a mailing address and probably prefers you use it: 69 Harbourview Ln Chamcocook New Brunswick E5B 3G8 CANADA. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 August 2016 voter list: Catherine A. Hamilton, 101 NW 2nd AVE, Micanopy, FL 32667 No Party Affiliation. Hamilton, Catherine Ann was born 17 November 1945, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 20566 Tahitian Blvd, Estero, Florida 33928. Florida voter ID number 115020342. Her telephone number is 272-2897 (no area code listed). This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 January 2016 voter list: Catherine A. Hamilton, 20566 Tahitian Blvd, Estero, FL 33928 Republican Party of Florida. 31 May 2012 voter list: CATHERINE A. HAMILTON, 8418 MATANZAS RD, FORT MYERS, FL 33967 Republican Party of Florida. HAMILTON, CATHERINE ANNA was born 28 January 1967, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 1127 E Seminole Ave, Apt 17B, Jupiter, Florida 33477. Florida voter ID number 112420558. Her telephone number is 1-561-253-4262. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2012 voter list: CATHERINE ANNA HAMILTON, 336 JACARANDA DR, JUPITER, FL 33458 Republican Party of Florida. HAMILTON, CATHERINE B. was born 26 July 1951, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 3732 Sarasota Ct, Orlando, Florida 32812. Florida voter ID number 113123152. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine C. was born 7 November 1961, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 912 Madison St Sw, Ruskin, Florida 33570. Florida voter ID number 110452417. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATHERINE E. was born 15 February 1948, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 1798 Se 175Th Terrace Rd, Silver Springs, Florida 34488. Florida voter ID number 105728447. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 28 February 2019. HAMILTON, CATHERINE E. was born 28 November 1964, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 2913 Carnaby Ct, Tallahassee, Florida 32309. Florida voter ID number 115043769. Her telephone number is 1-850-894-3754. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine E. was born 30 June 1970, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 4350 Hillcrest Dr, Apt 608, Hollywood, Florida 33021. Florida voter ID number 101752677. Her telephone number is 1-954-782-9902. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 December 2017 voter list: Catherine E. Hamilton, 4350 Hillcrest DR, APT 608, Hollywood, FL 330217932 Florida Democratic Party. 31 May 2015 voter list: Catherine E. Hamilton, 4350 Hillcrest DR, APT 608, Hollywood, FL 33021 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Catherine H. was born 4 April 1961, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 125 Phoenetia Dr, St Augustine, Florida 32086. Florida voter ID number 107977910. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine H. was born 9 August 1967, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 1620 Nw 19Th St, Homestead, Florida 33030. Florida voter ID number 109259838. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATHERINE J. was born 23 September 1946, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 7114 Wymart Rd, Pensacola, Florida 32526. Florida voter ID number 103978832. Her telephone number is 1-850-941-1415. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATHERINE J. was born 10 December 1946, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 6151 Ne 1St St, Ocala, Florida 34470. Florida voter ID number 105776790. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine Levarity was born 24 October 1952, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 450 Nw 88Th St, El Portal, Florida 33150. Florida voter ID number 109147754. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine Linda was born 30 August 1950, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 321 Glen Ave, Valparaiso, Florida 32580. Florida voter ID number 106003662. Her telephone number is 1-850-678-1398. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine Louise was born 10 March 1992, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 1108 E Panhellenic Dr, Gainesville, Florida 32601. Florida voter ID number 118134418. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2012 voter list: CATHERINE LOUISE HAMILTON, 7607 HOLLINGTON PL, LAKE WORTH, FL 33467 No Party Affiliation. HAMILTON, CATHERINE LYNN was born 23 June 1970, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 707 25Th St Nw, Winter Haven, Florida 33881. Florida voter ID number 113837029. The voter lists a mailing address and probably prefers you use it: 707 25TH ST NW WINTER HAVEN FL 33881 USA. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 May 2012. HAMILTON, CATHERINE MICHELE was born 23 November 1957, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 2225 Sw Plymouth St, Pt St Lucie, Florida 34953. Florida voter ID number 126228402. Her telephone number is 1-772-333-7815. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATHERINE R. was born 8 January 1994, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 3732 Sarasota Ct, Orlando, Florida 32812. Florida voter ID number 119401839. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catherine T. was born 15 June 1961, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 1559 Quail Roost Ln, Jacksonville, Florida 32220. Florida voter ID number 103627136. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATHLEEN ANN was born 15 June 1963, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 16216 1St St E, Redington Beach, Florida 33708. Florida voter ID number 126002757. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Cathy A. was born 10 March 1956, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 1481 Sw 5Th Ave, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441-6428. Florida voter ID number 102170368. Her telephone number is 1-954-418-0313. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2015 voter list: Cathy A. Hamilton, 1481 SW 5th Ave, Deerfield Beach, FL 33441 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cathy A. was born 9 September 1957, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 7895 Ne Cubitis Ave, 501 S, Arcadia, Florida 34266. Florida voter ID number 119653021. The voter lists a mailing address and probably prefers you use it: 7895 NE Cubitis Ave C 55 Arcadia FL 34266-6040. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATHY ANN was born 4 February 1958, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 13 Katsura Tree Pl, Palm Coast, Florida 32164. Florida voter ID number 119345742. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATHY ANN was born 14 April 1976, is female, residing at 3224 Montrose Cir, Palm Harbor, Florida 34684. Florida voter ID number 110852147. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 30 November 2016. Hamilton, Cathy D. was born 30 August 1965, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 8455 Sw 104Th St, Miami, Florida 33156. Florida voter ID number 109447118. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 May 2012. HAMILTON, CATHY ENSLEY was born 31 March 1956, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 1617 Colwyn Dr, Cantonment, Florida 32533. Florida voter ID number 104004458. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CATHY J. was born 20 April 1947, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 131 Palm Ave, #35, Jupiter, Florida 33477. Florida voter ID number 111870530. The voter lists a mailing address and probably prefers you use it: 10633 DREXTON PL NEWBURGH IN 47630. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 May 2017. Hamilton, Cathy Jane was born 10 February 1951, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 153 W Village Dr, St Augustine, Florida 32095-4806. Florida voter ID number 118233627. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2013 voter list: Cathy Jane Hamilton, 153 W Village Dr, St Augustine, FL 32095 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cathy Jane was born 13 October 1962, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 494 Birchington Ln, Melbourne, Florida 32940. Florida voter ID number 118235367. Her telephone number is 1-918-625-1929. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Cathy Jean was born 18 November 1953, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 4019 Lincoln St, Hollywood, Florida 33021. Florida voter ID number 111778298. Her telephone number is 1-561-385-0882. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 January 2016 voter list: Cathy J. Hamilton, 2463 FILLMORE St, Hollywood, FL 330204305 Florida Democratic Party. 30 June 2015 voter list: Cathy J. Hamilton, 2463 FILLMORE St, Hollywood, FL 33020 Florida Democratic Party. 30 June 2014 voter list: CATHY J. HAMILTON, 13278 MOONSTONE TER, WELLINGTON, FL 33414 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cathy Jo was born 22 July 1963, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 4205 Se 19Th Ave, #203, Cape Coral, Florida 33904. Florida voter ID number 119039385. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2013 voter list: CATHY JO HAMILTON, 1152 HANCOCK CREEK SOUTH BLVD, #304, CAPE CORAL, FL 33909 No Party Affiliation. Hamilton, Cathy Lynn was born 21 November 1966, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 4850 Ne 27Th Ter, Lighthouse Point, Florida 33064-7910. Florida voter ID number 102240149. Her telephone number is 1-954-695-1510. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2015 voter list: Cathy Lynn Hamilton, 4850 NE 27th Ter, Lighthouse Point, FL 33064 Republican Party of Florida. Hamilton, Cathy Marie was born 30 October 1957, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 2212 Dewey St, Hollywood, Florida 33020. Florida voter ID number 116991418. Her telephone number is 1-305-206-8347. Her email address is [email protected]. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 July 2017 voter list: Cathy W. Hamilton, 2211 NW 196Th TER, Miami Gardens, FL 330562657 Florida Democratic Party. 30 June 2017 voter list: Cathy W. Hamilton, 2211 NW 196th Ter, Miami Gardens, FL 33056 Florida Democratic Party. HAMILTON, CATHY WRIGHT was born 9 March 1957, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 333 Brantley Club Pl, Longwood, Florida 32779-5873. Florida voter ID number 107743775. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Catina Ann was born 7 March 1974, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 616 Nw 4Th Ave, Apt 3, Ft Lauderdale, Florida 33311-7323. Florida voter ID number 115933578. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 30 June 2015 voter list: Catina Ann Hamilton, 616 NW 4th Ave, APT 3, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33311 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Catina Julia born 22 December 1972, Florida voter ID number 111623070 See Hamilton-Romer, Catina Julia. CLICK HERE. Hamilton, Catlynn Renee was born 21 June 2000, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 987 Deltona Blvd, Deltona, Florida 32725. Florida voter ID number 125807759. Her telephone number is 1-386-589-7749. Her email address is [email protected]. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 30 June 2018 voter list: Catlynn Renee Hamilton, 1375 Walton AVE, Deltona, FL 32738 No Party Affiliation. Hamilton, Caven A. was born 16 February 1998, is male, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 2650 Nw 49Th Ave, Apt 227, Lauderdale Lakes, Florida 33313. Florida voter ID number 123484613. His telephone number is 1-954-822-9056. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, C BILLIE born 14 January 1931, Florida voter ID number 108108585 See HAMILTON, CARMELA BILLIE. CLICK HERE. HAMILTON, CECIL BRYANT was born 10 April 1972, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 20407 Quarterly Pkwy, Orlando, Florida 32833. Florida voter ID number 112992818. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CECIL C. was born 26 August 1932, is male, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 8 Golf Dr, Pt St Lucie, Florida 34952. Florida voter ID number 120519069. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 30 June 2014. Hamilton, Cecil E A was born 6 June 1941, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 1517 Kruse Dr, Ft Walton Bch, Florida 32547. Florida voter ID number 106045667. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 May 2012. Hamilton, Cecil G. was born 29 March 1941, is male, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 2309 Sw 81St Ter, North Lauderdale, Florida 33068-5106. Florida voter ID number 119990716. His telephone number is 1-954-626-0838. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 30 June 2015 voter list: Cecil G. Hamilton, 2309 SW 81St Ter, North Lauderdale, FL 33068 No Party Affiliation. 30 April 2014 voter list: Cecil G. Hamilton, 3481 Inverrary Blvd W, Lauderhill, FL 33319 No Party Affiliation. HAMILTON, CECILIA ANN was born 17 February 1951, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 2660 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, Florida 33480. Florida voter ID number 115716135. Her email address is [email protected]. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 29 February 2016 voter list: Cecilia Ann Hamilton, 1234 Alhambra Cir, Coral Gables, FL 33134 Florida Democratic Party. HAMILTON, CECILIA B. was born 10 July 1969, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 1325 Sw 7Th St, Ocala, Florida 34471. Florida voter ID number 105566221. The voter lists a mailing address and probably prefers you use it: PO BOX 863 OCALA FL 34478-0863. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CECILIA BEYONCE was born 11 September 1999, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 1122 Lakewood Rd, Pensacola, Florida 32507. Florida voter ID number 123603882. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CECILIA M. was born 20 September 1941, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 5049 N Highway A1A, #702, Fort Pierce, Florida 34949. Florida voter ID number 120592899. Her telephone number is 1-772-801-5387. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 22 October 2014 voter list: CECILIA M. HAMILTON, 5049 N HIGHWAY A1A, APT 702, FORT PIERCE, FL 34949 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cecilia P. was born 29 June 1930, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 2551 Aragon Blvd, Apt 109, Sunrise, Florida 33322-3105. Florida voter ID number 102309112. Her telephone number is 1-954-572-9701. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2015 voter list: Cecilia P. Hamilton, 2551 Aragon Blvd, APT 109, Sunrise, FL 33322 Republican Party of Florida. HAMILTON, CECILIA TRINARIN born 30 August 1973, Florida voter ID number 103944722 See POLK, CECILIA TRINARIN. CLICK HERE. HAMILTON, CECIL W. was born 13 March 1925, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 9333 Park Blvd, #14B, Seminole, Florida 33777. Florida voter ID number 107124383. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CECIL W. was born 8 May 1951, is male, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 9333 Park Blvd, #14-B, Seminole, Florida 33777. Florida voter ID number 120410080. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CEDRIC CHARLES was born 21 November 1957, is male, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 568 Onida St, Alford, Florida 32420. Florida voter ID number 121331311. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Cedric F. was born 3 May 1930, is male, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 1198 E Call St, Starke, Florida 32091. Florida voter ID number 100754127. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 August 2015. Hamilton, Celeste was born 9 May 1968, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 313 Dolphin Way, Kissimmee, Florida 34759. Florida voter ID number 102336932. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2012 voter list: Celeste Hamilton, 2536 Centergate DR, Miramar, FL 33025 Florida Democratic Party. HAMILTON, CELESTE DESTINY was born 27 October 1996, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 2373 Sorrento Cir, Winter Park, Florida 32792. Florida voter ID number 121653599. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Celeste Joan was born 5 May 1955, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 17176 Phlox Dr, Fort Myers, Florida 33967. Florida voter ID number 111644795. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 August 2014 voter list: CELESTE JOAN HAMILTON, 6701 FIESTA WAY, FORT MYERS, FL 33919 No Party Affiliation. HAMILTON, CELESTE PATRICIA was born 24 January 1960, is female, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 21197 Shady Vista Ln, Boca Raton, Florida 33428. Florida voter ID number 112163766. Her telephone number is 434-0328 (no area code listed). This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CELESTRA LAURA was born 27 May 1960, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 7245 Eight Mile Creek Rd, Apt B, Pensacola, Florida 32526-9389. Florida voter ID number 104073591. Her telephone number is 1-850-723-9062. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 December 2017 voter list: CELESTRA LAURA HAMILTON, 7245 EIGHT MILE CREEK RD, APT B, PENSACOLA, FL 32526 Florida Democratic Party. 31 May 2017 voter list: CELESTRA LAURA HAMILTON, 4081 ERIKA CT, PENSACOLA, FL 32526 Florida Democratic Party. 31 May 2012 voter list: CELESTRA LAURA HAMILTON, 586 SEAPINE CIR, PENSACOLA, FL 325066224 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Celia Maria was born 20 March 1988, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 14850 W Dixie Hwy, #11, Miami, Florida 33181. Florida voter ID number 110330958. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2012 voter list: Celia Maria Hamilton, 1915 NW 5Th Pl, apt 1915, Miami, FL 33136 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Celine Alyssa was born 6 October 1972, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 3015 Bogota Ave, Cooper City, Florida 33026. Florida voter ID number 126536547. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Celine W. was born 8 February 1944, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 4975 Sw 122Nd Ter, Cooper City, Florida 33330-5429. Florida voter ID number 102254398. Her telephone number is 1-954-434-5516. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2015 voter list: Celine W. Hamilton, 4975 SW 122nd Ter, Cooper City, FL 33330 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cequez was born 10 January 1991, is female, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 2001 2Nd Ave W, Palmetto, Florida 34221-3217. Florida voter ID number 120454742. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 August 2017 voter list: Cequez Hamilton, 2001 2nd AVE W, Palmetto, FL 34221 Florida Democratic Party. Hamilton, Cerinda Ann was born 21 June 1963, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 12841 Valley Ridge Rd, Clermont, Florida 34711. Florida voter ID number 113110809. Her telephone number is 1-352-394-1940. Her email address is [email protected]. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 May 2018 voter list: Cerinda A. Hamilton, 12841 Valley Ridge Rd, Clermont, FL 34711 No Party Affiliation. Hamilton, Chad Anthony was born 15 April 1985, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 4525 Bridle Path Dr, Lakeland, Florida 33810. Florida voter ID number 125538338. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Chad D. was born 24 November 1972, is male, residing at 315 Sailfish Cir, Destin, Florida 32541-2249. Florida voter ID number 115646916. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2015. HAMILTON, CHADDRICK XAVIER was born 2 June 1999, is male, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 4759 Cr 134, Wildwood, Florida 34785. Florida voter ID number 124012627. His email address is [email protected]. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Chad Otis was born 10 November 1964, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 239 Se 27 Ave, Cross City, Florida 32628. Florida voter ID number 103235840. His telephone number is 1-352-498-5576. The voter lists a mailing address and probably prefers you use it: 37 Kendall Dr Bluffton SC 29910. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Chad Sandy was born 13 September 1978, is male, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 4820 Nw 181St Ter, Opa Locka, Florida 33055. Florida voter ID number 112047102. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. 31 March 2014 voter list: CHAD SANDY HAMILTON, 4889 S CITATION DR, 201, DELRAY BEACH, FL 33445 No Party Affiliation. Hamilton, Chadwick T. was born 27 July 1979, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 835 10Th Ave S, Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32250. Florida voter ID number 103322183. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 May 2012. Hamilton, Chadwick Todd was born 27 July 1979, is male, registered as Republican Party of Florida, residing at 452 Citrus Ridge Dr, Ponte Vedra, Florida 32081. Florida voter ID number 123136881. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. Hamilton, Chais Frances was born 3 August 1995, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 1356 Sw 47Th Ave, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442. Florida voter ID number 122816207. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019. HAMILTON, CHAITRA LATRES was born 5 July 1986, is female, registered as No Party Affiliation, residing at 6733 Woods Island Cir, Apt 201, Pt St Lucie, Florida 34952. Florida voter ID number 105900827. Her telephone number is 221-1679 (no area code listed). This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 March 2019.

2019-04-22T00:29:54Z

https://flvoters.com/pages/h101085.html

In an earlier post, Riparian Civilizations, I outlined some of the commonalities of civilizations that had their origins in fertile river valleys — most notably the civilizations of Mesopotamia, i.e., the Fertile Crescent bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the civilization of ancient Egypt, based on the annual flooding of the Nile, the Yellow River Valley civilization (the source of Chinese civilization), and the Indus Valley civilization (the source of civilization in the Indian subcontinent). The Nile River Valley made Egyptian civilization possible, sheltered it, and also isolated it. While these early civilizations occurred within the equatorial belt, i.e., in the tropics, they were not in tropical rain forests. The biome of a river valley can vary according to rainfall and temperature, even within the tropics. The Congo basin is dominated by tropical rain forests, while the Nile Valley is a canyon that cuts through a desert biome, and so shares properties of the desert and of the river. Mesopotamia has (or had) extensive wetlands fed by its rivers, which became the domain of the Marsh Arabs, who adopted a unique way of life specially suited to this environment. But, again, this was not a tropical rain forest, though Mesopotamia lies in the tropics. The Iberian civilization of Portugal was transplanted to the tropics of Brazil, and eventually acclimated to the region, but not without descent with modification. In additional to spatial distinctions among biomes, i.e., recognizing biomes confined to a given geographical region, temporal distinctions must also be made, both because of changing biomes over time due to climatological shifts, and changing human abilities to inhabit and settle a given biome, largely a function of increasing technology. Thus a distinction can be made between civilizations that originate within a given biome and civilizations that acclimate to a given biome. The colonial civilizations that came to Brazil in the early modern period, and to the Congo and SE Asia in the nineteenth century, were transplanted civilizations that adapted to and acclimated to a tropical rainforest biome, and can legitimately be called rainforest civilizations, but none of these civilizations originated in a tropical rainforest biome. From Frederick Catherwood’s Views of Ancient Monuments, 1844, a temple at Tulum, in present-day Mexico. We are fortunate to have the terrestrial example of two civilizations of completely independent origins, both of the tropical rainforest biome, though in opposite hemispheres: Mayan civilization in the western hemisphere and Khmer civilization in the eastern hemisphere. In the best tradition of settled agricultural civilizations, both the Mayans and the Khmer left monumental architecture. Indeed, the pyramids of Central America and the temples of Angkor Wat, made picturesque by their reclamation by the tropical rain forest that was the incubator of these civilizations, overgrown by vines and their foundations tumbled by the roots of gigantic trees, have become iconic tourist draws in their respective regions of the world. The riches of past civilizations have now been passed down as a kind of legacy to the present peoples, mostly ethnically continuous with the peoples who built these civilizations, whose descendants now derive a modest income from tourist traffic. Angkor Wat from Voyage d’exploration en Indo-Chine by Francis Garnier, with illustrations by Louis Delaporte (1873). We do not yet possess a complete seriation of civilization in the western hemisphere. We know that maize cultivation began in the Rio Balsas valley in what is now southern Mexico, a semi-arid tropical biome (and the native range of the teosinte grasses that were transformed by ancient agriculturalists into maize), and so may be assimilated to the paradigm of riparian civilizations. Mayan civilization, however, was concentrated in the rain forests of Central America. How exactly Mayan civilization was related to its northern neighbor, thousands of years its senior, is not yet fully understood. Early forms of maize, derived from the teosinte grasses of the Rio Balsas Valley in southern Mexican, a region contiguous with the tropical rain forests of Central America. Genetic sequencing of maize is a source of recent knowledge about the origins of maize, hence of origins of settled agriculturalism in the western hemisphere, but this work is ongoing at present. Moreover, while maize was an important crop for the Maya, and the Mayan corn god plays an important role in Mayan mythology, it was not the sole staple of the Maya. Maize was one of the “Three Sisters”, along with squash and beans, which together constituted a nutritionally balanced diet, and the cultivation of these crops together was ecologically sustainable due to complementary biochemical interaction with the soil. We also lack a complete seriation of civilization in Asia, of which a seriation of civilization in Indochina would be an appendage. Khmer civilization rose from a pre-existing context of minor kingdoms in Indochina, and seems to draw upon both Indian and Chinese civilizational origins (though primarily Indian and Hindu), though it should be noted that recent archaeological work in the Malay archipelago suggest that civilization may have independently originated on the island of Java as well (depending upon the antiquity of Gunung Padang), in which case Khmer civilization would constitute a florid syncretism of Indian, Chinese, and Javanese cultural antecedents. Indeed, this is true whether or not civilization independently arose in Java, as the Khmer civilization is many thousands of years younger than these other examples. Rice was the basis of the agricultural economy of Indochina. The biome in which a civilization arises not only dictates the species available for harvesting and domestication, but also shapes the way in which peoples harvest energy from their environments. Agriculture is one way in which human beings harvest energy from their environments, and different forms of agriculture emerge in distinct biomes. The tropical rainforest biome offers enormous biodiveristy, but in tropical civilization we still find the same reliance on a handful of staple crops, as we find in civilizations originating in other biomes. Civilization is, in a certain narrow sense (a narrow sense compatible with the biological definition of civilization mentioned below), a voluntary truncation of biodiversity. Hunter-gatherers almost always have a much more varied diet that settled agricultural peoples, who are usually dependent on less than a dozen staple food crops. Perhaps even less is known of the origins of rice than of the origins of maize. The biological definition of civilization as a coevolving cohort of species (cf. section 6 of my Transhumanism and Adaptive Radiation) not only gives us a new tool with which to analyze civilization, but also a suggestive way to compare civilizations. The comparison of civilizations from similar biomes and the contrast of civilizations from distinct biomes is one of these tools. With this method we approach the equivalent of symmetry for the social sciences. Thus we have something to learn from the various ways that riparian civilizations have come to exploit the resources of river systems, and presumably we will have something to learn from the ways that civilizations of the tropical rain forest biome have exploited the high biodiversity of climax communities of tropical rain forests. Since there is no winter in a tropical rainforest, in Mesoamerica it is possible to raise three crops of maize in a year, and in Indochina it is possible to raise three or four crops of rice in a year. Tropical rainforests thus offer to a civilization the unique opportunity to support the high population densities of cities and ceremonial centers via continuous, year-round food production. However, none of this can happen without water storage and irrigation. Both Mayan and Khmer civilizations might be characterized as hydrological civilizations, since they were predicated upon the careful management of water for irrigation, and both constructed major engineering works (perhaps not as visually impressive as their monumental architecture, but much more interesting from a scientific point of view) to store and to distribute water. The rainforest of Indochina, it should be noted, is a monsoon rainforest, with about six months of rain and six months of drought, so that in order to keep up food production through the months of drought, significant irrigation is necessary, which the Khmer achieved through use of the waters of the Siem Reap river. Compared to civilizations originating in river valleys, civilizations originating in tropical rain forests are comparatively rare. I have here discussed the two most obvious examples. It is interesting also that both of these civilizations, while they came to full maturity and endured for significant periods of time — many centuries, such as is necessary for a civilization to reach full maturity — both civilizations seem to have collapsed internally, and not due to contacts with other civilizations. There are, of course, many theories about the collapse of Maya civilization; this has become a perennial archaeological riddle. Current theories favor drought or climate change. I am less familiar with the causes of Khmer decline. But whatever the cause of the decline of the Maya and the Khmer, they were not, for the most part, conquered and subdued. Their cities and temples were abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle, not burned and thrown down. There are still Mayan people speaking the Mayan language in Mesoamerica, and Khmer people in Indochina; the collapse of these civilizations must have led to at least a partial dispersal of the populations from the great urban centers, which remain in ruins, but whatever catastrophes (or slow decline, if that was the case) befell these civilizations, the people who built them are still to be found in the region. The civilizations became extinct, but the populations did not. The difficulty of building a civilization in a tropical rain forest biome constitutes a significant challenge, and this climatological and biological challenge to civilization may be the reason, or one reason among many, that so few civilizations originated in the tropical rain forest, and, of these two here examined, both came to a natural end. There is an ancient parable from India about several blind men who encounter an elephant. The story is well known in many different versions, in all of which the blind men disagree as the nature of the animal — one touches its leg and says that an elephant is like a tree; another touches its ear and says that an elephant is like a fan; another touches its trunk and says an elephant is like a snake, and so forth. We know that the elephant is one and whole, but the blind men of the parable do not know the elephant as a single reality; they are blind in more than one sense. There is in this something very like what an artist passing through Paris does when he makes, for example, a sketch of a tower of Notre Dame. The tower is inseparably united to the building, which is itself no less inseparably united to the ground, to its surroundings, to the whole of Paris, and so on. It is first necessary to detach it from all these; only one aspect of the whole is noted, that formed by the tower of Notre Dame. Moreover, the special form of this tower is due to the grouping of the stones of which it is composed; but the artist does not concern himself with these stones, he notes only the silhouette of the tower. For the real and internal organization of the thing he substitutes, then, an external and schematic representation. So that, on the whole, his sketch corresponds to an observation of the object from a certain point of view and to the choice of a certain means of representation. Now beneath all the sketches he has made at Paris the visitor will probably, by way of memento, write the word “Paris.” And as he has really seen Paris, he will be able, with the help of the original intuition he had of the whole, to place his sketches therein, and so join them up together. But there is no way of performing the inverse operation; it is impossible, even with an infinite number of accurate sketches, and even with the word “Paris” which indicates that they must be combined together, to get back to an intuition that one has never bad, and to give oneself an impression of what Paris is like if one has never seen it. With the naked eye one can see the grain, but otherwise the table looks smooth and even. If we looked at it through a microscope, we should see roughnesses and hills and valleys, and all sorts of differences that are imperceptible to the naked eye. Which of these is the ‘real’ table? We are naturally tempted to say that what we see through the microscope is more real, but that in turn would be changed by a still more powerful microscope. If, then, we cannot trust what we see with the naked eye, why should we trust what we see through a microscope? Thus, again, the confidence in our senses with which we began deserts us. It is almost as though Bergson realized that his own “empiricism” (after a fashion) might be contrasted with Russell’s “rationalism.” This is where the problem of appearance and reality meets the problem of the one and the many. Reality is one; appearance is many. How are we to understand how the one presents itself as many, and how the many are unified in the one? Bertrand Russell as a young man, when he was engaging in polemics with Bergson. There are times when the many perspectives on one and the same world seem unproblematic. The case of the blind men and the elephant can be resolved by bringing the blind men back to the elephant and directing them to feel the continuity of the various parts of the elephant with each other. And when many different scientific experiments confirm one and the same theory by testing different aspects of that theory in different ways, but all independently (and reproducibly) confirm one and the same theory, we know that we have one scientific theory that despite its many predictions concerns itself with one and the same world. Henri-Louis Bergson, 18 October 1859 to 04 January 1941, philosopher and time and duration, very famous in his time but little read today. There are other times when the unity of the world and of the diverse perspectives upon the world are more problematic. Everyone, I think, is well familiar with the problems posed by competing and incommensurable narratives of what is believed to be the same sequence of events. This difficulty is encapsulated in the pop-culture dichotomy of, “he said/she said,” where the incommensurability is the incommensurability of gendered perspective. Thomas Nagel’s famous paper, ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ considered the particular perspective that bats have on the world and how it differs from our perspective. I have elsewhere cited Thomas Nagel’s famous paper, “What is it like to be a bat?” (in Addendum on the Origins of Time and What is it like to be a serpent?) and noted that Nagel chose the example of a bat because, as a vertebrate and a mammal it is not all that different from primates (and presumably has experiences of the world not unlike those that primates have of the world), but the bat primarily experiences the world through sonar rather than through sight. That makes the bat very different from a primate, and presumably results in a dramatically different experience of the world — hence, there is something that it is like to be a bat, and this “something” is significantly different from what it is like to be a primate. There is a sense in which organisms that relate to the world through fundamentally different sensory mechanisms experience a different world. The bat’s world constructed from sonar, the pit viper’s world constructed from infrared-sensing pits, the shark’s world constructed from electroreceptors, and the primate’s world of stereoscopic color vision are, in a sense, different “worlds.” But only “in a sense,” because in another sense these diverse senses reveal the same world, as is apparent when these different organisms with their distinct sensory mechanisms interact — sometimes recognizing each other (which I attempted to describe in The Eye of the Other), sometimes just avoiding each other, while at other times preying on each other or fleeing from predation. Biodiversity means perceptual and epistemic diversity. If we can find a way to put these different perceptions of the world together, we will have a much more comprehensive account of the world that that based on the observations of a single species. That is to say, the perspectives of other species, if only we could tap into them, would provide countervailing evidence to lessen our anthropic bias. We can think of these other perspectives as narratives, with each narrative of the world being ontologically derived from the structure of the organism, which involves both the peculiarities of its sensory organs and its functional relationship to its environment. Naturalism, then, implies the commensurability of radically distinct world-narratives that are ecologically integrated even if we cannot understand this integration or experience the world from any perspective other than that common to our species. That the perspectives of distinct species possess a de facto commensurability despite their profound differences puts the supposedly incommensurable theoretical views of human beings into perspective. It is, of course, the position of Thomas Kuhn’s philosophy of science that different theoretical models of the world constitute distinct paradigms, and that these paradigms are incommensurable. The “theories” implicit in the sensory apparatus of any two distinct species are far greater than the difference between any two theories maintained by the same species, though we must entertain the possibility that our ideas give us a dimension of differentiation that does not exist for all species, just as not all species possess sensory organs (as, for example, with micro-organisms), so that the possession of sensory organs also involves a dimension of differentiation from species lacking sensory organs. The primate brain devotes much of its capacity to the heavy processing demands of stereoscopic color vision. The mollusk brain also processes fairly sophisticated visual stimuli, but it also devotes a significant amount of its capacity to the control of the cells on the surface of its skin, which allows octopi and cuttlefish to produce both brilliant displays and effective camouflage on demand. Given brains structured around these very different cognitive demands, I imagine that primates think and view the world very differently from the way that mollusks think and view the world — though these differences do not prevent the species from interacting, though primates and mollusks don’t interact all that much because of their distinct ecological niches. If species possessing a cognitive architecture as profoundly different as that represented by primates and mollusks can achieve a de facto commensurability through their common participation in a single biosphere, then the incommensurability of different human points of view does not seem all that bleak. Ecology is the master world-narrative that unifies that sub-narratives employed by individual species in virtue of their perceptual and cognitive architecture. Ultimately, astrobiology would constitute the universal narrative that would unify the ecological narratives of distinct worlds. The naturalistic narrative has the power to unify even across species and across worlds. This power may not be particularly evident at present, but in the long term future of our species (if our species does in fact have a long term future) this power will prove to be crucial. Decoy tanks have been in use almost as long as tanks themselves have been in use, employed in an attempt to persuade an enemy to learn the wrong lesson from their intelligence gathering activities. To speak of induced failure in complex adaptive systems is already to acknowledge a distinction between induced failure and non-induced failure, and beyond this distinction we can make a further distinction between failure that is purposefully induced and failure that is induced but as an unintended consequence of some other action — i.e., failure as an externality. An obvious example of purposefully induced failure is military action undertaken with the intention of causing catastrophic failure on the part of enemy forces. An equally obvious example of induced failure as an unintended consequence is that of environmental damage that results from pollution and the pressures of industrialized society on the ecosystem. It could be argued that the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which was precipitated by the collapse of the value of the Thai Bhat (much as the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 was precipitated by the subprime mortgage crisis), was, for all intents and purposes, an intended failure, as investors had placed the Thai Bhat under considerable pressure by shorting the currency on international currency markets. When a nation-state (or even a quasi-state entity like the Eurozone) finds its currency under pressure by international speculators, it will often protest that the speculators are at fault, while the speculators will say that they are only trying to make a profit, and that they serve a valuable function within the financial community in bringing vulnerabilities to light. In the past few days we have seen some dramatic examples of this sort of thing, as the downgrading of US government securities by Standard & Poor’s was called a “mistake” by Gene Sperling (NEC director) when it was clearly a carefully deliberated decision (especially in terms of its announcement after close of business on Friday to give markets time to absorb the news before opening on Monday), while Greece and Turkey enacted bans on short selling, although European regulators could not agree on a wide-ranging ban on short sales. Are we to say that this week’s market turmoil was induced by Standard & Poor’s downgrade, so that the ratings agency has a measure of historical agency in bringing this about, or is the ratings agency merely the canary in the coal mine? Clearly, it becomes a matter of how the boundary is drawn between agency and absence of agency, just as it is a matter of how we draw the boundary between induced and non-induced failure. I think it would quite difficult to formulate an adequate theoretical definition of non-induced failure, and in fact I am not prepared to even suggest anything at this time. Since non-induced failure is when failure “just happens,” there will always be claims made for agency in failure, including the agency of natural forces (say, friction). So I think the better method here is to try to understand induced failure better, and then to define non-induced failure as the complement of the cases of induced failure. In the present context, we will call a purposefully induced failure a formal failure, while a failure that results from unintended consequences will be called an informal failure. According to this terminology, an old building that has been dynamited to bring it down has experienced a formal failure, while shoddy design or construction practices that have resulted in a building collapsing (as in the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse) is an example of informal failure. It is a standard mode of argument among conspiracy theorists to claim that an informal failure is really a formal failure, though the mechanisms of purpose in the failure have been disguised by nefarious agents so that what appears, at first sight, to be an informal failure is in fact a formal failure. It could be argued that the attempt to impose purpose upon informal failures is a consequence of what evolutionary psychologists call the agency detector. On an intuitive level, it doesn’t take much sophistication to understand that, 1) individuals want to believe that they understand things that others do not understand, and 2) that this intellectual form of self-aggrandizement plays a role in drawing the boundary between formal and informal failures so as to exclude all informal failures. This, however, is ultimately uninteresting, and I maintain that there is a valid distinction between formal and informal failure. Just as a cigar is sometimes just a cigar, so too failure is sometimes just failure and involves no agency. At a somewhat higher level of sophistication, it is a standard mode of argument among ideologically-motivated partisans that, although informal failures are technically informal failures, any reasonable and responsible person should have seen the unintended consequences that would follow from their actions, so that if people would just take their blinders off they would see the informal failures for the formal failures that they are. Such an argument implies self-deception at some level, whether on the part of participants who are following orders or on the part of those issuing the orders. This argument is important because it brings our attention to the role of self-deception in understanding the world — and I believe the role of self-deception to be under-estimated in human affairs — but it is easy to make sweeping claims in this regard which, when pressed, lead to the denial of the very possibility of informal failures, and the denial of the possibility of informal failure leads to the search for agents responsible for the formal failure — scapegoating and witch-hunts. The universal search for scapegoats is just as uninteresting as the universal search for nefarious and hidden agents, and so I reject the ideological attempt to draw the boundary between formal and informal failure so as to exclude all informal failure. I have said elsewhere, in another context, that the facts do not speak for themselves. This bears repeating, as does the observation that what is obvious to one person in terms of unintended consequences is in no sense obvious to another person. If the agents that constitute a complex adaptive system fail to adapt, or adapt poorly, fail to learn or learn the wrong lessons, then such complex adaptive systems are vulnerable to failure. If a complex adaptive system can be induced to adapt poorly, or induced to learn the wrong lesson, then such complex adaptive systems can be induced to reveal vulnerabilities. If the induced vulnerabilities are intentional (that is to say, if they are formal failures), the vulnerability can be exploited to bring about catastrophic failure cascading from the point of the vulnerability. As we follow out this reasoning we must be careful because matters become complicated very quickly. In all of the above cases we must distinguish between formally inducing failure and informally inducing failure. Taking the example of environmental degradation, we know that some industrial chemicals allowed into the biosphere mimic naturally occurring substances and replace the naturally occurring substances, sometimes to deleterious effect. This in an informally induced poor adaptation that results in a vulnerability. Taking the example of military defeat, a campaign of disinformation can cause the enemy to “learn” the wrong lesson and this can be calculated to open a vulnerability. This is a formally induced learning of an incorrect lesson. Such interaction may take place simultaneously across many different ecological levels, or at one or several levels. All of these interactions carry with them the possibility of adaptation and learning on the part of the agents primarily functioning on the levels in question, and all of these interactions carry with them the possibility of formal or informal failure. We know from ordinary experience how a complex adaptive system can fail on one level and this failure can cascade bringing about a catastrophic failure of the entire system, even when other ecological levels of the complex adaptive have learned and adapted appropriately. For example, during wars one always hears of soldiers learning lessons on the battlefield (micro- and meso- learning) that have not been learned at an institutional level (meso- and exo- level learning), and thus the institution goes on making the same mistake that the soldiers know to be a mistake but cannot change because they are not empowered to bring about institutional change. These kinds of failures are also very common in business, when frontline employees know policies to be failing, but are required by management to continue a failing policy because the lesson has not yet been learned at an institutional level. On the other side of this dialectic, it is often the case that people who see the big picture clearly understand the nature of a problem and have learned their lessons (on meso- and exo- levels), but are, for one reason or another, unable to communicate this understanding to meso- and micro- levels, where the same mistakes continue to be made. This is clearly the case with social workers who understand the roots of inter-personal violence (IPV) in families and communities, and although they seek to educate families and communities with all the resources that they have available, the same problems continue to appear over and over again. I assumed both of the above examples to be generalizable throughout metaphysical ecology), which means that even in ecological systems — and complex adaptive systems are ecological systems — there is just enough compartmentalization for an isolated failure to develop to the point that it can cause a cascading catastrophic failure, even if successful adaptations and effective learning is taking place on other ecological levels. I assume that in a highly sensitive complex adaptive system that minor failures and disturbances would be rapidly transmitted up and down through all ecological levels of the system. In so far as learning and adaptation are global — meaning not that it takes place on the highest ecological level, but that it takes place across all ecological levels, and that there is a feedback loop that allows one level to learn from the adaptations and learning of other levels — I suggest that a highly sensitive complex adaptive system, while superficially fragile, may represent the more robust and resilient form of order. The ability to learn from what others have learned — which I have expressed here as learning lessons and adaptations from other ecological levels — might be called higher-order learning, but this is a fancy name for a simple idea… the idea that you don’t have to be the one to burn your finger on the stove to know that it is hot. There is a kind of intellectual maturity involved in learning from the lessons of others, and when this intellectual maturity can be integrated into institutions the resultant institutions would possess a much higher degree of resiliency than those that lack this capacity. Strangely, this definition does not appear in the online DOD Dictionary of Military Terms. I don’t have my own copy of Field Manual 100-5 (clearly my library is inadequate) so I had to rely on an edited text available on the internet; I don’t know how well this text I consulted represents the complete text, so I offer this above quote with this caution. In any case, the above quote gives the intuitively accessible formulation of combat power as “the ability to fight,” which is clear enough, but also probably tautological. Returning to the definition in the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, 12 April 2001 (As Amended Through 31 August 2005), it seems to me that the total destructive force that can be brought to bear is only half of the equation of the ability to fight. The other half of the equation of the ability to fight is being able to continue fighting as one’s adversary is applying his total destructive force against oneself. In fact, the “sustainment” mentioned in Fighting Future Wars is predicated upon just this. I think that this is a little more comprehensive conception of combat power, and while we all know from the first principle of war that an objective must be established and from the second principle of war that one must take the offensive, because only an offensive achieves decisive results, it nevertheless remains true that even in undertaking offensive action to attain an objective, one’s forces must resist the destructive power of the enemy as much as it must bring its own destructive force to bear on that same enemy. Sustaining combat means surviving combat (including surviving defensive action undertaken to counter one’s offensive actions) so that one can continue to fight. I can appeal again to the definition of combat power (cited above) in Field Manual 100-5 for a parallel definition of combat survival power, which is to say, combat resiliency. If combat power is to, “deny the enemy any chance of escape or effective retaliation… giving the enemy no opportunity to respond with coordinated or effective opposition,” then combat resiliency is the power to escape and conduct effective retaliation, responding to attack with coordinated and effective opposition. It would be misleading to call this defensive combat power, in contradistinction to offensive combat power, as the two are indissolubly linked, although there is a certain temptation to employ this obvious formulation. Nevertheless, the temptation must be overcome: in taking the initiative, closing in an engagement, one brings one’s force to bear, and one’s opponent must survive this initial onslaught in order to make use of combat resiliency to respond effectively. However, that effective response can take no other form than bringing one’s force to bear, and this bringing of one’s force to bear is indistinguishable from that action of the force with the initiative. There is, however, a legitimate distinction to be made here, so I will distinguish in what follows between internal combat power (or internal combat resiliency) and external combat power (or external combat resiliency). Whatever the philosophical compromises entailed by the internal/external distinction, in the present context of military affairs the philosophical baggage is to be preferred to the military baggage, which latter is more freighted with potentially misleading meanings. This distinction will be useful in what follows in the development of battle ecology. It could be argued that, since a military objective must be defined and offensive action undertaken to secure the objective (because only offensive action can obtain a decisive result), that the temporal order of taking the initiative to close and engage is definitive. In an ideal combat environment, in which an initial onslaught might annihilate the enemy constituting a purely offensive action with no defensive component, the temporal order distinguishing offensive and defensive action (side A attacks; side B responds with defense) might allow us to make a clear distinction between offensive and defensive combat power. No combat environment is ideal, however. Any engagement will involve the reciprocity of combat power, so that temporal order of the initiative or the venerable offense/defense distinction is less relevant than might be supposed. There may be a psychological efficacy in first blood and that gives disproportionate power to the initiative, but any initiative must be sustained through combat resiliency or the decision will go to the opposition if it possesses superior combat resiliency, regardless of which side took the initiative. This latter observation is particularly obvious when we consider an assault upon a fixed position, as in a siege, a trench raid, or the taking of a hill, when an offensive action can be utterly dissipated by defensive action so that nothing remains of the combat power of the attacking unit and the objective is not attained. The point here is that resisting the combat power of the enemy is not strictly or exclusively a concern of defense, but is equally integral to offensive action. The “cases” mentioned above are divisions within the strategico-tactical nexus that I have formulated — constrained and unconstrained tactics, operations, and strategy — and I further developed the idea of the strategico-tactical nexus in Addendum on the Strategico-Tactical Nexus, in which I introduced the strategico-tactical continuum and strategico-tactical permutations. Battle ecology gives us a theoretical framework for understanding both aspects of combat power — bringing one’s destructive force to bear while resisting the destructive force that the enemy brings to bear. Battle, like an ecosystem, is a complex adaptive system, and we can model battle along ecological principles. This is the central idea of battle ecology. The theoretical framework of battle ecology makes it possible to understand combat power in terms of ecological resiliency. ● Latitude: the maximum amount a system can be changed before losing its ability to recover (before crossing a threshold which, if breached, makes recovery difficult or impossible). ● Resistance: the ease or difficulty of changing the system; how “resistant” it is to being changed. ● Panarchy: the degree to which a certain hierarchical level of an ecosystem is influenced by other levels.

2019-04-24T14:04:00Z

https://geopolicraticus.wordpress.com/category/ecology/

The desperately-awaited Salk IPV, which promised to end the polio epidemics sweeping the country, was announced with great fanfare on April 12, in the midst of Operation Teapot. http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Teapot.html Jonas Salk had made it known since 1952 that he believed he had the “right” formula. 1952 was the year with the most number of polio cases on record in the U.S. Only one year before, in January of ’51, the Nevada Proving Ground (NTS) was activated for testing, initiated by Project Ranger which sent radioactive plumes streaming over the northern half of the nation, leaving radioactive snow on the ground in places like Michigan and New York. Also in 1951, the cells of a particularly aggressive cancer, called HeLa, were taken from a dying patient and distributed for poliovirus vaccine research. No one has ever officially told the public that polio in humans was a result of radiation. An even greater omission suggested by research is that the polio vaccines were conceived or promoted as “dual-purpose” cancer prevention. When the Salk IPV had been administered to roughly half of America’s youth population, the military launched its most ambitious and “dirty” atomic weapons tests, initiating the period of peak atmospheric fallout. But that is just an aspect of the 1950s and the Cold War. The greater Whole includes present-day vaccines, unprecendented emerging disease and the genetic engineering of plants, animals and people. Polio Forever is an effort to tell the Whole story. Polio is a brain infection, sometimes involving the nerves of the spinal cord and sometimes not. It never went away like they say. Most people who get it have a mild case of flu and then it’s gone –almost no one thinks twice about it or ever guesses that it might be something other than the familiar symptoms of a normal ‘bug’. We were taught to believe that the vaccines invented by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin got rid of polio and only the poorest countries, deprived of vaccines, are still vulnerable to its crippling effects. The World Health Organization’s taking care of it, right?…that’s what we think, so we’re inclined not to pay attention and just keep giving money to the world medical charities. But how is it that people who were properly vaccinated as children end up sick with polio as adults? (They call it age-related illness). How is it that a paralytic disease called Guillain-Barre Syndrome struck down hundreds of Americans in the round of 1976 swine flu vaccines? What’s happening in the world today with Alzheimer’s and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, MS and other neurological illnesses afflicting so many? Is it normal? Is it contagious? Is it pollution? Does it cause cancer? Is it in the vaccines? A frightening surge of perplexing illnesses, including AIDS and Ebola have emerged since the late 1970s. Are these “polio-like” in some way? Is there a parallel in the 1970s and 80s with the emerging illnesses that followed the Spanish Flu in the 1920s and 30s? More questions than answers appear, but unraveling the history of polio has surprising discoveries in store. The Polio Timeline is a key to this blog and an index of its pages which introduces the various known and related causes of polio: www.polioforever.wordpress.com/polio-timeline/ The timeline is a work-in-progress beginning with the 1789 discovery of uranium coincident with the first recognized polio sufferer, Sir Walter Scott. First, we need to know what polio is, the way medical experts describe it, and second we need to know that the official historical record began erasing polio as quickly as possible in the mid-1950s in order to give the appearance of creating a successful vaccine –successful, not in the ordinary sense, but in the triumphant and heroic sense of the Greatest Medical Achievement of All Time! Did you know that the polio vaccine had such an illustrious past? Antibiotics and X-rays pale by comparison in the mind-numbing mantra of repetition, but the establishment has always had its critics who complained of hype and exaggeration, charging that the government-supported publicity blew the perception of polio out of all proportion to its actual occurrance. In contemporary fashion, we’re induced to believe that Greed drives the motive of unnecessary vaccinations today, turning us all into cynics, yet still people line up and go along with the program of “getting our shots”. We simply haven’t learned anything about the real causes and cures of disease, succumbing to the dilemna of doubt engendered by our lack of knowledge. Even our own experiences are not serving a larger awareness that the workings of biology and ‘pathogens’ could be different from what we’ve been told. It’s not a simple process to tell the story of polio. And yet it’s a profoundly simple story, but there is a mountain of lies in the way. Climbing over that mountain will put you at risk of having your life changed –forever. You will have to believe me when I say it will change for the better. Not climbing it will not preserve the life you have now because at the heart of Polio’s Story are the most fundamental issues of Life and the future of your experience has been pre-determined unless you take an active role in moderating the outcome. The War on Germs is a War on You. Take it personally. Paralytic polio was a rare disease before the Industrial Age but the palsies were not uncommon and known to be caused by toxic medicines containing mercury, arsenic and other assorted ingredients, referred to as “mercurial diseases”. Examples of toxic paralysis are all around us in nature. Snakes, spiders and species of fish in particular emit potent neurotoxins as a means of food gathering and survival defense. Our ancestors coined the word “virus” in its original meaning of “poison”, a concept that still resonates with us now although a false belief persists that viruses are living things, encouraged by the inaccurate use of words like “live” and “killed”. Viruses are biochemical structures with crystalline shapes, folded fragments of DNA with coded genetic information very similar to enzymes. They’re considered key components of evolutionary change, carried in the cells of living organisms which transmit viral ‘programs’ into the greater environment, internally and externally. Viral infections are usually specific to the type of tissue infected because they are biochemically ‘directed’ and require a precise set of conditions to occur, including ‘receptors’ on the surface of susceptible cells. Viral infections can arise when living cells die and decompose, their viral components released in a phenomenon called a “cytopathic effect”. This is why antibiotics don’t work on viral infections, and can actually increase the presence of virus. Poisoning produces just such a torrent of cell death and viral release. In acute cases, paralysis results. It can be local or general, but if the living subject survives and has a healthy immune system, it will create a special virus and a complementary antibody that work together mitigating further effects from the poison. In this way, our bodies become conditioned to the rising presence of toxic chemicals, but 200 years ago, when the first known cases of polio were recorded, the entire population was vulnerable and “naive”, and children were the most vulnerable of all. Large inputs of new chemicals introduced in the 1860s began affecting small pockets of people who shared geographic proximity, industrial labors, or contamination sources. The world’s first large outbreak of over one thousand victims happened in Sweden in 1887-88 –after that, regular outbreaks began occurring in scattered places of the industrialized nations. The United States experienced large outbreaks after 1900 in its big northern cities. People were poor, undernourished and crowded together, but none of that explained the emergence of unknown and rare illnessess and the effect served to heighten the incidental relationship between contagion and “disease agents”. Immigrants were blamed and bad “city milk” was blamed as carriers of unseen entities from unsanitary places. Victorian-era phobias that ran counter to the New Enlightenment of scientism fueled the mounting crisis in the eyes of urban social designers who began waging political battle in the new war on germs. Many of them didn’t know at the time that sanitation and more abundantly nutritious food had already reduced the fearsome plagues of the past, but everywhere new schools of thought and behavior cropped up to support the trends in socialization. Like medieval guilds, medical researchers organized and sought patronage from ideological captains of industry who were eager to exploit new business opportunities. With hindsight, it’s easy to see how the Rothschilds and Rockefellers institutionalized their practice of eugenics. It’s much harder to encompass the scope in our present time and realize that millions of good people have been miseducated into helping them execute their plans. But planned it is. Hand over hand in the great military-industrial complex that we were warned to watch, ironically by the same man under whose tenure the polio vaccine came to fruition, the wheel has come full circle. Nuclear energy was theoretically proposed not later than 1875 by an Englishman named Samuel Tolver Preston. Two decades after that, the first applied nuclear technology, X-ray, was literally in hand, and in just over one decade more, in 1908, its use as a weapon was elucidated for the first time as science fiction by the writer H.G. Wells, who further elaborated on the potential of nuclear bombs in a 1914 story called The World Set Free. Perhaps, as an instrument of his time and associates, Wells was meant to seed the modern imaginations of social thinkers with the idea that Peace was achievable by warfare in the misguided perpetuation of apocalyptic promises. However dimly the First World War is presented to schoolchildren today, it was nevertheless the Great War — the War to End All Wars– and it’s preparation and execution permanently changed the geo-political landscape for ill. Wells’s indelible mark on scientific thought later served to fire the mind of a young Hungarian, Leo Szilard, during the interwar years, who left us his testimony that he dreamed of being the inventor of the first nuclear bomb, but before Szilard’s time, within this window of three decades between Preston’s energy equation (1875) and the beginning of WWI (1914) , the discovery and manipulation of viruses entered the arsenal of the human armory. Too small for observation, viruses were procured by the technique of creating a ‘filtrate’ from diseased tissue and inoculating it into a healthy specimen in order to reproduce the original disease; accomplished successfully in 1892 by the Ukrainian, Dmitri Ivanovsky, who passed the Tobacco Mosaic Virus from sick plants to healthy ones. Within a few years, ‘isolates’ were made of animal diseases and the practice of medical experimentation, as we think of it, was off and running. Medical X-rays were announced by their discoverer, Wilhelm Roentgen, in December of 1895 and immediately taken up by adventuring science pioneers whose investigations were as unlimited as their curiosity. Doctors, electrical engineers, and anyone who could build or access X-ray machines were offering ‘treatments’ to the public. One Chicago electrician is on record for giving 1,400 treatments in 1896 and it was not unusual for an ‘X-ray’ to last 30 minutes or an hour. Warnings were almost completely disregarded. Deaths, disfigurements, and diseases began quickly adding up, year after year. In 1903, according to the fluoride expert Dr. Albert Schatz, another radioactive hazard — radon– was added to public drinking water. The discovery of radium prompted its hasty uptake as a medicament, spurring the invention of radioactive ‘contrast media’ which lit up the soft internal tissues on the X-ray plates. The chemical industry found a use for X-rays analyzing the unique microscopic ‘signature’ diffraction patterns marked on the plates by individual substances, called crystallography. Chemicals and bacteria, rabbits and dogs, people with problems, and exploitive and curious practitioners all came under the influence of X-rays. The field of genetics virtually created itself with the benefit of X-ray technology as reseachers observed profound and permanent changes in the hereditary mutability of exposed organisms. Hermann J. Muller’s fruitfly studies, begun after WWI, are legendary reminders of what a powerful technology can do. Through the use of X-ray experiments, and subsequent studies on fallout, we can finally see the connection to polio and understand how hundreds of disease conditions were brought into unnatural being. “Radiation-Induced changes in the nervous system’s..central role in behavior makes it the presumed primary mediator of radiation-induced performance deficits. “In the brain…different topographical regions may have varying susceptibility to ionizing radiation. “The phenomena of latent Central Nervous System radiation damage (with doses above the threshold) has been well documented. …delayed damage of capillary..cells may occur leading to a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier. This would result in vasogenic edema..and eventually neuronal and myelin degeneration. Clinical evidence also suggests that radiogenic demyelination may occur…transient radiation myelopathy could be the result of temporary demyelination of sensory neurons….vascular and glial changes may be important in the development of late radiation damage to the CNS”. “In addition to axonal demyelination, other direct neuronal damage may occur in the irradiated adult animal….mitotic neurons of the prenatal or neonatal CNS are known to be extremely sensitive to radiation”. …Lower rates of glucose use were found..after irradiation….hippocampal spike discharges..developed soon after irradiation when no other clinical signs of neurological damage or radiation sickness were present. —common lab animals like rabbits, rats and mice had far greater radioresistance than humans and monkeys. intravenous administration. II. Studies on human subjects.. Rochester, NY:Univ. of Rochester Atomic Energy Project, 1948. “Nurnberger, C.E., and Lipscomb, A.. What will radioactivity do to our children? [Interview withDr. many years after irradiation of benign lesions in the neck. 1962. “Lampert, P.W., and Davis, R.L.. “Scholte, P.J. and Sobels, F.H.. and development of leukemia in children. A prospective study. Jonas Salk was recruited to the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board in 1942, commissioned to join his mentor, Thomas Francis Jr., on the task of making an influenza vaccine for the Army. Breakthroughs in the study of flu, and the first known recovery of a human flu virus, had occurred ten years earlier (1931-1933) at the British National Institute for Medical Research, an establishment that was organized at the end of WWI in part because of the Great Spanish Flu pandemic. Polio and influenza have always shared a close relationship, more than just the interest and effort of the same scientists. They are nearly identical viruses –influenza virus being a double-sized version– sharing the same fundamental qualities with little difference in the symptoms of infection. We should be asking our doctors if influenza is also a disease of poisoning by chemicals and radiation. The evidence demonstrates that it is. Salk, Albert Sabin, John Enders, Thomas Rivers, and the members of the Polio Hall of Fame in the mid-20th century were all commissioned officers in the AFEB, although the historical spin suggests that the AFEB was comprised of ‘civilians’, the record proves that the American medical system was an extension of the military, and for all the layers of appearances over the decades, nothing has changed. In 2009 H1N1 influenza-A was recovered at the San Diego Naval Health Research Center weeks before it supposedly erupted in Mexico. The US military maintains a worldwide infrastructure called GEIS to manage our current outbreaks, and a policy among practitioners called “ONE medicine” which is streamlining the pharmaceuticals to treat humans and animals alike http://jenniferlake.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/global-emerging-infections-system/ . One hundred years of mixing our DNA through blood products and culturing viruses to cross-over to other species, imposed by increasingly toxic “selective pressure” on our mutable genomes, has brought a new disease reality to bear on the human ‘herd’. Jonas Salk was rewarded for his services in 1959, when a biomedical institute was arranged for him in the north San Diego community of La Jolla (‘the jewel’). His staff was recruited from within the government’s most prized biological reseach facilities. Geneticists, nuclear physicists and mathematicians held the posts of Fellows. Government “ringers” and international banker-industrialists sat on its Board of Directors. The Salk Institute was one of the gounding legs in a research complex that encompassed the Scripps Institute and the newly created University of California at San Diego, managed from above by its San Francisco regents who oversaw the operations of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, home of the Bomb. One of the most prominent physicists from Los Alamos and founder of General Atomics, Frederic de Hoffman, whose equations were the ‘correct’ ones for making the H-bomb, became a long-standing director of the Salk Institute and a personal mentor to its namesake until his death from AIDS in 1989. Salk, the institute, and the vision that he held for humanity was summed up in his philosophy of ‘metabiology’, a term that perhaps he coined in the belief that organic life should not be limited by the natural workings of chemistry, but in fact, ought to be manipulated to bring forth unknown properties and qualities, advancing the cause of human intervention in mastering his world and universe. The idea is a perfect complement in biological terms to the creation of nuclear energy. The race for an anti-radiation vaccine which would ultimately protect against polio, is best demonstrated by the work and timing of Dr. William McDowell Hammon; an AFEB officer, former medical dean at UCBerkeley, and chief of the epidemiology department at the University of Pittsburgh, from where he organized his infamous “double-blind” experiment using gamma globulin in 1951. Nuclear testing had just come “home” from the South Pacific. The Nevada Proving Ground was activated for its first atomic detonations in January, and radioactive snow had fallen across the northern path of fallout. The sense among officials was desperate. The March of Dimes had rejected gamma globulin as a prophylactic before the opening of Nevada, but the situation was about to turn grave and no useful radioprotectants had been devised. Polio incidence was on the fast-track to tripling from its pre-1950 occurrance. Hammon’s plans were quickly approved and the first test injections were arranged for September in Provo, Utah. “Five weeks of protection” was what Hammon told the press. In reality, gamma globulin had shown that it was able to confer passive immunity protection for three months or more. The unique setting of Provo placed it directly in the range of fallout from Nevada and the much closer Dugway Proving Ground, where active radiological and chemical warfare experiments were going on. Choosing the location for other reasons, in retrospect, is a breach of common sense. Provo had no medical hospital and Hammon’s team was forced to daily drive the round-trip to Salt Lake City to use the lab facilities there. Most of all, one needs to make sense of the timing for the ‘summer’ disease that was being tested from September to December. The Nevada Test Site series called Operation Buster-Jangle was scheduled to begin on October 19, six weeks and a day from the beginning of the gamma globulin (GG) trial. Jangle fired its last shot on November 29 and two days later Hammon’s GG team packed up and left. The public, avidly following the polio news in the papers, had been told beforehand that GG would not be a publicly available vaccine no matter the outcomes of Hammon’s experiment. It was just too expensive. The papers called it “practice”. Hammon called the experience in Provo “inconclusive”. The authorites passed it along as “statistically insignificant”. One look at the fallout maps for Buster-Jangle and it can be seen that the mass of radiation clouds avoided Provo with the exception of the first and very last couple of shots. By then, there was no way to continue the experiment and reconcile the effectiveness of the treatment. And then, there are darker possibilities concerning Provo. Some number among the 5,768 children who were injected resided at the State Territorial Asylum. What became of them? Were they unwittingly part of an ongoing experiment? Did someone profit from their polio antibody blood serum? “The foregoing reports indicate that poisons can cause poliomyelitis. It would appear that not any one poison in particular would be responsible for all cases of poliomyelitis but the effect of any one of several could produce the same ultimate result. When a disease is known to be caused by a poison, it is obvious that a search for a germ or virus in relation to it would not be made. Conversely, if a so-called virus is believed to be associated with the disease, then the possibility of poisoning as the cause of the disease would not be considered. It will be shown, moreover, that some so-called virus diseases and virus inclusions can be caused by poisons.”….. Congress paid attention. In 1954, when the Salk IPV went into wide national and multi-country testing, DDT and other polio-causing substances came under domestic restrictions. The “DDT Is Good For Me” campaign was over. No testing was scheduled for the Nevada Test Site in ’54 while the new Salk vaccine was under trial. Polio was going to go away and the vaccine was going to be a great success. Pesticides could now also cover up the radiation cause of polio. Near the same time as Preston was elucidating his equation for nuclear power in 1875, the ‘late effects’ of polio were becoming known to the early neurology ‘giants’ like Jean-Martin Charcot and Hermann Oppenheim. In his book “The Polio Paradox”, Richard Bruno reviews the “case of the French patient”, a 19-year-old Frenchman who worked in the tanning industry and suffered the weakening and withering of post-polio syndrome. The case was one among a hundred documented before the turn of the 20th century. The poison cause of this patient’s original illness as a young child appears to never have been revealed, neither was his ongoing debility as a chemical handler, for in this era Germ Theory was rooting deep into the Victorian-industrial establishment and displacing the brilliant and accurate theories of Pleomorphism. Louis Pasteur, whose institution and excursions into bacteriology were financed by the French Rothschilds, is famously known to have confessed on his deathbed that the genius of pleomorphism was correct. Pleomorphism (or polymorphism) determines that life arises from chemistry: the chemical constituents of the environment composing a dynamically flexible matrix for lifeforms to adapt and display ‘transitional’ qualities, altering the nature of microbial form and function in an ultimately wholistic gestalt of biology. Modern pleomorphism was born in the mind of Antoine Bechamp and expressed by Claude Bernard’s conception of ‘bioterrain’. Bechamp endured the academic tribulation of increasing marginalization as his work went unfunded and Germ Theory was promoted in politically well-connected circles. The static proposition of germ-caused disease undergirded an ancient phobia that coalesced with the 19th century obsession among western intellectuals with ‘degenerate’ humanity: it was a sociological Perfect Storm that led to “negative eugenics”. By contrast, pleomorphic ideation was like a lifeboat idly strapped to the deck of the Titanic. Few appreciated its utility, except for those who understood the titanic Germ Theory would sink. Neuroanatomy between 1830 and 1880 proved that paralyzing degeneration resulted from the disintegration of the brain and spinal nerves. The field of neurology split off in multiple directions –creating and expanding treatments of surgery, drug therapy, and psychiatry. Parallel developments of eugenics, bacteriology, epidemiology and immunology fueled a young science of medical chemistry that drew its most ardent practitioners from a self-styled elite of the intelligentsia. They practiced as artisans refining a craft, and drew mental inspiration from the deep wells of philosophical and religious tradition: traditions inextricably entwined with the use of drugs as demonstrated by their alchemical forbearers. Investigations and experiments conformed to the inflated ideals of superior-minded cohorts who nested under the wings of industry and academia in an ever-widening rift of class-divided society. At last, technology became the enabling factor in the decisive battles of power over the destiny of mankind. Heady stuff for contemporary thinkers. 90,000 commercial chemicals, gene-destabilizing radiation, and 150 years of conditioned social science later we stand on our own crossroads. Scientists have the means and the will to “build better humans”. The issues are matters of utility. Weapons and Germ Theory have proved-out the degenerate lot of the human species. The Nuclear Age’s Baby-boom generation is mature: yesterday’s polio children are in their Golden Years but Americans would probably not survive another assault of the kind perpetrated in the 1950s. Our bodies are more fragile. The fallout from atomic-bombs has been estimated to be equivalent to 40,000 Hiroshima-sized blasts, or 16kt of deadly poisons 40,000 times over. It came down with the snow and rain, grew up with the grasses and trees, and the cycle is repeating itself with Chemtrails as we shift from Nuclear to Nanotech, biologically speaking. Nuclear energy is not going away. In fact, more is planned and the medical research hierarchy is devising ways of reconfiguring DNA to become radio-resistant. …it’s Acute Flaccid Paralysis, mercury poisoning, lead poisoning, meningitis, Parkinson’s, Guillain-Barre, MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s and the list goes on. How is that possible? What are the polio-like diseases and how does cancer fit into this picture? Dr. Ralph Scobey called the polio vaccine campaign “the largest medical experiment in history”…it’s still going.. F. D. Roosevelt caught it in 1921, except it’s not contagious. It was called infantile paralysis. He was 39 years old. But FDR didn’t have polio afterall, they said –he had Guillain-Barre Syndrome…..and the picture starts getting a little bigger. They also say that “wild polio” came back to North America becausesome people refuse vaccination. Three years before a few Amish children became sick with polio in 2005, they made the virus from scratch in a lab at Stony Brook in New York. They said from now on, everbody has to have the vaccine –because terrorists might make virus and launch a biological attack. Biological warfare was described by Australia’s Frank Macfarlane Burnet as the best means for a small and scattered population to defend itself against ‘hordes’ of would-be invaders. Burnet recommended ‘intestinal’ agents to his government, assumed to have been readily adopted as a matter of policy. Making your enemies sick affects a great cost upon the living! Isn’t this the situation today? Isn’t chronic illness a great TAX upon the nations, sapping productivity, wealth and resources to be reconcentrated in the hands of others? Isn’t this the very definition of a Cold War, undermining of the foundations of a state? Who benefitted from the ‘intestinal agent’ of polio and when did it start? 1892 marks a watershed year for polio in the United States. Researcher Janine Roberts writes that lead-arsenate was deployed as a pesticide in New England. The same year, Ivanovsky in Russia made the first transfer of virus to healthy plants and in New York City and the owner of R.H. Macy’s department store, millionaire philanthropist Nathan Straus, launched the campaign to pasteurize milk –a campaign that was carried worldwide by this devotedly zealous Zionist who bought the science and support he needed in an alliance with other influential Zionists of his day– Dr. Milton Rosenau, Dr. Abraham Jacobi, Simon Flexner and the Rockefeller Institute. The collaborations for medical research in New York City set a model for establishing the US Public Health Service (1902), developed from its predecessor, the Marine Hospital Service. At the time, few of the ‘enlightened’ leadership in US politics could have foreseen the large outcomes of ‘health’ trends initiated at the beginning of the 20th century, but in the community of researchers, they knew…they always knew. Simon Flexner published his observations in 1896 of gut bacteria “wandering through the intestinal walls” through “imperceptible lesions” that allowed a blood-borne dissemination of pathogens to invade other organs –the lungs, heart, kidneys, etc.– where they then produced diseases of infection, most notably incurable pneumonia. The next year, it was remarked that “artificial treatments” on these colon bacteria caused them to become virulent –the kind of treatments is not described, however, examples in the general literature used chemical poisons and X-rays. In the same publication, Rockefeller’s research magazine the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), articles appeared on the quality and benefits of mother’s milk delivered in the tone of a warning that any substitutes devised by science should seek as close to a real approximation as was technically possible. It simply didn’t happen — to this day, comparable substitutes do not exist. In time, pasteurization, bottle and formula-feeding were pushed as superior and many opportunistic objectives were met. Dairy produce was the most valuable of agricultural products: the industry came under an equalization by the enforced means of pasteurizing: inferior quality milk from “swill dairies” gained a par with wholesome farm product, and the added expenses of processing drove many small farmers out of the marketplace. Hereditary immunity and essential growth factors were lost to the new generations of bottle-babies, and it became very clear that the sensitive human intestinal tract was disarmed and damaged by the combination of ‘dead milk’, chemical poisons, and X-rays. Simon Flexner, as the director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, held a proprietary exclusivity over polio research that has no equivalent in history. No one at the RIMR was allowed to study polio without his permission. Dr. Flexner reproduced the experiment of poliovirus isolation that was done by Karl Landsteiner in 1908 and soon public health officials were pressured to find it wherever epidemics broke out. The entire field of medical practice and education quickly became dependent on the research institutions like RIMR for information as ‘reform’ was economically forced on a national scale through the imposition of standards derived from the “Flexner Report”, a survey from the Carnegie General Education Board that was conducted by Simon’s younger brother Abraham. The first great outbreak of polio happened in 1916 as the United States was preparing to enter World War One. On July 31, in the deep of night, a weapons and supply cache amassed by train at the railhead on Black Tom Island that jutted into the NYC harbor blew sky-high, ignited from a barge loaded with TNT. Over 50 explosion-related deaths on the Jersey side were reported in the papers. Black Tom Island was reduced to ash. Within 2 weeks, a small outbreak of a few dozen cases reported in July erupted into thousands of victims throughout the city with the greatest concentration in the burrough of Brooklyn. Unprecendented quarantine was levied on the city’s citizens. Simon Flexner took charge of the Public Health response: children were forcibly taken from their parents; stray animals were euthanized; immigrant neighborhoods were targeted; and detailed ‘health’ surveys collected by an army of nurses. The results of those measures were never made public, even in 1963 when the Rockefeller released some of the documents for academic study. An interesting ‘coincidence’ of timing in 1963 is that the new Salk Institute in California was directed (as chairman, from New York ) by the “Black Tom Island” lawyer, John J. McCloy who prosecuted the bombing case after WWI and found no culprits for the nation’s largest act of domestic terror before the recent events of Oklahoma City and September 11th. Germany was held responsible for WWI reparations in 1938, which it continued to pay on top of WWII reparations. In 1963, it also became public news that the Salk and Sabin vaccines were contaminated with a monkey virus called SV40, now known as the most useful biological agent in creating artificial transgenic lifeforms. How deep does this experiment go? The story of polio makes a whole cloth of the war against people. The viral filtrate obtained by Simon Flexner in 1916 was passaged (attenuated) through the brains of monkeys, producing a highly infectious neurotropic “mixed virus” (MV) strain. More recently, Dr. John Martin, commenting on the practice, said ” the whole philosophy now [is] that it is dangerous to switch species and take potential viruses from one species and introduce them to another…”. In this same WWI era, the viruses of bacteria were also being manipulated by another self-taught microbiologist, Felix d’Herelle, and we are left to wonder if the 1918 outbreak of Spanish Flu resulted from the intentional weaponizing of microbes. The Spanish Flu was a myriad of undefined illnesses. Its most devastating effects closely resembled a hemorrhagic plague that killed within hours. A lesser illness infected the Paris Peace delegations in the months after the November armistice, including Woodrow Wilson and his advisor Edward Mandell House who both experienced a rapid decline in mental and physical health. Franklin Delano Roosevelt as assistant Secretary of the Navy also contracted the Spanish Flu in 1918. Within 3 years, FDR succumbed to polio. The Rockefeller organization ‘spread its wings’ in 1916, forming the International Health Board modeled on the stateside Sanitary Commission which exploited the lack of medical infrastructure in foreign countries and contracted with their governments to create an elaborate system of ‘experiment stations’ and disease surveillance. In this way, Rockefeller money paved a world network of teaching and laboratory facilities in concert with the intrepid medical incursions of French and British neo-colonials. They were carving up the world for its spoils in the name of medicine. In 1955, when Salk IPV was approved and distributed, Nelson Rockefeller clinched the “official U.S. policy” coup of the century, opening the way for both the “Atoms for Peace” global program and an escalation of nuclear arms that became known as MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). At the time, Rockefeller held the job as “Special Assistant for Psychological Warfare” to President Eisenhower, one of a few unelected federal jobs obtained by Nelson Rockefeller, culminating in his appointed Vice presidency under Gerald Ford, himself appointed. Not by chance, Salk and Sabin effectively pressured Ford to urge Americans to take the swine flu vaccines of 1976. About that time, another round of previously unknown and deadly diseases, like Ebola and Legionnaire’s, was emerging in the world with a fury. Yet to be acknowledged was the phenomenal spread of a syndrome process leading to total immune collapse. Lower lifeforms and transgenic crops are presently experiencing species collapse, and strangely, this is part of the Polio Story too. This graph was designed only to bolster the DDT cause of polio, and yet it more accurately supports the radiation cause, strengthening an argument that pesticide poison data helps to cover-up the mass irradiation of the public. In reality, it does not. Careful perusal of this graph demonstrates radiation exposure, including the accident at Chernobyl (but not Three Mile Island until cumulative problems emerged between 1982-83). There’s nothing on the graph for 1979, yet it is famously known within the polio story that outbreaks among the Amish in 1979 were the “last wild polio” cases in North America. It simply doesn’t rate. The first burp on the line appears in 1887 and disappears completely in 1967. It’s assumed that less than one thousand recorded polio cases in a given year don’t show at all, because Zero cases in any year since the 1890s, the introduction of x-rays and radium, has never happened. In 1983, the line takes off like a rocket with the inclusion of ‘post-polio’ diagnosis (cumulative TMI fallout from ‘venting’), peaking in 1986 (Chernobyl), dropping fast to 1991 and falling as rapidly as the ’83 rise over the course of 1992, where it levels near the case-rate of 10,000. 1916 — needle spike, approx 40,000 cases; 27,000 cases were reported in the US. Radium and ‘thorotrast’ went into wide use. X-ray therapy was enormously popular. DDT use, which is thought to be negligable before the 1930s, in this WWI timeframe is very uncertain as imported chemicals became severely restricted by the war. Nitrates, newly widespread since mass production began in 1913, are a major suspect cofactor in the surge of flu and polio-like illness. 1931 –approx. 15,000 cases; a modest spike for the settling ‘deep’ of the Great Depression. Ernest O. Lawrence was making good on his contract to supply radio-chemicals for experimental medicine as were other contractors in developed nations. This spike, as the highest case rate of the 30s, predates the agricultural reforms of FDR’s New Deal policy in the US and cannot logically be representative of DDT unless the numbers generate from outside the US. (the US accounts for most the world’s polio before the 1970s). Canada became a major exporter of radium, one million times more radioactive than uranium, in 1931. 1943 — It’s getting late in the war. All the confounding stresses are present. Army history records the greatest number of influenza cases worldwide. Enriched uranium and plutonium production is set into high gear for the Manhattan project. Los Alamos director Robert Oppenheimer proposes that ‘dirty’ radiation devices could be used instead of the sought-after A-bomb (a suggestion passed to him by colleague Enrico Fermi who attained the step of a controlled ‘reactor’ in December ’42). Canada’s first ‘medical’ reactor was up and running by 1943. Did they run contamination experiments? Stafford Warren and Harold Hodge were contaminating the area around the University of Rochester from materials secretly shipped from MIT by Robley Evans. 1945 –Three detonations (Trinity, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki) disperse quantitave atmospheric fallout and the continuing build-up of medicinal reactor products are distributed for biological study. 1946 –Operation Crossroads sent out 2 major blasts of fallout. The second shot, the underwater near surface ‘Baker’ test, was a particularly dirty test. Decontamination proceedures by the USNavy were ineffectual. ‘Hot’ materials and ships were towed to Hawaii and San Francisco for a lengthy clean-up. In Tennessee, Monsanto was packaging radiopharmaceuticals and sending them to labs and hospitals around the country. 1948-49 –Operation Sandstone in ’48 (3 shots) repollutes the global atmosphere with fresh fallout. Health Physics organizes an intensive program of radiological studies using X-rays and radionucleides. The 3 spikes in ’45, ’46, and ’48-49 correspond to testing. The intentional radiation releases, called Green Run, from Hanford, WA began in ’49. In August, the Soviets detonated their first test. There were no tests in 1947 or 1950, hence no spikes on this graph. Could DDT do that? 1952 –all-time peak polio(52 and 53) of 58,000 (+) cases, matched on this graph with the height of 1986 ‘post-polio’. Bioaccumulation of radiation effects were showing. In 1951, the Nevada Test Site ran 2 operations; testing resumed in the spring of 52 and again in 53. The Marshall Islands had a series each year. Radioactvie rain and snow were coming down from NTS fallout, exacerbated by the weather experiments of Irving Langmuir and in the late summer of ’53 the Soviets fired off their first thermonuclear device. Diagnostic criteria began changing where the case numbers fall. 1955 — notch on the graph; Operation Teapot spread fresh fallout in the US after a hiatus at the NTS during ’54. The introduction of SALK vaccine in April contributed ‘provocation’ polio cases. After this point, redefined diagnoses erased the polio label. 1959 — notch on the graph; looking for a toxic radiological cause or confounding cause suggests that the Santa Susana meltdown near Pasadena CA factors into this spike; significant nuclear ballistics were being tested and the USSR was intensively testing large warheads, as was the US in anticipation of a moratorium. Over 200 atomic tests by US personnel were kept off the records, announced finally by Hazel O’Leary in ’94. It’s unknown how many covert missile detonations took place at this time but ballistic advances from earlier tests (57-58) suggest high altitude blasts over open ocean were the likely source of contributing fallout. The line goes flat for 1965, and from 1967 to 1983 –where did the polio-like illness go? DDT usage cannot explain this and the pesticide was not ‘cancelled’ overnight. US DDT production continued until 1972 when it met its first domestic ‘ban’. According to newly instituted enforcement, previously stored (before ’72) DDT was not banned from proscribed use until 1976 when complete discontinuance in the US was finally put in place. DDT continued to be used outside the US. Where are those numbers? 1983 –recognition of ‘post-polio’ as a diagnosable disease entity had been championed since the late 70s. The first organized congresses of post-polio sufferers took place in 1981. Awareness and education accounts for this sudden spike, however, a striking correspondence and example of obfuscation can be drawn from the “venting” of Three Mile Island which grew beyond a local political problem in 1981. [see the Fallout page]. 1986 –Peaking comparable to 1953. April 26, 1986, Ukraine explosion and massive contamination from Chernobyl –this was a horrifically ‘dirty’ and under-reported event. A claim is made that the US used the Chernobyl accident to hide ‘venting’ from the NTS underground. Did other countries with waste and weapons do this as well? Venting from Three-Mile Island continued from reactor core damage which was not fully assessed until 1987. In 1992, the level drops precipitously to a steadier state of ongoing illness. US and treaty nations’ nuclear test operations are supposed to have ceased in this year. The USSR no longer existed. A dip followed by a rise appears in 1997– can this be from radioactive and metallic ingredients in ‘chemtrails’ , or is there a marked increase in nuclear activity and radiation? This blog is a “rolling notebook” and a work in progress with side pages that can be read like chapters in a book.

2019-04-26T02:05:26Z

https://polioforever.wordpress.com/

What figures have you found most recently? clones lots of clones and prettyt much every jedi, I really need help finding the clone pilot, commander, adn tank gunner can anyone in this area help me? I found the clone commander at a Wal mart in ellicott city and the clone pilot at the kohls in severna park. I was at walmart last week. I was at the EC target today and didnt find anything good. I went to the Kohls also, but couldnt find the toy section and didnt have the time to look. Whoa, so like I totally refused to believe that Kohl's would have any Star Wars stuff. Totally. I was near a Kohl's when I went to Target in Bowie today, holy crap, lots of great finds! Those are what I remember seeing that stand out, which I can't find in any other store. I got 2 exploding body General Grievouses, one 4 lightsaber attack GG, and the Chopper Droid. There are still plenty of 4 lightsaber attack GGs, no more Chopper Droids nor exploding body GGs. I have an extra exploding GG for trade. Like two of each or so. I found them at Kohl's in the same shopping complex as Target of Bowie . . there's a road in front Target/Staples/PetSmart/Borders that stretches all the way to Lowes and Kohl's is in the middle. I was at the Bowie target on monday, but I didnt feel like going into Kohls. Sounds like I made a mistake. It really is strange that Kohls has the hard to find stuff. I'm not used to stoping in at Kohls. It really is strange that Kohls has the hard to find stuff. I'm not used to stoping in at Kohls. Dood, I stopped by there for the first time today . . it was weird, all these senior citizens were there, was I stuck in some Bizarro Universe run by the elderly? Geriatric Park? But I got the figs I needed, now all I need to complete all the droids in this series is the Droideka. Anyone interested in starting a local figure find network? I'm "NF15B" on AIM if so inclined. Any of you know if there are still Sneak Preview General Grievous still available around here? eh...ellicot city is to far for me. anywhere else? I saw them in the TRU and KB in Annapolis this week. They ususally have them in most stores ive been to, they are mixed in with the new figures. i just checked the TRU on the corner of pulaski highway and rossville. No luck. I was hoping to see the GG sneak peak but i was let down. Do any of you guys have any extra? O yea. there was nothing out of the ordinary. I'm still looking for a clone commander and exploding grievous. peace! Just wanted to inform anyone who didnt know. Best Buy now carries Master Replica products. They sell the Force FX Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker lightsabers and the Exclusive mini Darth Sidious lightsaber. I bought all three and to my surprise the Sidious Lightsaber is gold. Went to TRU and Target in Towson. I finally found an Unleashed Grievous. They also had Unleashed Ayala. I need help! I simply cannot find #37, #38 and #40 anywhere. Any ideas for either Bowie/Crofton or Columbia areas? I have tried a couple of Kohls stores. Also been to Toys R Us in Columbia and Ellicott City, KB in Bowie and Columbia, Walmart and Target in Bowie, Columbia and Arundle Mills. They are hard to find, but they are out there. I have seen them at the Toys R Us in Annapolis and at Khols in Severna Park and Bowie. Is Khols strictly a southern store cause i dont recall seeing any khols stores. I've actually never heard of the place. Also, has anyone found any blue or red guards or clone commanders ANYWHERE???? I desperately want one. Thanks! I have found the blue guard and the clone commander. What do you mean: "is Kohls a southern store"? They are in the Baltimore area if that is what you mean. Kohls is more of a clothing store but it has a small toy section. Where did you find the guard and clone commander? My area is full of scalpers so i will NEVER find those figs. o well time for ebay. I wouldnt do that just yet, you will find them. I could see going to ebay for the red guard, but thats about it. Yea i'll probably try my luck a little bit longer. I have no money right now though because of the IRS (bstrds). So why is The MD/DC/VA board the slowest among the collector boards. Where are all the people? Target in White Marsh has nothing new. Best Buy in WM got the .45 Obi Wan lightsabers in stock. Bout to pick them up. I got mine on hold. I don't think alot of people realize its here. O well. Anyone know if MR is going to make .45 three lightsaber display case for the ROTS sabers? Yeah, I woulda completely missed it if I hadn't scrolled down further on the main page, heh. Nothing new to report, if you still need Anakin's Starfighter, they have plenty at the Annapolis Toys R Us. What's this talk about another Starfighter for Anakin that's green? I saw the package somewhere online and it includes a figure. Curious how that ship is in the movie, Anakin's yellow one blows up or something? I'm from Rochester, NY. I'm in Fairfax visiting. I went to Target, WM and TRu on Fair Lakes Pkwy and found a #36 Grievous at WM along with a bunch of the early bird kits. Has anyone seen #37-40 in the Fairfax area? I'm in between laural and columbia, so i check the WM,target amd TRU for both areas, but i find most of my stuff near where i work in gaithersburg. Have any of you seen the target exclusive clone or the vader on a table yet? I checked the Target in White Marsh today and i found nothing new. Checked target in laurel, columbia and gaithersburg Sunday and found nothing. I'm going to try and make the rounds tonight. Did any of you pick up the Celebration III Vader on Shop Stars.com? I ordered mine today. I missed out. I just read that it was available earlier. http://threads.rebelscum.com/images/graemlins/frown.gif I was really really hoping to get one of those and I'm not going to pay any scalper on ebay for this. Yea I missed out on the C3 Vader o well. I checked the Target in Whitemarsh. Lo and behold i found a lonely BLUE GUARD! Either a toy collector or a scalper got there before me and picked up the rest of the case. I guess i gotta be quicker. Nothing at Kohl's and Target in Bowie, checked today. Sorry, "Attacktix" or whatever, just seemed like those figure-based strategy game dealies. I live about a minute from the Fair Lakes shops in Fairfax. A TRU, Target, WM, and Kohls... all with nothing over 32 and no 23. However, I got lucky this weekend and found a blue 23 at the Manassas Wal-mart. Kohls in Sterling had #33, #36, and #40. Nothing at Sterling TRU or Target. At the Wal-mart near Dulles Town Center I scored a Red saber Palps, and the #2 Anakin saber variant. They also had a few exploding Grievous. Finally went to KB Toys in Dulles Town Center where I found #34, and a Blue saber Palpatine. This was on 4/22, so they are still out there! Happy hunting, fellow NoVAns! I missed the first Starwarsshop sale for the C III Vader but i got my order in for the second shipment. So happy! Yeah, I was able to order one without the case which is fine by me! I just wanted that figure! I checked Target in White Marsh, nothing. I checked K Fart on Rossville Blvd, nothing. K Mart has unleashed figures of Count Dooku and Mace Windu. K Mart also has Animated series ARC trooper and Anakin. Still looking for Clone Commander and Exploding Grievous. Just picked up a Target Super Articulated Clone. I used the DCPI code to get it. The employee went to the backroom to get it for me. He then realized that they werent supposed to sell it so he tried to get it back. By that time i already bought it so they couldn't do anything about it. I would have given it back if he wasnt so rude to me. Sure he helped me out but he acted like he wanted to rip my head off. I got the Target exclusive today, using the code. lowenbotten, have you tried kohls in laurel? its just off of the BW parkway on route 198. I'm in Howard county and they are a little less then 10 minutes from me. I saw them there before, but that was weeks ago. Yeah, I tried that Kohls. I believe it was this past Saturday. Nothing there. Still on the hunt...I'm tempted to try that Target code thing for the clone, but I'll probably just wait till it's officially released. Good luck on release. I guarantee that the scalpers will buy ALL of the figs around. I know, but I plan to be at a Target when it opens to grab one. I only collect one of each figure and that's enough to make me happy. Thats cool. Good luck. BTW what day is the official release of the Target Trooper? Lucked out and found 37, 38, & 39 at the Target off route 50 in Chantilly. They were all sitting right at the front of the pegs in pristine condition, so someone must've just put them out. No sign of the exclusive trooper yet. Is May 1st the official release date? Or is it the 8th? I think the official date is either May 5 or 8. I guarantee that the scalpers will buy ALL of the figs around. He's right. I went to target yesterday morning and the toy stocker told me she knew nothing about the figure. When i went back with the code today she said someone came in with the code last night and bought all 6 they had. I went to another target and found the figs... so I would'nt wait. The have no Idea they have them. People just need a life. Come on, buying all 6 figures is rediculous. I'm sorry if i offend any legit scummers but if you absolutely had the need to buy all six, then you arent legit. Could someone explain how giving the code at target to get the clone works. Also, is that figure limited to 50,000, like the others? Target stores got an email saying that they can put to Exclusive clone out. So get to your Target NOW! I was at the Target in White Marsh today and while i was there some employees put them out. They also put up new pegs with lava vader on em so hopefully they will be getting more. Target in White Marsh also had a bunch of clone commanders and one clone pilot which i picked up. They also had Polis Massan and Mas Amedda. So today was a nice day, i got to pick up 2 clone commanders and a clone pilot. I was at Target in Columbia around 9am today. Still no Target clones. They did have a few Clone Commanders and Clone Pilots and Palpatine #35 (red saber). Still no #37 and 38!!!!! What is it with Vader's Medical Droid and the Tank Gunner that makes them so hard to find? Yea now i must go on a quest for the tank gunner. That fig looks sweet. Lowenbotten, go check other targets right away. you might be missing your chance. Unfortunately, my work day doesn't really allow me to get away and run around to other Targets right now. To be honest, although I'd like to get this exclusive Clone because I tend to be a completist, I won't be real upset if I don't get him. For whatever reason, he doesn't excite me too much. He looks just like the #6 ROTS Clone. What I'm real happy about is that I lucked out and ordered a CIII Vader (without the case) from the SWS. I was also able to get the Lava Vader back on April 2nd. It is killing me that I can't find #37 and 38!!!! Its gonna be REALLY hard to find # 37-38 around here. Also, has anyone found the Republic Gunship? I really want this. I have seen the Gunship alot in Annnapolis and Glen burnie. Could you explain to me how you were able to get the exclusive clone trooper with the target code. Who did you talk to there? What is the code? I would like to try and get one before the rush. Just take the code to a price scanner. Enter it in. If it says that they have it in the stock room, then just ask an employee. most targets are putting them out now. Thanks. The numbers that I have are #26822 and #087-06-1489. Do I use both? Are they right? Scroll up a little and you'll see what i got today. Yea i've learned that the trick to actually getting the figs i want is to get at target between 8-9. before when i went to target after class, i would never see any other collectors.this morning i saw at least 3 other collectors. My Celebration III Vader shipped today. I was surprised because I thought it was going to ship on May 9. I can't wait! Went to Target in White Marsh, TRU on Rt 40 Walmart on Philadelphia Rd and found nothing. I did manage to get the three walmart gift cards for free. so i didnt come home empty handed. I was hoping to find the AT-TE gunner. Anyone found this fig yet? The Tank Gunner is the last figure I need out of figures 1 - 40. Last night, I found a 37 Vader's Medical Droid. Last one at the store! What store did you find the medical droid it in? I hope this wasn't a joke. I was there last night and found nothing. Went there today about an hour after reading your post and there was no sign of anything new having been out. It was the same as I saw it last night. What time were you there? And to answer the other guy, I found Vader's Medical Droid at Kohl's in Bowie. It was the last one there late last night. Other than that, it was mostly the usual 1 - 32, other than one exploding Grievous. Same thing happend to me. Saw nothing last night or today. I tried to get the exclusive Clone Trooper also. They had them in the back but said they were not allowed to sell them yet. I was there around 10:30 am. I wanted to buy the Clone Trooper with the jet pack but both figs had their guns drooping down, didn't want defective figs. I wish I took a pic with my camera phone, oy. I returned the vulture droid cuz I sorta had a change of heart (selling my droid figures and jumping in the clone bandwagon.) See my post! I think I went at the wrong time. Good score today! Found all four of Wave 2 of the Deluxe figures at Target in Columbia this morning at about 10am. I don't know if anything will be left by now. There were 3 other guys there buying stuff too. There was a fair amount of each figure (perhaps 5 or 6), but really not a whole lot. I didn't really count since I was in a bit of a hurry. Checked Target in white marsh, Walmart on philadelphia rd and TRU in RT 40. nothing....i also have determined that i will never goto TRU again for sw figs. they simply do not restock. There was a lone gunship at the walmart if anyone wants it. Good score today! Found all four of Wave 2 of the Deluxe figures at Target in Columbia this morning at about 10am. I went there after work and the had nothing. What was the item number on the reciept for operation table vader and the jetpack clone? I'll check the target by my job totmmorow. My receipt simply says 087061327 Star Wars E3 [email protected]. There are no individual item numbers. Just the one number times 4. WOOHOO found the AT-TE Gunner at Target in White Marsh. They also had 2 #36 Grievous 2 Polis Massan 1 Mas Amedda 1 Clone Pilot 1 Vader on the table and 1 clone deluxe. I only decided to pick up the AT-TE pilot. Good haul today! Lucky you! I wish I could find that blasted Tank Gunner. Yea i was really lucky that the scalpers took the day off today. It was weird tho how they didnt have any Clone commanders in stock. Also, If anyone needs a clone pilot i can get one for them. Lucky You. I am still hunting for the vader on table and jet pack clone. I found out at lunch that the item number is for all deluxe figs reguardless of wave. I got happy when i entered the code and it said it had them in stock, but when i checked the pegs they all had the same number. Oh well, a guy at target told me they would be putting stuff out for the 8th cause thats the official release for the exclusive clone. So i'll wait till sunday. Which part of RT 40 is the walmart on? Dropped by Target in White Marsh. They still had one #36 Grievous in stock. I picked up a #6 Clone to open. cool no target clones tho? They are in the back. i checked the DCPI and it showed that it was in the back. I dont need anymore so i didnt ask. I can pick one up for some one if they want. Does anyone know where I can find Action figure stands locally. I really dont want to buy online. Thanks! I coulda sworn that i saw them at A.C. Moore. I dropped by there today but I couldnt find any. Greenbelt target had the vulture droid, Grevious with the cloak and red saber palpy. Rockville TRU had about 5 or 6 Clone Commanders, Grevious with the cloak and red saber palpy. My Celebration III Vader came in today! I ordered it without a case and it still came in MOMC. Whew! Now all I have to do is buy the protective case probably from ebay. I didnt get my free promo card though. grrrrr! I checked the Target in White Marsh and they had a couple of Mas Amedda, 2 #36 Grievous and 1 Chopper Droid. If anyone has an extra CIII Vader case, please PM me. I just went to Target, Walmart and TRU in Columbia and they had everything BUT #38. Unbelievable. That's the only one I need at this point. Very frustrating. Wal-mart in laurel had red saber palpy, grievous with the cloak, commanders and lots of pilots. Anyone know when Bacarra comes out?? Also, can someone please pick up a momc Sneak Preview Grievous x2 for me. I really want one but i dont want to ebay it. I'm just wondering if there are any stores out there in MD that still carry it. Thanks! I believe the TRU on Route 40 has several. But that was in early or mid April. I'm happy! Finally found a Tank Gunner! Not only that but I got 41 - 44!!!! Found at Target in Bowie. I only noticed the one Tank Gunner that I got, but they had a decent amount of 41 - 44 (not a whole lot, but quite a few). They also had plenty of Clone Commanders and Pilots, Palp 35, and Exploding Grievous. I'm sure none of these will last long, but they're showing up in stores and it looks like there will be plenty to go around once supply picks up. They also had Deluxe Wave 2. I keep going to the Bowie Target at the wrong time. Keep missing the new stuff there. There wasnt much at the Ellicott City Walmarts, Target or Kohls yesterday. Dropped by my Target today. They had around 7 Clone Commanders, 2 Clone Pilots and 5 red saber Palpatines. They also had the Deluxe clone and droid starfighter. I picked up a red saber palpatine for the wall. I checked TRU by my job today and they had every sneak prview fig except grevious. So ok, at Bowie Target, I took 2 clone commanders and a clone pilot and hid them behind the Lego Skull Island set right across the Star Wars wall . . if you, or anyone else who sees this, need either, you can find them there, if they're not found by the sales peeps. There was still one Vulture Droid and a Clone Trooper with jet pack . . two Destroyer droids, one Anakin with the running change Dooku lightsaber included, 2 Polis Massans and a partridge in a pear tree. Yeah. Thats really cool of you to hide figures for other people. In the future I will do the same thing. Like Ice Cube once said..." Today was a good day!" I found 41-44 and all of Wave 2 deluxe this morning in columbia. Columbia had #38 x 3. I'm sorry i didnt post this earlier, it was my intention, but i had to mow the lawn and then my parents stopped by, so i am just getting around to it. Maybe we should exchange phone numbers so we can alert each other sooner. PM me if anyone is interested. Went to Target in Bowie this morning. No Target Clones. Oh well. I wasn't too pressed on getting this one anyway. I did see the hidden figures still there. LOL I didn't need them so left them there. I saw 2 Tank Gunners on the pegs right up front. Now that I think about it, maybe I should have hidden those too. But it does seem like the figures are getting easier to find. My parents live in bowie, so i was out there today. Target had nothing, and Kohls had a few tank gunners and clone commanders. Target in WM had 3 #36 Grievous. Thats about it. I hit target in Gaitersburg today on my way to work. They had 42-44. The clones were gone. Sunday, the Wal-Mart in Dundalk had one Clone Commander, three AT TE Tank Gunners, two Red Royal guards and a Blue Royal Guard. I picked up one of each guard and left the rest. Today, the KB Toys in White Marsh Mall had three Red Royal Guards, four Clone Commanders, a bunch of Clone Pilots and several AT TE Tank Gunners. No sign of the newest ones. These Red Royal Guards are not hard to find around here. I have only come across one Blue Guard and about ten red ones. I agree, i've seen more red guards around here than blue. I thought the blue would be rare when they first hit on APR 2nd, cause i saw red only. Took 6 different stores to find blue. Thanks for the info i have to get up there. I've been looking everywhere for a red guard and a second AT-TE gunner. Just got back from KB. Finally picked up a Red Guard. Also picked up another AT-TE gunner to open. Thanks again for the tip. Finally got a red guard today at Wal-mart in Sterling, VA. They also have a few of 35, 37, 39, and 40, as well as entire pegs full of 33, 34, and 36. Saw a blue guard at Target in Fair Lakes. Left him for some other collector. No sign of 41-44, except for the abundance of the other figs that ship with them. Was at Target in Fair Lakes today. Scored #41 - #44. Only had 1 of each. Except for #44 Destroyer Droid, had 2 there, left 1. Also, AMAZINGLY, they had out 9...yes NINE Clone Exclusives. Took 1. Left 8. I'd hurry there before they all get snatched up. If anything, they make for great trades. Walmart in Fair Lakes was a bust. Lots of Clone Pilots and Red Saber Palpatines. Target in Springfield also a bust. Same deal there. Went to Target in WM today. They had 1 AT-TE gunner, 1 Polis Massan, 3 Mas Amedda, 2 Pilots, 1 Chopper Droid. Probably all gone by now. Stopped by Best Buy and picked up .45 scale Anakin and Obi Wan lightsabers for $15 each (employee discount). I was at Target in Bowie tonight. Those figures that NF15B hid are STILL in their same hiding spot. I can't help but be amused by that. I was there at about 7pm or so tonight. They had several of the Wave 2 Deluxe figures including the "flat colored head" Operating Table Vader and the other figures as well. Saw the #36 - 40 figures minus the Tank Gunner. I've got all the figures up to 44 so I'm not really hunting for anything. I was at Target in Bowie tonight. Those figures that NF15B hid are STILL in their same hiding spot. Silly Target zombies! So, has anyone found the crab droid yet? No crab droid yet. I cant wait for the Clone 3 pack. Found a couple more 41's today and the Wookie warrior color variant at Target in G-burg. Target in WM had #41-44 and Exclusive clones on the pegs this morning. Were there any of the SA Troopers and the Target Exclusive Troopers left? Target in Timonium had 42-44 and Deluxe Wave 2. They had a few Neimoidian Warriors and a couple Wookie Warriors left. I didn't see any Destroyer Droids. Oh well. I will probably end up going to the Golden Ring TRU and/or the Towson TRU early tommorow morning to take advantage of the $4.99 Basic Figure sale and the "$10 off a $50 purchase" coupon. EDIT: Hey CamaroJedi, I just noticed that you live in Perry Hall. I live right across from the High School. Went to the NorthPoint Flea Market today. Picked up a Holo Yoda from a vendor. Nothing at Target in Bowie. Anyone see the variation for this? I picked up 2 more 41's this morning in G-burg. Yesterday in Bowie Target, I found the "brown" Wookie Warrior. So now I have both colors which is very cool. They had several of the tan-colored Warriors. I have to say I think all of the Wookie figures are pretty good. Forget the clones, the Wookies are nice! Dropped by Target and picked up a #41 Clone for my not so Grand Army of the Republic. I saw this other collector, at least I hope hes a collector not a scalper, at the WM target again. I'm wondering if he is anyone on this board. If so holla at me! I picked up 2 more 41's today. In columbia Target. The cashier tried to tell me I could only buy one. The guy in front of me had 3 and she only let him buy one. I said, you must be confused with the exclusive clone. She asked another worker and he asked someone adn then told me i was right. So they let me get both and the other guy was hanging around so he got his too. KB in the White Marsh Mall had a few AT TE Gunners. It's the first time I've seen any in a while. I picked one up. It was about to close, so I didn't get a chance to look through for anything else. The Target in White Marsh was pretty cleared out by the time I got there last night. It had a couple clone pilots, a couple clone commanders, a neimoidian warrior, and a couple wookie warriors. TRU in Golden Ring was stripped bare. target in columbia had gunners and piolets galore. They had 1 blue guard, He was on the endcap when i left. I picked up that blue guard! http://threads.rebelscum.com/images/graemlins/smile.gif But you're right, they had lots of new figures. I didn't see any Gunners though. Nor did I see any #41 SA Clones. I did see plenty of everything else including Clone Commanders. The only figure I have been unable to obtain is the Target Clone. I'd consider a trade for the blue guard if anyone is interested. Of course, I'd throw in a few extra bucks because of the Clones higher price. Target in...Damn i cant remember which one it was...Not sure if it was G-burg or SilverSpring. Had Exclusive clone on pegs. I picked up 4 -41's this morning in G-burg. I'm Done! No more clones. I have customs to make now. I picked up the Mustafar playset from a KB store in Bowie today. Target in Burke was FULLY stocked. Had every single figure including 2 red guards. (no blue...so I guess not EVERY figure). Also had both Wookie variants and the #2 Anakin Dookue saber variant. A real gold mine! Columbia Target had 41's this morning. But i guy was comming as i was leaving and he most likely grabbed them. Did they have Deluxe Wave 3 or anything else new such as #45 and up? Woodbridge Target: The Episode III Protective Cases - weren't these recalled? Mt. Vernon/Route 1 Target: One of each Deluxe Wave III. I took the Clone pack and Crab Droid, left Stass Alle and the Spider Droid. No, they didnt. That's why i went, for deluxe wave3. I dont think 45-49 will hit till june. Are both the Spider and Crab Droids deluxes? Dood, nothing at Target of Bowie and Greenbelt, nothing noteworthy anyways. Found another blue guard today at Target in Columbia. Picked up an Anakin with pink Dooku saber at Target! so happy just found 2 41s!!! Where did you find them Cody? New to the board, although I've been reading the threads for a while now. I think I may have run into some of you at Columbia or Ellicott City Target. Columbia had plenty of #41s this morning. lowenbotten-are you still looking for a Target Clone? Yeah, I never was able to grab a Target Clone. You've seen them around? About an hour or so ago, I was at Target in Columbia and found a few of the #2 Anakins with Dooku saber. Picked up one for myself and there were quite a few left. Maybe 4 or 5 that I noticed. I saw two #41 Clones there as well. Just tried to PM you but I guess I didn't do it right. I picked up an extra a couple of weeks ago if you want to trade for something. Hey dude, I just noticed the messages you sent me. I'll tell you how it goes tomorrow! Target in WM had new shipment of Deluxe wave 2. Also had #41s in stock. Still looking for Tarkin wave. Also went on an Extended hunt to Towson. The Target in Towson had plenty of Polis Massan and Jedi. The TRU is garbage. The New WalMart has same figs as Target. Thanks for the tip lowenbotten, picked up Tarkin at Wal-Mart in Columbia, left the other 2 new ones. There were 3 other Tarkins when I left along with a couple of Tank Gunners. Thats a good sign. I cant wait till they hit up here. All i really want is the Clone 3pk and Tarkin. I picked up Tarkin and the Two senators this morning at Columbia Wal-mart. Still hunting for the deluxe wave 3! I really thought Columbia Target would have Deluxe Wave 3 today...but nothing. The guy ahead of me did grab a Red Guard though. There were a couple of #41's and Tank Gunners hanging around, as well as a couple of Anakin w/ Dooku saber. Starting to see these more than Anakin w/hand saber now. Not a total loss though...my son got Yoda. Saw some deluxe clone troops at K-Mart in Pasadena. Also at Arundel Mills Mall, I saw Neimodian Soldier and a couple Wookie Warriors. KB in the Columbia Mall had a couple of the Sneak Preview Wookie Warriors this week. For anybody that's building a Wookie Army. At 7.99 a piece, I'll bet they're still there. today I scored 4 more # 41s Im so happy! You love your clones dont you? The guy ahead of me did grab a Red Guard though. I was wondering if you were on the forums. I saw you two days in a row and i figured you must be on the forums. I was the guy that grabbed the red guard, and if you were the guy who asked me about it, glad to meet ya( i believe your daughter was asking for C3pO). I was looking for the deluxe wave 3 also. If you're looking to start a Neimodian or Wookie Army, the Walmart off Ordinance Rd. In Glen Burnie has a ton of them. So on the pegs, some on an endcap, gotta look for it though it's in main aisle in the middle. Also that Walmart had 3 Destroyer Droids and 1 Clone Trooper [The newer one w/articulation]. Target off Ritchie Hwy in Glen Burnie also had some Destroyer Droids. I saw your customs in another thread. They are pretty awesome. You find wave 3 yet? I'm still looking. That Walmart on Ordinance Road also had somebody called Aak Assk, or something like that. Only 1 of him though. If anyone needs Clone Pilots, the Target in White Marsh has about 30 of them clogging the pegs. No sign of the new wave. I found Deluxe Wave 3 at Target in Bowie, but there were no clone 3 packs. They only had one left of the others, and I got them. Found wave3 deluxe this morning in columbia. They had all of the wave, but only white clones...no colors. I was at that same Target by about 10:15am and saw that wave but no clones at all. They must have sold those quick, I guess. I'm sure I'll find them sooner or later somewhere. Columbia Target seems to be a popular place. Picked up Deluxe Wave 3 this morning there as well. I'm sure you'll find those clones soon lowenbotten. Did my part to clean out some of the pegwarmers today. Picked up Mace, Anakin w/HandSaber, and Jar Jar from TRU. I know, Jar Jar...but my son has been asking for him. Also got Anakin w/Pink Dooku Saber in a trade with lowenbotten. Now have all three varients. Nah, it was an old one. AOTC I think. Has our area dried up? Or has everyone caught up to whats out? No finds since Thursday? I got More clones today...I cant stop...I want to, But i cant!! I think I'm pretty much caught up for now. The only thing I suppose I could look for is a colored 3-pack of clones. I do have the all-white pack. I'm also interested in finding those Target-exclusive playsets. Same thing i'm looking for...Colored 3-packs. I got a BK Darth Vader last night. My first BK toy. I was pleasantly surprised with it. Much better than what I expected. Now I want the rest of them! Picked up Titanium Series Gunship at Wal-Mart today. Just waiting for Crispy Anakin to come out. Hey Glassman, do you need another 3 pack of clones? I was thinking of returning my set. Not very impressed with it. No thanks Flack, If the ones with the colored clones were all colored, i'd take em, but i'm gonna get a lot of left over white clones when i find the colored ones, since only one is colored. I got 4 more BK toys today...Jar Jar (I hate Jar Jar), Princess Leia, the Falcon, General Grievous. Total of 5 now for me. 26 more to go. Picked up the Vulture droid "variant" and the Target exclusive Invisible Hand mini playset earlier this evening. Both from Bowie Target. Once again doing my part to clear out the pegwarmers. Since Thursday, picked up-Battle Droid, Super Battle Droid, #1 Obi-Wan, Kit Fisto, Shaak Ti & Luminara Unduli. How that Invisible Hand playset? Any good? I haven't gotten around to opening the Invisible Hand playset, but I do think it looks very cool in its packaging. A little expensive though at about $22. Got the brown marked 3-pack at wal-mart columbia today. There was one left on the pegs Flacks, if you're interested. Thanks anyway Glassman, but I'm going to stay away from those clones. I don't like the lack of articulation. I returned that 3 pack I had and will probably get 2 #6's or #41's instead. Besides, it was gone anyway by the time I got there. I couldn't believe how many Blue Guards there were. I grabbed 1 for a neighbor and there were still 5 left. Oh yeah, i forgot to mention those. I didnt consider those hard to find. Plus like you saw, they had a bunch. What happend to target? The just froze or something, havent seen anything new there in 2 weeks. if anyone in the MD/DC/VA area has an extra Anakin Skywalker (Mustafar) and is willing to sell(standard price) or trade,please PM me.I live in Pasadena,MD by the way. I dont think he's out yet. I don't mean to barge in but that Anakin as well as Bacara and the 2nd R2 have hit Colorado and California stores. I was just cruising through all these threads to see who's found them. I meant not out in this area yet. Colorodo is a bit far to drive for a figure. Ah yes. Sorry about the misunderstanding. I thought you meant out in general. hit the local walmart and target today and found nothing but pegwarmers.I will be such a happy camper the day i find #50 Anakin,Anakin/vader evolutions set,and 500th vader. Havent had a chance to make toy rounds....is Bacara wave out here yet? i havn't seen it in MD yet.People are getting it in CO and CA.It should be out within the next few weeks or earlier hopefully. Found Darth Vader at BK today. What got into Target? Pegs were packed. Looks like they had everyone up to 44. Even a few Red Guards. They even had a couple of those Micro Playsets, but at $22 each I'll pass. I went to Target in Columbia this morning and got the Blockade Runner micro playset. I agree that it's expensive, but I can't help myself. I think they're pretty cool looking. Yes, they both are really cool looking. I took me about 20 min. of standing there looking at them before I passed. If they happen to drop the price sometime in the future, I'll grab them. Has anyone spotted the #50 Anakin(Mustafar) yet. I've made several toy runs this week and hit numerous Walmarts and Targets,but have come home empty handed every time.If anyone has spotted any please let me know. It usually takes about a week-week and a half after first hearing of a new figure spotted in stores before it makes it out here to MD. Just keep checking everyday, you'll find it. I'm anxious for #50 also. while anakin looks cool, clones clones clones...i want bacara! Found 48-50 this morning in columbia. Wal-mart had tons. They also got a bunch of 45-47. Hey Glassman, read your message and went to Wal-Mart at about 12:45pm. Got there and grabbed the last #50 Anakin. People must have cleaned out the new figures between the time you got there and 12:45pm. I saw no sign of R2 or the clone. Dont people work? There had to be 7+ anakins there. I got there at 7:40 on my way to work. I only stopped there on a whim, while waiting for target to open cause i was there Bike shopping for my son on sunday and they had nothing. Well, Iowenbotten, glad you got one. In a couple weeks, they will be all over. Stopped by Columbia Wal-Mart and Target before work this morning. Nothing new. I'm glad i didnt waste my time then. I thought about going this morning though. But I'm looking for green 3pack clones and I doubted that Target got anything new...they seem to have slacked off. The glasses are the only thing i've seen new in weeks there. All the targets i frequent as a matter of fact. Checked the TRU in McLean, Va. Still nothing above #44. They did have some #11 Vaders out, but I don't need them. Still haven't seen any Red Royal Guards! Any other Virginia collectors here? Yup NoVA collector here as well. Tarkin wave has hit the Walmarts in the area. Another collector tipped me off about them being at Fair Lakes WM but were all gone when I got there. Burke WM had the whole wave, but most were badly beat up, grabbed the best of the bunch (1 each). Target seems slow to update now, and of all the stores Ive been too (alot!) Burke Walmart seems to be moving the most figures (thus getting the newest figures first). TRU in the area seem pretty beat at the moment, fully stocked w/ old figures. As far as I'm concerned...TRU in Laurel, Columbia, Wheaton,Langly Park, Rockville and Gaithersburg have had NOTHING new since April 2nd. Oh wait i found Galactic Heroes Chewie and Clone in Wheaton. Didnt want the anakin starfighter. Thats a shame...and they are more expensive so they will never move the stuff they got. Agree with you on TRU. If they would just be competitive with their pricing, maybe then they'd move some of that stuff and get more people in there checking for new stuff. I thought the green Anakin fighter looked pretty cool, but not for $30. I already have Obi-Wan's starfighter and it looks to be basically the same as Anakin's (both variations). The only differences I can see are the colors. I'm fine with having the one. I am strictly a 3 3/4 figure collector. Not into ships. I have the falcon, Slave one and Spedder Bikes. No room to display more than that. With you on the TRU pricing Glassman...and like you I only collect the basic figures...sometimes I'll get the deluxe ones if I'm smitten. I wouldn't expect TRU to get a massive amount of new stuff until around Xmas time ... im sure there will be a trickle before then, but WM and Target are the places to check. Anxiously waiting for the Evolution sets...i'll definitely be breaking my basic figure rule for those! Thats why i say 3 3/4...that includes basic & Deluxe. Those, i strive to get all of them. If/when people get me presents(birthdays, Fathers day...etc), I ask for 12" stuff since its likely that i have already got the 3 3/4" stuff myself. I go out of town for a couple of days and I miss the new figures.

2019-04-26T01:44:04Z

https://forum.rebelscum.com/archive/index.php/t-900804.html?s=02c77166c65d7b4556c91659224a25c2

MR. LOCKHART: One quick announcement. The President, tomorrow, will speak to -- I think the group meets annually, the Export Council -- his Export Council is in town tomorrow; he'll make remarks to them at a time and place that we'll let you know this afternoon. The speech will be about the importance of opening markets for U.S. products around the world and he'll talk a little bit about what he hopes his APEC trip to be all about. And that's tomorrow. Q Is there any concern that during the middle of the APEC trip the Ken Starr testimony will occur before the House Judiciary Committee, that that could affect what's happening over in Malaysia? MR. LOCKHART: No, I don't think so. The President has taken the view throughout the past year that he needs to focus on doing the people's business. I think as part of that is the important work he does overseas, both diplomatically, economically. So I don't see there's any issue created by his travel. Q Joe, why did you cancel Guam on the front end of the trip? MR. LOCKHART: We rescheduled Guam, as I said this morning, because of the tightness in the governor's race there. Under Guam law, if a candidate does not receive 50 percent of the vote there needs to be a runoff. There are issues now that I think Governor Gutierrez has got something like 49.7, something very close to 50, but just short of it. So we expect that there will probably be a runoff; it would take place just after our visit. We thought it would be better to go after the election is decided so as not to inject ourselves into the race. Q The President has been injecting himself in races all across the country for the last several weeks. You think he wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to help the Democrat win office. MR. LOCKHART: Well, we've had this discussion before about the President's philosophy and whether he should go and whether he shouldn't. I think this trip to Guam is very important to the people. Presidents don't get to the territory that often. This is not like New York City or Chicago. I think it's important to the people, we'd rather go once the political situation is resolved, the election results are known, and that it can be done in a way that isn't seen as political. Q Will he do a fundraiser while he's there? Q Does he have any more details on the itinerary? MR. LOCKHART: No, we're working that out now. I expect the departure to be sometime late Saturday and what we're working on is the back end, when we'll get back. Q What's your assessment of the impeachment hearings so far today? MR. LOCKHART: To tell you truth, I haven't seen very much of it. I think it's been sort of a walk down history's lane as far as what the history of impeachment is from various academics and constitutional scholars. From what I've seen on the reporting, there's been various views offered about the history of impeachment. I think it does not necessarily do what we were seeking to do and what some of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee were seeking, which was a look at the standards judged against the allegations that have been raised. But I think it has -- all in all, it's probably an interesting session on impeachments and the various views of constitutional scholars. Q Was the President disappointed in the Supreme Court decision on testimony, and will he now instruct Bruce Lindsey to answer the independent counsel's questions? MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think you'll have to go to the independent counsel to see if he has questions to ask. Q Well, he's already asked them. Will the President direct Lindsey to now go ahead and answer them? MR. LOCKHART: Well, again, I don't know that he has asked. If he has questions he wants to ask him, he should get in touch. Q What's his view of the court decision? MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think as his counsel, Mr. Ruff, expressed, there's some disappointment over that. We think that the President and, ultimately, the public, benefits from the ability to have frank, full and candid exchanges between the President and the White House Counsel and the lawyers here at the White House. That is something that we are somewhat disappointed about because I think this will inhibit those frank and full exchanges. Q Can I follow up? If Kenneth Starr calls and says, we would now like to re-ask the questions that Mr. Lindsey declined to answer before, does President Clinton want Bruce Lindsey to answer those questions? MR. LOCKHART: Well, I assume if Mr. Starr has questions to ask of Mr. Lindsey, he will be in touch. But I'm not going to speculate on something that I don't know to be the case. Q What they're talking about is only in the case where there's criminal conduct and his private behavior is at issue. It shouldn't have any effect on whether or not the President would have the right to confer with his attorneys on policy matters. MR. LOCKHART: At least in this case it's in the prosecutor's eye of what is criminal behavior. So I think that there are some inhibiting impacts of this and we're disappointed that the court did not judge the case worthy to review. Q This thing has gone through a number of court hearings and motions to get the court to intervene, the Supreme Court and so forth. You've lost every single one of them. Does that suggest to you that this is a losing battle, that this is not, in either case, a privilege that is likely to be granted by the court now or in the future? MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think the court has spoken. I think the dissenting view by two of the justices argued that this was a legitimate case for the court to look at and to review and not frivolous in nature, as some have suggested. But the court has spoken and the court has ruled. That doesn't mean we're not disappointed by it, but they have made their decision. Q What about on the Secret Service protective function, the rejection of the administration's position on that? MR. LOCKHART: Again, the court has spoken on that. As you well know, this is something that the Secret Service, as the experts, have chosen to assert and push for, and through the auspices of Treasury and the Justice Department. So I don't really have anything to say one way or the other on that. Q Doesn't that turn them into spies? MR. LOCKHART: I think the Secret Service is in a better position to discuss that. We've made it clear from the beginning that this was not something that we were involved in. I think the President has spoken to you on what may be the effect of the decision. But it's just not something we chose to be involved in the litigation. And, in fact, as you well know, there were those who argued on the other side who made the point that it would have been a stronger case if we had been involved. Q Has he pushed away Secret Service agents? MR. LOCKHART: I personally don't have the ability to answer that question. Q But the argument was over that very thing, that the President would try to keep his distance from them and, therefore, endanger his safety. Do you have any evidence at all the President has? MR. LOCKHART: I personally have no evidence of that, but I have no ability to really, in a comprehensive way, answer that question. Q You say that's why the President chose not to take a side on that. Then why did his attorney, Mr. Bennett, file in January of this year a motion saying President Clinton emphatically expresses his support of the Secret Service on that argument. MR. LOCKHART: On which argument? I'm not familiar in what case Mr. Bennett filed. Q This was January 26, 1998, in the Jones case, specifically his express support, saying, "we concur with the Secret Service, these materials are unconditionally privileged." MR. LOCKHART: Well, we're talking about a litigation that took place post-January 26, and you know that we took no position on that. I haven't said that the President doesn't have views or his private attorney doesn't, but we took no position in the litigation that the Secret Service, with the Treasury Department and the Justice Department, moved forward with. Q Joe, Tipper Gore is going down to Central America tomorrow with Brian Atwood and a lot of congressmen and senators, at least a number. Can you give us who is going in the delegation if you have it? MR. LOCKHART: I don't have the CODEL. We can get that for you, but I'll tell you that Mrs. Gore is traveling to Honduras tomorrow, November 10, to begin her Hurricane Mitch relief mission. She will make a statement when she arrives there and then proceed to survey the damage. She will spend most of her trip doing relief work, helping clean out schools and helping to develop shelter areas that families can take advantage of. She'll stay overnight in Honduras in the tents provided by the U.S. military. She'll then travel on to Nicaragua on Wednesday morning, November 11. So we can get you the CODEL. I know that she's taking some people with her. Q What do you say to complaints that the aid has been too slow in coming? MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think this was a devastating disaster that hit Central American countries and I would point you to efforts from the U.S. government and the U.S. military that started almost before Hurricane Mitch had left the area -- I think October 19th we had pre-positioned assets and we were working very hard with the local governments and countries -- now, for almost three weeks on this crisis. Q Joe, has a decision been made to answer any or all of the 81 questions from the Judiciary Committee? MR. LOCKHART: As we've said, I think we will reply to the Chairman's letter and answer questions, but I can't give you a precise timeline. Q Did you just say, yes, questions will be answered? MR. LOCKHART: I just said, yes, questions will be answered. Q All of the questions? MR. LOCKHART: I said questions will be answered. I don't know anything beyond that. Q Joe, what effect do you think this shake-up in the Republican leadership will have on impeachment process? MR. LOCKHART: Impossible for me to determine. We heard comments across the board over the weekend, on Sunday shows and in the paper. It's just literally impossible to determine whether this will embolden Republicans to seek a quick resolution or embolden some Republicans to try to drive forward, stretch this out and try to pursue this for more partisan advantage. Q What was the analysis of what Livingston had to say? MR. LOCKHART: Again, I think his comments sought to leave all of his options open and I think he did that. Q Joe, has the President seen the list of questions? MR. LOCKHART: No. That's ridiculous. I think the President and the editor of the paper saw each other at the state dinner, had a discussion of an important issue that's important locally, the Yucca Mountain. The editor of the paper requested an interview and we complied the next day, before leaving for the trip we were on. Q Well, did he get the interview as the result of being a news person or as a Democratic donor? MR. LOCKHART: He got the interview as a result of being a news person who was interested in an issue that was important in the Senate race in Nevada. Q How many other requests did you have for papers in the region? MR. LOCKHART: I'm not aware of any. MR. LOCKHART: It's the only one I'm aware of. Q So all you have to do is ask? MR. LOCKHART: Sometimes the only thing you have to do is ask. Q Was it because of the nature of the subject? MR. LOCKHART: That's my understanding, yes, that one of the important issues in that race in Nevada was the temporary waste disposal on Yucca Mountain. I think the President commented on a column that the newspaper editor had written, expressed his views. The editor requested an interview and it was granted. Q Joe, on the 81 questions, does the President agree with Greg Craig that they're silly? MR. LOCKHART: I haven't talked to the President about it, but I think that might be an accurate description of some of the questions, particularly ones that can be boiled down to something like, does the President know he's the President? I think he does. Q Joe, Saturday the President issued a statement easing sanctions against India and Pakistan. But it seems like this is benefiting only Pakistan, to make Mr. Sharif happy -- he's coming on December 2nd here -- because he's in trouble, or his job is in trouble economically back home. He might lose if he doesn't get something like this. MR. LOCKHART: Well, I don't think I'd agree with your political analysis. But let me tell you what we believe was behind the decision. As you know, under the omnibus budget bill that was passed, there was a Brownback amendment that provided the President's some flexibility and authority to waive some of the Glenn sanctions on India and Pakistan. The President will exercise that authority to restore Export-Import Bank -- OPIC, which is Overseas Private Investment Corporation -- Trade and Development Agency, and also international, military, education, and training funds for both countries. Because of the financial crisis in Pakistan, the President has also decided that the U.S. will work closely with its G-7 partners to permit lending by the multilateral development banks -- the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank -- to support an IMF program for Pakistan. MR. LOCKHART: Again, I don't necessarily agree with your political analysis. And I think given the state of the economy and the issues that Pakistan faces, domestically and economically, this step is prudent and appropriate. Q Before we leave that subject, why is the President doing that, and does it not dilute, badly dilute the nonproliferation message he was trying to send? MR. LOCKHART: No, I don't think so. I think that there's obviously been some steps toward -- from both India and Pakistan on that issue. If you remember the U.N. General Assembly, there were positive statements made towards non-proliferation. So we think, as the President has often said, allowing him the flexibility in using these sanctions can often be more productive than the rigid implementation of these. MR. LOCKHART: Well, we certainly think that both countries have taken positive steps and made positive comments. We do anticipate further steps, though. Q Also, Joe, just a follow-up. The President also said that if more progress is made by both countries, his visit may take place to India and Pakistan. So what kind of more progress are you looking for? MR. LOCKHART: Well, we're looking for more CTBT -- a signature on CTBT, moratorium on fissile material production, and adoption of restraints on nuclear-capable missiles and aircraft. Q Joe, does the White House want to call witnesses before the committee? MR. LOCKHART: I haven't heard any discussion of that. Q The White House has talked about wanting to expedite this, wanting to move on. And, yet, you're telling us that you haven't heard any discussion about whether you even want to call witnesses, you don't know when the questions might get answered. What is the White House doing to expedite this process? MR. LOCKHART: We, as I've said -- I mean, you can spin this around any way you want, Scott, but as I've said, we are working to respond to the Chairman's letter, answer the questions in a timely way. There were a lot of questions there. They weren't all just, do you think you're the President or not. And we will work as expeditiously as we can to work with the committee so that we can put this behind us. Q Does the United States believe that the use of military force against Iraq would lead to an end to the weapons inspections there? MR. LOCKHART: I can't speculate on a potential policy decision that's yet to be made. Q But is that part of our calculation in terms of whether we act? MR. LOCKHART: There are certainly a lot of calculations that go into the presenting policy options and making policy decisions. But I'm not going to speculate or lay out what those are here. Q How much time does the Iraqi government have before the President exercises military options? MR. LOCKHART: Well, first off, as we told you yesterday, the President met with his team, but has asked for further information and has not made any decisions on any diplomatic or military options. I'm not going to get into timelines here. But our objective is the same, which is to have Saddam Hussein reverse course in allowing UNSCOM inspectors to do their work. He knows what he needs to do. And while I won't get into a timeline, I think both --the Secretary of State has said that the current standoff and flagrant violation, as Kofi Annan calls it, cannot go on indefinitely. Q In previous crises with the Iraqi government, when we've asked about the timeline, Secretary of State Albright, for example, has said she's not talking about months, she's talking about weeks, as opposed to days. Are you talking about days, weeks, months? How long is this standoff, ballpark, going to last? MR. LOCKHART: I'm not going to ballpark a timeline or get specific on a timeline. Q Joe, is there no desire to end this cycle? MR. LOCKHART: End what cycle? Q The Saddam Hussein cycle. We moved the military out there; it cost $1.5 billion. Once we do that, he backs down, and then he does it again. MR. LOCKHART: There's certainly a desire right now to get Saddam Hussein to reverse his decision to not allow -- or not cooperate with UNSCOM inspectors. Q But how do you get him to do it once and for all, Joe? How do you break the cycle? How do you get Saddam to do it once and for all? MR. LOCKHART: Well, those are certainly things that the President and the foreign policy team are looking at, but I can't tell you that any decisions have been made. Q Joe, to follow on that, short of knocking Saddam Hussein out of power, how do you expect bombing to get him to reverse the cycle? MR. LOCKHART: Well, again, let me refer you to my previous non-answer. Q Joe, on Iraq still, does the administration feel the need for a final ultimatum to Iraq? Would that be part of the use of force? MR. LOCKHART: As we've said, the President had options put down in front of him yesterday. He's asked for more information on both diplomatic and military options, and I'm not going to detail what they might be. Q Okay. I guess I'm just asking, though, before we've said, you have until "x" time to do this; otherwise, all options are on the table. Are we going to give Iraq an ultimatum? MR. LOCKHART: I'm not going to get into what options we might choose to exercise, what diplomatic efforts we might choose to exercise. But I think it is clear that Saddam Hussein knows what he needs to do. Q When would you expect the President to hear back from his National Security Advisor? MR. LOCKHART: Sometime in the next couple of days. Q Joe, President Clinton meets with the Russian Prime Minister in Malaysia. Will he ask for KGB documents on American prisoners of war to be released? MR. LOCKHART: I don't know about that. I'll look into that -- not expected to, I'm told. Q Joe, the Pinochet case remains in limbo. We haven't heard the President say anything about it. What is the position of the U.S. government? MR. LOCKHART: Well, as I've said several times from here, the position of the United States government is this is an issue that's being litigated between the government of Spain and I think today in the U.K. House of Lords. There was a lower court ruling in London that quashed the extradition order, but that's being appealed in the House of Lords today. Q Joe, you spoke this morning of relations with Bob Livingston in the past have been kind of a mixed bag. What did you mean by that and can you work with him? MR. LOCKHART: I think that what would be appropriate for me is to allow the Republicans to work through their leadership issues. There are three or four positions that are being filled. Some are contested, some, as of right now, are not contested. But I think rather than try to handicap or talk about who we can work with and who we can't, we'll allow them to work through their process -- except to say, which should be the quite obvious, whoever the Republicans elect as Speaker we'll work with. Q What are you going to do without Newt? Q Are you going to miss Gingrich? I mean, in terms of the political calculation, on background, a lot of people around the White House for many months now have said, thank God for Newt Gingrich, the President is lucky in his enemies. MR. LOCKHART: It's hard to divine what it will be like in the House without Newt Gingrich, or post-Newt Gingrich. And as I think I said this morning, to the extent that the environment is more positive and less partisan, that could be very good for the American public as far as pursuing the President's agenda and what's best for the country. To the extent that some take the message that Mr. Gingrich had to go because he was too moderate or too conciliatory to the Democrats and the President, that could lead to a much worse environment. Q Joe, we asked you repeatedly over the summer whether the President had sent any signal to the Secret Service about whether they should or shouldn't assert a privilege against testifying. We were assured he sent no such signal. Now we find out in January he filed a document saying he emphatically endorsed such a privilege, he thought it should be absolute and inviolate. How can you reconcile these two statements? MR. LOCKHART: Well, first off, because this was something that was filed by the President's private attorney and you know full well that I don't follow the Paula Jones case that closely, so what you're telling me is news to me. And, secondly, this is an issue that came up post -- so if you're somehow trying to argue that he sent a message in the Paula Jones case to somehow link up at a future date to litigation with the Secret Service, I think that would be pretty good lawyering. MR. LOCKHART: I don't have any information on that. I suggest you call her office. Q I asked you last week if you have any response to the letter that was delivered to the President. MR. LOCKHART: Oh, I'm sorry. It's the second letter. That is an issue that's being handled at the Justice Department and you should go there for comment. Q What is the other letter you were speaking of? MR. LOCKHART: There was a letter from some members of Congress and some members of the foreign policy community seeking to establish a commission on looking at our relationship with Cuba. And that's the answer I gave. Q Do you have a view on that? MR. LOCKHART: As I just said, we're looking at that, the NSC is looking at the letter and I have nothing for you now. When I do, I'll let you know. Q Does the White House have a view on the New Yorker article, which charges that Ken Starr might have been intimidating women witnesses? MR. LOCKHART: I'm not familiar with the article, so I can't articulate a view one way or the other. Q Does the President reserve the right not to answer some of the 81 questions? You say he is going to respond. MR. LOCKHART: I'm giving you the best answer I can based on what I've been told. I don't know precisely the form of the response, but I have been told the President -- or the Counsel's Office and the President will respond to the letters, will answer questions and you'll see the answers when you see them. Q Are some of the questions considered trick? MR. LOCKHART: Basically, yes. "Did you know when you took the Oath of Office you were taking an Oath of Office?" Q Joe, what's the reaction to -- comments, suggestions that the First Lady should stay home more often and that the President should use a motel room? MR. LOCKHART: I didn't see that comment, the last one. I think the governor-elect has wide latitude to talk on subjects, any subject he chooses without me having to comment on it. Q Joe, under the Judiciary Committee rules, the White House can cross-examine witnesses. Are White House attorneys preparing to cross-examine Ken Starr; do they intend to do so? MR. LOCKHART: I'm not familiar with what our plans are. That hearing date is expected to be sometime next week. I can try to find out. MR. LOCKHART: No, don't think so. Q You said we'll see the answers. MR. LOCKHART: Oh, I think you'll eventually see them. MR. LOCKHART: Let's do this in order. Let's get the letter ready and then we can discuss what, if anything, will be released. Although, I do trust that given the track record of the committee and their belief that all information should be allowed to flower in the public, that we will all see whatever is made available. Q Joe, now that the elections are over, the President is meeting tomorrow with the exporters -- will he bring up fast track again, will he revive it? MR. LOCKHART: No, I don't expect that to be part of the remarks. I think it will be more focused on the global opening markets and what we expect in the context of some of the things we'll be talking about at APEC, where they will be talking about a broad global trade liberalization package. Q But you still believe in fast track? Q Will he bring that up in the next Congress -- fast track? MR. LOCKHART: I expect -- the President's views haven't changed. He believes that fast track authority is an important tool for the President as far as opening markets and encouraging domestic economic expansion. And we'll bring it up at the appropriate time. Q Over the weekend, Livingston indicated that one of the first pieces of legislation he'd like to introduce would change the way that Social Security is accounted for in the budget, and that would likely mean a temporary federal deficit. What's the White House view of that, particularly given that Social Security first is one of the President's priorities? MR. LOCKHART: I have to tell you, I didn't see that comment. I didn't see it any of the clips I saw. So let me look into that and see. Q Does the administration have a position on off-budget versus on-budget treatment of Social Security? MR. LOCKHART: If they do, it's a mystery to me. Q In the speech tomorrow, will the President be specific about what certain countries need to do? Will he say things like Japan needs to eliminate tariffs on forestry and fishery products? MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think our positions are well-known, and I'm not familiar yet with how specific the speech will get because I haven't seen the draft of it yet. So I should be in a better position to help tomorrow morning. Q Kenneth Starr said after the Supreme Court ruling today that the administration's continued assertion of privilege for staff and Secret Service substantially delayed and impeded the grand jury's investigation. Did the President delay their investigation? MR. LOCKHART: I believe the President and the White House made an important case about the value of having full and frank conversations between the President and White House attorneys. That was an important argument to make. And unfortunately, the Supreme Court chose not to review the lower court's ruling. Q But Joe, no court -- no court -- agreed with the White House position on this. You lost in the lower court, the appeals, the emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, and then before the entire Supreme Court. There are arguments out there that this was frivolous and was designed to do nothing more than delay the Starr investigation. MR. LOCKHART: And those arguments are wrong. Q Joe, what does the White House make of Henry Hyde's suggestion that if the President doesn't answer the questionnaire, he might file another charge -- impeachment charge against him? MR. LOCKHART: I don't think he has much to worry about. Q Joe, will the President meet with the Dalai Lama this week? MR. LOCKHART: My understanding is the Dalai Lama is in town for a few days. I believe he may meet with the Vice President tomorrow in the afternoon. I expect if that meeting is confirmed, the President may drop by, as he has done on previous occasions. Q Why not have a regular meeting with the Dalai Lama as opposed to this drop-by which you always do? What's the diplomatic protocol -- the excuse for that? MR. LOCKHART: Because drop-bys work. We're getting way too late in the briefing to make me do that, Wolf. Q Maybe after the question. Q In the Jones case, protective function privilege was first raised, and the President and his lawyers argued that the Secret Service agents should not have to testify. Now, those documents were under seal and that argument was not known publicly. Are you saying today that neither the President, nor any of his attorneys encouraged the Secret Service to pursue protective function privilege in the grand jury investigation later? MR. LOCKHART: As we've said before, I'm not aware of any involvement in any way, shape, or form in what the Treasury Department and the Justice Department argued on behalf of the Secret Service. We've been very clear that the President has said that this is an issue for the Secret Service, as they are the experts on this issue and they have made this case. And in fact, as you are also aware, there have been some who claimed in decisions on this that the argument would have been stronger if the President had asserted the privilege. But he did not because he didn't think that was appropriate. Q Joe, why was it appropriate in the case of the Jones case and not appropriate in the case of the grand jury investigation. Why didn't he assert it? MR. LOCKHART: Again, you're telling me something that was under seal that I am not aware of. I'm just telling you what I know about the grand jury case and our position of non-involvement. Q Joe, President Clinton spoke over the weekend with the President of Honduras, President Flores. Did he get through to any of the other Central American Presidents, that you know of? MR. LOCKHART: Yes, he did speak -- and if there are other calls to report on, we'll let you know -- he did speak of conveying our concern about the devastating losses and daunting task of reconstruction that both countries face and pledging U.S. commitment to work with the countries in both of those efforts. Q Is there any discussion at the White House about establishing a protective function privilege by statute by Congress? MR. LOCKHART: To tell you the truth, the only discussion I've heard of that has been from members. I've heard a series of members on both sides of the aisle who have come forward and said that that's something they want to look at, but I haven't heard any discussion here or any involvement here. I don't want to rule out that they haven't sought the views of the Counsel's Office; I'm just not aware if they have. Q Joe, there seems to be a hole in the stomach, or at least dwindling stomach, even on the Judiciary Committee, for an impeachment vote within the committee. Are there any discussions going on about avoiding that and perhaps coming to terms with some deal, some agreement? MR. LOCKHART: If there are any discussions, I'm not aware of them. I think most of the discussions right now are going on within the committee. I think if you watched the various members who were out on television this weekend, there were various ideas talked about, but I'm not aware that that's something that's going on except amongst themselves. Q Does the President think he's out of the woods in impeachment? MR. LOCKHART: The President has said he thinks this is out of his hands, and what he needs to do is concentrate on the job that the public elected him to do. Q Joe, a question of standards for impeachment, touching on that. John Conyers said this morning that an issue of perjury can't arise out of questions the government has no legal authority to ask. Does the White House share that view? MR. LOCKHART: I'm sorry, say again. I'm not sure I understood that. Q A charge of perjury, or the issue of perjury, can't arise out of questions that the government, meaning Ken Starr, has no legal authority to ask. In essence, the issue of perjury is inextricably tied to the question of Ken Starr's mandate. MR. LOCKHART: I know that Congressman Conyers has been very adamant about getting some information going to the mandate. It's the first time I have heard that argument made, so I just don't know whether it's something -- whether it's a concern we share or not. Q Joe, another member of that committee, Congressman Nadler, appeared today and said that the proper mechanism for handling alleged violations of law by a President is through the criminal process, to simply charge him and indict him like any other citizen could be indicted. Is that also the White House's view? MR. LOCKHART: No, I think the Congressman was expressing his view. I haven't heard any speculation one way or the other on that. And that's obviously something that raises constitutional issues, and I think Mr. Starr has got several constitutional experts on his payroll, so I imagine they have thought about it. Q Has the President spoken to Newt Gingrich yet? Q Back to Iraq, can you tell us if you're discussing anything on tightening the sanctions regime, which is notoriously leaky? MR. LOCKHART: I think there is a series of diplomatic channels and communications both private and public, but I don't think it's useful at this point to detail either anything that may happen diplomatically or militarily.

2019-04-24T14:06:43Z

https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1998/11/1998-11-09-press-briefing-by-joe-lockhart.html

Purpose: We previously reported that autologous dendritic cells pulsed with acid-eluted tumor peptides can stimulate T cell–mediated antitumor immune responses against brain tumors in animal models. As a next step in vaccine development, a phase I clinical trial was established to evaluate this strategy for its feasibility, safety, and induction of systemic and intracranial T-cell responses in patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Experimental Design: Twelve patients were enrolled into a multicohort dose-escalation study and treated with 1, 5, or 10 million autologous dendritic cells pulsed with constant amounts (100 μg per injection) of acid-eluted autologous tumor peptides. All patients had histologically proven glioblastoma multiforme. Three biweekly intradermal vaccinations were given; and patients were monitored for adverse events, survival, and immune responses. The follow-up period for this trial was almost 5 years. Results: Dendritic cell vaccinations were not associated with any evidence of dose-limiting toxicity or serious adverse effects. One patient had an objective clinical response documented by magnetic resonance imaging. Six patients developed measurable systemic antitumor CTL responses. However, the induction of systemic effector cells did not necessarily translate into objective clinical responses or increased survival, particularly for patients with actively progressing tumors and/or those with tumors expressing high levels of transforming growth factor β2 (TGF-β2). Increased intratumoral infiltration by cytotoxic T cells was detected in four of eight patients who underwent reoperation after vaccination. The magnitude of the T-cell infiltration was inversely correlated with TGF-β2 expression within the tumors and positively correlated with clinical survival (P = 0.047). Conclusions: Together, our results suggest that the absence of bulky, actively progressing tumor, coupled with low TGF-β2 expression, may identify a subgroup of glioma patients to target as potential responders in future clinical investigations of dendritic cell–based vaccines. Glioblastoma multiforme is the most malignant primary brain tumor of the central nervous system (CNS) and one of the most lethal of adult cancers worldwide. Current therapeutic options for patients with glioblastoma multiforme consist of surgical resection followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Despite this aggressive multimodality approach, patients with glioblastoma multiforme continue to have a poor prognosis, with a median survival of ∼1 year and a 5-year survival rate of <2% (1). An emerging strategy in the treatment of brain tumors involves the stimulation of an antitumor immune response. Immunotherapy is theoretically appealing because it offers the potential for a high degree of tumor specificity, whereas sparing normal brain structures. Several different laboratories have shown that effective immune responses within the CNS can be generated through the use of gene-modified tumor cell vaccines (2–4), the adoptive transfer of immune T cells (5, 6), or the use of dendritic cell–based vaccines (7–11). These results imply that systemic immunity can enter the “immunologically privileged” CNS, selectively identify tumor-associated antigens, and destroy brain tumor cells (12). Early-phase dendritic cell–based clinical trials for human tumors outside the CNS have shown favorable toxicity profiles and therapeutic efficacy in some patients (13–17). Preclinical animal studies (7, 9, 18–20) and phase I clinical trials (8, 10, 11, 21–24) have also shown that dendritic cells pulsed with tumor lysates, cell fusions, RNA, and/or peptides can elicit antitumor immune responses against CNS neoplasms. Although the clinical data to date is too limited to make any conclusions about efficacy, the advantages of dendritic cell–based immunotherapy, along with its documented safety and feasibility, have stimulated further development and testing. Whereas recent reports using dendritic cells to treat brain tumors have yielded encouraging results (8, 10, 11, 21–23, 25), there are still many practical and theoretical problems to be resolved. For instance, little is known about the best methods for loading dendritic cells with antigens, the optimal dose and route of administration, or how to identify subgroups of patients that are more likely to develop clinical responses. In an attempt to address some of these issues, we translated a successful preclinical model into a phase I dose-escalation study using dendritic cells pulsed with autologous acid-eluted tumor peptides in a uniform population of malignant glioma patients. All patients had the same histopathologic diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme (WHO grade 4). Primary objectives were to evaluate safety and feasibility, as well as to determine whether dose-limiting toxicity was reached when given as three biweekly intradermal injections. Secondary objectives were to assess this vaccination strategy for its ability to stimulate systemic antitumor CTL responses and to investigate whether induction of such responses correlated with intracranial T-cell infiltration and/or clinical survival. Finally, we sought to identify surrogate variables that might help select subgroups of glioblastoma multiforme patients with the highest likelihood of responding to dendritic cell–based vaccine strategies. Patients enrolled in this study were followed for almost 5 years. Patient eligibility and treatment schedule. Patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, who provided written informed consent according to University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Internal Review Board guidelines, were eligible. Inclusion criteria were malignant gliomas that were amenable to surgical resection, a Karnofsky performance score of ≥60, and evidence of normal bone marrow function (e.g., hemoglobin ≥10.0 g/d, absolute granulocyte count ≥1,500/μL, and platelet count ≥100,000 K), as well as adequate liver and renal function. Patients must have recovered from all toxicities related to any previous therapy and not have received any radiation therapy for at least 2 weeks, nitrosureas for at least 6 weeks, nor other chemotherapy for at least 4 weeks before entry into the trial. Exclusion criteria included allergies to any components of the dendritic cell vaccine, concurrent or prior corticosteroid use within 2 weeks of initial vaccination; the presence of acute infection requiring active treatment, severe intercurrent medical conditions, known immunosuppressive disease, positive serology for HIV or hepatitis B; history of an autoimmune disease, or prior history of other malignancies. Twelve patients were enrolled sequentially into three cohorts according to a dose-escalation design, with the first three subjects receiving 1 × 106 dendritic cells per vaccination, the second three receiving 5 × 106 dendritic cells per vaccination, and the final six receiving 1 × 107 dendritic cells. Preparation of autologous dendritic cells. Standard leukapheresis was done at the UCLA Hemapheresis Unit to harvest peripheral blood mononuclear cells for dendritic cell cultures. Blood was drawn as a source of autologous serum for the cell cultures. Patients were supplemented with oral iron and vitamin C throughout the study to prevent anemia. All ex vivo dendritic cell preparations were done in the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center GMP facility under sterile and monitored conditions. Dendritic cells were prepared by culturing adherent cells from peripheral blood with granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4 (IL-4), using techniques described previously (26). Following culture, dendritic cells were collected by vigorous rinsing, washed with sterile 0.9% NaCl solution, and cryopreserved in individual aliquots with 10% DMSO and 20% autologous serum. Autologous tumor culture and preparation of acid-eluted tumor-associated peptides. Fresh tumor samples from surgical resection were transported under sterile conditions to the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center GMP facility and used to establish autologous primary glioblastoma multiforme cell lines, as previously described (27, 28). Cultured tumor cells were harvested and used for acid elution of surface peptides. The median duration of primary tumor cell culture was 5 weeks (range, 2-14 weeks). Tumor-associated surface proteins enriched for MHC class I peptides were isolated by an acid elution protocol as described previously (7, 29). Peptide washes were then lyophilized to complete dryness, resuspended in 0.2 mL dPBS, aliquoted, and frozen at −80°C. A 5-μL sample of each peptide preparation was quantified by microprotein assay (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) and analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Bruker Daltonics, Billerica, MA) as previously published (28). Before patient vaccination, tumor peptides were also tested for sterility by Gram stain; Limulus amebocyte lysate assay (Bio Whittaker, Walkersville, MD); and routine aerobic, anaerobic, and fungal cultures. A constant amount of peptide (100 μg) was used to pulse dendritic cells for each injection, regardless of the dose of dendritic cells. Final vaccine preparation and dose administration. On the day of each vaccination (study days 0, 14, and 28), cryopreserved dendritic cells were thawed, washed thrice, and pulsed 30 to 60 minutes with 100 μg of autologous glioblastoma multiforme tumor peptides in serum-free RPMI 1640. The available number of peptide-pulsed dendritic cells (identified as unstained large cells) was determined by hemacytometer count using trypan blue. Before administration, peptide-pulsed dendritic cells were washed with saline and the appropriate vaccine dose resuspended in 1 mL of sterile 0.9% NaCl solution. For quality assurance, an aliquot of the final product underwent immediate Gram staining and endotoxin PCR to rule out contamination, and additional aliquots were sent for Limulus amebocyte lysate assay and cultures for bacterial and fungal pathogens. The purity and biological signature of each dendritic cell vaccine was also determined by FACScan flow cytometry (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA). Cells were stained with PerCP-conjugated anti-HLA-DR monoclonal antibody (mAb, for MHC class II, BD Biosciences) and FITC-conjugated anti-CD14-FITC (for monocytes/macrophages; Caltag Laboratories, Burlingame, CA); and >50% of the large cell gate had to express HLA-DR, but not CD14, to be released for patient administration. For a more comprehensive analysis, dendritic cells were also stained with mAb to HLA-A,B,C (MHC class I), CD80 and CD86 (B7 costimulatory molecules), CD40 (tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily 5), and CD83 (immunoglobulin superfamily). The final 1 mL vaccine dose was drawn into a sterile syringe and given as an intradermal injection (using a 25-gauge needle) in the region below the axillae, with the site of administration alternating between right and left sides for each vaccination. Subjects were monitored for 2 hours post-immunization in the UCLA Clinical Research Center. Evaluation of clinical status. Toxicity was monitored and graded according to the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria. The overall incidence of adverse events was recorded. Evaluation for autoimmune symptoms and neurologic exams were done before and 30 minutes after each vaccination, as well as at all follow-up visits every 8 weeks. Time to tumor progression (TTP) was defined as the interval from surgical resection until the first observation of tumor progression, as evidenced by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Survival time was determined from the date of surgery to date of death due to any cause. where F = the average fluorescence of the sample wells after the fluorescence of the wells containing medium alone was subtracted. The CTL response was interpreted as “positive” when the percent specific lysis by post-vaccine CTLs (drawn at day 35) was at least twice in magnitude as that of pre-vaccine CTLs (drawn at day −14) at two or more of the effector/target ratios tested. Immunohistochemistry. Serial paraffin sections of surgical intracranial tumor specimens were cut to 3-μm thickness and stained with anti-human antibodies against CD3, which recognizes all T lymphocytes (1:100 dilution, Biocare Medical, Walnut Creek, CA); CD8 (marker for CTLs), CD4 (marker for helper T lymphocytes, TH), CD45 (leukocyte marker), and CD45RO (marker for activated lymphocytes) at 1:50, 1:100, 1:300, and 1:50 dilutions, respectively (DAKO Corp., Carpinteria, CA); and transforming growth factor β2 (TGF-β2, 1:50 dilution, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN). Sections were baked for 1 hour at 60°C, deparaffinized, and endogenous peroxidase activity quenched by treating with 0.5% H2O2 in methyl alcohol for 10 minutes. Heat-induced epitope retrieval was done on the slides using 0.01 mol/L citrate buffer (pH 6.0; for CD8 and CD45RO) or 0.001 mol/L EDTA (pH 8.0; for CD3 and CD4) in a vegetable steamer (Black & Decker, Towson, MD); slides were heated for 25 minutes, cooled, and washed in 0.01 mol/L PBS. All slides then were placed on a DAKO Autostainer (DAKO) and sequentially incubated in primary antibody for 30 minutes, then rabbit anti-mouse secondary immunoglobulins (DAKO) for 30 minutes. Diaminobenzidine and hydrogen peroxide were used as the substrates for the peroxidase enzyme. For the negative controls, mouse isotype or rabbit immunoglobulins (DAKO) were used in place of the primary antibodies. Reverse transcription-PCR. RNA was isolated from frozen tumor samples using Trizol (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) and reverse transcribed to cDNA. For cDNA synthesis, ∼1 μg of total RNA was reverse transcribed using the Omniscript RT kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). Human TGF-β2 and IL-10 sequences were then PCR amplified using Taq DNA polymerase (Qiagen). The PCR mixture consisted of 300 μmol/L deoxynucleotide triphosphates, 1.5 mmol/L Mg2+, 10 μmol/L primers, and 2.5 units Taq DNA polymerase/reaction. Primer pairs for TGF-β2 and IL-10 were purchased from R&D Systems. The expression of TGF-β2 (product size = 279 bp) and IL-10 (product size = 427 bp) was confirmed by loading a 5 μL volume of each PCR reaction onto 1.5% agarose gels, stained with ethidium bromide. The band intensities were analyzed by densitometry using AlphaEase software (Alpha Innotech, San Leandro, CA). Gene expression was normalized to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase expression and statistical analysis was done using Systat software v. 11. Statistical analysis. Continuous variables were compared using a paired Student's t test. Categorical variables were compared using the χ2 or Fisher's exact test. The median survival times, median TTP, and survival curves were determined using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Wilcoxon log-rank test was used to compare curves between study and control groups. All P values are two tailed, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Patient characteristics. Twelve patients with histologically proven glioblastoma multiforme were enrolled in this phase I trial (Table 1). Seven had newly diagnosed tumors, whereas five had recurrent glioblastoma multiforme. There were seven women and five men, with an age range from 20 to 65 years (mean age of 40 years). Newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme patients underwent surgery and a standard course of external beam radiotherapy (up to 6,000 cGy) but no other treatment before dendritic cell vaccination. Recurrent glioblastoma multiforme patients had previous radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy before presenting with tumor recurrence; thus, they underwent surgical resection of their tumors followed by dendritic cell immunotherapy at the earliest feasible date. All patients were treated with concurrent anticonvulsant therapy, were off corticosteroids for at least 14 days before the first dendritic cell vaccination, and did not take any steroids thereafter until they were considered off study because of tumor progression. Thus, all evaluations for toxicity, treatment response, and immunologic monitoring were done in the absence of corticosteroid effects. The median time between surgical resection and the initiation of dendritic cell vaccination was 18 weeks (range, 4-28 weeks). All patients had a baseline brain MRI scan within 1 month before starting the immunotherapy. Because tumor progression in itself was not an exclusion criterion to enrollment in this phase I trial, none of the subjects who were accrued were not treated due to tumor progression per se, although there was one subject who signed the consent but received no vaccine because of steroid dependency. Primary glioblastoma multiforme cultures and characterization of autologous acid-eluted tumor peptides. Short-term cultures of primary glioblastoma cells were successful in ∼80% of all the samples that we attempted. For the intend-to-treat subjects in this trial (n = 15), the tumor cells did not grow sufficiently well in 3 of 15 patients (20%), which left 12 subjects who were actually enrolled and assigned to an experimental cohort. When no cell line could be made, the patients were not subsequently continued on this study. These patients were treated with conventional chemotherapy per standard of care. As would be expected, autologous tumor cell lines were more consistently established for patients with newly diagnosed tumors than for those with recurrent and previously treated glioblastoma multiforme, as the latter tumors contained a greater amount of necrotic debris and dead cells. Although some variability was observed between patient samples, the cell morphology of each cell line was generally uniform and stable throughout the early-passage cultures. The glioblastoma multiforme cell lines were all positive for glial fibrillary acidic protein by immunohistochemistry (data not shown), confirming the maintenance of their glial phenotype. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis and immunohistochemistry for MHC class I was done on the glioblastoma multiforme cell lines and all expressed MHC class I molecules, although at variable levels. Exposing cell cultures to IFN-γ and IFN-α up-regulated both MHC class I expression and the amount of glioblastoma-associated peptides harvested by acid elution, suggesting that the acid-eluted material was indeed associated with MHC molecules (28). Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis of the acid-eluted material revealed molecular weights between 800 and 1500 daltons, which were compatible with the size of peptides (9-12 amino acids) accommodated by the peptide-binding cleft of MHC alleles. To prepare a sufficient amount of peptide (100 μg per injection) for this protocol, glioblastoma multiforme cell cultures with at least 108 cells was necessary. However, estimating the amount of tumor required for peptide recovery was difficult, as the yield of acid-eluted peptides from primary glioblastoma multiforme cultures was not directly proportional to the number of cells processed. The number of passages required for obtaining sufficient peptide for each patient varied from 3 to 12. Thus, vaccine administration was sometimes delayed by the time required to obtain sufficient peptide antigen (i.e., >4 weeks). For this reason, we are concurrently investigating other methods of dendritic cell pulsing, the clinical results of which will be subsequently compared with those reported here. Characterization and feasibility of dendritic cell vaccine. Dendritic cells generated from adherent peripheral blood precursors cultured in the presence of cytokines IL-4 and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor expressed high levels of MHC class I (HLA-A,B,C), MHC class II (HLA-DR), and B7.2 costimulatory molecules (CD80 and CD86), as well as the absence of CD3 and CD14. Incubation of dendritic cells with acid-eluted tumor-associated peptides resulted in a modest increase in the expression of CD80 (costimulatory molecule B7-1), CD83 (marker for interdigitating dendritic cell/Langerhans cell), and CD86 (costimulatory molecule B7-2), suggesting dendritic cell maturation. Three subjects received three intradermal vaccinations of 1 × 106 acid-eluted peptide-pulsed dendritic cells, and three subjects were treated with three injections of 5 × 106 dendritic cells. For the six patients assigned at the highest dose level (1 × 107 dendritic cells per injection), sufficient numbers of functional dendritic cells for all thre injections were available from a single leukapheresis in only four of the six subjects. Two of the subjects within this high-dose cohort (patients 8 and 9) were treated with only a single vaccination due to insufficient numbers of dendritic cells that met the HLA-DR+/CD-14− lot release criteria. Of note, patient 8 had prior therapy with thalidomide and patient 9 had previously been treated with Neupogen (r-met-Hu-G-CSF), both of which have potential immunomodulatory effects on dendritic cell phenotype/function (31, 32). Vaccine safety and toxicity. Dendritic cell vaccinations were well tolerated, with no major adverse events (National Cancer Institute grade 3 or 4) observed in any subject during the vaccine cycles (Table 1). There were no clinical or radiological signs of autoimmune reactions in any patient. Four subjects (patients 2, 3, 4, and 5) showed grade 1 toxicities in the form of low-grade fevers (<100.4°F) and/or flu-like symptoms (e.g., fatigue and myalgia). Three of these patients (patients 2, 3, and 5) also had nausea and vomiting at some point within the first few weeks of the dendritic cell vaccination. Two subjects (patients 5 and 9) exhibited injection site reactions, consisting of erythema, pain, and itching that lasted 48 to 72 hours after the first dendritic cell injection. Two patients (patients 5 and 6) developed lymph node swelling. Patient 5 had palpable axillary and cervical lymph nodes 1 week after the first dendritic cell vaccination, which persisted for 1 month; whereas patient 6 developed supraclavicular lymph node swelling 2 weeks after the first vaccination, which lasted 48 hours. Two subjects (patients 1 and 4) developed diarrhea and constipation, probably due to the supplemental iron tablets that were given to prevent anemia during the trial. There were no treatment-related hematologic, hepatic, renal, or neurologic toxicities. On follow-up MRI scans of the brain, there were no new abnormalities observed following dendritic cell vaccination other than those directly related to tumor growth at the time of tumor recurrence. Cumulatively, these data suggest a low toxicity profile for the acid-eluted glioblastoma multiforme peptide-pulsed dendritic cells at all dose levels tested. Clinical evaluations. Although this phase I clinical trial was not powered to detect clinical efficacy, tumor response was monitored by clinical and MRI assessments at baseline (within 1 month before therapy), at day 56 post-therapy, and every 8 weeks thereafter as surrogate markers for clinical response and tumor status. Five of the 12 subjects (patients 2, 7, 10, 11, and 12) had ongoing progressive disease before dendritic cell–based vaccination. Four subjects (patients 4, 5, 6, and 8) had stable gross residual disease, and three patients (patients 1, 3, and 9) had no measurable residual disease at the start of dendritic cell injections. When considering all 12 glioblastoma multiforme patients enrolled in this clinical trial, overall survival was 100% at 6 months, 75% at 1 year, and 50% at 2 years, with two long-term (≥4 year) glioblastoma multiforme survivors. Median TTP was 15.5 months, and median overall survival was 23.4 months. As might be expected, those patients with bulky, progressively growing tumors at the time of initial dendritic cell vaccination, regardless of whether they were newly diagnosed or recurrent, continued to have tumor progression despite active immunotherapy. For this subgroup of patients, the median overall survival was 11.7 months, which is not significantly different from those of historical and concurrent glioblastoma multiforme patients treated at our institution. For the patients with stable tumors or no residual disease at the time of dendritic cell vaccination, median TTP was 19.9 months. Overall survival times in this group ranged from 18 to >58 months, with a median survival of 35.8 months. This compares favorably even when compared with historical/concurrent data for the best prognostic group of glioblastoma multiforme patients (recursive partitioning analysis class III: age <50 years and Karnofsky performance score of ≥90) treated at UCLA during the same time period, who underwent surgical resection (not just biopsy) and became off steroids within 2 weeks after completion of postoperative radiotherapy (n = 99). In comparison with our study patients, the control population of patients had a median TTP of 8.2 months (P = 0.028) and overall median survival of 18.3 months (P = 0.006; Fig. 1). Kaplan-Meier curves of TTP (A) and survival (B) between the study group (n = 12, dashed line) and concurrent control patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (recursive partitioning analysis class III: age <50 years and Karnofsky performance score of ≥ 90) treated at UCLA during the same time period (n = 99, solid line). Controls represent the population of patients who received surgical resection (not just biopsy) and were off steroids by 14 days after standard radiation therapy. Even when compared with this better overall prognostic class of control patients, the TTP (P = 0.028) and overall survival (P = 0.006) were significantly longer in the dendritic cell–vaccinated study group. One patient (patient 5) had near complete regression of residual tumor, which was seen on MRI 2 months after completion of peptide-pulsed dendritic cell vaccination and before any additional adjuvant treatment. Both the size of the areas of T2W hyperintensity and the contrast-enhancing tumor decreased in this patient (Fig. 2). Although this radiographic change is more likely related to a delayed response to radiation therapy, it is interesting to speculate that dendritic cell–based immunotherapy might have contributed to this clinical response, as this patient also showed significant CTL responses against autologous tumor cells in vitro. Serial MRI scans obtained for this patient showed residual tumor after surgery and radiation therapy (Fig. 2A), partial response 2 months post-dendritic cell immunotherapy and before any adjuvant chemotherapy (Fig. 2B), and essentially stable disease at 58 months after initial diagnosis. Interestingly, she is currently alive with no clinical or MRI evidence of tumor recurrence after almost 5 years of follow-up. Although admittedly a select population of patients, the prolonged survival times observed and the immunologic responses obtained in some of these patients support the possibility of an immune-related effect on tumor control. Objective clinical response of a glioblastoma multiforme patient treated with 5 × 106 peptide-pulsed dendritic cells. Brain MRI scan of patient 5. Axial T2-weighed, axial, and coronal contrast-enhanced T1-weighed MRI scans were done immediately before dendritic cell injections (A) and 2 months after completion of peptide-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine series (B), before any adjuvant chemotherapy. Note area of T2 abnormality (arrow, top left) and contrast-enhancing tumor (arrow, top right), which resolved following dendritic cell immunotherapy. Systemic antitumor immune responses to dendritic cell vaccination. Systemic tumor-specific cytotoxicity against autologous tumor cells was determined for all patients in this study using conventional CTL assays. Purified CD3+ T cells were tested for de novo cytotoxicity without restimulation in vitro. Blocking mAb against β2-microglobulin was added to replicate wells to confirm the MHC-restricted nature of any observed CTL lytic activity. Six patients without preexisting peripheral CTL activity developed peripheral tumor-specific CTL activity post-vaccination (Fig. 3; Table 2). Peripheral CTL responses to autologous peptide-pulsed dendritic cells. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from day −14 pretreatment (♦) and day 35 post-vaccine (▪) time points tested for de novo cytotoxity against irradiated, autologous tumor cells in an Alamar blue CTL assay. A, representative negative CTL data from a patient who experienced continued tumor progression during the course of treatment (patient 12). The CTL response was not significantly different in the prevaccine and post-vaccine lines. B, representative positive induction of CTL response in patient 6, who did not have any evidence of disease progression for over 14 months after dendritic cell vaccination. MHC-specific antitumor cytotoxicity was generated, which could be specifically blocked by anti-β2-microglobulin mAb (•). All assays were done in triplicate. Whereas the patients who developed systemic antitumor cytotoxicity had significantly longer survival than those who did not (P = 0.04), this survival difference also correlated with the presence or absence of tumor progression at the time of dendritic cell vaccination. The development of a positive CTL response was negatively associated with active progressive disease (as measured by brain MRI). 100% (six of six) of patients who generated positive CTL responses had stable/minimal residual disease burden (stable gross residual disease or no measurable residual disease) at the time of dendritic cell vaccination. Conversely, for the five patients who were experiencing active tumor progression at the time of vaccination, none (zero of five) developed statistically significant cell-mediated CTL responses. These data suggest that glioblastoma multiforme patients with active tumor progression/recurrence may have an impaired ability to mount cellular antitumor immune responses, a finding that has been observed previously (33, 34). Intracranial T-cell infiltration associated with prolonged survival. The accumulation of tumor-specific T cells locally within tumors has been associated with positive clinical responses in gliomas and other cancers (35–37). We therefore investigated whether induced systemic CTL responses could access the CNS to infiltrate intracranial tumors and whether such intratumoral T-cell infiltration correlated with clinical survival. Eight patients who developed new areas of contrast enhancement on follow-up MRI scans underwent surgical resection/biopsy at some point following dendritic cell vaccination. Four of these patients survived >30 months, whereas three patients died within <12 months of surgical diagnosis. In the reoperated patients with >30-month survival (patients 1, 3, 4, and 9), there was a robust infiltration of CD3+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in the specimens at reoperation that was not present in the tumor tissues obtained from the same patients before dendritic cell treatment. The majority of these TIL were CD8+/CD45RO+ memory T cells, with lesser numbers of CD4+ helper T cells (Fig. 4A and B). In the tumors from patients who died from tumor progression within 1 year (patients 2, 7, and 12), there were no differences in the numbers of infiltrating T cells in the surgical specimens taken from before and after dendritic cell vaccination (Fig. 4C). Specimens from six control patients who did not receive dendritic cell immunotherapy also showed no significant difference in T-cell staining at initial surgery when compared with their reoperation specimens (Fig. 4D). Increased infiltration of T lymphocytes into glioblastoma multiforme after dendritic cell vaccination. Immunohistochemical characterization of infiltrating T cells in intracranial tumor at initial surgery, before vaccination (pre-vaccination) and at reoperation after dendritic cell vaccination (post-vaccination). Of the eight patients in the trial who underwent reoperation for tumor progression after dendritic cell vaccination, four patients (patients 1, 3, 4, and 9) with prolonged survival (≥2.5 years) tended to have increased intratumoral infiltration of CD45RO+ memory T cells, CD4+ helper T cells, and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells at reoperation post-vaccination (patients 1 and 3, seen in A and B), while the two patients (patients 2, 7, and 12) with shorter survival times (<1 year) had no discernable increase in T-cell infiltration following dendritic cell vaccination (patient 2, seen in C). Control patients who did not receive dendritic cell immunotherapy also showed no significant difference in T-cell staining at initial surgery versus reoperation (D). Immunoperoxidase method, H&E counterstain. Original magnification, ×200. Similar to our findings with respect to systemic CTL responses, the immunohistochemical detection of enhanced TIL accumulation was associated with the disease status at the time of dendritic cell vaccination. Four of four (100%) patients who showed evidence for increased TIL in the resected tumors had dendritic cell vaccinations during a time of minimal tumor burden, whereas the patients (three of three) who did not show any detectable increase of TIL were experiencing active tumor progression before the course of dendritic cell vaccination. These data suggest that active tumor recurrence and/or bulky residual tumor may negatively influence the ability of T lymphocytes to accumulate within the local tumor microenvironment, which could be associated with decreased clinical benefit from dendritic cell vaccination. Decreased tumor-associated expression of transforming growth factor-β2 correlates with prolonged survival. To better elucidate features of the tumor environment that might predict clinical response to dendritic cell–based vaccination, we tested whether the local accumulation of T cells within gliomas was associated with the secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines by the tumors. Tumors from our patients were studied for their expression of TGF-β2 and IL-10 by reverse transcription-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Although our sample size is small, patients that had detectable TIL (patients 1, 3, 4, and 9) also showed quantitatively lower expression of TGFβ2 in tumor samples taken before and after dendritic cell vaccination (Fig. 5). All these patients also had relatively prolonged survival (>30 months) compared with those with higher TGF-β2 expression. On the other hand, there was no obvious correlation between the expression of IL-10 and the infiltration of T lymphocytes within the resected tumors (data not shown). These data suggest that the secretion of TGF-β2 within the local tumor microenvironment may contribute to the inability of TIL to significantly accumulate within CNS gliomas. This, in turn, may negatively influence the ability to mount a clinically relevant local antitumor immune response in brain cancer patients. TGF-β2 expression in glioblastoma multiforme tumor specimens. A, analysis of TGF-β2 mRNA in tumor tissues isolated from glioblastoma multiforme patients enrolled in the trial. Of note, samples with little or no detectable TGF-β2 expression (lanes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 9) were associated with patients with positive CTL responses, increased CNS T-cell infiltration, and/or prolonged survival (≥2.5 years) following dendritic cell–based vaccination. (Lane numbers correspond to patient numbers in Table 2). Immunohistochemistry analysis showing (B) positive cytoplasmic TGF-β2 protein expression (arrows) in tumor specimen from nonresponder (patient 2, overall survival = 11.4 months), compared with (C) negative TGF-β2 protein expression in tumor sample from potential responder (patient 3, overall survival = 38.9 months). In the TGF-β2-negative tumor samples, adjacent paraffin-embedded sections were stained for T cells and found to be infiltrated by CD8+/CD45RO+ TIL. Immunoperoxidase method, hematoxylin counterstain. Original magnification, ×400. In this phase I study, we report the safety, feasibility, and bioactivity of a vaccine comprised of autologous dendritic cells exogenously pulsed with peptides acid eluted from the surface of glioblastoma multiforme cells following surgical resection. Our results showed that the methods for producing and administering this dendritic cell vaccine were feasible and safe in newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma multiforme patients, with no evidence of autoimmune complications observed over a follow-up period of almost 5 years. The treatment was tolerated well, with only minor toxicities (National Cancer Institute grades 1-2). Furthermore, we also showed that it is feasible to treat glioblastoma multiforme patients with up to 1 × 107 dendritic cells pulsed with autologous acid-eluted peptides, although the highest dose caused practical difficulties for some patients. Two patients received only one of the total of three scheduled vaccinations due to difficulty getting enough HLA-DR+/CD-14− dendritic cells for all three injections at the highest doses. Six of the 12 patients developed measurable peripheral antitumor T-cell responses, although there was no significant difference in the magnitude of CTL responses among the three dendritic cell dose cohorts tested. Given that no important differences in immune response were seen among the doses, we have no objective evidence to conclude that higher dendritic cell doses are needed, particularly given the practical difficulties of getting enough cells at the highest dose from a single leukapheresis. In the 5 years since this trial was started, we believe that it may be the ratio of tumor peptides to dendritic cells that will be important in future vaccination strategies rather than the absolute number of dendritic cell itself. One of our patients had MRI evidence of an objective clinical response, which correlated with a robust tumor-specific immune response by CTL assay. However, for the majority of subjects, the detection of CTL responses in the peripheral blood of immunized patients paradoxically was not in itself predictive of objective clinical response and/or prolonged survival. Studies in recent years have begun to dissect out the apparent dichotomy between peripheral CTL and clinical responsiveness (38). It is now appreciated that the systemic peripheral blood antitumor response does not necessarily translate to vaccine-induced responses within the tumor (39, 40). The inability of traditional CTL data to correlate with clinical outcome in this trial and others (10, 40) prompted us to search for alternative surrogate variables of vaccine responsiveness and/or predictors of subgroups of glioblastoma multiforme patients that may most likely respond to immune-based therapies. In preclinical animal models of experimental intracranial gliomas, we have previously shown that active immunotherapy with dendritic cell–based vaccines is associated with increased CNS T-cell infiltration and prolonged survival (7, 41). Other investigators have reported that the localization of tumor-specific T cells at the tumor site is often a requirement for regression of systemic tumors (42) and even CNS tumors (43). In this clinical trial, we also observed dramatic intratumoral infiltration of CD8+ and CD4+ CTL in some patients following dendritic cell vaccination. However, whether or not the lymphocytes found in the tumor specimens from our vaccinated patients were exerting an actual antitumor effect cannot be determined by our current results, as these TILs may be functionally compromised. To definitively determine whether these TILs have clear antiglioma activity, subsequent studies are currently under way to generate tumor-specific human T-lymphocyte lines from the TILs within the clinical tumor specimens collected from our vaccinated patients. Nevertheless, there was a significant correlation between intracranial T-cell infiltration within the local tumor environment and prolonged survival in our trial patients (P = 0.047), suggesting potential functional activity. The presence of TIL in only a subset of the dendritic cell–vaccinated patients led us to postulate that the local CNS/tumor microenvironment may modulate immune responsiveness and provide insight into possible factors that can differentiate subgroups of glioblastoma multiforme patients who will most likely benefit from immune-based therapies. Immunomodulatory factors secreted by gliomas, such as TGFβ2, PGE2, and IL-10, are known to negatively influence T-cell functions (44, 45). In our study, intratumoral infiltration of T lymphocytes was negatively correlated with the expression of the immunosuppressive factor TGF-β2. TGF-β2 is a multifunctional cytokine that is intimately involved in the suppression of antitumor immune surveillance (46, 47). Like increased TIL, decreased expression of TGF-β2 has previously been associated with improved survival in glioblastoma multiforme patients (37). To our knowledge, this is the first clinical study to directly correlate the findings of decreased TIL with increased TGF-β2 in the same human glioma specimens during an active immunotherapy protocol. Collectively, we found that increased intracranial T-cell infiltration and/or low levels of immunosuppressive TGF-β2 cytokine expression within the local tumor environment may be prerequisites for antitumor efficacy in response to our vaccination strategy. In the future, with advances in the detection of prognostic biomarkers and new developments in molecular/cellular immunoimaging (42), these potentially important predictive factors of vaccine responsiveness could conceivably be determined noninvasively via cerebral spinal fluid sampling and/or in vivo neuroimaging techniques. By virtue of its immunomodulatory properties, there has recently been renewed interest in targeting TGF-β in experimental therapies of human malignant glioma, with several new small molecule inhibitors of TGF-β receptors that are currently being used in preclinical studies (46, 48). Our results suggest promise for using such TGF-β inhibitors in conjunction with active dendritic cell vaccination strategies for possibly synergistic antitumor effect. Unlike the up-regulation of TGF-β2, however, we did not find any correlation between IL-10 expression and survival. Regarding the clinical outcome of our vaccinated patients, the number of patients entered into this study was not powered to statistically measure efficacy. Nevertheless, the observed 50% 2-year overall survival rate is high, even when compared with the best prognostic groups using recursive partitioning analysis classification for glioblastoma survival (age <50 years and Karnofsky performance score of ≥90). In our study, two patients (patients 5 and 9) are still alive to date and are out to >58.0 and >48.4 months, respectively. For these two long-term survivors, temozolamide (Temodar) was used adjunctively, as patients were allowed to continue with conventional chemotherapy after completion of the dendritic cell injections. Recent evidence has suggested a potential role for temozolamide in synergizing with immunotherapy strategies by either selecting for CD8+ T-cell receptor excision circles (a marker of recent thymic emigrants) or selectively depleting CD4+/CD25+ T regulatory cells (49). As with other trials for glioblastoma, age was a prognostic indicator in our cohort of patients. The patients who had longer survival and CNS T-cell responses tended to be younger than those who did not. Recent findings that the reduced thymic T-cell output that accompanies aging is associated with impaired antitumor immunity in glioblastoma patients (50) also support our observation that younger patients may be more likely to develop enhanced migration of tumor-specific T cells into tumors after dendritic cell vaccination. In our study patients, the ability to elicit a systemic CTL response was negatively correlated with disease burden, as none of the patients with active disease progression at the time of dendritic cell vaccination showed the induction of specific cell-mediated antitumor responses via in vitro CTL assays. Furthermore, only those patients whose brain tumors expressed low levels of TGF-β2 were able to show intratumoral T-cell accumulation and/or objective clinical response. Our data suggest that patients with active bulky tumor residual/progression and elevated TGF-β2 secretion may harbor greater systemic immune dysfunction, as well as a more profound immunosuppressive milieu within the CNS tumor microenvironment, which may limit the ability of dendritic cell vaccination to induce systemic CTL responses and/or generate local CNS T-cell antitumor responses. The local accumulation of CNS TIL at reoperation correlated better with survival than the magnitude of the systemic CTL response, suggesting that infiltration of brain tumors by systemically activated CTL may be required for antitumor efficacy (43). Overall, these results could have major implications for patient selection in future studies using immunotherapy for brain tumors. Our data provide further evidence on the feasibility, safety, and in vivo bioactivity of autologous peptide-pulsed dendritic cells in patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Although some prolonged survival times have been observed in this select population of patients, proof of clinical benefit remains to be established in future multicenter phase II clinical trials. Nevertheless, this trial provides useful information for future trial design. As with any other targeted treatment modality for glioblastoma, immunotherapy may have potential clinical efficacy if given to the appropriate subgroup of patients and/or if given in combination with other immune pathway modulators, such as TGF-β antagonists. The results of our current and ongoing clinical trials will hopefully help to define which subgroups of patients may respond to tumor vaccination strategies, which in turn would lead to further optimization and refinements of dendritic cell–based immunotherapy with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapeutic vaccines for brain cancer patients. Grant support: NIH grants CA82666 (L.M. Liau), CA91545 (L.M. Liau), T32-CA009120 (R.M.P.), and M01-RR00865 (UCLA General Clinical Research Center); Henry E. Singleton Brain Cancer Research Fund; George Rathmann Family Foundation; Sidney Kimmel Cancer Research Foundation; and Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. Preston-Martin S, Davis F, McKean-Cowdin R. 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J Immunol 2000;165:3656–62. Liau LM, Black KL, Prins RM, et al. Treatment of intracranial gliomas with bone marrow-derived dendritic cells pulsed with tumor antigens. J Neurosurg 1999;90:1115–24. Caruso DA, Orme LM, Neale AM, et al. Results of a phase 1 study utilizing monocyte-derived dendritic cells pulsed with tumor RNA in children and young adults with brain cancer. Neuro-oncol 2004;6:236–46. Heimberger AB, Archer GE, Crotty LE, et al. Dendritic cells pulsed with a tumor-specific peptide induce long-lasting immunity and are effective against murine intracerebral melanoma. Neurosurgery 2002;50:158–64. Yu JS, Wheeler CJ, Zeltzer PM, et al. Vaccination of malignant glioma patients with peptide-pulsed dendritic cells elicits systemic cytotoxicity and intracranial T-cell infiltration. Cancer Res 2001;61:842–7. Yu JS, Liu G, Ying H, et al. Vaccination with tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells elicits antigen-specific, cytotoxic T-cells in patients with malignant glioma. Cancer Res 2004;64:4973–9. Soling A, Rainov NG. Dendritic cell therapy of primary brain tumors. Mol Med 2001;7:659–67. Banchereau J, Palucka AK, Dhodapkar M, et al. Immune and clinical responses in patients with metastatic melanoma to CD34(+) progenitor-derived dendritic cell vaccine. Cancer Res 2001;61:6451–8. Fong L, Hou Y, Rivas A, et al. Altered peptide ligand vaccination with Flt3 ligand expanded dendritic cells for tumor immunotherapy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2001;98:8809–14. Nestle FO, Banchereau J, Hart D. Dendritic cells: on the move from bench to bedside. Nat Med 2001;7:761–5. Heiser A, Coleman D, Dannull J, et al. Autologous dendritic cells transfected with prostate-specific antigen RNA stimulate CTL responses against metastatic prostate tumors. J Clin Invest 2002;109:409–17. Broder H, Anderson A, Kremen TJ, Odesa SK, Liau LM. MART-1 adenovirus-transduced dendritic cell immunization in a murine model of metastatic central nervous system tumor. J Neurooncol 2003;64:21–30. Insug O, Ku G, Ertl HC, Blaszczyk-Thurin M. A dendritic cell vaccine induces protective immunity to intracranial growth of glioma. Anticancer Res 2002;22:613–21. Prins RM, Odesa SK, Liau LM. Immunotherapeutic targeting of shared melanoma-associated antigens in a murine glioma model. Cancer Res 2003;63:8487–91. Kobayashi T, Yamanaka R, Homma J, et al. Tumor mRNA-loaded dendritic cells elicit tumor-specific CD8(+) cytotoxic T cells in patients with malignant glioma. Cancer Immunol Immunother 2003;52:632–7. Yamanaka R, Abe T, Yajima N, et al. Vaccination of recurrent glioma patients with tumour lysate-pulsed dendritic cells elicits immune responses: results of a clinical phase I/II trial. Br J Cancer 2003;89:1172–9. Kikuchi T, Akasaki Y, Irie M, et al. Results of a phase I clinical trial of vaccination of glioma patients with fusions of dendritic and glioma cells. Cancer Immunol Immunother 2001;50:337–44. Kikuchi T, Akasaki Y, Abe T, et al. Vaccination of glioma patients with fusions of dendritic and glioma cells and recombinant human interleukin-12. J Immunother 2004;27:452–9. De Vleeschouwer S, Van Calenbergh F, Demaerel P, et al. Transient local response and persistent tumor control in a child with recurrent malignant glioma: treatment with combination therapy including dendritic cell therapy. J Neurosurg 2004;100:492–7. Kiertscher SM, Roth MD. Human CD14+ leukocytes acquire the phenotype and function of antigen-presenting dendritic cells when cultured in GM-CSF and IL-4. J Leukoc Biol 1996;59:208–18. Liau LM, Lallone RL, Seitz RS, et al. Identification of a human glioma-associated growth factor gene, granulin, using differential immuno-absorption. Cancer Res 2000;60:1353–60. Yang I, Kremen TJ, Giovannone AJ, et al. Modulation of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules and major histocompatibility complex-bound immunogenic peptides induced by interferon-α and interferon-γ treatment of human glioblastoma multiforme. J Neurosurg 2004;100:310–9. Storkus WJ, Zeh HJ III, Salter RD, Lotze MT. Identification of T-cell epitopes: rapid isolation of class I-presented peptides from viable cells by mild acid elution. J Immunother 1993;14:94–103. Nociari MM, Shalev A, Benias P, Russo C. A novel one-step, highly sensitive fluorometric assay to evaluate cell-mediated cytotoxicity. J Immunol Methods 1998;213:157–67. Mohty M, Stoppa AM, Blaise D, et al. Differential regulation of dendritic cell function by the immunomodulatory drug thalidomide. J Leukoc Biol 2002;72:939–45. Chen B, Stiff P, Sloan G, et al. Replicative response, immunophenotype, and functional activity of monocyte-derived versus CD34(+)-derived dendritic cells following exposure to various expansion and maturational stimuli. Clin Immunol 2001;98:280–92. Prins RM, Liau LM. Immunology and immunotherapy in neurosurgical disease. Neurosurgery 2003;53:144–53. Dudley ME, Wunderlich JR, Robbins PF, et al. Cancer regression and autoimmunity in patients after clonal repopulation with antitumor lymphocytes. Science 2002;298:850–4. Steiner HH, Bonsanto MM, Beckhove P, et al. Antitumor vaccination of patients with glioblastoma multiforme: a pilot study to assess feasibility, safety, and clinical benefit. J Clin Oncol 2004;22:4272–81. Yang L, Ng KY, Lillehei KO. Cell-mediated immunotherapy: a new approach to the treatment of malignant glioma. Cancer Control 2003;10:138–47. Mocellin S, Rossi CR, Nitti D, Lise M, Marincola FM. Dissecting tumor responsiveness to immunotherapy: the experience of peptide-based melanoma vaccines. Biochim Biophys Acta 2003;1653:61–71. Nielsen MB, Monsurro V, Migueles SA, et al. Status of activation of circulating vaccine-elicited CD8+ T cells. J Immunol 2000;165:2287–96. Nielsen MB, Marincola FM. Melanoma vaccines: the paradox of T cell activation without clinical response. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 2000;46:S62–6. Liau LM, Jensen ER, Kremen TJ, et al. Tumor immunity within the central nervous system stimulated by recombinant Listeria monocytogenes vaccination. Cancer Res 2002;62:2287–93. Mukai S, Kjaergaard J, Shu S, Plautz GE. Infiltration of tumors by systemically transferred tumor-reactive T lymphocytes is required for antitumor efficacy. Cancer Res 1999;59:5245–9. Prins RM, Incardona F, Lau R, et al. Characterization of defective CD4−CD8− T cells in murine tumors generated independent of antigen specificity. J Immunol 2004;172:1602–11. Prins RM, Liau LM. Cellular immunity and immunotherapy of brain tumors. Front Biosci 2004;9:3124–36. Platten M, Wick W, Weller M. Malignant glioma biology: role for TGF-β in growth, motility, angiogenesis, and immune escape. Microsc Res Tech 2001;52:401–10. Weller M, Wick W, Platten M. Role of TGF-β in oncogenesis. Microsc Res Tech 2001;52:353. Hjelmeland MD, Hjelmeland AB, Sathornsumetee S, et al. SB-431542, a small molecule transforming growth factor-β-receptor antagonist, inhibits human glioma cell line proliferation and motility. Mol Cancer Ther 2004;3:737–45. Wheeler CJ, Das A, Liu G, Yu JS, Black KL. Clinical responsiveness of glioblastoma multiforme to chemotherapy after vaccination. Clin Cancer Res 2004;10:5316–26. Prins RM, Graf MR, Merchant RE, Black KL, Wheeler CJ. Thymic function and output of recent thymic emigrant T cells during intracranial glioma progression. J Neurooncol 2003;64:45–54.

2019-04-20T22:43:45Z

http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/11/15/5515?ijkey=de64eedb52fc531604f5274131bf407dc3e1ea21&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Freedom Tourism Limited is a New Zealand Based Destination Management Company and tours booked in INDIA are organized, marketed & coordinated by Freedom Tourism, India. You can book “FREEDOM TOURS” with any of Freedom Associates across India. Visitors from rest of the world can either book their “FREEDOM TOURS” through our New Zealand Office or Freedom Associates located in India or Overseas. Please refer to www.freedomtourism.com for your nearest Freedom Associates or contact your nearest travel agent. Always visit www.freedomtourism.com for the updated Terms and Conditions at any given time. The Terms & Conditions mentioned on the website will be the final one and it will supersede the Terms & condition mentioned in any printed/digital media, quote or any communications/media at any given time. Refer Guest Awareness Checklist, Guest Guide Book, Quotation Terms & Condition for some specific information and/or Rules and Regulations apply to your tour with Freedom Tourism Limited. The client accepts that once a booking has been made with Freedom Tourism Limited and the required deposit paid, the client understands and accepts all terms and conditions outlined. ALL OUR TOUR COST is in LOCAL COUNTRY SPECIFIC $ and it includes GST and Other Taxes where applicable as per current Law. Any dispute’s legal proceedings must be lodged in New Zealand Only. All proceedings are to be exercised by New Zealand Jurisdiction System in accordance to land of law at the time of Invoice in dispute and in accordance to Freedom Tourism’s Limited Terms and Condition applied to relevant invoice. NZ Legal Jurisdiction and all the Terms & Condition in Freedom Tourism Limited’s final Terms & Condition at the time of issuing Invoice also apply to Freedom Tourism India’s INR currency generated Tour and/or Services and/or Invoices. “Independent Contractors” means hotelier/hotel owner, owner of any airlines or shipping company or Railway, Ferryboat owner/Operator, Coach owner/Operator, or Attraction/Activity company or any other person or organization who has been selected by us to render services to the Client. All trade names and marks belong to the respective owners and we stake no claim or patronage of the same. All errors and omissions exempted. $ means local currency of country of booking/place of services. Eg all New Zealand services/bookings $ will represent NZ$, Australia in AU$ and for FIJI in US$. For all other currency bookings $ may be referred as a $ or EURO or any other currency bookings/services are offered by provider. We may publish separate country specific T&C to cover other than $ currency on our website or provide copy along with your quotation. The holidays are operated by Freedom Tourism Limited, a NEW ZEALAND based company. Company is not itself an owner of any Carrier, Hotels, Accommodations, Air Craft, and Coaches listed on our Itineraries. Booking with us is subject to the terms, conditions and limitations of liability imposed by those transportation companies, hotel contractors and other service providers who may provide you with services and facilities at our request/bookings made with them. Freedom Tourism Limited shall not in any circumstances be held liable for and will not accept responsibility or liability for the acts, omissions, defaults or failures on the part of the transportation companies, hotel contractors and other service providers which are used in these tours. Freedom Tourism Limited acts only as your agent to introduce you to service providers. We do not accept any legal liability or damage including death, injury, delay, loss of any nature, additional expenses or inconvenience whatsoever caused to property or the passenger for himself and his executors, administers and dependents expressly renounces all claim against Freedom Tourism Limited in respect thereof, whether the same may be due to negligence, misconduct, act of omission, default or failure on the part of Freedom Tourism Limited or not. Mechanical breakdowns, government actions, weather, acts of God, strikes, compulsory quarantine or other services beyond its control. The failure of the client to follow instructions, including but not limited to check in, check out and departure places and times. The delay of, loss of or damage to participants baggage or its contents regardless of whether check with any carrier, provider of accommodation or otherwise. Freedom Tourism Limited reserves the right to use other service providers of a similar or higher standard at their discretion. Freedom Tourism Limited reserves the right to amend, make variations to or cancel the tours, accommodation or other services and facilities. All prices are subject to alteration at the absolute discretion by us, and in particular but not limited to when there are tariff or fare variations as a result of currency exchange fluctuations. The transport companies or firms concerned are not to be held responsible for any act, omission or event during the time passengers are not on board their aircraft and/or conveyances. The airline tickets issued by the airlines concerned, when issued, shall constitute the sole contract between these airlines and the purchaser of this tour and/or tour members. No person other than us, in writing, has the authority to vary, add, amplify or waive any stipulation, representation of term or condition of Freedom Tourism Limited. All information given in any Freedom Tourism Limited’s media is based on the information available at the time of publication. All errors and omissions exempted. We reserve the right to change any information before or after your booking the Tour due to any events beyond our control. In case we are aware of any changes sufficiently in advance, we will notify you at the time of booking, otherwise our Freedom Team Member will inform you of the change on the spot or as earliest possible once become aware. In cases where the travel agent/freedom associates or any Freedom Team Member through whom the clients have booked the tour, it shall be deemed and construed that the Clients have duly authorized the said travel agent/freedom associates or team member to sign on their behalf. The acceptance of the Booking by the Client or by their travel agent/freedom associates and team shall mean acceptance in totality of the Terms and Conditions. No person including Employee's and our Associates has the authority to vary, add, amplify or waive any stipulation, representation in Term or condition. Any assurance given by any person shall have no consequence until authorised by us. We reserve the right to decline to register any personas Clients for any Tour or to cancel their registration without assigning any reason. For Lawful Indian Resident Person fulfilling the criteria set by relevant provisions of law relating to foreign exchange in India and RBI rules and, whose passport is valid for at least six months subsequent to the date of departure of the tour and have been granted relevant visas to reach the point of commencement of the tour and travel throughout with the group or as an individual are eligible to book on the tour. All other countries residence other than India has to obtain necessary approval and Visa prior to tour commencement date. FREEDOM TOURISM LIMITED has no control or interference and do not check eligibility of an individual while issuing any quotation or booking tour. It shall be the Duty of the client to inform us in case the Client has any medical condition that may affect his ability to enjoy and pursue rest of the Tour Arrangements and wherein the interest of the Group or any member thereof is prejudicially affected. We reserve the right to ask the Client to provide written certification of his medical fitness before departure. In the event that a medical condition has not been disclosed, we will not be liable to provide any assistance or money back. It is extremely important that you purchase an Overseas Travel Insurance Policy to cover against any possible risks such as damage, loss or accident & medical emergency, injury to life or property while on tour. We recommend that you purchase the Overseas Travel Insurance Policy. Keeping the safety and your convenience in mind we may or may not have included the cost of the medical insurance for the duration of the tour. Please check your individual quotation for this inclusion. However for any passengers above the age of 60 and those who extend their holiday, additional charges would apply. If any such situation arises on the tour then the new policy will enable our Freedom team to help better. If it is not mentioned in your final quote than you must seek independent legal advice for Insurance and obtain accordingly your need. Various credit cards like Visa, Masters, Amex, Diners can be widely accepted for your personal expense at various terms & conditions from your Bank/Card Authorities. YOU MUST CARRY your own name Credit card to provide as a deposit/security and it’s mandatory mainly at various transport providers and most accommodation providers. The communication address of the Client as disclosed in the Booking confirmation shall be deemed to have been communicated to the Travel Agent/Freedom. A Travel agent/Freedom Associates through whom a Client books will act to relay information from Client to us and vice versa. We shall not be responsible for any error on part of such Travel Agent/Freedom Associates in this regard. During Quote Process, if we have missed or misinterpreted any of your services/booking request then re-quote is must. All revised quotation comes with its own special terms and condition due to various circumstances. During Quotation process, Freedom Tourism Limited neither block/book any of your services nor provide guarantee for that. All services are subject to availability at the time of booking and final price of quote may change during this process and will be advised in writing to client for confirmation. At the time of booking you must be in possession of an original passport of every individual wishing to register for holiday. You are requested to read complete details of the tour, route plan, price inclusions, exclusions, terms and conditions. Our Freedom Advisor will be glad to assist with the booking process. It is mandatory to enclose a non-refundable, interest-free deposit amount of $ 1,000/- per person (Adult/Child). Cheques / Demand drafts to be payable either to your travel agent or Freedom Tourism Limited. “Ways to Pay” Freedom Tourism Limited is always attached with quotation/invoice for further details. If you book through our Freedom Associates / Your own travel agent then it will be associates/travel agent's responsibility to provide booking form and deposit to Freedom Tourism Limited. On receipt of the deposit amount you will be given an official receipt from Freedom Tourism Limited and you will also receive your tour-booking certificate/communication. This is the written confirmation of your tour However it is not valid for travel on tour. Tour package final cost is not available with any other on-going specials. As per Agreed Final Holiday Route Plan and Invoice, You must make the balance payments towards tour cost at least 45 days before the tour begins or as per Invoice Due date (whichever is early). Any TT charges, Bank Charges must be paid over and above the invoice amount. GST may be applicable and to be paid extra on the total Tour Price if not mentioned as included in the invoice. Prior to the departure of your tour, we will be able to issue your air tickets (only if booked by Freedom Tourism Limited) and any of your final tour documents, once we receive the total tour cost. In case the above rule is not adhered to then there will be a delay in issuing your air ticket and subsequently arranging your visas. Further, if we do not receive the balance payment due to us at least 30 days before departure, your booking deposit is likely to be forfeited and your booking stands automatically cancelled. In case any payment is being made 10 days prior the tour departure date, the same will have to be paid in cash/ bank draft. A copy of your PAN card is required when payments amounting to $250 or above are made by cash. FOR INDIA the tour is subject to RBI/ GOI rules and regulations. Part of the tour cost will be paid in $. Tour cost may have been changed due to number of person changes, travel date changes, holiday surcharges, availability of quoted services and so many other variables. Invoice will be re-issued in such event and balance amount is to be paid out as part of tour cost. All services such as Airline seats/ Hotel accommodation /Ground transportation for any tour are pre-booked well in advance. We are liable to pay penalties to all our suppliers / vendors if these services are released within the below mentioned time frame. Cancellation fees will be levied relevant to the amount of notice prior to departure as follows: Any special bookings/group bookings and cancellation terms by various suppliers will be charged from over and above below policies. 44-7 Days - 50% of the total price. We reserve the right to cancel any Tour prior to the departure, without assigning any reason. Under such circumstances amount paid by you will be refunded forthwith after deducting the actual expenses incurred by us like Visa, Travel Insurance etc. but no compensation or interest is payable. All Refunds shall be given in the same mode of payment made to us. In either of these above cases, the client shall not be entitled to, or we shall not be liable to the client for any damage, additional expense, consequential loss suffered by him or to pay any amount as refund. All the Clients traveling must be in possession of a valid visa. However kindly note that it is entirely at the discretion of the concerned Consulate / Authorities to grant / reject visa even after submitting all relevant documents and we will not be held responsible for the same. We will not be responsible for non-issuance of visa due to receipt of incomplete / delayed documents from the Clients. It is a possibility that the consulate may ask the passengers to appear for a personal interview. This is at the sole discretion of the Consulate/ Authorities. Passengers whose visas are not granted by the consulates will be refunded the booking amount after deducting $100/- per person towards Administrative Charges in addition to any additional visa expenses incurred. The date requested by the Client will be confirmed after the client obtains the visa and is subject to the availability of the tour at that point of time. Any Price Variance must be paid by Client. Any claim or complaint by the client must be notified to us in writing within 7 days at the end of their holiday tour. No claim notified to the company beyond this period will be entertained and we shall incur no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. All the refunds will be honoured in accordance to Cancellation Terms & Condition policy and/or written approval of refund by Freedom Tourism Limited. Refunds (if any) for amendments and /or cancellations will be paid directly to you for bookings made directly with Freedom office. For bookings made by Travel Agent, Associates, the refunds will be routed through them. It would take at least 30-60 days to process refunds due to various supplier and airline's cancellation rules. The refund for the Foreign Exchange component of the tour will be refunded in INR/$ only and will be at the rate which was prevailing at the time of Booking. In case if a Client along with his family is compelled to discontinue the tour due to any reason whatsoever including illness, death or loss of passport or any other travel documents, no claim shall be entertained for refund of unutilized services. When considering Refund, Freedom Tourism Limited accounts for administration charges; cancellation charges imposed by various suppliers’ exclusive T&C with Freedom Tourism Limited. Further, per person price changes due to number of person changed from the original quotation also effects on refund claim. Number of other legitimate variables we take into consideration which we practice during original quotation process as well. No liability on our part arising in any way out of this contract in respect of any tour, holiday, excursion facility shall exceed the total amount paid by the client for the tour, and shall in no case include any consequential loss or additional expense whatsoever. After the initial booking on a particular tour and relative services, in the event of any amendment you wish to make; such as change of destination, change of departure date, addition or deletion of services, change in passenger number or such other change you will need to make a written request and obtain an acknowledgment on the same from our Freedom Team Member. The amendments may invite further cost which has to be paid by you. Further such requests are accepted by us subject to availability. If you wish to travel in advance or later i.e. before or after the agreed departure date as agreed in final route plan or like to come back on later date after the tour ends, you will be required to pay the actual fare difference of the airline, for the requisite dates. You will be issued a re-quote/invoice to be paid in full and upon receipt of payment Freedom Tourism Limited will issue a written confirmation. The request for deviations should be given in writing at the time of booking as these requests are subject to availability and we are not holding any secured places/seats for the same. The deviation request will be subject to availability and payment for the same does not guarantee the date requested. For Airline Tickets In case the dates requested by you are not available; we will allot alternate dates accordingly subject to seat availability in the same group booking class. Transfer from one Tour to another prior to the departure of the originally booked tour will be treated as a cancellation on that tour, thereby attracting the cancellation charges as stated here under and a new booking on another. Transfer fee of $ 250/- per person may apply depends on financial impact of your cancellation to original tour and new tour. Freedom Tourism Limited reserves the right for this transfer acceptance. Where you purchase your Air Tickets through us, the confirmations on airline and/or class of travel as requested will be subject to availability of the same for the destinations chosen by you. Air tickets will be delivered along with other documents provided once we have received full payment including foreign currency component. It is necessary to have your return air tickets to India (your home country) confirmed prior to your departure from India. All the cancellation/amendments charges will be applicable and payable by client as per respective Airline rules. Any changed seats are subject to availability to Airline. Airline rules are deemed to be accepted once your tickets are issued to you. Luggage allowances will be aligned with the international airline allowances. During the Group tour with Kitchen facilities, this may further change to accommodate grocery shipping along with group to minimise the group’s overall cost. One person from every room occupier or Head of the Group on behalf of all group members must submit their own name Credit Card or Cash or any mode of accepted payment by Hotel as a security. Failure to provide may result in Hotel not permitting the confirmed booking/stay. Freedom Tourism Limited has no control on any Hotel’s policy whatsoever. Any damages caused to the hotel rooms during your stay, any Mini-bar usage, Kettle or any equipment damage, Dirty or Smelly Room and hotel’s ability to sell that room to other client on next day(s) can be charged as a loss to Hotel caused by you and shall be payable by you and we will not be liable for the same. Every hotel has various rules and regulations for number of people in each room, noise control, behaviour, smoking, cooking smelly food, code of conduct and must be followed during your stay or face the consequence charges or loss of booking. Freedom Tourism Limited will not have any control whatsoever. Any mistake/error made by Hotel staff in confirming your booking while check-in/check-out is deemed as a personnel error by those hotel’s staff and Freedom Tourism Limited will have no control. However we will accelerate complain to Hotel Management in such cases so future bookings are served within guest’s dignity. Most of the rooms have private bath or shower. The hotels will either be those shown in the Route Plan or of the same category. Triple rooms are usually no larger than Twin rooms and the third bed is often a rollaway cot put in a Twin room for a night. GROUP FOC: For group bookings, FOC adults are based on case to case basis and will be mentioned during quote process. All baggage and personal effects are at all times and under all circumstances your responsibility. We will not be responsible or liable in case of loss of such items from the hotel. All Indian dinner transfers are mostly included as long as it is within our driver’s driving hour’s limit, each day. Your individual confirmed route plan will be considered final for this transfer. Group chefs are responsible to any damages of hotel kitchen facilities and/or properties and must work under the guideline of hotel’s head chef. This is strictly due to the country specific health and safety regulations. We recommend relevant business insurance for travel agents operating Tour with Use of Cooking Facilities. Any ingredients required must have the approval from the hotel’s head chef or the beverage manager on duty. Group chef must have a good standard of chef attire and head cap, Safety shoes and any other H&S requirement met at all times within kitchen or designated areas. It is expressed and given to understand that a child below 12 years of age who is booked on the tour paying the special rate without a bed and will not be provided with a bed in the hotel while on the tour under any circumstances. In case the Client makes any changes in their rooming while on tour, we shall not make any refunds or pay any compensation. In case the Client decides to make any change in the rooming while on the tour subject to availability, then you shall be bound to pay additional charges. The menus and food options will be discussed and finalised during our Route Planning process with you and our Freedom Team Member. Unlike an airline we cannot process a special meal nor do we guarantee a special diet to the Client, except to the extent mentioned to you. We however reserve the right to change the meal arrangement if circumstances make it necessary to do so. In the event that the Client wakes up late and misses the breakfast offered to him or the Client is out on his own and reaches late and misses any meal offered to him, then no claim can be Trade for the meal, which he has missed and not utilized. All meals are served at the designated place agreed on your route plan and no room service or any other location delivery of food is possible for health & safety and various other reasons. Personnel Name Credit Card for each driver and Authorised Licence is must to take the possession of hired vehicle. We use air-conditioned/air-cooled luxury coaches and car of various grades (refereed as mode of transport of any kind during tour). We don’t guarantee or charge for any specific model, interior equipped vehicle to any guest because all cars are allocated within their category by Transport provider based on their first in first out or ROH or any other method they use to allocate vehicle. We have found it fair to operate daily seat rotation on coach, so no seat numbers are allocated. Some of the coaches are equipped with an emergency washroom, however is not guaranteed for any quote unless we agreed in writing to; however this facility is not to be used in lieu of the restrooms at our frequent comfort stops. If you are carrying any high value items on any mode of transport, we advise you not to leave them behind when you leave the transport. We will not be responsible or liable in case of loss of such items from the transport. All baggage and personal effects are at all times and in all circumstances your responsibility. Any damages caused by you to the transport vehicle during your travel shall be payable by you and we will not be liable for the same. The drivers are bound by special rules, like maximum driving hours within a day and during a week, rest period per day/week, etc. Clients will have to strictly adhere to the prescribed timetable for the day so that the driver can complete the travel, otherwise certain sightseeing schedules may be missed due to your actions and the same will be non-refundable. The Ministry of Transport has a strict regulation for Driver’s duty time limit of maximum 12 hours per day with the group. Please ensure that Driver doesn’t exceed that limit. If the Driver is forced to breach the work time regulations, you may be fined up to $ 25,000.00. Your co-operation on this is much appreciated. If you are driving any mode of transport yourself then, it will be your responsibility to follow complete rode and vehicle's safety rules, full insurance for vehicle (sometimes not included in tour cost – finalize at the time of quote). Any/All fines/penalties/legal costs from any/all government bodies will be payable by client (you) during your possession of vehicle. Rental Vehicle Hire: Self-drive rental vehicle cost is calculated on per day / 24 hour period starting from the time you collect your vehicle. An extra days hire will apply for any late drop-offs on the final day. Hire generally includes unlimited kilometres and daily basic insurance and is subject to the vehicle company's terms and conditions. Driver will not drive vehicle on Leisure day and will be on official Day Off. Guest will not be able to drive the vehicle too. If Guest wants to drive vehicle on Leisure day it has to be authorized by Vehicle Hire Company and must do all formalities prior to picking up vehicle and/or approving quote. In such cases, fuel, maintenance will be charged to the guest. Damage to vehicle may result in not using the vehicle for rest of the tour and Guest and/or Travel Agent and/or Tour Manager will be responsible and will not be entitled for any refund whatsoever as well as additional charges for alternative bookings/services will be charged at Freedom’s discretion. We are travel and holiday organizers only. We do not control or operate any airline neither do we own or control any shipping company, coach or coach company, activity, hotel, transport or any other facility or service mentioned in your final tour. we cannot be responsible for any injury, death, loss or damage, which is caused by the act or default of the management or employees of any hoteliers, airlines, shipping company, Activity company, Coach owner/coach operator who are our independent contractors arising outside our normal selection and inspection process. Major road works may necessitate route changes in the Route Plan, Indian restaurants may close or change management, flight or coach delay and running out of time for certain meal/activity etc. all of these may cause us to make changes in the Route Plan. The Client will have to strictly follow the Tour Program and return to India (or Home Country) as per the validity of the air ticket. There shall be no refund, if the Client fails to join the group at the commencement of the tour, or joins the group later or leaves the group before culmination of the Tour. It shall be noted that for all purposes, it shall be the responsibility of the Client to reach the place of commencement of the Tour and register with our representative at the appointed place, date and time. Even if a Client is unable to reach a place of commencement of tour due to any reason whatsoever including loss of baggage or loss of travel documents, his booking shall be treated as 'No Show' on the tour and 100% cancellation charges will be levied. If a client avails pre-tour services or part thereof, or the air tickets (cost of which may or may not be included in the main tour cost) but fails to join the group for the main tour at the appointed place, or cancels the tour after using the air tickets or pre-tour arrangements or part thereof, it shall be treated as “No Show' and there will be no refund whatsoever for the unutilized pre-tour or main tour services. We, reserve the right to withdraw tour membership from anyone whose behaviour is deemed likely to affect the smooth operation of the tour or adversely affect the enjoyment or safety of other passengers and we, shall be under no liability to any such person. It is hereby declared that the immunities provided under this contract shall be available to our Managers, including Tour Managers, Employees, Servants and Agents but not to the independent Contractors selected by us. Each of these conditions shall be severable from the other and if any provision be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall nevertheless have full force and effect. No liability on our part arising in any way out of the Contract in respect of any tour, holiday, and excursion facilities shall exceed the total amount paid or agreed to be paid for the tour holiday, and shall in no case include any consequential loss or additional expense whatsoever. We recommend every Individual traveller or Group to take an Overseas Travel Insurance. If you book with a Travel Agent and your booking with that agent includes, but not limited to our arrangements, your Contract is with your travel agent and we are simply a support to your travel agent. In case of publication of any travel scheme offering any discount or benefit by us we shall have the sole right to withdraw such a scheme or discount at any time unless a specific assurance of the contrary is published. All announced Group Tours will operate subject to minimum full paying passengers on the tour. Services of a professional and experienced Freedom Ambassador or a local representative is subject to a minimum of full paying passengers published. In the case of one or more but not all passengers confirming Booking, it shall be deemed that others have duly authorized concerned signing passenger(s). Any over stay expenses due to delay or changes in bus / air / trains/ ship or cancellation of special bogie or other services due to sickness, weather conditions, strike, war, terrorism or any other cause whatsoever. Sightseeing missed and/or program being cancelled after the commencement of the tour due to any unavoidable situations which are beyond our control. Initial deposit just ensures seat or participation on the tour but does not entitles any services like Tickets, visas and Hotel Accommodation until full payment has been received. There is no Contract between us and the client until we have received the initial deposit of $ 1000 per participating person. Full payment must be in accordance with the terms and condition of tour. In-case of non-payment we, reserve the right to cancel booking with subsequent loss of deposit & apply cancellation charges as mentioned therein. Gratuities, Insurance, Optional Sightseeing, Excess baggage charges, Laundryman, Mini-bar, Drinks, Airport taxes, Meals except discussed during booking process and items of a personal nature are not included in the tour cost. We are repentant that we cannot endow with individual aid to any of the tour member for walking, dining, getting on & off from any of the transport vehicle or other personal needs. So it is indispensable that a qualified companion must accompany the traveller who needs such assistance. Distance, temperature and any other variable information given in any media are approximate. Photo of meals and sightseeing published in any media are only for reference and may change from actual meals served / sights. In case company offers any adventure activities then it is significant to note that all the passengers should enjoy such activities/ ride at their own risk, as such kind of adventure might be risky at times especially for heart patients, Pregnant women, people with blood pressure, etc. Freedom Tourism Limited solely reserves the right to publish group photographs of the passengers taken during the tour. Validity of the passport: Traveller must have his valid passport for at least 6 months subsequent to departure date. The prices quoted in our proposal have been calculated at the rate prevailing at the time of printing this media. We reserve the right to amend the price published in this media in case of currency fluctuations, changes in the various cross rates of exchange and / or fuel costs, before the date of departure and charge accordingly. All such increases in price must be paid for in full before departure by the client. lf the Client has any complaint in respect of the services provided by any of the independent contractors, the client shall immediately notify the same in writing to the independent Contractor and a copy thereof should be handed over to the Freedom Ambassador/Team in order to enable us to take up the matter with the Independent Contractor so that in future other clients do not face the same difficulty. Transparent Communication is very important for Travel Operator and Freedom Team at all time. Issues may arise from error of any of Freedom or your company’s employee, Freedom’s supplier’s policy changes or Guests requirement/circumstances changes and many other ways out of control by both of us. Both representative needs to come to an agreed resolution in the best interest of GUEST’s Memorable Holiday. Freedom Tourism agrees to honour any of our commitment done at the time of finalizing Tour or any given time communicated in writing only. Tour Operator is bound to honour any commitment made to client, over and above from the Freedom Tourism’s Written Quote or Email Communication. Any financial impact from this must be paid by Tour Operator. NO VERBAL/WRITTEN Abuse will be tolerated by FREEDOM TOURISM LIMITED and its Employees whatsoever. All the Cancellation Terms & Condition will apply and will be at Guest or Tour Operator’s cost. For any complains of Freedom Team send confidential email to [email protected] with all relevant information with evidences, finalized route plan and communication by Freedom Team and will be resolved in 24 hours. Detailed General Terms & Conditions is attached herewith and updated version available on www.freedomtourism.com applies to all Quotes/Invoices over and above this terms & conditions. READ OUR GUEST’s CHECKLIST for more information about Guest’s responsibility and fines associated if not adhered. IMPORTANT: This is a Quotation only. No booking or confirmation is made at this stage. Please note that Hotels, Room types or the final price may change when it comes to booking. In event of ANY CHANGES in CONFIRMED ROUTE PLAN & Number of PERSON CHANGES than re-QUOTE IS MUSTand SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. Rotorua Airport Development levy $5.00 for Domestic flight & $25.00 for Trans-Tasman flight. PAXS PER ROOM: As per Hotel’s Guideline per room category booked as per final ROUTE PLAN. The Ministry of Transport has a strict regulation for Driver’s duty time limit of maximum hours per day with the group. Please ensure that he doesn’t exceed that limit. If the Driver is forced to breach the work time regulations, you may be fined up to $ 25,000.00. Your co-operation on this is much appreciated. Driver’s Duties includes Point to Point Transfer only. Rest of the time vehicle and driver is not included in Tour Cost. Dinner Transfer’s and any other specific transfer is included, only if specified in your final route plan. Freedom Tourism is committed to make sure Complete Route Plan and Facilities can be enjoyed by Group, provided Group Members adhere to timings given per booking. This is a quotation only and no confirmations are made at this stage. We strongly recommend that you do early bookings once you have confirmed dates and international flight bookings. All accommodations/ services are subject to availability at the time of booking. Our quotation is based on the Inclusions to quote as per your request. Kindly check carefully and if anything is missed out, please advise us immediately & we’ll do a re-quote for you. Please understand that we hold no responsibility for any missing service(s). If YOUR TOUR MANAGER is joining group, it’s your responsibility to inform various supplier for any time delay. Availability of services/refunds can varied based on various suppliers and Freedom’s contractual arrangement. Meals are pre-booked and can’t be changed at short notice. Minimum 72 Hours’ notice required for meal changes (subject to availability with supplier). Cancellation is not possible in any circumstances and no refunds can be claimed. Cost of ingredients is extra and not included in quote. All Indian dinner transfers may be included as long as they are mentioned as included in the quote and are within our driver’s driving hour’s limit, each day. Many restaurants are located close to the hotels of group stays and dinners for those nights will be by walk or as mentioned in the quote. Group chefs are responsible to any damages of hotel kitchen facilities and must work under the guideline of hotel’s head chef. This is strictly due to the Country’s health and safety regulations. Group chef must have a good standard of chef attire and head cap must be worn at all times within kitchen area. Picnic Lunch will be Served Hot (weather permitted) or will be packed lunch. Packed Lunch's Menu Items may be changed with Group's permission to comfortably enjoy. Upon route & cost confirmation, Freedom Tourism Limited will advise of any deposits required for services included. Receipt of Deposit is deemed as an acceptance of final route plan agreed between both companies. Failure to advise any changes in agreed route plan will be charged to Travel Operator. Full Payment is essential before 21 Days of Travel Date. Cancellation fees will be levied relevant to the amount of notice prior to departure as follows:Any special bookings/group bookings and cancellation terms by various suppliers will be charged from over and above below policies and will be mentioned during quotation & invoice communications. Following Items are NOT INCLUDED in Quote unless specified as included AND are Payable by Guest while they are on Tour. Freedom Available Facilities like Photography, Binocular, Cap, Walking Sticks, Kids Games, DVD, IT Gadgets etc. Special Request for any booking like Religious Meal, Celebration Cake, Gala Dinner etc. During Quote Process, if we have missed or misinterpreted any of your services/booking request then re-quote is must. All revised quotations come with their own special terms and conditions due to various circumstances. During Quotation process, Freedom Tourism Limited neither block/book any of your service nor provide guarantee for that. All services are subject to availability at the time of booking and final price of quote may change during this process and will be advised in writing to client for confirmation. Tour Cost Changes if the number of People or Travel Period and Any addition/removal/change in already agreed route plan. Services of Freedom Ambassador is bound to below minimum rules and can be changed by Freedom Tourism Limited anytime on Tour as per Health & Safety requirement. Client need to adhere to all route plan timings for an enjoyable holiday. INDIAN Language Speaking Freedom Ambassador is not guaranteed at all times and all drivers are allocated based on FULL PAYMENT RECEIVED by Travel Operator to Freedom on first come first basis (run of house method). However Indian Language Speaking FREEDOM AMBASSADOR is only guaranteed if quoted and paid 100% in advance to secure. FREEDOM TOURISM LIMITED may assign more than 1 AMBASSADOR during your trip due to various operational reasons, however the services committed remains same and shall be delivered accordingly by Freedom Tourism Limited. FREEDOM Ambassador will not do any activities as a PORTER, COOLIE, and BUTLER etc. For such services, client has to request additional person and pay 100% in advance. Verbal, Gesture abuse to Freedom Ambassador may result in removal of rest of the services of Freedom Ambassador at Guest’s cost. Please read detailed freedom ambassador dos and don’ts in Freedom’s Official Guest Book. Freedom Ambassador cannot be replaced with other Ambassador once removed from Services due to abuse reason. Freedom Ambassador is quoted based on Guest pickup time provided in Route Plan. Duties may or may not include dinner transfer to restaurant and activities which requires more than 1 hour wait. However over and above the route plan like waiting or holding Driver and Vehicle etc. will be charged at varied rates and situation at that particular event, minimum $50 per hour or any part of first hour. Legal Break Rules per day and per Trip is allowed in the Route Plan and cannot be changed at any time. Ambassador/Driver is not available anytime Guest requires. Driver/Ambassador works as per law set by Transport Authority and must adhere and log all time while on duty so can’t drive more than legal hours whenever client requires. Route plan is developed in such a way that all legal expectations are covered and adhered at all times during the trip. LEISURE DAY: Freedom Ambassador will not drive vehicle on Leisure day and will be on official Day Off. Guest will not be able to drive the vehicle too. If Guest wants to drive vehicle on Leisure day it has to be authorized by Vehicle Hire Company and must do all formalities prior to picking up vehicle and/or approving quote. Freedom Ambassador/Driver will not drive vehicle on Leisure day and will be on official Day Off. Guest will not be able to drive the vehicle too. If Guest wants to drive vehicle on Leisure day it has to be authorized by Vehicle Hire Company and must do all formalities prior to picking up vehicle and/or approving quote. In such cases, fuel, maintenance will be charged to the guest. Damage to vehicle may result in not using the vehicle for rest of the tour and Guest and/or Travel Agent and/or Tour Manager will be responsible and will not be entitled for any refund whatsoever as well as additional charges for alternative bookings/services will be charged at Freedom’s discretion. GST as applicable to be paid extra on the total Tour cost. We will charge INR 1.50 over and above the agreed exchange rate to cover transaction fees. Exchange Rate will be applied as per agreement between Tour Operator and Freedom Tourism. If Money is paid late in a view to save money on exchange rate than also, Exchange rate of payment due date or agreed rate whichever is higher must be applied and agreed by client.

2019-04-23T08:22:17Z

https://www.freedomtourism.com/downloads/terms

As discussed in another post, Microsoft’s efforts to drive Windows 7 users toward Windows 10 resulted in my decision to return to Linux. My plan was to install Linux Mint 17.3, and use that to run Windows 7 in a virtual machine (VM). At this point, I was only partly finished with that project. I was still learning how to install and configure Linux Mint. For instance, another post describes how I had recently screwed up my Linux installation while trying to get Wine to work. So it was nice to think about eventually running Windows in a VM on Linux, but right now I wanted something different: I wanted to run Linux as a guest system in a VM, on a Windows or Linux host system, and I wanted to make copies of that Linux guest VM so that I wouldn’t have to reinstall Linux every time my tweaking experiments messed something up. I could just start up another copy of the Linux VM, and resume where I left off. This post describes my exploration of and experimentation with Linux guest system VMs. The particular focus is on the choice of VM software — mostly on choosing between VMware, VirtualBox, and KVM to create, modify, and save Linux Mint VMs. Some of this exploration took place on a Windows host machine, some on a Linux host, but in any case the goal was to get Linux running as a guest system. These notes provide a blow-by-blow account of the steps I took and the mistakes I made. If I write an update that simplifies this, I will probably come back and post a link to it from here. This account may be useful for people who are troubleshooting specific problems, and also for developers who are interested in user experiences with their software. The Conclusion summarizes what I found. My older blog describes my efforts to run Windows XP in a VM on Ubuntu. At that time, six to eight years ago, VMware Workstation seemed to be the best choice. My first question at present was whether it was still worth spending the money on VMware Workstation, or whether free or less expensive options had become more appealing. Jim Henderson, working in a test lab, was very pleased with VirtualBox. Before continuing to review search results, I looked into that reference to paravirtualization. Wikipedia seemed to say that it was an innovation, built into Ubuntu and RedHat among others, developed by Xen and incorporated into other VM managers (e.g., VMware, KVM, VirtualBox). My net impression from this diversion was that VMware cost more because it did things better; for example, TechRepublic noted that VirtualBox 5.0 had problems with HiDPI displays (on e.g., the ThinkPad W550s). Ben compared VirtualBox to KVM and apparently preferred VirtualBox for ease of use and responsiveness. This was the tendency of responses in another discussion as well. Phoronix compared performance among KVM, Xen, and VirtualBox. VirtualBox was slower than the others in most tests. I was not sure whether the comparison of Linux kernel compilation time had real-world significance for the individual user. On the C-Ray test of floating-point CPU performance, VirtualBox was 46% slower than the other two. It was 12% slower on a test of FLAC audio encoding, 2% slower on LAME MP3 encoding, and 7% slower than KVM and 13% slower than Xen on FFmpeg video conversion. For my purposes, VMware’s confusing main webpage yielded eventually to confusing and uninformative pages on vCenter Converter (a free program to convert Windows and Linux physical machines and third-party drive images to VMware VMs), VMware Workstation Player ($150), and VMware Workstation Pro ($250). (Note the possible existence of coupons.) Alerted to the possibility of a free version, a search led to a page offering the same download (for Windows and Linux) whether free or paid, depending on whether the user had a license key. From TechTarget’s comparison, I gathered that the key difference between the free Player and the paid Workstation, for my simple purposes, was just the ability to create clones and multiple snapshots. Elsewhere, TechTarget said VMware desktop products (presumably including both free and paid versions) offered a Unity Mode feature where applications running in a VM could be displayed on the host desktop. Where cost was no object, a Spiceworks Community discussion leaned heavily toward VMware rather than VirtualBox. Comments in a MalwareTips discussion were split, between the free VMware Player and VirtualBox. Advantages: for VMware Player, better integration of host and guest; for VirtualBox, better snapshot options, less system resource usage when inactive, and greater stability (contra DigitalTrends). Dellvostro said VirtualBox ran like an application on the system, while VMware ran like a separate operating system. In the same discussion, JBL found VMware Player more polished and less clunky, and H20 felt VMware was stable but VirtualBox was easier to use. Jimbo45 found KVM surprisingly easy to install on CentOS, with vastly better performance than VMware. He also spoke of using a GUI for KVM; a search suggested that virt-manager might be the leading option there. As of 2013, OpenNode found virt-manager incomplete for some purposes, but Tecmint and How-To Geek tutorials found it sufficient. Between those two tutorials, the latter made KVM look considerably less complex. 5lulu compared the performance of KVM and Xen against bare metal — which, for my purposes, would mean installing Windows 7 directly on the computer. 5lulu found that KVM’s performance was better than that of Xen, and was within 1.5% of bare metal on almost all tests. I had Acronis True Image Home 2011 images of installations of Windows XP, 7, 8, and 10. It could save me hours of installation time if my VM tool could import those images, and also if it could virtualize existing Windows installations. A pair of searches resulted in the impression that, for both VirtualBox and VMware, I might start by using VMware’s free vCenter Converter. There seemed to be potential difficulties in any case. It seemed I would have to get into the specifics in more detail to figure out whether and how to achieve these virtualizations. This information provoked me to review my reasons for virtualization. Since I had decided to reduce my dependence on Microsoft, I didn’t plan to have a lot going on in the Windows 7 VM. This suggested that performance was not as important as convenience and features. In that case, I was inclined to choose VMware Player or VirtualBox. Between those two, I decided to start with VirtualBox, for what I understood were its advantages of ease of use and better snapshot options. Installing VirtualBox on my Windows 7 machine was as easy as installing any other program. I also had a machine with Linux Mint KDE 17.3 already installed. I decided to install VirtualBox there too. The initial installation was more complicated on Linux, mostly because of installation instructions that proved to be incorrect. I tried again, this time using Synaptic Package Manager, already installed on KDE 17.3. A search in Synaptic for virtualbox produced many choices, among which I went with the advice to choose virtualbox-nonfree. That worked: Oracle VirtualBox was now available as a System application. Now I needed to get Linux into a VirtualBox VM. One way to do that might be to put it there from an image backup of a working Linux system. I did have a few images that might work. My version of Acronis had proved unable to make efficient backups of Linux partitions, but I had an image of a Linux Mint installation made with Redo Backup & Recovery, and SPhillips had found a way to restore a Redo image to a VirtualBox VM. A search also produced suggestions on restoring a Clonezilla image to VirtualBox; I had one of those too. But I decided not to pursue those options because I had not gotten very far on configuring those systems. It was just about as easy to set up a new Linux installation. And a new installation might be better. I wasn’t sure whether those previous installations had any hidden problems that might complicate my current efforts to resolve various Linux issues. When I ran VirtualBox, on both the Windows and Linux computers, I noticed its File > Import Appliance option. This inspired me to conduct a search, leading to OSBoxes, which offered prepackaged Linux Mint 17 images for VirtualBox and VMware. (See also VirtualBoxImages.com.) Using a preformed image would save me the hassle of doing my own installation. From OSBoxes, I downloaded the 1.4GB 64-bit Mint KDE 17.3 VirtualBox image. Before unzipping that file, I used File Check MD5 (or could have used any similar tool) to calculate that download’s MD5 value, and compared that value against the one shown on the OSBoxes download page, to make sure they were identical, indicating that the file had survived the voyage unscathed. Then, on the Windows and Linux machine alike, I right-clicked on the downloaded zip (.7z) file, used the relevant tool to unzip or extract its contents, deleted the zip file, and stored the resulting .vdi file in the folder where I was storing VMs. Later, I would refine that: a subfolder to hold downloaded VMs, in case I needed them again, and another subfolder for their installed counterparts. In the BIOS, Intel Virtualization Technology and VT-d (or AMD-V) should be enabled. A BIOS update may be necessary. In the Windows Features list, Hyper-V (not necessarily available in Windows 7) needs to be disabled, as does any other virtualization software (e.g., VMware). In Windows 10, a reinstall/repair of VirtualBox may be necessary. For me, the BIOS enable was the only one of those changes that my system needed. Now 64-bit options were available. I wasn’t sure why there was no problem on the Linux machine; perhaps I had already made the BIOS change there. So now, on both the Linux and Windows computers, I was able to set up that new 64-bit Linux Mint 17.3 KDE machine in VirtualBox, once again using the menu option Machine > New. In that process, the “Create Virtual Machine” dialog still didn’t offer Mint as an eligible version. One source advised choosing 64-bit Ubuntu at that point, and I went with that; another suggested the generic (“Other Linux”) option. I had some spare RAM, so I allocated 2048MB. When I got to the question about the default 8GB virtual hard drive, I clicked the Expert Mode button; based on advice, I chose the Dynamically Allocated option; and based on other advice, I chose VMDK format. The virtual machine is set up to use Video Stream Acceleration. As this feature only works with Windows guest systems it will be disabled. sudo dmesg | grep "graphics device" USB 2.0/3.0 is currently enabled for this virtual machine. However, this requires the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack to be installed. Please install the Extension Pack from the VirtualBox download site or disable USB 2.0/3.0 to be able to start the machine. I clicked OK to close the dialog, and then went to the VirtualBox download site. I was not sure how the installation process might differ, between Linux and Windows. But then I saw an explanation that the VirtualBox Extension Pack is not an installer, but is rather installed from within VirtualBox. The download webpage said, “Please install the extension pack with the same version as your installed version of VirtualBox!” So I started by going, in VirtualBox, to Help > About VirtualBox. It said I was running version 5.0.20 on the Windows machine and 5.0.2 on Linux. So, for the Windows machine at least, I was able to get the Extension Pack for my Windows installation right there on the download webpage. I went ahead and downloaded it. The download webpage also said, “After upgrading VirtualBox it is recommended to upgrade the guest additions as well.” I hadn’t done anything about the Guest Additions yet. They didn’t repeat the warning about matching “the same version” for the Guest Additions, and I saw they were offering version 5.0.16 of the Guest Additions — not 5.0.2 or 5.0.20. So I downloaded that too. This left the question of what to do for VirtualBox 5.0.2 on my Linux machine. A search led to an Old Builds webpage, and there I scrolled down to VirtualBox 5.0.2 and downloaded via the Extension Pack link. Now I turned to Chapter 4 of the VirtualBox User Manual. It said I should install the Guest Additions by going into the VM’s menu and selecting Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD Image. But now a funny thing happened. In VirtualBox, in order to start up the VM and see that menu, I highlighted the VM that I had just configured and clicked Start. It asked me where I wanted to install from. Install? I thought the 1.4GB download from OSBoxes (above) already was an installed version of Linux Mint. I fooled around with this a bit, starting and quitting, and now the VM was only giving me, “FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted.” That was apparently because I was not putting an installation CD into the computer’s CD drive. I thought maybe I could fix this by going ahead with the Guest Additions installation, so I chose Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD Image. But no, when they said “System halted,” they really meant it. Nothing happened. Same thing exactly on both the Linux and Windows computers. I wondered if maybe my explorations with the Settings and the Extension Pack had somehow ruined the original OSBoxes machine. Well, I thought, now that the device was asking for a bootable medium, why not go ahead and just install Linux Mint after all? It seemed I had already taken care of all the configuration except the Guest Additions. I happened to have the Linux Mint 17.3 KDE x64 installer on my YUMI USB drive, so I decided to point the VM toward that, and get back later to this whole question of the prepackaged OSBoxes VM. I powered off the VM, plugged the YUMI drive into the computer, clicked Start in VirtualBox, and hit F12 as soon as the VM started up. It didn’t seem to be detecting the USB device. It only listed the hard disk, which I assumed was the 8GB virtual HDD I had configured during installation (above), a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, and a LAN. I tried both the HDD and the floppy disk. Nope: fatal crash. A search clarified: I should go into Settings > USB > click on the plus icon at the right side > add the desired USB drive. Same thing on startup. But then I got a message from the host Windows installation (i.e., not inside VirtualBox) indicating that it had recognized the drive. That was weird; it had already recognized it earlier, else it wouldn’t have appeared in that Settings > USB dialog. I tried Startup again, and it happened again. Now I understood: the USB drive was being returned from VirtualBox to Windows when I closed the VM, so each time it was being re-recognized by Windows. Interesting, but that didn’t help solve the problem. I tried again. In Settings > USB, I switched to enabling USB 2.0 instead of 3.0. That didn’t help. A search led to the suggestion that, in the host operating system, I had to unmount or eject the USB drive (not “Safely remove hardware”) before trying the VM. I tried that. It didn’t make any difference. I noticed, at this point, that (a) a lot of people seemed to be having this problem and (b) someone recommended trying VMware Player instead. That was tempting. I decided to start all over. In VirtualBox on the Windows machine, I created a VM with the same settings as above. In a variation on the previous try, I started the machine right after configuring those settings (i.e., before installing the Extension Pack). I didn’t have a chance to do anything with F12: it went immediately to the dialog that had appeared only the first time in the previous try, asking me for a physical or virtual CD from which to install. It offered the Guest Additions as an option, so I went with that. It may have installed them — I couldn’t tell — but then it went back to the Fatal error message. I restarted several times, trying both the Save the Machine State and Power Down options at shutdown, but the outcomes were the same as before. I hadn’t done anything deliberate to install the Extension Pack, but now I saw in File > Preferences > Extensions > that it was indeed installed. VirtualBox itself does not support booting from a USB device. In order to boot from a USB device, another bootloader is required. The solutions offered there seemed to entail more complexity than I cared to explore at this time, as attested by the problems that others reported when trying to implement those suggestions. That was weird. This computer had 16GB of RAM and 4GB of video RAM, and Moo0 System Monitor reported more than 7GB of system RAM free. A search led to the unsurprising advice to reduce RAM allocated to the VM, though plainly that didn’t answer the question. That pretty much exhausted the relevant results from that search. In these last several steps, I was working solely on the Windows machine. I might have had different results if I had tried the same thing on the Linux machine. But it seemed to me that these problems, and the lack of clear solutions, were substantial arguments against my original premise: so far, VirtualBox was not in fact offering “ease of use” (above). I felt it was time to consider VMware as an alternative. As mentioned above, I found VMware’s product information webpages confusing and uninformative. As an example, consider the page (as archived) titled “VMware Workstation Player (formerly known as Player Pro).” My first question: were the people at VMware running out of words? Were they somehow stuck in a sort of Groundhog Day world in which their only choices were to keep reusing the same terms — notably Workstation and Player — over and over again, in befuddlingly overlapping combinations? Could someone perhaps suggest the possibility of moving on? That page about Workstation Player began with a comparison of Workstation 12 Player against Player 7 Pro. Excuse me, but didn’t the title just say that Player Pro had been renamed Workstation Player? Was this, then, a comparison of the product against itself? If so, it seemed to lack some features that it had. Player allows a complete virtual machine to be copied at any time by copying a directory; while not a fully featured snapshot facility, this allows a copy of a machine in a particular state to be stored, and reverted to later if desired. By default changes (including proxy settings, passwords, bookmarks, installed software and malware) made in a VM are saved when it is shut down . . . . But then, that was a year ago. Back then, GoNewSoft was reporting on VMware Player 12.1.1. That version 12 bore an unknown relationship to the Workstation 12 Player and Player 7 Pro products now being discussed on the VMware comparison page (above). It appeared Player had gone backwards five versions, from 12 to 7, in the space of one year. Confusing! Let’s not forget that VirtualBox is an Oracle product – the Oracle corporation could decide anytime to stop support/development of VirtualBox and at that point you would have to hope that somebody forks it in some intelligent way, or otherwise you would have to re-implement everything. Sobering words, in light of the fact that VirtualBox started out being owned by Innotek in 2007, became Sun VirtualBox in 2008, and then traveled to Oracle in 2010. It certainly could travel further. For that matter, one might consider the Forbes comment, “Industry analysts believe that there is more to the [current partnership between Microsoft and Red Hat] than just collaboration” — or, as Darrow suggested back in 2014, “Microsoft should just pack it in and buy Red Hat.” Consider, similarly, Canonical’s recent collaboration with Microsoft. These thoughts certainly resonated as I contemplated the situation, at present, in which it appeared Microsoft might be seeking to sabotage Windows 7, prompting my own recent decision to return to Linux. In other words, for many Linux users, it was conceivable that even the underlying Linux distribution could be subject to corporate wheeling and dealing. In such circumstances, it made sense to lean toward free and open-source software (FOSS). As in PearlSeattle’s remark (above), when the software is FOSS, one can at least “hope that somebody [will fork it] in some intelligent way,” thereby continuing its development and use, rather than leave users at a dead end. Not that such corporate developments would necessarily have any immediate impact. One could start with VMware, use its products at present if they seemed worthy, and switch later as needed. Given that company’s significance in the virtualization market, it was very likely that future VM programs would offer means of migrating or importing VMs. On the other hand, my current struggle to reduce dependence on Microsoft reminded me of the power of inertia: I would be very likely to stay with familiar software longer than ideal, just to avoid the time and effort of switching to something that might be better. It did seem advisable to try to make the most reasonable long-term choice now — to make a start toward what I would continue to need long-term — and not merely to kick the can down the road a little further. As more and more enterprises are making big commitments to open source versus proprietary tools, KVM is well positioned as the hypervisor of choice in a number of new and exciting ways. [W]e believe in the “right tool for the job” concept. KVM offers some features that VirtualBox does not and the other way around. There is no such thing in the IT world as a universal tool, so it’s important to use something that fits your needs. The basic idea is : if you want to install a binary Linux distribution as a guest, use KVM. It’s faster and its’ drivers are included in the official kernel tree. If your guest involves lots of compiling and needs some more advanced features, and/or isn’t a Linux system, better go with VirtualBox. The technical reasons are quite simple : KVM is better integrated with Linux, it’s smaller and faster, and while you can use it with other guests besides Linux, we found the experience to be quite troublesome . . . . It appeared, though, that when LinuxCareer referred to “other guests besides Linux,” its experience seemed primarily limited to “Unix(-like) guests besides Linux.” I could hope, at least, that KVM could do a decent job with a Windows guest. I decided to try working with KVM once I got my Linux system set up. But to help me get that system set up — to experiment within Linux VMs — I wanted a virtualization solution that would run on Windows. KVM was evidently not available for Windows, so unless I wanted to struggle with VirtualBox some more, the next thing to try (at least on the Windows machine) was VMware. On the relevant downloads page, I went to the bottom (“Download Free Products”) and selected VMware Workstation Player 12.1.1. They were offering 64-bit versions for both Windows and Linux, so I downloaded both. I was not sure how the .vmdk format would relate to those four formats that VMware Player supported. In Player, I went to the Player menu option and selected Help > Help Topics. This took me to the VMware Workstation 12 Player for Windows Documentation Center. I searched there for VMDK. None of the four search results seemed relevant. Other searches (1 2 3) turned up nothing obvious. OSBoxes itself just pointed me to a Wikipedia entry. Run VMware Player as Administrator. For me, that option was available by right-clicking on the Player icon in my Start Menu. I wasn’t sure whether that option was something that had been added somehow, or was available on any Windows 7 system. Anyway, it didn’t solve the problem for me. Another route: right-click the Player icon > Properties > Compatibility tab > Run this program as an administrator. Uninstall “Update for Microsoft Windows (KB2995388)” via Control Panel > Windows Update > View update history > Installed Updates link > right-click > Uninstall. That update did not appear to be installed on my system. It was apparently only for Windows 8.1 systems. Make sure you are running the latest version. I had just downloaded and installed Player from the VMware site, so this did not seem to be a solution for me. Installation created a file called C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Workstation\config.ini. That “Workstation” folder was created even though I had only installed Player. The advice was to edit that config.ini file (right-click > Open with Notepad) to contain an additional line: vmmon.disableHostParameters = "TRUE" The advice was then to save and close that file and reboot. Someone, apparently using a different version of Player, did have a Player (not Workstation) folder at C:\ProgramData\VMware. That person also added that line to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\VMware\config.ini, but that file did not exist on my system. At any rate, the advice was to reboot after editing the config.ini file. Someone reported that the problem with RAM went away after just letting the machine sit for an hour. Others suggested that the problem may be solved by reinstalling Player or, instead, that problems that seemed fixed might recur after reboots. Some of the foregoing suggestions called for a reboot. Possibly a cold shutdown (i.e., leaving the computer off for a minute before restarting) would make a difference. The keyboard hook timeout is not set to the value recommended by VMware Player. This can cause keystrokes to be lost when the host is under stress. We recommend that you allow this application to update the value. Once this value is updated, you must log out and log in again in order to have the value take effect. You do not have write access to a partition. Select Allow to override access rights for this write. Select Allow All to override access rights for this and subsequent writes to all raw disk partitions during this run of the virtual machine. Select Deny to refuse this write. Select Deny All to refuse this and all subsequent writes to all safe raw disk partitions which do not have write access during this run of the virtual machine. Selecting Deny or Deny All will return a fatal disk error to the boot program (e.g., LILO) or guest operating system running in the virtual machine. The boot program or guest operating system might not be able to handle the errors. This might prevent the virtual machine from powering on or continuing to run. Do you want to continue? Could not start the X server (your graphical environment) due to some internal error. Please contact your system administrator or check your syslog to diagnose. In the meantime this display will be disabled. Please restart MDM when the problem is corrected. Make sure that you are logged in to the guest operating system. Mount the virtual CD drive in the guest, launch a Terminal, and use tar to uncompress the installer. Then, execute vmware-install.pl to install VMware Tools. I was not sure what those instructions meant, but that was OK as I was unable to log into the Linux Mint guest anyway. I clicked Player > Menu > Shut down guest. So, wow, that had gone really well. What a mess! Part of me wanted to troubleshoot those various issues. But another part of me had become aware, somewhere during this process, that (as noted above) the unzipped OSBoxes download did include an .ovf file. And then there was the part of me that had belatedly discovered the obvious relevant instructions at the OSBoxes website. The import failed because [the .ovf file] did not pass OVF specification conformance or virtual hardware compliance checks. Failed to open virtual machine: SHA1 digest of [.vmdk file] does not match manifest. I had checked the MD5 but not the SHA1 value. I still had the zipped download, so I used the Microsoft File Checksum Integrity Verifier to check the SHA1 value now. The values matched. Perhaps my unzipper (WinRAR) had introduced an error. I went back to the downloaded VM and tried again, this time unzipping with 7-Zip. I navigated to its .ovf and proceeded, again, as just described. I got the same error message about OVF specification conformance, and clicked Retry again. This time it worked. It was possible that my various machinations had caused a problem, but at the moment it appeared that I should have unzipped the download using 7-Zip rather than WinRAR. Processors: Number of processor cores: 2. Display: Increase graphics memory from 256MB default to 768MB (recommended). I clicked OK and then Play virtual machine. Linux Mint booted. I couldn’t believe it. I entered the password (osboxes.org), and I was in. At first, it was terribly slow, but then apparently it finished loading itself in RAM, and after that its speed seemed fine. I clicked to install VMware Tools, went into the Dolphin file manager, selected VMware Tools under Devices in the left-hand pane, right-clicked on the tar.gz file, and chose Extract > Extract Archive Here, Autodetect Subfolder. It seemed like nothing happened. I tried again, this time choosing Extract Archive To and designating the 96GB hard drive that evidently came included in the OSBoxes download. I selected the other options as well: “Open destination folder after extraction” and “Close Ark after extraction.” Again, the outcome was not clear. It seemed to be extracting to /media/osboxes/VMware Tools, but I thought that was the starting point, where the Tools were coming from. It seemed that I could probably finish troubleshooting that situation in VMware Player. But now I was thinking about what I had read about VMware, and was realizing that VirtualBox probably would have worked with the OSBoxes download in the first place, if I had just thought to look for instructions on the OSBoxes website. Now that I had those instructions, I decided to turn back to VirtualBox. Encouraged by my near-success with VMware Player and OSBoxes, I decided to try again with VirtualBox, this time using the instructions provided by OSBoxes. To do that, I started by zipping up the VirtualBox VMs that I had tried creating so far. I wanted them out of the way. That left me with only the downloaded OSBoxes .vdi for Linux Mint 17.3 KDE x64. Then I started VirtualBox. The entries for the two VMs I had tried to create were now marked as Inaccessible. I right-clicked and removed them. General: Advanced tab: Shared Clipboard and Drag’n’Drop: both Bidirectional. System: Processor tab: 2 CPUs. Display: Screen tab: 128MB video memory (the most available on this system, for some reason), and enable 3D but not 2D Acceleration. Network: Adapter 1 tab: Attached to: Bridged Adapter. Name: Not Selected was the only available option. But for some reason, when I saved and closed the Settings dialog at this point and then came back to it, other options were available. I went with the default, which in my case was a 802.11n USB Wireless LAN Card #3, because that matched up with what I saw as my actual Internet connection in Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change Adapter Settings. (In a later installation (of Portable VirtualBox), the “Not Selected” option remained. To fix that, I tried various suggested solutions, but without success.) In the Advanced area, I changed nothing. I clicked OK to exit Settings. The next instruction was to click Start. After a few introductory notes, Linux Mint booted, and gave me the opportunity to log in. The OSBoxes login’s password was shown right there in the login dialog: osboxes.org. Next, the advice was to go to the top menu bar and choose Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD Image. The OSBoxes instructions seemed to say that something was supposed to happen, or at least that I would be getting further instructions from the system. But nothing happened. I moused over the disc icon shown toward the bottom right corner of the screen. It seemed to acknowledge that the Guest Additions ISO was mounted. I guessed that maybe the OSBoxes instructions were referring to their own “following instructions.” In that case, in the Linux VM, I opened the Dolphin file manager (bottom left corner of screen) > click on VBOXADDITIONS in the left panel (under Devices). There didn’t seem to be a “Run Software” button at the upper right corner of Dolphin, so I opened a session of Terminal. In Mint KDE, that meant going to the Start button (bottom left corner of screen) > Konsole. That opened a command box and gave me the osboxes@osboxes prompt. This seemed to be where I should be. I typed the command as instructed: sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run . It required me to enter the osboxes.org password again. But then I got an error: “sudo: ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run: command not found.” Apparently I wasn’t in the right place. You appear to have a version of the VBoxGuestAdditions software on your system which was installed from a different source or using a different type of installer. If you installed it from a package from your Linux distribution or if it is a default part of the system then we strongly recommend that you cancel this installation and remove it properly before installing this version. If this is simply an older or a damaged installation you may safely proceed. So, OK, apparently the Guest Additions got installed without any announcement at all. I said “no” and exited Terminal. That marked the end of the OSBoxes instructions for the downloaded VirtualBox VM. I shut down the Linux process in VirtualBox and shut down VirtualBox itself. I saw that the VM had not been installed in exactly the folder where I wanted it, so I moved it to the desired folder. Back in VirtualBox, this resulted in the VM being marked as Inaccessible. I removed that icon and went to Machine > Add > navigate to the .vbox file > Open. The Linux VM was working once again. I exited Linux and VirtualBox again, and this time I made a zip of the folder holding the .vbox file, with all its contents, so I would have that zip as a backup. The folder on my Windows drive D that I wanted to share with this Linux VM was named “Current,” so in the Linux file manager, I created a /home/osboxes/Current folder. This would not duplicate the contents of the actual shared folder; it would just be a mount point, something like a Windows shortcut. In VirtualBox, with the Linux guest running, I went to the top menu bar > Machine > Settings > Shared Folders > click the blue folder icon with the plus on it, at the right side > Folder Path > Other > navigate to the folder being shared (i.e., Current) > check the Make Permanent and Auto-mount options (and, if desired, Read-only). To avoid getting an error message (“Could not enter folder /media/sf_Current”) when I tried to navigate to that folder in the file manager, run this command: “sudo adduser $USER vboxsf.” Then reboot Linux. On the first reboot, Linux froze. But on the retry, the Current folder was available as /media/sf_Current. In the course of writing this post, I tried or at least thought about several VM possibilities. Eventually, I was going to want a VM that would run Windows on Linux. My sense, at this point, was that I would probably use KVM or VirtualBox for that. But before I was ready to rely on Linux, I needed to do more testing — and to do that, I needed to be able to run Linux in a VM. That way, I could make mistakes and just throw away the Linux installation I had been playing with, and try again with a fresh one. I couldn’t use KVM to run a VM on a Windows system. I could use VMware. But, looking to the future, I felt that VirtualBox might be the wiser choice. To make VirtualBox work on Windows 7, there were various possibilities. I could start with an empty VM and install Windows in it; I could start with an empty VM and restore Windows to it from an image backup; I could convert an image backup or a live system (such as my current working Windows 7 installation) to a VM, and run that in VirtualBox; or I could download a preconfigured Linux VM and run that. I was probably going to be curious about all those options, when it came time to run Windows in a VM. But for right now, to set up a Linux test bed inside Windows, all I needed was one working solution. The last of the foregoing options seemed best: just use the preconfigured OSBoxes VM that I had already downloaded. OSBoxes provided simple and relatively clear instructions. Amidst the multiple VM possibilities and my eagerness to try different possibilities, and without the benefit of a focused sense of what I was trying to do in the first place, I wound up flailing around and missing those instructions. Doing so incidentally familiarized me with various issues. Among other things, I was still not sure what had gone wrong with my attempts to install Linux Mint in VirtualBox from scratch. But now, at any rate, I had a working VM, and it was time to get on with my Linux testing. This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged dry run, install, installation, KVM, Linux, Mint, virtual machine, VM, VMware, walkthrough. Bookmark the permalink. Hey thanks for this blogpost. I have run Windows 7 corporate images on both Virtualbox 4/5 (on Ubuntu 14.04/16.04) and on KVM (on CentOS 7) without issue for many months.

2019-04-21T04:51:27Z

https://raywoodcockslatest.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/mint-vm/

Thom and Dave go over how popular Kuna, Idaho has become. It seems as if everyone wants to move there, which means Kuna's Real Estate market is fiery red hot! Michelle Guth goes on to tell us about how a major change has occurred when it comes to Student Loan payments and their bearing on your Mortgage Approval. Dave Burnett: This is the Idaho Real Estate Buzz. I'm Dave Burnett. He is Thom Dallman, the co-owner, designated broker of Core Group Realty, coregrouprealty.com. And 933-7777. That is the phone number that you can call anytime to talk to the folks, friendly staff standing by right now to answer any questions you may have, whether it's about the Parade of Homes, whether it's about one of the vendors you hear here on this show like Diversified Mortgage. They can get you in touch there. Or if you're looking for a real estate agent, they can talk to you a little bit about Core Group and what Core Group offers as a company to you, whether you're buying or selling a home. Thom, welcome back. Thom Dallman: Thank you! Thanks for having me and partnering up with me on this and helping to educate people on real estate and everything that's happening in the real estate market. Dave Burnett: And that really is what this is about, is to educate you. This could be the biggest transaction, the biggest business deal that you will do in your life. And that would be your new home. Some of these homes, you know Core Group can get you into a home for $150,000, $170,000, but some are going for $300,000 or $400,000 or $700,000. That's a huge investment. Thom Dallman: It's a huge investment and one that is important for everybody to be able to know that they're getting the investment that's right for them and getting into a home that they're meant to be in and investing in themselves. Dave Burnett: Well, one of the things Core is so good about and that is matching you the customer up with an agent that will fit your personality, will fit what you need. Because there's nothing worse than going into a major business deal- and let's be honest, it's what it is, it's a business deal- with somebody that you just don't get along with. Dave Burnett: And you make a real effort to try to match people up with people that work. Thom Dallman: Yeah. You've got to be comfortable with your trusted advisor. You're trusting this person to help guide you through this process on this large investment. And that person needs to be on the same page as you, needs to fit your personality, fit your dynamics. That's why I always recommend to all my agents that they try to set up an initial consultation with their clients to really dive into expectations and needs and wants and make sure they are matching up and so forth. It's important to interview your agents and make sure that they fit. Dave Burnett: One of the things that Core does, and does so well, and that is social media. And whether that's Twitter, or whatever, or the Internet, it is such a huge part. Like anything now, people buy appliances, they know what they're going to buy before they get into the store because they've done it online. And if you don't have a good website that is promoting your home, you're done. You're behind the eight ball. Thom Dallman: Exactly. I don't remember the exact statistic, but I believe that it is up in the low 90s, 95% or something like that, of people start their inial home search online these days. It's huge! It's a huge part of anything that you search for. The minute that you see something on TV that you're semi-interested in, the first thing you do is grab your phone and you go to Google and you Google it up. Go to the Google. Dave Burnett: Go to the Google. And that's what you do. And that's why at coregrouprealty.com there is a Coming Soon tab which I like. When somebody has a home that they're getting ready to sell, it's not quite ready not quite yet, it's not gone to the Multiple Listing Service, you can still see the Core homes that are on the website on the Coming Soon tab. Thom Dallman: It usually shows up on the coregrouprealty.com site on Coming Soon as well as gets posted to our Facebook page, the Core Group Realty Facebook page. We usually post them on there as well, with a link back to the site, of course, to check them out. Dave Burnett: What do you got on the Coming Soon? Thom Dallman: We got six of them, actually. Thom Dallman: So, we'll try to see if we can through them. The two newest ones though are 1754 West Mulhuland Court in Kuna. This is a three bed, two bath, on 0.24 of a acre, 1,169 square feet, single level home. It does have a two-car garage on it, as well as RV parking. This is in the Discovery Creek subdivision and it is coming on at $175,000, and should be live in the middle of May. Once again, that's 1754 West Mulhuland Court in Kuna, coming on at $175,000 for a three-bed, two-bath, 1,169 square foot house, single level. Dave Burnett: Kuna just a red-hot market town right now. Thom Dallman: Growing. Growing. Everybody loves the feel out there, loves the community. Definitely a place that people are moving to. Dave Burnett: There was that time it was like, "Kuna, that's way out there in the middle of nowhere." Well, now it is the middle of somewhere. Dave Burnett: It truly is. What's another one you have coming up? Thom Dallman: We've got another one here in Boise, actually, in the 83709 zip code. It's at 11206 West Chapin Avenue. So that's the Hidden Valley Estates subdivision. It's a three bed, one and a half bath, actually on 0.54 of a acre. So, to find something on a little bit of acreage in Boise is rare sometimes, so it's a nice one. At 1,300 square feet, 1,308 to be exact, another single level home. This one is coming on at $190,000. It should be live about mid-June is when they're anticipating having everything ready for it to go and to get it on the market. Dave Burnett: And did you say this was at Hidden Valley? Thom Dallman: Yeah, Hidden Valley Estates subdivision. Once again, 11206 West Chapin Avenue in Boise. Dave Burnett: So, a couple of brand-spanking-new ones for you. Thom Dallman: New Coming Soon. A little bit further out for them to become available. And then we've got several other that are looking towards middle to end of May to come out. The first one's out in Nampa at 315 10th Street. This is a two bedroom, one bath, 995 square foot home, great starter home, coming on at $90,000, which is a rare price point in our marketplace today with prices hitting the top of the market and so forth. Dave Burnett: Yup, anymore. So if you're looking for a starter home or if you're looking for a property investment, a great way to go. Thom Dallman: Great investment home, for sure. This is a great one to do. 315 10th Street north in Nampa at $90,000. Moving over to Star, we have 603 North Carswell Way. That is a three bed, two bath, 1,899 square feet on 0.21 of a acre. This one is in the Southbrook subdivision. Is coming on at $230,000. Should be live by the end of May. This is one of those lovely split-bedroom floor plans. Master on one side and the other two bedrooms on the other. Great home to check out for the price. Like I said, it's three bed, two bath, single level. Everybody loves that single level, about 1,900 square feet. And that's at 603 North Carswell Way in Star. Dave Burnett: And Star much like Kuna. At one point it was, "Why would you want to move to Star?" And Star is just red-hot. Some great restaurants in Star. So, everything you want's right there. Thom Dallman: And if you're following the Parade of Homes, there's several homes out there in Star that are in the Parade of Homes, so go check them out. We can talk about that a little bit later. Dave Burnett: And take a look at this one as well. Thom Dallman: Sure. Sure. Another Coming Soon that we have is 912 South Hebdon Lake Avenue. This is a four bed, two and a half bath, at 2,670 square feet, so it's a nice, big, two-story home with a kitchen island. It's on a corner lot, so it has lots of garden space and actually has some garden spots in there, some raised garden beds. Great bonus room. This one's actually coming on at $205,000. So a really good price point for that large of a house with that much square footage; 2,670 square foot for $205,000 is a great price. Dave Burnett: And just to remind you, this is on the Coming Soon tab at coregrouprealty.com. You can see all of these homes and check those out right on the web. Thom Dallman: Yup. For sure. We've got one more. Got one more here in Boise. 2409 North 21st Street in Boise. This is a north-end rehab that Heather Echevarria and Innovative Custom Homes is doing. This is a big house, four bedroom, three bath, 0.25 of a acre, which is rare for the north end, 3,100 square feet, and it's a two-story with a below grade. So there's space below. It's got RV parking. They're putting in hardwood floors, central vac. They've got a den room in that house as well. So, yeah, just a big house in the north end, which is rare, with a big lot. Dave Burnett: With the RV parking on it? That's unheard of. Thom Dallman: Right? And that one is coming on at $699,997. Great price for a great home down in the north end. Dave Burnett: And that's on 21st? Thom Dallman: 21st. 2409 North 21st Street in Boise. Should be live, I believe, by the end of this month. Dave Burnett: Excellent. And do you have any featured homes? Homes that are listed that you want to talk about? Thom Dallman: Yeah! Yeah, we got a couple just listed homes that came on the market this last week. 2746 West Wind Drive in Eagle. This is a three bed, two bath, 2,750 square feet in the Colony subdivision. And this came on at $525,000 for 0.86 of an acre in Eagle. Another good, big property with lots of space. And get this, it has a seven-car garage. Dave Burnett: That just- I'd have to go buy several cars. Or more stuff to put in them. Seven-care garage. Thom Dallman: Seven-car garage for the car lover. Somebody who owns some antique cars, could utilize that space really well. Thom Dallman: It does not. Usually square footage is separate from the garage. Dave Burnett: So, I'm thinking seven-car garage. That's a house all on it's own. Thom Dallman: It definitely could be. Dave Burnett: So if you fancy your cars, or maybe you're kind of a backyard mechanic, you love rebuilding cars sort of thing, it'd be ideal. Thom Dallman: Yeah. 2746 West Wind Drive in Eagle. That 0.86 of a acre gives you lots of space to move those cars around if you need. Thom Dallman: Definitely worth checking out. Dave Burnett: And that Colony subdivision, by the way, it's a really, really nice subdivision. I've been through there several times. Just a great subdivision. Easy access to everything going to Highway 55 jumping up to McCall. Easy access there. Thom Dallman: Yeah, for sure. So definitely recommend checking that out as well as checking out 1061 West Newport Street in Meridian. In the Misty Meadows subdivision. It's a three bed, two bath, 1,366 square feet, single level home, with a two-car garage. And that one is on at $210,000. Dave Burnett: All right. Those are on the Featured Listings, which are homes that are open right now to the Multiple Listing, so everybody is looking at these. The other ones are on the Coming Soon tab, which you got an exclusive invitation to come and take a sneak peek at these and soon as they hit the open marketplace, you can make your bid on those. Try to get into those homes. Check that all out at coregrouprealty.com. And as we talked about, that website is so important for you as a shopper if you're looking, or for you as a seller if you're selling, that website is there as just an incredible tool. Thom Dallman: Yeah, for sure. Dave Burnett: We'll continue on the other side. We'll be talking with Michelle Guth with Diversified Mortgage and find out what's new and going on. And as I understand it, she's got several things that have changed recently which could have a huge impact on you if you're a student, or if you have student debt. So we'll talk to Michelle coming up here on 580 KIDO. It's the Idaho Real Estate Buzz. Dave Burnett: This is the Idaho Real Estate Buzz. I'm Dave Burnett along with Tom Dallman and Michelle Guth with Diversified Mortgage, equal opportunity lender, is in studio again. Michelle, welcome back, Diversified Mortgage, very busy, helping people get into homes. Michelle Guth: And we're loving it. The market is going crazy, Dave. Dave Burnett: So it's kind of funny in that there's so much speculation of what's going on and what's happening and what isn't happening, what's rumors and what's true. You have some truths of things that have changed here in the past couple of weeks. Michelle Guth: Yeah. Actually, Fannie Mae came out with some major changes for conventional financing, which is really going to help our consumers. So I thought we'd touch base on that today. Michelle Guth: Some of our past segments, we talked about the challengers of our clients being able to approve due to the student loan debt. The rule used to be that regardless if the loan was in deferment status, forbearance, income-based repayment, we had to count 1% of the outstanding balance, which, in many cases, prohibited clients from being able to qualify. It really skewed their debt ratio. Dave Burnett: Okay. Let me stop you there. Say that again in English now. If what was in deferment? What was what? Michelle Guth: Student loan debt. Dave Burnett: I owe money to the schools. Michelle Guth: Yeah. Most cases, individuals that have student loans are not making the fully amortized payment. It's pretty uncommon to see that they're not in some form of a plan. But, again, for mortgages, we had to count 1% of the outstanding balance, regardless of what agreement they had with that student loan. Michelle Guth: Yeah. So as a result, it was making it difficult for them to qualify. So what the Fannie Mae rules have come out with is that if the loan is currently in an income-based repayment plan, which, again, is the case for most people coming out of school. They will now allow us to count the payment that's showing on the credit report for the income-based repayment plan versus having to adjust it up to that 1%, which is significant. Dave Burnett: Kind of just rough it out. Let's say somebody owed $50,000 in student loans. Do you have a rough number of how that would work out? Michelle Guth: It really varies dependent upon the servicer. But before we'd be counting $500. And, now, it's probably going to be less than half of that. Michelle Guth: So it's very significant. Dave Burnett: And some people have a lot more than $50,000 in student loans. Michelle Guth: They do, absolutely. Dave Burnett: So that takes effect when? Michelle Guth: Immediately. So we are ready to go on that. So we can factor that in. So if you're previously pre qualified with another lender and your approval limit was limited due to student loan debt, I encourage you to give them a call, and see if you can maybe get your purchase price adjusted. Thom Dallman: There are now ... Maybe the opportunity to qualify again. Michelle Guth: Yeah. The pendulum has swung back the other way, which is great for our consumers. Dave Burnett: Well, there were so many people that during the recession ... during that six, seven years that they went back to school. So many people accrued student debt that there's probably a lot of people out there that this would affect. Michelle Guth: There is a significant number of people, so we're real excited about that change. I think it's going to help a lot of the consumers get into homes in Idaho. Dave Burnett: And what's one of the other changes you've seen? Michelle Guth: Well, another one I'm excited about is the removal of cash-out restrictions for properties that were listed in the last six months. So we don't see this a ton. But we do have that scenario where a client decides to list their home to sell it in the hopes that they're going to buy a new property. And then they change their mind, and say I'm going to stay where I'm at, and I want to do home improvements. And, basically, do a cash-out refinance. When the home was previously listed on the market, they were prohibited from doing a cash-out refinance until it'd been off the market for six months. Michelle Guth: Now, they removed that restriction. So as soon as we can get confirmation it's been removed from the MLS, we can immediately do a cash-out refinance. Dave Burnett: That's a big difference too then. Michelle Guth: It is versus having to wait that six-month waiting period if they do decide to change their mind. Dave Burnett: So those are two changes that we've seen and that's effective immediately as well? Michelle Guth: Another great one regarding student loans is it used to be that anytime you pulled any type of cash out of your home to pay off debt, it's considered a cash-out refinance, regardless of what the intent is. And there's a rate variance from doing a rate term refinance where you're paying just a mortgage or if you're pulling out cash for whatever reason including pay off of debt. Fannie Mae has now said that you can pull equity of our your home, in the form of cash to pay off student load debt, and you're not going to get hit with that cash-out adjustment. Michelle Guth: So they're going to treat it like a rate term refinance. Dave Burnett: That one's huge. Dave Burnett: That's a significant number. Dave Burnett: So if somebody's been in their home for a while, they've got some equity built up. They've been fighting with their student loan, fighting with it, and just ... I know I've got some friends that have student loans, that they lie awake thinking about it at night. Dave Burnett: It's not going away. It's a good way to get this gone. Now, let me ask you this question. If I've taking money out then to refinance to pay off a student loan, then is that, at least, at this point, that money is tax deductible? Is it not or is it? Michelle Guth: I am not a tax advisor, Dave. Thom Dallman: Talk to your CPA for that. Dave Burnett: It's part of a home equity loan. I'm just thinking to myself. Check with your tax advisor on that. Michelle Guth: Exactly. You could have some added benefits. It's a good point, yes, Dave. Dave Burnett: I'm just still thinking taxes. Some of us didn't pay our taxes. We put in a delay on doing our taxes this year. Dave Burnett: But that is really huge, though, for somebody who's really been struggling with their student loans. The fact that that now is allowed. Dave Burnett: That's a big one. Michelle Guth: We're, again, looking forward to that. That's certainly going to help. And in our market, we have some condos, not a ton of them. But for those that are in the process of doing a refinance on their condominium, we no longer have to go through the condo review process, which is fabulous. Because the big change with that is with the condo ... We've talked in the past, where you have to have a certain number of owner occupancy versus nonowner and so forth. And that can change after you purchase the property. Whereas, maybe the complex is no longer financeable. Maybe you have too much of a concentration of investment properties, but you want to refinance your house. Dave Burnett: Which, by the way, is totally independent of ... It's not your fault. Michelle Guth: There's nothing you can do about it, and then you're in a pickle. Michelle Guth: So if you decided you wanted to do a refinance, they're no longer requiring that review process, which, in turn, is what could've caused that issue where you wouldn't have been able to complete the transaction. So now you have to basically get your master policy for the condominium, and do a refinance without having to go through that formal process again. So that'll be great if you're currently an owner of a condominium. Thom Dallman: That only applies to refinancing on those condos. Michelle Guth: Correct. Exactly. For refinances only. Dave Burnett: So it's been a busy week in the financial world. Michelle Guth: And I'm happy to come back and have good news to report versus I've got bad news. Dave Burnett: So for a couple of things affecting people with student loans, people with condos. So that's good news. Now, if somebody wants to get ahold of you, and wants to talk about this more that may be suddenly it just hit them right across the front of the face, that's me. How do they get ahold of you to work on that to get that done? Michelle Guth: You can just give us a call at the office, which is 853-7878, visit our website, which is dmgloans.com or even stop by and see one of my loan originators. We're there on the corner on Marigold and Glenwood right across from the Garden City Hall and library. Dave Burnett: Now, I know while you're gone and I know ... I saw you did not bring your crystal ball with you. But we did note that interest rates actually kind of went down a little bit here a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if they've gone back up again because it does vary. But they did go down a little bit. Where are we standing? Are they standing still? Going down? Going up? What do you see? Michelle Guth: Thankfully, after we had the Feds raise rates that quarter percentage point, we thought we're going to see a significant spike. It had the exact same impact it did at the end of 2016 where we saw a reversal where people started buying up the mortgage-backed securities and so forth and the market ended up rallying a little bit. So we ended up seeing them come down a little bit, but they really leveled out. Thankfully, we're not seeing much adjustment in the last few weeks above more than a quarter percentage point back and forth. So we're not seeing a huge amount of volatility. Dave Burnett: And that's typical? Is that typical? Michelle Guth: It is, unless there's something significant in the market, we're normally not seeing anything beyond an eighth to a quarter change in a one-week span. So it's been pretty consistent. Dave Burnett: And we've talked about this before, but loan ... The rates going up. They're still just almost at an all-time low. Michelle Guth: Oh, they're amazing, absolutely. I don't think there's any reason to delay in locking in an interest rates. And I'd certainly talk to your loan advisor. They're watching all of the market reports and economists and so forth to see what they think the trend is going to be. But I always say, there's a lot of more room for them to go up than there is for them to go down. Michelle Guth: So definitely worth looking at all that information to determine when to lock in. Dave Burnett: And if you do not have a loan advisor, we have one for you, that's Michelle Guth, and the folks at Diversified Mortgage. Just an open statement that we recently refinanced, went through a Diversified Mortgage and just had ... We had a pleasant experience. To be honest with you, I hate doing that kind of thing. I do. I'd rather go get a root canal, which I did that not long ago too. But it was very pleasant, very easy, and the staff ... They just made it super easy. I was astounded. Dave Burnett: In fact, when I went in there, Michelle says to me, "So do you want to do this or talk about this?" I'm just like, yes, we want to do this. Thom Dallman: Well, yeah, I can testify too that not only have we had a business relationship, but, yes, we've always gone through Michelle and Diversified for all of our loan needs throughout the years as well. So definitely clients, long-time clients, as well as partners in the business world. Michelle Guth: Thank you for that, gentlemen. And can I ... do I have time to do one more final update? Michelle Guth: Fabulous. So one other thing is, in the past, we have had to require a client that cosigned for somebody on a loan to factor in that debt against their debt to income ratio. If you could prove that the prove the person that they cosigned for was making the payments for 12 for consecutive months, we could negate that from their debt ratio. They have now changed the rules on that that say, for example, you basically got a loan on behalf of your kid because they couldn't meet their credit requirements. We can show that your child has made those payments for the last 12 months. We still can negate that debt from their debt ratio, even though the son or daughter is not obligated on the note. And that's with regards to any type of debt with the exception of mortgages. Dave Burnett: That's another big change. Michelle Guth: Huge change. So, again, many times, they maybe don't have the credit to qualify, so you do the loan on their behalf, but they're making the payments. That's going to be a huge help their debt ratio, be able to back that out by showing that the other parties made those 12 months' worth of payments. Michelle Guth: Lots of good stuff this week. Thom Dallman: Lots of good stuff. Thom Dallman: I like it. Thom Dallman: Jump on it. Dave Burnett: Because you could be saving some big bucks. Dave Burnett: We'll continue on the other side. This is the Idaho Real Estate Buzz here on 580 KIDO. Dave Burnett: This is the Idaho Real Estate Buzz. I'm Dave Burnett along with Thom Dallman of Core Group Realty. Coregrouprealty.com is a website that you can go to. And of course, you can always call 933-7777. Thom, it started last weekend and from all indications started out very well and that's the parade of homes. Thom Dallman: Yes. The spring parade of homes one of my favorite time of the year to really get to see all the new concepts, new ideas, new floor plans, all that fun stuff. We actually have Heather [Ectavarier 00:00:31] here again. Heather: Thanks for having me. Thom Dallman: Thanks for coming in Heather and talking about the parade. The parade home had a lot of traffic this weekend. Heather: It did. It was a very popular parade home because it's different than any other home in the parade right now and also any other home in the valley because we're the only ones utilizing this technology to build with concrete. So it's really kind of a cool house. Yeah, we've had a lot of interest in it. Actually we sold. Dave Burnett: Wait, wait, wait back up. You sold a house already? Heather: We sold the house the first showing. First person that got to see it wasn't going to let it out of their hands. So yeah it's gone. But I can build it again. Dave Burnett: You weren't asking enough. It's as simple as that. Dave Burnett: That makes you feel good though. Dave Burnett: Somebody comes in. Falls in love with it and says, "I'm not leaving until we sign." Heather: Yup. It felt really good because it's the most energy efficient home in the parade. If you're familiar with the [hers 00:01:25] rating, we actually scored a 42, which the lower the better. Heather: Which an energy star home rates in the 80's to 85. Thom Dallman: So it's half of that? Heather: So it's half of that. It'll save you 50 to 60% on your heating and cooling bills each and every month which is amazing. Thom Dallman: Isn't that huge? Dave Burnett: I was just thinking about my gas bill, my electric bill in the summer. If I could cut that in half that realty is a lot of money now. Heather: It is. It really is a lot of money. I mean it's not that much more to build this way. And with lumber prices increasing and the potential for them to increase even a little bit more right now, it actually may become a more cost effective way not just for utility bills but just construction costs in general. Heather: He said like 14 to 17 years sooner. Like a 30 year mortgage. Thom Dallman: Oh yeah. It's amazing. Heather: That's amazing. So then the home pays you. Thom Dallman: Doesn't take much. Yeah, exactly. Dave Burnett: The other thing, you had the contractor in here for this product here a while back. We were talking about ... The reason I was thinking of this, I was sitting on my back deck and I watching an airplane go by, a jet plane, and I thought you know really planes affect a lot of the valley. Not just those straight lined up with the run way but just coming over and if you had one of those homes it's sound proof. Heather: It is. It's sound proof. It is so, so quiet in that house. Thom Dallman: It really is. Heather: I mean it's just amazing. And people really do notice that. And then on top of the energy savings, it also you save money on your insurance each month because it's a fire proof home. So there's just so many benefits to it. I mean the floor plan I absolutely love. I've been very happy in my current home but now I'm really like I want to build another one and I want to do this. Thom Dallman: I've already asked. When I'm ready she's going to build me one too. Dave Burnett: By the way in case you're wondering on the parade homes it's home number three three. Dave Burnett: So make sure you take time to go see home number 33. And if for no other reason because it is unique. It's different than any of the other homes. Thom Dallman: Exactly. Highly recommend getting out there and checking out all of them too. I mean they've got some really clever ideas, designs, a lot of homes out there to see. There's 38 I believe. Heather: 38 homes ranging in price, I believe, from like 220 all the way to like 1.4, 1.5 million. So it's a wide array of homes to choose from in the valley. Dave Burnett: So there's something for almost everybody. Dave Burnett: When you get into that 220 range. That's a very affordable home in this day and age. Dave Burnett: Now Heather, you said that you've gotten out and seen a few of the other homes? What have you seen? Heather: I love the colors that people are using. There's a lot of black and white this year which I think is par for the course. But I love seeing the different ways that they're decorating and introducing color into that because when you have a very neutral color pallette to start with you can kind of do anything with the rest of your decorations which is a really great thing to have in the home. Dave Burnett: So what are they accessorizing with? Let's say they got white cabinets and black counter top in the kitchen, what are they accessorizing with? Heather: Well just the different things you can put on your counters and the pillows on your sofas. You're not stuck in one like it used to be. It used to be you were in browns. So everything had to be brown. Now with the black and white and the grays you can add in the teals and you can add in orange and red and just really anything. Thom Dallman: Good vibrant colors. Dave Burnett: It's wide open. Heather: Yeah really vibrant colors which is great. Thom Dallman: Yeah for the longest time I made fun of new construction because it was always the taupe on taupe. Everything was taupe on taupe. Dave Burnett: Taupe on ... Hell it's a lovely shade of beige. Thom Dallman: It's nice to get some colors going. Heather: Yup and it's nice to see the different finishes that you can use. The different types of quartz and granite. In ours we've got this huge, it's called laminam. It's not laminate. It's a large porcelain tile for counter tops. It comes in like ten foot by six foot slab that was originally designed for commercial uses because it's not porous. So it doesn't need to be sealed. It's more hygienic. It's just kind of a cool thing. So what you're seeing in all these parade houses is kind of the latest and greatest of everything that's out there for builders right now. Thom Dallman: Actually I'm intrigued by your flooring that you put in too. It's made from recycled PVC pipes. Heather: It is. It's made from recycled PVC so it's 100% waterproof. It's got a lifetime guarantee so it's child proof, pet proof, life proof really. And it looks great and comes in like 30 different colors. Dave Burnett: So does it look like a wood? Is it a laminate in a sense? Heather: It's a luxury engineered laminate is what they call it. The stuff that we picked is a seven inch wide by seven foot long plank. It looks like hard wood floors in ours. Like a rustic pine. It's just really a cool floor. And it's green guard certified so if you're trying to be environmentally friendly, which we were trying to be with our home, with the concrete walls and the recycled floors and all this stuff we were trying to do, it really helps you to accommodate that. Dave Burnett: Some of the manufactured laminates now are so authentic you have to get right down on it to see that it's not wood. Heather: Yup. The price of this stuff is comparable to that of like a engineered hard wood floor but you're not going to get the expansion and contraction that you do with an engineered wood. Thom Dallman: With laminate, yeah. Heather: Or with anything else. So it really is great floor. It looks great. Heather: Yeah I just love it. Dave Burnett: Why is it excluded from expansion? Heather: Because it's recycled PVC. So it's like the PVC pipe material. It doesn't soak up any water. So what intrigued me about when I first saw it two years ago was they actually had it in a fish tank, submerged in a fish tank in the middle of the show room and there was a days counter of how long it had been in there. And yeah 100% waterproof and for a residential warranty to have a lifetime warranty is just almost unheard of. So it's awesome. Dave Burnett: Wow. Home number 33. Thom Dallman: Home number 33. If you want to check out all this great stuff. Heather: And I'll be there all weekend. So today and tomorrow. Dave Burnett: But you're not going to be trying to sell it? Heather: No but I can build it again. Dave Burnett: I wonder how odd that is for somebody who purchases a home to realize that thousands of people are going through your home between the time that you say you're going to buy and you get it. THat's kind of an odd thing. Heather: I guess maybe but these buyers came up specifically for the parade. So they were going around looking at some of the homes. Doing private showings. And you know it was our first showing on the home and yeah no more private showings. They took it. Thom Dallman: So they wanted it. They're moving in four days? Heather: Four days after the parade they will close. So yeah I had to call the stagers and I know you just got done putting all the furniture in this and making it look so pretty but yeah we need to pull it on the 15th of May. Thom Dallman: Congratulations. Much deserved because the home is beautiful. Dave Burnett: Let me just state this again with the parade of homes that's one of the reasons they're so nice, is that all the homes are staged and they're done very nice, very tastefully. To go through it's not like you're going through a big empty house. You're looking at homes you feel like you can move right in to. Thom Dallman: Oh yeah. I checked out a couple on Saturday over in Star next to another house that Heather has available and I took a couple pictures of the artwork because I'm like, "Oh, I want this artwork for my home." So that's another reason to go to the parade of homes is to see some of the newest artwork and design, interior design of artwork and stuff like that. Definitely worth checking out. Dave Burnett: Very good. Heather thank you so much. The hours for the parade of homes, what is it for this weekend? Heather: So on the weekends we are noon until 8 p.m. And then we're still open during the week as well. So Monday through Thursday from 5 until 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday noon to 8. Thom Dallman: All right. For sure. Dave Burnett: We'll continue on the other side here on 580 KIDO. Dave: This is the Idaho Real Estate Buzz. I'm Dave Barnett, along with Tom Dullman. Tom is the co owner, designated broker of Core Group Realty. Core Group Realty dot com is the website, and make note of that because we're going to be talking about the web here in just a minute. Core Group Realty dot com. Or, you can call nine, three, three, seven, seven, seven, seven. And the reason Tom I mentioned it is we're going to talk about some of the vendors you have. Dave: So that phone number's good too. Nine, three, three, seven, seven, seven, seven. You can call and talk to somebody. And when I say vendors, somebody may go, "Real estate vendors? What are you talking about?" Thom These are partners of ours that we've had really good experiences with over the years. In real estate it's all about the relationships that you build, not just with clients, but with all the other business owners and people out there. So, we have numerous people that we can recommend, whether it's looking for someone to clean your windows, to down to someone to clean out the septic tank. We've got some great contacts out there. Dave: When it comes to recommendations, we live in an age where anyone can put up a website and look like a professional. Dave: Anyone can drive a truck with a nice ramp on it and look like they know what they're doing. Dave: So, it really does come down to that word of mouth saying, "here's somebody that worked for me." So, for Core Group to get on board and say, "Here's somebody that we have used and trusted," it's such a huge thing for people to do just to have a little bit piece of mind. Because, let's be honest, you get somebody in doing some major work around your house, A, it's expensive, and B, if you don't get it done right you can really be disappointed. Dave: But then again, and nothing against Angie's List, but then again, who's Angie? Dave: I mean, honestly, who is Angie. Dave: These are people who have bought into this service and have good reputations, which is a good thing, but I know who Tom Dullman is. Dave: And if i wind up using a guy I'll go, "Tom, I thought you said this guy was good?" Dave: I know it puts heat on you. Thom Oh no. That's what I'm here for, and that's what I want to do is be able to connect people with people I know that they can trust. And that they will be able to have relationships with. Dave: Well, okay. We're at the time of year now where I know looking at my house, my windows could really use a bath. Dave: I'm talking like they really need to be cleaned, razor blade type cleaned. Thom I've got my window cleaning for this next week with our vendor the Our Glass Cleaners. They've been cleaning our windows for, gosh, I would probably say about four years now. Dave: You say Our Glass? Thom O-U-R. Not hour as in H-O-U-R. But, Our Glass Cleaners. If you check out our website we have a link to their website as well as Chris Demarth, the owner, to get those schedules. But yeah, they come in and clean inside, outside. We have some decks on our house that actually have glass railing, so they do the glass railings for us and stuff. And, talk about efficient and so worth the money, they do such a great job and they just come through so quickly and get it all clean, and you can see. You can see out the windows. But about twice a year we get that done. Dave: I would love to talk to them. I have this question. Dave: There was a time I remember as a kid helping my dad do it, in the spring we put the screens up, and the fall we took the screens down. But now everybody leaves the screens up year round. Dave: Should we be taking those down or not? So that's a question for later. Thom That would be a good question for him, yeah. Dave: For the window cleaner. Dave: Keep them from rusting. Thom Yeah. Keep them from rusting or even the wood ones that would degrade after harsh winters and stuff. Dave: But does it make the window harder to clean? I mean, after gunk has gone through that. Thom I can tell you from experience, our glass cleaners they come through and remove the screens to wash the windows. Thom So, probably maybe a little bit harder for them. Dave: Glass. Okay. That's why you need to check it out at Core Group Realty dot com. Thom Check them out. Check out ... speaking of windows, now's a good time to fix any of your blinds. I personally have some blinds that are in some need of repair and replacement. And so I'll be calling Blind Appeal actually today to reach out and try to get them to schedule an appointment to come and replace those. So, Blind Appeal. Great people over there. Frank, if you check out our site and get his information, and contact information. Does a great job running that company and getting people in. And affordable, great service. Just can't say anything bad about how they do their job. Dave: Right. And again, that's one of those things you can go into the big box store and maybe do it, but if you don't know what you're doing. Dave: You can make a real headache for yourself. Thom Yeah. And make it look not so attractive. Thom So, have the professionals come in and do it. That's my philosophy. So, now's the time of year to get your carpets cleaned. You've been tracking snow and all that fun stuff through the house, and these crazy rainy days [crosstalk 00:06:06] that we've had. Dave: All that road grime that's in the garage is in your house. Dave: Carpets look good. I was just looking at them. They look really good. Thom Yeah. As Dave's looking around I'm like, "Well we haven't had them through yet for the spring cleaning." Dave: Oh yeah. They still look good. Thom Good. Yeah. We usually have them come through twice a year here at the office to get all the stains and you have just life. You use your carpets up. So, definitely someone worth reaching out to. Dave: And I want to remind people. This is on the website at Core Group Realty dot com. And it's under tablet, is it vendors? Dave: That you can find these people. And if you can't remember that, remember nine, three, three, seven, seven, seven, seven. Talk to one of the customer care agents, they'll walk you through that. How to find the services. Dave: What else you got on there? Thom Oh, don't forget now's the time of year to get your air conditioner up and running. Thom Yeah. Your HVAC. Advance Heating and Cooling do amazing job. They're great service providers. They come quickly to get stuff going for you. So, Advance Heating and Cooling, been around since 1982. We've used them for several years now as well. So, definitely worth checking them out. Dave: Are you aware you're supposed to get your air conditioner cleaned, that unit on the side of the house kind of cleaned up. You're aware of that right? Thom Yeah. The more stuff that you get kind of in there and the grime and stuff builds up on that air condition unit. Dave: Two years ago I had a service, need to do it again this year. But they went in and they cleaned it out, and I was stunned how much dirt came out of those babbles on that unit on the side of the house. Dave: They put a solution through the thing. That dirt that came out is like oh my goodness, who did that? I'm embarrassed. Thom Right. Yeah. That's one of the things that you really want to do. Especially after this last winter that we had where there was so much debris flying around, and snow, and stuff like that. Unless you had it covered, that's really worth having them come out and check it out for sure. Dave: So, yeah. I would recommend doing that because if you don't it's expensive. Repairs on your heating and your air conditioning, it is expensive to get it done. Much better to pay the smaller price for maintenance than the price of repair. Thom Want to chat about one more. Thom This one is Smiley Septic. Thom Something that people don't talk about very often. Dave: Well nobody wants to talk about their septic system. Dave: Then we have problems about it, then you do. Thom Exactly. Yeah. Once you get a bad septic feel and so forth their can be a lot of expense getting into fixing them and what not. So, it's highly recommended that at least once or twice a year ... sorry. Every one or two years you get your septic tank drained, and cleaned out, and so forth. These guys do an amazing job. They're not only vendors, but clients. We've actually worked with them on several transactions to help them buy and sell property. So, yeah. Been around since 2001, and they are great at helping everybody with their septic needs. Whether you're putting one in, whether you need consultation on your current one. Dave: But see, that's one of those things you don't think about going, "Oh, yeah. I got my septic guy." Dave: So what do you do? You go eeeny, meeeeny, chili beanie as you point and, okay that one in the phone book maybe. Dave: You just don't know. So this way it's a referral. It's somebody that you, as a company and a person, had history with. Dave: And somebody here local in the treasure valley. Dave: So, that's always a good thing. Dave: Check it out on the website at Core Group Realty dot com. The service providers that Core Group works with and is more than willing to give a recommendation for. So that way you go in with confidence know, okay, this is somebody that there's been human contact with. Dave: Nothing more insecure than calling a number in the phone book and the guy drives up and is like I don't know anything about these people. Thom Yep. I forgot to mention, Dan Bradshaw over at DMB Remodeling, as well, if you do have those small little handyman things that you need some help with. He's a great guy for doing that stuff as well. Dave: Service providers. Well, that wraps another edition of Idaho Real Estate Buzz. And we do this every Saturday at two o'clock. So tell your friends if you know somebody who's thinking about buying a home, or maybe you are. Let them know that we're here for them. And of course, you can always catch a podcast at Core Group Realty dot com, and also blogs and more information as well is always posted there for you. We do this at two o'clock every Saturday here on five eighty KIDO.

2019-04-20T12:50:22Z

http://www.coregrouprealty.com/core-blog/2017/5/19/irb-562017

You shoot her a dubious look, so she pulls a handheld mirror out of her pocket and shows you. Looking down at it, you find your own image strangely unrecognizable for the briefest of moments. It should look like you: there’s your clay-brown skin and the scar on your cheek, your brown eyes, your shock of white hair that always got you in trouble back in school. But the way Zia has pulled your hair back with the barrette transforms the way your face is framed. It makes your cheekbones and even your jaw look softer, makes your eyes look wider and more anxious. Your heart thumps in your chest, like something’s got you worked up. Then Zia says “See?” again, and you blink, and you realize that you’re just a guy with your hair pulled back by a girly barrette. This exists at the junction between Femslash February, this very old (sorry) prompt on the kink meme requesting "Everyone on the Bastion is trans," and my desire to examine the kid's quite canonical tendency to Be Useful And Helpful rather than do things like "rest" and "take care of themself." I myself am queer but solidly cis, so while I've done my best to shun stereotypes and harmful images, I'm aware that I'm writing experiences that aren't mine. Let me know if I've put my foot in my mouth anywhere, and thank you to surskitty for performing a first pass in that regard. There is... quite a bit of pain and unrecognized dysphoria between point A (the kid realizes she might not be a guy) and point B (and that is ok and in fact great), so please be forewarned of that! You know exactly what you mean when you offer Nacie’s barrette to Zia, but you pretend not to when she hesitates to take it. She was almost that, although it was Falen, Nacie’s older brother, that you’d really known. You only saw Nacie when she came to visit him. She was pretty, and gentle, and kind. You never found her body after the Calamity. Or Falen’s either. You want her to have it. More than that, you want to give it to her, and it’s hard to give presents now when almost everything on the Bastion is shared between the four of you. Besides, you do think this’ll look pretty against Zia’s jet-black hair. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Zia teases impishly. You peer at her, her suggestion not adding up. It’s a girl’s barrette. For girls to wear. But she answers your confusion by taking the barrette from your open palm and touching your chin lightly to turn your head to the side. With a deft twist, she curls a lock of your short hair around her finger and pulls it back from the temple. She opens the barrette with her free hand and leans in to slide it into place against your head. Up close like this, she smells like the soap you all use. Then Zia says “See?” again, and you blink, and you realize that you’re just a guy with your hair pulled back by a girly barrette. Zia’s got funny sensibilities is all. Just think of that anklegator. “It looks weird on a guy,” you tell her, and you pull it free without opening the clasp. A few strands of your hair go with it, yanking out of your scalp with pinpricks of trivial pain. “I don’t think it looks weird,” she protests as you pick the strands out of the barrette’s teeth impatiently. But she shakes her head and closes your hand around the trinket one last time. Her hands are warm when she clasps them around yours. “…All right,” you mutter, and give in at last. You get tongue-tied when Zia talks to you sometimes. You know why, but you pretend not to. Everyone’s always told you that you grew up too fast. But you had to, didn’t you? They didn’t usually take volunteers on the Rippling Walls younger than thirteen, but you were twelve and you needed to start making your mom some money rather than costing it, and you were good with your hands. So your mom agreed to lie, with a little convincing, and the overseers paid more attention to what you could do than the exact details in your records. A grouchy man in clothes finer than you’ll ever wear helped you set up your salary to go straight home. You started working. The other Masons—volunteers and convicts alike—thought you were pretty funny. Called you “Squirt,” “Pipsqueak,” “Brat.” “Kid,” like Rucks does now. None of it was mean, though, just amused, and you liked most of it better than your real name anyway. Still, you knew what kind of cruelty could be hidden under teasing, just waiting to be uncovered. You were earning as much money as any of them and couldn’t afford for them to think you weren’t pulling your own weight. So you worked hard, and you learned how to be a man by watching them. You laughed along at their crude jokes, even the ones that went over your head or made you flush with shame; you took shots of smuggled-in alcohol with the rest of them, even though they burned going down and made your stomach roil. You learned to boast, inflating your production rate with a sneer and then pushing yourself until you could match your own claims. They challenged you to wrestling matches as a joke, and you kept fighting until you could win. You got brash. You got strong. You thought all that was growing up. You realized, when you went home and found your mom dead and buried, your childhood home looted and empty, that it was all just playground games on a different playground. That’s when you grew up. You went back to the Walls because it was what you knew how to do. But this time, you made sure your money was going somewhere where you could keep an eye on it, and this time, you did less joking and boasting and more working. You didn’t make as many friends—Falen was about it—but you got stronger than ever. Your hard work was rewarded with attention from the Marshals, and they sent you out beyond the Walls to scout, and that’s where you were when the world ended. Maybe you did grow up too fast. But if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be growing up at all, and even if you’d survived the Calamity you would never have been able to find the cores and shards to fix the Bastion. So that’s how things worked out, in the end. Even so, Rucks thinks you grew up too fast, too. He looks at you with one eyebrow raised, then turns back to whatever he’s adjusting with his wrench. He mutters the last sentence, irritation in his voice. You pretend not to hear it. Apparently the Bastion has its own ideas about what counts as a safe place to land, and it hasn’t found anything yet. As the architect behind the floating structure, Rucks seems to consider this a personal failure on his part. You don’t. You’re pretty sure Zia and Zulf don’t, either. This isn’t a bad life, up here in the clouds. You’re patient enough. You just wish there were more you could do. Leaning back on his hands, his joints creaking as much as the old wood he’s sitting on, he almost looks like he might. Almost. You know better. Still, it seems like as good a time as any to bring out a little liquid rejuvenation. You sit down next to him and offer him your flask, and he snorts before taking it. He takes a swig and then offers it back to you. You take a sip as well, and you trade back and forth until the flask is dry. “If you gave it a try, you might find that you could,” Rucks retorts. Then he sighs. “Ah, who am I kidding? I was the same way at your age. All the energy in the world and determined to do something with it. There certainly wasn’t no stoppin’ me.” He hands the flask back. You half-expect him to stop there; he doesn’t often reminisce except in bits and pieces. But he must be in a funny mood, or maybe he thinks his stories will prove a point to you, because he keeps talking. Rucks opens his mouth to say more of the same, but you’re tired of hearing it and he has no right to go on about this anyway, not with the way he bossed you around after the Calamity and not with the way he’s lived his whole life. You change the subject, bluntly. “That’s what Zia said,” you complain, and you don’t tell him that your memories of Nacie have gotten strange lately: that you keep dreaming about her except half the time you are her and the rest of the time you’re sitting next to her in a warm, safe room and she’s playing with your hair for some reason. You wish Zia hadn’t put that barrette on you, even if she was just joking around. Now it’s all you can think about when you look at it, and you find yourself looking at it an awful lot. “I just think Nacie would want me to do something useful with it,” is all you say to Rucks. On one level, it’s a way to dodge the lecture that you sense baked into Rucks’ answer: that the barrette doesn’t have to be useful and you don’t have to be useful either. But it’s a genuine question, too. The tension between Rucks and Zulf hadn’t just evaporated when the Bastion took off. They’d spent a few weeks furiously ignoring each other (and making mealtimes pretty awkward in the process). But they seem to have patched things up at some point, somewhere out of your sight. And you can’t help but be curious how it happened. Color rushes to your face and you try to stammer out a defense. “We haven’t been…” But he raises a knowing eyebrow in your direction, and you figure there’s not much point in finishing your sentence if he can see right through you. You still wish he hadn’t said it out loud, though. You look at Rucks, and then down at the clouds below you. You don’t really know what to say to that. There’s something about him right now that’s just… beyond you. A heavy weight on his shoulders that comes of living four times longer than you have, worries and memories and self-reflection all worn into the crevices in his forehead and around his eyes. He’s still looking up at the whirring machinery above you, but you get the feeling that he’s seeing something much farther away. Finally, he gives a sigh and looks back at you. “You did a good thing, savin’ his life,” he says seriously. Rucks thinks you’re naïve, you realize when you replay the conversation in your mind later. Which is funny when he also insists that you’ve grown up too fast. Well, whatever. You think you grew up at the right rate, or at least at exactly the rate you had to. But sometimes you do wonder if everyone’s right, or at least on the right track. You’ve always felt, somewhere deep inside of you, that something went wrong in the growing. On the Walls you could work hard enough to keep the feeling from coming to the forefront—most of the time, at least. But it was always in the back of your mind, and sometimes it came out when all the men sat down around a fire to brag and trade dirty stories. On nights like those, something that was usually connected inside of you came loose; it seemed like everyone you knew was just scrabbling to win a petty game at the expense of others, and you couldn’t remember why you were even playing. You didn’t ever want to be a man like them. But if you tried to step away from the group on nights like that and headed to bed early, your dreams got weird. Soon you learned to keep your head down and keep drinking until the group dispersed. Then the Calamity happened, and you didn’t have time to sit around and wonder about things like that. And that was fine with you. You’ve always found it easier to breathe when you’ve got a goal in front of you and a tool in your hand. Rucks and Zia, they appreciated the work you did for the Bastion, and you knew how you fit into the world. But there’s nothing left to work at now, and the feeling’s coming back and making itself known. You feel unsettled, like your own body doesn’t make sense to you anymore; frustrated, like you aren’t being heard. Your dreams have gotten weird again—so weird you can hardly define them to yourself, let alone tell someone else. The ones in which Nacie’s playing with your hair, or Zia is, are the tamest of the bunch. They just get stranger from there. Maybe it’s survivor’s guilt, you think. That’s the story you decide to tell yourself. You ask Zia, in her tent one afternoon, who she misses most from before the Calamity. With a heavy sigh, she pulls her knees up to her chest. “Am I allowed to say my father?” she asks ruefully. Your eyes slide over to the journal on the ground next to her bedroll—Zulf gave it back to her when she went with the other Ura. She still can’t read all of it, as much as Zulf’s tutoring helps, but now you all know just what kind of secrets are contained within. You can’t imagine what it’s like to be her—daughter to the man who designed the Calamity by hand because he wasn’t given any other choice. “No, I was just going to say… maybe I didn’t even know him well enough to say that I miss him.” She picks up the journal and rifles through it, and you can see that she’s added her own little notes in a different color of ink. “He used to say he loved me, and Zulf says he wrote about it, too, but he never… shared anything with me. He was never around to. And I never would have thought he was the kind of person to…” She nods down at the technical diagrams scribbled into the journal, pain in her eyes. Then she closes it without saying anything more. You sit down next to her, offering her your arm, and she exhales slowly as she nestles into your embrace. You can feel her heart beating in her chest. “What did you know about him?” you ask. For a moment, your own mother’s face flashes in front of your eyes. She’d wanted that, too—wanted you to have the best life possible, despite her illness, despite her lack of money and your trouble at school. She’d begged you not to go to the Walls. But you wanted her to have the best, too. Silence, for a long moment. You can feel your blood pulsing in your veins and you don’t know why; you let go of Zia so that she won’t be able to feel it too. “What?” you ask again, starting to feel like a broken record. Tell how? She looks like a girl to you, with her long hair and pretty eyes, and all the Ura have softer faces than the Cael to begin with. And she’s only ever called herself a girl, so why would you doubt her? You’ve never met anyone who said they were something different from what their body was. You’d heard about people like that from the other Masons, a little, but they described deviants, objects of disgust. The things they said about those people made your heart lurch. Zia isn’t anything like that. You’re sure of it. The wince on her face is all the answer you need. That, and remembering what he’d said a few days ago, about certain aspects of his upbringing that he was eager to escape. About the fake mustache he wore to get into the army. Zia’s face pinches up. “I am a girl,” she says, louder than she has to, and you realize again that you’re hurting her and you don’t want to. You growl in frustration. Why can’t you get the words out? Why is your chest so tight? Your vision stings, but it’s still clear enough that you can see Zia’s eyes bright with the threat of tears. You’re the one making her cry, and you hate yourself for it. And before she can object, you push back the tent flap and storm out of her tent. You cast a dark glance around the surface of the Bastion, but fortunately Rucks and Zulf are both somewhere else right now. If they see you, if they find out about the argument you just had with Zia, they’re going to be angry and they’ll be right to be. You’re angry at yourself. Your heart is pounding, pumping adrenaline through your body, and it makes you feel like you’re going to be sick. Instead you stalk over to the far end of the Bastion—behind the arsenal, out of sight of Zia’s tent—and you plop down on the edge, feet dangling over nothingness. You’re sulking. You know you are. You’re sulking because there’s still a lump in your throat, because you don’t know what kind of answer you were expecting from Zia and you don’t know why you kept asking her those questions in the first place. Something feels unfair. Something feels painful. You dig into your pocket and pull out Nacie’s barrette and for a second you’re tempted to throw it off the Bastion as hard as you can. You don’t know why. You don’t. You don’t. You don’t throw the barrette. Instead you lie backwards with it clutched between your fingers, and you hold it to your chest, and you look up at the sky while the Bastion putters along underneath you. Your dreams get worse. If you’re not Nacie in your dreams, you’re Zia, singing and combing your own fingers through long black hair; if you’re neither of them, they’re together and calling out to you, asking you to join them in something vague and undefined. Something always stops you from joining them. You wake up and you feel wrong in your body, like it belongs to someone else, like it’s never been the right body for you, and you’ve felt this way all your life but until now you’ve always had some way to distract yourself. Waking life isn’t much better, either. You don’t know what to say to Zia and every time you think of trying, you have to bite back the same questions as before. So instead you don’t say much to her at all. Meals get awkward again, more awkward still because she must’ve told Rucks what happened. You can feel him eyeing you as you keep your head bowed over your stew. Only Zulf stays out of it, quiet and subdued like he’s been ever since you brought him back. Like he thinks he doesn’t have the right to comment on anything. You don’t want him to feel that way, and anyway at this point he’s the only one you can go to for advice. So you find him in the kitchen one afternoon, chopping up some vineapple while the squirt watches. Even from behind, he looks tired, his once-stately posture stooped and the movement of the knife slow. “Want some help?” you offer, and he starts like he didn’t hear you come in. He straightens his posture when he turns to look at you, his eyes conflicted. But there’s nothing he has to feel conflicted about. Before he can answer, you say, “C’mon, give me that.” You walk forward and take the knife from him and start chopping. “…Thank you,” he mutters, and retreats. Out of the corner of your eye, you watch him sit down on the bench against the wall, even stiffer than Rucks is. He was standing too long, probably; you wish you’d come a little sooner so he hadn’t had to push himself. But you’re here now, at least, and faster with a knife than he is. You finish with the vineapples in a few minutes. “What’re these for?” you ask Zulf. With resignation in his eyes, he sinks back down onto the bench and instructs you: spices, apple cider, a dash of citrus juice, and sugar, all set in a pot to simmer. “You’ll want to mash them occasionally,” he says, apology in his voice. This mustache I’ve worked so hard to grow, you remember Rucks saying to you through a crooked grin, and you wonder if other quips like that have just flown right over your head. With a grunt, you pick up the masher and have a go at the vineapples. They’re still pretty solid. Makes them more satisfying to mash. You hear a sigh from behind you, and a creak from the wooden bench as Zulf stands. He puts one hand on your shoulder and relieves you of the masher with the other; picks a spoon off the hanger on the wall and stirs the vineapples slowly. “…Yeah, I guess,” you admit, remembering with another painful turn of your stomach the way your fellow Masons used to leer at the mere idea. Zulf taps the spoon on the edge of the pot and puts it down. “Sit with me?” he suggests, and you do, crossing your arms and legs and feeling more like a petulant child than you want to. Sure, you came to Zulf for advice, but now that he’s so calm and methodical about it, you feel stupid for getting worked up. You don’t even know why you’re so worked up. But you sit, your shoulders hunched and your chin tucked into your chest. Several times, you take a deep breath like you’re about to start speaking, only to sigh it out again through your nostrils, aggressively. Zulf makes a sympathetic hum behind you. “I’ve known a few decent men,” he proposes as a counterargument. Your heart sinks and you whirl towards the Ura, ready to reassure him. But he’s… smiling. Almost. There’s something sad about it as he sits with his hands in his lap, eyes averted. It cuts your protest off before you can even begin, and he speaks instead. “If you wanted to be a better man than the ones you hate, I’m sure you have it in you,” he says. You shift awkwardly under his certainty. “I dunno,” you mumble, thinking of everything you did to fix the Bastion. You can’t pretend that you’re above violence. You learned how to be a man from the Masons, and then you went right ahead and used those lessons, didn’t you? You aren’t any different from them. “No. I mean—no,” you answer immediately, trying to ignore the flush creeping up the back of your neck. “That can’t be it. I mean, Zia is so sure about it. She said she couldn’t stand to be a boy anymore, and I mean… I’ve lived my whole life this way. I can stand it.” Here you are, standing it. You’ve hardly even thought about it until recently. You turn your head just enough to look at him. His face is serious and deliberate, his hands folded tight. For a moment, there’s a part of you that wants to say no. There’s been so much weighing on you lately. But you don’t ever want Zulf to think he’s not forgiven for bringing the Ura to the Bastion, and if listening helps reassure him, then of course you’re going to listen. “What’s up?” you ask, turning away from the applesauce once more. Your heart starts pounding and you feel like your face is hot, but Zulf doesn’t need you to respond yet. He keeps talking. You swallow to try to wet your dry throat. “What do you mean?” you ask. You don’t say anything, but you couldn’t have looked away from Zulf if you tried. His eyes, locked on yours, are peaceful and certain. “…It’s OK,” you say, because you can’t imagine treating this as something that needs to be forgiven. Another nod of gentle, sincere gratitude, and Zulf is silent. You turn back to the applesauce to stir it, thinking about everything Zulf said. It all feels far away, as if it will ensnare you if you get any closer. Your mind wanders back to Nacie’s barrette instead, and belatedly, you make a sudden connection. You look at Zulf over your shoulder. Wariness passes over Zulf’s face. “He does,” he says slowly, and stops just shy of asking for an explanation. For the first time in days you feel a bit of hope that you’re comfortable calling hope. Maybe Zulf will take the barrette from you and you’ll stop having to think about any of this. Maybe you can put all of this behind you and get back to work. “Yeah, but—” It hasn’t made you think about Nacie in weeks now. You don’t have anything you can actually say, though—not without voicing it all—and just then the squirt leans over the simmering applesauce with an eager chirp. You scoop it into your arms quickly, before it can fall in, and the conversation between you and Zulf turns to the subject of cooking, leaving the matter of the crystal barrette—and everything before that—behind. You don’t make any effort to turn it back, and eventually your pulse stops racing in your wrists and you breathe easily again. you’re back on the Rippling Walls. It’s all so familiar, but you feel a sinking in your chest, heavier than the hammer in your hands. Your lifelong friend. It’s been with you, this whole time. “I thought I was done with this,” you mutter, and a faceless overseer looks your way as if that has nothing to do with him. “Get to work,” he orders. You know this. That makes it easy. Hammer, meet brick. Repeat. The other Masons work around you and you let the sound become your heartbeat as your body moves in its old rhythm. Work hard enough on the Walls and you start to be too tired to think. You know this. You remember. You see Zia waiting up ahead, sitting on one of the foundation stones, playing an old Caelondian work song on her harp-guitar. Nacie’s with her, both of them smiling at each other like they’re sharing a private story. Your hammer starts to fall in time with Zia’s melody as you work your way closer and closer to her. When you’re finally close enough, she looks at you instead. Her playful smile is gone. Instead, she’s serious. You remember when she left with the Ura of her own free will. You remember finding her, abandoned by them, too. “There’s no point,” you say. You’ve paused in your work and that’s given the pain a chance to catch up to you; suddenly you’re weary, your arms aching. You hoist the hammer over your shoulder. It doesn’t help much. “I have to keep working,” you tell her. “Why?” Nacie asks, like she always did when Falen told her he couldn’t goof off. You always thought it was sweet: you hoped she’d never have to learn what it was like to have someone else control whether she got to work or rest. You’d shoulder all the labor yourself if she got to stay innocent. You can’t. That’s never been an option for you. “Come with us,” she says, urgently. The ground rears up like a living thing and throws your whole world into the sky. For a moment, all you can do is look down at the gentle curve of your chest, wondering why it doesn’t feel surprising or strange in the way your normal body sometimes does. It just feels natural. Like it’s supposed to be exactly like this. When you’re finally able to tear your eyes away, you look up. In the distance you can see the Bastion; waiting on it, you can see Zia and Zulf and Rucks. They’ve all made it there already and they don’t need you to save them anymore. They’re all waiting for you. You feel yourself smile. A skyway opens at your feet, and you give yourself to the wind. You wake up in your bedroll on the Bastion in the middle of the night, and this time it’s all too clear to forget. Too clear to deny. You lie there, staring up at the stars in the sky above you, your jaw clenched with the effort of keeping your lip from trembling. But your blanket can’t keep you from shivering, because the problem isn’t the cold. You take one more look at the stars as if they might guide you, you check your pocket, and then you go to the lost-and-found. There’s nothing left in here; the Bastion is far away from anything that it might sweep up to be fixed. Zulf has suggested that you turn it into a storehouse, and you probably will once the Bastion’s gardens are producing more than the bare minimum. For now, though, it’s empty and quiet. When you light a lantern, the firelight bounces off the back windows and you can see your own reflection. It’s not something you go out of your way to look at; you’ve never been too fond of your face. But right now, it’s what you’re aiming for. You fish Nacie’s barrette out of your pocket and for a long moment you stare into the crystals, remembering her, remembering what your life used to be like. Just you, the same as ever. Just you, wearing a barrette that’s too dainty for your face, let alone the shoulders of a Mason and a murderer. Anger rises like bile in your throat. You don’t look like a girl. The anxiety that’s plagued you for weeks, seeping into your dreams, eating away at you—did you think this stupid thing had some kind of magical power, that it was going to transform you? Did you come in here thinking you were going to find answers? Your reflection’s face crumples and then you can’t look at it anymore; you bring clenched fists up to your eyes and you start to bawl like you haven’t in years. You cry so hard you can barely breathe. You’ve been afraid, you realize, you’ve been terrified of this stupid thing because you’ve thought that it was going to tell you something you couldn’t bear to know. But it’s just a trinket. Just a memento of someone you lost. It doesn’t have any power, and now that you’re seeing that you’re just the same as always, you feel like your heart is breaking. But what’s going to stop you? You catch your breath at the dizzying thought. If nothing stops you—if Zia and Zulf and Rucks all say it’s OK—what if you get to just have this? What if after all your work looking after your mom, all your work on the Walls, all your work for the Bastion—all those years spent living under other people’s definitions of you—you get to decide what to be on your own? Dawn is only a pale gray line on the horizon when you creep out of the lost-and-found and towards Zia’s tent. “Zia?” you call, not loud enough to wake her if she’s sleeping, but you hope she’s not. You get lucky: there’s a rustle from inside the tent, and then she pulls back the tent flap. “What is it?” she asks, as quiet as you are. Her face is wary, but truthfully you hardly look her in the eye right now. In her light nightclothes—without the many layers of traditional Ura clothing—you can see clearly that her chest is as flat as yours, her hips without curve. She catches you looking and wraps her free arm around her torso to hide its shape. Her mouth pinches into a hard line. “What?” she says again. And then more tears are spilling down your face and the way you sniffle doesn’t keep snot from dripping out of your nose, and Zia’s pulling you into her arms and into her tent. You wrap your arms around her in return, helplessly, holding onto her tight even though you’re embarrassed to be crying this hard, again. You start sobbing all over again, overwhelmed. Exhausted. You’ve spent years not knowing this, hiding the desire from yourself so that you didn’t have to feel the ache of its impossibility, and now Zia’s accepting it like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Like it can be true just because you want it to be. Just like that. You dig it out of your pocket, and with the same unassuming gentleness as the first time she twists a lock of your hair back and fastens the barrette into place. She pulls out her mirror and lets you see yourself, her head leaned affectionately on your shoulder. “There you are,” she says with a smile that lights her whole face. You hold your breath and look down at the mirror—and this time, your reflection looks a little better, the barrette tucked halfway behind your ear. Maybe you just didn’t put it in right before; maybe that was all. Your shoulders shake with something between a laugh and a sob. But your reflection looks like it’s smiling. You shrug. It’s been what it’s been, and you’ve gotten through plenty of hard stuff before. Only this time you didn’t have any defenses to put up, and it wasn’t exactly an issue you could solve by pulverizing it with your hammer. …It certainly hasn’t been fun. For a minute, you’re not even sure. You’ve been running for so long: throwing yourself into duty after duty, working yourself into exhaustion, giving yourself up to others’ orders so that you’d never have any time alone with this knowledge. And now there’s no chance of running anymore. But that also means there are no duties to fill, hardly any work to do at all; there’s no one here on the Bastion who’s going to stop you from being what you want. Now you’re just a kid with your own life to live. And it’s terrifying, but you think you’re going to be able to face it. She lies back on the bed and then, with a tug on your hand, invites you to lie next to her. The two of you wind up on your sides, facing each other, and your heart pounds as you dare to hope for one last impossibility. You trail off when you see a smile spread up her face, her cheeks tinted pink. She leans in, hesitates—then leans in just that last little bit and brings her lips to yours. It’s gentle, and kind. Everything you ever hoped a kiss would be. Everything you hoped you might have a chance to be, someday. Alarm crosses your face as you wonder how you could have given yourself away without realizing the truth yourself, and Zia gives a little chuckle. Now you’re definitely blushing. “Rucks talks too much,” you grumble, and it’s embarrassing, but it’s a bit of a relief, too. Yeah, you know they will. That’s how things are here on the Bastion. The four of you have quite a conversation over a breakfast of vineapplesauce that morning. “You’ll have to get used to it,” laughs Zia, who isn’t alone anymore, and you think you even see Zulf smile. It hadn’t occurred to you that that might be an option. “I don’t know where to begin,” you say. “Nope, no thank you.” Any name you have to study to find would not be a good fit for you to begin with. You try to stand, to take care of the dishes. But Zia catches your hand before you can and pulls you back down next to her. Once you’re seated again, she still doesn’t let go of your hand. So you lean against her, and you relax. I have....! a lot of thoughts also about how Rucks and Zulf get to a workable relationship--about how they set themselves apart as pessimists vs Zia and the kid's optimism--about how it involves Zulf deliberately choosing forgiveness until it feels natural and how he uses it as a tool to dismantle Rucks' death wish--but I am quite certain that all happens out of the kid's sight so I could not bring any of that in here, please just rest assured that I've thought about it.

2019-04-26T16:06:45Z

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13830903

To amend sections 1513.07, 1513.073, 1513.075, 1513.081, 1513.16, 1513.18, and 1513.371 of the Revised Code to revise the coal mining laws regarding permit application, set-back, and alternative water treatment or supply requirements. Sec. 1513.07. (A)(1) No operator shall conduct a coal mining operation without a permit for the operation issued by the chief of the division of mineral resources management. (2) All permits issued pursuant to this chapter shall be issued for a term not to exceed five years, except that, if the applicant demonstrates that a specified longer term is reasonably needed to allow the applicant to obtain necessary financing for equipment and the opening of the operation and if the application is full and complete for the specified longer term, the chief may grant a permit for the longer term. A successor in interest to a permittee who applies for a new permit within thirty days after succeeding to the interest and who is able to obtain the performance security of the original permittee may continue coal mining and reclamation operations according to the approved mining and reclamation plan of the original permittee until the successor's application is granted or denied. (3) A permit shall terminate if the permittee has not commenced the coal mining operations covered by the permit within three years after the issuance of the permit, except that the chief may grant reasonable extensions of the time upon a showing that the extensions are necessary by reason of litigation precluding the commencement or threatening substantial economic loss to the permittee or by reason of conditions beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the permittee, and except that with respect to coal to be mined for use in a synthetic fuel facility or specified major electric generating facility, the permittee shall be deemed to have commenced coal mining operations at the time construction of the synthetic fuel or generating facility is initiated. (i) The terms and conditions of the existing permit are not being satisfactorily met. (ii) The present coal mining and reclamation operation is not in compliance with the environmental protection standards of this chapter. (iii) The renewal requested substantially jeopardizes the operator's continuing responsibilities on existing permit areas. (iv) The applicant has not provided evidence that the performance security in effect for the operation will continue in effect for any renewal requested in the application. (v) Any additional, revised, or updated information required by the chief has not been provided. Prior to the approval of any renewal of a permit, the chief shall provide notice to the appropriate public authorities as prescribed by rule of the chief. (b) If an application for renewal of a valid permit includes a proposal to extend the mining operation beyond the boundaries authorized in the existing permit, the portion of the application for renewal of a valid permit that addresses any new land areas shall be subject to the full standards applicable to new applications under this chapter. (c) A permit renewal shall be for a term not to exceed the period of the original permit established by this chapter. Application for permit renewal shall be made at least one hundred twenty days prior to the expiration of the valid permit. (5) A permit issued pursuant to this chapter does not eliminate the requirements for obtaining a permit to install or modify a disposal system or any part thereof or to discharge sewage, industrial waste, or other wastes into the waters of the state in accordance with Chapter 6111. of the Revised Code. (vi) If any of these are business entities other than a single proprietor, the names and addresses of the principals, officers, and statutory agent for service of process. (ii) Has been an officer, partner, director, principal shareholder, or person having the right to control or has in fact controlled the management of or the selection of officers, directors, or managers of a business entity that has had a coal mining or surface mining permit that in the five-year period prior to the date of submission of the application has been suspended or revoked or has had a coal mining or surface mining bond, performance security, or similar security deposited in lieu of bond forfeited and, if so, a brief explanation of the facts involved. (i) An accurate map or plan, to an appropriate scale, clearly showing the land to be affected and the land upon which the applicant has the legal right to enter and commence coal mining operations, copies of those documents upon which is based the applicant's legal right to enter and commence coal mining operations, and a statement whether that right is the subject of pending litigation. This chapter does not authorize the chief to adjudicate property title disputes. (m) Accurate maps prepared by or under the direction of and certified by a qualified registered professional engineer, registered surveyor, or licensed landscape architect to an appropriate scale clearly showing all types of information set forth on topographical maps of the United States geological survey of a scale of not more than four hundred feet to the inch, including all artificial features and significant known archeological sites. The map, among other things specified by the chief, shall show all boundaries of the land to be affected, the boundary lines and names of present owners of record of all surface areas abutting the permit area, and the location of all buildings within one thousand feet of the permit area. (n)(i) Cross-section maps or plans of the land to be affected including the actual area to be mined, prepared by or under the direction of and certified by a qualified registered professional engineer or certified professional geologist with assistance from experts in related fields such as hydrology, hydrogeology, geology, and landscape architecture, showing pertinent elevations and locations of test borings or core samplings and depicting the following information: the nature and depth of the various strata of overburden; the nature and thickness of any coal or rider seam above the coal seam to be mined; the nature of the stratum immediately beneath the coal seam to be mined; all mineral crop lines and the strike and dip of the coal to be mined within the area to be affected; existing or previous coal mining limits; the location and extent of known workings of any underground mines, including mine openings to the surface; the location of spoil, waste, or refuse areas and topsoil preservation areas; the location of all impoundments for waste or erosion control; any settling or water treatment facility; constructed or natural drainways and the location of any discharges to any surface body of water on the land to be affected or adjacent thereto; profiles at appropriate cross sections of the anticipated final surface configuration that will be achieved pursuant to the operator's proposed reclamation plan; the location of subsurface water, if encountered; the location and quality of aquifers; and the estimated elevation of the water table. Registered surveyors shall be allowed to perform all plans, maps, and certifications under this chapter as they are authorized under Chapter 4733. of the Revised Code. (ii) A statement of the quality and locations of subsurface water. The chief shall provide by rule the number of locations to be sampled, frequency of collection, and parameters to be analyzed to obtain the statement required. (o) A statement of the results of test borings or core samplings from the permit area, including logs of the drill holes, the thickness of the coal seam found, an analysis of the chemical properties of the coal, the sulfur content of any coal seam, chemical analysis of potentially acid or toxic forming sections of the overburden, and chemical analysis of the stratum lying immediately underneath the coal to be mined, except that this division may be waived by the chief with respect to the specific application by a written determination that its requirements are unnecessary. If the test borings or core samplings from the permit area indicate the existence of potentially acid forming or toxic forming quantities of sulfur in the coal or overburden to be disturbed by mining, the application also shall include a statement of the acid generating potential and the acid neutralizing potential of the rock strata to be disturbed as calculated in accordance with the calculation method established under section 1513.075 of the Revised Code or with another calculation method. (q) A certificate issued by an insurance company authorized to do business in this state certifying that the applicant has a public liability insurance policy in force for the coal mining and reclamation operations for which the permit is sought or evidence that the applicant has satisfied other state self-insurance requirements. The policy shall provide for personal injury and property damage protection in an amount adequate to compensate any persons damaged as a result of coal mining and reclamation operations, including the use of explosives, and entitled to compensation under the applicable provisions of state law. The policy shall be maintained in effect during the term of the permit or any renewal, including the length of all reclamation operations. The insurance company shall give prompt notice to the permittee and the chief if the public liability insurance policy lapses for any reason including the nonpayment of insurance premiums. Upon the lapse of the policy, the chief may suspend the permit and all other outstanding permits until proper insurance coverage is obtained. (s) If the applicant seeks an authorization under division (E)(7) of this section to conduct coal mining and reclamation operations on areas to be covered by the permit that were affected by coal mining operations before August 3, 1977, that have resulted in continuing water pollution from or on the previously mined areas, such additional information pertaining to those previously mined areas as may be required by the chief, including, without limitation, maps, plans, cross sections, data necessary to determine existing water quality from or on those areas with respect to pH, iron, and manganese, and a pollution abatement plan that may improve water quality from or on those areas with respect to pH, iron, and manganese. (2) Information pertaining to coal seams, test borings, core samplings, or soil samples as required by this section shall be made available by the chief to any person with an interest that is or may be adversely affected, except that information that pertains only to the analysis of the chemical and physical properties of the coal, excluding information regarding mineral or elemental content that is potentially toxic in the environment, shall be kept confidential and not made a matter of public record. (vi) The collection of site-specific resource information and production of protection and enhancement plans for fish and wildlife habitats and other environmental values required by the chief under this chapter. (b) A coal operator that has received assistance under division (B)(3)(a) of this section shall reimburse the chief for the cost of the services rendered if the chief finds that the operator's actual and attributed annual production of coal for all locations exceeds three hundred thousand tons during the twelve months immediately following the date on which the operator was issued a coal mining and reclamation permit. (4) Each applicant for a permit shall submit to the chief as part of the permit application a reclamation plan that meets the requirements of this chapter. (5) Each applicant for a coal mining and reclamation permit shall file a copy of the application for a permit, excluding that information pertaining to the coal seam itself, for public inspection with the county recorder or an appropriate public office approved by the chief in the county where the mining is proposed to occur. (6) Each applicant for a coal mining and reclamation permit shall submit to the chief as part of the permit application a blasting plan that describes the procedures and standards by which the operator will comply with section 1513.161 of the Revised Code. (c) The productivity of the land prior to mining, including appropriate classification as prime farmlands as well as the average yield of food, fiber, forage, or wood products obtained from the land under high levels of management. (c) The quantity of surface and ground water systems, both on- and off-site, from adverse effects of the mining and reclamation process or, where such protection of quantity cannot be assured, provision of alternative sources of water. (14) Any other requirements the chief prescribes by rule. (D)(1) Any information required by division (C) of this section that is not on public file pursuant to this chapter shall be held in confidence by the chief. (2) With regard to requests for an exemption from the requirements of this chapter for coal extraction incidental to the extraction of other minerals, as described in division (H)(1)(a) of section 1513.01 of the Revised Code, confidential information includes and is limited to information concerning trade secrets or privileged commercial or financial information relating to the competitive rights of the persons intending to conduct the extraction of minerals. (E)(1) Upon the basis of a complete mining application and reclamation plan or a revision or renewal thereof, as required by this chapter, and information obtained as a result of public notification and public hearing, if any, as provided by section 1513.071 of the Revised Code, the chief shall grant, require modification of, or deny the application for a permit and notify the applicant in writing in accordance with division (I)(3) of this section. An application is deemed to be complete as submitted to the chief unless the chief, within fourteen days of the submission, identifies deficiencies in the application in writing and subsequently submits a copy of a written list of deficiencies to the applicant. A decision of the chief denying a permit shall state in writing the specific reasons for the denial. The applicant for a permit or revision of a permit has the burden of establishing that the application is in compliance with all the requirements of this chapter. Within ten days after the granting of a permit, the chief shall notify the boards of township trustees and county commissioners, the mayor, and the legislative authority in the township, county, and municipal corporation in which the area of land to be affected is located that a permit has been issued and shall describe the location of the land. However, failure of the chief to notify the local officials shall not affect the status of the permit. (a) The application is accurate and complete and all the requirements of this chapter have been complied with. (b) The applicant has demonstrated that the reclamation required by this chapter can be accomplished under the reclamation plan contained in the application. (c)(i) Assessment of the probable cumulative impact of all anticipated mining in the general and adjacent area on the hydrologic balance specified in division (B)(1)(k) of this section has been made by the chief, and the proposed operation has been designed to prevent material damage to hydrologic balance outside the permit area. (ii) There shall be an ongoing process conducted by the chief in cooperation with other state and federal agencies to review all assessments of probable cumulative impact of coal mining in light of post-mining data and any other hydrologic information as it becomes available to determine if the assessments were realistic. The chief shall take appropriate action as indicated in the review process. (d) The area proposed to be mined is not included within an area designated unsuitable for coal mining pursuant to section 1513.073 of the Revised Code or is not within an area under study for such designation in an administrative proceeding commenced pursuant to division (A)(3)(c) or (B) of section 1513.073 of the Revised Code unless in an area as to which an administrative proceeding has commenced pursuant to division (A)(3)(c) or (B) of section 1513.073 of the Revised Code, the operator making the permit application demonstrates that, prior to January 1, 1977, the operator made substantial legal and financial commitments in relation to the operation for which a permit is sought. (iii) If the conveyance does not expressly grant the right to extract coal by strip mining methods that cause surface disturbance, the surface-subsurface legal relationship concerning surface disturbance shall be determined under the law of this state. This chapter does not authorize the chief to adjudicate property rights disputes. (3)(a) The applicant shall file with the permit application a schedule listing all notices of violations of any law, rule, or regulation of the United States or of any department or agency thereof or of any state pertaining to air or water environmental protection incurred by the applicant in connection with any coal mining operation during the three-year period prior to the date of application. The schedule also shall indicate the final resolution of such a notice of violation. Upon receipt of an application, the chief shall provide a schedule listing all notices of violations of this chapter pertaining to air or water environmental protection incurred by the applicant during the three-year period prior to receipt of the application and the final resolution of all such notices of violation. The chief shall provide this schedule to the applicant for filing by the applicant with the application filed for public review, as required by division (B)(5) of this section. When the schedule or other information available to the chief indicates that any coal mining operation owned or controlled by the applicant is currently in violation of such laws, the permit shall not be issued until the applicant submits proof that the violation has been corrected or is in the process of being corrected to the satisfaction of the regulatory authority, department, or agency that has jurisdiction over the violation and that any civil penalties owed to the state for a violation and not the subject of an appeal have been paid. No permit shall be issued to an applicant after a finding by the chief that the applicant or the operator specified in the application controls or has controlled mining operations with a demonstrated pattern of willful violations of this chapter of a nature and duration to result in irreparable damage to the environment as to indicate an intent not to comply with or a disregard of this chapter. (b) For the purposes of division (E)(3)(a) of this section, any violation resulting from an unanticipated event or condition at a surface coal mining operation on lands eligible for remining under a permit held by the person submitting an application for a coal mining permit under this section shall not prevent issuance of that permit. As used in this division, "unanticipated event or condition" means an event or condition encountered in a remining operation that was not contemplated by the applicable surface coal mining and reclamation permit. (4)(a) In addition to finding the application in compliance with division (E)(2) of this section, if the area proposed to be mined contains prime farmland as determined pursuant to division (B)(1)(p) of this section, the chief, after consultation with the secretary of the United States department of agriculture and pursuant to regulations issued by the secretary of the interior with the concurrence of the secretary of agriculture, may grant a permit to mine on prime farmland if the chief finds in writing that the operator has the technological capability to restore the mined area, within a reasonable time, to equivalent or higher levels of yield as nonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area under equivalent levels of management and can meet the soil reconstruction standards in section 1513.16 of the Revised Code. (b) Division (E)(4)(a) of this section does not apply to a permit issued prior to August 3, 1977, or revisions or renewals thereof. (5) The chief shall issue an order denying a permit after finding that the applicant has misrepresented or omitted any material fact in the application for the permit. (6) The chief may issue an order denying a permit after finding that the applicant, any partner, if the applicant is a partnership, any officer, principal shareholder, or director, if the applicant is a corporation, or any other person who has a right to control or in fact controls the management of the applicant or the selection of officers, directors, or managers of the applicant has been a sole proprietor or partner, officer, director, principal shareholder, or person having the right to control or has in fact controlled the management of or the selection of officers, directors, or managers of a business entity that ever has had a coal mining license or permit issued by this or any other state or the United States suspended or revoked, ever has forfeited a coal or surface mining bond, performance security, or similar security deposited in lieu of bond in this or any other state or with the United States, or ever has substantially or materially failed to comply with this chapter. (7) When issuing a permit under this section, the chief may authorize an applicant to conduct coal mining and reclamation operations on areas to be covered by the permit that were affected by coal mining operations before August 3, 1977, that have resulted in continuing water pollution from or on the previously mined areas for the purpose of potentially reducing the pollution loadings of pH, iron, and manganese from discharges from or on the previously mined areas. Following the chief's authorization to conduct such operations on those areas, the areas shall be designated as pollution abatement areas for the purposes of this chapter. (a) The applicant's pollution abatement plan for mining and reclaiming the previously mined areas represents the best available technology economically achievable. (b) Implementation of the plan will potentially reduce pollutant loadings of pH, iron, and manganese resulting from discharges of surface waters or ground water from or on the previously mined areas within the permit area. (c) Implementation of the plan will not cause any additional degradation of surface water quality off the permit area with respect to pH, iron, and manganese. (d) Implementation of the plan will not cause any additional degradation of ground water. (e) The plan meets the requirements governing mining and reclamation of such previously mined pollution abatement areas established by the chief in rules adopted under section 1513.02 of the Revised Code. (iv) Ever forfeited a coal or surface mining bond, performance security, or similar security deposited in lieu of a bond in this or any other state or with the United States. (8) In the case of the issuance of a permit that involves a conflict of results between various methods of calculating potential acidity and neutralization potential for purposes of assessing the potential for acid mine drainage to occur at a mine site, the permit shall include provisions for monitoring and record keeping to identify the creation of unanticipated acid water at the mine site. If the monitoring detects the creation of acid water at the site, the permit shall impose on the permittee additional requirements regarding mining practices and site reclamation to prevent the discharge of acid mine drainage from the mine site. As used in division (E)(8) of this section, "potential acidity" and "neutralization potential" have the same meanings as in section 1513.075 of the Revised Code. (F)(1) During the term of the permit, the permittee may submit an application for a revision of the permit, together with a revised reclamation plan, to the chief. (2) An application for a revision of a permit shall not be approved unless the chief finds that reclamation required by this chapter can be accomplished under the revised reclamation plan. The revision shall be approved or disapproved within ninety days after receipt of a complete revision application. The chief shall establish, by rule, criteria for determining the extent to which all permit application information requirements and procedures, including notice and hearings, shall apply to the revision request, except that any revisions that propose significant alterations in the reclamation plan, at a minimum, shall be subject to notice and hearing requirements. (3) Any extensions to the area covered by the permit except incidental boundary revisions shall be made by application for a permit. (G) No transfer, assignment, or sale of the rights granted under a permit issued pursuant to this chapter shall be made without the written approval of the chief. (H) The chief, within a time limit prescribed in the chief's rules, shall review outstanding permits and may require reasonable revision or modification of a permit. A revision or modification shall be based upon a written finding and subject to notice and hearing requirements established by rule of the chief. (I)(1) If an informal conference has been held pursuant to section 1513.071 of the Revised Code, the chief shall issue and furnish the applicant for a permit, persons who participated in the informal conference, and persons who filed written objections pursuant to division (B) of section 1513.071 of the Revised Code, with the written finding of the chief granting or denying the permit in whole or in part and stating the reasons therefor within sixty days of the conference, provided that the chief shall comply with the time frames established in division (I)(3) of this section. (2) If there has been no informal conference held pursuant to section 1513.071 of the Revised Code, the chief shall submit to the applicant for a permit the written finding of the chief granting or denying the permit in whole or in part and stating the reasons therefor within the time frames established in division (I)(3) of this section. (3) The chief shall grant or deny a permit not later than two hundred forty days after the submission of a complete application for the permit. Any time during which the applicant is making revisions to an application or providing additional information requested by the chief regarding an application shall not be included in the two hundred forty days. If the chief determines that a permit cannot be granted or denied within the two-hundred-forty-day time frame, the chief, not later than two hundred ten days after the submission of a complete application for the permit, shall provide the applicant with written notice of the expected delay. (4) If the application is approved, the permit shall be issued. If the application is disapproved, specific reasons therefor shall be set forth in the notification. Within thirty days after the applicant is notified of the final decision of the chief on the permit application, the applicant or any person with an interest that is or may be adversely affected may appeal the decision to the reclamation commission pursuant to section 1513.13 of the Revised Code. (5) Any applicant or any person with an interest that is or may be adversely affected who has participated in the administrative proceedings as an objector and is aggrieved by the decision of the reclamation commission, or if the commission fails to act within the time limits specified in this chapter, may appeal in accordance with section 1513.14 of the Revised Code. Sec. 1513.073. (A)(1) Upon petition pursuant to division (B) of this section, the chief of the division of mineral resources management shall designate an area as unsuitable for all or certain types of coal mining operations if the chief determines that reclamation pursuant to the requirements of this chapter is not technologically and economically feasible. (d) Affect natural hazard lands in which the operations could substantially endanger life and property, such lands to include areas subject to frequent flooding and areas of unstable geology. (c) Procedures for proper notice and opportunities for public participation, including a public meeting prior to making any designation or redesignation, pursuant to this section. (4) Determinations of the unsuitablity of land for coal mining, as provided for in this section, shall be integrated as closely as possible with present and future land use planning and regulation processes at the federal, state, and local levels. (5) The requirements of this section do not apply to lands on which coal mining operations were being conducted on August 3, 1977, or under a permit issued pursuant to this chapter, or where substantial legal and financial commitments in the operation were in existence prior to January 4, 1977. (B) A person having an interest that is or may be adversely affected may petition the chief to have an area designated as unsuitable for coal mining operations or to have such a designation terminated. The petition shall contain allegations of facts with supporting evidence that would tend to establish the allegations. The chief shall hold a public meeting in the locality of the affected area, after appropriate notice and publication of the date, time, and location of the meeting within ninety days after receipt of the petition, provided that the chief may extend the time for holding the meeting an additional two hundred ten days when, in the chief's judgment, such additional time is needed for adequate review of the petition. Any person may appear at the meeting and present a statement or evidence regarding the petition. Within sixty days after the meeting, the chief shall issue and furnish to the petitioner and any other participant at the meeting a written decision regarding the petition, and the reasons therefor. (3) The impact of the designation on the environment, the economy, and the supply of coal. (5) Within three hundred feet from any occupied dwelling, measured horizontally, unless waived by the owner thereof, nor within three hundred feet, measured horizontally, of any public building, school, church, community, or institutional building, or public park, nor within one hundred feet, measured horizontally, of a cemetery. (1) "Potential acidity" means a laboratory measurement of the amount of acidity that could be produced by material in a rock strata proposed to be disturbed by mining and that is expressed by a numeral indicating the number of tons of that acidity that would be present in one thousand tons of disturbed overburden. (2) "Neutralization potential" means a laboratory measurement of the alkalinity of a rock strata expressed as the amount of acidity that would be neutralized by material proposed to be disturbed by mining and that is expressed by a numeral indicating the number of tons of that alkalinity that would be present in one thousand tons of disturbed overburden. (3) "Test borings or core samplings" refer to test borings or core samplings performed on rock strata in an area proposed to be covered by a permit for a coal mining operation, the results of which must be stated in the permit application in accordance with division (B)(1)(o) of section 1513.07 of the Revised Code. (B) For purposes of the determination of the chief of the division of mineral resources management regarding whether to approve an application for a permit for a coal mining operation based on criteria established in divisions (E)(2)(a) and (c) of section 1513.07 of the Revised Code and related performance standards established in division (A)(10) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code, the potential acidity and the neutralization potential of the rock strata that would be disturbed under the permit may be calculated in accordance with this section. (C) The measurement of potential acidity may be based on laboratory analyses of the sulfur content of the coal and overburden to be disturbed by mining. If the results of test borings or core samplings include laboratory analyses of the pyritic form of sulfur, the applicant may base the calculation of the potential acidity for the area on the pyritic sulfur content of the coal and overburden to be disturbed by mining rather than on the total sulfur content. (D) The tons of rock in the area represented by each core hole resulting from test boring or core sampling may be estimated and used to calculate the tons of potential acidity and tons of neutralization potential for each rock stratum. The sum of those values across the proposed permit area may be used to calculate the site's overall neutralization potential and potential acidity. (1) The numeral that indicates the site's overall neutralization potential divided by the numeral that indicates the site's overall potential acidity results in a quotient that is equal to or greater than two. (b) Negative ten in the case that the pyritic sulfur content of rock strata is used to calculate potential acidity negative ten. Sec. 1513.081. (A) If an operator a permittee becomes insolvent, or an alternative financial security to provide long-term water treatment or a long-term alternative water supply, or both, is not provided in accordance with division (F)(8) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code, the division of mineral resources management shall have a priority lien in front of all other interested creditors against the assets of that operator permittee for the amount of any reclamation that is required as a result of the operator's permittee's mining activities. The chief of the division of mineral resources management shall file a statement in the office of the county recorder of each county in which the mined land lies of the estimated cost to reclaim the land and, if applicable, the cost to provide long-term water treatment or a long-term alternative water supply, or both. The estimated cost to reclaim the land and, if applicable, the cost to provide long-term water treatment or a long-term alternative water supply, or both, shall include the direct and indirect costs of the development, design, construction, management, and administration of the reclamation and, if applicable, the long-term water treatment or long-term alternative water supply. The statement shall constitute a lien on the assets of the operator permittee as of the date of the filing. The lien shall continue in force so long as any portion of the lien remains unpaid or until the chief issues a certificate of release of the lien. If the chief issues a certificate of release of the lien, the chief shall file the certificate of release in the office of each applicable county recorder. (3) Any other circumstance that the chief determines to be in the best interests of the state. (C) The chief may modify the amount of a lien under this section. If the chief modifies a lien, the chief shall file a statement in the office of the county recorder of each applicable county of the new amount of the lien. (D) The chief may authorize an agent to hold a certificate of release in escrow for a period not to exceed one hundred eighty days for the purpose of facilitating the transfer of unreclaimed mine land. (E) All money from the collection of liens under this section shall be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the reclamation forfeiture fund created in section 1513.18 of the Revised Code. (3) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, with respect to all coal mining operations, backfill, compact where advisable to ensure stability or to prevent leaching of toxic materials, and grade in order to restore the approximate original contour of the land with all highwalls, spoil piles, and depressions eliminated unless small depressions are needed in order to retain moisture to assist revegetation or as otherwise authorized pursuant to this chapter, provided that if the operator demonstrates that due to volumetric expansion the amount of overburden and the spoil and waste materials removed in the course of the mining operation are more than sufficient to restore the approximate original contour, the operator shall backfill, grade, and compact the excess overburden and other spoil and waste materials to attain the lowest grade, but not more than the angle of repose, and to cover all acid-forming and other toxic materials in order to achieve an ecologically sound land use compatible with the surrounding region in accordance with the approved mining plan. The overburden or spoil shall be shaped and graded in such a way as to prevent slides, erosion, and water pollution and shall be revegetated in accordance with this chapter. (5) Remove the topsoil from the land in a separate layer, replace it on the backfill area, or, if not utilized immediately, segregate it in a separate pile from the spoil, and when the topsoil is not replaced on a backfill area within a time short enough to avoid deterioration of the topsoil, maintain a successful cover by quick-growing plants or other means thereafter so that the topsoil is preserved from wind and water erosion, remains free of any contamination by acid or other toxic material, and is in a usable condition for sustaining vegetation when restored during reclamation. If the topsoil is of insufficient quantity or of poor quality for sustaining vegetation or if other strata can be shown to be more suitable for vegetation requirements, the operator shall remove, segregate, and preserve in a like manner such other strata as are best able to support vegetation. (d) Redistribute and grade in a uniform manner the surface soil horizon described in division (A)(7)(a) of this section. (a) The size of the impoundment is adequate for its intended purposes. (b) The impoundment dam construction will be so designed as to achieve necessary stability with an adequate margin of safety compatible with that of structures constructed under the "Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act," 68 Stat. 666 (1954), 16 U.S.C. 1001, as amended. (c) The quality of impounded water will be suitable on a permanent basis for its intended use and discharges from the impoundment will not degrade the water quality below water quality standards established pursuant to applicable federal and state law in the receiving stream. (d) The level of water will be reasonably stable. (e) Final grading will provide adequate safety and access for proposed water users. (f) The water impoundments will not result in the diminution of the quality or quantity of water utilized by adjacent or surrounding landowners for agricultural, industrial, recreational, or domestic uses. (9) Conduct any augering operation associated with strip mining in a manner to maximize recoverability of mineral reserves remaining after the operation and reclamation are complete and seal all auger holes with an impervious and noncombustible material in order to prevent drainage, except where the chief determines that the resulting impoundment of water in such auger holes may create a hazard to the environment or the public health or safety. The chief may prohibit augering if necessary to maximize the utilization, recoverability, or conservation of the solid fuel resources or to protect against adverse water quality impacts. (iii) Casing, sealing, or otherwise managing boreholes, shafts, and wells, and keeping acid or other toxic drainage from entering ground and surface waters. (ii) Constructing any siltation structures pursuant to division (A)(10)(b)(i) of this section prior to commencement of coal mining operations. The structures shall be certified by persons approved by the chief to be constructed as designed and as approved in the reclamation plan. (f) Such other actions as the chief may prescribe. (a) The nature, timing, and sequencing of the approximate coincidence of specific strip mine activities with specific underground mine activities are approved by the chief. (b) The operations will result in improved resource recovery, abatement of water pollution, or elimination of hazards to the health and safety of the public. (i) The applicant has presented, as part of the permit application, specific, feasible plans for the proposed underground mining operations. (ii) The proposed underground mining operations are necessary or desirable to ensure maximum practical recovery of the mineral resource and will avoid multiple disturbance of the surface. (iii) The applicant has satisfactorily demonstrated that the plan for the underground mining operations conforms to requirements for underground mining in this state and that permits necessary for the underground mining operations have been issued by the appropriate authority. (iv) The areas proposed for the variance have been shown by the applicant to be necessary for the implementing of the proposed underground mining operations. (v) No substantial adverse environmental damage, either on-site or off-site, will result from the delay in completion of reclamation as required by this chapter. (vi) Provisions for the off-site storage of spoil will comply with division (A)(21) of this section. (b) The chief has adopted specific rules to govern the granting of such variances in accordance with this division and has imposed such additional requirements as the chief considers necessary. (c) Variances granted under this division shall be reviewed by the chief not more than three years from the date of issuance of the permit. (d) Liability under the performance security filed by the applicant with the chief pursuant to section 1513.08 of the Revised Code shall be for the duration of the underground mining operations and until the requirements of this section and section 1513.08 of the Revised Code have been fully complied with. (b) On lands eligible for remining, assume the responsibility for successful revegetation, as required by division (A)(18) of this section, for a period of two full years after the last year of augmented seeding, fertilizing, irrigation, or other work in order to ensure compliance with that division. (a) Spoil is transported and placed in a controlled manner in position for concurrent compaction and in such a way as to ensure mass stability and to prevent mass movement. (b) The areas of disposal are within the permit areas for which performance security has been provided. All organic matter shall be removed immediately prior to spoil placement except in the zoned concept method. (c) Appropriate surface and internal drainage systems and diversion ditches are used so as to prevent spoil erosion and mass movement. (d) The disposal area does not contain springs, natural watercourses, or wet weather seeps unless lateral drains are constructed from the wet areas to the main underdrains in such a manner that filtration of the water into the spoil pile will be prevented unless the zoned concept method is used. (e) If placed on a slope, the spoil is placed upon the most moderate slope among those slopes upon which, in the judgment of the chief, the spoil could be placed in compliance with all the requirements of this chapter and is placed, where possible, upon, or above, a natural terrace, bench, or berm if that placement provides additional stability and prevents mass movement. (f) Where the toe of the spoil rests on a downslope, a rock toe buttress of sufficient size to prevent mass movement is constructed. (g) The final configuration is compatible with the natural drainage pattern and surroundings and suitable for intended uses. (h) Design of the spoil disposal area is certified by a qualified registered professional engineer in conformance with professional standards. (i) All other provisions of this chapter are met. (24) Provide for an undisturbed natural barrier beginning at the elevation of the lowest coal seam to be mined and extending from the outslope for such distance as the chief shall determine to be retained in place as a barrier to slides and erosion. (B)(1) The chief may permit mining operations for the purposes set forth in division (B)(3) of this section. (2) When an applicant meets the requirements of divisions (B)(3) and (4) of this section, a permit without regard to the requirement to restore to approximate original contour known as mountain top removal set forth in divisions (A)(3) or (C)(2) and (3) of this section may be granted for the mining of coal where the mining operation will remove an entire coal seam or seams running through the upper fraction of a mountain, ridge, or hill, except as provided in division (B)(4)(a) of this section, by removing all of the overburden and creating a level plateau or a gently rolling contour with no highwalls remaining, and capable of supporting postmining uses in accordance with this division. (a) After consultation with the appropriate land use planning agencies, if any, the proposed postmining land use is considered to constitute an equal or better economic or public use of the affected land, as compared with premining use. (vii) Designed by a registered engineer in conformity with professional standards established to ensure the stability, drainage, and configuration necessary for the intended use of the site. (c) The proposed use is consistent with adjacent land uses and existing state and local land use plans and programs. (d) The chief provides the governing body of the unit of general-purpose local government in which the land is located, and any state or federal agency that the chief, in the chief's discretion, determines to have an interest in the proposed use, an opportunity of not more than sixty days to review and comment on the proposed use. (e) All other requirements of this chapter will be met. (a) The toe of the lowest coal seam and the overburden associated with it are retained in place as a barrier to slides and erosion. (b) The reclaimed area is stable. (c) The resulting plateau or rolling contour drains inward from the outslopes except at specified points. (d) No damage will be done to natural watercourses. (e) Spoil will be placed on the mountaintop bench as is necessary to achieve the planned postmining land use, except that all excess spoil material not retained on the mountaintop bench shall be placed in accordance with division (A)(21) of this section. (f) Stability of the spoil retained on the mountaintop bench is ensured and the other requirements of this chapter are met. (5) The chief shall adopt specific rules to govern the granting of permits in accordance with divisions (B)(1) to (4) of this section and may impose such additional requirements as the chief considers necessary. (6) All permits granted under divisions (B)(1) to (4) of this section shall be reviewed not more than three years from the date of issuance of the permit unless the applicant affirmatively demonstrates that the proposed development is proceeding in accordance with the terms of the approved schedule and reclamation plan. (1) The operator shall ensure that when performing coal mining on steep slopes, no debris, abandoned or disabled equipment, spoil material, or waste mineral matter is placed on the downslope below the bench or mining cut. Spoil material in excess of that required for the reconstruction of the approximate original contour under division (A)(3) or (C)(2) of this section shall be permanently stored pursuant to division (A)(21) of this section. (2) The operator shall complete backfilling with spoil material to cover completely the highwall and return the site to the approximate original contour, which material will maintain stability following mining and reclamation. (3) The operator shall not disturb land above the top of the highwall unless the chief finds that the disturbance will facilitate compliance with the environmental protection standards of this section, except that any such disturbance involving land above the highwall shall be limited to that amount of land necessary to facilitate compliance. (D)(1) The chief may permit variances for the purposes set forth in division (D)(3) of this section, provided that the watershed control of the area is improved and that complete backfilling with spoil material shall be required to cover completely the highwall, which material will maintain stability following mining and reclamation. (2) Where an applicant meets the requirements of divisions (D)(3) and (4) of this section, a variance from the requirement to restore to approximate original contour set forth in division (C)(2) of this section may be granted for the mining of coal when the owner of the surface knowingly requests in writing, as a part of the permit application, that such a variance be granted so as to render the land, after reclamation, suitable for an industrial, commercial, residential, or public use, including recreational facilities, in accordance with divisions (D)(3) and (4) of this section. (a) After consultation with the appropriate land use planning agencies, if any, the potential use of the affected land is considered to constitute an equal or better economic or public use. (b) The postmining land condition is designed and certified by a registered professional engineer in conformity with professional standards established to ensure the stability, drainage, and configuration necessary for the intended use of the site. (c) After approval of the appropriate state environmental agencies, the watershed of the affected land is considered to be improved. (4) In granting a variance pursuant to division (D) of this section, the chief shall require that only such amount of spoil will be placed off the mine bench as is necessary to achieve the planned postmining land use, ensure stability of the spoil retained on the bench, and meet all other requirements of this chapter. All spoil placement off the mine bench shall comply with division (A)(21) of this section. (5) The chief shall adopt specific rules to govern the granting of variances under division (D) of this section and may impose such additional requirements as the chief considers necessary. (6) All variances granted under division (D) of this section shall be reviewed not more than three years from the date of issuance of the permit unless the permittee affirmatively demonstrates that the proposed development is proceeding in accordance with the terms of the reclamation plan. (E) The chief shall establish standards and criteria regulating the design, location, construction, operation, maintenance, enlargement, modification, removal, and abandonment of new and existing coal mine waste piles referred to in division (A)(13) of this section and division (A)(5) of section 1513.35 of the Revised Code. The standards and criteria shall conform to the standards and criteria used by the chief of the United States army corps of engineers to ensure that flood control structures are safe and effectively perform their intended function. In addition to engineering and other technical specifications, the standards and criteria developed pursuant to this division shall include provisions for review and approval of plans and specifications prior to construction, enlargement, modification, removal, or abandonment; performance of periodic inspections during construction; issuance of certificates of approval upon completion of construction; performance of periodic safety inspections; and issuance of notices for required remedial or maintenance work. (F)(1) The permittee may file a request with the chief for release of a part of a performance security under division (F)(3) of this section. Within thirty days after any request for performance security release under this section has been filed with the chief, the operator shall submit a copy of an advertisement placed at least once a week for four successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the coal mining operation. The advertisement shall be considered part of any performance security release application and shall contain a notification of the precise location of the land affected, the number of acres, the permit number and the date approved, the amount of the performance security filed and the portion sought to be released, the type and appropriate dates of reclamation work performed, and a description of the results achieved as they relate to the operator's approved reclamation plan and, if applicable, the operator's pollution abatement plan. In addition, as part of any performance security release application, the applicant shall submit copies of the letters sent to adjoining property owners, local governmental bodies, planning agencies, and sewage and water treatment authorities or water companies in the locality in which the coal mining and reclamation activities took place, notifying them of the applicant's intention to seek release from the performance security. (2) Upon receipt of a copy of the advertisement and request for release of a performance security under division (F)(3)(c) of this section, the chief, within thirty days, shall conduct an inspection and evaluation of the reclamation work involved. The evaluation shall consider, among other things, the degree of difficulty to complete any remaining reclamation, whether pollution of surface and subsurface water is occurring, the probability of continuation or future occurrence of the pollution, and the estimated cost of abating the pollution. The chief shall notify the permittee in writing of the decision to release or not to release all or part of the performance security within sixty days after the filing of the request if no public hearing is held pursuant to division (F)(6) of this section or, if there has been a public hearing held pursuant to division (F)(6) of this section, within thirty days thereafter. (a) When the operator completes the backfilling, regrading, and drainage control of an area for which performance security has been provided in accordance with the approved reclamation plan, and, if the area covered by the performance security is one for which an authorization was made under division (E)(7) of section 1513.07 of the Revised Code, the operator has complied with the approved pollution abatement plan and all additional requirements established by the chief in rules adopted under section 1513.02 of the Revised Code governing coal mining and reclamation operations on pollution abatement areas, the chief shall grant a release of fifty per cent of the performance security for the applicable permit area. (b) After resoiling and revegetation have been established on the regraded mined lands in accordance with the approved reclamation plan, the chief shall grant a release in an amount not exceeding thirty-five per cent of the original performance security for all or part of the affected area under the permit. When determining the amount of performance security to be released after successful revegetation has been established, the chief shall retain that amount of performance security for the revegetated area that would be sufficient for a third party to cover the cost of reestablishing revegetation for the period specified for operator responsibility in this section for reestablishing revegetation. No part of the performance security shall be released under this division so long as the lands to which the release would be applicable are contributing suspended solids to streamflow or runoff outside the permit area in excess of the requirements of this section or until soil productivity for prime farmlands has returned to equivalent levels of yield as nonmined land of the same soil type in the surrounding area under equivalent management practices as determined from the soil survey performed pursuant to section 1513.07 of the Revised Code. If the area covered by the performance security is one for which an authorization was made under division (E)(7) of section 1513.07 of the Revised Code, no part of the performance security shall be released under this division until the operator has complied with the approved pollution abatement plan and all additional requirements established by the chief in rules adopted under section 1513.02 of the Revised Code governing coal mining and reclamation operations on pollution abatement areas. Where a silt dam is to be retained as a permanent impoundment pursuant to division (A)(10) of this section, the portion of performance security may be released under this division so long as provisions for sound future maintenance by the operator or the landowner have been made with the chief. (c) When the operator has completed successfully all coal mining and reclamation activities, including, if applicable, all additional requirements established in the pollution abatement plan approved under division (E)(7) of section 1513.07 of the Revised Code and all additional requirements established by the chief in rules adopted under section 1513.02 of the Revised Code governing coal mining and reclamation operations on pollution abatement areas, the chief shall release all or any of the remaining portion of the performance security for all or part of the affected area under a permit, but not before the expiration of the period specified for operator responsibility in this section, except that the chief may adopt rules for a variance to the operator period of responsibility considering vegetation success and probability of continued growth and consent of the landowner, provided that no performance security shall be fully released until all reclamation requirements of this chapter are fully met. (4) If the chief disapproves the application for release of the performance security or portion thereof, the chief shall notify the permittee, in writing, stating the reasons for disapproval and recommending corrective actions necessary to secure the release, and allowing the opportunity for a public adjudicatory hearing. (5) When any application for total or partial performance security release is filed with the chief under this section, the chief shall notify the municipal corporation in which the coal mining operation is located by certified mail at least thirty days prior to the release of all or a portion of the performance security. (6) A person with a valid legal interest that might be adversely affected by release of a performance security under this section or the responsible officer or head of any federal, state, or local government agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental, social, or economic impact involved in the operation or is authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards with respect to such operations may file written objections to the proposed release from the performance security with the chief within thirty days after the last publication of the notice required by division (F)(1) of this section. If written objections are filed and an informal conference is requested, the chief shall inform all interested parties of the time and place of the conference. The date, time, and location of the informal conference shall be advertised by the chief in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the coal mining operation proposed for performance security release for at least once a week for two consecutive weeks. The informal conference shall be held in the locality of the coal mining operation proposed for performance security release or in Franklin county, at the option of the objector, within thirty days after the request for the conference. An electronic or stenographic record shall be made of the conference proceeding unless waived by all parties. The record shall be maintained and shall be accessible to the parties until final release of the performance security at issue. In the event all parties requesting the informal conference stipulate agreement prior to the requested informal conference and withdraw their request, the informal conference need not be held. (7) If an informal conference has been held pursuant to division (F)(6) of this section, the chief shall issue and furnish the applicant and persons who participated in the conference with the written decision regarding the release within sixty days after the conference. Within thirty days after notification of the final decision of the chief regarding the performance security release, the applicant or any person with an interest that is or may be adversely affected by the decision may appeal the decision to the reclamation commission pursuant to section 1513.13 of the Revised Code. (8)(a) Except as provided in division (F)(8)(c) of this section, if If the chief determines that a permittee is responsible for mine drainage that requires water treatment after reclamation is completed under the terms of the permit or that a permittee must provide an alternative water supply after reclamation is completed under the terms of the permit, the permittee shall provide alternative financial security in an amount determined by the chief prior to the release of the remaining portion of performance security under division (F)(3)(c) of this section. The alternative financial security shall be in an amount that is equal to or greater than the present value of the estimated cost over time to develop and implement mine drainage plans and provide water treatment or in an amount that is necessary to provide and maintain an alternative water supply, as applicable. The alternative financial security shall include a contract, trust, or other agreement or mechanism that is enforceable under law to provide long-term water treatment or a long-term alternative water supply, or both. The contract, trust, or other agreement or mechanism included with the alternative financial security may provide for the funding of the alternative financial security incrementally over a period of time, not to exceed five years, with reliance on guarantees or other collateral provided by the permittee and approved by the chief for the balance of the alternative financial security required until the alternative financial security has been fully funded by the permittee. (b) The chief shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that are necessary for the administration of division (F)(8)(a) of this section. (c) Division (F)(8)(a) of this section does not apply while the chief's determination of a permittee's responsibility under that division is the subject of a good faith administrative or judicial appeal contesting the validity of the determination. If after completion of the appeal there is an enforceable administrative or judicial decision affirming or modifying the chief's determination, the permittee shall provide the alternative financial security in an amount established in the administrative or judicial decision If the chief determines that a permittee must provide alternative financial security under division (F)(8)(a) of this section and the performance security for the permit was provided under division (C)(2) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code, the permittee may fund the alternative financial security incrementally over a period of time, not to exceed five years, with reliance on the reclamation forfeiture fund created in section 1513.18 of the Revised Code for the balance of the alternative financial security required until the alternative financial security has been fully funded by the permittee. The permittee semiannually shall pay to the division of mineral resources management a fee that is equal to seven and one-half per cent of the average balance of the alternative financial security that is being provided by reliance on the reclamation forfeiture fund over the previous six months. All money received from the fee shall be credited to the reclamation forfeiture fund. (9) Final release of the performance security in accordance with division (F)(3)(c) of this section terminates the jurisdiction of the chief under this chapter over the reclaimed site of a surface coal mining and reclamation operation or applicable portion of an operation. However, the chief shall reassert jurisdiction over such a site if the release was based on fraud, collusion, or misrepresentation of a material fact and the chief, in writing, demonstrates evidence of the fraud, collusion, or misrepresentation. Any person with an interest that is or may be adversely affected by the chief's determination may appeal the determination to the reclamation commission in accordance with section 1513.13 of the Revised Code. (G) The chief shall adopt rules governing the criteria for forfeiture of performance security, the method of determining the forfeited amount, and the procedures to be followed in the event of forfeiture. Cash received as the result of such forfeiture is the property of the state. Sec. 1513.18. (A) All money that becomes the property of the state under division (G) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code shall be deposited in the reclamation forfeiture fund, which is hereby created in the state treasury. Disbursements from the fund shall be made by the chief of the division of mineral resources management for the purpose of reclaiming areas of land affected by coal mining under a coal mining and reclamation permit issued on or after September 1, 1981, on which an operator has defaulted. (B) The fund also shall consist of all money from the collection of liens under section 1513.081 of the Revised Code, any moneys transferred to it under section 1513.181 of the Revised Code from the coal mining and reclamation reserve fund created in that section, all money credited to the fund from the fee levied by division (F)(8)(c) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code, fines collected under division (E) of section 1513.02 and section 1513.99 of the Revised Code, fines collected for a violation of section 2921.31 of the Revised Code that, prior to July 1, 1996, would have been a violation of division (G) of section 1513.17 of the Revised Code as it existed prior to that date, and moneys collected and credited to it pursuant to section 5749.02 of the Revised Code. Disbursements from the fund shall be made by the chief in accordance with division (D) of this section for the purpose of reclaiming areas that an operator has affected by mining and failed to reclaim under a coal mining and reclamation permit issued under this chapter. The chief may expend moneys from the fund to pay necessary administrative costs, including engineering and design services, incurred by the division of mineral resources management in reclaiming these areas. The chief also may expend moneys from the fund to pay necessary administrative costs of the reclamation forfeiture fund advisory board created in section 1513.182 of the Revised Code as authorized by the board under that section. Expenditures from the fund to pay such administrative costs need not be made under contract. (C) Except when paying necessary administrative costs authorized by division (B) of this section, expenditures from the fund shall be made under contracts entered into by the chief, with the approval of the director of natural resources, in accordance with procedures established by the chief, by rules adopted in accordance with section 1513.02 of the Revised Code. The chief may reclaim the land in the same manner as set forth in sections 1513.21 to 1513.24 of the Revised Code. Each contract awarded by the chief shall be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, in accordance with section 9.312 of the Revised Code, after sealed bids are received, opened, and published at the time and place fixed by the chief. The chief shall publish notice of the time and place at which bids will be received, opened, and published, at least once and at least ten days before the date of the opening of the bids, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the area of land to be reclaimed under the contract is located. If, after advertising, no bids are received at the time and place fixed for receiving them, the chief may advertise again for bids, or, if the chief considers the public interest will best be served, the chief may enter into a contract for the reclamation of the area of land without further advertisement for bids. The chief may reject any or all bids received and again publish notice of the time and place at which bids for contracts will be received, opened, and published. The chief, with the approval of the director, may enter into a contract with the landowner, a coal mine operator or surface mine operator mining under a current, valid permit issued under this chapter or Chapter 1514. of the Revised Code, or a contractor hired by the surety or trustee, if the performance security is held in trust, to complete reclamation to carry out reclamation on land affected by coal mining on which an operator has defaulted, or with a contractor hired by the trust administrator of an alternative financial security that is provided in accordance with division (F)(8) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code to provide long-term water treatment or a long-term alternative water supply on areas affected by coal mining on which a permittee has defaulted or not fully funded an alternative financial security, without advertising for bids. (D)(1) The chief shall expend money credited to the reclamation forfeiture fund from the forfeiture of the performance security applicable to an area of land to pay for the cost of the completing reclamation of the land to the standards established by this chapter and rules adopted under it. (2) If the performance security for the area of land was provided under division (C)(1) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code, the chief shall use the money from the forfeited performance security and any alternative financial security provided under division (F)(8) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code to complete the reclamation that the operator failed to do under the operator's applicable coal mining and reclamation permit issued under this chapter. (3) If the performance security for the area of land was provided under division (C)(2) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code, the chief shall use the money from the forfeited performance security and any alternative financial security provided under division (F)(8) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code to complete the reclamation that the operator failed to do under the operator's applicable coal mining and reclamation permit issued under this chapter. If the money credited to the reclamation forfeiture fund from the forfeiture of the performance security provided under division (C)(2) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code and any alternative financial security provided under division (F)(8) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code is not sufficient to complete the reclamation to the standards established by this chapter and rules adopted under it, the chief shall notify the reclamation forfeiture fund advisory board of the amount of the insufficiency. The chief may expend money credited to the reclamation forfeiture fund under section 5749.02 of the Revised Code, credited to the reclamation forfeiture fund from the fee levied by division (F)(8)(c) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code, or transferred to the fund under section 1513.181 of the Revised Code to complete the reclamation to the standards established by this chapter and rules adopted under it. The Except as provided in division (D)(5) of this section, the chief shall not expend money from the fund in an amount that exceeds the difference between the amount of the performance security provided under division (C)(2) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code and the estimated cost of reclamation as determined by the chief under divisions (B) and (E) of that section. (4) Money Except as provided in division (D)(5) of this section, money from the reclamation forfeiture fund shall not be used for reclamation of land or water resources affected by mine drainage that requires extended water treatment after reclamation is completed under the terms of the permit. In addition, money from the reclamation forfeiture fund shall not be used to supplement the performance security of an applicant or permittee that has provided performance security in accordance with division (C)(1) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code. (5) If a permittee relies in part on the reclamation forfeiture fund for alternative financial security under division (F)(8)(c) of section 1513.16 of the Revised Code, money from the reclamation forfeiture fund may be used for reclamation of the land or water resources affected by mine drainage that requires water treatment after reclamation is completed under the terms of the permit or an alternative water supply after reclamation is completed under the terms of the permit in an amount not to exceed the balance of the alternative financial security provided by the reclamation forfeiture fund under that division. (E) The chief shall keep a detailed accounting of the expenditures from the reclamation forfeiture fund to complete reclamation of the land or water resources, as applicable, and, upon completion of the reclamation, shall certify the expenditures to the attorney general. Upon the chief's certification of the expenditures from the reclamation forfeiture fund, the attorney general shall bring an action for that amount of money. The operator is liable for that expense in addition to any other liabilities imposed by law. Moneys so recovered shall be credited to the reclamation forfeiture fund. The chief shall not postpone the reclamation because of any action brought by the attorney general under this division. Prior to completing reclamation, the chief may collect through the attorney general any additional amount that the chief believes will be necessary for reclamation in excess of the forfeited performance security and any alternative financial security amount applicable to the land or water resources that the operator should have, but failed to, reclaim. (F) Except as otherwise provided in division (H) of this section, if any part of the moneys in the reclamation forfeiture fund remains in the fund after the chief has caused the area of land to be reclaimed and has paid all the reclamation costs and expenses, the chief may expend those moneys to complete other reclamation work performed under this section on forfeiture areas affected under a coal mining and reclamation permit issued on or after September 1, 1981. (G) The chief shall require every contractor performing reclamation work pursuant to this section to pay workers at the greater of their regular rate of pay, as established by contract, agreement, or prior custom or practice, or the average wage rate paid in this state for the same or similar work as determined by the chief under section 1513.02 of the Revised Code. (H) All investment earnings of the fund shall be credited to the fund and shall be used only for the reclamation of land for which performance security was provided under division (C)(2) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code. Sec. 1513.371. There is hereby created in the state treasury the mined land set aside fund consisting of grants made by the United States secretary of the interior from the federal abandoned mine reclamation fund pursuant to section 402 of the "Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977," 91 Stat. 445, 30 U.S.C. 1232. The chief of the division of mineral resources management shall administer the fund. Money in the fund shall be used solely for the purposes specified in divisions (B)(1) to (4)(3), (5), and (6) of section 1513.37 of the Revised Code. All investment earnings of the fund shall be credited to the fund. SECTION 2. That existing sections 1513.07, 1513.073, 1513.075, 1513.081, 1513.16, 1513.18, and 1513.371 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

2019-04-21T04:38:49Z

http://archives.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_HB_163

I really, really hate cooking. It’s something that stresses me out, rather than relaxes me. I don’t take pleasure being in the kitchen and I get annoyed at how easily a mess is made when I’m cooking. I don’t even particularly enjoy home-cooked meals, at least not at the level other people seem to. If it was financially feasible (and healthy) to eat most of my meals out, I would. I’ve been fighting with this side of myself for a long time. Every healthy living blog I follow talks about spending hours in the kitchen on a Sunday meal prepping, and has all of these elaborate recipes to try, and none of that appeals to me. Sure, I could attempt it and would probably do it for a few weeks before I’d get burned out. But if I really want to build a sustainable healthy life, I need to stop fighting against my absolute hatred for cooking. I need to accept it and figure out how to eat healthy without requiring hours and hours of time in the kitchen. Enter, meal delivery services. I’ve heard about them before but I always get a little spooked when I look at the prices. It’s not cheap because you’re paying a lot for the convenience. In January, I decided to give it a try just as an experiment. I selected Catered Fit as my meal delivery service of choice because, well, they came up first in my Google search (the power of SEO, my friends). They also seemed to offer a pretty reasonable rate for their delivery service. So, I signed up. I was hoping this would be a great kick start for me, allowing me to lose some of the weight I put on over the holidays and showing me a sustainable way to eat healthy on a daily basis. I wasn’t sure how long I wanted to try the service. I just knew I wanted to give it an honest attempt and see if this was the answer to all my healthy living woes. Catered Fit has a wide range of programs you can try. They have programs for vegans and vegetarians, as well as athletes and those following a Paleo diet. You could also choose to add on extra items, like snacks, dessert, cold-pressed juices, and cold-brew coffee. I opted for the combo package, getting two fully cooked meals delivered right to my door every day (they were delivered between 3pm-9pm the day before). Typically, I chose something for lunch and something for dinner, my two biggest downfalls when it comes to healthy eating. All I had to do was pop the container of food into the microwave for a few minutes, and voila, lunch (or dinner) was served. At first, I was really excited about this program. Every Wednesday afternoon, I got an email telling me that next week’s menu was up and I would hurriedly rush over to the Catered Fit member portal to look at my meals. In those first two weeks, I was salivating over the menu options and most days, I had trouble selecting just two meals. This impressed me because there were only six meals to choose from (three for lunch and three for dinner) and I am an incredibly picky eater, so I thought I would have a hard time choosing even one meal. The other thing that impressed me? How friggin delicious every meal was! I was half-expecting each meal to taste like a Lean Cuisine (because that’s what they always reminded me of) but they were so tasty. I guess it helps that each meal was made fresh daily, not something flash frozen and then just heated up. Out of the 34 meals I received, I think there were less than five that I didn’t enjoy. Mostly, I gobbled up every meal and felt so satisfied with it. I didn’t feel like I was depriving myself or on some crazy diet. I also loved getting my nightly deliveries because I was always surprised by the meals. Since I had made my selections sometimes a week prior, I always forgot about what I requested until I opened up my freezer bag to see what was inside. It was like a little present to open! So, what caused me to cancel my membership when it all seemed to be so perfect? There were a few things that prompted the decision. First, during the third week on the program, when I clicked over to the member portal to pick my meals, I was disappointed in the selection. Nothing appealed me. The meals were a little too outside my comfort zone or something I knew I wouldn’t like. I ended up picking meals for each day but I didn’t get that feeling of satisfaction when I finally finished selecting my meals. I also ended up canceling one day of deliveries because there was absolutely nothing on the menu that I wanted. I was hoping it was a fluke. This week was also a weird week for me in general, since I had dinner plans one night and lunch plans two other days, so I had to pick out breakfast and lunch/dinner rather than just lunches and dinner. (And I wasn’t too impressed by their breakfast options; they definitely weren’t filling enough for me.) But the same thing happened the next week, and it was really disheartening. But the main reason why I canceled my Catered Fit membership was the price. I just could not justify spending nearly $150 a week for ten meals. I try to average $75 a week in groceries, so I was basically spending double the price. The convenience was nice. It was so nice to not have the think about meal prepping or cooking or doing the dishes. It’s so much easier to not talk myself into swinging by McDonald’s on my way home when I know all I have to do for dinner is heat up my meal. But, ultimately, I couldn’t justify the cost anymore. I think I would like to have Catered Fit as an option for weeks when I’m too busy to think about grocery shopping or cooking but want to eat healthy, home-cooked meals. Or for weeks when I’m feeling uninspired by cooking. But it’s just not something I can do regularly. The bottom line is, would I recommend Catered Fit? Absolutely. Unfortunately, the service is only available in California and Florida, but there are most likely similar options near you. I think it’s a great program and I had a really fun time using it. I would highly recommend checking out some sort of meal delivery service and just trying it out for a few weeks, especially if you’re like me and hate cooking. It was a good experiment but now I’m ready to figure out how to make eating healthy sustainable and budget friendly. Have you ever done a meal delivery service like this? Hello, friends, and happy Friday! It’s the last Friday of the month, which means it’s time to check in on my 30×30 goal. Here’s the truth: until I weighed myself this morning, I had no idea whether or not I even came close to my goal of losing 6 lbs this month. I haven’t actually stepped on a scale since my last weigh-in, a decision I made consciously. I find that weighing myself constantly can be detrimental on my mental health and I decided I would just keep my scale tucked away in my closet for the month. Instead, I would make healthy choices and not base how I felt about myself and the movement I was making toward my goal on whether or not I had lost the appropriate pounds. Which brings me to this conundrum I’m having with my 30×30 goal. I knew when I made this goal that I was setting myself to base how I felt about turning 30 on my weight. If November 28 rolls around and I’m only 10 lbs lighter than I was six months ago, does that mean everything was a waste? Does that mean I didn’t try hard enough, didn’t believe in myself enough? I don’t want to turn 30 with disappointment. I want to turn 30 with excitement. But I also really like doing these check ins. They keep me honest. They keep me pressing forward even when I don’t want to. So I’m thinking of changing this from a “30×30” check-in to a “Healthy Living Update” sort of post. A place for me to come and celebrate my success and my failures, to set goals, and to provide a monthly weigh-in. It’s something I’m pondering, that’s all. I guess you’ll have to wait until next month (err… September) to find out what I decide! Dun. Dun. Duuuuun. I stopped logging my calories. Yep. It just happened one day where I realized I didn’t want to spend all day every day meticulously measuring out and logging my calories. Now, to be clear, I’m still measuring what I eat when necessary, so I haven’t gone off the rails or anything. And if I feel like I’ve had a particularly calorie-heavy or low-calorie day, I’ll jump onto MyFitnessPal to log what I ate and see if I’m in the right range. But I know my body very well at this point and I know what I need to eat. (It’s just a matter of doing it and not turning down my healthy dinner plans for Chick-Fil-A.) It feels more intuitive to do it this way. I’m just listening to my body and trying to choose the healthy options when I’m hungry. I’m working out at least six days a week and doing spin three times a week. Yes, yes, yes! This is by far the easiest part of healthy living for me. I love my gym so much and I’m working out six days a week. I’m doing spin three days a week (and honestly, I’m thinking about upping it to four days! I am so obsessed, you guys.) I’m also trying to do my strength training class at least once a week (twice if my schedule allows) as well as one long walk a week. And when I’m not in a class, I’m hitting the elliptical and step machine for interval workouts. I’m also regularly hitting my step goal (6,000 steps), so that’s awesome, too! I cut out my mid-day chocolate treat! This was one of the hardest things to cut out because it’s just become a habit to have something sweet after lunch. Usually, I buy a bag of bite-size chocolates and eat two or three with after lunch. And having two or three pieces of chocolate on a daily basis isn’t exactly what led to my being overweight, but it’s the fact that I had this bag to pick from throughout the day, until I was eating the equivalent of a candy bar every day. Or I was having a few chocolates during the day and then dessert at night, and so I was taking in way too many calories, fat, and sugar from these treats, leading to my weight problems. Sweets is truly what kills me when it comes to eating healthy. I have a raging sweet tooth that I cannot ever seem to get under control. I know it is possible to get a sweet tooth under control and I’m working hard to make it happen. Step A was removing this mid-day chocolate treat. So, it wasn’t a bad month at all when it comes to overall healthy living. I could have done better, yes, but I tried my best and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. So, what were my results from this month? I lost 2 lbs, bringing my total weight loss to 6 lbs. It was disappointing to get on the scale this morning and see that number, but it doesn’t tell the whole picture of my journey this month. It doesn’t tell the story of how my clothes are fitting better and my body feels stronger. Perhaps I’m building muscle or perhaps this just wasn’t the month for me. But that’s okay. I still lost weight and I still worked hard every day to be a healthier, fitter person. I set some goals at the end of June, so let’s review and see how I did! Unsuccessful. Weekends are just hard, that’s all there is to it. I try to do a double workout on Saturdays (which includes an hour-long spin class) to counteract my eating, ha. But I just like giving myself a break on the weekends. I didn’t work out daily, but I did work out six days a week. I’ll consider it a success! Success! I cut out that mid-day sweet and feel all the more better for it. In August, I’m not going to set a weight loss goal. I’m going to track my weight and report it here, but I’m going to try not to judge my month by how much weight I lost. (“Try.” That’s not always easy.) Instead, I’ll judge it by the goals I set and if I worked hard towards living a healthier lifestyle. It’s time for my first 30×30 recap! It’s been a little over a month since I first announced this challenge and I’ve been hard at work at losing weight. For the most part, I am really enjoying myself with working out more, eating better, and feeling more in control of my eating. I’m not perfect and have had some harder days in the past couple weeks than normal, but that’s life, right? Let’s discuss this past month! Eating healthy Monday-Friday: I’ve found it easy-ish to eat healthy during the week. Now, I’m not talking about eating kale salads and green smoothies every day, but I’m trying to make healthy recipes, track what I’m eating, measure out my food, etc. I’m staying within my calorie limit most days. I know I could do a whole lot better, but baby steps. Right now, I just need to focus on eating less crap and staying within normal portion sizes, and that’s what I’m doing. Working out at least four times a week: My gym unexpectedly closed from the beginning of June right up until this Tuesday, and that was a huge hit to my workout schedule. Luckily, I was able to use other gyms in the area, but the closest one was 30 minutes away, so I only managed four workouts a week usually. (Before the gym closed, I was working out daily.) But four workouts is still great and I’m pleased with my exercise schedule. Healthy lady dates: Once I told my friend, B., about my goal of losing 30 lbs by my 30th birthday, she suggested we turn our usually unhealthy lady dates into healthy lady dates. We’ve gone for long walks in a local park, cooked a healthy dinner and dessert, and made healthy homemade pizzas. It’s been nice to have someone supporting me so wholeheartedly in this journey! Drinking more water and less soda: Soda has always been my biggest temptation. I love it. I’ve given it up before, and I know how bad it is for me, but there’s truly nothing like an ice-cold Dr. Pepper. (And no, La Croix is not the same. I know. I’ve tried.) I’d rather just limit the amount of soda I drink than totally give it up, so that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m down to just one a day and want to continue limiting it until I’m drinking just one or two a week. Eating healthy on the weekends. I designated Saturday as my “cheat day,” and I know people have strong opinions on cheat days. I know all the disadvantages of them, but they work for me. I like having a day where I don’t have to think so much about what I’m eating and the calories and measuring everything out. I like coming to my cheat day feeling I’ve earned it. I’m a fan, is what I’m saying. I think, though, I may move my cheat day to Sunday so that Monday is the first day of my “week.” I just haven’t been successful at starting back to eating healthy on Sundays. We’ll see! Feeling overwhelmed towards the end of the month. Sometimes, healthy living feels so overwhelming. I feel like I’m constantly on edge, waiting for the next temptation or craving to hit. I also feel like I have so far to go in terms of healthy eating – I just don’t enjoy it and it feels so hard to try to make the healthy choice. I know it will get easier, and nothing worth having comes easy, but man is it hard to get through when you’re in the thick of it. What’s the hardest part of healthy living for you? I’m turning 30 in six months. It’s one of those frightening milestone birthdays that makes a person question their life, their choices, where they’re going. I don’t feel fear about turning 30. My brother turned 30 last year, and he didn’t really want to talk about getting older. He’s married with two kids, yet turning 30 was a frightening proposition for him. I’m single, have yet to have a serious boyfriend in my life, and my “kid” is my 15-year-old dachshund. But I’m not scared about turning 30. I’m not fearful about getting older. For the most part, I love my life. I love my job, my friends, my family. I love my dog, my blog, my hobbies. I’m dating and meeting new people and hoping that someday soon, I’ll go on that first date that blows every other first date out of the water. It will happen, I just have to trust the process. But there’s a part of my life where I am incredibly unhappy and that’s my weight. I’m going to opt for brutal honesty here because that’s what this blog is all about: at present, I’m about 50 lbs overweight. It’s horrifying to say that, to recognize how much weight I have put on since college. But it’s the truth of the matter and pretending that I don’t have a substantial amount of weight to lose isn’t helping me. I haven’t been doing much to lose this weight. I joined a gym, I try to eat healthy during the week, and I’ve cut fast food out of my diet (for the most part), but I haven’t really put forth an effort to lose weight and it shows. The majority of my twenties have been spent hating my body and not treating it well. I’ve hidden myself in pictures, content for selfies over full-body shots. I try not to look at myself in the mirror if I can help it, and have developed a wardrobe that’s filled with a lot of black – because black hides the fat. I don’t want my thirties to be like this. I don’t want to spend this next decade hating my body and fighting with my weight. I want to be happy with my reflection, and that starts with weight loss. Look, I want to be all “rah, rah, body positivity” because that’s a thing now, but that’s not me. I’ve tried it. But the truth is, I’m not happy at this weight, I’m not healthy at this weight, and if I don’t take control now, I’m going to run into major health issues in the next decade or so. I don’t want to feel embarrassed when I step on a scale at a doctor’s office. I don’t want to have to worry that if I wear a certain dress, I’ll be asked when my “baby is due.” I don’t want to feel shame when I look at full-body photos of myself. And I know how I feel when I’m losing weight. When I’m exercising at a higher intensity multiple times a week. When I cook good food for myself and stay away from soda and sugar. When I drink lots of water and reach for healthy snacks. I feel proud, empowered, excited, thrilled. I feel in control. I feel like the way I am supposed to feel. So, where does all of this fit in with turning 30, you may ask? That’s where my 30×30 challenge comes in. I am challenging myself to lose 30 lbs by my 30th birthday. I am planning to have a fun party to celebrate my birthday, and I want to feel damn good at this party. And I know if I show up 30 lbs slimmer, I will. And look, I know weight loss can be a touchy subject and it could be the worst thing in the world to base my happiness on whether or not I’m able to lose 30 lbs over the next six months… but I also know that it can’t hurt to try. I’ll be journaling my progress over the next six months, doing a monthly check-in on how I’m doing and where I’m at in my weight loss. Losing 30 lbs in six months equals out to five lbs a month, which can be a tall order, but I’m ready for it. I am so ready for it. Basically, I’m at a crossroads here and I can either work my hardest to lose weight and feel good about myself again, or continue on this path and watch the weight continue to creep up. I’m opting for the full throttle mission. Not because of a desire to be skinny, but because of a desire to be happy with myself. I don’t think there’s a better 30th birthday present I could give to myself. I used to be obsessed with healthy living. I used to follow healthy living bloggers religiously, counted calories like it was my job, and beat myself up if I missed a day of exercise. I was at my skinniest during my freshman year of college. I walked everywhere, went to the gym five days a week for an hour, and ate Subway nearly every day. I was around 120 lbs, a size two in jeans and a size small in dresses. I joked that if I were to lose any more weight – and of course I wanted to lose 10 more lbs – I’d have to start shopping in the kids section. Then real life intruded and I started commuting to school. I was taking a full course load, working 30 hours a week, and doing an internship. I didn’t have time to exercise, I spent more time sitting around, and I just shoved junk food in my mouth whenever I had a free moment to breathe. The weight began to slowly creep on. Every time I looked in the mirror, I hated that girl more and more. I hated her for who she couldn’t be. I hated her for not having more self-control or motivation or respect for herself. I whispered lies to that girl in the mirror. Lies that told her she wasn’t good enough. That she’d never find someone who would love her. That she wasn’t worthy of that. As I look back on that time of my life, that time when I hated who I was because my mirror didn’t reflect the societal ideal, my heart breaks for my younger self. I want to go back to her, wrap her up in my arms, and whisper that it’s all going to be okay. I want to tell her that what she looks like has no bearing on who she is as a person, and that anyone who would judge a person based on the size of their pants wasn’t worthy for her. It would be nice to get back to that 19-year-old skinny girl (though, of course, I never saw myself as skinny back then, as women are wont to do), but do I want to commit to 1,200 calorie days and five hour-long workouts every week? Or daily Subway? No, not really. There’s very little enjoyment in that kind of life. When your days are spent carefully measuring out every morsel of food you eat and tracking everything you consume… it leaves little room for spontaneity. It makes social functions difficult because all you can do is worry about what you can eat that will keep you at my ideal calorie limit for the day. And let’s not even get into all the different ways to beat yourself up when you don’t eat in the way you were supposed to. Like ordering chicken wings with dinner instead of a side salad. I want to enjoy the chicken wings because good goddamn, chicken wings are delicious! And life is not lived on side salads alone. I just want more from my life. Food is meant for fuel, but it is also meant to be enjoyed. That is, essentially, what it is biologically designed to do. When I’m counting calories or measuring out specific servings, food becomes less about enjoyment and more about punishment. It turns eating into a moral dilemma, and makes me feel as if I’m being a good, disciplined person when I eat healthy foods and a bad, unmotivated person when I opt for the more fattening or carb-heavy foods. Food is not inherently good or bad. It is just food. Following my meal plan doesn’t make me a good person anymore than having a 2,000-calorie day makes me a bad one. It just makes me a person who eats. Some days, my meals will be healthy and some days, the chicken wings will be ordered with my dinner. And I refuse to feel bad about making that call. It’s just not worth it to me. It means I’ll probably never be that size-two skinny girl I was at 19. But that girl also couldn’t see past the 10 lbs she still wanted to lose, the stomach that wasn’t quite as flat as she wished it to be, the legs that still hadn’t acquired thigh gap. She was thin, but she didn’t accept her body as it was. That’s what this all comes down to: body acceptance. Once we can learn to accept our bodies, love them for what they look like and do for us, that’s where the magic happens. That’s when we begin to look at healthy living as something we do, not something we strive for. Think about it this way: when we diet, we’re acting out of a place of fear. Fear of gaining weight and therefore appearing less worthy in the eyes of society, fear of not making the morally conscious choice when we eat. But when we take diets out of the equation and just eat in a way that intuitively feels good – meaning, some nights you want the chicken wings and other nights you want the side salad and not beating yourself up for ordering the wings or praising yourself for ordering the salad – we can truly start living in freedom. Freedom from worrying about how we’re eating and what we’re eating… freedom to just eat what feels good in the moment and owning our decisions. I used to be obsessed with healthy living because I used to be obsessed with thinness. Aren’t we all, living in a thin-privileged, fat-phobic world? To be thin is to be beautiful, to be thin is to be on the right path. But I don’t want to be the girl who obsesses over calories, over good foods and bad foods, over the number on the scale. That’s not healthy living to me. Healthy living to me is loving my body as it is today and treating it well by making sure it gets exercise and good foods and plenty of water. It means eating food as it is biologically designed – for pleasure and for enjoyment. It means not worrying so much about being thin and perfectly toned, but instead appreciating and celebrating my body for what it does for me right now. Self care is one of my favorite topics, so much so that I’ve been on a mission to help friends of mine think about self care and how to implement routines into their daily lives. I think it’s one of the strongest acts of self kindness, to understand what self care means to you and how to ensure you are taking care of yourself in this way. Self care is about the actions you take to provide a little TLC to your physical, emotional, or mental health. It’s intentional practices that you put in place to help you when you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, tired, anxious, sad, or upset. In doing so, you trigger your body to begin to relax, calm down, and get centered. It provides a routine to leave your worries behind, if only for a little bit. Bubble baths – Yes, I know that this is a pretty basic self-care practice, but it truly is my most favorite one. I take a bubble bath almost daily, usually right after I get home from work. I make the water as hot as I can handle it, squeeze out soap (I use regular body wash; nothing fancy here!), and then sink into the warm water and bubbles with a book. There’s truly nothing more euphoric for me than the moment when I submerge my body below the bubbles. Naps – I love taking naps more than anything in this world. My affinity for napping is probably why I’m so hesitant about children. (I hear there’s something about getting less sleep as a mother? Ehhhh.) There’s something so delightful about crawling into a cool bed on a warm afternoon day and falling into a deep sleep with my snoring dachshund by my side. Five minutes of sunshine – I use this self-care practice mostly at work, when I’m feeling stressed out or anxious and need a break. I take myself downstairs to this beautiful deck area that is quiet and has a great view of the water. I soak in the sunshine, let my mind wander, and enjoy the quiet. It’s blissful. Taking a day to read a trashy romance novel – If I’m feeling particularly overwhelmed and overstimulated, I’ll spend a Saturday stretched out on my bed reading a romance novel. I have a few authors I can always count on for giving me a book I won’t want to put down. It feels so indulgent and truly helps my mental well-being. Baking – I used this self-care routine when I moved a year ago and was feeling lost and anxious. Baking centered me. It’s such a precise science, baking is, and it requires your full attention. The end result is something sweet and tasty, and since I’m an emotional eater, that also takes care of this need for self care. Going for a walk while listening to a podcast – I don’t do this as often as I’d like because there aren’t too many great walking paths around me (other than Bayshore Blvd, which isn’t my favorite). But I do love a long walk by myself where I can listen to a podcast and get lost in my thoughts. You’ll notice that all of my self-care routines are solo activities and that’s because I’m a highly sensitive introvert that needs a ton of alone time to recharge. I typically indulge in self care when I need this recharging, and then I’m free to get out there and socialize with friends and colleagues. Extroverts (and introverts who aren’t highly sensitive) might enjoy having a long phone conversation with a good friend, window shopping at the mall, or going to the beach for the day. We all have different self-care needs and it’s up to us to build these routines into our lives so that we have an action plan in place when we need to slow down. What self-care routines do you use? Quitting dairy was the very last item on my “Find Out What’s Causing My Chronic Congestion” to-do list. I’ve been struggling with this issue since I moved to Tampa five months ago, and I am pretty sure it’s related to allergies, but I wanted to exhaust every possible scenario before opting for an ENT specialist. So far I have tried: prescription allergy meds, saline sprays, a neti pot, hypoallergenic pillows, a humidifier, an essential oil diffuser, nasal sprays, and Breathe-Right strips. I even had the maintenance team at my apartment community do a mold inspection. Though, since these apartments were built in 2014, I was pretty certain they wouldn’t find anything. They didn’t. So, dairy. Dairy is on the list of things to eliminate if you struggle with congestion. I’ve always had a certain sensitivity to milk, but it’s never been something that has affected my life so much that I needed to eliminate it. I just… need to be close to a bathroom after drinking a Frappuccino, is what I’m saying. But, I figured, let’s try eliminating dairy! Who knows… maybe my sensitivity morphed into a full-blown allergy and just randomly coincided with my move. Stranger things have happened, right? Last week, I eliminated dairy from my life and it led to some really interesting epiphanies on my end. First of all, I never realized how much dairy I consume on a daily basis. I drink a cup of coffee with full-fat creamer most mornings. I like pizza and pizza rolls and cheddar-and-bacon potato skins and cereal with cow’s milk and sub sandwiches with mayo and butter on my veggies. I like cheese – string cheese, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, all of the cheese. And chocolate. Oh, do I love chocolate. Milk chocolate, not dark chocolate. I love creamy, delicious, soothing milk chocolate. My diet? Was going to have to go through a drastic shift for this dairy-free experiment. But I did it. I went a week without eating dairy. (Mostly, I had some oops-I-didn’t-realize-this-contained-dairy-until-I-ate-it moments.) It was a good week and it was a bad week, and I want to start with what didn’t go so well. I derive a lot of enjoyment from food, and I love looking forward to a meal. I did not look forward to any of my meals during this experiment. What I ate was fine: Nutrigrain waffles with peanut butter, salads, clementines, chicken and rice, etc. But it was just… food. It tasted good, but it didn’t excite me. I want my food to excite me. Dairy is in every good thing in this world. Eating out was fairly impossible, which is why it only happened twice for me. I even had to turn down pizza and cake at my nephew’s birthday party, and I think I may have hurt my sister-in-law’s feelings in the process. (Oof. Not intentional!) And dairy is in everything. I didn’t realize this until I started taking a look at the ingredient list for many of my favorite foods. How does someone with a sweet tooth eat dairy-free? Riddle me this, Batman, I want to know. I was so hungry the whole week. This was probably the hardest part of this week. I was hungry every single day. It makes sense, though: dairy has a lot of protein and in the process of eliminating dairy, I essentially eliminated a good chunk of protein. Rookie mistake. The first few days were outrageously hard. But aren’t they always? It was hard not to give up. I desperately wanted to in those first few days when I was so hungry. I knew I just needed to get over a hump, and it would be smooth sailing from there, but man, getting over that hump is so damn hard. Okay, so now that I’ve laid out the difficult parts of last week, let’s dive into the positive aspects of my dairy-free experiment! Sigh, this always happens when I clean up my diet and start exercising more frequently. My sleep improves! I feel great! My energy levels are up! And yet… I’ve never been able to stick with eating healthy for the long-term. But this week… let’s just say I finally slept soundly, which leads into the next point. !!!!! Okay, okay, I was sorta hoping the congestion wouldn’t clear up because I didn’t want to actually have to consider eliminating dairy full-time. But my congestion really cleared up. Not completely, but enough to make a huge difference in my sleep and, to be dramatic, my life. Essentially, eliminating dairy from my diet did exactly what I wanted it to do – it helped to clear up my congestion. That said, I am going to see a doctor about my congestion. My congestion never fully went away, so I think it’s time to get a specialist involved. Even still, I am truly interested in eating mostly dairy free. It was a hard week, I won’t lie, but it also felt really good. I lost 3 lbs, which is a feat for me lately, and I was sleeping better. I want to aim for the 80/20 rule – 80% of the time I eat dairy free with 20% allowed for indulgences. Pizza with friends, dessert at book club, things like that. My plan for the week after my dairy-free experiment was to begin reintroducing different dairy products into my diet to test how my body reacted to them. And I’ve been doing that, and in the process, my congestion has come back with a vengeance. It is quite frustrating, but it just shows me that my body is now reacting differently to dairy than it has in the past. That’s life, right? Bodies are weird, complex organisms and we have to learn how to adapt to them. Also? I’m really proud of myself for sticking with eating dairy-free, especially when it was intensely difficult, and not giving up. That’s something to be proud of, no matter what. Have you ever experimented with eating dairy-free? What’s the Point of Healthy Living? I’ve made a concentrated effort to not talk about healthy living on my blog as much as I used to. Mainly because my attempts to write about this topic never seemed to have much use, other than to complain about how hard it is. And to make excuses for why I’m not losing weight. I could write an entire post doing both right now, if I wanted to. But I don’t want to. Because I’m tired of complaining and making excuses. I’m tired of feeling that I’m just not good enough because I can’t seem to get it. I’m tired of feeling sad when I look in the mirror, discontent about who I am as a person because there’s too much of me in my reflection. I think the crux of any healthy living journey is not so much about the physical. It’s not about exercising more, drinking more water, eating more fruits and veggies, eating less processed food, calorie counting, or portion control. The crux of a healthy living journey begins when we start taking a good, long, hard look at ourselves and discover that the way we treat ourselves, the way we talk about ourselves, and the way we believe our worth has more to do with the number on the scale than who we are inside is where it all begins. I’m not very kind to myself. I berate myself when I mess up and don’t work out on a day I said I would. I whisper lies to myself when I’m standing in the bathroom, looking at my naked reflection and hating every single inch of my skin. I tell myself that I am not worthy to be loved. That I am useless because I’m not following a healthy lifestyle. I wonder on a daily basis why people even like me – because I am fat. And fat equals unlikeable somehow, at least in my mind. The truth of the matter is that I know these are lies. I know I am a wonderful person. I am smart and funny and kind to others. I make people laugh, I lift their spirits. I’m a hard worker and a go-getter. I’m understanding and trustworthy. My weight has no bearing on the person I am inside. If I lost 50 lbs and really embraced a healthy lifestyle like I keep saying I want to, my worth would not change. Skinny people are no more worthy of love, attention, and affection than overweight people. We are all worthy. We are all deserving. For the longest time, my attempts at losing weight have been less about being healthier and more about finding my worth on the scale. I thought that if I was skinnier, if I didn’t have weight problems, my life would magically be better. As if the only thing holding me back from living a life I loved was my weight. It’s probably because I’ve been told this, time and time again, in the media and on reality TV shows (The Biggest Loser is such a dangerous show to watch when you struggle with weight-related self-image problems). I’ve been told that being overweight holds us back from so much – love, friendship, travel, happiness – and that once we lose the weight, everything will fall into place! Like magic. Now, in a sense, that’s true. Because you develop more self-confidence and a greater appreciation for your life and yourself by going through a tough weight loss journey. I’m not denying that. But I also think the true weight loss journey begins when we begin to unpack the lies we tell ourselves about who we are. And realize that healthy living is a form of self-care, not a form of self-torture. Healthy living is about choosing to take care of ourselves. It’s one of the greatest acts of self-care. That’s the point of health living. And when healthy living becomes more about feeling better inside than it does about looking better outside, that’s when change happens. That’s when we begin to restructure the way we talk about ourselves and our bodies. And, in turn, begin to choose whole foods and find exercise routines that fulfill us because we want to, not because we feel we have to in order to live up to some skinny ideal. I do want to lose weight. But more than that, I want to be kinder to myself. Because I deserve that. Because my worth doesn’t change, no matter what the scale says. Because good god can we stop being so damned obsessed with our bodies and our weight and how we look? Does it really matter in the long run? Is this what people on their death beds worry about? No. Not at all. Not even a little bit. What matters is how we lived, how we treated others and ourselves. The point of healthy living is about so much more than the calories we consume and the workouts we accomplish. I don’t need to lose weight because it means I’ll be a better human being if I do so. It’s not about checking off a goal on the list. The point of healthy living is feeding my body good, whole foods because I appreciate my body and all it does for me, and because I want to treat it well. It’s about exercising in a way that makes me feel good – not because I feel I have to, but because I want to, because I know I am improving my heart health and overall well-being. And the point of healthy living is also about how we treat ourselves. The words we say to ourselves, in the quiet of a bathroom as we stare at our reflection. And the berating? The whispered lies? That is something I’m no longer going to accept. I wouldn’t be friends with someone who called me fat or lazy or worthless or dumb. So why do I not hold myself to the same standards? We have to hold ourselves to the same standards. Healthy living? It’s something I don’t have a complete grasp on. But I’m continually working towards it. And I’m working towards it because I want to treat my body – and myself – well, not because I have to in order to prove my worth. But I plopped down the money for the race, my mom reserved the hotel, and we asked for time off from work. We were going to travel to Savannah just to run a 5k. Yep, yep, yep! It’s been two-and-a-half months now, and I’ve been training. Somewhat. I started by using the Couch-to-5k program, but I wasn’t liking it. Then, I tried forcing myself to run as far as I could at one time, and running a little bit farther each subsequent run. But that just made me hate my life. Then, I tried an interval running program where I would run for 1/4 a mile, walk 1/4 a mile, run 1/4 a mile, walk 1/4 a mile, and so on and so forth. The interval training has been working the best for me. It pushes me, it makes me feel strong, and it’s giving me confidence that maybe race day won’t be so miserable. I know I won’t get any sort of personal record on Saturday. I am hoping to finish in under 45 minutes, which yes, is very slow, but that feels doable for me. I am not a fast runner, nor am I a fast walker. All I am hoping is that I enjoy myself, that I try my best and don’t beat myself up if I don’t make the 45 minute goal time. Throughout training for a 5k, though, it has really been eye-opening for me to discover that, as much as I think I want to be a runner, it’s not something I love. Plain and simple. I never look forward to my runs, I grumble and whine during my runs, and I’m usually left wishing I had tried harder at the end of my runs. It’s just not fun for me. To be honest, I think the reason why I want to become a runner is because it’s another thing to share with my mom. She’s the real runner in the family, my inspiring two-time marathoner. And though we have just about everything in the world in common, I think I just have to accept that we won’t have this. This hobby that means so much to her, is something that makes me miserable. I love spinning, and I used to do it all the time when I had a gym membership. It’s such a great workout, and it pushes me way past my comfort zone. But I have a gym at my apartment, so it’s hard to cough up a monthly membership fee. That said, we have LA Fitness locations throughout St. Pete and Tampa, all of which offer cycling classes that fit perfectly with my schedule, and it’s only $30 a month. I am seriously considering membership there, if only to have access to spin whenever I want. My apartment gym is tiny, but it has worked for my needs for the past few years. The gym consists of free weights, weight machines, two treadmills, two ellipticals, and a stationary bike. I really love jumping on a cardio machine for a workout because I can zone out and go. (Bonus: my apartment gym has wi-fi, so I can watch Netflix while I work out, too.) Plus, it’s super convenient because it’s a 24/7 gym and just steps away from my apartment. Well, not just any workout DVDs. I’m talking Jillian Michaels, my favorite being Ripped in 30. Jillian Michaels is a tough trainer, and her DVDs absolutely crush me. I struggle through them, even doing modifications, but I love them because they combine strength, cardio, and ab work into a quick 30-minute program. And there’s nothing like seeing improvements in your fitness level and/or body! Pinterest is my go-to resource for finding at-home circuit training workouts to complete. I have a bunch saved on my workout board, and I think I’ve tried each of them at least once. I get bored very easily with workouts, so I constantly need to find new and interesting workouts to try. I love doing a circuit workout when I don’t feel like walking over to the gym, but I still want to get my heart pumping. And I love doing these at home because I can go at my own pace. Oh! And another great resource for circuit training is the Nike Training Club, which is an app. The workouts are a little too advanced for my fitness level, but I wanted to mention them for anyone looking to amp up their workouts. My favorite way to work out, hands down. I love strength training. It feels so good! It makes me feel strong and powerful and capable, and nothing beats that muscle soreness after a good strength training workout. I call it “toilet sore” because it hurts just to sit on the toilet. Ha. I really, really want to work strength training back into my normal workout regime again. I miss it so much! So, those are my workout loves! It’s difficult to figure out what should take precedence because I’m not someone who wants to work out two hours a day, every day. For me, 30 minutes on weekdays and an hour on weekends is what I commit to because I just really treasure my time spent on the couch. 😉 I know my limits and I know how much time I’m willing to put in to working out. I’m spending this week in race training mode, but once next week rolls around, I’m switching things up dramatically! Most likely, I won’t be joining a gym anytime soon (especially because, at LA Fitness, there’s a $100 sign-up fee, ugh), but I have plenty of resources at my disposal for other workouts, like cardio machines, strength training, and workout DVDs. My plan, most likely, is to start using Ripped in 30 for weekday workouts and use my weekends for longer workouts, like 30 minutes on the elliptical and then 15-30 minutes of strength training. That’s the whole key to this life thing, you know? Do what you love. Push yourself and try new things, but if you don’t love that new thing? Stop doing that thing. Find what you love, and embrace it. Don’t apologize for it. I am just not a runner. I can safely say I have tried to become a runner, and it just is not a workout that suits my personality or my desires. But there are workouts I do love, and I want to spend more time on those workouts than on something that doesn’t make me feel good. Way back in early May, when I wrote my reading recap for the books I read in April, I talked about a book called The Willpower Instinct, written by Kelly McGonigal. It was a thoroughly interesting read, and I took notes upon notes while working my way through the book. As someone who struggles with her weight, and pursuing other goals, I love reading about willpower, self-control, and how our brains react to different environments. It’s a book I could definitely see myself reading again and again because it was so insightful, and also very well-written. McGonigal has a witty, easy writing style and I found myself chuckling during a few parts of the book. Today, I wanted to rehash some of the lessons I learned while reading this book. It was hard to nail down to just four lessons because this book was chock-full of insights that had my mind buzzing and things clicking as I related it to my own life. But, for the purposes of this blog, I’ll stick with four. If you’re intrigued enough, I highly suggest buying the book and reading it yourself. It’s worth the read! Lesson #1: We are primed to think about what we want to avoid. It’s actually a scientific theory and it’s called ironic rebound. It’s the “psychological tendency to fall deeper in desire whenever a romance is forbidden.” So when you tell yourself you can’t have cookies, or use your credit card, or have fast food… well, guess what the number one thought you’ll be thinking of is? What happens when we tell ourselves we can’t have something, our brain starts working in overdrive. One part of our brain works hard to keep us from thinking about that forbidden thought. This part of our brain is in charge of self-control and wastes a ton of mental energy performing this task. And then, another part of our brain is “looking for any evidence that you are thinking, feeling, or doing whatever you don’t want to think, feel, or do.” Now, this part of the brain, has processes that are more automatic and they waste very little mental energy. So what can we do? Let go. Stop trying to control your thoughts and just let them come and let them go. Studies have shown that when we give ourselves permission to think a forbidden thought, it actually reduces the likelihood we are to think that thought. THE BRAIN IS CRAY. CRAY, I TELL YOU. Lesson #2: Self-control is not punishment. I know I can be someone who rewards myself when I work really hard toward a goal for a certain number of days. Isn’t that, technically, what a cheat day or cheat meal is? Rewarding ourselves for “being good!” This is actually a process called moral licensing, which is when we believe we should “reward ourselves for good behavior if we believe that who we really are is the self that wants to be bad.” In essence, every act of self-control we pursue is an act of punishment, while every act of self-indulgence is an act of reward. Isn’t that insane to think about, but really so true? I know it is in my life. I tell myself I deserve that cookie for being good all day long. Or that I deserve this cheat meal because I was good during the week and lost weight. Every time I stay within my calorie limit, resist sweets, or wake up early to exercise is an act of self-control which can sometimes feel more like a punishment than anything else. Lesson #3: Stress shifts the brain into reward-seeking status. This was something that I found super, super, super interesting. Feeling stressed is a normal part of anyone’s life. Whether it’s work stress, relationship stress, life stress, whatever stress, we feel it. We all have to find ways to cope with it. And, in fact, the brain is working against us when it comes to stress because it immediately shifts into reward-seeking status and you begin to feel that the only way to feel better, or less stressed, is by having that reward. Whether that’s chocolate or shopping or mindlessly looking at the Internet, we all do it. The only way to strengthen this muscle is to use it often. So the next time you feel stressed and feel yourself craving a candy bar, go outside and take a walk. Or sit down with a book for 15 minutes. Or meditate. Listen to music. Talk to a friend. There are many different effective stress-relieving activities that actually work to lessen stress that don’t include eating everything in sight or draining our bank account. Lessen #4: Be compassionate toward yourself. Here’s the deal: we are all our own worst critics. We beat ourselves up for not meeting a goal. We are hard on ourselves, way harder than other people are on us. And I think we can sometimes feel like this is the right way to look at things. To be super critical about our faults and not living up to what we expected of ourselves. But, in actuality, it’s not. Interesting, eh? When we take a self-compassionate point of view, researchers have found, we remove the guilt and criticism and we can more fully reflect on our failure in a new light, allowing us to take more responsibility for our actions. There were so many other lessons I learned while reading this book, but I think this post is long enough as it is. If you’re interested in this topic (the book does skew a little bit on the healthy living side, but it’s really helpful for anyone who wants to learn more about how our brains react to self-control and willpower, and how to strengthen those muscles), be sure to check out the book. Like I said, it’s very well-written and I can see myself rereading it in the future.

2019-04-25T06:33:35Z

https://stephanywrites.com/category/health-and-fitness/

What Causes the LSF Asymmetry? The cross-dispersion profile (along the tg_d axis) is asymmetric (Fig. 2). The spectrum has a slight time-dependent tilt (up to 4-pixel errors at the longest wavelengths). The spectrum has a slight (<0.5 pixel) time-dependent curvature. Pipeline determinations of zeroth order may have errors of up to ~0.5 pixel. In addition to tilt, curvature, and slight offsets, the dispersed spectrum has a time-independent pattern of tg_d offsets (~2.5 pixels peak-to-peak "wiggles") as a function of position on the detector. Even when the position of 0th order is well determined and tilt and wiggle have been removed, the dispersed spectrum, particularly on the outer plates, may be slightly (~0.5 pixel) offset in tg_d. Together, these effects can add up to deviations of more than ± 6 pixels in the tg_d direction near the plate ends, although errors are more typically 1 or 2 pixels. For comparison, the current extraction region half width is 12.45 pixels (80 μm, 5.31e-4 deg) in the central region. At 170 Å the half width is 42.1 pixels (270.7 μm, 19.96e-4 deg). Fig. 1. MARX simulation (c. 2000) of a flat spectrum illustrating the broadening of the LETG/HRC-S profile in the cross-dispersion direction toward longer wavelengths, and showing the standard bowtie extraction region. Vertical axis is stretched by a factor of ~220. Fig. 2. Image of combined HZ43 spectra, after removal of tilts and wiggles (see below). Vertical axis is stretched by a factor of 200. The white horizontal line marks the median of the cross-dispersion profile, which is visibly asymmetric. See also Fig. 11 below. Transmission Grating axes run along (tg_r) and perpendicular to (tg_d) the dispersion axis. tg angles are measured in degrees. HRC pixels are 6.4294 μm. 1 pixel = 4.265e-05 degrees (tg coordinates). 1 tap = 256 pixels = 1.88893 Å in the dispersion direction. Coarse tap axes run along (crsv) and perpendicular to (crsu) the dispersion axis. The active region of the HRC-S runs from crsv=6-191 and crsu=5-10 (for the default 6-tap wide region). Low crsv corresponds to HRC-S plate+1 and positive wavelengths. High crsv corresponds to plate-1 and negative wavelengths. For on-axis sources, LETG/HRC-S wavelength coverage runs from about -161 to +175 Å. The intention of this analysis is to straighten and align dispersed spectra, and then calibrate the intrinsic cross-dispersion profile as a function of wavelength. We can then define a narrower spectral extraction region that yields higher S/N. We use bright, frequently observed continuum sources to provide complete wavelength coverage with high signal, principally Mkn421 and PKS2155 for short wavelengths (<~60 Å) and HZ43 for longer wavelengths. All the observations we use were made on-axis (Yoffset=0) and were processed to Level 2 using the latest CALDB. The LETGS Background Filter was applied and time periods with DTF<0.98 (indicating significant background flaring) were removed to improve S/N. Another reason to remove flares is that HRC background is spatially nonuniform during those times, with crowning across the short axis and shadowing by the thicker Al coating on the "T" portion of the uv/ion shield. Our analysis first concentrates on individual observations, measuring and correcting the 0th order position, spectral tilt, and tg_d offsets. The corrected event files are then combined into a single file for each source; data from two other sources (RS Oph and KT Eri) receive the same treatment and are included in the EEFRAC analysis. Those results are then used to calibrate extraction efficiency as a function of wavelength and extraction region width, and to determine how wide the region should be to optimize S/N. The CIAO tool celldetect is used by tgdetect in Standard Data Processing to determine the position of 0th order, which is then used as the origin for the grating coordinates tg_d and tg_r. Errors of a few tenths of a pixel in 0th order are common in Archive data. As described in more detail below, a refined 0th order position can be obtained by iteratively applying dmstat to find the mean x and y values using a circle of radius 12. The improved position is then used as an input to tg_create_mask, followed by processing to Level 2. After reprocessing each observation using new 0th order positions we extracted tg_d profiles for each dispersion-axis tap (crsv) with the assumption (consistent with analysis of a few off-axis observations) that profiles are, over short spatial scales, predominantly a function of location along the detector rather than a function of wavelength. Binning by tap typically provides a few thousand events (and thus centroiding errors of a couple/few percent of the profile FWHM) and good sampling of the dispersed spectrum's wiggles. Within a tap, tg_d is binned by 0.00005 degrees (~1.2 pixels) on the central plate and 0.00007 to 0.00010 degrees on the outer plates where the profiles are wider (see Fig. 1). Wider bins may obscure detail while narrower bins may have too few counts, causing interpolation errors. The findcenter.f program reads the tg_d profile data for each tap, determines and subtracts the background level, and computes the median tg_d with interpolation between bins for greater accuracy. Background is determined using tg_d ranges beyond the main profile wings and that avoid cross-dispersed orders (discussed in more detail below). To remove the initially uncalibrated wiggle (see below) from our results and enable a better determination of the relative tilt of each spectrum, the average tg_d median is computed as f(crsv) for all the observations of a given source and then subtracted from the individual median for each ObsID. Results, grouped by source, are shown below. Emission lines from Capella, a bright coronal source, were used to help tie together the short- and long-wavelength calibration. Fig. 3. tg_d medians vs crsv, after subtracting the average tg_d median for each source. Tilts are therefore relative to the average tilt for each source. For continuum sources, only points with errors of less than 1e-5 degrees (about 1/4 pixel) are plotted. Errors for Capella's lines' medians are explicitly shown. Labels list ObsID and observation date (yymmdd). As can be clearly seen in the left-panel plots, LETG/HRC-S spectra have a time dependent tilt. (LETG/ACIS spectra presumably do too, but the extraction region is wider and the spectra shorter so the effects are negligible.) Right-panel plots show results after tilts are removed. Note that even after correcting the 0th order positions and tilts, some spectra (e.g., 3rd right panel for HZ43) have a general tg_d offset. This seems to be correlated with the time of year and may therefore be a thermal effect. There is also a slight time-dependent curvature, particularly on the inner plate (e.g., upward curvature for early Mkn421 observations and downward for later---see here). The earliest observations also show relatively large deviations in tg_d offsets and/or curvature near 0th order. After removing tilts, a time-independent pattern of tg_d median versus crsv remains (Fig. 4), which also means that defining an absolute tilt for any one observation is somewhat arbitrary. Because of minimal wavelength overlap of the continuum sources, there is also some ambiguity in how tilts are measured on the inner versus outer plates. Capella spectra, which have prominent lines on all three plates, were analyzed to address the latter issue but relatively large measurement uncertainties (note error bars in Fig. 3) prevented a definitive calibration. We therefore adjusted the tilts of the four composite spectra by eye in order to obtain the best agreement among them (Figs. 4 and 5) and also added a 1.0-pixel global tg_d offset to make the wiggles roughly symmetric about tg_d=0 (Fig. 4). In the overlap region between roughly 80 and 100 Å, higher order diffraction contributes most of the events seen in the hard continuum source spectra, which broadens the tg_d profile and skews the median. We therefore ignore those results and use only data from HZ43. Higher order flux is also significant (20-40%) just short of the C-K absorption edge and between ~60 and 80 Å but the effects on the tg_d profile appear to be minor. Short of ~55 Å the results from HZ43 become increasingly suspect because of decreasing flux. Fig. 4. Median tg_d values for combined spectra, with tilt and offset adjustments to make the wiggle symmetric about tg_d=0. tg_d values are multiplied by 1000 for convenience and units are degrees. Tilts are in units of degrees per tap, also multiplied by 1000. Legend example: blue points are for 18 combined HZ43 spectra, with a tilt correction of 0.00090 and offset of 0.029. The composite wiggle curve is shown in black; some points near 0th order and the ends of the inner plate were adjusted by hand because the true errors are larger than indicated by the purely statistical error bars. (Clicking on the figure shows a 2-panel plot; the lower panel plots the same data without the offsets, showing the net wiggle correction and residual scatter among the different source curves.) Fig. 5. Time dependent tilts in deg/Å. Uncertainties on each point (excluding Capella) are small, so the observed scatter is real and probably related to thermal conditions. There is no apparent correlation with aimpoint jumps. The solid black line can be used to estimate the tilt in most observations, and the gray band denotes the degree of uncertainty that would cause a 1-pixel error at 170 Å. With a consistent measure of tilt across all three plates, the tilt-versus-time curves from all 4 sources can be plotted together, as shown in Fig 5. The gray band represents a tilt uncertainty that would cause 1 pixel of error at 170 Å (and proportionally less at shorter wavelengths). Error bars on the points in Fig. 5 are quite small, so the jump between the blue HZ43 points around 2010 is real, as is the deviation from trend in 2014. The cause of these jumps and other scatter is unknown; there is no correlation with aimpoint jumps or any other parameters that we investigated. After applying tilt and wiggle corrections to the combined data we can calibrate the tg_d profile, or cross-dispersion Line Spread Function (LSF), and define narrower spectral extraction regions to improve S/N. However, the hard-source spectra we use to calibrate spectral tilt and wiggles have strong higher orders which broaden the measured LSF and have their own cross-dispersion orders (see below). We therefore include observations of the very bright pseudo-continuum sources RS Oph (ObsIDs 7296, 7297) and KT Eri (ObsIDs 12097, 12100, 12101, 12203) in our analysis. First order covers 15-30 Å in RS Oph and 20-50 Å in KT Eri (see Fig. 6) and there is essentially no higher order contamination in those wavelength ranges. The observations we use were obtained when those sources were extremely bright, often exceeding the HRC-S telemetry limit. High rates can distort the core of the 0th order PSF but did not affect the LSF of dispersed spectra, except for the highest-rate portions of ObsID 12203 (23-35 Å; see Figs. 6 and 7) which we do not include in further analysis. DTF filtering, which was applied to Mkn421, PKS2155, and HZ43 data in order to eliminate periods of background flaring, was not applied to RS Oph or KT Eri data because that would remove data during the many periods of telemetry saturation and because background is comparatively negligible during those very-high-rate observations. Fig. 6. Spectra used for central plate. The combined Mkn421 spectrum has by far the most counts but had the lowest average counting rate, and therefore relatively more background. It also has the largest contribution of higher order diffraction. The KT Eri observation 12203 had the highest rate and its LSF was noticeably broader at some wavelengths than the others (see Fig. 7). Fig. 7. Comparison of background-subtracted LSFs (tg_d profiles) around +25 Å. Residual errors of up to 1/4 pixel in tg_d centroid were corrected for these plots to enable easier comparisons (but not in the evt files because such errors are representative of what users can expect). The LSF of Obsid 12203 is broader than the others and we omitted its data between 23 and 35 Å from subsequent analysis. The other ObsIDs do not suffer from high-rate distortions, although the Mkn421 LSFs are broadened at some wavelengths by higher order contributions. LSF characterization is very sensitive to errors in the background determination, which is often complicated by cross-dispersion (Xdisp) orders (see Fig. 8), particularly at short wavelengths where the wings of the Xdisp peaks overlap. Xdisp orders of higher orders complicate things even more (see Fig. 9) so we concentrated on spectra and wavelength ranges where such contamination was minimal. We used data from KT Eri and RS Oph as described above, along with Mkn421 data between 5.5 and 8.4 Å. Rates shortward of 5.5 Å drop rapidly so that 2nd order contamination in our chosen range is very small, and 3rd order is even less. The large number of events in this data set (about 550,000 in 0th order) provides adequate statistics to see to mX=10, with hints of 11th order (Fig. 10). Fig. 8 (above left). Image of Xdisp orders, etc. Click on image for an explanation of the features. Fig. 10 (right). Cross-dispersion orders; profiles from - and + orders are combined. Large X's mark peaks not used for calibration because of uncertainties in the underlying wings of the main-peak LSF. + signs mark the region-of-interest boundaries on either side of a peak; interpeak ranges are used to determine the local background, which includes intrinsic HRC background and underlying counts from the wings of the primary order. Dotted line marks the detector background level. Mkn421 background levels were adjusted (- signs) as described in the text. Event-file data were divided into thin triangular wedges (source center at pointy end) so that events of any given Xdisp order are collected together regardless of wavelength. Wavelength ranges for each source were chosen to provide optimal combinations of order coverage and S/N. Data from + and - primary orders and + and - Xdisp orders were combined, with the tg_d limit of ±0.021 deg chosen to maintain a flat detector background (i.e., without dither losses near the edges). Data were also analyzed separately (+ vs -) to confirm that results were the same within errors. Great care was taken to ensure that the dithered edges of the detector were excluded so that the background is linear over the tg_d range of interest. As shown in Fig. 10 we were able to calibrate out to Xdisp order 10; distinct peaks out to order 12 were seen using Mkn421 data with λ=5.5-7.5 Å but uncertainties were large. The Mkn421 short-wavelength orders are so close together that their wings overlap and the local background levels can not be seen. We therefore adjusted them so that results for orders 3 and 4 matched those from RS Oph and KT Eri, scaling the background adjustments for each peak by its intensity. The net change was to increase each peak by about 5%. A model using a sum of 3 squared sinc functions (appropriate for ideal gratings) was fit to the results for orders 1-10 and extrapolated to order 1000. Results are shown in the Table below. More discussion and a comparison with previous work from the the 1998 SRON Final Report on LETG calibration are provided in Appendix A. Based on our fits and the SRON report's caveats about PSF wings and background we believe that their results (using Al-K) are too high for orders 1, 2, and >10. We find that Xdisp orders have a total of 9% as much flux as the primary order, vs. the 11% that would be expected based on a simple model using measured support-structure parameters. Xdisp relative intensities should be wavelength independent because the support structure is opaque over the energy range of interest, however we measured the intensity of order 1 as 0.84±0.01% of 0th order for λ=15-39 Å using data from RS Oph and KT Eri, and 0.76±0.04% over λ=70-82 Å with HZ43 data, a 2σ difference. Our final answer in the table below uses a weighted average of these results. Total 0.0450 ±0.00041 * 2 for both sides = 0.0900±0.0008. Appendix A: More details on Xdisp measurements and models. As noted above, the intensity of Xdisp orders must be known in order to properly determine the background level, which is critical for measurements of the tg_d profile. For those measurements we first bin the profiles by 0.00005 degrees (~1.2 pixels) in 1-Å slices, within the range -0.0248 < tg_d < 0.0208 degrees, which avoids dithered-edge effects for all the observations under study. The program profilesBYang.f reads in each profile, determines tg_d ranges affected by Xdisp orders, and then computes the background on each side for |tg_d|>0.015 degrees after excluding Xdisp peaks. At shorter wavelengths, Xdisp peaks are so close together that little if any clear background range is left. In those cases the program iteratively computes the 0th order intensity after subtracting estimated background and Xdisp peaks (scaled from the 0th order intensity) and quickly converges to the underlying background. Comparisons of backgrounds derived using this method and the exclude-Xdisp-orders method in wavelength ranges where both could be used showed excellent agreement so we chose to use the scaled-Xdisp method in all cases. A linear background was then computed and subtracted, yielding clean tg_d profiles normalized to sum to 1 when including the intensities of Xdisp orders outside the tg_d range of analysis, i.e., 2π normalization. Those profiles were read by eefrac.f, which boxcar-smooths the data by 3 Å; we tried several binnings and this gave a good compromise of S/N and wavelength resolution. The program then steps through each profile, summing the normalized intensities, and computing the tg_d value at various enclosed energy fraction (EEFRAC) values. Results are shown in Fig. 11a. Close inspection reveals that the RS Oph and KT Eri contours are generally tighter than those for Mkn421 because of higher order contamination in the latter. This is especially pronounced just short of the C-K absorption edge where 1st order intensity is very low. Higher order contamination should be very small here for KT Eri (see Fig. 6) but contour deviations are still apparent; scattering from the central source (the primary 0th order) is probably also contributing. The noisiness of the contours in Fig. 11a is partly statistical, but most of it comes from systematic errors in the background determination, presumably from faint off-axis sources and nonlinearities in the detector background, mostly in regions outside the plotted tg_d range, which is only about 10% of the 6-tap detector width. Errors in the background are usually from localized excesses, which pull the contours farther from the core than they should be. We attempt to correct for these errors and retrieve the true tg_d profile by forcing the outermost contours in our analysis, the 6% and 94% levels, to follow idealized contours. The fixeefrac.f program resets the cumulative profile intensities, eliminating most of the noise in the interior contours, and also adds output for more EEFRAC levels near the profile core. In the final version (Fig. 11b) we have drawn piecewise linear curves by eye to best match the results while taking into consideration errors from residual higher order contamination, etc. As seen in Fig. 11, the cross-dispersion profile is asymmetric, with the tightest LSF in the lower left quadrant (- wavelength, - tg_d side). Another illustration is shown in Fig. 12. One can see in Fig. 11 that the bowtie follows contours corresponding to an 85-86% extraction efficiency on the outer plates but includes slightly more X-ray signal---and quite a bit more background than necessary---toward shorter wavelengths. Fig. 12. tg_d profiles (0.00002-deg = 0.47-pixel bins) for 10-Å slices of the combined HZ43 spectrum. LSFs for shorter wavelengths are shown in Appendix B. As seen in Fig. 12, LSFs are asymmetric about tg_d=0 and also differ at + and - wavelengths. The latter is initially surprising because the diffraction pattern from a given grating facet must be symmetric about 0th order. A discussion of possible causes, including what we believe must be the correct explanation, is presented in Appendix C. The program SNcalcs.f computes the S/N ratios for spectral features of width 0.07 Å (the LETG FWHM resolution is 0.05 Å) having S0 counts collected (if EEFRAC=100%) in exposures of T seconds. Spectral extraction regions were made of paired contours from Fig. 11, e.g., the region between the 8% and 92% contours has an EEFRAC of 84%. S/N = (EEFRAC × S0) /((EEFRAC × S0)+BG)0.5 was computed for various combinations of S0 and exposure times. Note that lines and continuum emission were not considered separately and that the S/N of line features will be reduced when continuum is present. Background data were taken from the composite HZ43 and Mkn421 observations. Those data were collected over roughly a dozen years and therefore represent typical HRC-S background rates, which vary by roughly a factor of two over the solar cycle (see POG Fig. 9.21). Results are shown in Figs. 13 and 14. As can be seen, as the background becomes a larger factor in the noise term, S/N becomes more sensitive to the choice of extraction region. Except in the case of short observations with strong spectral features (e.g.,upper left panel in both Figures) where the S/N is already large, one can always improve the S/N by using a narrower extraction region. An extraction region with EEFRAC~78%, which reduces the net spectral extraction efficiency by ~8% and reduces background by 45-55% compared with using the standard bowtie region, provides the best or nearly best results in most low-S/N cases. Fig. 13. S/N ratios for various combinations of spectral feature counts (S0 listed along the left for 100% extraction efficiency) and exposure time T (across the top). Within each panel, a family of S/N curves is shown for a range of spectral extraction efficiencies. (Plot for 25-141 counts.) Fig. 14. Change in S/N compared with using the standard bowtie extraction region. The optimal extraction region varies slightly depending on exposure, number of spectral feature counts, and wavelength but S/N is generally at or near its maximum with EEFRAC=78%. (Plot for 25-141 counts.) Fig. 15. tg_d midpoints of EE contour pairs (e.g., EEFRAC=78% curve is for the 11% and 89% contours in Fig. 11). Based on the S/N analysis we use the 78% curve as a final tg_d correction so that a symmetric extraction region can be used, thus avoiding complicated modifications to CIAO and the CALDB architecture. Because the LSFs are not symmetric we also examined the effect of using asymmetric pairs of contours, e.g., the 10%|88% or 12%|90% contours instead of the symmetric 11%|89% pair to obtain EEFRAC=78%. We find that shifting the extraction region by ~1 pixel, corresponding to a change of a couple or few percent in the EE contours, has only a tiny effect on the net S/N. Spectral extraction efficiencies are tabulated for each combination of detector (ACIS-S or HRC-S) and 1st order (+ or -) in the EEFRAC block of the corresponding CALDB LSFPARM file (see here). For HRC-S, wavelength runs from 0 to ±184.23 Å in 2048 steps of 0.09 Å, with 10 values of |tg_d| (now increased to 23 to better capture the LSFs' structure). The existing CIAO/CALDB architecture implicitly assumes that the LSFs are symmetric. To work within that system we therefore apply a final tg_d correction to our calibration data, a wavelength dependent offset that makes the 11% and 88% contours of Fig. 11 (yielding EEFRAC=78%) symmetric about tg_d=0 (see Fig. 15). To populate the table data with EEFRAC(Å,tg_d), where tg_d is the full width of the extraction region, we begin with the original 10 tg_d values and interpolate from our EEFRAC measurements wherever possible, which is between the EEFRAC=88% curves (the 6% and 94% contours in Fig. 11b) and with |λ| > ~13 Å. Our measurements do not adequately cover shorter wavelengths so there we rely on the previous CALDB results which are based on raytrace simulations, rescaling them to account for the lower Xdisp intensities (totaling 9% instead of the previous 11%) and renormalizing to the 2π flux instead of flux within the effective detector area. Fig. 16 shows that this approximate rescaling works reasonably well, although a second-order rescaling is needed to make the simulated EEFRACs smoothly join with the measured EEFRACs at ~13 Å (see Fig. 17). The 2nd order scaling factors for the three smallest tg_d values are 1.065, 0.986, and 0.972, respectively. Beyond the 6% and 94% contours we use the old EEFRAC values with just the first-order rescaling. The remaining tg_d/wavelength parameter space is filled by drawing straight lines to connect the measurement- and simulation-based data (Fig. 17). The dotted curves are conservative—EEFRACs are probably a bit lower than reality—but the practical effects are negligible because those curves only come into play when extraction regions are much wider than the standard bowtie. Interpolation errors using only 10 tg_d values can exceed 1% at some wavelengths using the standard bowtie extraction region and several percent if using a narrower region so we added another 13 tg_d values to the EEFRAC table. Again, most of these new array elements were populated by interpolating from our finely sampled measurement data. At short wavelengths we rescaled EEFRAC values from the nearest one or two of the 10 original tg_d values to smoothly join with the measurement-based values. Final results are shown in Fig. 18. The resulting EEFRAC tables, which will were implemented in CALDB version 4.6.9 on 23 Sep 2015, are, strictly speaking, only appropriate when the full complement of tg_d corrections (tilt, wiggle, and symmetrization) is applied to the data, as should be done whenever a narrow extraction region is used. Errors in the derived EEFRAC are, however, negligible when using standard processing data (i.e., with the standard bowtie extraction region, without any tg_d corrections). Fig. 16. EEFRACs for the standard bowtie extraction region using data from the old CALDB data (red), roughly rescaled CALDB data (orange), calibration measurements (blue, using data from Fig. 11e), and new CALDB (black). The ratio of new and old CALDB EEFRACs (and the inverse of new/old HRC-S QE) is shown in gray. Fig. 17. New EEFRAC values for the ten original tg_d values. Values interpolated from calibration measurements are plotted with thick lines, those based on rescaled old CALDB data (from raytrace simulations) are thin (at short wavelengths). Dotted connecting lines follow trends in the old CALDB data. Fig. 18. Final EEFRAC curves for the complete set of 23 tg_d values, with the 13 new curves shown in black. The EEFRACs from this work differ from those in the previous version of the CALDB because of deviations from the simulated LSF, 2% lower Xdisp intensity, and the previous incorrect normalization of flux to the detector area rather than to 2π. The net change in bowtie-region EEFRACs is typically several percent, and about 12% at the longest wavelengths (Fig. 16). Note that the overall absolute uncertainty in the LETG/HRC-S EA is unchanged at approximately ±10% (somewhat larger at long wavelengths because of complications from recent changes in HRC-S gain and QE). Systematic uncertainties in the background are believed to be the largest source of error in the present work, particularly at short wavelengths where high-energy scattering is largest and support-structure diffraction from 0th order leads to some unavoidable ambiguity in what constitutes the effective background. While difficult to estimate we believe that when using the standard bowtie extraction region the net error of this analysis is of order 1-2% but probably a bit larger short of λ~10 Å. There may also be small systematic differences in effective EEFRACs between line-dominated and continuum sources because of differences in the relative contribution of scattered and Xdisp flux from adjoining wavelengths. The lower total Xdisp intensity, measured as 9% of the main order intensity vs the old 11%, is difficult to understand from a theoretical perspective given the relative simplicity of opaque-bar grating models. One possibility is that imperfect manufacturing and/or assembly has redistributed the missing power to orders beyond our calibration rather than removed it. Despite these changes in the EEFRAC calibration, the net LETG/HRC-S effective area (EA) for 1st order remains unchanged. This is because the EA, which includes the bowtie EEFRAC and HRC-S QE as factors, is calibrated by comparison with theoretical model spectra of Sirius B and PKS 2155/Mkn 421, so that any changes in EEFRACs are compensated by corresponding inverse changes in detector QE. CALDB changes resulting from this work are therefore transparent to users of LETG/HRC-S data unless they are using an extraction region narrower than the default (in which case the exact Xdisp profile is important, but even here differences in net EA will usually be no more than a few percent) or unless they are analyzing spectra where higher order diffraction is important. In the latter case, the accompanying changes in HRC-S QE (see gray curve in Fig. 16), combined with calculation of higher order gRMF EEFRACs based on mλ (rather than λ, as for the QE), mean that net EA for very high orders may be up to ~12% lower than before at the largest values of mλ (see plot comparing old vs. new effective areas for orders 1 to 8). As an example, at |mλ|=160 Å, the 2nd order EA is ~3% lower than before, 3rd order is ~5% lower, and 8th order EA ~8% lower. Short of |mλ|=60 Å, changes in EA are no more than ~3% for all orders. As noted above, the HRC-S QE was updated simultaneously (as was the HRC-I QE because its calibration is tied in part to the HRC-S) so source fluxes derived from non-grating HRC observations will typically change by several percent. No changes are planned for the LETG/ACIS-S EA, which is based on absolute calibration of the grating efficiency, spectral extraction efficiency, ACIS QE, OBF transmission, and OSIPs (see LETG Calibration Overview). The LETG/ACIS spectral extraction region is relatively wide so changes in the LSF near the core have little effect on the extraction efficiency. Adopting the LETG/HRC calibration's 2% lower Xdisp intensity would have more effect, but 2% is significantly smaller than the absolute uncertainty. As alluded to above, the intrinsic energy resolution of ACIS allows more discrimination than for LETG/HRC between the "real" spectrum and scattered photons and Xdisp photons that become important at shorter wavelengths, which likely causes small differences in the effective EEFRACs at those wavelengths. Despite the much lower background of LETG/ACIS and the advantage of higher-order energy discrimination, accurate calibration of its LSFs is in some ways more difficult than for LETG/HRC because of pile-up in the LSF core when observing high-rate sources, and the common use of subarrays which chop off the LSF before flux in the wings becomes negligible. Reextract the spectrum using the optimized (EEFRAC=78%) extraction region. Users should follow the LETG/HRC-S Grating Spectra thread. Run each step separately and do not run the chandra_repro script. After downloading data from the archive the first step in the thread is to Generate a New Level=1.5 Event File beginning with running tg_create_mask. As noted above, however, errors of a few tenths of a pixel in 0th order are common in Archive data and users may wish to determine the 0th order position manually. Start with the position found by tgdetect and recorded in the *evt1_src1a.fits file (and also in the region block of the evt2.fits file). before running tg_create_mask. (The input_pos_tab parameter will be ignored if specified; don't worry.) The thread continues with tg_resolve_events and then applies the pulse-height background filter, status filter, and GTI filter. The last step in the thread before extracting the grating spectrum is running hrc_dtfstats (see below). Before running hrc_dtfstats users may want to examine DeadTime Factor (DTF) values by using chips to make a plot like Figure 1 in the Computing Average HRC Dead Time Corrections thread. Normally, DTF is larger than 0.98 but when telemetry is saturated during periods of high background or variable source emission it can be much less. One can filter out such times to reduce the average background and/or improve the livetime calculation accuracy, but this also removes all of the X-ray signal during those times and there is usually little if any benefit to the spectral S/N. More information about how to identify and remove periods of high background is presented here. This leaves a straight spectrum but usually one with a slight tilt that can be estimated from Fig. 5. The last step is to apply the symmetrization correction so that the EEFRAC file will yield an accurate extraction efficiency. Note that only tg_d values are modified by these steps; spectra will still have tilts and wiggles in other coordinate systems, such as sky. Residual errors on tg_d in the detilted file should be no more than about 0.5 pixels on the central plate and 1.5 near the ends of the outer plates. All these tg_d corrections can be applied to off-axis observations but the CALDB EEFRACs only apply to on-axis observations; LSFs will, of course, be broader (and the true EEFRACs lower) for off-axis observations. The custom region file also defines a new background region that uses the same value of BACKSCAL as the bowtie (5, for both the upper and lower BG region; see Fig. 19). Processing then continues with the "HRC Grating RMFs" thread, picking up at "Run mkgrmf". The grating Response Matrix Files (gRMFs) that are generated by the thread (one for each order desired) incorporate the appropriate EEFRACs for the new region. The last step before fitting the spectrum is to generate the ARFs for each order, starting at the "Compute the Aspect Histograms" step of the "LETG/HRC-S Grating ARFs" thread. Fig. 19. Standard bowtie and optimized EEFRAC=78% extraction regions for spectra and background. Total background area is 10 times the spectral area in both cases. The optimized regions are not symmetric for - vs + wavelengths (c.f. Fig. 11).

2019-04-22T14:31:48Z

http://cxc.harvard.edu/cal/Letg/LetgHrcEEFRAC/

At the end of the previous comment above, I asked how we would go about writing a function to expand the zero point of the unit circle on the complex plane, in all directions over time, to π, the area of the unit circle, and back to zero. I'm sure someone much smarter than I am has already done this, but, if so, I don't know about it. It seems straightforward enough, but I may be showing my naivete. Recall that the reason we want to do this is that we want to translate the vector motion of the LST, as used in the model of the atom, to the scalar motion of the LRC's RST-based model of the atom, which has no vector motion, but consists of strictly scalar motion. We want to use the "complex exponential," eπi = -1, because it consists of the sum of the cosine and i times the sine, of the angle θ. This is very useful for reconstructing a sine or cosine wave over time, but it's also applicable to the scalar motion expansion/contraction of the RSt's S|T unit, since the sine and cosine of angle θ are orthogonal and thus reciprocal magnitudes, as are the S and T oscillations of the S|T unit. However, the ratio between the angles of the right triangle, upon which the sine and cosine are based, produce four changes of sign (polarity) as the angle θ grows from 0 to 90, 90 to 180, 180 to 270 and 270 to 360 degrees, each of which are associated with the four quadrantal rotations (4 x π/2). What we want are two changes of sign (a change equivalent to a rotation from 0 to 180, and from 180 to 360), as the sphere expands and contracts, over π, in each "direction." This requires us to view the complex exponential, eiωt, from a new perspective. Instead of viewing it as the 2π rotation cycle in the positive direction, and its negative form, e-iωt, as the 2π rotation cycle in the negative direction, where their sum is divided by 2, i.e. ((eiωt) + (e-iωt))/2, to extract cos(ωt), we should view the same thing as a 2 x π = 2π expansion/contraction cycle, over two, 2π rotations. Of course, there is an important distinction that remains to be made between scalar motion and vector motion: Scalar motion expands/contracts in all the "directions" of a given dimension simultaneously, while vector motion changes location in one "direction" at a time. In one dimension of scalar motion, an oscillating length for example, there are two "directions" involved (positive and negative). Therefore, the scalar expansion/contraction of the 1D diameter takes place in these two opposite "directions," relative to the point of origin. So, one cycle of 1D oscillation involves expansion/contraction along four lengths of "radii," if you will: one in each of two opposite "directions," when expanding outward, and one in each of two opposite "directions," when contracting inward. In two dimensions of scalar motion, as in the area of the circle, however, there are four "directions" (two positive and two negative). Therefore, the scalar expansion/contraction of the area takes place in these four opposing "directions" (quadrants) relative to the point of origin. The motion takes place in all of them simultaneously. So, one full cycle, involves motion over eight "radii," if you will: over four when expanding outward and back over the same four when contracting inward. The corresponding 1D vector motion, on the other hand, always moves a point along the length of the radius, one "direction" at a time: For example, it extends outward one positive unit, retracts inward one positive unit, extends outward one negative unit and retracts inward one negative unit, every cycle. Moreover, vector motion in more than one dimension at a time is impossible, even though separate motions in more than one dimension, may be combined, as they are in the case of the sine and cosine of eiθ, which is actually the rotation of a complex number of magnitude one. Vector motion along the x axis, composed of 1/2(eiθ) and 1/2(e-iθ), when the angle θ changes over time, as ωt, is shown here, as the vector sum of two opposite vector rotations. This vector sum transits the unit radius, four times per cycle, in and out, in two opposite "directions." I wish I could produce a similar video for the corresponding motion of the changing scalar area, but I'll have to settle for a crude animated gif to show the comparison. First, I have to explain, though, that the reason the correspondence between the 1D vector motion of rotation and the 2D scalar motion of oscillation exists is that the unit of 2π radians of the unit circle is actually a dimensionless number, which can be derived from both a 1D length and a 2D area. The dimension of the arc length of the 2π radians along the circumference, which is used to define the radian, is, of course, the same as the dimension of the 1D radius, while the dimensions of the area sector determined by the 1D arcs are obviously the same as the area of the circle. Thus, at the unit magnitude of r, the disparity in dimensions makes no difference, and the magnitude of the rotation is simply twice that of the expansion/contraction; that is, the rotation cycle is 2π versus the 1π expansion cycle. 2πr/r = 2π and πr2/r2 = π. Consequently, given that the complex exponential, eπi, is equal to π radians, it is also equal to the number of area units of the expanded circle, but these units have different dimensions. In terms of rotating around the circle, the complex exponential is only half way around it, at π radians. To complete one revolution of the circle, it must rotate another π radians, thus taking two π, 1D radians of rotation, to "paint" one π, 2D radians of area, if you will. In the graphic above, I didn't follow the usual convention used, when plotting the sine/cosine of angle θ, by starting at 90 degrees and increasing counter-clockwise, but instead I started at 0 degrees, proceeding clockwise around the circle, and, as the graphic shows, as the angle increases, the magnitude of the 1D arc of the black circle's circumference that is transited to that point is equal to the entire circumference of the red expanding circle, during the first, 2π, rotation cycle. During the second, 2π, rotation cycle, the red circle contracts back to zero, completing one full scalar cycle. However, since there are two, reciprocal oscillations that constitute the S|T unit, one space oscillation and one time oscillation, the associated, inverse rotation of the view of the rotation shown in the graphic above, occurs on the other side of the circle, which if we turned it around, would be rotating in the counter-clockwise "direction." The two, 2π rotation cycles associated with these two scalar expansions are not shown in this graphic, but if we were to show them side by side, one would be rotating around the unit circle in the clockwise "direction" while the other would be rotating in the counter-clockwise "direction." The bottom line is to show that there is a correspondence between the vector motion of the LST's complex exponential, eiωt, with its inverse, e-iωt, and the two, inverse scalar oscillations of the S|T unit. Of course, the oscillations of the S|T unit are three dimensional volume oscillations, but they can be characterized by any of their dimensional components. In this case, the 2D scalar motion is isomorphic to the LST's 2D vector motion known as a "quantity of motion," or more commonly, momentum, even though no mass or vector velocity is involved. This is important for our theoretical development, since in our model of the atom, the space-like (negative) oscillation of the electron combines with the time-like (positive) oscillation of the proton, and there is no separation between the two, such as the all important Bohr radius in the LST model, which gives rise either to an orbiting point charge in the Bohr model, or a set of circulating electric currents in Mills' modification of the Bohr model. With this much understood, we need to show that the 2D scalar motion of our model can be seen as the equivalent to the angular momentum of Mills' model, which will hopefully enable us to construct a scalar motion model of the atom as successful as his is. I'm sure someone much smarter than I am has already done this, but, if so, I don't know about it. It seems straightforward enough, but I may be showing my naivete. Yes, the person is Prof. KVK Nehru and it is called "birotation." There's no doubt Nehru is much smarter than I am, but I don't think his bi-rotation is a scalar motion. A scalar change, by definition, is a change in size, and rotation of a fixed size necessarily has to be a vector motion, it seems to me. It's hard to get away from vector motion, though. Nehru wrote, "While it is clear that a SHM underlies the photon from the phenomena of interference and diffraction, the genesis of SHM, given only uniform speed (as in scalar motion), is not possible except through rotation." I disagree, of course, because, as I have already stated, rotation of a fixed radius cannot be a scalar motion, by definition. As I have shown in previous posts, both space and time displacement from the uniform scalar motion dubbed the progression is possible without rotation. Indeed, Larson believed that the only possibility for deviation from uniform speed was the idea of "direction" reversal. His conclusion was challenged from the outset by many who believed that the introduction of the idea was not justified given no mechanism could be cited as the cause of the reversal, but he insisted that no mechanism is required, just the fact that it is something that is conceivable was enough. "What can exist, does exist," was his answer. Larson couldn't rebut this argument, but insisted that the reversals had to be SHM. The position that the LRC research has taken is that Larson was both right and wrong: He was right about the "direction" reversals, but he was wrong about the dimensions of those reversals. They are not 1D reversals, but 3D reversals. SHM does result from a 3D oscillation, because, the motion of expansion in all directions, from a point, is exponential. Therefore, at the end of one unit of expansion, when the "direction" reversal takes place, the change is not abrupt as in a square wave. In fact, it follows the smooth "direction" change of rotation, as shown in my previous post. At least that is the conclusion upon which the LRC research has been based. If it's incorrect, time will tell. When Randell Mills modified the Bohr atomic model, by modifying the traditional model of the electron, changing it from an orbiting point charge to a sphere of circulating charge currents, creating a shell of electric charge surrounding the proton, the vector motion equation of the new model did not change from that of the old model. The value of +e changed to +e/n, where n is the number of the Bohr orbit, because, in Mills' model, a photon is resonating within the shell, changing the effective charge felt between the proton and the rings of circulating charge currents on the shell's surface. The value of r is changed from Bohr's square of the orbital radius times the electron de Broglie wavelength, a0, to just the orbital radius times a0, because, unlike the orbit, the shell expands to a radius that precisely accommodates one electron de Broglie wavelength. In the Bohr model, the orbit accommodates the number of de Broglie wavelengths that will fit the circumference of the orbit, at a given radius r. This is a crucial point, and the point where A. Rathke asserts that Mills goes astray, because the wavelength of his solution to the classical wave equation of motion cannot correspond to the classical circumference of Bohr's electron orbit. In other words, the wavelength of Mills' solution to the classical wave equation does not allow a "quantisation condition," where λ = 2πr, instead of Bohr's quantisation condition, where nλ = 2πr, according to Rathke. I cannot follow the arguments either way, but the experimental evidence that I have seen seems to clearly vindicate the work of Mills. If Mills is correct, then combining the de Broglie formula, where the wavelength is equal to h/mv, with the equation Mills derived from the classical wave equation, where the wavelength is equal to h/2πr, we get 2πr = h/mv, instead of 2πr = nh/mv, and this makes all the difference! At n = 1, where the radius of the Bohr orbit is equal to one wavelength, a0, the wavelength outputs of the two equations are the same, but when n is greater than, or less than, one, the wavelength outputs of the two models are different, unless they are calculated in terms of kinetic and potential energy exchanges, according to angular momentum equal to h/2π, or h bar. In this case, using the angular momentum, instead of the number of electron wavelengths, in the classical equation, the total energy is always the same in both models, for all values of n ≥ 1, because, the calculation of the total energy of the orbiting electron and the orbitsphere, from the sum of the kinetic and potential energy calculations of both, are equal, as shown by Driscoll. Moreover, given the two changes (in +e and r), the n2 term in Bohr's model makes magnitudes of n < 1 impossible, so only in Mills' model is it theoretically possible to produce hydrinos, or hydrogen atoms at lower than the unit ground state. As they say, however, "out of small things, proceedeth that which is great!" The discovery of hydrino energy, resulting from this new theory of the atom, could potentially turn the industrial world upside down. But this is not all: Mills' theory destroys the LST's theory of quantum mechanics, because it explains the dual nature of matter, which QM has struggled with for almost a century, in terms of a transformation of the electron from a sphere of charge, surrounding the proton, to a propagating planar wave, at ionization. So, instead of matter being regarded as composed of particles that are also waves, with all the paradox associated with that assertion, the new theory regards it as composed of particles that become waves, and waves that become particles, removing the paradox. Yet, what is iconoclastic for the LST's QM theory is great news for the ongoing development of the RST-based theory, because in our system all physical phenomena, including matter, are either motions, combinations of motions, or relations between them. For the LST community, Mills' theory represents a quantum advancement (even though they don't recognize it yet). Nevertheless, it is still one that is based on vector motion, while the RST community knows the trouble in theoretical physics, to which that approach must inevitably lead. In our attempt to develop an RST-based theory at the LRC, the scalar motions that constitute all the fermions and bosons of the physical universe, including the electrons and protons and photons, etc, with which we are dealing here, are considered as oscillating space and time volumes, as we have been showing. Hence, we have to somehow equate the angular momentum of the Bohr model's orbiting point masses and the angular momentum of the Mills' model of circulating charge currents, both of which are a concept construed from the 1D tangential velocity of mass, to a concept of a 2D radial change of space and time, or the motion of 2D oscillations, the 1D aspects of which are net space oscillations (negative "charges") or net time oscillations (positive "charges"). In the previous post, we were able to relate the mathematics of the 1D vector motion of oscillation to the 2D scalar motion of oscillation, which ought to enable us to relate the physics of the angular momentum of vector rotations (mvr) to the physics of the "momentum" of scalar oscillations (2πr is the derivative of πr2), even though there is no oscillating mass in the scalar model. The implication is that the measurable properties of these scalar motion combinations stem from their intrinsic multi-dimensional character. In other words, the "mass" of these combinations of scalar oscillations is simply the magnitude of resistance to their net 3D scalar motion (s3/t3), while their "momentum" is the magnitude of resistance to their net 2D scalar motion (s2/t2), and their "charge" is merely the magnitude of resistance to their net 1D scalar motion (s1/t1). (10/13) + (6/3) = 16/16 = 1/1, or net zero "charge" (0 time/space displacement). In the vector model, this net zero "charge" is represented as a balance of forces, between the outward force of the angular momentum, L, of the electron and the inward force of attraction between the opposite charges. As the energy of the orbiting electron increments one level, the magnitude of the orbital radius increases by the square, to maintain the balance, while the spherical radius increases by one, to maintain it. Since the Bohr radius at n = 1, is a0, our task is to find the equivalent "mass," "angular momentum," and "charge" in our scalar model at that radius, assuming that the radius of the scalar oscillations, n, increases by one, as in Mills' model, not by the square, as in Bohr's model. Of course, it appears that the two concepts are disparate and not directly comparable, because the radius of the oscillation is constantly changing, from 0 to n, in the scalar model, unlike in the vector model, where the radius is constant for a given n level. However, since there are two, reciprocal, oscillations in the S|T units, which are inversely proportional, the combined motion of the outward radial velocity, vO, and the inward radial velocity, vI, is entirely analogous to the simple harmonic motion (SHM) of a swinging pendulum, or oscillating mass on a spring, in which the total energy of the motion remains constant, through a continual exchange of its kinetic and potential energy. In the S|T oscillation, the net magnitude of the radii and thus the net magnitude of the 2D area (2D space/2D time) between them remains constant over the time (space) oscillation. That is to say, as the radius of the space oscillation increases from 0 to a0, the radius of the time oscillation decreases from a0 to 0, and vice-versa, so that, in effect, the SHM of the scalar motion oscillation, vs, is analogous to the SHM of the oscillating mass on a spring. "where ρ(t, x) is the time dependent charge density function of the electron in time and space, and v is the velocity of the charge-density wave." What is crucial for the RST community to understand, however, is that the fundamental postulate of the system, that all properties of matter are only manifestations of scalar motion, changes everything. Mass and all its derivatives in the energy group have no role in the science of the scalar motion of the material system. They are only useful, as Newton and others of the LST discovered, in the world of vector motion, where the relations of interacting particles, in different inertial reference systems, must be taken into account, according to the rules of that science. In the theoretical world of the RST, the rules and laws of vector motion only apply when observations of physical phenomena require a knowledge of them to confirm theoretical conclusions, but RST science is not bound by them per se. This is what makes the challenge of building the science so terrific. How do we dispense with the concepts of mass and momentum and energy, as developed so successfully in LST theories, and replace them with concepts of 3D, 2D and 1D scalar motion in RST theories? We will explore one possible approach next time. ....we need to formulate the scalar change of space over the scalar change of time, in quantitative terms. Before you do that, you need to qualitatively formulate the scalar change of space over the scalar change of time. Such as that contracting space over expanding time is equivalent to expanding space over contracting time. If you don't get that, you'll be lost forever. However, the earlier graphic is incorrect, as a 180 degree rotation should place the cosmic sector (CS) time progression opposite the material sector (MS) space progression, and the CS space progression opposite the MS time progression. The graphic above is the corrected version. In this way, the upward vertical time progression in the material sector is rotated to the horizontal leftward progression of space, outward from the origin in the left hand "direction," opposite the outward right hand "direction" of space progression in the material sector. Likewise, the rightward space progression in the material sector is rotated to the downward vertical progression of time, outward from the origin in the downward "direction," opposite the upward "direction" of time progression in the material sector. Hence, we see that material time progression is the reciprocal of cosmic space progression and material space progression is the reciprocal of cosmic time progression, just as Larson asserted. The "direction" of expanding space in the MS (progression to the right), is the "direction" of contracting space in the CS (anti-progression to the right), and vice-versa. Expanding time in the MS (progression upward), is the "direction" of contracting time in the CS (anti-progression upward). I trust this is what you were refering to, Horace. Modified Fundamental Postulate of the RST: The physical universe is composed entirely of one component, motion, existing in discrete units, in the eight "directions," of three dimensions, and with two reciprocal aspects, space and time. As it turns out, with this modification, there is no need for any additional postulates regarding mathematics and geometry, because adding the phrase, "in the eight 'directions,' of three dimensions," accomplishes what was covered in the second postulate of Larson's system, as will be shown at some point later on. Although, our immediate objective is to construct a scalar motion model of the Hydrogen atom, which can replace the vector model of Bohr, as modified by Mills, it turns out that we have to understand the nature of the photon first. In the RSt of the LRC, all physical phenomena are either motions, combinations of motions or relations between them, as required by the fundamental postulate of the new system of theory. As I have explained from the beginning of this discussion of our research, this has led, step by step, to the preons called S|T units, the logical (mathematical) combinations of which turn out to follow the observed pattern of the LST's standard model of particle physics, which consists of a well-defined set of bosons and fermions. The happy result is that all the elements of the periodic table can be constructed from the fermions of the pattern, but it requires the distinction between fermions and bosons to be based on different configurations of multiple S|T units: The fermions are configured as end-to-end triple combinations, which can be represented schematically as triangles, while the bosons are configured in parallel triple combinations, that are easily stacked together, represented schematically as bundles, and this difference accounts for the distinct properties of the two types of particles. At first it seemed natural to assume that the quantum deltas of energy, giving rise to the observed atomic spectra, were due to the absorption/emission of these bosons into the fermion combo of the Hydrogen atom. This approach seemed to work well with the Rydberg formula, but it was unclear how the bosons were to be handled - were they absorbed/emitted as triple bundles, or as single S|T units? The answer was unclear, and still is, as we seek to find scalar motion equations analogous to those of the LST's vector motion equations, modeling the atom. It's well known that the Hydrogen atom is the building block of all matter. Each atom of the periodic table is an integer multiple of Hydrogen. This means that the number of S|T units in our table of the periodic elements is incremented by the number of S|T units in Hydrogen, or (S|T)n = n x 108|108 (n x Deuterium). When the initial neutrino's count of S|T units is doubled, from S|T = 12|12, to S|T = 24|24, the Helium atom can be derived from the new set of fermions that follows, which now follow the S|T unit's pattern of natural units of motion (num), 24|24, 28|28, 32|32, 36|36, up from the 12|12, 14|14, 16|16, 18|18 pattern of the initial set of triples. The process continues for Lithium, etc, incrementing the respective neutrino triplet, by 12|12, for each successive atomic element's fermions. Since the S|T unit num count of the first possible boson triplet is equal to that of the first possible neutrino's num count, S|T=12|12, it's obvious that the basis of the atomic elements of the periodic table may be effectively formed by the successive absorption of a boson triplet (photon), by the preceding element's neutrino. However, the problem of how to account for the varying frequency of the bosons arises, because if the number of their constituent Ss and Ts are unequal, they cease to propagate at unit speed, as we have shown in the world line chart (see here). Nevertheless, the balanced number of Ss and Ts in a given boson can be achieved in various combinations of S|T units, not just combinations of identical ones. For instance, an S|2T, unbalanced unit can combine with a 2S|T unbalanced unit, to form a 3S|3T balanced unit, which would be identical, for all intents and purposes, to a unit formed from three balanced units, S|T + S|T + S|T = 3S|3T. Yet, there is still another possibility, one that arises from the reciprocity of the system. To explore this possibility, we need to consider the cosmic sector version of the material sector world line chart. We can do this by rotating the unit speed line 180 degrees out of the plane of the diagram and back into it, in such a way as to place it in the quadrant diagonally opposite the material sector world line. In this way, the current world line chart in the upper right quadrant, representing the material sector scalar motion, is transformed into its reciprocal form, the cosmic sector world line chart, in the lower left quadrant, as shown in the previous post here. Notice that this rotation transforms the vertical time expansion of the material world line into the horizontal space expansion of the cosmic (reciprocal) sector, progressing outward from the origin, in the opposite, or reciprocal "direction" of the material space progression. Likewise for the material space progression. It is transformed into the vertical cosmic time progression, by the rotation. Hence, we see that material time progression is the reciprocal of cosmic space progression and material space progression is the reciprocal of cosmic time progression, just as Larson asserted, but now we can see that something unexpected emerges from considering the two world lines together. In the graphic above, the three possibilities for S|T units, which we can term as space-like (red), light-like (green) and time-like (blue), as characterized by the slope of the material system (ms) world-line chart, are also characterized for T|S units by the reciprocal world-line chart of the cosmic sector (cs), as shown by swapping the "direction" of the red and blue balance symbols at the center of each S|T unit symbol. On this basis, the S|T balanced fermion, the neutrino, is successively unbalanced by adding more S units (red) than T units (blue) to the left of the neutrino, and it is successively unbalanced in the opposite "direction," by adding more T units than S units to the right of the neutrino. A similar set of combinations is shown for the T|S units, except now additional T units (blue) unbalance the anti-neutrino on the left, while additional S units (red) unbalance it to the right, reflecting the reciprocal symmetry of the cs world-line chart. Here, we see the same reciprocal symmetry in the S|T and T|S units of the boson triplets, as we do in the fermion triplets, but because nothing of the sort has been observed and labeled by the LST community, we have to come up with our own labels for the various combinations, using the Greek mu symbol with an acute accent above (ú0) for the S|T units, and with the grave symbol above (ù0) for the T|S units. The subscript indicates the unit's degree of unbalance and its "direction." From the beginning I recognized the three S|T bosons, ú-3, ú0 and ú3 as possibilities, because they matched the LST W-, Z0, and W+ bosons, and turned out to explain the beta minus and beta plus decay processes really well (see previous comments in introduction thread), even though I disregarded the discussion of the Z0 particle per se, and also how a boson could be "charged." However, it was always apparent that the intermediate combinations were also likely, and if the W- and W+ bosons were charged, so would they be. Yet, since I didn't know what to do with them, I just never bothered to complete the chart shown above. Now, though, we have to deal with the relationship of energy and frequency and absorption/emission of bosons by fermions, at the discrete magnitudes that are observed spectroscopically, if we are going to achieve our objective. The implication is that the fermions of S|T units may combine with fermions of T|S units, as well as with bosons of both kinds, greatly expanding the field of possible scalar motion combinations that need to be handled in our RSt. But that's good news, given that we have yet to account for gravity and the disparate masses of the particles. Hopefully, the answers we need will be found in the as yet unexplored combinations now coming into view. As we all know, the LST community's science of particle physics is based on what they call "high energy physics," where the fermions and bosons of the standard model are studied through the examination of the debris resulting from high energy collisions of the model's particles. The result is that the electron and other particles of atomic physics, such as that of the hydrogen atom, is not described as a simple point-like electric charge, as it is in the Bohr model, but rather it is observed to be a composite particle with properties resulting from the observed chirality of the model's particles. The same chirality emerges from the S|T combos of the fermions and bosons of the LRC's RSt model. It's really important to recognize that this result is not something that was designed into the model, but is an inevitable consequence of the fundamental postulate of the system. In both models each fermion has its reciprocal, or anti-particle, but in two senses. In one sense, an S|T unit's anti-particle, is its reciprocal S|T unit, but in another sense, there is a reciprocal T|S unit for each S|T unit, as well, as can be seen clearly, from the charts shown in the previous post. The first reciprocity stems from the balance of space and time in S|T units of the material sector (ms), and the second reciprocity results from the balance of time and space in T|S units of the cosmic sector (cs), and even though the LST's explanation of this is quite complicated, a child can understand the RST explanation of it: Raising our left arm causes our mirror reflection to raise its right arm and vice-versa. While the left half of our bodies is a reflection of the right half, the right half of our mirror reflection is a reflection of its left half. It's as if the S|T chart of fermions were rotated 180 degrees horizontally, to form the T|S chart of fermions. When the two charts are juxtaposed, each S|T fermion has an T|S equivalent diagonally opposite it in the T|S chart, except neutrinos, which are directly opposite. Hence, the S|T electron on the left (S|T left chirality) is diagonally opposite the T|S electron on the right (T|S right chirality). Likewise, the S|T positron on the right (S|T right chirality) is diagonally opposite the T|S positron on the left (T|S left chirality). In the LST community, which doesn't recognize scalar motion, in space or in time, these distinctions are also understood, but in a much more convoluted and difficult to explain fashion. The electron, anti-electron, anti-positron, and positron. 4. Anti-positron: right-chiral, charge -1, cannot interact with the W. We’re using names “electron” and “positron” to distinguish between the particles which couple to the W and those that don’t. The conventional language in particle physics is to call these the left-handed (chirality) electron and the right-handed (chirality) electron. But I wanted to use a different notation to emphasize that these are not related to one another by parity (space inversion, or reversing angular momentum). Regardless, however, the important point he makes is the left - and the right + interact with the W- W+ bosons. It's clear that for the S|T (left) electron to be transformed into an S|T neutrino, it has to give up a W- (left) boson, a right one won't do; and for an S|T (right) anti-electron to be transformed into an S|T neutrino, it has to go the other way and give up an S|T W+ (right) boson, a left one simply won't do. The same goes for the T|S positrons, only in this case it's the positron that has to give up a left W+ and the anti-positron that has to give up a right W- boson, to get to the T|S neutrino. Hence, the chiralities must be swapped, according to the appropriate scalar motion sector interaction. All this is straightforward and I agree with Tanedo (if this is what he trying to do) that this change in the nomenclature clears up the confusion between the terms "electron" and "positron." The positron term is more properly applied to the cs version of the electron, since it is the reciprocal sector's corresponding particle. This is especially evident when we understand the reciprocal relations between space and time in the RST equations of motion, so I think I will adopt it. Now, the question is, what is the effect of combining these different particles and what limitations to combining them are imposed by their reciprocal characteristics? We know what happens when the S|T electron and the S|T anti-electron are combined. They are transformed into two photons, and we presume that the same thing should hold for the T|S positron and the T|S anti-positron, but there is a problem, because of our point of view, our frame of reference: In the ms or the cs sector, observers are necessarily on the low side (i.e. the space-like side) of unit speed, which means that the reciprocal sector is on the high side (i.e. the time-like side) of unit speed, and this introduces an inequality in their respective magnitudes. In other words, |1/n| ≠ |n/1|, even though they are equidistant from unit speed, as far as their respective speed-displacements are concerned. This is just another way of saying that, while their absolute values are the same: |-1| = |+1| =1, the magnitude of their respective motions (speeds) is clearly not the same: 4(1/2) = 2/1, so an element of confusion enters the discussion, if this is not well understood. One-half times c is four (22) times slower than two times c, even though both magnitudes are equally displaced from unit speed in terms of their space or time displacement |-1| = |+1|. The world line charts are very helpful to our understanding in this regard, if one has trouble keeping it straight, but, again, the LST community does not recognize the reciprocal nature of space and time and the crucial "swap" of the two in the equation of motion that takes place at the unit boundary. It only recognizes motion in space, not motion in time. What happens when you rotate a left- vs right-chiral fermion 360 degree about its direction of motion. Both particles pick up a -1, but the left-chiral fermion goes one way around the complex plane, while the right-chiral fermion goes the other way. The circle on the right represents the complex phase of the particle’s quantum state; as we rotate a particle, the value of the phase moves along the circle. Rotating the particle 360 degrees only brings you halfway around the circle in a direction that depends on the chirality of the fermion. Rotating a fermion shifts its quantum wavefunction. Left- and right-chiral fermions are shifted in opposite directions. This is a purely quantum phenomenon. But then he quickly dismisses the meaning he has just given us! We don’t have to worry too much about the meaning of this quantum mechanical phase shift. The point is that chirality is related in a “deep” way to the particle’s inherent quantum properties. We’ll see below that this notion of chirality has more dramatic effects when we introduce mass. Yet, even this much can be misleading, because he characterizes the effect of chirality in terms of its interaction with quantum spin, as if the "direction" of quantum spin is a consequence of applying a non-physical spin to a particle, instead of characterizing it as an intrinsic property of the particle itself. Nevertheless, chirality, however inexplicable it is to the LST community, is seen by them to be connected to mass somehow, and that is the important aspect of all this, he asserts. Well, if chirality is connected to mass, and mass is the core concept of LST physics, which we need to replace in our atomic model, we need to understand it. Therefore, I guess we will take the leap! I apologize for not posting here since May, but personal misfortune has beset my family, preventing me from doing so. If I can concentrate enough, I will attempt to continue with this topic. In the previous post, I was explaining how the concepts of helicity and chirality, so important to the research of the LST's particle physics community, emerges from the world line charts of the LRC's RST research. Left or right helicity appears to be a relative property of S|T units which distinguishes the relative balance between the number of S and T units in the combo, and because it's subject to special relativity, is therefore not considered as an intrinsic property of the combo; that is, the relative balance of space and time motion in a combo appears to differ with the vectorial motion of the observer, at high speeds. The chirality of a particle, on the other hand, cannot change handedness with the observer's vectorial motion, since it is a property emerging from the inverse of the sector, which the observer inhabits. An easy way to remember the distinction between helicity and chirality is to refer to the chart of S|T and T|S fermion units, where both have a left and right set of combos relative to the neutrino. Recall that the similar chart of S|T and T|S boson units shows the same left and right pattern. According to Flip Tanedo of the Quantum Dairies blog, it is the property of chirality that has to do with the origin of mass, hence our interest in understanding how that might be. However, Tanedo's explanation involves the Higgs boson and the effort to define mass in a special way. As far as I know, there is no Higgs boson in the sets of S|T and T|S combos. Nevertheless, ultimately, the concept of the Higgs boson is necessary for the LST community in order to explain how the W and Z bosons can have mass. It's complicated, but Tanedo explains it with cartoons here. In the LRC model, on the other hand, the relative "mass" of the S|T and T|S bosons is straightforward: it is due to the imbalance in the combo's number of space and time units of motion, just as it is in the fermions. The trouble is, we can't explain yet how mass connects with this space/time displacement, and we also have to explain what the combos between the charged Ws and the neutral photons are. In the case of the S|T and T|S fermions they are quarks, but, in the case of the bosons, I don't know what they are, yet. Maybe, the idea of the LST community, which employs the so-called Higgs field, has led them down a rabbit hole that they need to come up out of, before they can move forward with a new idea, which employs combos of these as yet unidentified bosons. If so, we might be able to make an astounding contribution to the puzzle of particle mass in a simple, straightforward way. One thing for sure, though. We have no intention of following them down the rabbit hole of the proposed Higgs field and electroweak symmetry breaking to explain mass. If two up quarks and a down quark can combine in a proton combo and two down quarks and an up quark can combine in a neutron combo, then why can't similar combos form in the bosons? Maybe there is a reason they can't, but I think it would be worth investigating the possibility. I'm having a difficult time finding the right frame of mind to post, but I think I will try to post something meaningful before the end of the year. The most difficult aspect of the challenge that I face right now is how to explain why we need to take a fundamental turn at this point in the development, in order to explain mass. I don't know if we ever will be able to explain it adequately, but we know that it is three-dimensional, and the equations we've employed so far are one-dimensional, so it makes sense that we need to find the three-dimensional equivalent of our scalar motion equation for the S|T and T|S units, which have served us so well in calculating the one-dimensional properties of our scalar motion entities. As I've already mentioned, understanding the bosons is crucial to the progress of the LRC's RSt. We don't have virtual photons in our theory and we understand force as a quantity of acceleration, unlike the LST community, which regards force as an autonomous entity, incorporating such concepts as the "electroweak force," and the "strong force," to explain the particle physics of their standard model. Their concept of mass is tied to something called "electroweak symmetry breaking," which requires a boson called the Higgs boson, which we also don't have in our RST-based theory. The Higgs field is composed of Higgs bosons, and, according to the LST, particles with mass interact with this field of bosons, some more, some less, for some unspecified reason. However, the idea of symmetry breaking in the LST theory is part of the interesting idea of lepton-quark interaction, where an electron, for instance, can become a quark and vice-versa, when they are close enough together. In their view, such interconvertability implies the unification of the electron's electro-magnetic force and the quark's weak force into the electroweak force, only becoming separate forces, once they are far enough apart to break the unity, or symmetry. This is known as "spontaneous symmetry breaking," which the acclaimed discovery of the Higgs boson supposedly confirmed, but again, such a theory treats these forces as autonomous forces, and, as Larson pointed out, this is, in itself, a grave error. Force is simply a quantity of acceleration and acceleration is a changing quantity of motion, by definition. In an RST-based theory, everything is motion, stemming from the mother of all motion, the universal expansion, or the eternal progression of space and time. But, the LST doesn't recognize the universal progression, as such. They do recognize the universal progression of time, of course, and as of fairly recently, they discovered the universal progression of space, but, without understanding the key of reciprocity, that time is the reciprocal of space, they are lost, and so have postulated the so-called Big Bang theory of cosmology, where, to begin with, space and time explode outward from an infinitesimal point of infinite energy, cooling as it goes and causing the unified forces to spontaneously break out into four separate forces. To students of Larson's elegant RST, this thinking is simply repugnant for many reasons, and it gets much worse, as now the Higgs field, a sort of replacement for the universal ether, is thought to come in as many as five forms, each with its own boson. A quick overview of the original Higgs field concept is available here. As has been explained previously, in our RSt, the bosons consist of 3D space and time oscillations that are combined in a different configuration than that of the fermions. While the fermions consist of three S|T units schematically represented as a triangle, the boson consist of multiple S|T units schematically represented as a bundle of units in parallel. The difference in the physical configurations of the two types of combinations accounts for the difference in the observed properties of the two types of entities, but unlike the LST theory, these RSt bosons are not the quanta of force fields, especially a sourceless one, such as the Higgs! Thus, there are no gluon bosons, no graviton bosons and no Higgs bosons in the theory, but only photons that are bosons that are either balanced or unbalanced in their constituent quantities of space and time oscillations. S|T = 2/4 + 2/2 + 4/2 = 8|8 num, is a balanced boson, while 3/6 + 3/1 + 2/1 = 8|8 num, is not balanced, even though the magnitudes of their total num are equal. To avoid this difficulty, we use the short hand notation of xS|yT (yT|xS), indicating the number of S and T entities in a given unit. For the example given above, the balanced boson would be written as 2S|2T = 8|8 num, while the unbalanced boson would be written as 3S|T = 8|8 num. Nevertheless, the total num of a particle is important, since it seems reasonable to assume it determines the particles mass. Just how, though, is not yet apparent. The problem is that the electron and positron, with 18 num, are lighter than up and down quarks with 16 and 14 num, respectively, obviously there must be something else involved. The first thought that comes to mind is the dimensional differences between gravitational, magnetic and electrical forces. Electrical force is a 1d quantity, while magnetic force is 2d and gravitational force is 3d. Since the 1d electrical quantities of our S|T (T|S) units work out so perfectly, with leptons and quarks fitting together quite nicely and the beta decay processes also, it seems natural that the magnetic and gravitational quantities should too, if only we could take the model up a couple of notches to the 2d and 3d versions of our 1d equation. In a just and fair world, this would be a straightforward answer to the mass puzzle. It would explain why electrons and positrons have such little mass compared to protons and neutrons, but since the difference between 183 = 5832 and 463 = 97336 is not nearly enough, we must be missing something. In the next post, we will introduce a new direction in the mathematical approach of our RSt, which hopefully will lead us out of this impasse.

2019-04-26T08:04:33Z

https://reciprocal.systems/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=3000

Make A Difference And Save The Planet. Hospitals do an amazing job on a daily basis twenty four hours a day seven days a week. They offer an emergency service that is available whenever ever a person should require they do not close or are allowed to stop as they cater for the ill and injured and as illnesses and injuries are completely unpredictable hospitals offer a service throughout the year to cater for such needs. Medical professionals from carers to physicians work tirelessly having to do long drawn out shifts and cover huge amounts of work in fairness often those that are needed most such as health care workers are not always awarded enough. Much of what is said above is true for an exceedingly majority of health care professionals who dedicate much of their lives to the work they do on a daily basis and are often taken for granted, however there is a very small minority that do not appreciate the responsibility that a job in the health industry claims and allow the service they provide to fall below that invisible line of ‘standard’ that should always be met. Medical care workers have a professional duty of care to all patients that they are providing health care and treatment for, if they breach such a duty then negligence may take place. Medical negligence means that a health care worker has provided a service and/or treatment that were below the standard that is expected of them and therefore no other health care provider of the same abilities in similar circumstances would have caused such harm. For the law to allow a patient to peruse a claim for medical negligence such negligence must have directly caused them further harm or ill health. If you believe that you have in some way been harmed either mentally or physically by a service provided by a health care worker then by seeking a No Win No Fee Compensation Expert and receiving free legal advice you may have a claim for medical negligence. Why is it Important for Hospitals to Have the Correct and Up to Date Equipment? Hospitals and their care are always in high demand as said above illness and injuries are unpredictable but it is vital for hospitals and other health care providers to always be on standby when their resources are needed. If a hospital fails to be able to provide such services then they are putting the lives of those that suffer injuries and illnesses at risk and are not offering the care and attention in which they should be. This is also in respect of the equipment that hospitals should be able to offer patients, it is crucial that hospital have the up to date facilities in terms of technology and treatment services so that their patients can receive the care needed. Equipment that is out of date or just depreciated over time can easily cause the patient to be harmed further as illnesses may go unnoticed or misdiagnosed as high tech diagnostic equipment may not be available. With the recent outbreak of Ebola many hospitals are preparing themselves all around the world for cases if they should arrive at their doors. Guidance and management plans are being put in place so not only is the right care available to those who are ill with Ebola but so that others are protected from the illness. There are fears as there is no official cure or prevention for Ebola that hospitals may not have the ultimate facilities to cater for mass outbreak. It is always strongly advised that when dealing with any compensation cases that victims should seek out legal advice and representation and this cannot be more true for cases of medical negligence. In terms of complexity medical negligence cases can be quite high on the scale. Combining both medicine and law equals challenging to say the least with both subjects being highly complicated. The majority of specialised legal law firms operate on a No Win No Fee agreements leaving their clients to rest assure that they are or will not be at any financial risk. With the law changing in April 2013 concerning medical negligence cases and fees it has brought about some confusing and may have in some way deterred those victims of medical negligence from pursing such a claim. However the changes stated only take affect if the case of medical negligence is won, if the case loses the client will still not have to pay a penny to either side of the legal teams however if the case is won they are entitled to pay their legal team up t 25% of the compensation awarded by the court. This entry was posted in What's New and tagged no win no fee on October 24, 2014 by admin. There are a multitude of reasons why you should help other countries. Some people emphatically disagree with this creed, prioritising the needs, wants and agenda of their own nation above that of others. However, it is critical that you volunteer to provide aid for countries other than your own. Philanthropy has grown in recent years, especially with the advent of computer technology, which allows for a more extensive scope and outreach to individuals throughout the globe. This widespread accessibility to people all over the globe has contributed greatly to the philanthropic movements that have enriched the world in recent years. Read below to discover a few solid reasons why you should donate your money and time to foreign nations. The first rational basis behind donating to poor countries is the notion that all men are equal. Some may radically oppose this concept, noting that their countries should solely invest its own efforts to remedy impoverished sectors of the population. Given the rampant spread of poverty and homelessness, some have arrived to the conclusion that aiding other countries is not in our best interest. However, this could not be further from the truth. As member of the human race, we all occupy an equitable status as global citizens, and nothing can detract from this truth. Centralise your focus on the relative needs of your nation disregards the ailing needs of the developing world. The second consideration simply poses the question of why not? Although wealthier, developed countries are plagued by their own respective incidences of poverty and lack of resources, developing countries suffer greatly, in terms of their accessibility to medical aid, vaccines, clean water, and a number of other amenities that are gravely understated in importance. With this said, we must venture beyond the bounds of our own comfort zones, and aid other countries because we are lavished with such a bounty in resources ourselves. Here is another indispensable benefit of aiding impoverished countries. Foreign diplomacy can significantly aid the national security of any nation. And providing aid to a poor county can ultimately benefit us, improving our perception in their eyes, a cultivating a certain level of civility and coexistence that breeds peace, instead of war. The fewer enemies that a particular nation has, the better. It is critical to note the principle of reciprocity, and the prospect that we may require another nation’s assistance some time down the line. And of course, many developed nations are predicated on notions of liberal ideals, democracy and freedom, as well. Therefore, the ideals and actions of a nation should be indicative of these political philosophies. The final reason is simple. We should empathize with other human beings. Every day, countless children succumb to curable disease, malaria and a number of other pathogens that could easily be treated with outside aid. Both children and adults are sold into slavery and trafficked around the world. Of course, the lingering issue of starvation is a palpable one that still plagues the world today. With this said, we should uphold a noble standard that permits foreign aid for this very reason. This entry was posted in What's New on September 28, 2014 by admin. Computers play an indispensable role in the medical field, and without them, proficiency and productivity would decline markedly. Computers assist with organisational, administrative duties, patient records, and a number of medical technologies that are an absolute necessity in today’s world. Every hospital now incorporate computers into the framework of its everyday responsibilities and duties, and this technology has become an invaluable asset in virtually every medical facility. Generally speaking, many medical screening methods hinge largely on computer technology, including x-rays. Furthermore, various surgical procedures require computers as well, including heart surgeries. Computers can streamline the efficiency of many medically related duties. Computers serve myriad purposes in the field of medicine, often playing a predominant role in medical offices throughout the world. For example, every hospital requires in depth, detailed administrative procedures in order to run and function as properly and as efficiently as possible. With this said, it is impossible to run a viable hospital without the aid of computers. Computers help compile patient records, staff records, procedures, medical records, and much more. Computers have propelled us forward into a new era, in which record monitoring and recording is streamlined with consummate proficiency. Manually, the precise recording of such detailed information would prove cumbersome for most administrative professionals. Computers are especially critical in the context of recording financial transactions, as well. A hospital could not possibly function optimally without accurate data keeping for financial transactions and patient billing. These computers also help compile a number of critical contact details, including the doctor’s information and contact info, and patients’ contact information. Furthermore, computer records can provide unfettered access to patients’ history and personal records, along with an in depth compendium comprising their prior treatments and medical histories. This can be retrieved in virtually any hospital setting. Another clear advantage of utilising computers in medical offices is that it markedly reduces the likelihood of fraud from occurring. Computers appear to perform a vital function in the realm of medicine, as well. For example, they serve an indispensable purpose in the field of research, which is largely responsible for furthering various advancements, treatments and breakthroughs in the medical field as a whole. Furthermore, computers expedite the intent probing and analysis of cells and microorganisms that may elucidate better understanding of the human body. And of course, doctors can communicate through the web by convening in a virtual setting with the aid of a computer. For example, a doctor can provide precise and detailed instruction with the aid of a web conference if necessary. Hospitals rely significantly on computers in order to organise their daily functions and tasks. This may include accounting billing, appointments and much more. This is a critical aspect in the profession and proficiency of a doctor because it organizes their responsibilities as well. Without the added benefit of hospital scheduling and records, doctors would be burdened by a sea of information totally devoid of organization. It should also be noted that many doctors rely on high tech instruments in order to perform procedures with the aid of computers. Many people improperly dispose of their computers and thereby expose the environment to a number of hazardous and deleterious waste materials. This affects everyone. Simply disposing of a computer as though it were every day trash is not recommended. In fact, in some contexts, it is considered illegal to engage in this type of waste disposal. According to some organisations, the reckless disposal of such materials is considered a hazard and is strictly prohibited. Businesses and individuals who dispose improperly of these materials are often held liable, and subjected to costly fines for exposing the environment to e-waste. According to formerly compiled statistics, about 500 million computers became futile by the year of 2007. Now, several years later, computer technology is still evolving and advancing, making more computers obsolete day after day. When computers are placed in garbage landfills, dangerous substances are emitted from PC parts and equipment. One of the major reasons why people should properly dispose of their computers is because monitor picture tubes contain lead, which is a highly toxic substance. The dangers of lead, specifically in case of lead poisoning, include weight loss, poor appetite, gastrointestinal issues, and in worse cases, visual disturbances, short term memory, abdominal pain and nausea. When monitor tubes are placed in landfills, they acquire access to both the water supplies and soil, as well. When water and soil attains residual exposure to lead substances, this results in serious issue for both the environment, and for human health, as well. It appears that many types of computers contain heavy and highly toxic metals, including mercury, beryllium, cadmium, lithium and many other harmful substances. And when computers are indiscriminately placed in landfills without proper disposal methods, the earth is exposed to these toxic metals, which impacts marine life and land based species, as well. Another reason that you should recycle your medical computer is that it offers you an incentive to update your computer technology. Let’s digress from the initial subject matter of harming the environment with improper disposal methods. Not only will recycling preserve your environment, but it will grant your private practice of hospital with cutting edge, efficient technology. Relying on outdated operating systems and computer models can compromise patient data, and this is something that you should strictly avoid. Another sound reason you should consider recycling your computer is because it reduces the energy consumption associated with generating new computers from scratch. Energy efficiency is the hallmark of environmental friendliness in this day and age. And when you recycle your medical computer parts, you make it much easier to create new, more proficient models with updated technology. So, recycle your computers with the hopes of contributing to energy efficiency. And of course, you should recycle your medical computer with the hopes of reducing pollution in the surrounding environment. Medical computer recycling supplies environmental, personal and monetary benefits. In this article, you will learn about the invaluable benefits of properly disposing of your computers and computer parts, while cashing in on your recycling efforts in the process. The world has experienced a paradigm shift, in which there is a growing sense of environmental consciousness and awareness, one that previously lacked the fervour and passion of today. In recent years, widespread, palpable fears of global climate change have emerged, along with tacit fears of polluted air, water supplies and a diminishing ozone layer. With this said, you, and individuals of all other professions, have an apt responsibility to help the environment. According to compiled data, older computers are growing greater in obsoletion than we initially presumed. By the year of 2007 alone, 500 million computers had reached the unfortunate state of futility, and new models were suddenly introduced to the world. But, what is even more alarming are the latent and residual effects associated with improper computer disposal. When computers are introduced to landfills, this causes a number of perilous hazards that work to the detriment of nature and your health. Computer monitor screens contain lead. When these screens are introduced to a landfill, they are readily absorbed into soil and water. When humans develop lead poisoning, this induces a number of symptoms, including loss of appetite, gastrointestinal issues, blurry vision and much more. Additionally, computers themselves contain several toxic elements that are inside out for the environment, as well as human and animal health. These metals include beryllium, cadmium, mercury, lead and much more. Did you know that you can profit from recycling your medical computer? There are a number of organisations and websites that will pay you for your recycled computer. You can cash in, while aiding both manufacturing companies and the environment, as well. Just as you can profit monetarily, you can enrich the environment in the process. Did you know that recycling increases energy efficiency and saves energy as a whole? Basically, when manufacturers use recycled materials to create new products, this saves a great deal of energy. Remember, some organisations consider improper computer disposal to be an offense. Do not place your computer in trash bin, but rather, supply your computer to a computer recycling company for cash. In the UK, and throughout the globe, e-waste, which encompasses computers and electronic parts, is growing in prominence. In the UK and the globe, many individuals dispose of their computer parts improperly, which leads to a host of damaging, environmental circumstances that should be strictly avoided. Newly introduced, technological devices have mesmerised the masses. Not only are they captivating and entertaining, but they are often affordably priced. For this reason, people feel the necessity to repeatedly replace their devices, while disposing of old device incorrectly. As a result of this, computer waste occurs prolifically and subjects the surrounding environment and human and animal health to serious risks. Each year in the United States, for instance, seemingly outdated computers are disposed of. E-waste generally entails the disposal of computers, monitors, printers, and hard drives, as well. However these items should never be discarded along with your everyday, household garbage because they are replete with highly toxic, heavy metals. Computers often consist of elements such as lead, beryllium, cadmium and mercury. Computers usually comprise about 23% plastic, 32% ferrous materials, 15% glass, along with many other components. A number of e-waste programs have been established in an effort to counteract this dangerous trend. Throughout the globe, the burgeoning level of e-waste has increased pollution quite significantly. Perhaps you have a number of computers in your medical office, and you find that it is important to replace your hardware and software in order to better streamline your administrative efforts, and your other responsibilities. It is critical to heighten awareness about this growing issue because it ultimately affects you and the globe, as well. In the year of 2007, novel legislation was implemented to regulate the disposal of electronic waste. These stipulations guide and regulate the manner in which these materials are stored and released into the environment. According to these stipulations, these materials must be disposed of separately from other materials. Some legislation mandates that one verify that their electronic equipment is discarded in an ecologically sound fashion. Given the composition of computers, imagine the amount of energy that you could save. As stated, a couple of the main components of computer parts include both glass and plastic. The production process for glass and plastic requires a copious amount of energy to produce. Therefore, recycling computers contributes to the preservation of energy overall. Producing plastic and glass from scratch is not environmentally friendly or efficient by any means. There are many charitable organizations that accept computers into the scheme of their organization. This can be exceedingly beneficial for a number of reasons. If you choose to donate a fully functional computer model with the intent of purchasing a new computer, then this is highly recommended. It can benefits children adults and schools in need. Another critical benefit of recycling your computer is that you can acquire a monetary benefit. Some companies will pay you a sum of money for a computer donation. Recycling a computer is not simply a voluntary privilege in today’s society, but rather, a strictly enforced requirement. Many businesses are held liable because of the improper disposal of their computers. There is a multitude of ecological benefits that you can derive by engaging in this simple, yet, consequential act of recycling. Furthermore, the resounding benefits and importance of computer recycling is far more critical than one might assume. If you are reading this, and you have a number of obsolete computers in your medical office, then you should consider the information listed below. You should never discard of your medical computers in the trash. You must stay up to date, in terms of recent technology and advancements in today’s computer-driven world. However you must ever subject the Earth to the damaging toll of highly toxic materials. And soon, you will learn exactly why. when you recycle your medical computer, you can benefit the world and yourself in the monetary sense. You can even increase the profitability of manufacturers in the process. In essence, medical computer recycling can reap manifold benefits. Throughout the globe, you can see a grand shift of perspective, and a burgeoning sense of sensitivity for the ecosystems, animals species and public health as a whole. While many have questioned the basis and scientific validity of global warming, no one can deny the notable shifts that pollution has induced in the world’s atmosphere and surrounding environment. In order to bring pollution to a stifling halt, we must each engage in individualistic and collective efforts to recycle and preserve the environment. There are countless reasons why you should recycle your medical computer. Firstly, it will benefit each of your administrative efforts and responsibilities. Every day, computers enable you to manage patient information, medical history, contact details and vital data that enablesprivate practices, clinics and hospitals to run optimally. For this reason, it is important to recycle your computers and purchase new, more viable models that can meet the criteria of your everyday demands. Another sound benefit of recycling is that it is environmentally friendly and energy efficiency. Imagine the copious amount of energy that you could save by simply adhering to their creed. This is not merely a voluntary act, but rather, something that is legally required and regulated. You can benefit a number of manufacturers by decreasing the costs associated with manufacturing a computer, by simply recycling yours, when they rescue your computer parts, they will not have to build a computer from scratch. Basically, computers comprise a number of materials, including plastic and glass. These materials alone require a tremendous amount of energy to generate. Many people recycle their computers for charitable reasons. If you decide to donate a computer, you will in turn benefit another life, or many lives in that respect. Whether you are in the UK, or anywhere in the world, you will find one single, consolidating trend: e-waste disposal. E-waste disposal refers to the improper disposal of e-waste material, namely computer gadgets and electronics. Many people who dispose of such waste do so unwittingly, complete unaware of the harmful disasters that they propagate on the globe. Of course some, individuals, business and organisations do so because of sheer negligence or sheer apathy. Whenever computers are disposed of in such a fashion, toxic chemicals and metals are released into the environment. Various government organisations have taken note of this growing current of pollution and e-waste disposal, and they have undertaken concerted responses efforts to not only regulate the disposal of these materials, but also to hold specific companies or individuals liable for this. E-waste disposal has increased in frequency over the years because novel, technological gadgets are constantly introduced into the mainstream. People are generally riveted by newly introduced devices and feel compelled to simply dispose of their older devices. E-waste encompasses a number of different devices and components, including electronic gadgets, computers, hard drives, keyboards, and much more. Sometimes, these items are disposed of along with other rubbage, and transferred to a general landfill. When this occurs, the earth and water supplies are subsequently exposed to lead, beryllium, cadmium and mercury. In addition to this, many computers contain a high proportion of glass and plastic that should be recycled. Luckily, a number of programs have emerged simply to curtail these growing trends. If your office is ridden with outdated medical computers, and you feel compelled to dispose of those in favor of more updated hardware, ensure that you read this article. Never dispose of computers along with your everyday trash, as this will not bode well for the environment. It is important to be aware of the potential risks associated with improper computer disposal. There are many charity and recycling organisations that you can donate your computer to. While some offer monetary rewards, other do not. Many regulations have been introduced in hopes of ceasing this damaging trend of piling e-waste. These regulations are designed to prevent improper disposal of e-waste and to determine exactly how the disposal process should be executed. Now, individuals, organisations and companies must comply with these policies. When you consider what computers and other electronics are composed of, the dire necessity of recycling suddenly becomes transparently clear. Many of these computer gadgets contain everything from cadmium, lithium and mercury, to lead. These toxic chemicals have the capacity to compromise the human body and human health as a whole. And when computers are not recycled upon disposal, humans are subjected to exposure to these toxic chemicals. Accordingly, when these toxic metals are absorbed into the soil and water, it affects animal species as well. And of course, it should be noted that various charitable foundations gladly accept recycled computers. Donating a fully functional computers does not subject the environment to toxic waste. Furthermore, it gives you the ability to spare the costs associated with manufacturing a brand new computer. Are you a hospital, clinic or private practice with outdated medical computers? If you feel the need to dispose of your current computers, there is a specific process that you must execute in order to fulfill this regulated process. It should be noted that the haphazard disposal of computers is not permitted, as computers harbor a high level of toxic metals that basically tarnish the surrounding environment with dangerous substances. Not only do computers consist of glass and plastic, but they also contain ferrous materials, as well as lead, mercury, lithium, beryllium and cadmium, all of which are highly toxic for plants, human and marine life, along with other land species. With this said, the notion of whether or not you should dispose of your e-waste is not a question. There is a specific process by which disposal occurs. There are a number of recycling organisations that you should contact for this very purpose. You have a few options here. You can give the product back to the original company that manufactured it, or you can transfer it to a waste disposal facility. Accordingly, you may give it to charity, as well. Many manufacturers understand the vital importance of e-waste management, and many are integrating it into the scheme of their own company framework and policies, as well. One particular computer brand, for example, provides free home-pickup services, along with shipping services to local recycling facilities for e-waste materials. This makes the process of waste management much more convenient for the average person. For example ,some of these companies will retrieve usable metals from these computers and make different products, while others will use it for new computer parts. A few notable computer brands actually provide responsible waste management services for electronics. when you select a waste disposal company, just ensure that they comply with regulations for e-waste disposal. You should also ensure that they have the proper licensure, as well. Of course, if you choose to take a more philanthropic route, you may instead donate your computer to a charity organisation. The benefit of doing this is that they can refurbish and repair a computer, and give it to a family or individual in need for free. In this sense, your discarded computer is not obsolete, but rather, serving a functional purpose in another individual’s life. There are a number of benefits associated with recycling e-waste. Essentially, the most obvious benefit is the impact you will have on the world around you. You will prevent a number of highly toxic metals from entering the soil and the water supplies, as well. Another sound benefit is the level of energy efficiency that you will impart to energy manufacturers. Imagine the amount of energy that is invested in the manufacturing process for glass or plastic. Recycled products can reduce the energy output amazingly well. However, this is only possible with collective and individual efforts of your company. Are You Disposing of E-waste Properly? There is a multitude of information that you should know about disposing of e-waste in the most environmentally sound way possible. If you have a private practice, or you work for a hospital or clinic organisation, you understand the invaluable necessity for computerised gadgets. In the context of your administrative duties, you most likely use computers to guide the course of your administrative procedures, store patient records, and a variety of other useful piece of info. As you may already know, all organisations, businesses and individuals must comply with a series of stipulations that govern the disposal of electronic materials. These regulations were set in place for a reason. Throughout the globe, e-waste has amassed an unprecedented amount, impacting the surrounding environment in a toxic fashion. For this reason, it is critical that your business understand the resounding importance of not only complying with e-waste disposal regulations, but also undergoing the proper steps to discarding, donating or recycling your computer. This topic is exceedingly important because the residual effects of e-waste have induced global concerns. Computers are filled toxic metals, including cadmium, lithium, lead and mercury. Accordingly, they have additional components, such as plastic and glass, that when recycled, they lead to easier production and manufacturing in the future. With this said, million of obsolete computers are disposed of throughout the globe, and many of those are placed in landfills, granting them exposure to soil and water supplies. In an effort to dispose of your e-waste properly, it is critical that you undergo a few key steps. You have a number of different alternatives here. For example, you may consider sending your computer to a recycling n that specialises in this very field. Or, you may consider sending it back to the original manufacturer. Some computer companies actually provide free pickup services for unwanted computers. Other computer companies actually have e-waste management services already set in place. If you decide to contact a waste management service in an effort to properly recycle your computer, ensure that they have the proper licensure and that they comply with the preferred regulations. There are a host of charitable organisations that need computers such as yours. Many of these organisations actually take recycled computers, repair them and refurbish them for future use. This can benefit impoverished children, adults and families. Therefore, if you are compelled to embark upon a small, philanthropic endeavor, choose this option. Did you know that you can make a profit by simply donating your computer. Some recycling companies are willing to reward you with a sum of money in exchange for your recycled computer. Accordingly, by disposing of your computer properly, you are sparing wildlife, improving the quality of soil and water, and ultimately, improving health and the global environment. Computers contain materials such as plastic and glass, which can be easily recycled and converted for other functions. This reduces the amount of energy required to create glass or plastic products.

2019-04-26T11:45:05Z

http://www.digital-links.org/

2006-08-31 Assigned to ADVANCED CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEMS, INC. reassignment ADVANCED CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEMS, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: GUERIGUIAN, VINCENT J., GALE, DAVID C., HOSSAINY, SYED FAIYAZ AHMED, HUANG, BIN, WANG, YUNBING, WILKES, GARTH L. Methods and devices relating to polymer-bioceramic composite implantable medical devices are disclosed. Therefore, it is desirable for a stent to have flexibility and resistance to cracking during deployment. It is also advantageous for a stent to be rigid and resistant to creep after deployment. It would also be desirable to be able to control the degradation rate of the device. Certain embodiments of the invention include a stent comprising a structural element including a bioceramic/polymer composite, the composite having plurality of bioceramic particles dispersed within a polymer. Further embodiments of the invention include a method for fabricating an implantable medical device comprising forming a suspension solution including a fluid, a polymer and bioceramic particles, wherein the polymer is dissolved in the fluid, and wherein the bioceramic particles are dispersed in the solution. The method may further include combining the suspension solution with a second fluid, wherein the second fluid is a poor solvent for the polymer and allowing at least some of polymer to precipitate upon combining the suspension solution with the second fluid, wherein at least some of the bioceramic particles precipitate with the precipitated polymer to form a composite mixture. The method may also include fabricating an implantable medical device from the composite mixture. Additional embodiments of the invention include a method for fabricating an implantable medical device comprising forming a suspension solution including a fluid, a polymer and bioceramic particles, wherein the polymer is dissolved in the fluid, and wherein the bioceramic particles are dispersed in the solution and combining the suspension solution with a second fluid, wherein the second fluid is a poor solvent for the polymer and allowing at least some of polymer to precipitate upon combining the suspension solution with the second fluid, wherein at least some of the bioceramic particles precipitate with the precipitated polymer to form a composite mixture. The composite mixture may be mixed with a second polymer to form a second composite mixture, the bioceramic particles being dispersed within the second composite mixture by the mixing. The method may further include fabricating a medical device from the second composite mixture. Other embodiments of the invention include a method of fabricating an implantable medical device comprising treating the surface of a plurality of bioceramic particles with an adhesion promoter and forming a composite including the bioceramic particles dispersed within a polymer, the adhesion promoter enhancing bonding between the polymer and the bioceramic particles. The method may also include fabricating an implantable medical device from the composite. Additional embodiments of the invention include a method for fabricating an implantable medical device comprising combining a plurality of bioceramic particles and a semicrystalline polymer to form a bioceramic polymer composite, the bioceramic particles being dispersed with the polymer. The method may also include allowing crystallites to form adjacent to or around the bioceramic particles during formation of the composite, the crystallites being dispersed throughout an amorphous domain of the composite and fabricating an implantable medical device from the composite. Certain other embodiments of the invention include a method for controlling a degradation rate in an implantable medical device comprising selecting bioceramic particles having degradation products in physiological conditions that can modify a degradation rate of a biodegradable polymer and combining a plurality of bioceramic particles and a biodegradable polymer to form a composite, wherein the bioceramic particles are dispersed within the biodegradable polymer. The method further may further include fabricating an implantable medical device from the composite. FIG. 2B depicts bioceramic particles dispersed within a polymer matrix. FIG. 3 depicts a schematic plot of the crystal nucleation rate, the crystal growth rate, and the overall rate of crystallization for a semicrystalline polymer. FIG. 4 is a graph depicting the peak stress for PLLA and PLLA/HAP composites. FIG. 5 is a graph depicting the break strain for PLLA and PLLA/HAP composites. FIG. 6 is a graph depicting Young's modulus for PLLA and PLLA/HAP composite stent in compression testing. FIG. 7 is a graph depicting the radial stress for PLGA and PLGA/HAP composite stent in compression testing. FIG. 8 is a graph depicting the compression modulus for PLGA and PLGA/HAP composite stent in compression testing. FIG. 9 is a graph depicting recoil testing of PLGA and PLGA/HAP composite stent. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description is of the invention is illustrative only and not in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons based on the disclosure herein. All such embodiments are within the scope of this invention. The “glass transition temperature,” Tg, is the temperature at which the amorphous domains of a polymer change from a brittle vitreous state to a solid deformable or ductile state at atmospheric pressure. In other words, the Tg corresponds to the temperature where the onset of segmental motion in the chains of the polymer occurs. When an amorphous or semicrystalline polymer is exposed to an increasing temperature; the coefficient of expansion and the heat capacity of the polymer both increase as the temperature is raised, indicating increased molecular motion. As the temperature is raised the actual molecular volume in the sample remains constant, and so a higher coefficient of expansion points to an increase in free volume associated with the system and therefore increased freedom for the molecules to move. The increasing heat capacity corresponds to an increase in heat dissipation through movement. Tg of a given polymer can be dependent on the heating rate and can be influenced by the thermal history of the polymer. Furthermore, the chemical structure of the polymer heavily influences the glass transition by affecting mobility. “Solvent” is defined as a substance capable of dissolving or dispersing one or more other substances or capable of at least partially dissolving or dispersing the substance(s) to form a uniformly dispersed solution at the molecular- or ionic-size level. The solvent should be capable of dissolving at least 0.1 mg of the polymer in 1 ml of the solvent, and more narrowly 0.5 mg in 1 ml at ambient temperature and ambient pressure. As used herein, an “implantable medical device” includes, but is not limited to, self-expandable stents, balloon-expandable stents, stent-grafts, implantable cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators; leads and electrodes for the preceding; implantable organ stimulators such as nerve, bladder, sphincter and diaphragm stimulators, cochlear implants; prostheses, vascular grafts, grafts, artificial heart valves and cerebrospinal fluid shunts. An implantable medical device can be designed for the localized delivery of a therapeutic agent. A medicated implantable medical device may be constructed by coating the device with a coating material containing a therapeutic agent. The substrate of the device may also contain a therapeutic agent. FIG. 1 depicts a three-dimensional view of stent 100. In some embodiments, a stent may include a pattern or network of interconnecting structural elements 110. Stent 100 may be formed from a tube (not shown). Stent 100 includes a pattern of structural elements 110, which can take on a variety of patterns. The structural pattern of the device can be of virtually any design. The embodiments disclosed herein are not limited to stents or to the stent pattern illustrated in FIG. 1. The embodiments are easily applicable to other patterns and other devices. The variations in the structure of patterns are virtually unlimited. A stent such as stent 100 may be fabricated from a tube by forming a pattern with a technique such as laser cutting or chemical etching. The geometry or shape of an implantable medical device may vary throughout its structure to allow radial expansion and compression. A pattern may include portions of structural elements or struts that are straight or relatively straight, an example being a portion 120. In addition, patterns may include structural elements or struts that include curved or bent portions such as portions 130, 140, and 150. An implantable medical device can also be made partially or completely from a biodegradable, bioabsorbable, or biostable polymer. A polymer for use in fabricating an implantable medical device can be biostable, bioabsorbable, biodegradable or bioerodable. Biostable refers to polymers that are not biodegradable. The terms biodegradable, bioabsorbable, and bioerodable are used interchangeably and refer to polymers that are capable of being completely degraded and/or eroded when exposed to bodily fluids such as blood and can be gradually resorbed, absorbed, and/or eliminated by the body. The processes of breaking down and absorption of the polymer can be caused by, for example, hydrolysis and metabolic processes. However, polymers tend to have a number of shortcomings for use as materials for implantable medical devices such as stents. Many biodegradable polymers have a relatively low modulus at the physiological conditions in the human body. In general, compared to metals, the strength to weight ratio of polymers is smaller than that of metals. A polymeric stent with inadequete radial strength can result in mechanical failure or recoil inward after implantation into a vessel. To compensate for the relatively low modulus, a polymeric stent requires significantly thicker struts than a metallic stent, which results in an undesirably large profile. Another shortcoming of polymers is that many polymers, such as biodegradable polymers, tend to be brittle under physiological conditions or conditions within a human body. Specifically, such polymers can have a Tg above human body temperature which is approximately 37° C. These polymer systems exhibit a brittle fracture mechanism in which there is little or no plastic deformation prior to failure. As a result, a stent fabricated from such polymers can have insufficient toughness for the range of use of a stent. Other potential problems with polymeric stents include creep, stress relaxation, and physical aging. Creep refers to the gradual deformation that occurs in a polymeric contruct subjected to an applied load. Creep occurs even when the applied load is constant. It is believed that the delayed response of polymer chains to stress during deformation causes creep behavior. As a polymer is deformed, polymeric chains in an initial state rearrange to adopt a new equilibrium configuration. Rearrangement of chains takes place slowly with the chains retracting by folding back to their initial state. For example, an expanded stent can retract radially inward, reducing the effectiveness of a stent in maintaining desired vascular patency. The rate at which polymers creep depends not only on the load, but also on temperature. In general, a loaded construct creeps faster at higher temperatures. Physical aging, as used herein, refers to densification in the amorphous regions of a semi-crystalline polymer. Densification is the increase in density of a material or region of a material. Densification, and thus physical aging, is also the result of relaxation or rearrangement of polymer chains. Various embodiments of the present invention include an implantable medical device fabricated from a composite including a polymer matrix or continuous phase and bioceramic particles as a discrete phase. The bioceramic particles may tend to reduce or eliminate a number of the above-mentioned shortcomings of polymers. For example, the bioceramic particles can increase the toughness and modulus and modify the degradation rate of the polymer. In some embodiments, the composite may include a plurality of bioceramic particles dispersed within the polymer. In general, it is desirable for the bioceramic particles to be uniformly dispersed throughout the biodegradable polymer. The more uniform the dispersion of the particles results in more uniform properties of the composite and a device fabricated from the composite. For example, a uniform dispersion can result in a uniform increase in toughness and modulus and modification of degradation rate. In some embodiments, the bioceramic particles are uniformly or substantially uniformly dispersed within the biodegradable polymer. In certain embodiments, a structural element of an implantable medical device may be fabricated from a bioceramic/polymer composite. Structural elements can include, but are not limited to, any supporting element such as a strut, wire, or filament. FIG. 2A depicts a section 200 of a structural element 110 from stent 100. A portion 210 of section 200 is shown in an expanded view in FIG. 2B. FIG. 2B depicts bioceramic particles 220 dispersed throughout a polymer matrix 230. Bioceramics can include any ceramic material that is compatible with the human body. More generally, bioceramic materials can include any type of compatible inorganic material or inorganic/organic hybrid material. Bioceramic materials can include, but are not limited to, alumina, zirconia, apatites, calcium phosphates, silica based glasses, or glass ceramics, and pyrolytic carbons. Bioceramic materials can be bioabsorbable and/or active. A bioceramic is active if it actively takes part in physiological processes. A bioceramic material can also be “inert,” meaning that the material does not absorb or degrade under physiological conditions of the human body and does not actively take part in physiological processes. Illustrative examples of apatites and other calcium phosphates, include, but are not limited hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2), floroapatite (Ca10(PO4)6F2), carbonate apatide (Ca10(PO4)6CO3), tricalcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2), octacalcium phosphate (Ca8H2(PO4)6-5H2O), octacalcium phosphate (Ca8H2(PO4)6-5H2O), calcium pyrophosphate (Ca2P2O7-2H2O), tetracalcium phosphate (Ca4P2O9), and dicalcium phosphate dehydrate (CaHPO4-2H2O). In some embodiments, bioceramic particles in a composite implantable medical device may be used to inhibit or prevent infection since some bioceramics can have an anti-infective property. Bioceramics may release various ions such as calcium and phosphate ions which broadly exist in human body fluid and blood plasma. Examples of bioceramics that release calcium and/or phosphate ions include various calcium phosphates and bioactive glasses. The released ions may depress foreign body reaction. Trends Biomater. Artif. Tren, Vol 18 (1), pp 9-17. Various sizes of the bioceramic particles may be used in the composite. For example, the bioceramic particles can include, but are not limited to, nanoparticles and/or micro particles. A nanoparticle refers to a particle with a characteristic length (e.g., diameter) in the range of about 1 nm to about 1,000 nm. A micro particle refers to a particle with a characteristic length in the range of greater than 1,000 nm and less than about 10 micrometers. Additionally, bioceramic particles can be of various shapes, including but not limited to, spheres and fibers. Additionally, the particles size distribution can be important in modifying the properties of the polymer. Generally, a narrow size distribution is preferable. The composite of a structural element of a device may have between 0.01% and 10% of bioceramic particles by weight, or more narrowly, between 0.5% and 2% bioceramic particles by weight as compared to the polymer matrix of the composite. As indicated above, the bioceramic particles can reduce or eliminate a number of shortcomings of polymers that are used for implantable medical devices. In one aspect of the invention, bioceramic particles can increase the fracture toughness of polymers of implantable medical device. In general, the higher the fracture toughness, the more resistant a material is to the propagation of cracks. In some embodiments, bioceramic particles may be used in a composite having a matrix polymer that is brittle at physiological conditions. In particular, such a polymer can have a Tg above body temperature. In one embodiment, the bioceramic particles may be nanoparticles. Certain regions of an implantable medical device, such as a stent, experience a high degree of stress and strain when the device is under stress during use. For example, when a stent is crimped and deployed, curved or bending regions such as portions 130, 140, and 150 can have highly concentrated strain which can lead to fracture. The bioceramic particles can increase fracture toughness by reducing the concentration of strain by dispersing the strain over a large volume of the material. Particles can absorb energy due to applied stress and disperse energy about a larger volume in the bioceramic/polymer composite. Therefore, rather than being highly concentrated the stress and strain in a device fabricated from a bioceramic composite is divided into many small interactions involving numerous individual particles. When a crack is initiated in the material and starts traveling through the composite, the crack breaks up into finer and finer cracks due to interaction with the particles. Thus, the particles tend to dissipate the energy of imparted to the device by the applied stress. In general, the increase in the toughness is directly proportional to the size of the particles. For a give weight ratio of particles to matrix, as the size of the particles decreases the number of particles dispersed throughout the device per unit volume also increases. Thus, the number of particles to disperse the energy of applied stress to the device increases. Therefore, it is advantageous to use nanoparticles to increase the toughness of the polymer. It has been shown that the fracture toughness of a polymeric material can be improved by using nanoparticles as a discrete or reinforcing phase in a composite. J. of Applied Polymer Science, 94 (2004) 796-802. Bioceramic particles, more particularly nano-bioceramic particles, by providing more crystallites in a network in the bioceramic/polymer composite increase fracture toughness. In yet another aspect of the invention, bioceramic particles can be used to increase the modulus of the polymer. As indicated above, a polymeric stent requires a high radial strength in order to provide effective scaffolding of a vessel. Many biodegradable polymers have a relatively low modulus as compared to metals. A composite with bioceramic particles with a higher modulus than a matrix polymer may have a higher modulus than the polymer. The higher modulus may allow for the manufacture of a composite stent with much thinner struts than a stent fabricated from the matrix polymer alone. Examples of relatively low modulus polymers include, but are not limited to, poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide), poly(lactide-co-caprolactone), poly(lactide-co-trimethylene carbonate), poly(glycolide-co-caprolactone), and poly(D,L-lactide). It has been reported that composites with nanoparticles can increase the modulus of a polymer by 1-2 orders of magnitude. Mechanical Properties of Polymers and Composites, Lawrence E. Nielsen and Robert F. Landel, 2nd ed., p. 384-385 (1993). In addition, bioceramic particles in a polymer composite can also reduce or eliminate creep, stress relaxation, and physical aging. It is believed that particles can act as “net point” that reduce or inhibit movement of polymer chains in amorphous regions of a polymer. Additionally, in composites fabricated from semicrystalline polymers, the crystallinity of a bioceramic/polymer composite that forms an implantable device can be controlled to reduce or eliminate creep, stress relaxation, and physical aging. As indicated above, these phenomena in a polymer are due to rearrangement or relaxation of polymer chains. In general, as the crystallinity of a semicrystalline polymer increases, physical aging creep, and stress relaxation are reduced. This is likely due to the fact that polymer chains in the amorphous domains capable of movement are reduced by the crystalline domains. However, increasing crystallinity can result in brittleness in a polymer at physiological conditions. In further embodiments, a structural element of an implantable medical device may include a composite having a plurality of crystalline domains dispersed within an amorphous biodegradable polymeric matrix phase. The crystalline domains may be formed around bioceramic particles. In certain embodiments, the composite that makes up the structural element may have a relatively low crystallinity. For example, the crystallinity can be less than 50%, 30%, 20%, or less than 10%. Additionally, the device can be fabricated so that the resulting composite has a relatively large number of crystalline domains that are relatively small. In certain embodiments, the average crystal size can be less than 10 microns, 5 microns, or less than 2 microns. As the size of the crystalline domains decreases along with an increase in the number of domains, the polymer may become less brittle and, which increases the fracture toughness. Although the crystallinity of the resulting polymer can be relatively low, the presence of the relatively large number of relatively small crystalline domains can reduce or eliminate physical aging, creep, and stress relaxation. The size and number of crystallites domains can be controlled during formation of a polymer construct from an implantable medical device is fabricated. Polymer constructs, such as tubes, can be formed using various types of forming methods, including, but not limited to extrusion or injection molding. Representative examples of extruders include, but are not limited to, single screw extruders, intermeshing co-rotating and counter-rotating twin-screw extruders, and other multiple screw masticating extruders. In some embodiments, a mixture of a polymer and bioceramic particles can be extruded to form a polymer construct, such as a tube. A polymer melt mixed with the bioceramic particles can be conveyed through an extruder and forced through a die in the shape of as an annular film in the shape of a tube. The annular film can be cooled below the melting point, Tm, of the polymer to form an extruded polymeric tube. For example, the annular film may be conveyed through a water bath at a selected temperature. Alternatively, the annular film may be cooled by a gas at a selected temperature. The annular film may be cooled at or near an ambient temperature, e.g. 25° C. Alternatively, the annular film may be cooled at a temperature below ambient temperature. In general, crystallization in a polymer tends to occur in a polymer at temperatures between Tg and Tm of the polymer. Therefore, in some embodiments, the temperature of the polymer construct during cooling can be between Tg and Tm. As the temperature of the extruded mixture is cooled below Tm to form a polymer construct, such as a tube, the bioceramic particles provide a point of nucleation in the polymer melt for the formation of crystalline domains. A network of many small crystalline domains is formed, which can work to tie crystalline domains together and reduce, inhibit or prevent fracturing, creep, stress relaxation, and physical aging of the polymer. The crystalline domains can serve as net points in the amorphous domains that restrict the freedom of movement of polymer chains in the amorphous domain. As a result, physical aging, creep, and stress relaxation can be reduced. In addition, for the reasons discussed above, the toughness of the polymer is also increased. In general, both microparticles and nanoparticles can be used as nucleation points. However, as the number of particles increases and size of the particles decreases, the crystalline domains become more effective in increasing fracture toughness and reducing physical aging, creep, and stress relaxation. The closer the crystalline domains are to one another within the amorphous domain of a polymer, the more the crystalline domains can limit the degree of freedom movement of polymer chains in the amorphous domain. Therefore, nanoparticles may be more effective in reducing physical aging, creep, and stress relaxation. In certain embodiments, the size of the crystalline domains can be controlled by the temperature of the cooling polymer construct from an extruder. In general, crystallization tends to occur in a polymer at temperatures between Tg and Tm of the polymer. The rate of crystallization in this range varies with temperature. FIG. 3 depicts a schematic plot of the crystal nucleation rate (RN), the crystal growth rate (RCG), and the overall rate of crystallization (RCO). The crystal nucleation rate is the growth rate of new crystals and the crystal growth rate is the rate of growth of formed crystals. The overall rate of crystallization is the sum of curves RN and RCG. In certain embodiments, the temperature of the cooling polymer construct can be at a temperature at which the overall crystallization rate is relatively low. At such a temperature, the increase in crystallinity is predominantly due to formation of crystalline domains around the bioceramic particles, rather than the growth of existing crystals. In some embodiments, the temperature can be in a range in which the crystal nucleation rate is larger than the crystal growth rate. In one embodiment, the temperature can be in a range in which the crystal nucleation rate is substantially larger than the crystal growth rate. For example, the temperature can be where the ratio of the crystal nucleation rate to crystal growth rate is 2, 5, 10, 50, 100, or greater than 100. In another embodiment, the temperature range may be in range, ΔT, shown in FIG. 3, between about Tg to about 0.25(Tm−Tg)+Tg. In general, good bonding between a continuous phase and a discrete or reinforcing phase in a composite material facilitates improvement of the mechanical performance of the composite. For example, increase of the modulus and fracture toughness of a polymer due to a bioceramic particle phase can be enhanced by good bonding between the polymer and particles. In some embodiments, bioceramic particles may include an adhesion promoter to improve the adhesion between the particles and the polymer matrix. In one embodiment, an adhesion promoter can include a coupling agent. A coupling agent refers to a chemical substance capable of reacting with both the bioceramic particle and the polymer matrix of the composite material. A coupling agent acts as an interface between the polymer and the bioceramic particle to form a chemical bridge between the two to enhance adhesion. In some embodiments, the surface of the bioceramic particles may be treated with an adhesion promoter prior to mixing with the polymer matrix. In one embodiment, the bioceramic particles can be treated with a solution containing the adhesion promoter. Treating can include, but is not limited to, coating, dipping, or spraying the particles with an adhesion promoter or a solution including the adhesion promoter. The particles can also be treated with a gas containing the adhesion promoter. In one embodiment, treatment of the bioceramic particles includes mixing the adhesion promoter with solution of distilled water and a solvent such as ethanol and then adding bioceramic particles. The bioceramic particles can then be separated from the solution, for example, by a centrifuge, and the particles can be dried. The bioceramic particles may then used to form a polymer composite. In an alternative embodiment, the adhesion promoter can be added to the particles during formation of the composite. For example, the adhesion promoter can be mixed with a bioceramic/polymer mixture during extrusion. As indicated above, a device may be composed in whole or in part of materials that degrade, erode, or disintegrate through exposure to physiological conditions within the body until the treatment regimen is completed. The device may be configured to disintegrate and disappear from the region of implantation once treatment is completed. The device may disintegrate by one or more mechanisms including, but not limited to, dissolution and chemical breakdown. The duration of a treatment period depends on the bodily disorder that is being treated. For illustrative purposes only, in treatment of coronary heart disease involving use of stents in diseased vessels, the duration can be in a range from about a month to a few years. However, the duration is typically in a range from about six to twelve months. Thus, it is desirable for an implantable medical device, such as a stent, to have a degradation time at or near the duration of treatment. Degradation time refers to the time for an implantable medical device to substantially or completely erode away from an implant site. Several mechanisms may be relied upon for erosion and disintegration of implantable devices which include, but are not limited to, mechanical, chemical breakdown and dissolution. Therefore, bodily conditions can include, but are not limited to, all conditions associated with bodily fluids (contact with fluids, flow of fluids) and mechanical forces arising from body tissue in direct and indirect contact with a device. Degradation of polymeric materials principally involves chemical breakdown involving enzymatic and/or hydrolytic cleavage of device material due to exposure to bodily fluids such as blood. Chemical breakdown of biodegradable polymers results in changes of physical and chemical properties of the polymer, for example, following exposure to bodily fluids in a vascular environment. Chemical breakdown may be caused by, for example, hydrolysis and/or metabolic processes. Hydrolysis is a chemical process in which a molecule is cleaved into two parts by the addition of a molecule of water. Consequently, the degree of degradation in the bulk of a polymer is strongly dependent on the diffusivity, and hence the diffusion rate of water in the polymer. Another deficiency of some biodegradable polymers, such as poly(L-lactide), is that the degradation rate is slow and results in a degradation time of a stent outside of the desired range. A preferred degradation is from six to twelve months. Increasing the equilibrium content of moisture in a biodegradable polymer that degrades by hydrolysis can increase the degradation rate of a polymer. Various embodiments of the present invention include increasing the equilibrium moisture content in a polymer of a device to accelerate the degradation rate. In some embodiments, bioabsorbable bioceramic particles may be included in a bioceramic/polymer composite device to increase the degradation time of the polymer of the device. In an embodiment, the degradation rate of a bioceramic/polymer composite device can be tuned and/or adjusted to a desired time frame. As the bioceramic particle erodes within the polymeric matrix, the porosity of the matrix increases. The increased porosity increases the diffusion rate of moisture through the polymeric matrix, and thus, the equilibrium moisture content of the polymeric matrix. As a result, the degradation rate of the polymer is increased. The porous structure also increases the transport of degradation products out of the matrix, which also increases the degradation rate of the matrix. In certain embodiments, the degradation rate and degradation time of the device can be tuned or controlled through variables such as the type of bioceramic material and the size and shape of particles. In some embodiments, bioceramic materials can be selected to have a higher degradation rate than the polymer matrix. The faster the degradation rate of the bioceramic material, the faster the porosity of the polymer matrix increases which results in a greater increase in the degradation rate of the polymer matrix. Additionally, the size of the particles influence the time for erosion of the particles. The smaller the particles, the faster the erosion of the particles because of the higher surface area per unit mass of particles. Furthermore, the size and distribution of pores created by erosion of bioceramic particles can also influence the degradation rate and time of the polymer matrix. Smaller particles, such as nanoparticles, create a porous network that exposes a larger volume of polymer matrix to bodily fluid than larger particles, like microparticles. As a result the degradation rate and time of the matrix may be higher when nanoparticles are used rather than microparticles. Through appropriate selection of the type of material for the particles and the size and shape of the particles, the particles and the device can be designed to have a selected erosion rates and degradation time. For example, the particles can designed erode away in several minutes, hours, days, or a month upon exposure to bodily fluid. As indicated above, many biodegradable polymers degrade by the mechanism of hydrolysis. The rate of the hydrolysis reaction tends to increase as the pH decreases. Since the degradation products of such polymers as polylactides are acidic, the degradation products have an autocatalytic effect. Therefore, the pH of the degradation products of the bioceramics can also affect the degradation rate of a device. Therefore, bioceramic particles with acidic degradation by-products may further increase the rate of degradation of a matrix polymer. In other embodiments, a composite can have bioceramic particles that have basic degradation products. For example, hydroxyapatite releases basic degradation products. The basic degradation products of the bioceramic particles can reduce the autocatalytic effect of the polymer degradation by neutralizing the acidic degradation products of the polymer degradation. In some embodiments, the basic degradation products of the bioceramic particles can reduce the degradation rate of the polymer. Additionally, bioceramic particles having a basic degradation product may also depress foreign body reaction. For example, in rapidly eroding implantable medical devices, such as, for example poly(lactide-co-glycolide) which can potentially produce a local pH drop due to the rapid release of acidic degradation products, the use of bioceramic particles having a basic degradation product may buffer the reaction and neutralize the local pH drop. Further embodiments of the invention include formation of a bioceramic/polymer composite and fabrication of an implantable medical device therefrom. As indicated above, a composite of a polymer and bioceramic particles can be extruded to form a polymer construct, such as a tube. A stent can then be fabricated from the tube. The composite can be formed in a number of ways. In some embodiments, the composite can be formed by melt blending. In melt blending the bioceramic particles are mixed with a polymer melt. The particles can be mixed with the polymer melt using extrusion or batch processing. In one embodiment, the bioceramic particles can be combined with a polymer in a powdered or granular form prior to melting of the polymer. The particles and polymer can be mixed using mechanical mixing or stirring such as agitation of the particles and polymer in a container or a mixer. The agitated mixture can then be heated to a temperature above the melt temperature of the polymer in an extruder or using batch processing. However, a problem with the mechanical mixing or stirring techniques is that the polymer and particles may be separated into separate regions or layers. This is particularly a problem with respect to smaller particles such as nanoparticles. Additionally, obtaining a uniform dispersion by mixing particles with a polymer melt as described, is that particles can agglomerate or form clusters. The mechanical mixing in an extruder or in batch processing can be insufficient to break up the clusters, resulting in a nonuniform mixture of bioceramic particles and polymer. Some embodiments may include forming a composite from a suspension of bioceramic particles and a polymer solution. A composite formed using a suspension may result in a composite having more uniformly dispersed particles than methods formed without using a suspension. Alternatively, bioceramic particles can be mixed with a polymer by solution blending in which a composite mixture of bioceramic particles and polymer is formed from a suspension of particles in a polymer solution. Certain embodiments of a method of forming an implantable medical device may include forming a suspension including a fluid, a polymer, and bioceramic particles. A “suspension” is a mixture in which particles are suspended or dispersed in a fluid. The fluid can be a solvent for the polymer so that the polymer is dissolved in the fluid. The particles can be mixed with the fluid before or after dissolving the polymer in the fluid. Various mechanical mixing methods known to those of skill in the art may be used to disperse the bioceramic particles in the suspension. In one embodiment, the suspension can be treated with ultrasound, for example, by an ultrasonic mixer. The method may further include combining the suspension with a second fluid that may be a poor solvent for the polymer. At least some of polymer may be allowed to precipitate upon combining the suspension solution with the second fluid. In some embodiments, at least some of the bioceramic particles may precipitate from the suspension with the precipitated polymer to form a composite mixture. The precipitated composite mixture may then be filtered out of the solvents. The filtered composite mixture can be dried to remove residual solvents. For example, the composite mixture can be dried in a vacuum oven or by blowing heated gas on the mixture. Exemplary polymers may include, but are not limited to, poly (L-lactic acid), poly (DL-lactic acid), poly (lactide-coglycolide). Representative solvents for such polymers can include toluene and chloroform. Representative poor solvents for these polymers that may be used to precipitate the polymer include methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, and various alkanes such as hexane or heptane. Additionally, it has been observed that the both the degree of precipitation of particles and the degree of dispersion of particles within the precipitated polymer depends upon the amount of polymer dissolved in the solution. The degree of precipitation refers to the amount of particles that precipitate out of the suspension. The degree of dispersion of particles within the precipitated polymer refers to the degree of mixing of the particles with the polymer. A given suspension can have a particular combination of type of particles, particle concentration, and solvent. For this given suspension, the polymer weight percent or viscosity that can be varied to obtain both a desired degree of precipitation of particles and degree of dispersion of particles in the precipitated polymer. Thus, there may be a range of polymer weight percent or viscosity that can result in a desired degree of precipitation of particles and degree of dispersion of particles in precipitated polymer. Additionally, the manner of combining the suspension with the poor solvent can also affect the degree of precipitation and degree of dispersion. For example, depositing a fine mist of small droplets into a poor solvent can more readily result in a desired degree of precipitation and degree of dispersion. Thus, the manner of combining the suspension with the poor solvent can influence the range of polymer weight percent or viscosity that results in a desired degree of precipitation and degree of dispersion. Further embodiments of the method include conveying the composite mixture into an extruder. The composite mixture may be extruded at a temperature above the melting temperature of the polymer and less than the melting temperature of the bioceramic particles. In some embodiments, the dried composite mixture may be broken into small pieces by, for example, chopping or grinding. Extruding smaller pieces of the composite mixture may lead to a more uniform distribution of the nanoparticles during the extrusion process. The extruded composite mixture may then be formed into a polymer construct, such as a tube or sheet which can be rolled or bonded to form a tube. A medical device may then be fabricated from the construct. For example, a stent can be fabricated from a tube by laser machining a pattern in to the tube. In another embodiment, a polymer construct may be formed from the composite mixture using an injection molding apparatus. Preparation of a desired amount of precipitated composite mixture may require a large amount of solvent and precipitant. Therefore, in some embodiments, it may be advantageous to melt blend precipitated composite mixture with an amount of polymer in an extruder or in a batch process. The polymer can be the same or a different polymer of the precipitated composite mixture. For example, a relatively small amount of precipitated composite mixture that has a weight percent of bioceramic particles higher than is desired can be prepared. The precipitated composite mixture may be melt blended with an amount of biodegradable polymer to form a composite mixture than has a desired weight percent of bioceramic particles. The examples and experimental data set forth below are for illustrative purposes only and are in no way meant to limit the invention. The following examples are given to aid in understanding the invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular materials or procedures of examples. In all examples, hydroxyapatite nano particles (HAP) are used as one typical bioceramic nanoparticle. The polymers used in the Examples were poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA), poly (DL-lactic acid) (PDLLA), and poly (lactic acid co-glycolide) (PLGA). Step 1: Add bioceramic particles into suitable solvent, such as chloroform, acetone, etc. and stir to form a bioceramic particle suspension solution. Step 2: Slowly add a polymer such as PLLA, PDLLA, PGLA into suspension solution and stir until polymer dissolves completely. In this step, the solution may still have a relatively low viscosity. However, the bioceramic particles should be well dispersed while stirring. Step 3: Slowly add the polymer into solution again to gradually increase solution viscosity. Repeat this step as needed until the polymer is completely dissolved and reasonable solution viscosity is developed. Step 4: Apply ultrasonic mixing to suspension solution for 15-30 min to further disperse all the HAP uniformly into the PLLA solution. Step 6: Add suspension solution to IL methanol to precipitate polymer and particles. Step 1: Added 50 mg HAP particles into 300 mL of chloroform and stirred for 10-30 minutes to form bioceramic particle suspension solution. Step 2: Slowly added 5 g PLLA into suspension solution and stirred about 8 hours to dissolve all polymer. Step 3: Applied ultrasonic mixing to suspension solution for 15-30 min to further disperse HAP particles into PLLA solution. Step 4: Added suspension solution to 1L methanol to precipitate polymer and particles. Step 5: Filtered the precipitate and dried about 8 hours in vacuum oven at 60° C. End product is PLLA/HAP composite. Composites were also made with 2 wt % and 5 wt % HAP. Tensile testing of the composite samples and a pure PLLA were performed using an Instron tensile tester. Test samples were prepared by hot pressing the PLLA/HAP composites and pure polymer to a thin film at 193° C. for 30 seconds. Testing bars were cut from the thin film and tested. The peak stress at break, the strain at break, and the Young's modulus were measured. The draw rate was about 0.5 in/min. FIGS. 4-6 illustrate tensile testing results for pure PLLA and PLLA/HAP composites with 1 wt % HAP. FIG. 4 depicts the peak stress for the two samples. PLLA/HAP composites have a higher peak stress than the pure PLLA. FIG. 5 depicts the % strain at break for the two samples. The 1 wt % composite had a higher % strain at break than the pure PLLA. FIG. 6 depicts Young's modulus for the two samples. The 1 wt % samples had a higher Young's modulus than the pure PLLA. Step 1: Added 25 g HAP particles to 3L chloroform and stirred for 10-30 minutes to form bioceramic particle suspension solution. Step 2: Slowly added 50 g PLLA into suspension solution and stirred about 8 hours to dissolve all polymer. Step 3: Applied ultrasonic mixing for 15-30 min to further disperse HAP particles into PLLA solution. Step 4: Added suspension solution to 9L methanol to precipitate particles and polymer. Step 5: Filtered the precipitate and dried about 8 hours in vacuum oven at 60° C. End product is PLLA/HAP composite. Step 2: Mixed 24 g of broken up composite and 376 g PLLA. Step 3: Extruded mixture at 216° C. Step 2: Mixed 12 g broken up PLGA/HAP composite and 396 g PLGA. As discussed above, to further improve mechanical properties of a bioceramic and polymer composite, the interfacial adhesion can be enhanced. The adhesion between bioceramic particles and a biodegradable polymer can be improved by coating at least a portion of the surfaces of the bioceramic particles with an adhesion promoter such as 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Step 1: Added 100 ml distillated water to 1900 ml Ethanol and stirred for 15-30 min. Step 2: Added 20 g 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane to water-ethanol mixture and stirred for 1 h. Step 3: Added 20 g HAP and stirred for 2 h. Step 4: Centrifuged the modified HAP from solution. Step 5: Dried HAP about 8 hours in vacuum oven. A stent was fabricated from a PLGA/nanoparticle composite tubing. Prior to cutting a stent pattern, the tubing was expanded at 109° C. in a blow molder to increase radial strength. A stent pattern was cut in the expanded tubing using an ultra-fast pulse laser. The stent was crimped at 30° C. After crimping, the stent was cold sterilized. The mechanical properties of a stent fabricated from a PLGA/nanoparticle HAP composite were tested on an Instron compression tester. The recoil of stents was recorded after inflation and deflation of stent. FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate compression testing results for PLGA/HAP stent (100:1 wt/wt). The compression testing results for 100% PLGA is also included for comparison. FIG. 7 shows that the average radial strength of PLGA/HAP stent is about 11% higher than that of the 100% PLGA stent. FIG. 8 shows that the compression modulus of PLGA/nano HAP stent increased by about 23% over the 100% PLGA stent. FIG. 9 shows the recoil of PLGA/nano HAP stent is about 15% less than the PLGA stent. a structural element including a bioceramic/polymer composite, the composite having plurality of bioceramic particles dispersed within a polymer. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bioceramic particles are nanoparticles. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bioceramic particles and/or the polymer are biodegradable. 4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the particles are uniformly or substantially uniformly dispersed within the polymer. 5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the polymer and the bioceramic particles are biodegradable, a degradation rate of the bioceramic particles is greater than the polymer. 6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the polymer and the bioceramic particles are biodegradable, degradation products of the bioceramic particles being capable of modifying a degradation rate of the polymer during use of the device. 7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bioceramic particles are biodegradable, the degradation products of the particles being basic. 8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bioceramic particles are biodegradable, the degradation products of the particles being acidic. 9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bioceramic particles are biodegradable, the degradation products of the particles being basic. 10. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bioceramic particles are capable of releasing ions which suppress foreign body reaction. 11. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bioceramic particles are selected from a group consisting of calcium ions and phosphate ions. 12. The device according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the bioceramic particles comprises an adhesion promoter, the adhesion promoter enhancing bonding between the polymer and the bioceramic particles. 13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the adhesion promoter comprises coupling agents. 14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the coupling agents comprise silane coupling agents. 15. The device according to claim 13, wherein the adhesion promoter is selected from a group consisting of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and aminopropylmethyldiethoxy silane. 16. The device according to claim 1, wherein the polymer is biodegradable. 17. The device according to claim 1, wherein the particles increase the toughness of the polymer and the structural element of the device at physiological conditions. 18. The device according to claim 1, wherein the particles increase the modulus of the polymer and the structural element of the device at physiological conditions. 19. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bioceramic particles comprise a bioactive glass that releases ions during use under physiological conditions that have a therapeutic effect. fabricating an implantable medical device from the composite mixture. 21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the medical device is a stent. 22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the polymer is biodegradable. 23. The method according to claim 20, wherein the bioceramic particles are nanoparticles. 24. The method according to claim 20, wherein all or substantially all of the bioceramic particles precipitate. 25. The method according to claim 20, wherein adjusting the concentration of polymer in the suspension solution so that all or substantially all of the bioceramic particles precipitate. 26. The method according to claim 20, wherein the bioceramic particles are biodegradable, the degradation products of the particles being acidic. 27. The method according to claim 20, wherein the bioceramic particles are biodegradable, the degradation products of the particles being basic. 28. The method according to claim 20, wherein the bioceramic particles are biodegradable, the degradation products of the particles being neutral. 29. The method according to claim 20, wherein a ratio of the weight percent of the bioceramic particles to the polymer in the suspension solution is at least about 1:200. 30. The method according to claim 20, further comprising treating the bioceramic particles with an adhesion promoter prior to or after forming the suspension solution. 31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the adhesion promoter comprises silane and non-silane coupling agents. 32. The method according to claim 30, wherein the adhesion promoter is selected from the group consisting of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and aminopropylmethyldiethoxy silane. 33. The method according to claim 20, wherein the bioceramic particles comprise hydroxyapatite. 34. A method for fabricating an implantable medical device comprising:. fabricating a medical device from the second composite mixture. 35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the implantable medical device is a stent. 36. The method according to claim 34, wherein the second polymer is the same or different from the polymer in the suspension solution. 37. The method according to claim 34, wherein the composite mixture and the second polymer are mixed in an extruder at a temperature above the melting temperature of the polymer in the suspension solution and the composite mixture. 38. The method according to claim 34, wherein the second polymer is biodegradable. 39. The method according to claim 34, wherein the bioceramic particles are nanoparticles. fabricating an implantable medical device from the composite. 41. The method according to claim 40, wherein the adhesion promoter comprises silane and non-silane coupling agents. 42. The method according to claim 40, wherein the adhesion promoter is selected from a group consisting of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and aminopropylmethyldiethoxy silane. 44. The method according to claim 43, wherein the Tg of the polymer is less than a body temperature so that the polymer is brittle at physiological conditions in the absence of the particles. 45. The method according to claim 43, wherein the polymer comprises a biodegradable polymer. 46. The method according to claim 43, wherein the bioceramic particles are nano particles. 47. The method according to claim 43, wherein the implantable medical device comprises a stent. 49. The method according to claim 48, wherein the bioceramic particles are nanoparticles. 50. The method according to claim 48, wherein the implantable medical device is a stent. 51. The method according to claim 48, wherein the degradation products of the bioceramic particles are acidic. 52. The method according to claim 48, wherein the degradation products of the bioceramic particles are basic.

2019-04-22T09:30:05Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20070282431A1/en

Personals: Increasing happiness and productivity via “lights” spreadsheets. The most common writing mistakes we should watch out for. How to turn rejection into an advantage. Why we procrastinate, and what it tells us about ourselves. Career: How to get paid what you are worth. Remote work habits. Wellness: Why we should correct bad posture, today. EMF protection tips. Intermittent fasting and anti-aging, the link explained. Relationships: How to help children who have experienced trauma. Finances: Ways to spring clean your bank account and finances. Personals: The one minute hack to feeling more confident. Twice Blessed tackles the topic of religious discrimination in 2019. Wellness: The slow carbs that are better than low carbs. How to use Gua Sha to tackle tension and aging. There is a natural remedy that can be used for yeast infections. The Dot App— the hottest new form of birth control in town. A body acne map. Relationships: Therapist tools for step parenting. 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Relationships: All about Gilmore Girls, and the fact that they were actually co-dependent. It was a fascinating piece about relationships and how they can turn unhealthy, even when they look fine at a glance. Exploring: The best French spots in NYC. The Miami guide, according to Goop. Living:Recipes to try out on a sunny Sunday. The anti-autoimmune diet. Career: Things learned from a career coach. Relationships: Amanda Booth on the joys of life that she has experienced through her son’s down syndrome. Living: Gorgeous spring salads to make and share. A great piece about what a young woman learned in Silicon Valley. Personals: Acts of self care for this weekend. A great piece on those of us who empathize, and the burden of being sensitive. Style: The timeless outfits that we’d still wear from Rachel Green’s closet (Friends). Relationships: A great post on why it’s worth honoring God in your relationship. Personals: How to stop treating life like a competition; an awesome post from The Wholehearted Woman. What to do if you are struggling with financial PTSD. A list of things they don’t teach us in school, which help us succeed. Wellness: A days worth of anti-inflammatory meal plans. A nutritionist shares some diet/meal tips. From Pegah and Sweat, how to be more with less. I loved this piece. Career: Work uniforms of successful women. How to change careers. (We are young and change is good). Mindfulness at work, for when you are praying and it all hits the fan. Other practical little tips to go along with prayer. Personals: How to stop the comparison game that plagues us all, once in a while. Time alone and why it’s necessary for even extroverts. Health and Wellness: Best foods for best brain function. The wonders of collagen. I have been really into facial massage, and how it can help with lymphatic drainage and stress headaches. Dining out can expose us to more hormone disruptors. Style: Incorporating some throwbacks into your outfits. The French girl brands that are taking over. Living: How to use Sunday to make the week better. How language affects perception. Junot Diaz breaks the silence on childhood trauma. Relationships: Dealing with toxic people (how to know who is toxic and how to deal). Personals: What’s your archetype? (An intriguing read). I got so much nostalgia from this post on the outfits from 13 Going on 30. Spirituality: Dreaming big, the way God wants us to dream. The Bible verse that changed Stephen Colbert’s life. Dr. Sadeghi on how emotions and thoughts impact our physical wellbeing. Living: The environmental impact of laundry products. Dealing with anxiety in a natural way. The beauty of eating outside, old world style. The Parent Trap’s perfect soundtrack for your next dinner. Health and Wellness: The wonders of aloe (and the fact that it keeps blood sugar in check). Tips to balance your hormones. Lately, I have focused on hormone health. I can’t stress enough how important it is. The “dirty dozen” list of produce is out. Dr. Gottfried talking about how aging well has everything to do with emotional wellness. Career: A lady boss is on the May 2018 Vogue cover: Amal Clooney. Personals: Good habits worth the effort. All about self improvement. This brilliant piece on social media and living (the real IRL). (A must read)! Health and Wellness: Food counseling for women with PCOS and hormonal imbalances. Coping with anxiety. Echinacea and all of its wonders. Career: How to navigate the modern workplace. Ever heard of the glass cliff? Six things to remove from your resume. Travel: Some tips for the wanderers. Living: How to throw an unforgettable party. And how to impress with homemade almond milk. (I am so nerding out). Financials: Good debt vs. bad debt. Relationships: Date night ideas for married couples. According to your Myers-Briggs personality, what type of a friend are you? Living: How to entertain on a budget. Career: How to ace your next interview. Personals: Are money and confidence interchangeable? How iPhones impair our brains, even when we aren’t on them. (Scary). The details on gratitude. (And the type of gratitude that really makes us happier). Directly from me (yours truly, xoxo): My open letter to God. I wrote out my purpose, guys, and it was harder than I thought. Wellness: Seven diet changes that will improve your gut health. Trader Joe’s products that make life and meal prep easier. Some spring food picks from Pegah. Personals: A bit of humor from Garance Doré. Relationships: All about the pit in your stomach. Career: The happiest places to work. Six questions to ask at your next interview. A tool that helps you speak confidently at work (a solid reminder). Career: Striving for the work-life balance. Business casual attire to make sure you keep winning and look like the boss you are. Beauty and Wellness: Sephora’s list of the best natural beauty products. Get the natural stuff, and keep racking up your points! “The Dirty Dozen,” list of endocrine disrupters. (Perfect for guiding some spring cleaning). The health benefits of collagen (going beyond skin). Parenting: Why mom’s should embrace (not resist) their changing bodies. Relationships: The beauty of a rebuke, and the changes it can lead to. (If you love someone, you call them out). Personals: Daily mantras and affirmations from incredible women. How changing 1% of your life can change everything. Spirituality: Taking the limits off of God. (Video). Wellness: Inflammation 101. Using probiotics to make homemade coconut yogurt. How tech is helping women stop taking hormonal birth control. (This is pretty amazing). Beauty: Alice Panikian’s non-toxic beauty routine. Food: Vegan Easter recipes. Spring, come to us! Style: I loveee MPG’s everyday wear (especially their office stuff). It’s clean and minimalist. For every thing you buy, part goes to charity to feed a child. The quality is excellent. Career: How millennial women are handling burnout. Decor: Plants that will elevate any bathroom. Parenting: All about children and their social development. Personals: Top 10 best states for women. Do you live in one? (New York did not make the cut). Girl and the Bay brings us 30 things we can learn from Oprah on personal branding. Wellness: The importance of rest days, in your fitness routine. Feeling like yourself after being diagnosed with a hormone imbalance. How to tell if your gut health is on point. Relationships: Silicone Valley parents are raising their children tech free, and what we can learn from this. Man Repeller got an older woman to dish out love advice. Entertaining: Getting those high tea vibes before spring. Financials: Lessons learned after paying off a student loan. Health: Why fermented foods matter. Julianne Hough opens up on natural remedies and comforts for her endometriosis. The best natural makeup products, as listed by Man Repeller. All about hydration (how much water is really enough?). Home: Five areas to keep clean in your home (that are often overlooked). Personals: Ways to save time in the morning (we know you are busy!). When to know it’s time to relocate. (Moving on, to a new city, can change your life). Ways to have a better morning. Season: 28 things to do before spring beckons us outside for warm sunshine (the snow is melting). If you find yourself dreaming of spring, Gal Meets Glam has some gorgeous colorful shots from her time in Palm Beach. Spirituality: Why Christians are mean, and what it means (and why it needs to change). Relationships: Ways to avoid a breakup. (Really, they are tips for a healthy relationship). Career: The best job for your personality types (for the Myers-Briggs obsessed). And 10 things to do if you dislike your job with a passion (but can’t leave quite yet). Spirituality: Christine Caine at Passion 2018 was fire! Making a statement: India celebrates and promotes ‘Pad Man.’NYFW takes on feminist symbols and the Puerto Rican flag. Clean Beauty: The best natural deodorant according to Dr. Mona Vand, and how to make the switch to non-toxic deodorant. Personals: One of the most important questions of your life– this is a good one. An open letter to her body and period, by Garance Dore. Lena Dunham shared thoughts on motherhood after her hysterectomy (Endometriosis awareness month is coming, ladies). Relationships: A simple tip to increase happiness. Julianne Hough on endo and married life, because #goals. Melissa Wood shared her thoughts on dropping the health snobbery and living your life (and letting your partner live his). Self-care: Our own Modern Witness Pegah O. talked about treating yourself this Valentine’s Day, with Girl & the Bay. Food & Wellness: A breakfast worth waking up for, from Welleco; Your guide to gut health, here. The power of ginseng, listed for your enjoyment. Health as a choice. Career: What executive presence means (and what it can do for you). How to create a compelling future by design (with free printable), from The Skinny Confidential. Personals: The dangers of perfectionism, as investigated by The Washington Post. Keep your head up, on tech ruining manners and moods. Dealing with low self-esteem, from the Man Repeller herself, Leandra Medine. Spirituality: How God awakens us, thoughts sparked by Thomas Merton and digested by yours truly.

2019-04-19T00:32:09Z

https://modernwitnesses.com/editorsnotes/?shared=email&msg=fail

in whole or in part in any form. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. O God, who is like unto thee? Troubling Her is derived from a question that Jesus asked His disciples shortly before His crucifixion. They were all in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, and as they sat around the table a woman came in, carrying some expensive, fragrant oil. She used it to anoint Jesus. 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. This woman, who the disciples were troubling, had heard and believed what Christ said concerning His death and resurrection. She brought ointment to anoint His body in preparation for His crucifixion. Her gesture was an intimate one that was full of faith. The rejection of this woman’s gift parallels the way women in ministry are treated today. They have responded to Christ’s call and are offering their ministry gifts in faith and obedience to God. Yet they find themselves troubled by some of Christ’s male disciples who don’t understand the value or purpose of these women’s gifts. Christ, however, sees it differently and accepts the women’s offerings. The purpose of this book is to provide women in ministry, or those called to ministry, with biblical support for their efforts. I’ve heard women say numerous times that they have a distinct sense of being called, or are already in ministry, but feel unsure or not entirely clear about what the Bible teaches on the subject. Even when they are certain of what God is calling them to do, they may lack sufficient knowledge of the Scriptures to defend themselves against the onslaught of naysayers in their denominations, families, and lives. My study of the Bible on this subject has led me to the conclusion that women are called by God to minister to and lead His people, and have been from ancient times to the present day. Throughout the book, I’ll discuss in detail what the Bible teaches about women in ministry by examining relevant verses, narratives, and principles. This includes verses that support, as well as those which seem to disagree with my conclusion. You will see plenty of verses you recognize, along with some you would not expect to be part of the discussion. Ultimately, you may come to a different conclusion than I did about women in ministry. In such a case, we must agree to disagree. Sincere Christians can come to different conclusions about what the Bible teaches. But this must also be said: all objections to women in ministry are not sincere. Some of the hindrances women ministers face have nothing to do with what the Bible teaches, and everything to do with those who are interested in preserving their status and power within the Church. There are religious leaders today whose lust for power and position or self-absorption blinds them to the truth about women in ministry, much the same as the Pharisees and scribes rejected the truth of Christ for selfish reasons. Such people are not new to the Body of Christ nor are they likely to go away anytime soon. When others oppose your calling and efforts, remind them of your requirement to obey God, no matter what they (or anyone else) thinks of your ministry. One day you will answer to God for your actions—the responsibility to obey God is yours. My prayer for you as you are reading this book, is that God will open your eyes, ears, and heart to the truth of His Word (Pr. 20:12; Eze. 3:10; Luke 24:31; Acts 16:14). That God will grant you the wisdom and the grace to fulfill His calling in Christ Jesus, in accordance with the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him in the heavens (Eph. 1:20). I pray that God will encourage your heart and remind you of His faithfulness and mercy, and that you find will find rest in His Word and shelter from the trials and difficulties of ministry. Let me know how you are doing in ministry and your thoughts about the book. You can reach me via email at: [email protected]. The role of women in ministry continues to be among the most hotly debated issues in Christianity. Questions abound regarding the appropriate function of women in the Church, the world, and at home—and there are a variety of views on the subject. Denominations vary widely in their practices, from a complete refusal to ordain women to the full ordination of women as pastors and elders. This wide range of interpretation and practice among Christians occurs, in part, because the Bible is ambiguous about this issue. There are examples of women in the Bible chosen by God to lead His people. There are also Bible verses that seem to reject the idea of women as leaders. The ways in which denominations resolve this ambiguity determines their perspective on women in ministry. So how do we resolve this issue? By examining “all the counsel of God,” meaning the wide range of scriptures that relate to women in ministry. We’ll study the character and sovereignty of God, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, creation, women, ministry, marriage, the Church, and we’ll look at biblical examples of leaders—men and women. As we study these issues, it’s important to be aware of some of the interpretive errors that have plagued the discussion of women in ministry. In this chapter, we’ll examine three different types of errors that occur in biblical interpretation: (1) isolating certain Bible verses and reading them apart from their immediate context, and apart from the complete biblical context; (2) inconsistent interpretations and application of Bible verses toward different groups; and (3) improperly weighing issues—paying too much attention to issues of lesser importance and ignoring issues of great significance. For the remainder of this chapter, we’ll look at these interpretive errors and how they impact the discussion of women in ministry. People generally treat the Bible as a collection of independent verses, instead of as a cohesive unit. Such views often result in misinterpretations because the verses are being read in isolation and without balance—without reference to other related verses and issues within the Bible. Reading the Bible this way makes it easy to get a lopsided perspective of God’s ways. The issue of isolation crops up repeatedly with women in ministry, because certain verses in the New Testament seem to make clear cut statements about women in leadership. But when you read those verses in light of the rest of the Bible, the issue is not so clear. 10 Now [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him. The synagogue ruler’s response revealed his myopic view of Scripture. He was convinced that the proper response to the situation was to invoke the Sabbath laws (Exod. 23:12; Deut. 5:13–14). From his perspective, the verse on the Sabbath was obvious in its meaning and it clearly represented God’s will on the matter. He knew that he had made his decision based on Scripture. So how did this religious leader totally miss the boat? By focusing on the Sabbath law to the exclusion of the rest of God’s Word. He allowed his own perspective to blind him to alternate ways of understanding the situation. To him, it looked like disobedience to God’s laws concerning the Sabbath, so he approached it from that standpoint. Unfortunately for him, his decision–making process ignored some really important information—the miraculous healing, for instance. In the Jewish Scriptures (what Christians refer to as the Old Testament), healings and other miracles were usually done through a prophet of God (2 Kgs. 4:27–35; 5:9–15). So why didn’t the ruler consider, that at the very least, a prophet of God was in Israel? Because he was focused only on the Sabbath laws, not the miracle. He focused on what God had said, while ignoring what God was doing. The ruler was so off-base that he ended up trying to rebuke Jesus—the very God who spoke the Sabbath laws into existence. By making the entire situation about the Sabbath the ruler missed another important issue: God’s covenant with Abraham. Jesus was careful to remind the ruler that the woman was a daughter of Abraham and that she had been ill for many years. Think about it: the ruler suggested that the woman come back another day to be healed—as if she could just come back any day and be made well. The woman had been sick for 18 years! Obviously she couldn’t come on just any day and be healed. This demonstrated the ruler’s lack of attention to God’s covenant with Abraham. This man evidently did not consider the woman’s healing as a blessing from their covenant–keeping God. Why? Because for the synagogue leader, the entire situation was governed by the Sabbath laws, and the command was clear. So as far as he could tell, he was right. Sure, he quoted the verse correctly, but he did not understand what it meant in relation to the rest of the Scriptures. He couldn’t make sense of the Sabbath, Jesus, the miracle and the woman, so he relied on one set of verses. Even worse, he thought he had a zeal for God, but he was actually fighting against God’s Son. This should come as no surprise. Then, as now, religious leaders quote from the Bible about what is proper concerning women. They latch onto specific verses that seem obvious to them and refuse to let go, even when it becomes obvious that the verse isn’t giving them a full picture of what God is doing with respect to women. The outcome of this narrative is also illuminating: God miraculously healed a woman in a synagogue on the Sabbath. God was glorified. The people rejoiced. Only the synagogue ruler and those with him were angry and ashamed. Not just because Christ pointed out their hypocrisy, but because they realized — in front of everyone — that they really didn’t understand the Sabbath laws. God was working through this man on the Sabbath to heal a woman, and they were not included! This is very similar to what is happening in Christian circles where women in ministry are opposed. God is using women all over the world to preach the gospel and to minister to His Church. The gifts and callings of these women are evident. But in the face of all of this evidence, their leaders continue holding on to a verse or two that they really don’t understand. And they do this, despite having a clear example of their behavior set forth in Scripture. You’ll see this scriptural isolation surface as we examine verses related to women in ministry that have not been understood in light of the rest of the Bible, including 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 14, Ephesians 5 and others. Another interpretive error that impacts women in ministry is the inconsistent application of the Scriptures. This occurs when the same verses are applied inconsistently to different subjects or situations. 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? As Jesus observed, releasing an ox or donkey on the Sabbath had never been a problem in the community. The ruler’s problem was that Jesus had healed a woman. But the leader was blind to his own conduct, not making the connection between how he treated animals on the Sabbath and the healing of the woman. That is, until Jesus pointed it out. What makes the ruler’s error worse is that women are created in the image of God, and animals are not (Gen. 1:26–27; 2:18–23). So the religious leaders, who were supposed to be honoring God, were more concerned about the animals than with the woman’s well–being. No wonder they were ashamed when Jesus rebuked them. Note that Christ didn’t respond to the ruler’s Sabbath argument with more Scripture. The problem wasn’t that the ruler didn’t know the Word—it was that he applied it inconsistently. This same mindset prevents many Christians today from properly applying the Bible consistently to the issue of women in ministry. These types of inconsistent interpretations have long obscured important teachings about women prophets (e.g., Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah), the important revelation given to Martha, and how Paul’s recommendation of Phoebe must change our understanding of the role of women in church leadership. We’ll look more into these verses later on. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! These religious leaders were so attentive to God’s commands about tithing that they paid tithes of herbs grown in their gardens. Think about how small 10% of a bunch of herbs would have been. But those same leaders, who were so attentive to small amounts of plants, neglected justice, mercy, and faith—things of greater importance to God. It’s important to note that Jesus was not presenting them with an either/or scenario. He expected them to tithe and to show forth justice, mercy, and faith. So why were they focusing on one and neglecting the others? The context of Jesus’ remarks provides a clue. Much of the substance of Christ’s rebuke of the religious leaders focused on their love of appearances—the things visible to others—while they ignored invisible, eternal matters important to God. This helps us to understand at least part of why they chose to focus on the tithe, as opposed to mercy: because it was something others could see (tithes were presented publicly). There is more to Christ’s criticism of the leaders. In verse 24, He referred to their practice of straining gnats out of their drinks to avoid being unclean, a behavior designed to comply with Leviticus 11:20-23. But, as Christ notes, they then swallowed a camel, which is also unclean (Lev. 11:4). By designating both the gnat and camel as unclean under the Law, God signified His concern for the tiniest and greatest matters with His people. But the contrast between the gnat and camel also points to the relative importance of issues before God. The religious leaders were overly concerned with smaller issues (gnats) while paying little attention to major issues (camels). They were scrupulous about the relatively minor aspects of God’s Law—particularly the things that gained them visibility—but neglected the things that mattered most to God. In one sense, those who oppose women in ministry are similarly focused on outward appearances. Their primary concern is the gender of those in Church leadership roles, a view they insist is consistent with Scripture. But as we see from Matthew 23 (and Luke 13 above), holding a view that seems consistent with Scripture doesn’t prevent you from being seriously wrong. There is a difference in how human beings perceive things and how God sees things. People rely on their eyesight, which is limited, and end up focusing on visible attributes when choosing leaders. Did you notice that God had to warn even the prophet Samuel against regarding good looks or height? It is a human tendency to regard such things, because human vision only reaches so far. But God’s sight is unlimited, reaching well beyond human vision, and penetrating into the hearts of humanity. When God selects leaders, He does so based on the things that He sees—things invisible to the human eye, like the heart. In fact, the value that God places on the human heart is so high that the Book of Proverbs compares it to the value human beings put on silver and gold (Prov. 17:3). As we study women in ministry, we’ll look at some of the leaders chosen by God (male and female) in order to understand more about the character of God and how it impacts the issue of women in ministry. Isolating, inconsistently applying, and improperly weighing Scripture can result in the misinterpretation of biblical doctrines related to women in ministry. To avoid these kinds of interpretive errors as we study, we will examine the Bible in its fullness—not just in terms of picking and choosing Bible verses that appear to support our arguments, but also looking at a wide range of Scriptures. The Bible speaks repeatedly about the wisdom of relying on a wide array of sources when rendering any sort of judgment or interpretation of a matter (Deut. 17:6; 19:15; Matt. 18:15–16; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19). We will also be careful to apply the Scriptures consistently to different groups, as well as give the various biblical teachings their proper weight before God. The next chapter will examine how human bias impacts the interpretation of Scriptures related to women in ministry. We’ll spot some of the errors and learn more about what the Bible teaches about the character of God. We all like to think that our interpretations of the Bible are pure, free from error, and without bias. But we should realize that, as human beings, our interpretations are filtered through our lives, cultural backgrounds, and biases. This doesn’t necessarily make our interpretations wrong, but it does underscore the need for testing biblical teachings, even when they seem to come directly from the Word. When it comes to the subject of women generally or in ministry, biblical interpretations are often shaded by people’s own feelings and perceptions about women, along with their cultural understandings of gender roles. In other words, people interpret the Bible with partiality. In this chapter, we will take a look at partiality in biblical interpretation and examine how it impacts biblical teachings on women in ministry. Partiality is prejudice for or against a thing, person, or group when compared with another—usually in an unfair way. It impacts everyone in the Body of Christ, not just women. 1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? The situation James used in his letter is one commonly encountered in society: the rich are treated well, while the poor are mistreated and despised. While we expect to see such treatment in the world, it is not the appropriate standard of conduct for churches. Humanity tends to judge others based on external appearances, and favors those who are perceived to have an advantage, because of wealth, beauty, fame, or the like. The Apostle James condemns such partiality as sin—an offense to God. James viewed partiality as inconsistent with faith in Jesus Christ for several reasons. First, the economic status of a person has no bearing on their relationship with God—in fact, God often chooses the poor as heirs to His Kingdom (v. 5). To God, the rich and the poor are both in the same category: God’s creation (Prov. 22:2). So another reason we are not to show partiality is out of respect for God. We are also not to be partial because God shows no partiality in his dealings with humanity (Deut. 10:17; 2 Chr. 19:7; Rom. 2:11). As Christians, we are to be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1). This includes treating everyone with respect without regard to their external characteristics. The issue of partiality is important because it has significantly impacted the study of women in the Bible, including women in ministry. The partiality James described involved selective attention to people of different economic statuses, but this principle can also apply to biblical interpretation. In this chapter, we will examine the selective interpretation of the Bible as it relates to women in ministry, because much of the Bible has been selectively taught, interpreted, and applied in ways that diminish women. In biblical teaching about women, including women in ministry, partiality in interpretation and selective use of the Scriptures is widespread. Verses with requirements for women are overemphasized, while those with requirements for men are referenced much less often. Biblical narratives with women in leadership or ministry positions are often ignored or dismissed as insignificant, while ministry requirements are assumed to not include women. This selective emphasis has resulted in considerable error in Church doctrine concerning women in leadership. Below are some examples of selective interpretation impacting women in ministry. 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Submission is not limited to wives in the Body of Christ. It is meant to characterize everyone’s behavior in the family. But because of partiality, Christians have focused on wives being submissive and have ignored the command that everyone be submissive. Many Christians are unaware that verse 21 even exists. But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. “Do as Sarah tells you” was God’s command to Abraham. How many times have you heard that taught about Sarah and Abraham’s relationship? It plainly indicates that husbands also submit to their wives. If you read the conclusion of Peter’s letter, in which the story of Sarah and Abraham is mentioned, he tells the congregation they are all to be humble toward each another, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1 Pe. 5:5). Remember that mutuality is a key principle of God’s doctrine—godly relationships are not one-sided. Still, the majority of Christian teachings have required that the wife show humility and be submissive and have neglected to teach that the husband is also to do those same things (Eph. 5:21, 25, 28; 1 Pet. 3:8; 5:5). As these verses note, everyone in the Body of Christ is to show these characteristics, not just women and wives. Remember, Christ is everyone’s example of submissiveness and humility—and He is male. God’s commands are not one-sided; they are always mutual and balanced. There are commands for wives and husbands, parents and children, and those enslaved and masters (Eph. 5:21-23; 6:1-9; 1 Cor. 7:4). When you hear a discussion that overemphasizes the biblical responsibilities of only one group, such as women, it’s selective teaching. There is also confusion in many churches related to women and wives in biblical doctrine, as if doctrines related to wives apply to women generally. Part of the reason this occurs is because the Greek words for wife and woman are the same; the words for husband and male are also the same. As a result, it is necessary to look for clues in the rest of the narrative to determine whether the issues discussed relate to wives or women generally. Sometimes it’s difficult to be sure. When seeking to understand the role of women in ministry, it doesn’t make sense to focus on Scriptures related to wives—because many women in ministry are single and such verses are not relevant to their lives and ministries. In other words, any doctrine that is meant to apply to women will not be solely focused on wives, or else it won’t include about half the population of women! 34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. Some Christians believe that these verses command women to keep silent in church, but it’s more likely that Paul was referring to certain women only. How do we know this? First, he mentioned that the women should direct their questions to their husbands — so the women he was referring to were married. We know from the rest of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that all of the women in the congregation were not married (1 Cor. 7:8). Taken literally, this command couldn’t have applied to the single women. Further, Paul implied that the husbands of the women knew enough doctrine to answer (or get answers to) the women’s questions. But this statement wasn’t even true of all of the married women in the congregation—some of them had husbands who weren’t believers (1 Cor. 7:12-16). Paul wasn’t advising Christian women to ask their unsaved husbands for clarification on the Word! If we read 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 in the context of the rest of 1 Corinthians we find even more to think about. As an example, in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul writes that women praying or prophesying should cover their heads. But in order to pray or prophesy, the woman would have to speak, right? So within 1 Corinthians, Paul seems to prohibit women from speaking, but then requires them to wear certain attire when they do speak. So women obviously spoke during church services. This gives you a sense of how difficult it is to interpret Paul’s writings, because we only have his responses and don’t have access to the original questions asked of him. But with respect to 1 Cor. 14:34-35, we have enough information from the rest of 1 Corinthians to conclude that Paul was referring to specific women with his command—not all women. Women most certainly can and should speak in church. The identity of Christ is another major example of selective biblical interpretation related to women in ministry. You may have heard the argument that Christ’s incarnation as a man is proof that only men are qualified to hold leadership roles in the Church. This is a selective argument because it focuses on Christ’s maleness and ignores the fact that Christ was also Hebrew. The Scriptures prophesied that Christ was to be a Hebrew male—the seed of Abraham and the Son of David (Gen. 5:15; Matt. 1:1; Gal. 3:16). We must consider both of these aspects of Christ’s earthly identity when working to understand the implications of Christ’s identity for women in ministry and Church leadership, instead of only focusing on Christ’s maleness. If we apply the arguments typically used to disqualify women from ministry, we will find that they also disqualify Gentiles from ministry. Christ came as a Hebrew, and all of the 12 apostles were Hebrew (Acts 2:7). In the Old Testament, the entire priesthood was Hebrew (Exod. 28:1; Lev. 21:1). Does anyone interpret this to mean that only Hebrews can lead in the Church? No. So if the fact that Christ, the apostles, the prophets and all the Old Testament priests were Hebrew doesn’t exclude Gentiles from Church leadership, then the fact that Christ, the apostles and the Old Testament priests were male does not exclude women from Church leadership, either. The reality is that Christ existed as the Word of God from all eternity (John 1:1). His taking on of human flesh was part of God’s plan to save His people (Matt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 3:16). Nothing in the New Testament indicates that the advent of Christ was a statement by God as to the superiority of any ethnic group or gender. The other way that selective biblical interpretation impacts women in ministry is by ignoring or minimizing the roles of women in leadership, even though God has documented their callings and work in the Bible. By examining some of these women and their ministries, we get a better understanding of how God calls and equips women to fulfill His will. Miriam’s story is a perfect example of selective biblical interpretation. Most of today’s biblical teaching on Miriam is limited to Miriam as the sister of Moses (Num. 26:59), who guarded him when he was a baby (Exod. 2:4), led the women in dance after crossing the Red Sea (Exod. 15:20–21), and who spoke against Moses’ marriage to an Ethiopian woman (Num. 12:1–9). What most current teaching manages to ignore is the rest (and more important part) of the Bible’s description of Miriam: a woman called by God to be a prophet (Exod. 15:20–21), one of the leaders of Israel (Mic. 6:4), and one through whom God spoke (Num. 12:2). Miriam’s status as a prophet means that she heard directly from God and spoke on behalf of God. The Hebrew words for male and female prophets come from the root naba, which means “to speak or prophesy by a divine power.” Miriam did not promote herself to become a prophet, nor was she a prophet because she was Moses’ sister. She was directly chosen by God (Num. 12:6). She was also mentioned along with Moses and Aaron as those sent by God to lead Israel out of Egypt (Mic. 6:4).2 Miriam was one of the leaders of Israel. Deborah’s ministry has been severely downplayed in Christian circles. She was a prophet and judge of Israel who was raised up by God in response to the cries of the Israelites, as all the Judges were (Judg. 2:11-16; 4:3–4). Deborah is described as sitting, which in the Hebrew (shaphat) signifies that she was presiding or ruling over Israel. Deborah was a woman with authority. She heard from God, decided disputes between the people, commanded Barak (a man) and delivered the word of the Lord (Judg. 4:6–10). She even had a specific place (a palm tree) where people could come to her to learn God’s judgments (Judg. 4:5). Deborah’s actions are the same types of activities that Moses engaged in (Exod. 18:13-16), as well as Samuel (1 Sam. 17:15-17), both very prominent Old Testament prophets. All of these verses use the same Hebrew verb to describe the prophet’s judging actions. So how is it that some are minimizing Deborah’s role as if she didn’t really do very much? Because of selective interpretation. Some teachings suggest that Judges was a period of falling away and returning and should not be considered a norm for leadership. Others suggest that men weren’t doing their part as leaders, which is why God chose a woman. But God does not have to settle for leaders from what’s available — God raised up the judges (Judg. 2:16-19)! The suggestion that God couldn’t find anyone better than Deborah is simply untrue. God does not look for leaders, God makes them. Leaders exist only because God promotes them into positions of power (Rom. 13:1), and the same God that raised up Moses and Samuel also raised up Deborah. There is nothing in the Bible to suggest that God’s selection of Deborah was anything other than God’s sovereign choice. Some have suggested that Barak, and not Deborah, was the true leader of Israel, because he is mentioned by name in the Hebrews 11 list of heroes of the faith. But Deborah (and the other women prophets) are also mentioned in Hebrews 11—in the group called “prophets” in Hebrews 11:32. One final note concerning Deborah—she was married. There is no indication that her authoritative ministry was incompatible with marriage and family. The same is also true for the prophet Huldah, also married, who we’ll discuss next. 14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her. So God spoke to the men (including the High Priest) through Huldah, and gave them a message for King Josiah. The religious leaders trusted Huldah as a prophet of God to deliver the Word of the Lord, and she did. On the basis of what she told the men, King Josiah enacted reforms that brought Israel back to observing the Mosaic Law in a way which had not been done since the days of the prophet Samuel (2 Chr. 35:18). Huldah’s place of residence provides us with another clue about her role in Israel. In Hebrew, the phrase Second Quarter (mishneh) means to copy and comes from the root shanah, which means to repeat. Most likely the place was similar to a college, where the Law was taught by oral repetition and passed down, or perhaps where scribes copied the Law. So it makes sense that the High Priest and scribes would have gone to Huldah to ask about the Law. She was a teacher of it. Some have questioned why Huldah delivered the Word of the Lord instead of Jeremiah or Zephaniah. This is a silly question. It is the word of the Lord, not the word of Jeremiah or Zephaniah. God can use whatever vessel He chooses. They are all His servants. The bottom line is this: in the Old Testament, God called women to lead His people, and to proclaim His Word as prophets, judges, rulers, and teachers. Today, we have a better covenant with God, established with better promises (Heb. 8:6), so it is not surprising that God continues to use women in leadership roles among His people. 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. Priscilla ministered together with her husband Aquila; they are generally mentioned together. Paul describes the church as being in their house, not just his house. Some have suggested that Priscilla was only allowed to teach and minister because she was working with her husband, but there is no evidence of this in the Bible. It seems more likely that, as with the women who ministered in the Old Testament, Priscilla was called by God to minister, and she also happened to be married. 8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double–tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober–minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Because of verse 12, some Christians today argue that the requirement that a deacon be “the husband of one wife” necessitates that deacons be male. But in Romans 16, Paul has specifically described Phoebe as a deacon, so there were evidently male and female deacons. The Greek word Paul uses to describe Phoebe is diakonos, which means (and can be translated) servant and is the origin of the English word deacon. Paul also calls Phoebe a “sister,” which indicates beyond any doubt that Paul is describing a woman. So how do we reconcile Phoebe, a woman deacon, and the requirement that a deacon be the “husband of one wife”? One possibility is that Paul, in saying “one wife,” was addressing polygamy, a practice which continues to exist in certain parts of the world today. But one thing is certain: since Paul has acknowledged Phoebe as a deacon, and recommends that the church receive her, he cannot be understood as rejecting the idea of women deacons. Keep in mind that Paul sent not only his own regards, but also Timothy’s (Rom. 16:21) through Phoebe, who seems to have delivered the letter to the congregation (Rom. 16:1). Now since Christ stated that He did not come to abolish the Law (Matt. 5:17), we know that He is not changing the Old Testament command. Rather, he is clarifying it so that we understand that while it appeared to apply only to men, it also applied to women. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. This verse describes what a disciple of Christ must be prepared to sacrifice. It mentions a person leaving everything he knows to follow Christ, including his wife. At first glance, this would seem to imply that the disciple must be a man. The Gospels has several examples of people besides the disciples (including women) who also followed Christ (Luke 8:1–3). These women were so involved with Christ’s ministry that they were part of the group of disciples who saw Christ ascend into heaven, and who waited for and were baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:12–15; 2:1–4). Christians have generally understood the requirements of discipleship as applying to everyone—men and women. The Greek translation is consistent with this interpretation. In the Greek, the word that we translate “anyone” is tis, meaning someone or anyone. It is not a specifically male or female term. Had God intended for discipleship to only apply to men, the word used would have specifically referred to males. 1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Here we see a combination of the above examples. The “anyone” mentioned in verse 1 refers to any person who aspires, whether male or female. Some translations read “if any man” instead of “any person,” but in Greek the term includes men and women. Some have used the phrase “husband of one wife” to mean that women can’t be bishops. But what did we just learn about this “husband of one wife” language when it was used for deacons? We learned that Paul’s use of that phrase did not prevent him from acknowledging and working with women deacons. Just as with deacons, Paul’s use of this “one wife” phrase should not be interpreted as a prohibition against women bishops, any more than the same phrase prohibited women deacons. Ultimately, when we read Bible verses that seem to apply only to men with spouses, we now know that those verses can also apply to women. But because many biblical teachers have selectively studied and taught these issues, many people continue to have a misunderstanding about women in ministry. 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Had the scribes and Pharisees been truly zealous for God’s Law, they would have followed it completely and brought both the man and the woman to the Lord. But they only brought the woman. They were looking to apply God’s laws with bias—to the woman, but not to the man. Not surprisingly, the Lord ignored them and refused to take part in their little sham proceeding. When the religious leaders pressed Jesus, He reminded them of their own inability to keep the Law (John 8:6–9; 1 John 3:4). Of course, Jesus didn’t approve of her sin and told her to stop the behavior, so it seems that she was guilty (John 8:10–11). But the Lord would not condemn her, because God refuses to show partiality in judgment—and He will not participate with us when we do. While this narrative does not specifically mention women in ministry, it provides an illustration of how religious leaders interpret the Scriptures in ways that are biased against women. For women in ministry, the selective application of the Bible against women impacts not only their involvement in Christianity, but also their ministry efforts. Often this selective application is practical in nature. In some denominations there is a significant emphasis on women’s attire: hair, makeup, jewelry, pants or skirts — with no similar emphasis on men’s attire. Women ministers often find themselves managing objections and issues related to their appearance that male ministers do not even have to consider. These and similar types of issues take women’s time and attention away from ministry. God is not influenced by wealth, celebrity, attractiveness, race, gender or any other external characteristic, because He is the maker of all (Neh. 9:6; Prov. 22:2; Acts 17:24). While these requirements focus on “one law,” there is also an implicit requirement that the “one law” be applied consistently. God would hardly require that the community be governed by one law and then allow that law to be applied with partiality to different groups. The administration of the law must also be without bias. Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD. Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good. These proverbs originally referenced merchants who weighed things in a fraudulent manner so that they would benefit. The merchants carried multiple weights with them—the heavier weights for use in sales (so they would make more money) and the lighter ones for use in purchases (so they would pay out less money). The essence of their dishonesty was that it was self–serving. This was a practice that God viewed (and still views) as an abomination, because God is just, and commands that a consistent weight be used for all transactions. This sentiment was echoed elsewhere in the Law and the Prophets (Lev. 19:36; Deut. 25:13; Micah 6:11). If God finds dishonest scales and weights to be abominable when they deal with regular goods and services, how much more abominable does God find dishonest, self–serving biblical interpretations? Especially when the interpretations suggest that God is partial to a particular type of person for ministry. Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? Here, when God was accused of being unjust, God’s response indicated that it was actually His accusers who were unjust. In like manner, those who suggest that God prefers men to women in ministry are really only showing their own bias—because God is not biased and doesn’t select leaders that way (1 Sam. 16:7). 1. The only biblical record of Sarah calling Abraham Lord occurs when she is laughing at the idea of having a child (Gen. 18:12). 2. Miriam’s importance to the Israelite community is underscored by the fact that the camp didn’t travel until she was received back into the community, despite her punishment (Num. 12:15). One major concept undergirding the arguments against women in ministry is the idea that women do not bear the image of God. Or that women are less of the image of God than men because of the order of creation or as a result of the fall. These ideas are completely false. In this chapter, we will examine what it means to be in the image of God, the role of creation in determining this image, the impact of the fall upon that image, and the implications of all these things upon women in ministry. Woman, just like man, was created in the image of God, given dominion over other creatures, and commanded to be fruitful and multiply. In fact, God considered the first man and woman to be so much alike that God called them both Adam (Gen. 5:2). Despite this, the place of woman in creation has often been misunderstood. Some have viewed woman as an afterthought, even though the language of Genesis 1:26 indicates God’s clear intention of creating more than one person before creating humanity. Some have suggested that the description of Seth as bearing the image of Adam (Gen. 5:3) indicates that children also derive their image of God from men. But this is flatly contradicted by the birth of Jesus, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4) and who was born to a virgin woman. Jesus’ birth plainly indicated that the image of God does not require males for its existence or perpetuation. As for what the image of Adam signifies, it could have been Adam’s physical appearance or it could have been a reference to the sinful nature, of which Adam alone is held responsible, though both he and Eve sinned (Rom. 5:12). We must be careful not to understand the image of God as being primarily comprised of physical attributes, including gender. Jesus taught that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and that spirits do not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). This does not mean that our flesh is not part of the image of God—Jesus is, after all, the Word made flesh (John 1:14). God also specifically noted that to physically kill another human being is to destroy the image of God (Gen. 9:6). But we must be careful of focusing on our physical bodies as the most important part of God’s image when our bodies are made of dust (Gen. 2:7), will return to the ground (Gen. 3:14), and will one day be replaced with a new body (Rom. 8:23). The Hebrew word that we translate into “help” or “helper” is ezer, and does not imply any notion of subordination or inferiority. The word translated “meet” or “fit” is kenegdo, meaning suitable, or comparable. The woman was suitable for man—not unsuitable. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up. As you can see from these verses, being a helper does not imply subordination or inferiority when used in reference to God, men, or angels. So it does not imply inferiority when it is used to describe women, either. The fall of the first man and woman into sin impaired the image of God in humanity, but did not destroy it (Gen. 9:6). But the consequences of their sin were severe, and included death (Gen. 3:19; Rom. 5:12; 6:23), universal condemnation of humanity (Rom. 5:18), power struggles in marital relationships (Gen. 3:16), additional pain in childbearing (Gen. 3:16), hatred between the serpent (Satan) and the woman (Gen. 3:15), and all other kinds of evil. Through the fall sin entered the world (Rom. 5:12). The impact of the fall on women has been the subject of much debate and discussion. Often, discussions of the fall are critical towards women and have negatively impacted perceptions of women generally, and in ministry. Some believe that women are the cause of the fall and view the woman as a seducer or temptress, but the Scriptures teach otherwise. The serpent is the one who is described as crafty and a deceiver (Gen. 3:1; 2 Cor. 11:3). Also, in the narrative, both the man and woman had some responsibility for the fall. Consider: the man knew what God commanded and listened to the woman—even though he knew the serpent was lying (Gen. 3:17; 1 Tim. 2:14); the woman, while not hearing the original command, knew enough about it to avoid the tree, but didn’t. When the serpent spoke to them, the two were already standing so close to the tree that they only had to stretch forth their hands to eat of it (Gen. 3:6). Why were they both standing so close to the forbidden tree? There is much we do not know about this story, but to blame only the woman for the fall is like the religious leaders bringing only the woman caught in adultery to Jesus (John 8:3–11), as if she was alone when they found her. Jesus refused to condemn the woman then, and directed her accusers to consider their own sin. Before we condemn the woman for the fall of humanity, let us do likewise. We don’t know everything about the fall, but we do know that the woman wasn’t the only one at fault (Rom. 5:12–14; 2 Cor. 11:13). The fall impacted many different types of relationships, including the one between God and humanity (Gen. 3:9–13), the serpent (Satan) and humanity (Gen. 3:15), those between humans (Gen. 3:12,16), humanity and animals (Gen. 3:16), and humanity and the earth (3:17–19). There is a range of perspectives on how the fall impacted male–female relationships. One fairly prevalent view among Christians is that God’s statements after the fall are an expression God’s will for male–female interaction. Since this is a view that is often related to the issue of women in ministry, we’ll address it here. First, God was not expressing His will for how marital relationships should function in Gen. 3:15, He was telling the woman what the consequences of her sin would be — the strife and power struggles within marriages.2 God did not command Adam to rule over Eve; both of them were given dominion over the animals (Gen. 1:26–28). But they were not given dominion over each other after the fall. Rather, the entrance of sin into the world led to the attempts of husbands and wives (and everyone else in different relationships) to misplace that dominion by trying to dominate each other (Gen. 3:16). This dominating behavior is not sanctioned by God, it is a consequence of sin. Second, all male–female interaction is not modeled on marital relationships. The Word of God provides many different examples of male–female interactions and they are not based on the fall or marriage. Examples include co–laborers for the gospel (Rom. 16:1), diplomatic interaction between queens and kings from different countries (2 Chr. 9:1–12), businesswomen and customers (Prov. 31:16; Acts 16:14–15), Queens and male servants (Acts 8:27–28), midwives and kings (Exod. 1:15–22), and plenty of others. It is an error to suppose that all male–female relationships resemble marriage, and an even worse mistake to suppose that the fall renders women subordinate to men, either in marriage or generally. This was never God’s design. Finally, we cannot study the fall and its consequences to women without considering the salvation and restoration Jesus Christ provided for humanity, and its impact on women. Jesus Christ was manifested to destroy Satan’s works (1 John 3:8), including all evil that resulted from the fall. Believes are now under the authority of Jesus Christ, not Satan. Everyone who accepts Jesus as their Lord is “born again” (John 3:3) and becomes a “new creation” in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). We are no longer slaves to sin (Rom. 6:6), but have God’s Holy Spirit living in us (1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Tim. 1:14). In this newness of life, we do not have to struggle for power in any of our relationships. Rather we are commanded to love and serve others as Christ loved and served us (John 13:12–15,34). The sacrifice of Christ for His people is the model for Church leadership and for all male–female relationships. Not the fall. Women are made in the image of God, so treating them as inferior to men or rejecting them from leadership because of their gender is showing disrespect to the God who created them. Even differences among humanity such as the rich and poor are to be respected, because God is their creator (Prov. 22:2). This argument applies equally to women. 15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away. When the religious leaders asked Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar, Jesus showed them the image of Caesar on the coin for the tax, linking the image of Caesar and the requirements that were due him. In other words, the recognition of Caesar was directly tied to the treatment of his image. Pay taxes, honor Caesar. Refuse to pay taxes, dishonor Caesar. But Jesus didn’t end His statement there. He then noted the necessity of rendering to God the things due to God. Why? Because the image of God was standing right in front of them (John 14:9; 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15). They were religious leaders, but did not know that Christ was God in the flesh (John 1:1–3; 2 Cor. 5:19) and that their treatment of Him (the image of God) was directly tied to their treatment of God. Those who honor Jesus are Honoring God; those who dishonor Jesus, dishonor God (Luke 12:8; John 13:20). In everyday life, we come across instances of this principle. A working mother having a hectic day at work notices a picture of her smiling children on her desk. She smiles, briefly kisses the photo and thinks about how she will see them later that day. The love that she has for her children is demonstrated by her treatment of her kids’ image in the photo. When she arrives home, her affection for her children is confirmed as she greets each one of them with a warm hug. Here’s another example: in a country filled with civil unrest and fighting, protesters have taken to the streets. A mini–mob gathers together, seeking a way to express their rage at the corruption of the government. As they turn down a side street they notice a poster of the current Prime Minister. In anger, they deface the poster with spray paint and throw bottles against it, breaking the bottles and shredding the poster. What do you think this mob would do if they got their hands on the Prime Minister? Just what they did to the poster—they would harm him. The way we treat the image of a thing is the way we treat the thing itself. For too long the Church has neglected to understand that women are also the image of God. When women are dishonored and viewed as inferior this is not obedience to the Scriptures. Rather, those who dishonor women are actually dishonoring God, who created them. 1. Similarly, teachings that suggest that a man is the priest of the Christian home are positioning the husband as a mediator between the family and God. Again, this robs Jesus of His rightful place as the only mediator between humanity and God. Husbands and wives may intercede for one another, but it is not necessary for either of them to “represent” God in the home—because God is living with them (John 14:23). 2. The Hebrew makes this point even more clearly, indicating that the woman shall desire to master her husband and that he will dominate her. In Genesis 4:7, the same language is used to describe the struggle between Cain and sin. This is not language of hierarchy, it’s language that signifies a power struggle. The incarnation, birth, life, ministry, and resurrection of Christ are among the best arguments in favor of women in ministry. Each of these aspects of Christ’s existence lends support to the view that women are fundamentally equal to men and that God calls and equips women for ministry and leadership roles. Even before Christ’s incarnation, God revealed the birth and purpose of Christ to women. The angel Gabriel announced Christ’s birth first to Mary, who was to be Christ’s mother. The angel told her what her son was to be named (Jesus), that He would be the Son of God, that God would give Him the throne of David, and that His kingdom would be everlasting (Luke 1:26–38). Later, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard her voice, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied to Mary, referring to Christ as the Lord and confirming the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to Mary (Luke 1:39–45). So the conception and birth of Christ did not involve any men, only God and a woman (Luke 1:35). That alone should give us pause. God, when providing salvation for humanity, worked with only a woman as His partner. We shouldn’t think that God was forced to do this because of the manner in which children are born. As John the Baptist noted, God can raise up people from stones, if He chooses (Luke 3:8). God’s choice of Mary was a sovereign decision that clearly demonstrates God’s willingness to allow a woman to carry the Word, labor with the Word, and bring forth the Word. Jesus is, of course, the eternally existent Word of God. God has evidenced His embracing of women in the most important aspects of Christ’s life, including His incarnation, ministry, gospel, death, burial, and resurrection. In chapter 2, I discussed how Christians selectively view Christ’s identity and focus on His maleness while ignoring His Jewishness, which has important implications on women in ministry. I will briefly reiterate that argument here. Some Christians use Christ’s identity to argue that women are not qualified to hold leadership roles in the Church. But, as noted earlier, Christ’s maleness is not proof of male superiority over females generally or in the Church, any more than His Hebrew heritage is proof of Jewish superiority to Gentiles in the Church. Christ was prophesied to be a Hebrew male—the seed of Abraham and the Son of David (Gen. 5:15; Matt. 1:1; Gal. 3:16). So we must consider both of those aspects of Christ’s earthly identity when working to understand what it means for Church leadership. If we apply the arguments typically used to disqualify women from Church leadership, they also disqualify Gentiles. Christ came as a Hebrew, and all of the 12 apostles were Hebrew (Acts 2:7). In the Old Testament, the entire priesthood was Hebrew (Exod. 28:1; Lev. 21:1). Does anyone interpret this to mean that only Hebrews can lead in the Church? No. So if the fact that Christ, the apostles, the prophets, and all the Old Testament priests were Hebrew doesn’t exclude Gentiles from Church leadership, then the fact that Christ, the apostles and the Old Testament priests were male does not exclude women from Church leadership, either. Christ existed as the Word of God from all eternity (John 1:1). His taking on of human flesh was part of God’s plan to save His people (Matt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 3:16). Nothing in the New Testament indicates that the advent of Christ was a statement by God as to the superiority of any ethnic group or gender. Many Christians are not aware that the distinction between Jews and Gentiles was significant in the early Church, but it was. In fact, not long after the Day of Pentecost, a dispute arose as to whether Gentiles could even be saved. In Acts 10, an angel visited a Gentile named Cornelius and instructed him to summon Peter to his house to hear Peter’s message. In preparation for this visit, the Holy Spirit gave Peter a vision to tell him to go with Cornelius’ servants—otherwise Peter wouldn’t have gone. As a strict observer of the Law, he would not have eaten with Gentiles, because their food would have been unclean to him (Acts 10:14). Peter went to Cornelius’ house, heard about Cornelius’ vision of the angel and realized that God had provided salvation to the Gentiles. How? Because while he preached to them about salvation in Christ, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles and they began to speak with other tongues just as the first believers had (Acts 10:44–46). In the Old Testament, there are plenty of verses that suggest that God had plans for Gentiles that included salvation, starting with the fact that Abraham was uncircumcised when called by God (Gen. 17:10–27; Rom. 4:9–10). The inclusion of Rahab, a woman from Jericho, in the lineage of Christ is another example. Another is the provision in the Law for strangers to join Israel (Num. 15:14–16). Or that Ruth, a Moabite, was King David’s grandmother. Even the prophecies of salvation for Ethiopa and Egypt point to a broad plan of salvation (Ps. 68:31; Isa. 11:19–25). Not to mention the miracles Jesus performed and His interaction with Gentiles (Matt. 15:21–28; Luke 7:1–10; John 4:7–42). But the Jewish identity of Christ and His followers led the early Church to believe that salvation was strictly for Jews—until God showed them otherwise. When we discuss Christ’s identity, we must understand that the Hebrew aspect of His identity was central to who He was and not something to be ignored. It is just as important as His maleness. So those arguing that Christ’s gender is the model for Church leadership must also argue that his ethnic heritage is the model for Church leadership. These two aspects of His identity are intertwined: Christ is not just a “Son,” He is the Son of David and the Seed of Abraham. He is a Hebrew Son. Christ is also God—the eternally existent Son of God. Jesus’ interaction with and ministry to women provides another illustration of His acceptance of women and His belief in their equality to men and their leadership abilities. Jesus’ treatment of women was a major departure from the culture of His day. 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. Not only did these women support Jesus financially (v. 3), they followed Him all the way to His crucifixion (Matt. 27:55–56; Luke 23:49) even visiting His tomb (Matt. 27:61; Luke 23:55–24:3). They were present at His ascension and He baptized them in the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:8–15). 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? The Pharisees’ question about divorce was a loaded one. It highlights the (seemingly) male prerogative of divorce that was in the Law (Deut. 24:1). In some ways it was also a test of Jesus’ allegiance—did He support the men or the women on the issue? The religious leaders also saw the support Jesus received from women, and may have hoped to erode it. But as Jesus’ response made clear, His allegiance was to God, who created man and woman. By pointing out that God created men and women (Matt. 19:4) and the institution of marriage (Matt. 19:6), Jesus was reminding the religious leaders of God’s concern with how women are treated generally, and within the institution of marriage. Jesus’ ministry also reflected His view of women as equals. In John 4, He conversed at length with a Samaritan woman at a well, a move which astonished His disciples (John 4:27). He talked with her about politics (the disagreement between the Jews and Samaritans) and religion (the proper place to worship God), which was not commonly done. At the conclusion of their conversation, He revealed Himself to her as the Messiah (John 4:25–26). This was no ordinary woman. She had been married five times and was currently living with a man she wasn’t married to (John 4:16–18). Consider for a moment how persuasive this woman was. She had married and divorced five different men and convinced a sixth man to live with her—in a culture where women were treated as subordinates! She was also perfectly comfortable discussing her opinion with Christ. It isn’t altogether surprising to see that she was an influential person in her community. When she went into town and told the people about Christ, they followed her out to the well and many believed because of her testimony (John 4:39). Many more believed after hearing Christ (John 4:42). But the result was that salvation came to a community in part because of this woman. God used her efforts for His glory. 38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. The contrast between the actions of Martha and Mary figures prominently in this story. Martha is busy serving and is annoyed that her sister Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning. There are several things to notice about this story. First, Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, a posture adopted by disciples of a teacher (Acts 22:3).2 Further, Jesus affirmed Mary’s choice and her right to be in the position of a disciple; He had no expectation that Mary would fulfill a traditional woman’s role, even in her sister’s house. Martha, despite her incorrect focus, demonstrated the intimacy of her relationship with Jesus—she felt comfortable enough with Him to complain about Mary and His response to Mary’s conduct. But Martha also exemplifies the response that many women have when they encounter other women in ministry: they desire to force women ministers back into traditional women’s roles. The miracles of Jesus demonstrated God’s compassion toward women. In the synagogue, He healed a woman who was bowed over with a spirit of illness for 18 years and rebuked the religious leaders for their bias against her (Luke 13:10–17). In another instance, a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years touched Christ and was made whole (Mark 5:25–34). What’s remarkable about this story is that the woman was considered unclean under the Law—for all twelve years of her condition (Lev. 15:25). Anyone touching her would be considered unclean, so her condition had the effect of keeping her separate from the rest of the community. But Jesus showed no displeasure at her touch and His healing restored her to the community. It also pointed to God’s unwillingness to see women ostracized because of female bodily functions. Girls also benefitted from Jesus’ healing power. After healing the woman with the issue of blood, Jesus continued going towards the house of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter was ill. When he arrived, he healed her, and restored her to her family. As a daughter, some in the community may not have viewed her as important, but God desired for her to be well. There are other instances of Jesus healing women and girls in the Gospels, but these examples will at least give you a sense of how Christ’s ministry impacted women. The close relationship between Jesus and women was highlighted even in His death, burial and resurrection. Shortly before Jesus died, a woman anointed Him with oil in preparation for His burial (Mark 14:8). The disciples thought her action was a waste, but Jesus appreciated her gift and linked the preaching of the gospel (His story) to her story (Mark 14:9). In defending the woman, Jesus observed: “She has done what she could.” (Mark 14:8) Women must understand that we are expected to do whatever we can for Christ, even if His male disciples disapprove. 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. We would expect Jesus’ mother to be nearby during His crucifixion, but there were other women present who had accompanied Him from Galilee—these women were Christ’s followers (Matt. 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49). Another aspect of Christ’s crucifixion that relates to women is often overlooked. In verses 26 and 27, when Jesus spoke to His mother and the disciple with her, He was, in one sense, expressing His will that the disciple care for her. But His words also contained a much more profound message. At first glance, there may not seem to be a connection between Jesus’ death on the cross and this verse. But let’s take a closer look. We already know that Jesus is the offspring of the woman. He was born of Mary, a virgin (Luke 1:26-38; 2:7); He is the woman’s seed. The serpent (Satan) had already bruised His heel. How do we know? Because in the Bible, the heel signifies betrayal (Ps. 41:9; John 13:18). Like when Jacob held the heel of his brother Esau at their birth, and later betrayed him (Gen. 25:26; 27:35-36). Judas, possessed by Satan (Luke 22:3; John 13:27), betrayed Jesus—that’s when the serpent bruised Jesus’ heel. This left only one remaining action that needed to occur in order to complete Genesis 3:15: the woman’s offspring (Jesus) had to bruise the head of the serpent, which Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection (Col. 2:12-15). So when Jesus said “Woman, behold your son!” He was also saying “Woman, behold your seed!” signifying His role in God’s redemptive plan for humanity. Jesus’ statement is even more poignant when you realize that He said it while dying on a cross, soon to be buried in the ground—like a seed (John 12:23-24). After Jesus died, Mary Magdalene and another Mary went to the grave where Jesus’ body was put, and sat there (Matt. 27:61; Mark 15:47; 27:55-56). They loved Him and wished to be near Him. God did not include the stories of these women in His Word for no reason; the Scripture was written for our learning (Rom. 5:14). These women were devoted to Christ, remaining faithful even after His death. Is there a more important qualification for ministry and leadership among God’s people? The next day, the two Marys went back to Jesus’ grave with spices and perfumes to anoint His body. Instead, they found angels who sent them to the disciples (Matt. 28:1-7; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-11). As they went, Jesus appeared to them and sent them with a message for the disciples (Matt. 28:8-10; Mark 16:9-11). Jesus first appeared after His resurrection to a woman, Mary Magdalene (John 20:11–18). After Christ’s resurrection and ascension, women continued to be active in the early Church, but their involvements and contributions are often glossed over and sometimes completely dismissed. By examining their efforts we get a glimpse into God’s work through women in the early Church. Before Christ’s ascension into heaven, He instructed His followers to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. The group that waited included the twelve apostles, the women who followed Christ and many others. We know this because on the day of Pentecost there were 120 people gathered together in one place (Acts 1:9–14; 2:1–4). 1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. God poured out His Spirit upon humanity without regard to human–made distinctions. Men and women were included in the outpouring, along with sons and daughters, and masters and servants. God’s Word specifically included both genders across age groups and social status. The Holy Spirit is a gift (Luke 11:13; Acts 2:38; 10:45) who empowers Christian believers for service to God. This same Holy Spirit also distributes gifts to those who believe on Christ—not in accordance with their gender, or human notions of male and female roles, but in accordance with the will of God (Heb. 2:4). But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. On the surface, the fact that men and women were imprisoned would not seem particularly noteworthy. But those jailed for the cause of Christ were generally leaders—people known to authorities and whose imprisonment would discourage or hinder God’s work. That women were imprisoned for the cause of Christ shows their value to the community. Jesus specifically cited such trials as a great honor (Matt. 5:11–12; Luke 21:12–15). One other aspect of Christ’s present-day ministry has implications for women in ministry: His role as the High Priest of believers. A full examination of the doctrine of Christ as High Priest is beyond the scope of this book, but several parts of it relates to the issue of women in ministry. One other issue related to Jesus’ role as High Priest has to do with the importance of Melchizedek, the ancient priest. This man was no ordinary priest, for when God made Jesus a High Priest, He did so with this oath: “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Ps. 110:4) This gives us some idea of the ancient priest’s importance! The author of Hebrews described Melchizedek as greater than Abraham (Heb. 7:7) and noted that Abraham paid tithes to him (Gen. 14:20), and that he (Melchizedek) blessed Abraham (Gen. 14:19). For someone so important, the Bible provides us with virtually no information about Melchizedek—no genealogy, no birth or death information. Only a brief interaction with Abraham (then Abram) (Gen. 14:17-20) and a discussion of that interlude in Hebrews. So what does this have to with women in ministry? One line of arguments against women in ministry views the women leaders in the Bible as less significant because they are fewer in number, and because there is less information about them than the male leaders in the Bible. But the story of Melchizedek helps us to understand that a person’s importance to God is not determined by the length or detail of their biblical account. The Bible gives us no genealogy for Melchizedek, nor do we know how he became a priest. We have very little information about him—yet he was greater than Abraham. His brief appearance does not negate his value. And so it is with women in ministry. The stories of Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Anna, Martha, Priscilla, and Phoebe may not be as lengthy or as detailed as those of the more prominent men, but this does not signify that these women’s callings or efforts were any less important to God. The Bible’s very short stories, like that of Melchizedek, involve people whose ministries are of great value to God. 1. Dr. George O. Wood has written an article that argues that the model of inclusion for Gentiles in the early Church could also be used to include women in ministry. While I am using Acts 10 primarily to confirm the importance of Christ’s Jewish identity to early believers, Dr. Wood’s article provides a more direct link between the inclusion of Gentiles in the faith and women in ministry. See Wood, George. O. “Exploring Why We Think the Way We Do About Women in Ministry,” Enrichment Journal 1 (2001): 9-14. 2. Some believe that Mary’s sitting position at Jesus’ feet as a disciple could signify that she would later have greater teaching opportunities, as did Paul after sitting at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). 3. Jesus’ reference to the “rock” upon which the Church is built is not Peter—a sinful person like everyone else. Rather, the rock is the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus didn’t tell Peter the Church would be built on him (Peter), but upon the revelation. 4. I am indebted to Jordan May for this point. 5. See note 1, above. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. The traditional argument against women in ministry interprets verses 13–15 to mean that God wants only men in positions of authority, because: men were formed first (v.13), and the first woman was deceived (v.14). Part three of the argument suggests that God wants women to focus on their families (v.15). There are some variations on this argument, but this is the essence of it. The problem with this argument is that it completely misunderstands Paul’s point. Many Christians believe that Paul was referring to creation to show the universality of male leadership. But that isn’t what Paul was doing. He was referencing the events which took place to illustrate a parallel to the situation confronting Timothy. It is obvious from Paul’s reference to creation that this is a much greater issue than whether women can lead in Church. What Paul is discussing has to do with the creation and fall of humanity and the promise of redemption. Let’s start with the order of creation. The first part of Paul’s argument has been misinterpreted to mean that the person created first is the one that God intends to have authority—or the one God regards as most important. The problem with this argument is that throughout the Old Testament, God often chose the person who was second, or even the youngest of many, to rule. In the order of creation, animals were created first. Since human beings were created after them, does this make humans secondary to animals? Of course not. This is an obvious example of how we do not interpret the Bible to mean that first is better. Some would argue this point because human beings are made in the image of God, while animals are not. So let’s look at Cain and Abel. When Cain and Abel brought offerings to God, God accepted Abel’s offering over Cain’s. Abel was the younger brother; Cain was the first–born (Gen. 4:1–2). Again, some would dispute this point because Cain and Abel’s offerings were accepted because of their content, not because of birth order. What about Abraham’s sons? Abraham had two sons: Ishmael, his first–born and Isaac, who was Abraham’s second son (Gen. 17:15–21). Abraham’s primary heir was Isaac, the second–born. God chose him and his children as the ones through whom the Messiah would come (Gen. 21:12). Some may argue that Isaac was Abraham’s first son with Sarah—or the first one conceived within marriage. But they were both Abraham’s sons and God chose the second-born over the first. Later, Isaac had twins, Esau and Jacob, with his wife Rebekah. Esau was the first–born and Jacob was born second. But God chose Jacob (the younger) and his children as His people and rejected Esau (Gen. 25:23–26). It cannot be argued that God’s choice was based on the conduct of the children, since God determined that Jacob was to be the younger and the chosen ruler before they were even born (Gen. 25:23; Rom. 9:11–13). There are other examples of this, as well. When God wanted to preserve Israel’s heritage, He sent Joseph ahead to be ruler over Egypt (Gen. 45:4–8). But Joseph was the second–youngest son of Jacob. It was expected in their culture that the oldest should lead, so when Joseph had dreams about his brothers bowing down to him—and his parents—his brothers and even his father were angry (Gen. 37:5–11). It was unthinkable that he, almost the youngest, should rule over them. But that’s exactly what happened (Gen. 42:6; 43:26). When the prophet Samuel was sent by God to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king over Israel, Samuel thought that he was to anoint the first–born (1 Sam. 16:6; 17:13). As it turned out, God had chosen the youngest son (1 Sam. 16:11). Again, God chose the youngest to rule over those older than him. There are plenty of other examples that prove that God often chooses the second over the first. The Apostle Paul knew all of this. He was a student of Gamaliel, a well–respected rabbi (Acts 22:3), and an Old Testament scholar. Paul was well–versed in the Jewish Scriptures. He wasn’t making an argument about men having authority because they were chronologically first, because there are numerous examples where God chose those who were not chronologically first to lead. So what did Paul mean? It’s tied to the next verse. I’ll explain more after we study verse 14. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Some Christians understand this statement to mean that women cannot lead either because they are more easily deceived, or because the first woman was deceived. This is a gross misinterpretation of the Word of God, for a few reasons. First, it is a fairly common, and major error to suppose that Eve is a type of all women, and that Adam is a type of all men. While it is true that their sinful nature passed along to all of humanity (Ps. 51:5; Rom. 5:12), there is nothing which indicates that sin is passed down by gender. We read in the Bible of male and female murderers (Gen. 4:8; 1 Kgs. 18:13), liars (Acts 5:1–11), adulterers (Lev. 20:10) and every other kind of sin. The Law makes provision for men and women committing the same types of sins (Num. 5:6–7), which Christ affirmed (Mark 10:11–12). There is also no indication that women are more easily deceived than men. The Bible provides examples of two men among Christ’s apostles who were deceived and misled by Satan—Peter and Judas. Peter denied the Lord multiple times (Matt. 26:69–75; Luke 22:55–62), a behavior Christ foretold him would be influenced by Satan. As for Judas, the Bible teaches us that Satan actually entered into him (Luke 22:3; John 13:27). Being deceived by Satan is not limited to women, since even two of Christ’s apostles, including Peter who was especially favored (Matt. 17:1–3), were misled and influenced by Satan. The suggestion that God prevents women from leading because Eve was deceived is even more ridiculous—as if God is punishing all women because Eve sinned. If that’s the case, then men are also prevented from leading because Adam, who was not deceived by the serpent, willfully sinned against God. Both of them sinned. So what did Paul mean by verses 13–14? We’ve already discussed that God often chooses those that are second (or later in chronological order) to rule and lead, and we see that deception by Satan is not limited to women. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Consider the order of what took place: God created Adam, commanded him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then God created woman. To clarify: God had not created the woman when He gave the command to Adam. This is the reason that Paul juxtaposed the order of creation and the woman’s deception in 1 Timothy 2. Because the order of creation provided an occasion for the woman to be deceived—because she wasn’t around to hear the original command. In Hebrew, the woman’s response to the serpent makes it obvious that she has not heard what God said. The words of her response do not resemble God’s original statement, and she adds to God’s statement. But the serpent’s response to the woman negates what God has said using exactly the same language that God used with Adam. You can see in the Hebrew that the serpent has heard what God has said while the woman has not. In disputing God’s command, the serpent repeats it precisely (and makes it plural for the man and woman), while the woman doesn’t get it right at all. Now we come to Paul’s concern in 1 Timothy. Paul’s statements were not a universal statement against women in leadership; he was observing the similarity between the position of women in the local congregation and the position in which Eve found herself in Genesis. Much has been written about the cultural context in which Paul lived when he wrote to Timothy. But the lens through which Paul wanted Timothy to understand his congregation’s situation was Genesis, with particular reference to the relative knowledge of men and women at that time. The similarity between Genesis and Timothy’s congregation was this: both involved women who lacked direct, substantive knowledge of God’s Word. In Timothy’s culture, women were generally not a part of public discourse, and were not informed about the Word of God in the same way that men were, at least not initially. Eve, as we know from Genesis 2, lacked direct knowledge about God’s command because she hadn’t been created. Paul’s letter to Timothy seems to be partially in response to some women in the local congregation who had taken it upon themselves to teach without having knowledge and understanding of the Word. It is these women that Paul forbade to teach. The issue was not about them being women, rather Paul used the fact that women were involved to draw a parallel to the temptation and sin that befell Eve. That deception was based not on her gender. It happened because she was not alive when God gave the command, resulting in her incomplete knowledge of God’s command. The Genesis account does not tell us how Eve found out about the command or who told her. But whatever happened, she was eventually deceived by the serpent. Adam, who heard the command directly from God, was not (1 Tim. 2:14). So Paul’s message to Timothy was this: to allow unlearned women to teach would effectively place them in the same position as Eve was in—they would have had influence but not knowledge. This would make them susceptible (as Eve was) to temptation and sin. Not because they are women, but because of their lack of knowledge. In their current unlearned condition, these women would have jeopardized the well–being of the congregation by making place for Satan, the tempter. This was not the first time Paul expressed concern that Satan be prevented from influencing the churches. In some instances, as in 1 Timothy 5, Paul reminded Timothy about the efforts of Satan to ensnare younger widows in the congregation (1 Tim. 5:9–16). In 1 Corinthians 7:5, he reminded the married couples at Corinth that Satan would seek to tempt them, and advised them to be on their guard. In 2 Corinthians 2:10–12, Paul discussed how forgiveness prevents Satan from gaining a foothold in the congregation. So while Paul is drawing a parallel between the situation of unlearned women and Eve, he is also cautioning Timothy against putting women in a situation that will allow Satan to exploit their lack of knowledge. The end result of Paul’s teaching is that in situations or cultures where women (or men) are unlearned—that is, in the same position as Eve was in Genesis—they are not to teach. Not because of gender, but because having untaught people teach gives occasion to Satan to deceive and mislead them. How does this impact women in ministry today? In many cultures, women are taught the Word of God and have the ability to learn. Under Paul’s argument, there is no prohibition against such women teaching, because they are not in the same position as Eve — they have had a chance to learn and understand the Word of God. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. This third part of Paul’s argument relates to the promise of salvation through the woman’s offspring (Gen. 3:15). Paul is obviously not suggesting that women are saved through bearing children, since our salvation occurs by grace through faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8). Paul, who advocated singleness in First Corinthians (1 Cor. 7:8), was also not suggesting that having a family and children is essential to salvation. What would such a suggestion mean for virgins, widows and those choosing to remain unmarried for the sake of Christ? Rather, Paul is finishing his parallel to creation, reminding Timothy of the salvation in Christ that was promised and came through a woman (Gen. 3:15). He reminds Timothy that God often uses women to help achieve His purposes. This parallels some of God’s other major deliverances that prominently feature women and the birth of a child who eventually leads God’s people. The story of Moses is full of women: the midwives that helped the Israelite women deliver children (Exod. 1:15–22), his older sister who stood guard over him (Exod. 2:4) and Pharaoh’s daughter who adopted him (Exod. 2:6–10). Samson’s mother was visited by an angel who foretold the birth of her son (Judg. 13:2–5). When she told her husband, he prayed to God. God answered his prayer by sending the angel back to the woman (Judg. 13:9)! God dealt directly with Samson’s mother and only spoke with her husband (Samson’s father) when she brought him to where God was (Judg. 13:10–14). Samuel was born to Hannah, a woman who was one of two wives. Hannah was barren and in her sorrow vowed to give her son to God (1 Sam. 1:1–20). Through her, and the women mentioned earlier, God was able to bring deliverance to His people. Paul is reminding Timothy of this fact. Some have suggested that verse 15 is a command for women to tend to their families instead of teaching. I think that is a misunderstanding of verse 15. In 1 Timothy 5, Paul advises Timothy that younger widows should marry, but that is a different situation than the one Paul is addressing in 1 Timothy 2. And as we know from leaders like Deborah, Huldah, and Priscilla, being married and ministering are not mutually exclusive. We ought to pay more attention to Peter’s statement that Paul’s sayings are “hard to be understood.” This same Peter received the revelation of Christ from God (Matt. 15:16-18) and saw Christ transfigured on the mount (Matt. 17:1-8). So if he is saying the Paul’s writing can be hard to understand, we should not expect to easily interpret it. Paul was the recipient of great revelation, and his epistles are not understood by a superficial reading of the text. The Word of God does not yield its fruit easily and it is easy to misunderstand what has been written for our learning. When Paul spoke of women in 1 Timothy 2, it was not a universal prohibition on women teaching or holding authority—it was a command designed to prevent unlearned people in the community from falling into the same situation as Eve. In ancient times, most such people in that position were women. Today, in many cultures, women have the same opportunities to learn the Word of God as men, so there is no special danger in women teaching or holding authority. The lesson we need to glean from Paul’s teaching is that those holding authority and teaching in the Church must be taught in the Word of God—not that leadership is determined on the basis of gender. One of the more common arguments against women in ministry is tradition. Traditions are customs, behaviors, or beliefs that have been passed down through generations. In the Church, traditions are often viewed as divinely ordained, even when not specifically supported by the Bible. Tradition is powerful: it is rooted in the history of human interactions, and when those interactions become commonplace in the Church, they are often understood as being the will of God — even when they’re not. Tradition has had a significant impact on the treatment of women in Christianity, including women in ministry, because of its effect on the interpretation of biblical teachings about women and Church leadership. The early Church had a tradition of women in leadership based on the Scriptures, 1 but over time the interpretations and traditions changed, resulting in the exclusion of women from Church leadership roles. No matter what tradition teaches, as Christians we are responsible to learn and understand what God’s Word teaches about women in ministry. To do this effectively, we’ll examine some of the traditions related to women in ministry from a biblical perspective. Comparing traditions and the Bible can be difficult, particularly in cultures where the Bible has been influential. In such cultures, the origins of a tradition may not be clear: in some cases, a tradition exists because people found precedent for it in the Bible; other times people have taken their pre–existing traditions and justified them using the Bible. Our first step is to unravel tradition from the Bible so that we can better understand it. The most important thing to understand in indentifying traditions is that they originate with humanity and not with God. God commands; human beings pass down traditions. The practical difficulty in separating the two arises because humanity seeks to elevate itself by cloaking its traditions in the Word of God. We know that God is greater than humanity (Job 33:12; Isa. 55:9). But since creation, humanity has continually looked for ways to be equal with God. In Genesis, the man and the woman yielded to a temptation to be “like God,” and disobeyed God, eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:4–6). 1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. These ancient people, in their desire to “make a name” for themselves, sought to reach up to heaven, which is God’s domain (Isa. 66:1; Matt. 5:34–35). They wanted to reach God’s domain to elevate their names, not His name. But despite the plans of the builders, the story ends with them not getting anything they wanted. They didn’t make a name for themselves and they were scattered across the earth—exactly the opposite of their goal (Gen. 11:7–9). This story stands as a solemn reminder to humanity that we will never be able to approach the habitation or level of God by our own efforts (Isa. 40:25; 46:5). We should not think that this striving behavior was limited to ancient times; it is still taking place in the Church today, in a different form. Instead of trying to reach God physically, many Christians are trying to reach God’s level spiritually. They do this by elevating their notions of right and wrong—their traditions—to the same level of importance as God’s Word. Some believers take the idea of tradition even further, believing that God respects human traditions and expects people to uphold them. 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. The first thing to notice is how the religious leaders classified the behavior of the Lord’s disciples: as a transgression. The Greek word used here refers to the act of turning away from something, or of moving past something without paying attention to it. In other words, the essence of transgression is to neglect some obligation. This is why the scribes and Pharisees were upset: because Jesus’ disciples weren’t paying any attention to their traditions! Jesus’ response went right to the heart of the matter. He reminded the religious leaders of what transgression really is—neglect of God’s Law, not their traditions (Matt. 15:6). Then Jesus pointed out that those same religious traditions they prized so highly were causing people to neglect, to transgress God’s commands. This narrative illustrates that human rules and traditions can be a hindrance to God’s Word, because they compete with the Word for our obedience. “We must,” as the Apostle Peter said, “obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29). These were the religious leaders that Christ was speaking to, so it was no light thing for them to be questioned about their faithfulness to God. But the situation revealed the condition of their hearts: they paid diligent attention to their traditions, while contradicting a clear command from God. This showed that their hearts were not really with God, but mostly with themselves (Matt. 15:8). Notice the focus of the religious leaders. It seems ridiculous that scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem (Matt. 15:1), the epicenter of Jewish life, were focused on hand washing before eating. That was the most important issue that they had to discuss with Christ! The scribes and Pharisees had access to the writings of Moses and the Prophets. Hand washing does not occupy a particular place of prominence in those writings. Why were they paying so much attention to it? Because they were more loyal to their own teachings than to God’s commands, and elevated their traditions above God’s Word. As Christ taught elsewhere, a person cannot serve two masters; they are loyal to either one or to the other (Matt. 6:24; Luke 6:13). Their loyalties were with themselves. This brings us to the second issue: the impact of human traditions upon followers of God’s Word. 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Notice the groupings: philosophy, deceit, human traditions and the basic principles of the world are together in one group. Opposite them, alone, is Christ. 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world––the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. John presents it as an issue of love. Loving the world (including the things in it) is contrary to loving God—because the world is rooted in lust and pride, attributes which are totally inconsistent with the nature of God (Num. 23:19; Job 36:5; Phil. 2:8; 1 Pe. 5:5). Just as Christ taught that no person can serve two masters, John pointed out that the human heart cannot love God and at the same time love things that are contrary to God. The Apostle James also agreed, noting that friendship, or even the willingness to be friendly with the things of the world makes a person God’s enemy (Jas. 4:4). These verses remind us that our allegiance is singular: either to God or to human, worldly things, not to both. He told His disciples that He had nothing in common with the ruler of this world, referring to Satan (2 Cor. 4:4). Jesus, who is the Son of God, and the ruler of this world (Satan) are opposed (Matt. 8:29; 12:24-28), so it follows naturally that the things of this world are contrary to the things of God. Other verses confirm this opposition. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus observes that Satan has an interest in human or man–made things (Matt. 16:23). And Judas went out to betray the Lord after Satan entered him (Luke 22:3). I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. In this prayer, Jesus crystallizes the opposition between the world and God: there is hatred between those who are of the world and those who are of God. With this level of opposition, it’s not surprising that things coming from the world are unacceptable to God, and things from God are rejected by the world. ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? Having established that God’s righteousness is greater than humanity’s, we turn to the question of what to do with tradition in the Church as it relates to women in ministry. Much of the treatment of women in ministry in today’s Church is the result of human tradition, usually cloaked in biblical verses. One of the primary arguments against women in ministry, as discussed earlier, is the fact that Christ, the apostles, and the Old Testament priests were all male. Underlying this argument is the idea that God has established a pattern (tradition) and that this pattern is God’s preferred method of leadership. In other words, the argument suggests that God is traditional! But the Bible teaches precisely the opposite, where God is seen rejecting human traditions frequently—sometimes with humor! Before the twins Esau and Jacob were born, God told Rebekah that the older would serve the younger (Gen. 25:23). This was unusual, since under the law of primogeniture, the older son was traditionally the family’s primary heir. When the time came for Jacob to marry, he perhaps thought that he understood God’s willingness to operate outside of social norms. So he worked for Laban seven years to marry his beautiful younger daughter Rachel, even though Rachel had an unattractive older sister who was expected to marry first. Jacob wasn’t worried. God had already favored him (the younger brother) over his older brother. He knew that God wasn’t limited by human traditions! But Laban (and God) had other ideas. Jacob found himself married first to Leah and afterwards to Rachel.1 Was God honoring tradition or rejecting it? In one sense, yes, because culturally, the older sister was to be married first. On the other hand, age was not the only thing regarded in that culture—beauty was also important. God did not allow the more beautiful sister to marry first. Think about it: if Rachel had married first, Leah may never have married at all. Was this God’s way of showing compassion towards Leah? Even after they both married Jacob, God did not allow Rachel to have all the advantages in the marriage. Leah was married before her sister and conceived a child first, as well—things of significance in their culture. More importantly, Leah was an ancestor of Jesus Christ, because she was the mother of Judah (Gen. 29:35). Rachel was more beautiful and elevated by society’s standards, but she died in childbirth and was not an ancestor of the Messiah. The idea of God doing new things is found throughout the Bible (Is. 42:9; 48:6; Jer. 31:22). When we are born again, we receive new life (Rom. 6:4), partake of the new covenant (Heb. 9:15), await a resurrection where we will receive new bodies (Rom. 8:23; 1 John 3:2), and we look forward to a new heavens and a new earth (Is. 65:17)! But despite all of this newness in Christ, we somehow forget that God does things that are new to us now, in this present time. It is true that God is unchanging in his attributes (Mal. 3:6) and that God doesn’t change His mind as humans do (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29). But these characteristics do not prevent God from doing things that are different from our traditions—especially in His own kingdom. God’s thoughts and ways are different and higher than ours (Isa. 55:9). God also provides us with early indications of things He plans to do. When Abraham was called by God and believed God, he was uncircumcised, which indicated God’s intention to reach out to uncircumcised believers. Later, Abraham was circumcised, which foreshadowed God’s plan to reach circumcised believers (Rom. 4:9–12). Later, when God’s actions toward the uncircumcised Gentiles appeared new to the early Church, they were mistaken—God had already developed His plan far in advance. It was the Church that had to make the adjustment and look back on the Word to understand what God had done. So we cannot look at what (we think) God has done historically and assume that God will never do things differently. God is not only able and willing to do new things in ministry, but has already done them — like when He changed the priesthood from the house of Aaron to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4, Heb. 5:10; 7:11–28). Does this mean there is no place for tradition in the Church? No. Many human traditions in the Church are useful in fulfilling the Church’s mission. Having an order of service each week allows regular attendees and visitors to follow along with what is happening during worship. Imagine how challenging it would be to attend worship services if the order of service was changed every week. This is just one example of the kind of tradition that is useful for churches. But such traditions become problematic when they function as a yardstick of righteousness against other congregations (“that church’s order of worship is not as good as ours”) or in judgment (“that church’s order of worship is not of God”). There is, of course, always room for traditions that are based on obedience to the Word of God and love toward others (2 Thess. 3:6). Human culture exists, and where it does not conflict with the Word of God, Christians are to follow its customs peacefully, and not engage in shocking or troublesome behavior (Rom. 12:8; 13:7). In instances where human culture contradicts the Word of God, Christians are not required to agree with or to act in conformity with human culture (Acts 5:29). Our primary obligation is to obey the Word of God (John 14:15; Jas. 1:22). The goal of women in ministry is not to be contrarian, nor to seek out opportunities to engage or oppose the cultures in which we live. Instead, our goal is to focus our attention on being obedient to God by accepting and fulfilling His call to ministry—even if it means rejecting traditions that don’t line up with God’s Word. 1. Not surprisingly, Jacob still didn’t accept cultural norms regarding birth order, even after his experience with Leah and Rachel. Towards the end of his life, when blessing Joseph’s children, Jacob blessed Joseph’s younger son Ephraim above the older son, Manasseh (Gen. 48:13-19). Even more surprising is that Joseph objected—Joseph who knew from experience that God often chooses the younger to bear rule. “Then [Jesus] came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked [the disciples], “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. Christ’s teachings about greatness are a complete reversal of human notions of importance. Instead of the greatest person being the ruler, Christ taught His disciples that the greatest person was the one who served. He taught them to take the lowest place and to seek to serve others instead of ruling over them (Luke 22:24–27). Christ’s own life was characterized by humility and service,even to the point of death (Php. 2:8). After being exposed to His teaching for years, the disciples understood how Christ viewed greatness. This is how they knew that He would disapprove of their argument about being the greatest. But today, almost 2,000 years later, many Christians have chosen to continue the disciples’ argument. They remain focused on who is to be “in charge” in the Church, except now the argument focuses on men and women. Underlying many of the arguments against women in ministry is the notion that God doesn’t want women to have authority in the Church. This view is influenced, at least in part, by the idea that ministry is primarily a position of power—not a lowly position of service, as Christ taught. It’s a misunderstanding of God’s view of greatness. Around the time of His crucifixion, Christ found an occasion to teach His disciples about God’s perspective on greatness. They had just finished celebrating the Passover when He declared the new covenant to them, giving them bread and wine to eat and drink (Luke 22:17–20). Afterward, in a solemn moment, Christ declared His betrayer to be present with them, and seated at the table (Luke 22:21–23). The disciples were understandably saddened for Christ and concerned about the identity of the betrayer. But their concern was short–lived because they quickly began to argue about which one of them would be the greatest (Luke 22:24). You know, which one of them would be the new leader after Christ’s departure! 24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. Jesus drew a direct contrast between those considered great in this world and those who are great in God’s sight. He appealed to what the disciples already knew from their own experiences: the world considers those who rule to be the greatest. But here, and in other teachings, Jesus explicitly rejected this idea and reversed it—so that the person who is viewed as the least is actually the greatest, and the one who appears to be great is really the lesser (Matt. 20:16). This teaching occurs in such close proximity to Christ’s betrayal and crucifixion that we cannot miss the connection between His service and His death. Christ, who was humble unto death is now, though invisible to us, Lord of all. In Christ, God’s view of greatness becomes plain to His disciples—it is servanthood. Those who serve in this life will one day be rewarded with authority (Matt. 25:21, Luke 19:17). But when it comes to serving as a pastor, elder, teacher, bishop or a similar role, these same Christians see those functions as authoritative and not as service—so they believe women are disqualified. But in the Bible, those who Christ chose to lead His people identified themselves as servants (Rom. 1:1; Jas. 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:1; Jude 1), and not as rulers. There is still a disconnect among many Christians as to what ministry actually means. It means service. In a sense, those of us called into ministry are both servants and leaders. On one hand, we are servants of God and of the Church, but because of our role as servants of God, people will follow our behavior and conduct, thereby making us leaders. So ministry is both serving and leading. But the authority or leadership part of service is not to be sought after, nor is it the dominant characteristic of Christian ministry—it is an outgrowth of service to God. The arguments about who should have authority are just as silly now as when the disciples had them around 2,000 years ago. Our goal as Christians (including ministers) is to humble ourselves in the service of God and if and when others follow our behavior, we are to impart to them what God has given to us. Those of us that have ministry gifts are to use them in the Church for its edification (Eph. 4:8–16) and have no authority whatsoever to act as lords over God’s heritage (1 Pe. 5:3). What authority means from a spiritual perspective is that those who have responsibility will receive a heavier judgment from God (Luke 12:48; Jas. 3:1), and dare not be found inattentive to their duties (Matt. 24:48–51; Luke 12:45–46). Authority is not to be thrown around at others in order to force them to submit to your will. 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? The Greek word translated “men” in verse 8 is anthropos, meaning human (as in anthropology, the study of humankind), and includes both men and women in its use throughout the Bible. If God had intended that only males should hold these ministry gifts, a Greek word that specifically refers to males would have been used. This text plainly indicates that Christ gives the gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher to men and to women for the benefit of the Church. This distribution of gifts also fits with the notion of God as impartial. In chapter one, we observed that God doesn’t make decisions based on external appearances, such as looks, gender, wealth, or charm, the way people do (1 Sam. 16:7). Another area where human importance hinders women serving in ministry is the desire of current leaders to maintain and secure their “high” positions. The Scripture includes plenty of examples of these types of people; in Christ’s day, often the religious leaders: Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and lawyers. These leaders had the greatest intellectual knowledge of the Word of God during Christ’s time on earth, but did not recognize that the Word had become flesh and walked among them (John 1:1–4, 14). Not only this, but they also rejected and helped to crucify Him, fulfilling the very Scriptures they claimed to understand. Of course they didn’t see it this way. They believed that they were serving God, but had unwittingly become His enemies, and were fighting against Him. Such behaviors are commonly shown by those who love their positions more than God. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. Among themselves, they acknowledge that the Lord has done many signs, but they didn’t consider the meaning of the signs. Had they thought about it, they would have realized that, at a minimum, Christ was a prophet of God. They had access to the Jewish Scriptures, which have numerous examples of God’s prophets performing miracles that were very similar to those performed by the Lord, such as healings (2 Kgs. 5:8–14), raising the dead (1 Kgs. 17:17–24), and the multiplication of food (2 Kgs. 4:42–44). But these religious leaders were indifferent to the Lord’s miracles and what they signified. Instead, they were mostly worried about losing their position and their nation. They were not only concerned more about themselves than with God, but, despite their pretenses, they were more concerned about their position than their own nation! Plenty of Christian leaders carry this mindset today. They are primarily concerned about maintaining their “positions” in the Church, and are against women in ministry partially because the women might take their roles. Not surprisingly, their focus on power results in their blindness to what the Scriptures teach about women in ministry. So they continue misusing the Bible against women in their quest to retain power. Why are they blind? For the same reason that the religious leaders were blind to Jesus’ ministry during His life. Sin, especially an unwillingness to hear, always blinds people to the truth of God (Isa. 6:8-10; Matt. 13:10–15). For many Christian leaders today, it is more important to retain power than for God’s will to be done concerning women in ministry. 9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. 10 For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. 11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. Diotrephes is described as a person who loved to have the preeminence in the church. His desire for power led to some very questionable conduct on his part. First, he spoke against the Apostle John and his John’s fellow workers. Then he refused to receive other Christian brethren, including some of the other apostles. Next he forbade anyone to help the Apostle John and his fellow workers. Finally, he went to those who wanted to help John and his colleagues and threw them out of the congregation. We aren’t given much information on the story surrounding Diotrephes, but here’s what we can gather: he professed to be converted to Christ, or else he wouldn’t have been a member of the congregation. He had provided sufficient evidence of Christian conduct that he was elevated to a position of leadership in the local church. He also had some authority, because he was able to threaten church members and had power to throw people out of the congregation. But he used his power to entrench himself at the top. And it gets worse. The sinfulness of Diotrephes’ conduct is aggravated because of the times in which he lived. In the early days of the Church, the information held by direct eyewitnesses of Christ was extremely valuable. During the time that 1, 2, and 3 John were written, the early Church did not yet have a complete canon of New Testament writings, like what we have today. They probably had access to some of the Old Testament (Jewish) scriptures, and some of the apostle’s other writings. But information did not spread back then with the ease of today’s technology, and there were letters being sent around that falsely claimed to be from the apostles (2 Thess. 2:1). So one of Christ’s apostles or anyone who actually knew Christ in the flesh was able to speak with great authority on the doctrine and teachings of Christ. This was very important to the edification and survival of the local congregations. But Diotrephes didn’t care about this. He was unconcerned that the congregation would benefit from hearing those who walked with Christ. Instead he refused the apostles and kicked out anyone who would receive them. By his actions, he became the enemy of the very God who he was claiming to serve—just like the religious leaders of Christ’s day. Are you really surprised that those opposing women in ministry today are most often the religious leaders—as were the scribes and Pharisees? These are the same people who claim the greatest command of the Bible, or are in leadership in local churches who simply want to retain their high positions. Such leaders insist that they are followers of the true God, and will cite Scripture to prove it, but in works they deny God (Titus 1:16) by hindering the work of God’s female servants. 7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? As servants, our obedience to God does not merit thanks—rather, when we have done what we are commanded, we must remember that we have only done our duty. For those of us in ministry, it’s a reminder that ministry is primarily service to God; the lordship itself belongs to God. 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. With God, those who honor themselves will find that God sees others as more honorable than them, and they will be humbled. Those who humbly take the lowest place will find that God sees them as more honorable than they realized, they will receive exaltation from Him. If you are a woman called by the Lord into His service, take courage from His words and continue doing just as you have been commanded: serve. A reward and honor from God awaits you. If you just finished reading this book and realize that you haven’t accepted God’s calling on your life—the time to get serious about God’s will for your life is now. The Word of God teaches us that “[n]ow is the accepted time…now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). God also warns us against procrastinaton: “[t]oday if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts…” (Heb. 3:7–8). To get serious, spend time with the Lord daily in prayer and study of the Word. Ask Him for guidance concerning His will for your life (Prov. 3:5–6; 2 Tim. 2:15; Jas. 1:5–6). Even if you are not called to full–time ministry, it is still important to find out God’s will for your life, because God calls each one of His people to serve (Luke 22:26–27; Gal. 5:13). There is work for you to do! If you realize that you (may) have been hindering women whom God has called—whether you are male or female—take the necessary steps to support women who you believe are called by God, through prayer and encouraging words (Matt. 3:8; 2 Cor. 7:11). 45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. These are the words of the Lord. And though they seem harsh, we must take them as they are written. It is a serious sin against God to ignore the gifts He has given to you, or to fail to use those gifts for the edification of the Body of Christ. According to the Lord, any of His servants who fail to perform the responsibilities assigned to her, who begins living in a careless and unloving way, and who begins to indulge the flesh, will have the same end as the hypocrites—an eternity apart from God. It is time to get busy fulfilling the will of God for your life—and as you do so, may God go with you. By taking on the penalty of your sins, which is death. But Jesus rose from the dead, and we are reconciled to God through Him. "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). God, I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for my sins. I believe that You raised Him from the dead so that I could be reconciled to You. I ask for your guidance and wisdom, so that I might live my life in a way that is pleasing to you. Thank you for the gift of your Son and for your many blessings. In Jesus’ name, Amen. If you have prayed this prayer, email us at [email protected]. We will pray for you and get you some materials that will help you learn more about your walk with God. Describe some of the common errors of interpretation that impact the discussion of women in ministry? What are some ways to avoid these errors? Name two biblical narratives that are often interpreted with bias against women (in ministry). What are some more balanced ways to understand those narratives? What does Jesus’ incarnation, ministry, death, and resurrection teach us about God’s willingness to accomplish His purposes through women? Did you learn something new about some of the women in the Bible? If so, which ones? What did her story teach you about women in ministry? Why do we need to be careful when studying Bible verses about women and wives? What are some of the difficulties in understanding such verses? In creation, God gave woman dominion over the earth along with man. How does this make you feel? Does it change the limitations you put on yourself? What are some of the things that make the Apostle Paul’s writings so difficult to understand? What are some biblical ways to respond when someone says that they don’t believe women should be ministers or elders, or have authority in the Church? When I began writing this book in 2006, I had no idea that it would take me so long (until 2011) to finish! I had written quite a bit of it, and outlined the rest, and then seminary, another book project, and life got in the way of finishing. It is indeed sweet to put the finishing touches on this manuscript. This book is the culmination of a considerable amount of study and prayer, and would not have been possible without the love, support, and prayers of my friends, family, and ministry mentors. In particular, I’d like to thank my mother, Lena Smith Carter, for her gracious support and kindness, and for her help with this project. I am also grateful to my friends who were kind enough to read and critique the most recent draft(s) of the manuscript: Jordan May, Ivy Bennett, and Heather Evans. Thanks also to Brother Zollie Smith, who always has a kind, encouraging, and scriptural word, as well as to my Facebook supporters—it’s great have so many fans of the book already! I am really grateful to Angi Shearstone, the designer of the beautiful cover art, for her patience and professionalism. The final version was beyond what I hoped. Above all, I would like to thank the Holy Spirit for the idea of this book, which He placed in my heart so many years ago. May His Word be a blessing to all who hear and read it. Jessica Faye Carter is a writer, speaker, and web developer. Her work has appeared in the Associated Press, Working Mother, the National Law Journal, Assemblies of God Heritage magazine, and The Pneuma Review. She is the author of Double Outsiders: How Women of Color Can Succeed in Corporate America (JIST Works, 2007), an award-winning look at professional women of color/multicultural women in the workplace and in their communities. She was previously a corporate lawyer and is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Duke University, and Spelman College. Copyright © 2009 - 2013 J. F. Carter. All rights reserved.

2019-04-26T00:24:34Z

https://troublingher.com/

We aim to please at CI. When we took pen to paper, crunched numbers to the bone, and delivered a savory blend entitled CI Fresh-Rolled Cuban Wheels, we knew we had a winner on our hands. Little did we know how fast, and how many would be flying off the docks. Keeping up with the demand is a battle, and we’ve been getting stink-eyes from purchasing ever since. But all office battles aside, we knew another addition to the line would be welcomed with opened arms. So after scouring the soils of Central America for a blend worthy enough to wear the CI name, we dialed in a sure bet winner. Looking for a good everyday at a good price this may be it. Had a friend over when they arrived so we each burned one after I stuffed my everyday humidor. Both of us were impressed with this stick for the price. We’ve both been searching for a good everyday smoke and maybe our search is over. Very good smoke. Always a good cigar, smoked fresh or aged in my humidor. Different flavors when aed but always a nice even burn and draw. Priced right for a daily cigar. Fantastic every day cigar! best value for the money. I've bought these many times for a low cost daily smoke,well worth the price and will buy more. Decent smoke. Not my favorite CI Freshrolled. Not bad for the price. Good construction, decent flavor. A little too strong for my tastes. Took a chance on these to see what they were like and I can say I've had poorer made cigar from other higher end brands. They taste to me a bit like a Oliva. Great price, nice even taste. Although it seems nicely rolled with an even burn, most of the ones I've smoked so far start to unravel about mid way through. What a great value and a good smoke. They burn well and have a nice medium flavor. I’ve been smoking cigars now for fifty years and now that I’m in my seventies either my palate for taste is gone OR the cigars of today have lost something. These “fresh rolls” taste the same to me as the ole brands of years ago. Excellent & a really great deal!!!! Highly recommend these! GOOD SMOKE SMOOTH AND MELLOW. GOOD SMOKE SMOOTH AND MELLOW. VERY RELAXING TO ENJOY. Great cigar for the price. Will buy again. First time smoking these cigars. Well constructed, holds a good ash, good taste overall good cigar for the price. Would buy again. Easy draw, average burn, good taste. Good cigar for the price. I have smoked several of these cigars recently and found them to be a good smoke. So far they have burned evenly, held an ash, and have a good flavor. Not over barring. I would consider them a medium flavored cigar. I will buy more in the future. Great cigar with a great price. Good smoke with a great burn. My to go cigar. These aren't great, but they aren't bad. They're good for the money. Great everyday cigar the only reason I gave it a 4 is because sometimes you get a few that have a hard draw which can get real frustrating. This cigar is for everyday all day. Great taste, smooth burn and leaves a great taste on the palate. The Wheel is a great smoke and the perfect size. I like the price and the flavor. Get some today!! A Favorite EDC. Great taste & construction . Never any burn issues . Have bought these several times now & is Always among the top 5 EDCs I keep . These are my Favorite EDCs in Any Vitola. Always an even,slow burn,great taste & have Never had Any problems with construction. My friends can hardly believe that they're smoking a $2 stick from Esteli . 3 or 4 sometimes are rolled tight from the pack. At this price nothing I cant live with. Been puffing cigars for over 50 years, Ant many that I havent tried. Some of the premium cigars have just priced their self's out of the average mans price rang. That is if your an everyday puffer.. Its nice to have a few ( Very few ) premium smokes to light up with wine and setting on my boat dock BUT for everyday these fresh rolls are fine as long as the price doesnt go nuts.. Very smooth, medium, with a hint of spiciness. Well worth the money and comes 40 sticks to a wheel! Nothing special, but a consistent everyday reasonable cigar. Great cigar for an 80 year old who likes to sit on the deck and watch the world go by.As a whole,even burn, easy draw,good taste,and I like the Churchill size. These are very smooth and a great go to affordable bundle of cigars. Good cigar for those who cant afford the higher priced. I smoke one every night, and it doesn't break the bank (since I'm retired). I’ve never been disappointed with the flavor, the burn, the volume of smoke and the great price. I order at least one bundle a month. Love them!!! A great smoke anyway you look at it. Priced right and a rich flavor these cigars are a solid, enjoyable smoke. They are well made with an even burn that lasts the entire length of the cigar. Decent flavor. Good construction. Price is super. Good quality for a good price. I like. Average cigar at a low price. Not sure how it would ever receive a 5 star review however it is a "decent" smoke. here are the pro's and cons of the CI Fresh-Rolled Wheel pro's: 1- the price for the quantity. this makes for a great Cigar to fill up the ol' humidor for a Very reasonable price 2- has a milky- slight nutty flavor (very slight). 3- did i mention the price. cons: 1: i get a slight bitter taste in the last third. i hardly ever smoke the entire cigar 2: the draw is a little harder then i prefer. this is a decent everyday smoke and that exactly what it was meant to be will defiantly buy again. I’ve been smoking these for the past 6 months. Not only is it a nice smooth smoke but they are consistent from package to package. Dollar for dollar you can’t beat them! These will it stay lit. Burn very unevenly. I have been smoking these Fresh Rolled Ctgars ever since CI introduced them, Great smoke but pricey. Reasonable first half of cigar, but fades. Must keep humid to prevent deterioration. Probably will not purchase again. Very good smoke. The smoke rolls well and the taste is smooth. This was the first time I tried these and boy was I surprised as to how well they compare to my big name brand. Not too bold nor too mild, just right goldilocks. Not a homerun but a good bases loaded double. Price is out of the ballpark. This one misses the mark in flavor. The fresh roll Rosado Churchill in the halfwheel. Good price for the quantity. Bad "tin" flavor for the quality. This is a good cigar if all you want to do is stand there and hold a lit cigar. Smoking one though is like biting down on a handful of tinfoil. So far I've tried smoking around 6 of these and each one met the sole of my shoe before the second third. Taste is almost unbearable. This cigar doesn't even work as a "YardGar". Notes of cashews? Only if you have an open can of planters next to you nose. I DO detect notes of wood and Earth, but I get that when im burning leaves in my backyard too! I think This cigar needs to be seriously re-evaluated. CI rarely (and i mean RARELY) disappoints me with their cigar inventory. They carry some really good sticks and prices are awesome. This one though, eesh! Sorry CI I just tryna to keep it real. Excellent daily smoker. My "go to" cigar. I give it 5 stars because for the price these are a great everyday cigar. Great price on a great everyday smoke. Added plus it’s a long filler! I held these for a couple weeks in my humidor before trying the first one. These are new to me. After smoking about 5 out of the wheel I am not happy with them. Split wrappers right after lighting, canoeing, tunneling, unraveling, you name it. Flavor is so-so. Too mild. Two stars is really generous. Great cigar for the price, burns good, flavor to me is more mild than medium, taste is not affected even after it goes out and is relit. easy drag, enjoyable mild kick, not an even burn. I was pleasantly surprised with the very first cigar. Well made and tasty. I love the belicoso shape and these were perfect. Just right as a medium bodied cigar for anytime of day. Would like them as an everyday cigar if the price didn't go back up after the special.If you don't mind the price, give them a try. I think you to will be pleasantly surprised. Well made, good burn, easy draw, mild, but little flavor. They are great smokes for the price. I had to skewer each one as they are very hard and difficult to smoke. Flavor is good. Outer layers unravel during smoking. Will not re-order these! They are very good for the $. I've purchased 6 or 7 wheels already and will be getting more. Good for golfing. They burn even and dont unravel. The only downside to them is they all seem to start fighting back about 60% of the way in and not finish well but for the price, I'll take it. Smoke very well and the price is the only thing better than how they burn. This is a good cigar that is rolled well. A good bargain and I will buy more. Very good everyday cigar ! Very good cigar at a excellent price. Very nice smoke. Reasonably priced. I embed the cigars in grounded coffee for a month in the humidor. The new taste makes the cigar above average. i am not one that knows a lot about flavors. these things are completely worthless. i am gonna throw them away. just nothing to them and not even a yard stick. "What this country really needs is a good five cent cigar" This 19th century saying has been answered by CI, for five cents back then would be on par with just under two bucks today! Outstanding! If you have the time, this is a long lasting relaxing smoke. For the price these are pretty good sticks. You may get one in the bundle that doesn’t burn well but overall a good smoke. This is an outstanding smoke. Great price and great burn. You can smoke these all day and wonderful taste. These cigars buck the trend of you get what you pay for. A real decent smoke for the price. Quality smoke at a reasonable price. Wasn't expecting much at this price. I just thought they would be good for an every day cigar. I was surprised that they tasted as good and burned as well as some of the premium cigars. Nice flavor, but it doesn’t burn even, also the wrapper falls apart. Most inconsistent bunch of cigars I've ever purchased. This is a good buy. Rolled well an burns evenly. A really great smoke at a very reasonable price. Luv 'em! These are flavorful cigars and for the most part seem to be well made. I usually favor a little larger ring gauge but these burn well. Very good cigar with a great price. Came quickly in the mail with cigars in great shape. Would have no problem ordering these cigars again. Look forward to see the next group of ads to see what else they have to offer. Well made, good draw. Full flavor. Good everyday smoke while working in the yard, garage etc. Great price. They arrived in excellent condition. Well satisfied. A good smoke for the price! I like the torpedo taper and the firmness. It hold together well because I am a "chewer". I usually smoke them while working on projects. I have had two of the ten taste really really bad and immediately threw them out. CHEAPLY ROLLED/FELL APART WHILE SMOKING! This is a well rolled rosado smoke. I will reorder. absolutely luv these CI Fresh-rolled. good price and free shipping, too! Can’t beat that comb. Not a bad taste, good burn, good draw...like I said, not bad! Good smoke that won't break the bank! I was suprised with these smokes as the burn is very good and for the most part not harsh. Get a little strong at the end, but still enjoyable. For the price these guys will be a part of my rotation from now on. I was hesitant at first but thought what the heck at this prices, to my delight their a good smoke. Great daily smoker, especially on the golf course. I am pleased to have Cubans and the value for the price is very good. Thanks fellas! Burned one out of the package, and it was better than I hoped. Now that the rest have had vacation in my humidor, they have improved. Draw is good, flavor and smell works with black coffee. I was skeptical with the price. I have found these to be a nice smoke. Only drawback is a quick burn. Will buy again. Always wonder about these. Got a good deal on them and was very pleased with the quality behind these. The flavor has a excellent transitioning. I plan on doing these again for every day smokes. For the money, I wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised. Good burn and very good flavor. One of my top five cigars that I continue to have in my humidor. Mild to moderate smoke, consistent burn and doesn't break down as you get closer to the end. I would recommend this to everyone who wants a casual and enjoyable smoke. Plus you just can't beat the price! For the price, I really like these cigars. Good taste, moderate burn. Outstanding during a round of golf. I’ll buy more if offered again. good deal for the price not a special occasion smoke more lawn mowing car drive but for the price great deal. For the money this is a great cigar. Always fresh and a good smoke. Very be smokes for at home or the golf course. Very good cigar at a fantastic price! Burns well. Relights well. Actually a good smoke all the way to the final 1/4. Would purchase again. Well made, good draw, even burn, great taste, unbeatable price. Highly recommend! PERFECT EVEN BURN... Lots of flavorful plumes....none of them to hard to smoke or too dry....not only a fantastic deal for the quantity...but for...the quality as well! Nice job! A great everyday smoke full of flavor. I started out looking for a decent Everyday,or as I call them "Yard Cigars". I don't usually buy even EDC's without either a good friend's recommendation,or buying a couple to try myself first,but these Rosada Torpedos were An exception. I'm not accustomed to buying cigars over the mail. This was my first order this way. I was Strictly a Brick & Mortar customer. Now,I am a bit more open minded about ordering thru the mail. These CI Cuban wheel Rosada Torpedos are Surprisingly good,well constructed & burn well & long. Great smoke. Not just for the money,but a great smoke in General. Thanks for changing my mind about what a Yard Cigar should be & offering yet another means of feeding my cigar obsession. Will be back & will be buying more of the Rosada Torpedos. Fantastic everyday smoke. I could sneak any number of higher end bands on this and you would never know based on the construction, flavor, burn and over quality of the cigar. Its a keeper. Skeptical at first because of great price but was pleasantly surprised. Great cigar for the money. Nice medium smoke is good with morning coffee or evening drink, or just chillin’. Smoked half of batch so far with only one hard draw that was easily fixed. Burns evenly with no re-lights. Going to order another batch soon. I am a daily smoker and these sticks have a good flavor (medium strength) at a very reasonable price. Second bundle bought and not one stick is bad. I was a little apprehensive about ordering 40 cigars and not having tried them before. I was pleasantly surprised with the taste, burn and the quality if the cigar. This could be an everyday cigar. I have bought these cigars several times and feel that they are truly a great value! I have purchases these a few times, the last few have not been as good as the first few. I ordered these as an every day smoke and wasn't expecting much more than a decent smoke. They are a little surprising in that they have nice flavor and burn well. I have had a few that have burned a little strange but as a whole they aren't a bad deal. Don't confuse these with the top if the line sticks they are a bargain, but smoke well. I will be keeping these in my humi as an every day stick. good everyday cigar a little tough draw . Good cigar for everyday smoke, great tasting, and even burning. A fair price for a decent cigar. A good everyday cigar though a few had some burn issues. I'll tell you what, I really like them! Medium to full body and flavor, burns well, does not bite back or load up at the end of the cigar. I will purchase them again. Thank you! And the price is definitely a great deal for an every day burner! Good smoke at a great price. Will buy again. Price is right for the everyday stick. Even burn and flavor has been consistent. For the price a good everyday cigar. Pleasantly surprised by how good these cigars were for such a reasonable cost. This cigar is OK. Actually, my rating is 3.5. I'm going try the Connecticut wrapper next & then opine on it. I usually smoke during my evening walk, and so, it's a good compliment. One of my favorite everyday smoke. Tightly rolled (sometimes to tight), good flavor, will purchase again. I bought these by mistake, but was not disappointed. I enjoy these on a daily basis. Not the worst, not the best. Good construction, but at the first half of the cigar does have a burn problem. After midway of the cigar it's great. A great garage or shop smoke. I have been buying these for years and I just keep coming back. Great flavor and ash consistency over the life of the smoke! An outstanding value! Jim J. Good cigars for the price. They burn slow and evenly. Very good cigars for the price. Good draw and flavor. I will be buying these again! Good smoked , these where a little dry and started cracking half way through. Very timely inquiry. I was going to contact you with a complaint. There’s something on/in the wrapper that irritates my lower lip. Consequently I can’t smoke them any more. I have been smoking cigars for a zillion years and a zillion different brands and this has NEVER happened before. Aside from that the cigar was quite good. Great taste and value. I smoke these nightly. Burned bad,tastes terrible and stale. Difficult draw I had to cut more off to get a good draw and some if them have had the wrapper come off. I have been buying CI wheels for some time now and because of the price I do not normally do not complain. But this last three wheels are not so good. The wrapper splits while your smoking and the burn is very uneven. CI Fresh Rolled Rosado are excellent. Will continue to order them if price and quality remain the same... On the other hand, I ordered "Dominican Cream Toro" which were not good at all. Dried out, hard pull, and generally low quality.. These were OK at first and got a little better as they sat in my humidor. The cost per piece made it a good deal for a cigar to work in the yard with. A good smoke with a little spice. Well purchase again. This was almost a great deal of sorts. Good price, good smoke, good flavor... but every single one I received cracked wide open about 1/4 way thru the smoke! I put them in my humidor as soon as I got them, but they act like they’ve been drying in the sun for days. Very disappointed. I was looking forward to buying more. I got these for the price and split them with a buddy. After the 1st cigar we both commented on how good they were. I will order more and the rest of my cigar group after sampling one of mine will also order a bundle. I have purchased many times and they are always as advertised! I am very impressed with the construction of these cigars, a nice burn, easy draw and long ashes. This is a great value and they will become my new go to for a value priced cigar. Awesome site! I love it! No. Very little taste. Very tight, had to poke and recut. Would not stay light near the end which was ok because I lost interest. Oh well 38 to go. Wah Wah. Have used these for past few years and continue to be happy with the quality and taste. Each roll is consistent in material and construction. I urge you to try at least once. Title is five "values" indicating this FIVE Star Value of a nicely packed long filler at a great price. Great everyday cigar. Sorry, but no hand outs for my friends I am saving them for myself. These cigars are a good, middle=of-the-road smoke, good quality at an acceptable price. Good golf course cigar. Good flavor. Good construction. Sloe, even burn. Probably my 5-6 order including the torpedoes. I will definitely order again. These are actually better than anticipated nice fruity dark flavors and are a pleasure to smoke. Nice everyday cigar at a good price. Mild to medium taste. Lights and burns fairly well. PLEASE - PLEASE - PLEASE DON’T EVER CHANGE THIS BLEND OR PRICE! ONE OF MY BEST GO TO'S FOR ANY TIME OF DAY/NIGHT! PLEASANT SMOKE EVERY TIME, NOT LIKE G-----H'S CHANGING FLAVORS FROM TIME TO TIME. KEEP UP THIS GREAT CIGAR/PRICE/& FLAVOR - IT'S MY BEST!!! These are not any of the major branded cigars, but serve the purpose nicely for golfing, fishing, or just hanging around on the beach. not bad. a couple of them seemed to have been rolled with a "hole" in the center. the rest so far have been good. Inconsistent rolling, burn uneven with inconsistent flavor. Wrapper tends to flake causing bad draw. They were at a reasonable price and they are a reasonably good cigar. These are great, a nice easy smoke and at a really good price. I like them for the shop. They pretty good burning and a great draw. Haven't had one tunnel but occasionally I've had a uneven burn. I will reorder them for my shop. Good burn. Fine everyday cigar. Good burn. Fine everyday cigar. Nothing to write home about. Last time was my introduction to Rosado. Now it's a keeper. These Cuban Wheels really roll with a deep, rich taste. Great property cEgar while I'm mowing weeds. Good draw, color, consistent construction and everyday smoke. I use these when busy working and don’t have time to sit and really appreciate a “higher quality” cigar. I like these. I have to take frequent sit down breaks & these fit me well. these cigars are a great daily smokers and don't cost an arm and a leg.. I have been smoking these cigars for years as my winter smokes, and cleaning up the backyard smokes. Good taste, good burn, and the price is great. These smokes were exactly what I expect from Cigars International! High quality at a cheap price! These sticks are at a low price, but burn great and have great flavor. Will buy again and often. Bought these on sale as a whim. Opened up the wheel and was surprised to see these were individually wrapped. First one smoked smooth and long with an even burn. Good flavor and plenty satisfying. I've yet to have a stick this good at this price point. These smokes are pretty tasty especially for the price. They have proven to be smooth, flavorful and great for the golf course. After smoking eight of them, I found them to be reasonably consistent in draw, burn and construction. While you won't mistake these for a premium cigar, for much less than two bucks a stick they are very good. I bought two wheels of these cigars and was expecting a just OK everyday smoke. What I got was way more than that. These are particularly good construction and flavor, and one stick lasts over an hour, never getting bitter. Even burn. No complaints. I'll stock up on them in the future. I have a humidor that holds about 1000 cigars and only have about 250 in it now. If I could fill it up with these I'd be a happy camper. Good inexpensive smoke. Strength varies. Good value. Best deal in all of Cigarville! Okay, whatever you do DON’T tell your friends about these cigars....let them be our little secret. The price will go up if too many people buy them! Solid cigar, easy to share, enjoyable smoke, this is my 4 time ordering & will order again! This is a well made, easy draw , with great taste cigar. Try it, you'll like it. Peter B. 4 Stars at a great price!!!! These are good for the price. The roll was pretty tight. Good burn didn't have to re-light. Pretty good taste, not bitter even down towards the end of the cigar. The taste was better than some premium cigars, good everyday smoke. I will continue to buy these. Nice and cheap and not bad for the price. Some were good and others were hard to smoke. OMG. Better than most premium picks. When cut you see the long filler. Stays lit with nice ash even burn. Mild to medium. Four stars because it’s a quick smoke. One hour max. But hey for the price how can you beat it ?? The cigars are nicely rolled, but they tend to dry out quickly even in the humidor. Tasty flavor and consistent hard packed grey ash. Aroma is pleasant without a heavy after thought. Really a good cigar and a go to choice pick. Great cigars for the money. Enjoyable smokes, great to share with all! I will order again...and again....and again!! They are stronger then I like but construction and burn were good. I got them on a special discount. I would recommend trying them if you can get them on a discount. Do not let the price fool you, one of the best inexpensive cigars out there. I have been smoking 6-8 cigars a day for over 50 years and for the price these can't be beat. A great smooth burning cigar at a price point that can’t be beat. Full leave, good price. Much better than higher end seconds that use pieces/parts of throw away scraps. I was very happy with these cigars the price was right and the pleasure was there also. Wasn't sure about these, but due to other good reviews I gave them a shot. They seem to start out a little rough but the flavor profiles come together well. Construction is good and the price was right up my ally for a everyday smoke, I due recommend them and will buy again! Priced like your lawn mowing cigar. Smokes premium! These were the worst cigars I have ever purchased, CI should be ashamed they even sell them. Everyone of these cigars burned down the center and I couldn’t keep them lit. Even after weeks in a humidor they still cracked and fell apart during the burn. No character , little taste, wound tight for a tough draw and tend to burn down the middle. Very disappointing. They will be in the spare humidor for when I'm desperate! You could make it up to me by sending afew Monte Cristo White Series Churchills...ha ha! Merry Christmas! Good long filler. No stems. Burns a bit fast but for the price hard to beat. Inconsistent burn, came dry and flaky, extremely milder than anticipated. I would not recommend at any price exceeding that of a Marsh Wheeling. You get what you pay for. Uneven burn and wrappers come off. I’ll leave in humidor for awhile and see if that helps. A well- made, flavorful cigar for a fair price. There should be more like this one. These were good cigars, but not my first choice. I prefer a more robust cigar. I was pleasantly surprised on how good these cigars are for the price. The flavors are indeed in point and it is quite smooth. I will definatley continue to purchase these wonderful sticks. Great price, good flavor but wrapped way to tight, out of 40 cigars, 38 burst the outer wrapper. Probably better to go with a robust. Was like a Seinfeld episode. smooth taste, well made, burns well would buy again! Good, smooth smoke. Got a 2 inch Ash going. Nice every day or golf course cigar. Nice medium smoke. Some do not draw well but most do not disappoint. I will be ordering another bunch soon. The outer wrapper is a bit thin and cracks easily. The stick iyrxstinguished itself quickly, but the flavor and after taste are exquisit. I would rate this a 90. Well worth the investment! Overall, these are a pretty good bargain for a daily smoking kind of stick. They are pretty fresh, so I aired them out for a few days then gave them a few weeks rest in the humidor. A bit too mellow for my general preferences. But the construction has been outstanding. I'll be interested to see how a little age works on the remainder of these. I found these cigars extremely dry and burned uneven when you could keep them lit. They seemed to have a hard time staying lit. I tried 5 different cigars and they all had the same result. I trashed the rest of them. When they arrived, I was excited to try them. They had good flavor. They arrived on the scheduled date, when I got them they were dried out to the point the wrappers cracked, and a couple fell apart completely. I have a nice humidor which electronically set at 70 degrees and about 68 percent humidity...would like to try again, if they weren't dried out. Cuz half were either plugged up and burned poorly or burned quickly and hot because of poor rolling. Too bad because I loved the taste and they looked great. The CI Cuban wheels are a great deal, a little long for me but let them age a little and you could fool many into thinking they are a high end smoke. Good cigar for the price. Get a plugged one every once in a while. Great smoke great price . Consistent quality. Will buy over and over. Good every day yard gar or filler. Draw on the first few was tough until I figured out to cut them down a bit further than normal. Burn was a mix bag with some canoeing if drawn on too rapidly, though easily evened out. I will say that after a 2-3 weeks in the humidor they performed much better, so definitely give them a week or two to stabilize. Flavor is "okay" not a lot of undertones or after but a basic cedar/spice flavor. This was my 4th or 5th wheel. Great value. Just gave one to a friend who is now ordering the Rosado. These were good, smooth even, long burning cigars. I would definitely buy them again. They taste ok but about 90% of them burned badly (canoed) and those that didn't the wrapper fell apart when I cut the end off .Won't buy again , not happy!! It is truly an excellent smoke...mild...burns well...tastes good. Fresh-Rolled is a great cigar for the price. From first draw to the last, this cigar provides a consistently rich and even smoke. These are medium bodied beauties that deliver a very satisfying smoking experience. What an awesome smoke! Ordered them last month for the first time! Well put together, burns great, tastes great! Ordered them again this month! It appears that the CI Fresh ROLLED has become more of a production item and in doing so has lost some of its earlier positive points. Fairly good cigars, but do not smoke evenly and in some cases burns through the inside and not outside of cigar at all. This is a good daily smoke that won't break the bank. I've always been a huge promoter of this sight. Price and selection is amazing. But I have to give these ones a big thumbs down. Wrapper was dry, and peeled off shortly after lighting the cigar each time. And smoke was very thin. Tastes chalky. I tried smoking one every day for about a week, and ultimately threw out the rest of the bundle. Definitely won't be purchasing again. I don't recommend these at all. good construction and taste, burns evenly, great for knocking around the yard of golf course. Love these sticks when I can get them on sale. A well-made smooth flavorful smoke...one of my favorites! Got discouraged with this one. Most burn fast and right up the middle. Would use for tobacco ceremonies but might offend the gods. The goats turned there noses up at this one. And that's rare. Disappointed. Not a premium cigar, but a great value for the price, as I smoke everyday, makes it quite affordable when mixed in with CI's higher end cigars. Great draw, burned even. Good flavor for the price. Will keep this as my morning cigar. Great value! This cigar and its price-point are difficult to beat from my perspective! This is my second wheel and just as happy as I was with the first. Great flavor at a great price. I love them tight rolled long lasting even smooth burn holds ash. This is a solid consistent cigar. The price is right. I usually buy three bundles at a time. Always consistent and the price is perfect for me.Hopefully they won't jack up the price since I like this cigar so much. Good quality for the price, for sure. I normally smoke 2 or 3 cigars per day, so that gets a little expensive with premium brands. I save those for special occasions. The best hour spent, smooth even draw right to the point of burning the fingers. A very full pallet of taste without the increasing intensity at the end. Very good smoke and a good buy. A little tight packed roll. Not a consistent wrap. Some smoke very good others burn uneven. I agree its worth the price but would be super if they were all equally made. My favorite at a great price! Love the torpedo in both Connecticut and Rosata wrapper. Will order again and again! Good cigar for the money, well constructed, relativity smooth medium bodied. So-So at best, my first venture into the no name field....and my last. Name brands only from here on out. Jave gone thru about 10 so far and all have been good smokes. No burn problems at all noce white ash, good draw with a good flavor. I only wish they were a bit stronger. Good, not great. Worth it. Well crafted but TIGHT. Got lock jaw a time or two. However, I still consider them worth the fuss. You could 'draw poker' them, or, do as I have, give them a few weeks to soak in the humi. Flavor is good, though smoke is not as thick as I like. For the money, an easy 'yes'. Like to have a smoke while doing yardwork or piddling in the garage. These work for me all day long. Worth the price and then some, got the rosado torpedo, smoked at least 10-15. Not a bad burn or draw in the bunch. Tasty, medium body, full of flavor's. I won't hesitate to purchase again. Wish there was a maduro. Great smoke - Great price! I am not an every day cigar smoker, but do enjoy relaxing from time to time with a cigar and drink. These are now my new favorites! They burn evenly, draw great and have a great taste! You can put it down while you make another drink and when you pick it back up it is still lit and you are back to enjoying a good cigar! Worth a try. You will be pleased! Mild to medium like the description says. Great for the golf course and an everyday smoke. Fresh even burning cigar. Good value. Nice smoke for the price! Incredible value! Great flavor from a well constructed stick. Improves with time in the humidor! Will definitely buy again when these are gone. A smooth every day cigar. I am a consistent consumer of the CI fresh rolled cigars. They are an excellent value providing an everyday cost for a top shelf tasting stick. The rosado provides thick, white smoke delivering hints of leather and lead pencil on the initial light. An even burn rarely needs adjusting as the burn progresses, rich toasty notes of oak and pepper spice complete this fine inexpensive stick. I have smoked them for a couple of years and will continues as long as they are available. The cigar is a good smoke, I had one so far the wrapper was cracking in two spots. Fresh , smooth , even burn & a great price. Like to order more if that deal is still on. They are pretty good for daily cigar. They're not that expensive, and they are worth the money. A good inexpensive everyday smoke. Great smoke. Even burn and smooth flavor. Can't beat it at any price. Good cigars for quick smokes in between the expensive ones! Everyday affordable smokes. Can't beat the price for these cigars. Very good value. Not a 90+ but good for the money. Good value for an every day "yard-gar". An average tasting cigar. Some burned hot and had a very bad after taste. I probably will not purchase again. I bought these cigars with the intention to give them to my mooching golf buddies but after smoking a few, I decided to keep them for myself. Good burn, flavor, and a great value. I thought I would take a chance on these. The price was right. Turns out that they are a great value for the money spent. Nice smooth flavor and they smoke great!! I will repurchase. You won't find a better everyday smoke, good burn and great flavor. They are the best cigar smoke for the price that I can ever remember having in 20 years. These cigars are a great price and they have been very consistent. Good draw and they don't leave a harsh aftertaste. Highly recommend. This is a good stick for the price. It's not "cheap" and I didn't adjust my opinion of the cigar based on the price. I'm a golfer and smoke 4 sticks per round so cost is important and these are perfect for that. Good construction and decent flavor. Good smooth smoke. I'm trying to age some in a whiskey filler humidor. Can't go wrong with that!

2019-04-20T16:39:33Z

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This Ordinance provides for the arbitration organization and procedures for settling disputes arising from commercial activities as agreed upon by the involved parties. 1. Arbitration is a mode of settling disputes that arise from commercial activities, which is agreed upon by the involved parties and carried out according to the proceeding order and procedures prescribed by this Ordinance. 2. Arbitration agreement is an agreement between the involved parties pledging to settle through arbitration disputes which may arise or have arisen in commercial activities. 3. Commercial activities means the performance of one or many trading acts by business people or organizations, including goods purchase and sale, service provision; distribution; trade representation and agency; consignment; renting and lease; hire purchase; construction; consultancy; technology; licensing; investment; financing; banking; insurance; exploration and exploitation; transport of goods and passengers by air, sea, rail, land , and other commercial acts as prescribed by law. 4. Disputes involving foreign elements are those arising from commercial activities with one participating party or all participating parties being foreigners, foreign legal persons, or those with the bases for establishing, changing or terminating disputed relationships arising abroad or with involved properties situated abroad. 5. Arbitrators are those who satisfy all conditions specified in Article 12 of this Ordinance, are selected by the involved parties or appointed by Arbitration Centers or competent courts to settle disputes. 6. Relatives are those who belong to the three inheritance ranks prescribed by the Civil Code. 2. When settling disputes, arbitrators must be independent, objective and impartial, comply with law and respect the involved parties’ agreement. Disputes between the involved parties shall be settled at the Arbitration Council organized by the Arbitration Centers or at the Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties under the provisions of this Ordinance. An Arbitration Council shall be composed of three arbitrators or a sole arbitrator as, agreed upon by the involved parties. For cases of dispute where there is arbitration agreement, if one party initiates a lawsuit at a court, the court must refuse to handle them, unless such arbitration agreement is invalid. Arbitral awards shall be final and binding on all the involved parties, except where they are cancelled by courts under the provisions of this Ordinance. 1. For disputes between Vietnamese parties, the Arbitration Councils shall apply Vietnamese laws to settling them. 2. For disputes involving foreign elements, the Arbitration Councils shall apply the laws selected by the involved parties. The selection and application of foreign laws must not contravene the fundamental principles of Vietnamese law. Where the involved parties fail to select laws for settling their disputes, the Arbitration Councils shall make decision. If an international agreement which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or acceded to contains provisions different from those of this Ordinance, the provisions of such international agreement shall apply. 1. The arbitration agreements must be made in writing. Arbitration agreements reached through mails, telegrams, telex, fax, electronic mails or other written forms clearly expressing the wills of the involved parties to settle their disputes through arbitration shall be regarded as written arbitration agreements. 2. Arbitration agreement may be an arbitration clause in contracts or a separate agreement. 6. The signers of the arbitration agreement are cheated, intimidated and request the arbitration agreement to be declared invalid; the statute of limitations for making such requests is six months as from the date of signing of the arbitration agreement but must be prior to the date on which the Arbitration Council holds the first meeting to settle the dispute under the provisions of Article 30 of this Ordinance. The arbitration clause exists independently from contracts. The modification, extension, cancellation or invalidity of contracts shall not affect the effect of the arbitration clause. c/ Possessing university diplomas and having worked in the branches of their study majors for five years or more. 2. Those who are under administrative probation, examined for penal liability or have been convicted but not yet enjoyed remission of criminal records shall be prohibited to act as arbitrators. 3. Judges, prosecutors, investigators, executioners and public employees working at the People’s Courts, People’s Procuracies, investigating agencies and judgment-executing agencies shall not be allowed to act as arbitrators. e/ Not to take bribes or commit other acts in breach of arbitrators’ ethics. 1. On the basis of the socio-economic development situation in localities, Arbitration Centers shall be set up in a number of localities under the Government’s regulations. 2. The Minister of Justice shall consider and decide to license the setting up of an Arbitration Center when it is so requested by at least five founders who are fully qualified to act as arbitrators under the provisions of Article 12 of this Ordinance and recommended by Vietnam Lawyers’ Association. d/ Written recommendation of Vietnam Lawyers’ Association. d/ The expected location of the head office of the Arbitration Center. 5. Within 45 days after receiving valid dossiers, the Minister of Justice shall grant licenses to set up Arbitration Centers and approve their charters; in case of refusal, he/she must reply in writing, clearly stating the reasons therefor. 6. Within 30 days after receiving the establishment licenses, the Arbitration Centers must register their operation at the Justice Services of the provinces or centrally-run cities (hereinafter collectively referred to as the provincial Justice Services) where they are headquartered. Past this time limit, if the Arbitration Centers fail to make such registration, their licenses shall be withdrawn. The Government shall prescribe the order and procedures for registration of operation of the Arbitration Centers. d/ The time of commencement of operation of the Arbitration Centers. 2. The Arbitration Centers must post up at their head-offices the contents specified in Clause 1 of this Article and the lists of arbitrators. 1. Arbitration Centers are non-governmental organizations, having the legal status, own seals and accounts. 2. Arbitration Centers may set up branches and representative offices. 3. Arbitration Centers shall have executive boards and arbitrators. The executive board of an Arbitration Center shall be composed of a president, one or several vice-presidents, and possibly a general secretary appointed by the president. Those who are invited by the Arbitration Centers to act as arbitrators must satisfy all conditions specified in Article 12 of this Ordinance. 10. Other tasks and powers as prescribed by law. b/ Having their establishment licenses withdrawn. 2. Upon termination of their operation, the Arbitration Centers must return their establishment licenses to the license-granting agencies. 3. The Government shall specify the order and procedures of termination of operation of the Arbitration Centers. The involved parties shall have the right to select Arbitration Centers or Arbitration Councils set up by themselves for settling their disputes according to the arbitral proceeding provisions of this Ordinance. 1. In order to settle disputes at an Arbitration Center, the claimants must send claims to the Arbitration Center. f/ The arbitrator at the Arbitration Center, who is selected by the claimant. 2. In order to settle disputes at the Arbitration Centers set up by the involved parties, the claimants must make claims and send them to the respondents; The contents of such a claim shall comply with the provisions in Clause 1 of this Article. 3. The claimants must enclose their claims with the originals or copies of the arbitration agreements, the originals or copies of documents and evidences. Copies must be duly notarized. 4. For disputes to be settled at the Arbitration Centers set up by the involved parties, the arbitral proceedings shall commence from the time when the Arbitration Centers receive claims of the claimants or when the respondents receive claims from the claimants. 5. Within five working days after receiving the claims, the Arbitration Centers must send to the respondents the copies thereof and documents prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article. 1. For disputes for which the statute of limitations is prescribed by law, such law provisions shall apply. 2. For disputes for which the statute of limitations is not prescribed by law, the statute of limitations for initiating the settlement thereof through arbitration shall be two years as from the date the disputes occur, except for cases of force majeure events. The duration not included in the statute of limitations shall be counted from the date such an event occurs to the date it disappears. 1. The claimants must pay an advance of arbitration charge, unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties. 2. In case of settlement of disputes at the Arbitration Centers, the executive boards of the Arbitration Centers shall determine arbitration charges according to the Centers’ charters. 3. In case of settlement of disputes at the Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties, the arbitration charges shall be determined by the Arbitration Councils. 4. The losers must pay arbitration charges, unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties. The involved parties may agree upon the places for dispute settlement, if they have no such agreement, the Arbitration Councils shall decide but must ensure convenience for the involved parties in the settlement. 1. For disputes to be settled by the Arbitration Centers selected by the involved parties, the respondents must send their self-defense statements to the Arbitration Centers within 30 days after receiving the claimants’ claims and enclosed documents sent from the Arbitration Centers, unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties. For disputes to be settled at the Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties, the respondents must send their self-defense statements to the claimants and the names of the arbitrators selected by themselves within 30 days after receiving the claimants’ claims and enclosed documents specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 20 of this Ordinance, unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties. c/ Self-defense arguments and evidences, including rejection of part or the whole of the claimant’s claim. Apart from the contents specified at this Point, if the respondents hold that the disputes do not fall under the settling jurisdiction of the arbitration, there is no arbitration agreement or the arbitration agreement is invalid, they may point it out in their self-defense statements. 3. At the respondents’ requests, the time limit for the respondents to send their self-defense statements enclosed with evidences may be longer than 30 days but must be before the date when the Arbitration Councils meet under the provisions of Article 30 of this Ordinance. 1. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties, within five working days after receiving the claims, the Arbitration Centers must send to the respondents the copies thereof, the names of the arbitrators selected by the claimants and enclosed documents together with the lists of arbitrators of the Arbitration Centers. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties, within 30 days after receiving the claims and enclosed documents sent by the Arbitration Centers, the respondents must select arbitrators from the lists of arbitrators of the Arbitration Centers. and inform the Arbitration Centers thereof or to request the presidents of the Arbitration Centers to appoint arbitrators for them. Past this time limit, if the respondents fail to select arbitrators or to request the presidents of the Arbitration Centers to appoint arbitrators, the presidents of the Arbitration Centers shall appoint arbitrators on the lists of arbitrators of their Arbitration Centers for the respondents within seven working days as from the expiry of the time limit prescribed in this Clause. 2. Where a dispute involves many respondents, the respondents must reach agreement on selecting one arbitrator within 30 days after receiving the Arbitration Center’s request to select an arbitrator. Past this time limit, if the respondents fail to select an arbitrator, the president of the Arbitration Center shall appoint an arbitrator from the list of arbitrators of his/her Arbitration Center for the respondents within seven working days after receiving the request. 3. Within 15 days after two arbitrators are selected by the involved parties or appointed by the president of the Arbitration Center, these arbitrators must select the third arbitrator from the list of arbitrators of the Arbitration Center as chairman of the Arbitration Council. Past this time limit, if the two selected or appointed arbitrators fail to select the third arbitrator, the president of the Arbitration Center shall appoint the third arbitrator from the list of arbitrators of his/her Arbitration Center as chairman of the Arbitration Council within seven working days after the expiry of the time limit. 4. Where the involved parties agree that their dispute shall be settled by a sole arbitrator of the Arbitration Center but fail to select such an arbitrator, the president of the Arbitration Center shall appoint the sole arbitrator for them within 15 days after receiving their request and notify them thereof. The sole arbitrator shall act as an Arbitration Council. The sole arbitrator’s awards shall be as effective as those of an Arbitration Council. 1. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties, within 30 days after the date on which the claimants send their claims to the respondents, the latter must select arbitrators and notify the claimants thereof. Past this time limit, if the respondents fail to notify the claimants of the names of the selected arbitrators, the claimants may request the courts of the provinces or centrally-run cities (hereinafter referred collectively to as the provincial-level courts) where the respondents are headquartered or reside to appoint arbitrators for the respondents. Within seven working days after receiving such written requests, the chief judges of the courts shall assign one judge to appoint arbitrators for the respondents and notify the involved parties thereof. 2. Where a dispute involves many respondents, the respondents must reach agreement on selecting one arbitrator within 30 days after receiving the claimants’ claims and enclosed documents. Past this time limit, if the respondents fail to select an arbitrator, the claimants may request the provincial-level court of the locality where one of the respondents is headquartered or resides to appoint an arbitrator for the respondents. Within seven working days after receiving such written request, the chief judge of the court shall assign one judge to appoint an arbitrator at the request of the claimant and notify the involved parties thereof. 3. Within 15 days after two arbitrators are selected by the involved parties or appointed by the court, these arbitrators must reach agreement on selecting the third arbitrator as chairman of the Arbitration Council. Past this time limit, if the two selected or appointed arbitrators fail to select the third arbitrator, the involved parties may request the provincial court of the locality where the respondent is headquartered or resides to appoint the third arbitrator. Within seven working days after receiving such written request, the chief judge of the court shall assign one judge to appoint the third arbitrator as chairman of the Arbitration Council and notify the involved parties thereof. 4. Arbitrators selected by the involved parties or by courts may be those on or not on the lists of arbitrators of Vietnam’s Arbitration Centers. 5. Where the involved parties agree that their disputes shall be settled by a sole arbitrator but fail to select such an arbitrator, at the request of one party, the chief judge of the provincial court of the locality where the respondent is headquartered or resides shall assign one judge to select the sole arbitrator for the involved parties within 15 days after receiving such request, then notify the involved parties thereof. b/ Arbitrators have their interests in the dispute. c/ There are explicit grounds that arbitrators are not impartial nor objective while performing their duties. 2. From the time of being selected or appointed and during the process of arbitral proceedings, the arbitrators must notify in a public and timely manner any matters that may cause doubts over their impartiality and objectivity. 3. After having selected their arbitrators, should the involved parties discover that their selected arbitrators fall into one of the cases specified in Clause 1 of this Article, they may request such arbitrators to refuse to settle disputes. b/ For disputes to be settled by Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties, at the claimants’ requests, the chief judges of the provincial-level courts of the localities where the respondents are headquartered or reside shall assign one judge to consider and made decision. The courts’ decisions are final ones. 6. In case of necessity, after consulting the involved parties, the newly-set up Arbitration Councils may review matters already considered in the previous dispute settlement meetings. Claimants may amend, supplement or withdraw their claims before the Arbitration Councils issue arbitral awards. 1. The respondents may file counter-claims against the claimants on matters related to the latter’s demands. 2. Counter-claims must be sent to the Arbitration Councils and concurrently to the claimants before the date when the Arbitration Councils open meetings to settle the claimants’ claims. The claimants must issue written statements in reply to the counter-claims within 30 days after receiving such counter-claims. Such written statements must be sent to the respondents and the Arbitration Councils. 3. The counter-claim procedures shall be the same as those for settling the claimants’ claims and simultaneously settled by the Arbitration Councils. 1. Before considering the dispute’s details, if any party lodges a written complaint that the Arbitration Council has no jurisdiction to settle the dispute; the dispute has no arbitration agreement or the arbitration agreement is invalid, the Arbitration Council must consider the written complaint and make decision in the presence of the involved parties, unless otherwise requested by the involved parties. If the complainants, though having been summoned properly, are absent without plausible reasons, they shall be deemed to have withdrawn their complaints. The Arbitration Councils shall continue to consider and settle the dispute. 2. In case of disagreement with the Arbitration Council’s decision on the content mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article, within five working days after receiving the Arbitration Council’s decision, the involved parties may request the provincial-level court of the locality where the Arbitration Council has made such decision to review such decision. The requesting party must notify concurrently the Arbitration Council thereof. The written requests must be enclosed with copies of the claim, arbitration agreement and the Arbitration Council’s decision. Copies must be duly notarized. Within five working days after receiving the written requests, the chief judge of the court shall assign one judge to consider and settle them. Within 10 days after being assigned the task, the judge must consider and make decision. The court decisions are final ones. In cases where the courts decide that the disputes do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Arbitration Councils, the disputes have no arbitration agreement or the arbitration agreements are invalid, the Arbitration Councils shall issue decisions to stop the settlement of the disputes. Unless otherwise agreed upon, the involved parties may bring their disputes to court. The statute of limitations for initiating lawsuits at court shall comply with the provisions in Article 21 of this Ordinance, excluding the duration between the date when the claimants lodge their claims at the Arbitration Councils and the date when the courts issue decisions under the provisions of this Article. 1. After being selected or appointed, the arbitrators must examine dossiers and verify facts if deeming it necessary. 2. The Arbitration Councils may meet the involved parties to hear their opinions. At the request of one party or all parties involved or on their own initiative, the Arbitration Councils may inquire into the facts from a third person either in the presence of the involved parties or after notifying them thereof. 1. The involved parties shall be obliged to provide evidences proving the facts presented by themselves. The Arbitration Councils may request the involved parties to supply evidences related to their disputes. 2. In case of necessity, the Arbitration Councils may gather evidences by themselves; invite expertise at the request of one party or all parties involved, and must notify them thereof. The expertise requestor must pay an advance of the expertise charge; where all the involved parties invite expertise, they shall all pay an advance of the expertise charge. 6. To blockade bank accounts. 1. The requesters of the application of interim urgent measures specified in Article 33 of this Ordinance must send written requests to the provincial-level courts of the localities where the Arbitration Councils which are handling the disputes are based. 2. A written request for the application of interim urgent measures must be enclosed with copies of the claim with full contents as prescribed in Article 20 and the arbitration agreement as prescribed in Article 9 of this Ordinance. These copies must be duly notarized. Depending on the requested types of interim urgent measures, the requesters must supply to the courts concrete evidences in need of safe protection, evidences that the respondents are dispersing or hiding properties, which may render the enforcement of arbitral awards impossible. 3. The requesters of the application of interim urgent measures must deposit security money amounts required by the courts, which, however, must not exceed the property obligation the obligees have to fulfill in order to protect the legitimate interests of the respondents and prevent any abuse of interim urgent measures by the requesters. These money amounts shall be deposited at the banks in the places where the courts which have decided on the application of interim urgent measures are headquartered. 4. After receiving the written requests and documents specified in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article, the chief judges of the provincial-level courts defined in Clause 1 of this Article shall assign one judge to consider and settle them. Within five working days after being assigned such task, the judge must check the accuracy of the documents prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, and within the scope of the claimants’ requests, may decide to apply one or several interim urgent measures specified in Article 33 of this Ordinance. In case of application of one or several measures specified in Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Article 33 of this Ordinance, the properties to which the interim urgent measures are applied must have a value not exceeding the property obligations that the obligees have to fulfill. 5. The decisions on the application of interim urgent measures must be immediately sent to the Arbitration Councils, the disputing parties and the Procuracies of the same level. The decisions on the application of interim urgent measures shall be executed promptly and in accordance with the law provisions on execution of civil judgments. 6. Within three working days after receiving the decisions on the application of interim urgent measures, the chairmen of the Procuracies of the same level shall be entitled to protest and the respondents shall be entitled to request the chief judges of the courts which have issued such decisions to consider and change, cancel or keep such measures. Within three working days after receiving the protests of the Procuracies or the requests of the respondents, the chief judges of the courts must have decisions and issue replies thereon to the Procuracies or the respondents. The requesters of the application of interim urgent measures may requests in writing the alteration or cancellation of the applied interim urgent measures when they are no longer appropriate or necessary. Within three working days after receiving the written requests for alteration or cancellation of interim urgent measures, the chief judges of the provincial courts which have decided on the application of the interim urgent measures shall assign one judge to consider and decide on the alteration or cancellation of the applied interim urgent measures. Such decisions must be immediately sent to the Arbitration Councils, the disputing parties and the Procuracies of the same level. In case of cancellation of interim urgent measures, the judge must consider and decide to allow the requesters of the application of such measures to receive back the security money specified in Clause 3, Article 34 of this Ordinance, except for the case specified in Article 36 of this Ordinance. The requesters of the application of interim urgent measures shall bear responsibility for their requests. In cases where the requesters of the application of interim urgent measures are wrong and cause damage to the other party or a third party, they must pay compensations therefor. 1. During the process of arbitral proceedings, the involved parties may conciliate on their own. In case of successful conciliation, the Arbitration Councils shall, at the involved parties’ requests, stop the proceedings. 2. The involved parties may request the Arbitration Councils to act as conciliator. In case of successful conciliation, the involved parties may request the Arbitration Councils to make records on and issue decisions recognizing the successful conciliation. The successful conciliation records must be signed by the involved parties as well as arbitrators. The Arbitration Councils’ decisions recognizing the successful conciliation shall be final ones and implemented under the provisions of Article 57 of this Ordinance. 1. The time for opening meetings to settle disputes shall be decided by the chairmen of the Arbitration Councils, unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties. 2. Summons shall be sent to the involved parties to attend a dispute-settling meeting no later than 30 days before the opening date of the meeting, unless otherwise agreed upon by the involved parties. 3. Dispute-settling meetings shall not be conducted publicly. If it is so consented by the involved parties, the Arbitration Councils may permit other persons to attend the meetings. The involved parties may directly attend or authorize their representatives to attend dispute-settling meetings. They may invite witnesses and lawyers to protect their rights and legitimate interests. 1. If the claimants, though having been summoned to attend dispute-settling meetings, fail to attend the meetings without plausible reasons or leave the meetings without the Arbitration Councils’ consent, they shall be deemed as having withdrawn their claims. In this case, the Arbitration Councils shall continue settling the disputes if the respondents so request or lodge counter-claims under the provisions of Article 29 of this Ordinance. If the respondents, though having been summoned to attend dispute-settling meetings, fail to attend the meetings without plausible reasons or leave the meetings without the Arbitration Councils’ consent, the Arbitration Councils shall continue settling the disputes on the basis of available documents and evidences. 2. The Arbitration Councils may base themselves on the dossiers to settle disputes without the presence of the involved parties if it is so requested by the involved parties. 1. If they have plausible reasons, the involved parties may request the Arbitration Councils to postpone the dispute-settling meetings. 2. The Arbitration Councils must postpone the dispute-settling meetings if they deem that there are not enough grounds for settling disputes. The Arbitration Councils’ arbitral awards shall be made on the majority principle, except where disputes are settled by the sole arbitrator. The minority opinions shall be recorded in the meetings’ minutes. 1. The minutes of dispute-settling meetings shall be made by the Arbitration Councils and signed by their chairmen. 2. The involved parties may see the minutes’ contents, ask for amendments and/or supplements thereto. If the Arbitration Councils reject the requests for amendments and/or supplements, they must record such in the minutes. h/ Signatures of the arbitrators or the sole arbitrator. 2. In cases where an arbitrator refuses to sign the arbitral award, the chairman of the Arbitration Council must record such in the arbitral award, clearly stating the reason therefor. 3. The involved parties may request the Arbitration Councils not to include the disputed matters, bases of decisions on the disputes into the arbitral awards. 4. The arbitral awards come into force as from the date of their announcement. 1. The arbitral awards may be announced right at the final meetings or afterwards but no later than 60 days after the end of the final meeting. The full texts of the arbitral awards must be sent to the involved parties right after the date of their announcement. 2. At the involved parties’ requests, the Arbitration Centers or Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties shall issue to the requesting parties copies of the arbitral awards. 1. Within 15 days after receiving the arbitral awards, any involved party may request the Arbitration Council to correct computing, typing, printing or other technical errors. Within 30 days after receiving such request, the Arbitration Council shall correct errors and notify the other party thereof. 2. Correction decisions shall constitute part of the arbitral awards and must be signed by the Arbitration Councils. 2. The involved parties agree upon the termination of the dispute settlement. 2. For disputes settled at the Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties, within 15 days after the arbitral awards or conciliation records are announced, the Arbitration Councils must send the arbitral awards or conciliation records together with the dispute settlement dossiers to the provincial-level courts of the localities where they have issued the arbitral awards or made the conciliation records, for archival. 1. Under the agreement of the involved parties, the disputes involving foreign elements may be settled at the Arbitration Councils organized by the Arbitration Centers or at the Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties under the provisions of this Ordinance. 2. The Arbitration Councils organized by the Arbitration Centers or set up by the involved parties may apply other proceeding rules, if it is so agreed upon by the involved parties. 3. Arbitrators selected by the involved parties or appointed by courts may be those on or not on the lists of arbitrators of Vietnam’s Arbitration Centers or foreign arbitrators according to their countries’ law provisions on arbitration. 4. Where one party or all parties involved request foreign courts to appoint arbitrators, the courts competent to appoint arbitrators shall be those determined under the law provisions of such foreign countries. 5. The involved parties may agree on selecting laws under the provisions of Clause 2, Article 7 of this Ordinance and/or international commercial practices for settling their disputes. 6. The involved parties may agree on the places for settling their disputes, either in Vietnam or in a foreign country; if they fail to reach such agreement, the Arbitration Councils shall decide on such places but must ensure convenience for the involved parties in the settlement. 7. The involved parties may agree on the language(s) to be used in arbitral proceedings, if they have no agreement thereon, the language used in arbitral proceedings shall be Vietnamese. Within 30 days after receiving an arbitral award, if any party disagrees with such award, it may lodge a written request at the provincial-level court of the locality where the Arbitration Council issues such award, for cancellation thereof. Where due to a force majeure event, such a written request is filed late, the duration when the force majeure event occurs shall not be included in the time limit for requesting the cancellation of arbitral awards. c/ The reasons for making the written request for cancellation of the arbitral award. b/ The original or a duly notarized copy of the arbitration agreement. 3. If papers enclosed with the written requests are in foreign languages, they must be translated into Vietnamese and their Vietnamese translations be duly notarized. 1. After receiving the full papers specified in Article 51 of this Ordinance, the courts shall immediately notify the requesters to pay a fee. The courts shall handle the dossiers as from the date the requesters pay the fee. 2. The courts may request the request filers to further explain matters still unclear in their written requests for the cancellation of the arbitral awards. 1. After handling the written requests for cancellation of the arbitral awards, the courts notify such to the Arbitration Centers or Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties, the disputing parties and the Procuracies of the same level. For disputes the settlement of which has been organized by the Arbitration Centers, within seven working days after receiving the courts’ notices, the Arbitration Centers must transfer the dossiers to the courts. 2. Within 30 days from the date of handling the dossiers, the chief judges of the courts shall appoint a Trial Council composed of three judges, one of whom shall act as chief judge, and must open court sessions to consider the written requests for the cancellation of the arbitral awards. The courts must transfer the dossiers to the Procuracies of the same level within seven working days before opening court sessions. 3. A court session shall be held in the presence of the involved parties and their lawyers (if any), and prosecutors of the Procuracies of the same level. If any of the parties asks the court to consider the request in his/her absentia, or, though having been summoned properly, is absent without plausible reasons or leaves the court session without the Trial Council’s consent, the Trial Council shall still continue considering the written request for the cancellation of the arbitral award. 4. While considering the written requests, the Trial Councils shall not review the disputes’ contents but only check the papers under the provisions of Article 51 of this Ordinance, compare the arbitral awards with the provisions of Article 54 of this Ordinance in order to make decisions. 5. After examining the written requests and enclosed papers, evidences (if any), hearing the opinions of the summoned people and the prosecutors, the Trial Councils shall deliberate and make decision by majority. The Trial Councils may issue decisions to cancel or not to cancel the arbitral awards, or stop considering the written requests, if the requesters for the cancellation of the arbitral awards withdraw their written requests or are absent without plausible reasons though having been properly summoned, or leave the court sessions without the Trial Councils’ consent. Within 15 days after making decisions, the courts must send copies of their decisions to the involved parties, the Arbitration Centers or Arbitration Councils set up by the involved parties and the Procuracies of the same level. 6. If the Trial Councils cancel the arbitral awards, unless otherwise agreed upon, the involved parties may bring their disputes to court for settlement. 7. If the Trial Councils do not cancel the arbitral awards, such arbitral awards shall be enforced under the provisions of Article 57 of this Ordinance. 3. The Arbitration Council’s composition and/or arbitral proceedings fail to comply with the involved parties’ agreements under the provisions of this Ordinance. 5. The requester is able to prove that during the process of settling the dispute an arbitrator(s) has breached the arbitrators’ obligations specified in Clause 2, Article 13 of this Ordinance. 6. The arbitral award runs counter to the public interests of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 1. Within 15 days after the Courts issue decisions under the provisions of Article 53 of this Ordinance, the involved parties may lodge their appeals. the Procuracies of the same level or the Supreme People’s Court may issue protests against such decisions. The time limit for protests of the Procuracies of the same level and protests of the Supreme People’s Court is 15 days and 30 days respectively, counting from the date the Courts issue decisions. Written appeals and protest decisions must clearly state the reasons and requirements for the appeals or protests and must be sent to the Courts which have issued the decisions in question. After receiving the written appeals, the Courts shall immediately notify the appellants to pay an appeal fee. 2. If any party is absent at the first-instance court session, the time limit for appeals specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall be counted from the date the copy of the decision is handed to the absentee; if an appeal is made late due to a force majeure event, the time limit shall be counted from the date such force majeure event no longer exists. Within 15 days after receiving the protest decisions or written appeals and the appeal fee payment from the appellants, the courts which have issued the decisions must transfer the dossiers to the Supreme People’s Court. 1. Within 30 days after receiving the dossiers of appeals or protest decisions, the Supreme People’s Court must open court sessions to consider and make decision. If it is necessary to ask the appellants or protestors to explain their appeals’ or protests’ contents, the time limit for opening such court sessions may be prolonged but must not exceed 60 days after the date of receipt of the appeal or protest dossiers. The Court must transfer dossiers to the Procuracy of the same level within 7 working days before opening court sessions. 2. A Council for consideration of appeals and/or protests shall be composed of three judges, with one of whom acting as chief judge under the appointment by the Supreme People’s Court. A court session shall be held in the presence of the disputing parties, their lawyers (if any), and prosecutors of the Procuracy of the same level. If the non-appellant party requests the Court to try in its absentia ,or is absent though having been summoned properly, without plausible reasons, or leaves the court session without the Trial Council’s consent, the Trial Council shall still hold the trial. After examining the written appeals and/or protest decisions, enclosed documents and evidences (if any), and hearing the opinions of the summoned parties and the prosecutors, the Trial Councils shall deliberate and make decisions by majority. The Trial Councils may keep intact, revise partially or wholly the decisions of the first-instance courts, stop the consideration of appeals if the Procuracies withdraw their protest decisions, the appellants withdraw their appeals, or are absent though having been summoned properly, without plausible reasons, or leave the court sessions without the Trial Councils’ consent. The Supreme People’s Court’s decisions are final ones and have implementation effect. 1. Past 30 days from the end of the time limit for enforcement of the arbitral awards, if any party fails to execute such award voluntarily or requests the cancellation thereof under the provisions of Article 50 of this Ordinance, the party in favor of whom the arbitral award is enforced may make a written request to the provincial-level judgment-executing agency of the locality where the party which is bound to execute the arbitral award is headquartered, resides or has its property, to enforce the arbitral award. 2. If one of the parties requests a court to cancel the arbitral award, the arbitral award shall be enforced as from the date the court’s decision not to cancel the arbitral award takes effect. 3. The order, procedures and time limit for enforcement of arbitral awards shall comply with the law provisions on execution of civil judgments. Fees for requesting the courts to appoint arbitrators, apply interim urgent measures, requesting the cancellation of arbitral awards and appeals against court decisions and other fees shall be stipulated by the Government. 1. Promulgating legal documents on arbitration. 2. Guiding the implementation of legal documents on arbitration. 3. Granting and withdrawing establishment licenses and operation registration papers of Arbitration Centers. 4. Organizing and guiding the training, fostering and building of a contingent of arbitrators; undertaking international cooperation in the field of arbitration. 5. Supervising and settling complaints, denunciations, and handling violations of the arbitration legislation. 1. The Government shall perform the unified State management over arbitration. 2. The Ministry of Justice shall be responsible to the Government for performing the State management over arbitration. 3. The Ministry of Justice shall coordinate with Vietnam Lawyers’ Association in performing the State management over arbitration. 1. The Arbitration Centers set up before the effective date of this Ordinance are not required to carry out re-establishment procedures. They must amend and supplement their charters and arbitral proceeding rules to make them compliant with this Ordinance within 12 months from the effective date of this Ordinance. Past this time limit, if failing to amend and supplement their charters and arbitral proceeding rules, they must terminate their operation. 2. The arbitration agreements signed before the effective date of this Ordinance shall comply with the law provisions effective at the time they are signed. 3. Arbitral awards of the Arbitration Centers set up and operating under the Government’s Decree No. 116/CP of September 5, 1994, arbitral awards of Vietnam International Arbitration Center set up and operating under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 204/TTg of April 28, 1993 and Decision No. 114/TTg of February 16, 1996, if not yet enforced, shall be enforced under the provisions of Articles 6 and 57 of this Ordinance. 1. This Ordinance shall take effect as from July 1, 2003. b/ The Prime Minister’s Decision No. 204/TTg of April 28, 1993 on organization of Vietnam International Arbitration Center. c/ The Prime Minister’s Decision No. 114/TTg of February 16, 1996 on expanding Vietnam International Arbitration Center’s scope of jurisdiction to settle disputes. The Government, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuracy shall, within the scope of their respective tasks and powers, detail and guide the implementation of this Ordinance.

2019-04-25T08:01:11Z

http://www.asianlii.org/vn/legis/laws/oca225/

This year has begun with market activity that has left many investors nervous. Although economists noted the overall U.S. economy was performing at a decent level throughout January and February, the markets reacted sharply to fears over China and lower oil prices. The S&P 500 declined by a little more than 10% as of mid-February, leading to talk of recession in some media outlets. Economists as a whole did not endorse this speculation, but could not definitively say if or when the market would recover. The decline in overall stock prices occurred in tandem with a falling of oil and other commodity prices. Many parts of the world are expected to have slower economic activity in 2016, with China most notably experiencing slower economic growth. Declines in commodity prices appeared to be a reaction to various projections of slowing overseas activity. Data on the economy led to an uptick in commodity prices in late January and into early February. The broad stock market followed suit and gained back some of the ground lost earlier in the year. As of March 6th, the S&P 500 has regained most of its earlier declines, now posting a modest year-to-date decline of less than 2%. It is difficult to call either a market high or low until well after the fact. While few are willing to definitively state that the bottom has been reached and passed, a number of analysts are now stating we have likely passed the bottom. There are a number of reasons for them to begin to make this call. Both Canada and Australia have economies heavily reliant on commodities. Canada has a large oil sector and mining is important to the Australian economy. Both currencies took a hit starting in 2014 as we saw non-oil commodity prices begin a decline. The graphs of both the Canadian and Australian stock markets mirror their currency graphs with declines from mid-2015 and then bouncing back in February. Commodity based company stocks such as Freeport-McMoran (copper), Alcoa (aluminum), and indices like the Dow Jones U.S. Steel Index all show declines beginning in the summer or fall of 2015, with bottoms in late January.1 While it is too soon to definitively call a bottom to recent commodity and market activity, a number of signs are pointing towards this being the case. Employment – The unemployment rate continued its slow decline to 4.9% in February. This was accompanied by a small increase in the labor force participation rate, meaning that the decline in unemployment is a result of increased employment and not workers giving up on looking for jobs.2 In fact, the discouraged workers (defined as persons no longer looking for work as they believe they will not find any) figure is down 18% from the previous February. An interesting development in the current labor market is wage growth. The average wage in February 2016 is 2.2% higher than for February 2015.3 Costco is a notable example of this upward wage pressure, making national news with their increase of a minimum wage to $13/hr. They are not the only company to note pressure to increase wages in order to stem employee turnover and attract desirable workers. Corporate Earnings – Corporate profits remain steady overall. We are seeing a smaller group of companies project earnings growth in 2016 compared to the number of companies projecting growth in 2012 and 2013. This is a more mature market that is holding steady. Dividend paying stocks remain attractive as investors seek alternatives to low interest rates paid by bonds. Other sectors – Statistics for the overall U.S. economy continue to portray a boring, yet positive picture. The economy is continuing its slow, steady growth with healthy levels of new-vehicle sales for February, greater than expected existing-home sales for January, and manufacturing and purchasing data in line with a GDP growing at about 2% annually. 2016 has gotten off to a volatile start, with markets regaining much of the ground lost in early 2016. Commodities look to have been oversold in this period. Recent price rebounds in commodity prices have been led by currency and stock market reversals in Canada and Australia, historically a signal of stabilizing or growing commodity prices. The U.S. economy is in better shape, continuing its slow, steady growth. We expect 2016 to continue to show steady U.S. growth and a recovery within a number of commodity sectors. The information contained in this newsletter is for general use, and while we believe all information to be reliable and accurate, it is important to remember individual situations may be entirely different. The information provided is not written or intended as tax or legal advice and may not be relied upon for purposes of avoiding any Federal tax penalties. Individuals are encouraged to seek advice from their own tax or legal counsel. Individuals involved in the estate planning process should work with an estate planning team, including their own personal legal or tax counsel. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any securities.The information contained in this newsletter is for general use, and while we believe all information to be reliable and accurate, it is important to remember individual situations may be entirely different. The information provided is not written or intended as tax or legal advice and may not be relied upon for purposes of avoiding any Federal tax penalties. Individuals are encouraged to seek advice from their own tax or legal counsel. Individuals involved in the estate planning process should work with an estate planning team, including their own personal legal or tax counsel. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any securities. We ring in 2016 with a good dose of market volatility. The five year graph of the Shanghai Composite Index shows a bit of a decline in 2011, fairly flat in 2013 through mid-2014, and then a steep rise starting in mid-2014. This rise coincided with the Chinese government encouraging citizens to buy stocks, even as monthly economic statistics were showing the economy was slowing and economic data was coming in below forecasts. Unlike the United States and Europe where pension funds, university endowments and mutual funds make up a large portion of stock ownership. China is almost all affluent, individual investors. Given this dynamic greater volatility is almost a given. In the latter part of the 1990s corporations were moving manufacturing to China from the United States and other countries to take advantage of lower labor costs. This mass influx of manufacturing drove the Chinese economy for the last 15 years, resulting in annual GDP growth of 8-10%. This is an almost unheard of figure, and one that eventually has to moderate. Growth in the Chinese middle class has been fairly rapid and consumer spending will be a larger portion of their economy going forward. The Chinese government is trying to transition from primarily a manufacturing and exporting economy to be more of a consumer based economy. Currency – We continue to see China’s currency (Yuan) be devalued against the U.S. Dollar and Euro. Although currency instability has rattled markets, it does have a positive impact on U.S. corporations purchasing Chinese products. Walmart specifically should be a big beneficiary, as a weakening Yuan reduces the costs of Walmart’s extensive purchases from China. Markets – The Chinese government has looked somewhat clumsy in their actions in dealing with a slowing economy and a stock market that had a huge one year run up from mid-2014 through mid-2015. They imposed a circuit breaker to shut down the stock market if it dropped by 5%. It took 29 minutes to reach that point during one day this week. The government has now withdrawn that rule. In addition, most of the individual investors within the Chinese market are also Chinese citizens. Their market rules make entry of foreign money difficult to say the least. This has created a situation in which large numbers of persons relatively new to stock market investing have driven up market prices to unsustainable levels. We are seeing a drop in price as the President, Xi Jinping, has begun to change the government’s oversight of the markets. These are long-term oriented reforms that are painful in the short-term, but should give better results than the patchwork stimulus implemented over the past summer. While the volatility in the Chinese stock markets is attention grabbing, it likely would not impact the average investor elsewhere. You may recall stories in the 1980’s about Japan’s rapidly growing economy. Their economy was growing by leaps and bounds until 1989. Their market peaked in that year and has never fully recovered. Most U.S. companies and households did not notice this slowdown in the 1990’s even though Japan was a U.S. economic partner. China is 0.7%1 of the U.S. export market. A slowdown in the Chinese economy is likely not going to be felt in the broad U.S. economy. It is simply not large enough to be felt. Corporate Earnings – Corporate profits are the life blood of stocks. GDP projections are holding steady at low, but positive numbers. Some sectors are seeing typical cyclical contraction, but a company that made money in 2015 is likely to continue to make money in 2016. I would guess the year over year growth in 2016 will be a bit lower than recent years but still growing. Starting the middle of January we will start to see the release of 4th quarter corporate earnings results. These results should help support the markets. In manufacturing employment gains in chemical and plastics are offsetting job losses in metals and energy. Retail sales show a migration of consumers to online firms over traditional brick and mortar retail. Construction – Construction continues to hold up well in both commercial and residential. New home starts for November rose 10.45% from October and 16.48% since one year ago.3 US existing home median sales prices are up 6.32% over the one year period.4 Housing is no longer a drag on the overall economy, but rather a healthy sector contributing to overall growth. Bright spots in the market in 2015 were technology companies, including biotech. Several companies have interesting new drugs, devices, or other technology based products that are likely to help company earnings. REITs are another area to watch. REITs tend to perform well in rising interest rate environments. We’ve seen some healthcare REITs whose valuations have dropped far enough during the past year that early 2016 is an attractive entry point in these offerings. Overall, the U.S. economy is in good shape. The market activity in China is interesting to follow, but will not have a material impact on the economy here. The long anticipated Federal Reserve increase in interest rates is expected to occur this month. While the rate change itself is likely to be a modest 0.25%, the stock market does tend to get a little nervous over interest rate increases until two are behind them. The second rate increase is expected for the first quarter of 2016, meaning we are likely to see increased market volatility through March. A variety of factors influence the Federal Reserve on when to increase interest rates. Three factors to note in this current cycle are employment, wage growth, and consumer debt. In summary, more Americans are employed, their wages are rising and they are more likely to be meeting their debt obligations than they were a year ago. The news at the corporate level is also largely positive. Most analysts expect U.S. companies to post higher earnings in 2016 than they did in 2015. The biggest factor in a company’s stock price is the company’s earnings. We may see interesting price fluctuations as some investors react to the Fed’s interest rate increase, but the overall picture for U.S. stocks is one of modest gains. Saudi Arabia has been the biggest factor in lower oil prices. They felt themselves losing influence within the global energy sector and decided to throw their weight around. The objectives were to inflict pain on Russia and Iran, while undercutting the U.S. fracking industry. Russia has suffered, Iran has not due to the lifting of sanctions, and fracking output has declined in the U.S. The Saudis did not count on the efficiency gains U.S. frackers have been able to achieve, thereby, causing less of a decline in the industry than had been hoped for. Obviously, large state-owned oil producing countries can’t flood the world with cheaper oil without direct economic pain. These nations are now drawing upon foreign reserve accounts in order to fill the gaps created by lower revenues. Russia and Venezuela are experiencing more severe pain than other oil producing countries. Saudi Arabia’s net foreign assets declined by $90 billion from February 2015 through September 2015 as they began to tap into reserve accounts, with the full year total drawdown total estimate at $120 billion.3 The biggest Arab economy is burning through financial assets needed to support domestic spending and could fully deplete these reserves within five years if current policies are maintained. Even stable oil economies like Norway have started to draw on reserves due to lower oil prices. At some point the ongoing economic reserves will be drawn down. Analysts are currently looking to the end of 2016 or into 2017 before Saudi Arabia is willing to curb current output levels and revert to more typical production and pricing. We continue to see a great number of media reports regarding the economy that do not accurately portray the financial outlook of the average American household and business. While our economy is not growing at leaps and bounds, the picture is more positive than negative. Not every family or business has recovered from the financial crisis of 2007-2008, but the overall economy has. It has taken years, but slow, plodding growth adds up over time. Stories speaking about imminent doom and gloom cherry pick data points in order to appeal to the emotions of readers. They do not give an accurate picture of either the status of U.S. businesses nor households as a whole. The U.S. economy is not perfectly poised and many families do have issues with making ends meet. There will always be weak spots in an economy as large as that of the United States. A country with a population of 320 million is going to see some members financially unstable. However, most companies are currently experiencing growth and most family finances show improvement. Trumpeting that reality does not generate excitement and often loses out to stories with eye grabbing headlines. Please remember that the market is closed on December 25th and January 1st. It closes early on December 24th and 31st. We hope you and your families have a pleasant holiday season. Stock markets across the globe went into selling mode last week, with stocks in the U.S. declining more than 5%.1 European markets saw a slightly higher level of sales. The Shanghai Composite, the major Chinese stock market, sold off more than 11% last week.1 This activity is continuing this morning as we write. The Dow Jones Index opened down nearly 700 points this morning, but then saw several hundred points gained back. It is currently trading down by a few hundred points, with this figure likely to have changed by the time you read this Market Brief. The recent devaluation of Chinese currency and concerns regarding further devaluations are front and center in this sell-off. However, there is little evidence that the U.S. economy is about to slow, necessitating a large market correction. Additionally, manufacturing activity in Europe and Japan has actually accelerated somewhat in recent months. The economies in the United States, Europe, and Japan will all benefit from lower energy prices. Oil price decreases from $104/barrel in June 2014 to the around $40/barrel price we are seeing currently significantly cuts energy costs for many sectors. Recent data on retail sales and housing have been positive. The Wall Street Journal surveyed economists recently, with the general consensus being an expectation of an upward revision of U.S. 2nd quarter GDP to around 3.3%.2 The Fed had been expected to raise interest rates in September because the U.S. economy has been performing well enough for inflation to begin to be of concern. While this may now be delayed, the general indicators that show a strengthened U.S. economy have not changed. China accounts for about 15% of the world’s economic output, with an economy heavily based on export activity. While a slowdown will be felt in China, it is unlikely to impact the United States. Exports to China from the United States comprise less than 1% of U.S. GDP.2 Japanese exports to China are greater at 2.7% of their GDP.2 European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and Spain all have Chinese export figures similar to either the U.S. or Japan. The bottom line for all of these economies is that a contraction in the ability of the Chinese consumer to spend will have little to no effect on the export economy of each country. Countries near China, such as Korea and Vietnam, will likely see more significant effects to their economies from a slowdown in China. I would remind both retired and near retirement clients that stock market sell-offs do not directly impact the level of income earned from their accounts. Company profits determine dividend levels and other distributions, not stock prices. The Price Earnings (PE) ratio for the S&P 500 is currently about 16.5,3 compared to a 60 year average of around 17. In comparison, the PE of the S&P 500 in early 2000 – just before the market drop – was around 34. Heavy fixation on the short-term can make it harder to remain focused on longer-term goals. Each time the market has seen significant drops, a client or two has asked me to sell-off significant portions of their portfolio. The plan is always to wait out the drop. Unfortunately, this strategy has never worked. In each case, the client sold at or near a low and waiting to reenter the market at a higher price. This type of selling is emotionally gratifying, but cause real long-term losses. Prudent homeowners do not sell their homes when Zillow dips as they know the value in the property is in the long-term. The prudent stock market investor should view their portfolio from a similar perspective. A well-diversified portfolio and a little patience helps the experienced investor ride out market volatility. Most people are under the impression that they can’t touch their qualified employer plan such as a 401(k) until they reach age 59 ½ and are no longer employed. What people don’t know is that many qualified plans allow what is called an “in-service rollover” of their account balance. This allows a current employee to open an IRA account and rollover part of their balance to the new IRA account. This can be done all while continuing to work and contribute to their employer plan. As investment advisors, we often hear from people complaining about the lack of investment options or lack luster performance inside their 401(k) account. If you find yourself thinking this, or wish you had an investment advisor to manage your account for you, an in-service rollover might be right for you. There are many potential benefits to an in-service rollover from your 401(k) account to an IRA account. Many 401(k) accounts provide very few investment options and most do not allow individual stocks to be purchased. Inside an IRA an investor has access to a much wider array of mutual funds, individual stocks, bonds and other investments that can diversify a portfolio and potentially add additional growth and income. In addition, by having an IRA account with an advisor, an investor has access to retirement planning and other financial services not typically offered by employer plans. If you think an in-service rollover might be right for you then the first step is to find out if your company allows this kind of withdrawal. You’ll want to check with your benefits department for the specific guidelines of your employer plan. You may want to enlist the help of an investment advisor to review the details of your plan summary document as there may be limitations or certain restrictions that apply. It’s important to understand that normal distributions from a qualified plan are subject to income tax and distributions under the age of 59 ½ could be subject to a 10% early withdrawal penalty. By taking an in-service rollover and moving the assets into an IRA, you would not be subject to a tax liability and you would maintain the benefits of tax-deferred growth. Last year we wrote a newsletter that referred to the U.S. economy as a plow horse – slow, but getting the job done. While some of the details have changed, the overall picture of the economy has not. The U.S. has been seeing steady growth, with some quarters turning out more attractive numbers than others. While most investors would like to see greater growth, slow and steady growth is not bad. The broad market is at record highs, but is not excessively valued. While analysts are not predicting high rates of return from the U.S. stock market, nor are they expecting significant drops. The general consensus is that we continue to see slow, steady growth. 2015 1st quarter GDP figures were low and caught most analysts by surprise. However, this is a repeat of the previous year. The winters of both 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 were unusually harsh in the Northeast United States. Charts that break out GDP figures by sector show drops in consumer goods and services both winters. This, along with falling oil drilling activity, took a heavy economic toll in the 1st quarter of 2015. Just as GDP rose for the rest of the year in 2014, we expect to see an increase in the 2nd quarter of 2015. While GDP was a mere 0.2% for the 1st quarter of 2015, that is much better than the -2.1% drop seen last year at this time. GDP rebounded nicely in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2014, and we would expect a similar rebound this year. We will not see uniform growth across all sectors. For example, auto sales are expected to grow at 4-5% in 2015 compared to 10% in 2014. More incentives, higher inventories, and loans as long as 7 years all suggest that auto sales are starting to slow. However, pending home sales in 2015 are showing a sharp acceleration after a slow 2014, with homes sales up 11.1% year-over-year in March. Homes sales tend to drive purchases of retail goods. On the opposite end, the drop in oil prices has made exploration and drilling of new wells less attractive. This is expected to result in lower purchasing levels of the heavy equipment used in the drilling industry. Sectors seeing growth are expected to outweigh contracting sectors for the near future. Inflation is expected to remain at the low end of the average range (2-3%)1 for the near future. There are several large and contradictory contributors to the rate that make it an interesting back and forth story. Of course, the most dramatic recent contribution to lower inflation is the price of oil. The Consumer Price Index dropped noticeably from November through January, leaving March with a -0.1% annual rate.2 The drop in both gasoline and fuel oil prices are clearly responsible for this negative index rate. Food prices are up 2.3% from last year, medical care commodities are up 4.9%, and shelter is up 3.0%. There are other sectors that saw falling prices (used cars and trucks, apparel, etc.), but these are quite modest declines in comparison the energy sector figures which posted a -29.2% annual drop in gasoline prices and a -24.9% annual drop in fuel oil prices as of March. We see upward inflationary pressure in the economy as sectors deal with the legacy of the housing crisis. The economy has been operating well below capacity (labor, capital & productivity) since 2008, which has held down inflation rates. It was nearly impossible for any business to raise prices in 2009 (at the trough of the economy) for the fear a competitor with excess capacity would not raise their prices, thus gaining market share. 2012 2013 2014 2015 est. Excess capacity has shrunk considerably in 2015, due in part to lower unemployment rates. This has allowed some manufacturers and service providers to raise prices and rates. However, this is offset somewhat by long-term low population growth. U.S. population growth has slowed from 1.8% in the 1950’s to 0.7% currently and is expected to slow to 0.5% over the next two decades.3 Most of the developed world is also seeing a slowing of population growth. Less consumers automatically translates into less demand and less upward pressure on prices. Low population growth is itself offset by pressures resulting from low unemployment. 2014 saw a shrinking excess labor force, resulting in labor shortages in regional airlines pilots, drywall installers and truck drivers. These industries then saw pay increases to attract and retrain workers. 2015 has seen wage increases in the retail sector, with Target, Wal-Mart and Gap all implementing wage increases. Wal-Mart increased their wages from $7.35 per hour to $9.00 per hour this year and noted plans to further raise them to $10.00 in 2016.3 The move at Wal-Mart will impact 500,000 employees. As excess labor continues to decline, we’ll see continued upward pressure on both wage and price inflation. Combine all of these factors with the current low lending rates by the Federal Reserve and it gives us a fairly stable, low inflation rate. Analysts do expect to see an uptick in inflation and we agree with their overall theses – oil prices will rise at some point, the Fed will raise interest rates at some point, continued wage pressure will increase inflation to some degree. What is uncertain is the timing and the degree to which inflation will rise. We do not see any significant changes in the near future, but will continue to watch this area of the economy for the changes we expect. The US bull market is starting to feel fairly mature as the market enters its 7th straight year of growth since the low in March 2009. The historical broad market price-earnings ratio (PE) average is near 15.5, with a fairly wide range for normal activity. The current broad market PE ratio of 20.65 is a bit high, but only at the high end of that average range. It does not mean U.S. stocks are seen to be richly valued, but does make the hunt for undervalued stocks poised to grow a bit more difficult than at the same time last year. This has narrowed the focus of the market as investors tend to look for more well-known stocks with growth potential and little chance of contraction, while avoiding much of the market that is felt to be fairly valued. We see a shorter list of securities attracting new investment than we did at the same time last year, indicative of a more mature market. Low interest rates make a shift to fixed income securities more challenging than during similar periods in the past. There are bright spots for the investor though. The PE equivalent for international markets is low, resulting in attractive entry points to many international sectors. For this reason, we share a widely held viewpoint to continue to favor the international markets and add additional investments. We agree that broad international markets are poised for greater rates of return than broad U.S. stock markets and have increased the international weighting of many accounts this year in order to capture these expected gains. We are also looking at alternative investments like managed futures. There are some interesting alternative oriented investments that are managed with an eye towards low levels of risk that are appropriate for some portfolios. While we still look to U.S. stock exposure as the best way to grow client accounts, we are adding exposure to other sectors in order to properly diversify accounts in the current economic environment. As always, we will continue to monitor economic developments and adjust client portfolios to take advantage of changes as appropriate for each client. We would look for the U.S. economy to trend towards a steady, but moderate, growth status in 2015. Industrial production in 2014 was 5.2% greater than in 2013.1 This is the greatest increase seen in several years. These gains are broad based rather than heavily weighted towards any one sector. One economic indicator we regularly monitor is capacity utilization. This data point is helpful in determining how much unused capacity companies currently have. The most recent data figures released are from November 2014. November’s capacity utilization figure is 80.1%, about average for the U.S. economy over the past 40 years.1 In comparison, 2009 saw capacity utilization figures in the 50% range, indicating a large amount of slack in the system. Housing sector – Other economic indicators appear positive as well. For example, the housing market has stabilized. The National Association of Home Builders Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) is a gauge created by surveying home builders and is widely viewed as a reliable indicator of housing activity. This index ended December at 57.1 Readings above 50 have historically meant positive builder confidence. November showed housing starts at an annual rate of just over 1 million units. While that is still below the 10-year average, it is the highest level since April 2008. The housing sector hasn’t turned around enough to be driving the current economy, but it is no longer the drag it was during the recession. Stock Market Valuation – The S&P 500 Index finished 2014 at 2,058, and with a price earnings (PE) ratio of about 15.7.1 As a reminder, the PE ratio measures the multiple of earnings versus price. For example, stock with expected earnings of $100/share and having a PE ratio of 15.7 would be worth $1,570. The current PE is at the low end of average over decades of market history. While the market has some room for growth, an increase in S&P 500 stock value above 2,150 would need to see a concurrent rise in earnings projections as the market is not likely to rise above an average PE ratio given current investor sentiment. Oil – The energy markets have seen some rapid and notable changes in the last quarter. Oil dropped to $35/barrel by the end of the year, quite a change from the $135/barrel high of 2008. Neither this high, nor this low, have been near long-term price averages. The U.S. rig count has recently seen a pullback in reaction to oil price changes, and we are likely to see more pullbacks over the next few months. The excess capacity in oil production was estimated to be in the 1.5% – 2% range a few months ago.2 This is a historic low that is likely to rise as oil producers close the most expensive wells and idle those in the margin. Just as oil dropped from its high to stabilize at lower prices, I expect to see oil prices rise and stabilize at levels closer to historic norms. The general consensus amongst economists seems to be stabilization around $70 – $80/barrel later this year. While that will be an increase from the current price of just under $50/barrel, it will be lower than the near $100/barrel price seen over most of the past few years. The sharp decline in oil prices has been felt by all American consumers, but most sharply by working class families and retires on fixed incomes who by and large have not seen increases in wages or social security payments for some time. A lowering of a monthly expense by 1/3 or more is greatly felt within these households. The Federal Energy Information Administration recently estimated that the typical American household would save $750 this year directly from lower oil prices.3 This figure is $200 greater than the early December forecast and does not include indirect savings. Heating oil and propane are regularly used commodities for millions of Americans living in the Northeast and Midwest. These residents are expected to save about $750 per household this winter on top of their savings from falling gasoline prices. These savings may not have a big effect on the budgets of the top 10% of households, but are substantial for families earning $50,000 or less annually. The boost from lower oil prices will benefit the national economy, more than offsetting regional declines in North Dakota or Texas. Household consumer spending contributes roughly 65% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to about 4% of GDP coming from the oil and gas industry. The January monthly consumer sentiment survey released by the University of Michigan reported its best monthly figure in 11 years. The decline in oil prices is likely a main contributor to this rise. As consumers feel more secure and have more discretion within their budgets, the more likely they are to spend and drive the economy forward. The U.S. economy has come a long way from recession lows a few years ago. While the effects of the recession still linger in some areas, the economy as a whole has moved on. We have seen positive GDP figures for most quarters since late 2009.5 While this growth has not been felt by all citizens equally, we have moved past the declines of the recession as a whole. Certain sectors may see surprise events, such as energy did in 2014, but the general economy is poised to continue its steady growth. It will be interesting to see what changes 2015 may bring. Will the Fed increase interest rates as is widely expected? What will the inflation rate be, and how will the changes in energy prices affect this? Will we see any game changing technological breakthroughs in any sectors? I look forward to seeing what 2015 will bring and hope you do as well.

2019-04-25T08:14:13Z

https://koeniginvestment.com/news/page/2

a. A soldier completing initial-entry training must be prepared to become a team member. He must be proficient in the basic map reading and dead reckoning skills. b. After completing the Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC), a soldier should be ready to be a team leader. This duty position requires expertise in the skills of map reading, dead reckoning, and terrain association. c. A soldier completing the Basic NCO Course (BNCOC) has been trained for the squad leader position. Map reading and land navigation at skill level 3 requires development of problem-solving skills; for example, route selection and squad tactical movement. d. At skill level 4, the soldier completing the Advanced NCO Course (ANCOC) is prepared to assume the duty position of platoon sergeant or operations NCO. Planning tactical movements, developing unit sustainment, and making decisions are the important land navigation skills at this level. (1) After completing the Officer Basic Course, the officer must be prepared to assume the duties and responsibilities of a platoon leader. He is required to execute the orders and operations of his commander. Map reading and land navigation at this level require development of the problem-solving skills of route selection and tactical movement. (2) After completing the Officer Advanced Course, the officer is prepared to assume the duties and responsibilities of a company commander or primary staff officer. The commander must plan and execute operations with full consideration to all aspects of navigation. The staff officer must recommend battlefield placement of all administrative, logistical, and personnel resources. These recommendations cannot be tactically sound unless the estimate process includes a detailed analysis of the area of operations. This ability requires expertise in all map reading and navigation skills to include the use of nonmilitary maps, aerial photographs, and terrain analysis with respect to both friendly and enemy forces. The commander/staff officer must plan and execute a program to develop the unit's train-the-trainer program for land navigation. f. A program of demonstrated proficiency of all the preceding skill levels to the specified conditions and standards is a prerequisite to the successful implementation of a building-block training approach. This approach reflects duty position responsibilities in map reading and land navigation. An understanding of the fundamental techniques of dead reckoning or field-expedient methods is a basic survival skill that each soldier must develop at the initial-entry level. This skill provides a support foundation for more interpretive analysis at intermediate skill levels 2 and 3, with final progression to level 4. Mastery of all map reading and land navigation tasks required in previous duty positions is essential for the sequential development of increasingly difficult abilities. This building-block approach is supported by scope statements. It is part of the training doctrine at each level in the institutional training environment of each course. A mandatory core of critical map reading and land navigation tasks and a list of electives will be provided to each TRADOC service school and FORSCOM professional development school. Standardization is achieved through the mandatory core. Exportable training material is made available to support Armywide implementation. Unit leaders plan to brief and enforce all safety regulations established by local range control. They coordinate the mode of evacuation of casualties through the appropriate channels. They review all installation safety regulations. Unit leaders must complete a thorough terrain reconnaissance before using an area for land navigation training. They should look for dangerous terrain, heavy trafficked roads, water obstacles, wildlife, and training debris. Cartography is the art and science of expressing the known physical features of the earth graphically by maps and charts. No one knows who drew, molded, laced together, or scratched out in the dirt the first map. But a study of history reveals that the most pressing demands for accuracy and detail in mapping have come as the result of military needs. Today, the complexities of tactical operations and deployment of troops are such that it is essential for all soldiers to be able to read and interpret their maps in order to move quickly and effectively on the battlefield. This chapter includes the definition and purpose of a map and describes map security, types, categories, and scales. a. Therefore, to be understandable, features must be represented by conventional signs and symbols. To be legible, many of these must be exaggerated in size, often far beyond the actual ground limits of the feature represented. On a 1:250,000 scale map, the prescribed symbol for a building covers an area about 500 feet square on the ground; a road symbol is equivalent to a road about 520 feet wide on the ground; the symbol for a single-track railroad (the length of a cross-tie) is equivalent to a railroad cross-tie about 1,000 feet on the ground. b. The portrayal of many features requires similar exaggeration. Therefore, the selection of features to be shown, as well as their portrayal, is in accord with the guidance established by the Defense Mapping Agency. A map provides information on the existence, the location of, and the distance between ground features, such as populated places and routes of travel and communication. It also indicates variations in terrain, heights of natural features, and the extent of vegetation cover. With our military forces dispersed throughout the world, it is necessary to rely on maps to provide information to our combat elements and to resolve logistical operations far from our shores. Soldiers and materials must be transported, stored, and placed into operation at the proper time and place. Much of this planning must be done by using maps. Therefore, any operation requires a supply of maps; however, the finest maps available are worthless unless the map user knows how to read them. Most military units are authorized a basic load of maps. Local command supplements to AR 115-11 provide tables of initial allowances for maps. Map requisitions and distributions are accomplished through the Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic and Topographic Center's Office of Distribution and Services. In the division, however, maps are a responsibility of the G2 section. (1) Standard Form 344. It can be typed or handwritten; it is used for mailing or over-the-counter service. With the exception of the message form (DD 173), the numbered sections of all forms are the same. For example: In block 1, if you are in CONUS, enter "AOD," if you are overseas, enter "AO4. " In block 2, use one of the following codes for your location. Your supply section will help you complete the rest of the form. b. Stock numbers are also listed in map catalogs, which are available at division and higher levels and occasionally in smaller units. A map catalog consists of small-scale maps upon which the outlines of the individual map sheets of a series have been delineated. Another document that is an aid to the map user is the gazetteer. A gazetteer lists all the names appearing on a map series of a geographical area, a designation that identifies what is located at that place name, a grid reference, a sheet number of the map upon which the name appeared, and the latitude and longitude of the named features. Gazetteers are prepared for maps of foreign areas only. All maps should be considered as documents that require special handling. If a map falls into unauthorized hands, it could easily endanger military operations by providing information of friendly plans or areas of interest to the enemy. Even more important would be a map on which the movements or positions of friendly soldiers were marked. It is possible, even though the markings on a map have been erased, to determine some of the erased information. Maps are documents that must not fall into unauthorized hands. c. Some maps may be classified and must be handled and cared for in accordance with AR 380-5 and, if applicable, other local security directives. b. Special care should be taken of a map that is being used in a tactical mission, especially in small units; the mission may depend on that map. All members of such units should be familiar with the map's location at all times. a. Scale. Because a map is a graphic representation of a portion of the earth's surface drawn to scale as seen from above, it is important to know what mathematical scale has been used. You must know this to determine ground distances between objects or locations on the map, the size of the area covered, and how the scale may affect the amount of detail being shown. The mathematical scale of a map is the ratio or fraction between the distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the surface of the earth. Scale is reported as a representative fraction with the map distance as the numerator and the ground distance as the denominator. As the denominator of the representative fraction gets larger and the ratio gets smaller, the scale of the map decreases. Defense Mapping Agency maps are classified by scale into three categories. They are small-, medium-, and large-scale maps (Figure 2-1). The terms "small scale," "medium scale," and "large scale" may be confusing when read in conjunction with the number. However, if the number is viewed as a fraction, it quickly becomes apparent that 1:600,000 of something is smaller than 1:75,000 of the same thing. Therefore, the larger the number after 1:, the smaller the scale of the map. (1) Small. Those maps with scales of 1:1,000,000 and smaller are used for general planning and for strategic studies (bottom map in Figure 2-1). The standard small-scale map is 1:1,000,000. This map covers a very large land area at the expense of detail. (2) Medium. Those maps with scales larger than 1:1,000,000 but smaller than 1:75,000 are used for operational planning (center map in Figure 2-1). They contain a moderate amount of detail, but terrain analysis is best done with the large-scale maps described below. The standard medium-scale map is 1:250,000. Medium scale maps of 1:100,000 are also frequently encountered. (3) Large. Those maps with scales of 1:75,000 and larger are used for tactical, administrative, and logistical planning (top map in Figure 2-1). These are the maps that you as a soldier or junior leader are most likely to encounter. The standard large-scale map is 1:50,000; however, many areas have been mapped at a scale of 1:25,000. b. Types. The map of choice for land navigators is the 1:50,000-scale military topographic map. It is important, however, that you know how to use the many other products available from the DMA as well. When operating in foreign places, you may discover that DMA map products have not yet been produced to cover your particular area of operations, or they may not be available to your unit when you require them. Therefore, you must be prepared to use maps produced by foreign governments that may or may not meet the standards for accuracy set by DMA. These maps often use symbols that resemble those found on DMA maps but which have completely different meanings. There may be other times when you must operate with the only map you can obtain. This might be a commercially produced map run off on a copy machine at higher headquarters. In Grenada, many of our troops used a British tourist map. (2) Topographic Map. This is a map that portrays terrain features in a measurable way (usually through use of contour lines), as well as the horizontal positions of the features represented. The vertical positions, or relief, are normally represented by contour lines on military topographic maps. On maps showing relief, the elevations and contours are measured from a specific vertical datum plane, usually mean sea level. Figure 3-1 shows a typical topographic map. Figure 2-2. Joint operations graphic (air). (6) Terrain Model. This is a scale model of the terrain showing features, and in large-scale models showing industrial and cultural shapes. It provides a means for visualizing the terrain for planning or indoctrination purposes and for briefing on assault landings. If military maps are not available, use substitute maps. The substitute maps can range from foreign military or commercial maps to field sketches. The DMA can provide black and white reproductions of many foreign maps and can produce its own maps based upon intelligence. b. Atlases. These are collections of maps of regions, countries, continents, or the world. Such maps are accurate only to a degree and can be used for general information only. Accuracy is the degree of conformity with which horizontal positions and vertical values are represented on a map in relation to an established standard. This standard is determined by the DMA based on user requirements. A map can be considered to meet accuracy requirement standards unless otherwise specified in the marginal information. A map could be compared to any piece of equipment, in that before it is placed into operation the user must read the instructions. It is important that you, as a soldier, know how to read these instructions. The most logical place to begin is the marginal information and symbols, where useful information telling about the map is located and explained. All maps are not the same, so it becomes necessary every time a different map is used to examine the marginal information carefully. Figure 3-1 shows a reduced version of a large-scale topographic map. The circled numbers indicate the items of marginal information that the map user needs to know. These circled numbers correspond to the following listed items. a. Sheet Name (1). The sheet name is found in bold print at the center of the top and in the lower left area of the map margin. A map is generally named for the settlement contained within the area covered by the sheet, or for the largest natural feature located within the area at the time the map was drawn. e. Series Number (5). The series number is found in both the upper right margin and the lower left margin. It is a sequence reference expressed either as a four-digit numeral (1125) or as a letter, followed by a three- or four-digit numeral (M661; T7110). j. Declination Diagram (10). This is located in the lower margin of large-scale maps and indicates the angular relationships of true north, grid north, and magnetic north. On maps at 1:250,000 scale, this information is expressed as a note in the lower margin. In recent edition maps, there is a note indicating the conversion of azimuths from grid to magnetic and from magnetic to grid next to the declination diagram. m. Spheroid Note (13). This note is located in the center of the lower margin. Spheriods (ellipsoids) have specific parameters that define the X Y Z axis of the earth. The spheriod is an integral part of the datum. o. Projection Note (15). The projection system is the framework of the map. For military maps, this framework is of the conformal type; that is, small areas of the surface of the earth retain their true shapes on the projection; measured angles closely approximate true values; and the scale factor is the same in all directions from a point. The projection note is located in the center of the lower margin. Refer to DMA for the development characteristics of the conformal-type projection systems. (1) Between 80° south and 84° north, maps at scales larger than 1:500,000 are based on the transverse Mercator projection. The note reads TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION. (2) Between 80° south and 84° north, maps at 1:1,000,000 scale and smaller are based on standard parallels of the lambert conformal conic projection. The note reads, for example, LAMBERT CONFORMAL CONIC PROJECTIONS 36° 40' N AND 39° 20' N. (3) Maps of the polar regions (south of 80° south and north of 84° north) at 1:1,000,000 and larger scales are based on the polar stereographic projection. The note reads POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC PROJECTION. p. Vertical Datum Note (16). This note is located in the center of the lower margin. The vertical datum or vertical-control datum is defined as any level surface (for example, mean sea level) taken as a surface of reference from which to determine elevations. In the United States, Canada, and Europe, the vertical datum refers to the mean sea level surface. However, in parts of Asia and Africa, the vertical-control datum may vary locally and is based on an assumed elevation that has no connection to any sea level surface. Map readers should habitually check the vertical datum note on maps, particularly if the map is used for low-level aircraft navigation, naval gunfire support, or missile target acquisition. q. Horizontal Datum Note (17). This note is located in the center of the lower margin. The horizontal datum or horizontal-control datum is defined as a geodetic reference point (of which five quantities are known: latitude, longitude, azimuth of a line from this point, and two constants, which are the parameters of reference ellipsoid). These are the basis for horizontal-control surveys. The horizontal-control datum may extend over a continent or be limited to a small local area. Maps and charts produced by DMA are produced on 32 different horizontal-control data. Map readers should habitually check the horizontal datum note on every map or chart, especially adjacent map sheets. This is to ensure the products are based on the same horizontal datum. If products are based on different horizontal-control data, coordinate transformations to a common datum must be performed. UTM coordinates from the same point computed on different data may differ as much as 900 meters. a. Glossary. This is an explanation of technical terms or a translation of terms on maps of foreign areas where the native language is other than English. b. Classification. Certain maps require a note indicating the security classification. This is shown in the upper and lower margins. c. Protractor Scale. This scale may appear in the upper margin on some maps. It is used to lay out the magnetic-grid declination for the map, which, in turn, is used to orient the map sheet with the aid of the lensatic compass. d. Coverage Diagram. On maps at scales of 1:100,000 and larger, a coverage diagram may be used. It is normally in the lower or right margin and indicates the methods by which the map was made, dates of photography, and reliability of the sources. On maps at 1:250,000 scale, the coverage diagram is replaced by a reliability diagram. e. Special Notes (24). A special note is any statement of general information that relates to the mapped area. It is normally found in the lower right margin. For example: This map is red-light readable. f. User's Note (25). This note is normally located in the lower right-hand margin. It requests cooperation in correcting errors or omissions on the map. Errors should be marked and the map forwarded to the agency identified in the note. g. Stock Number Identification (26). All maps published by the DMA that are in the Department of the Army map supply system contain stock number identifications that are used in requisitioning map supplies. The identification consists of the words "STOCK NO" followed by a unique designation that is composed of the series number, the sheet number of the individual map and, on recently printed sheets, the edition number. The designation is limited to 15 units (letters and numbers). The first 5 units are allotted to the series number; when the series number is less than 5 units, the letter "X" is substituted as the fifth unit. The sheet number is the next component; however, Roman numerals, which are part of the sheet number, are converted to Arabic numerals in the stock number. The last 2 units are the edition number; the first digit of the edition number is a zero if the number is less than 10. If the current edition number is unknown, the number 01 is used. The latest available edition will be furnished. Asterisks are placed between the sheet number and the edition number when necessary to ensure there are at least 11 units in the stock number. h. Conversion Graph (27). Normally found in the right margin, this graph indicates the conversion of different units of measure used on the map. The purpose of a map is to permit one to visualize an area of the earth's surface with pertinent features properly positioned. The map's legend contains the symbols most commonly used in a particular series or on that specific topographic map sheet. Therefore, the legend should be referred to each time a new map is used. Every effort is made to design standard symbols that resemble the features they represent. If this is not possible, symbols are selected that logically imply the features they portray. For example, an open-pit mining operation is represented by a small black drawing of a crossed hammer and pickax. b. The mapmaker has been forced to use symbols to represent the natural and man-made features of the earth's surface. These symbols resemble, as closely as possible, the actual features themselves as viewed from above. They are positioned in such a manner that the center of the symbol remains in its true location. An exception to this would be the position of a feature adjacent to a major road. If the width of the road has been exaggerated, then the feature is moved from its true position to preserve its relation to the road. Field Manual 21-31 gives a description of topographic features and abbreviations authorized for use on our military maps. In addition to the topographic symbols used to represent the natural and man-made features of the earth, military personnel require some method for showing identity, size, location, or movement of soldiers; and military activities and installations. The symbols used to represent these military features are known as military symbols. These symbols are not normally printed on maps because the features and units that they represent are constantly moving or changing; military security is also a consideration. They do appear in special maps and overlays (Chapter 7). The map user draws them in, in accordance with proper security precautions. Refer to FM 101-5-1 for complete information on military symbols. a. Black. Indicates cultural (man-made) features such as buildings and roads, surveyed spot elevations, and all labels. b. Red-Brown. The colors red and brown are combined to identify cultural features, all relief features, non-surveyed spot elevations, and elevation, such as contour lines on red-light readable maps. c. Blue. Identifies hydrography or water features such as lakes, swamps, rivers, and drainage. d. Green. Identifies vegetation with military significance, such as woods, orchards, and vineyards. e. Brown. Identifies all relief features and elevation, such as contours on older edition maps, and cultivated land on red-light readable maps. f. Red. Classifies cultural features, such as populated areas, main roads, and boundaries, on older maps. g. Other. Occasionally other colors may be used to show special information. These are indicated in the marginal information as a rule. This chapter covers how to determine and report positions on the ground in terms of their locations on a map. Knowing where you are (position fixing) and being able to communicate that knowledge is crucial to successful land navigation as well as to the effective employment of direct and indirect fire, tactical air support, and medical evacuation. It is essential for valid target acquisition; accurate reporting of NBC contamination and various danger areas; and obtaining emergency resupply. Few factors contribute as much to the survivability of troops and equipment and to the successful accomplishment of a mission as always knowing where you are. The chapter includes explanations of geographical coordinates, Universal Transverse Mercator grids, the military grid reference system, and the use of grid coordinates. One of the oldest systematic methods of location is based upon the geographic coordinate system. By drawing a set of east-west rings around the globe (parallel to the equator), and a set of north-south rings crossing the equator at right angles and converging at the poles, a network of reference lines is formed from which any point on the earth's surface can be located. a. The distance of a point north or south of the equator is known as its latitude. The rings around the earth parallel to the equator are called parallels of latitude or simply parallels. Lines of latitude run east-west but north-south distances are measured between them. b. A second set of rings around the globe at right angles to lines of latitude and passing through the poles is known as meridians of longitude or simply meridians. One meridian is designated as the prime meridian. The prime meridian of the system we use runs through Greenwich, England and is known as the Greenwich meridian. The distance east or west of a prime meridian to a point is known as its longitude. Lines of longitude (meridians) run north-south but east-west distances are measured between them (Figures 4-1 and 4-2). Figure 4-1. Prime meridian and equator. c. Geographic coordinates are expressed in angular measurement. Each circle is divided into 360 degrees, each degree into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds. The degree is symbolized by ° , the minute by 2, and the second by 3. Starting with 0° at the equator, the parallels of latitude are numbered to 90° both north and south. The extremities are the north pole at 90° north latitude and the south pole at 90° south latitude. Latitude can have the same numerical value north or south of the equator, so the direction N or S must always be given. Starting with 0° at the prime meridian, longitude is measured both east and west around the world. Lines east of the prime meridian are numbered to 180° and identified as east longitude; lines west of the prime meridian are numbered to 180° and identified as west longitude. The direction E or W must always be given. The line directly opposite the prime meridian, 180° , may be referred to as either east or west longitude. The values of geographic coordinates, being in units of angular measure, will mean more if they are compared with units of measure with which we are more familiar. At any point on the earth, the ground distance covered by one degree of latitude is about 111 kilometers (69 miles); one second is equal to about 30 meters (100 feet). The ground distance covered by one degree of longitude at the equator is also about 111 kilometers, but decreases as one moves north or south, until it becomes zero at the poles. For example, one second of longitude represents about 30 meters (100 feet) at the equator; but at the latitude of Washington, DC, one second of longitude is about 24 meters (78 feet). Latitude and longitude are illustrated in Figure 4-3. Figure 4-3. Latitude and longitude. d. Geographic coordinates appear on all standard military maps; on some they may be the only method of locating and referencing a specific point. The four lines that enclose the body of the map (neatlines) are latitude and longitude lines. Their values are given in degrees and minutes at each of the four corners. On a portion of the Columbus map (Figure 4-4), the figures 32° 15' and 84° 45' appear at the lower right corner. The bottom line of this map is latitude 32° 15'00 3N, and the line running up the right side is longitude 84° 45'00"W. In addition to the latitude and longitude given for the four corners, there are, at regularly spaced intervals along the sides of the map, small tick marks extending into the body of the map. Each of these tick marks is identified by its latitude or longitude value. Near the top of the right side of the map is a tick mark and the number 20'. The full value for this tick marks is 32° 20'00" of latitude. At one-third and two-thirds of the distance across the map from the 20' tick mark will be found a cross tick mark (grid squares 0379 and 9679) and at the far side another 20' tick mark. By connecting the tick marks and crosses with straight lines, a 32° 20'00" line of latitude can be added to the map. This procedure is also used to locate the 32° 25'00" line of latitude. For lines of longitude, the same procedure is followed using the tick marks along the top and bottom edges of the map. (1) Draw the parallels and meridians on the map that encloses the area around the cemetery. Latitude 32° 15'00" and 32° 20'00". Longitude 84° 45'00" and 84° 50'00". (a) Place the scale with the 0 of the scale on the latitude of the lowest number value (32° 15'00") and the 300 of the scale on the highest numbered line (32° 20'00") (1, Figure 4-4). (b) While keeping the 0 and 300 on the two lines, slide the scale (2, Figure 4-4) along the parallels until the Wilkinson Cemetery symbol is along the edge of the numbered scale. (c) Read the number of seconds from the scale (3, Figure 4-4), about 246. (d) Convert the number of seconds to minutes and seconds (246" = 4'06") and add to the value of the lower numbered line (32° 15'00" + 4'06" = 32° 19'06") (4, Figure 4-4). The latitude is 32° 19'06", but this is not enough. The latitude 32° 19'06" could be either north or south of the equator, so the letter N or S must be added to the latitude. To determine whether it is N or S, look at the latitude values at the edge of the map and find the direction in which they become larger. If they are larger going north, use N; if they are larger going south, use S. The latitude for the cemetery is 32° 19'06"N. (6) Determine the longitude, repeat the same steps but measure between lines of longitude and use E and W. The geographic coordinates of Wilkinson Cemetery should be about 32° 19'06"N and 84° 47'32"W (Figure 4-5). g. To locate a point on the Columbus map (Figure 4-6) when knowing the geographic coordinates, many of the same steps are followed. To locate 32° 25'28"N and 84° 50'56"W, first find the geographic lines within which the point falls: latitude 32° 25'00" and 32° 30'0"; and longitude 84° 50'00" and 84° 55'00". Subtract the lower latitude/longitude from the higher latitude/longitude. Figure 4-6. Determining geographic coordinates. (1) Place the 0 of the scale on the 32° 25'00" line and the 300 on the 32° 30'00". Make a mark at the number 28 on the scale (the difference between the lower and higher latitude). (2) Place the 0 of the scale on the 84° 50 200 3 line and the 300 on the 84° 50 255 3. Make a mark at the number 56 on the scale (the difference between the lower and higher longitude. (3) Draw a vertical line from the mark at 56 and a horizontal line from the mark at 28; they intersect at 32 25�28"N and 84 50�56"W. h. If you do not have a scale or ruler with 300 equal divisions or a map whose interval is other than 5'00", use the proportional parts method. Following the steps determines the geographic coordinates of horizontal control station 141. (1) Locate horizontal control station 141 in grid square (GL0784) (Figure 4-7). Figure 4-7. Using the proportional parts method. (4) Enclose the control station by connecting the crosses and tick marks. The control station is between 20' and 25' (Figure 4-7). (5) With a boxwood scale, measure the distance from the bottom line to the top line that encloses the area around the control station on the map (total distance) (Figure 4-7). (6) Measure the partial distance from the bottom line to the center of the control station (Figure 4-7). These straight-line distances are in direct proportion to the minutes and seconds of latitude and are used to set up a ratio. The total distance is 9,200 meters, and the partial distance is 5,125 meters (Figure 4-7). 167 ÷ 60 = 2'47" Add 2'47" to 32° 20'00" = 32° 20'47" (7) Follow the same procedures to determine minutes and seconds of longitude (Figure 4-7). The total distance is 7,830 meters, and the partial distance is 4,000 meters (Figure 4-7). 153 ÷ 60 = 2'33" (8) The geographic coordinates of horizontal control station 141 in grid square GL0784 are 32° 22'47"N latitude and 84° 47'33"W longitude. NOTE: When computing formulas, round off totals to the nearest whole number in step 2. In step 3, convert the fraction to seconds by multiplying the fraction by 60 and rounding off if the total is not a whole number. i. The maps made by some nations do not have their longitude values based on the prime meridian that passes through Greenwich, England. Table 4-1 shows the prime meridians that may be used by other nations. When these maps are issued to our soldiers, a note usually appears in the marginal information giving the difference between our prime meridian and the one used on the map. Table 4-1. Table of prime meridians. An examination of the transverse Mercator projection, which is used for large-scale military maps, shows that most lines of latitude and longitude are curved lines. The quadrangles formed by the intersection of these curved parallels and meridians are of different sizes and shapes, complicating the location of points and the measurement of directions. To aid these essential operations, a rectangular grid is superimposed upon the projection. This grid (a series of straight lines intersecting at right angles) furnishes the map reader with a system of squares similar to the block system of most city streets. The dimensions and orientation of different types of grids vary, but three properties are common to all military grid systems: one, they are true rectangular grids; two, they are superimposed on the geographic projection; and three, they permit linear and angular measurements. a. Universal Transverse Mercator Grid. The UTM grid has been designed to cover that part of the world between latitude 84° N and latitude 80° S, and, as its name implies, is imposed on the transverse Mercator projection. (1) Each of the 60 zones (6 degrees wide) into which the globe is divided for the grid has its own origin at the intersection of its central meridian and the equator (Figure 4-8). The grid is identical in all 60 zones. Base values (in meters) are assigned to the central meridian and the equator, and the grid lines are drawn at regular intervals parallel to these two base lines. With each grid line assigned a value denoting its distance from the origin, the problem of locating any point becomes progressively easier. Normally, it would seem logical to assign a value of zero to the two base lines and measure outward from them. This, however, would require either that directions  N, S, E, or W  be always given with distances, or that all points south of the equator or west of the central meridian have negative values. (2) This inconvenience is eliminated by assigning "false values" to the base lines, resulting in positive values for all points within each zone. Distances are always measured RIGHT and UP (east and north as the reader faces the map), and the assigned values are called "false easting" and "false northing. " (Figure 4-9). The false eating value for each central meridian is 500,000 meters, and the false northing value for the equator is 0 meters when measuring in the northern hemisphere and 10,000,000 meters when measuring in the southern hemisphere. The use of the UTM grid for point designation will be discussed in detail in paragraph 4-4. Figure 4-9. False eastings and northings for the UPS grid. (1) North Polar Area. The origin of the UPS grid applied to the north polar area is the north pole. The "north-south" base line is the line formed by the 0-degree and 180-degree meridians; the "east-west" base line is formed by the two 90-degree meridians. (1) UTM Grid. The first major breakdown is the division of each zone into areas 6° wide by 8° high and 6° wide by 12° high. Remember, for the transverse Mercator projection, the earth's surface between 80° S and 84° N is divided into 60 N-S zones, each 6° wide. These zones are numbered from west to east, 1 through 60, starting at the 180° meridian. This surface is divided into 20 east-west rows in which 19 are 8° high and 1 row at the extreme north is 12° high. These rows are then lettered, from south to north, C through X (I and O were omitted). Any 6° by 8° zone or 6° by 12° zone is identified by giving the number and letter of the grid zone and row in which it lies. These are read RIGHT and UP so the number is always written before the letter. This combination of zone number and row letter constitutes the grid zone designation. Columbus lies in zone 16 and row S, or in grid zone designation 16S (Figure 4-8). (2) UPS Grid. The remaining letters of the alphabet, A, B, Y, and Z, are used for the UPS grids. Each polar area is divided into two zones separated by the 0-180° meridian. In the south polar area, the letter A is the grid zone designation for the area west of the 0-180° meridian, and B for the area to the east. In the north polar area, Y is the grid zone designation for the western area and Z for the eastern area (Figure 4-10). b. 100,000-Meter Square. Between 84° N and 80° S, each 6° by 8° or 6° by 12° zone is covered by 100,000-meter squares that are identified by the combination of two alphabetical letters. This identification is unique within the area covered by the grid zone designation. The first letter is the column designation; the second letter is the row designation (Figure 4-11). The north and south polar areas are also divided into 100,000-meter squares by columns and rows. A detailed discussion of the polar system can be found in Technical Report 8358. 1. The 100,000-meter square identification letters are located in the grid reference box in the lower margin of the map. Figure 4-11. Grid zone designation and 100,000-meter square identification. c. Grid Coordinates. We have now divided the earth's surface into 6° by 8° quadrangles, and covered these with 100,000-meter squares. The military grid reference of a point consists of the numbers and letters indicating in which of these areas the point lies, plus the coordinates locating the point to the desired position within the 100,000-meter square. The next step is to tie in the coordinates of the point with the larger areas. To do this, you must understand the following. (1) Grid Lines. The regularly spaced lines that make the UTM and the UPS grid on any large-scale maps are divisions of the 100,000-meter square; the lines are spaced at 10,000- or 1,000-meter intervals (Figure 4-12). Each of these lines is labeled at both ends of the map with its false easting or false northing value, showing its relation to the origin of the zone. Two digits of the values are printed in large type, and these same two digits appear at intervals along the grid lines on the face of the map. These are called the principal digits, and represent the 10,000 and 1,000 digits of the grid value. They are of major importance to the map reader because they are the numbers he will use most often for referencing points. The smaller digits complete the UTM grid designation. EXAMPLE: The first grid line north of the south-west corner of the Columbus map is labeled 3570000m N. This means its false northing (distance north of the equator) is 3,570,000 meters. The principal digits, 70, identify the line for referencing points in the northerly direction. The smaller digits, 35, are part of the false coordinates and are rarely used. The last three digits, 000, of the value are omitted. Therefore, the first grid line east of the south-west corner is labeled 689000m E. The principal digits, 89, identify the line for referencing points in the easterly direction (Figure 4-13). Figure 4-13. Columbus map, southwest corner. (2) Grid Squares. The north-south and east-west grid lines intersect at 90° , forming grid squares. Normally, the size of one of these grid squares on large-scale maps is 1,000 meters (1 kilometer). (3) Grid Coordinate Scales. The primary tool for plotting grid coordinates is the grid coordinate scale. The grid coordinate scale divides the grid square more accurately than can be done by estimation, and the results are more consistent. When used correctly, it presents less chance for making errors. GTA 5-2-12, 1981, contains four types of coordinate scales (Figure 4-14). (a) The 1:25,000/1:250,000 (lower right in figure) can be used in two different scale maps, 1:25,000 or 1:250,000. The 1:25,000 scale subdivides the 1,000-meter grid block into 10 major subdivisions, each equal to 100 meters. Each 100-meter block has five graduations, each equal to 20 meters. Points falling between the two graduations can be read accurately by the use of estimation. These values are the fourth and eighth digits of the coordinates. Likewise, the 1:250,000 scale is subdivided in 10 major subdivisions, each equal to 1,000 meters. Each 1,000-meter block has five graduations, each equal to 200 meters. Points falling between two graduations can be read approximately by the use of estimation. (b) The 1:50,000 scale (upper left in Figure 4-14) subdivides the 1,000-meter block into 10 major subdivisions, each equal to 100 meters. Each 100-meter block is then divided in half. Points falling between the graduations must be estimated to the nearest 10 meters for the fourth and eighth digits of the coordinates. (c) The 1:100,000 scale (lower left in Figure 4-14) subdivides the 1,000-meter grid block into five major subdivisions of 200 meters each. Each 200-meter block is then divided in half at 100-meter intervals. Based on the military principle for reading maps (RIGHT and UP), locations on the map can be determined by grid coordinates. The number of digits represents the degree of precision to which a point has been located and measured on a map  the more digits the more precise the measurement. a. Without a Coordinate Scale. Determine grids without a coordinate scale by referring to the north-south grid lines numbered at the bottom margin of any map. Then read RIGHT to the north-south grid line that precedes the desired point (this first set of two digits is the RIGHT reading). Then by referring to the east-west grid lines numbered at either side of the map, move UP to the east-west grid line that precedes the desired point (these two digits are the UP reading). Coordinate 1484 locate the 1,000-meter grid square in which point X is located; the next square to the right would be 1584; the next square up would be 1485, and so forth (Figure 4-15). Locate the point to the nearest 100 meters using estimation. Mentally divide the grid square in tenths, estimate the distance from the grid line to the point in the same order (RIGHT and UP). Give complete coordinate RIGHT, then complete coordinate UP. Point X is about two-tenths or 200 meters to the RIGHT into the grid square and about seven-tenths or 700 meters UP. RESULTS: The coordinates to the nearest 100 meters are 142847. Figure 4-15. Determining grids without coordinate point. b. With a Coordinate Scale (1:25,000). In order to use the coordinate scale for determining grid coordinates, ensure that the appropriate scale is being used on the corresponding map, and that the scale is right side up. To ensure the scale is correctly aligned, place it with the zero-zero point at the lower left corner of the grid square. Keeping the horizontal line of the scale directly on top of the east-west grid line, slide it to the right until the vertical line of the scale touches the point for which the coordinates are desired (Figure 4-16). When reading coordinates, examine the two sides of the coordinate scale to ensure that the horizontal line of the scale is aligned with the east-west grid line, and the vertical line of the scale is parallel with the north-south grid line. Use the scale when precision of more than 100 meters is required. To locate the point to the nearest 10 meters, measure the hundredths of a grid square RIGHT and UP from the grid lines to the point. Point X is about 17 hundredths or 170 meters RIGHT and 84 hundredths or 840 meters UP. The coordinates to the nearest 10 meters are 14178484. Figure 4-16. Placing a coordinate scale on a grid. NOTE: Care should be exercised by the map reader using the coordinate scale when the desired point is located within the zero-zero point and the number 1 on the scale. Always prefix a zero if the hundredths reading is less than 10. In Figure 4-17, the desired point is reported as 14818407. c. 1:50,000 Coordinating Scale. On the 1:50,000 coordinate scale, there are two sides: vertical and horizontal. These sides are 1,000 meters in length. The point at which the sides meet is the zero-zero point. Each side is divided into 10 equal 100-meter segments by a long tick mark and number. Each 100-meter segment is subdivided into 50-meter segments by a short tick mark (Figure 4-18). By using interpolation, mentally divide each 50-meter segment into tenths. For example, a point that lies after a whole number but before a short tick mark is identified as 10, 20, 30, or 40 meters and any point that lies after the short tick mark but before the whole number is identified as 60, 70, 80, or 90 meters. Figure 4-18. 1:50,000 coordinating scale. d. Example of Obtaining an Eight-Digit Coordinate Using 1:50,000 Scale. To ensure the scale is correctly aligned, place it with the zero-zero point at the lower left corner of the grid square. Keeping the horizontal line of the scale directly on top of the east-west grid line, slide the scale to the right until the vertical line of the scale touches the point for which the coordinates are desired (Figure 4-19). Reading right, you can see that the point lies 530 meters to the right into the grid square, which gives a right reading of 7853. Reading up, you can see that the point lies 320 meters up into the grid square, giving an up reading of 0032. Figure 4-19. Example of obtaining an eight-digit coordinate using 1:50,000 scale. e. Recording and Reporting Grid Coordinates. Coordinates are written as one continuous number without spaces, parentheses, dashes, or decimal points; they must always contain an even number of digits. Therefore, whoever is to use the written coordinates must know where to make the split between the RIGHT and UP readings. It is a military requirement that the 100,000-meter square identification letters be included in any point designation. Normally, grid coordinates are determined to the nearest 100 meters (six digits) for reporting locations. With practice, this can be done without using plotting scales. The location of targets and other point locations for fire support are determined to the nearest 10 meters (eight digits). NOTE: Special care should be exercised when recording and reporting coordinates. Transposing numbers or making errors could be detrimental to military operations. There is only one rule to remember when reading or reporting grid coordinates  always read to the RIGHT and then UP. The first half of the reported set of coordinate digits represents the left-to-right (easting) grid label, and the second half represents the label as read from the bottom to top (northing). The grid coordinates may represent the location to the nearest 10-, 100-, or 1,000-meter increment. g. 10-Meter Identification. The grid coordinate scale has divisions every 50 meters on the 1:50,000 scale and every 20 meters on the 1:25,000 scale. These can be used to estimate to the nearest 10 meters and give the location of one point on the earth's surface to the nearest 10 meters. h. Precision. The precision of a point's location is shown by the number of digits in the coordinates; the more digits, the more precise the location (Figure 4-22, insert). A grid reference box (Figure 4-23) appears in the marginal information of each map sheet. It contains step-by-step instructions for using the grid and the US Army military grid reference system. The grid reference box is divided into two parts. a. The left portion identifies the grid zone designation and the 100,000-meter square. If the sheet falls in more than one 100,000-meter square, the grid lines that separate the squares are shown in the diagram and the letters identifying the 100,000-meter squares are given. EXAMPLE: On the Columbus map sheet, the vertical line labeled 00 is the grid line that separates the two 100,000-meter squares, FL and GL. The left portion also shows a sample for the 1,000-meter square with its respective labeled grid coordinate numbers and a sample point within the 1,000-meter square. EXAMPLE: 16S locates the 6° by 8° area (grid zone designation). The military grid reference system is not universally used. Soldiers must be prepared to interpret and use other grid systems, depending on the area of operations or the personnel the soldiers are operating with. b. World Geographic Reference System (GEOREF). This system is a worldwide position reference system used primarily by the US Air Force. It may be used with any map or chart that has latitude and longitude printed on it. Instructions for using GEOREF data are printed in blue and are found in the margin of aeronautical charts (Figure 4-24). This system is based upon a division of the earth's surface into quadrangles of latitude and longitude having a systematic identification code. It is a method of expressing latitude and longitude in a form suitable for rapid reporting and plotting. Figure 4-24 illustrates a sample grid reference box using GEOREF. The GEOREF system uses an identification code that has three main divisions. Figure 4-24. Sample reference using GEOREF. (1) First Division. There are 24 north-south (longitudinal) zones, each 15-degree wide. These zones, starting at 180 degrees and progressing eastward, are lettered A through Z (omitting I and O). The first letter of any GEOREF coordinate identifies the north-south zone in which the point is located. There are 12 east-west (latitudinal) bands, each 15-degree wide. These bands are lettered A through M (omitting I) northward from the south pole. The second letter of any GEOREF coordinate identifies the east-west band in which the point is located. The zones and bands divide the earth's surface into 288 quadrangles, each identified by two letters. (2) Second Division. Each 15-degree quadrangle is further divided into 225 quadrangles of 1 degree each (15 degrees by 15 degrees). This division is effected by dividing a basic 15-degree quadrangle into 15 north-south zones and 15 east-west bands. The north-south zones are lettered A through Q (omitting I and O) from west to east. The third letter of any GEOREF coordinate identifies the 1 degree north-south zone within a 15-degree quadrangle. The east-west bands are lettered A through Q (I and O omitted) from south to north. The fourth letter of a GEOREF coordinate identifies the 1 degree east-west band within a 15-degree quadrangle. Four letters identify any 1-degree quadrangle in the world. (3) Third Division. Each of the 1-degree quadrangles is divided into 3,600 one-minute quadrangles. These one-minute quadrangles are formed by dividing the 1-degree quadrangles into 60 one-minute north-south zones numbered 0 through 59 from west to east, and 60 east-west bands numbered 0 to 59 from south to north. To designate any one of the 3,600 one-minute quadrangles requires four letters and four numbers. The rule READ RIGHT AND UP is always followed. Numbers 1 through 9 are written as 01, 02, and so forth. Each of the 1-minute quadrangles may be further divided into 10 smaller divisions both north-south and east-west, permitting the identification of 0. 1-minute quadrangles. The GEOREF coordinate for any 0. 1-minute quadrangle consists of four letters and six numbers. A disadvantage of any standard system of location is that the enemy, if he intercepts one of our messages using the system, can interpret the message and find our location. It is possible and can be eliminated by using an authorized low-level numerical code to express locations. Army Regulation 380-40 outlines the procedures for obtaining authorized codes. a. The authorized numerical code provides a capability for encrypting map references and other numerical information that requires short-term security protection when, for operational reasons, the remainder of the message is transmitted in plain language. The system is published in easy-to-use booklets with sufficient material in each for one month's operation. Sample training editions of this type of system are available through the unit's communications and electronics officer. b. The use of any encryption methods other than authorized codes is, by regulation, unauthorized and shall not be used. A map is a scaled graphic representation of a portion of the earth's surface. The scale of the map permits the user to convert distance on the map to distance on the ground or vice versa. The ability to determine distance on a map, as well as on the earth's surface, is an important factor in planning and executing military missions. The numerical scale of a map indicates the relationship of distance measured on a map and the corresponding distance on the ground. This scale is usually written as a fraction and is called the representative fraction. The RF is always written with the map distance as 1 and is independent of any unit of measure. (It could be yards, meters, inches, and so forth. ) An RF of 1/50,000 or 1:50,000 means that one unit of measure on the map is equal to 50,000 units of the same measure on the ground. a. The ground distance between two points is determined by measuring between the same two points on the map and then multiplying the map measurement by the denominator of the RF or scale (Figure 5-1). Figure 5-1. Converting map distance to ground distance. b. Since the distance on most maps is marked in meters and the RF is expressed in this unit of measurement in most cases, a brief description of the metric system is needed. In the metric system, the standard unit of measurement is the meter. 1 meter contains 100 centimeters (cm). 100 meters is a regular football field plus 10 meters. 1,000 meters is 1 kilometer (km). 10 kilometers is 10,000 meters. Appendix C contains the conversion tables. (1) Comparison with Ground Distance. (a) Measure the distance between two points on the map map distance (MD). (b) Determine the horizontal distance between these same two points on the ground ground distance (GD). (d) Both the MD and the GD must be in the same unit of measure and the MD must be reduced to 1. (2) Comparison With Another Map of the Same Area that Has an RF. (a) Select two points on the map with the unknown RF. Measure the distance (MD) between them. (b) Locate those same two points on the map that have the known RF. Measure the distance (MD) between them. Using the RF for this map, determine GD, which is the same for both maps. e. When determining ground distance from a map, the scale of the map affects the accuracy. As the scale becomes smaller, the accuracy of measurement decreases because some of the features on the map must be exaggerated so that they may be readily identified. A graphic scale is a ruler printed on the map and is used to convert distances on the map to actual ground distances. The graphic scale is divided into two parts. To the right of the zero, the scale is marked in full units of measure and is called the primary scale. To the left of the zero, the scale is divided into tenths and is called the extension scale. Most maps have three or more graphic scales, each using a different unit of measure (Figure 5-2). When using the graphic scale, be sure to use the correct scale for the unit of measure desired. Figure 5-2. Using a graphic (bar) scale. a. To determine straight-line distance between two points on a map, lay a straight-edged piece of paper on the map so that the edge of the paper touches both points and extends past them. Make a tick mark on the edge of the paper at each point (Figure 5-3). Figure 5-3. Transferring map distance to paper strip. b. To convert the map distance to ground distance, move the paper down to the graphic bar scale, and align the right tick mark (b) with a printed number in the primary scale so that the left tick mark (a) is in the extension scale (Figure 5-4). Figure 5-4. Measuring straight-line map distance. c. The right tick mark (b) is aligned with the 3,000-meter mark in the primary scale, thus the distance is at least 3,000 meters. To determine the distance between the two points to the nearest 10 meters, look at the extension scale. The extension scale is numbered with zero at the right and increases to the left. When using the extension scale, always read right to left (Figure 5-4). From the zero left to the beginning of the first shaded area is 100 meters. From the beginning of the shaded square to the end of the shaded square is 100 to 200 meters. From the end of the first shaded square to the beginning of the second shaded square is 200 to 300 meters. Remember, the distance in the extension scale increases from right to left. d. To determine the distance from the zero to tick mark (a), divide the distance inside the squares into tenths (Figure 5-4). As you break down the distance between the squares in the extension scale into tenths, you will see that tick mark (a) is aligned with the 950-meter mark. Adding the distance of 3,000 meters determined in the primary scale to the 950 meters you determined by using the extension scale, we find that the total distance between points (a) and (b) is 3,950 meters. e. To measure distance along a road, stream, or other curved line, the straight edge of a piece of paper is used. In order to avoid confusion concerning the point to begin measuring from and the ending point, an eight-digit coordinate should be given for both the starting and ending points. Place a tick mark on the paper and map at the beginning point from which the curved line is to be measured. Align the edge of the paper along a straight portion and make a tick mark on both map and paper when the edge of the paper leaves the straight portion of the line being measured (Figure 5-5A). Figure 5-5. Measuring a curved line. f. Keeping both tick marks together (on paper and map), place the point of the pencil close to the edge of the paper on the tick mark to hold it in place and pivot the paper until another straight portion of the curved line is aligned with the edge of the paper. Continue in this manner until the measurement is completed (Figure 5-5B). g. When you have completed measuring the distance, move the paper to the graphic scale to determine the ground distance. The only tick marks you will be measuring the distance between are tick marks (a) and (b). The tick marks in between are not used (Figure 5-5C). h. There may be times when the distance you measure on the edge of the paper exceeds the graphic scale. In this case, there are different techniques you can use to determine the distance. (1) One technique is to align the right tick mark (b) with a printed number in the primary scale, in this case the 5. You can see that from point (a) to point (b) is more than 6,000 meters when you add the 1,000 meters in the extension scale. To determine the exact distance to the nearest 10 meters, place a tick mark (c) on the edge of the paper at the end of the extension scale (Figure 5-6A). You know that from point (b) to point (c) is 6,000 meters. With the tick mark (c) placed on the edge of the paper at the end of the extension scale, slide the paper to the right. Remember the distance in the extension is always read from right to left. Align tick mark (c) with zero and then measure the distance between tick marks (a) and (c). The distance between tick marks (a) and (c) is 420 meters. The total ground distance between start and finish points is 6,420 meters (Figure 5-6B). Figure 5-6. Determining the exact distance. (2) Another technique that may be used to determine exact distance between two points when the edge of the paper exceeds the bar scale is to slide the edge of the paper to the right until tick mark (a) is aligned with the edge of the extension scale. Make a tick mark on the paper, in line with the 2,000-meter mark (c) (Figure 5-7A). Then slide the edge of the paper to the left until tick mark (b) is aligned with the zero. Estimate the 100-meter increments into 10-meter increments to determine how many meters tick mark (c) is from the zero line (Figure 5-7B). The total distance would be 3,030 meters. Figure 5-7. Reading the extension scale. (3) At times you may want to know the distance from a point on the map to a point off the map. In order to do this, measure the distance from the start point to the edge of the map. The marginal notes give the road distance from the edge of the map to some towns, highways, or junctions off the map. To determine the total distance, add the distance measured on the map to the distance given in the marginal notes. Be sure the unit of measure is the same. (4) When measuring distance in statute or nautical miles, round it off to the nearest one-tenth of a mile and make sure the appropriate bar scale is used. (5) Distance measured on a map does not take into consideration the rise and fall of the land. All distances measured by using the map and graphic scales are flat distances. Therefore, the distance measured on a map will increase when actually measured on the ground. This must be taken into consideration when navigating across country. For example, if an infantry unit is marching at an average rate (R) of 4 kilometers per hour, it will take about 3 hours (T) to travel 12 kilometers. (a) Convert the ground distance to centimeters: 12 kilometers x 100,000 (centimeters per kilometer) = 1,200,000 centimeters. (c) Construct a line 24 centimeters in length (Figure 5-8A). Figure 5-8. Constructing a time-distance scale. (2) Divide the line by the rate of march into three parts (Figure 5-8B), each part representing the distance traveled in one hour, and label. (4) Figure 5-8C shows a 5-minute interval scale. Make these divisions in the same manner as for a graphic scale. The completed scale makes it possible to determine where the unit will be at any given time. However, it must be remembered that this scale is for one specific rate of march only, 4 kilometers per hour. Determining distance is the most common source of error encountered while moving either mounted or dismounted. There may be circumstances where you are unable to determine distance using your map or where you are without a map. It is therefore essential to learn methods by which you can accurately pace, measure, use subtense, or estimate distances on the ground. a. Pace Count. Another way to measure ground distance is the pace count. A pace is equal to one natural step, about 30 inches long. To accurately use the pace count method, you must know how many paces it takes you to walk 100 meters. To determine this, you must walk an accurately measured course and count the number of paces you take. A pace course can be as short as 100 meters or as long as 600 meters. The pace course, regardless of length, must be on similar terrain to that you will be walking over. It does no good to walk a course on flat terrain and then try to use that pace count on hilly terrain. To determine your pace count on a 600-meter course, count the paces it takes you to walk the 600 meters, then divide the total paces by 6. The answer will give you the average paces it takes you to walk 100 meters. It is important that each person who navigates while dismounted knows his pace count. (1) There are many methods to keep track of the distance traveled when using the pace count. Some of these methods are: put a pebble in your pocket every time you have walked 100 meters according to your pace count; tie knots in a string; or put marks in a notebook. Do not try to remember the count; always use one of these methods or design your own method. (2) Certain conditions affect your pace count in the field, and you must allow for them by making adjustments. (a) Slopes. Your pace lengthens on a downslope and shortens on an upgrade. Keeping this in mind, if it normally takes you 120 paces to walk 100 meters, your pace count may increase to 130 or more when walking up a slope. (b) Winds. A head wind shortens the pace and a tail wind increases it. (c) Surfaces. Sand, gravel, mud, snow, and similar surface materials tend to shorten the pace. (d) Elements. Falling snow, rain, or ice cause the pace to be reduced in length. (e) Clothing. Excess clothing and boots with poor traction affect the pace length. (f) Visibility. Poor visibility, such as in fog, rain, or darkness, will shorten your pace. b. Odometer. Distances can be measured by an odometer, which is standard equipment on most vehicles. Readings are recorded at the start and end of a course and the difference is the length of the course. (1) To convert kilometers to miles, multiply the number of kilometers by 0. 62. (2) To convert miles to kilometers, divided the number of miles by 0. 62. c. Subtense. The subtense method is a fast method of determining distance and yields accuracy equivalent to that obtained by measuring distance with a premeasured piece of wire. An advantage is that a horizontal distance is obtained indirectly; that is, the distance is computed rather than measured. This allows subtense to be used over terrain where obstacles such as streams, ravines, or steep slopes may prohibit other methods of determining distance. (1) The principle used in determining distance by the subtense method is similar to that used in estimating distance by the mil relation formula. The field artillery application of the mil relation formula involves only estimations. It is not accurate enough for survey purposes. However, the subtense method uses precise values with a trigonometric solution. Subtense is based on a principle of visual perspective the farther away an object, the smaller it appears. Establishing a base of known length. Measuring the angle of that base by use of the aiming circle. d. Estimation. At times, because of the tactical situation, it may be necessary to estimate range. There are two methods that may be used to estimate range or distance. (1) 100-Meter Unit-of-Measure Method. To use this method, the soldier must be able to visualize a distance of 100 meters on the ground. For ranges up to 500 meters, he determines the number of 100-meter increments between the two objects he wishes to measure. Beyond 500 meters, the soldier must select a point halfway to the object(s) and determine the number of 100-meter increments to the halfway point, then double it to find the range to the object(s) (Figure 5-9). Figure 5-9. Using a 100-meter unit-of-measure method. (2) Flash-To-Bang Method. To use this method to determine range to an explosion or enemy fire, begin to count when you see the flash. Count the seconds until you hear the weapon fire. This time interval may be measured with a stopwatch or by using a steady count, such as one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, and so forth, for a three-second estimated count. If you must count higher than 10 seconds, start over with one. Multiply the number of seconds by 330 meters to get the approximate range (FA uses 350 meters instead). (3) Proficiency of Methods. The methods discussed above are used only to estimate range (Table 5-1). Proficiency in both methods requires constant practice. The best training technique is to require the soldier to pace the range after he has estimated the distance. In this way, the soldier discovers the actual range for himself, which makes a greater impression than if he is simply told the correct range. The clearness of outline and details of the object. When most of the object is visible and offers a clear outline. When only a small part of the object can be seen or the object is small in relation to its surroundings. Nature of terrain or position of the observer. When looking across a depression that is mostly hidden from view. When looking downward from high ground. When looking down a straight, open road or along a railroad. When looking over uniform surfaces like water, snow, desert, or grain fields. In bright light or when the sun is shining from behind the observer. When looking across a depression that is totally visible. When vision is confined, as in streets, draws, or forest trails. When looking from low ground toward high ground. In poor light, such as dawn and dusk; in rain, snow, fog; or when the sun is in the observer�s eyes. When the object is in sharp contrast with the background or is silhouetted because of its size, shape, or color. When seen in the clear air of high altitudes. When object blends into the background or terrain. Table 5-1. Factors of range estimation. Being in the right place at the prescribed time is necessary to successfully accomplish military missions. Direction plays an important role in a soldier's everyday life. It can be expressed as right, left, straight ahead, and so forth; but then the question arises, "To the right of what?" This chapter defines the word azimuth and the three different norths. It explains in detail how to determine the grid and the magnetic azimuths with the use of the protractor and the compass. It explains the use of some field-expedient methods to find directions, the declination diagram, and the conversion of azimuths from grid to magnetic and vice versa. It also includes some advanced aspects of map reading, such as intersection, resection, modified resection, and polar plots. a. Degree. The most common unit of measure is the degree (°) with its subdivisions of minutes (') and seconds ("). b. Mil. Another unit of measure, the mil (abbreviated ), is used mainly in artillery, tank, and mortar gunnery. The mil expresses the size of an angle formed when a circle is divided into 6,400 angles, with the vertex of the angles at the center of the circle. A relationship can be established between degrees and mils. A circle equals 6400 mils divided by 360 degrees, or 17.78 mils per degree. To convert degrees to mils, multiply degrees by 17.78. c. Grad. The grad is a metric unit of measure found on some foreign maps. There are 400 grads in a circle (a 90-degree right angle equals 100 grads). The grad is divided into 100 centesimal minutes (centigrads) and the minute into 100 centesimal seconds (milligrads). In order to measure something, there must always be a starting point or zero measurement. To express direction as a unit of angular measure, there must be a starting point or zero measure and a point of reference These two points designate the base or reference line. There are three base lines  true north, magnetic north, and grid north. The most commonly used are magnetic and grid. a. True North. A line from any point on the earth's surface to the north pole. All lines of longitude are true north lines. True north is usually represented by a star (Figure 6-1). b. Magnetic North. The direction to the north magnetic pole, as indicated by the north-seeking needle of a magnetic instrument. The magnetic north is usually symbolized by a line ending with half of an arrowhead (Figure 6-1). Magnetic readings are obtained with magnetic instruments, such as lensatic and M2 compasses. c. Grid North. The north that is established by using the vertical grid lines on the map. Grid north may be symbolized by the letters GN or the letter "y" (Figure 6-1). An azimuth is defined as a horizontal angle measured clockwise from a north base line. This north base line could be true north, magnetic north, or grid north. The azimuth is the most common military method to express direction. When using an azimuth, the point from which the azimuth originates is the center of an imaginary circle (Figure 6-2). This circle is divided into 360 degrees or 6400 mils (Appendix G). Figure 6-2. Origin of azimuth circle. a. Back Azimuth. A back azimuth is the opposite direction of an azimuth. It is comparable to doing "about face." To obtain a back azimuth from an azimuth, add 180 degrees if the azimuth is 180 degrees or less, or subtract 180 degrees if the azimuth is 180 degrees or more (Figure 6-3). The back azimuth of 180 degrees may be stated as 0 degrees or 360 degrees. For mils, if the azimuth is less than 3200 mils, add 3200 mils, if the azimuth is more than 3200 mils, subtract 3200 mils. When converting azimuths into back azimuths, extreme care should be exercised when adding or subtracting the 180 degrees. A simple mathematical mistake could cause disastrous consequences. b. Magnetic Azimuth. The magnetic azimuth is determined by using magnetic instruments, such as lensatic and M2 compasses. Refer to Chapter 9, paragraph 4, for details. c. Field-Expedient Methods. Several field-expedient methods to determine direction are discussed in Chapter 9, paragraph 5. When an azimuth is plotted on a map between point A (starting point) and point B (ending point), the points are joined together by a straight line. A protractor is used to measure the angle between grid north and the drawn line, and this measured azimuth is the grid azimuth (Figure 6-4). Figure 6-4. Measuring an azimuth. When measuring azimuths on a map, remember that you are measuring from a starting point to an ending point. If a mistake is made and the reading is taken from the ending point, the grid azimuth will be opposite, thus causing the user to go in the wrong direction. There are several types of protractors full circle, half circle, square, and rectangular (Figure 6-5). All of them divide the circle into units of angular measure, and each has a scale around the outer edge and an index mark. The index mark is the center of the protractor circle from which all directions are measured. Figure 6-5. Types of protractors. a. The military protractor, GTA 5-2-12, contains two scales: one in degrees (inner scale) and one in mils (outer scale). This protractor represents the azimuth circle. The degree scale is graduated from 0 to 360 degrees; each tick mark on the degree scale represents one degree. A line from 0 to 180 degrees is called the base line of the protractor. Where the base line intersects the horizontal line, between 90 and 270 degrees, is the index or center of the protractor (Figure 6-6). b. When using the protractor, the base line is always oriented parallel to a north-south grid line. The 0- or 360-degree mark is always toward the top or north on the map and the 90° mark is to the right. (b) Place the index of the protractor at the point where the drawn line crosses a vertical (north-south) grid line. (c) Keeping the index at this point, align the 0- to 180-degree line of the protractor on the vertical grid line. (d) Read the value of the angle from the scale; this is the grid azimuth from point A to point B (Figure 6-4). (b) Place the protractor on the map with the index mark at the center of mass of the known point and the base line parallel to a north-south grid line. Figure 6-7. Plotting an azimuth on the map. c. To obtain an accurate reading with the protractor (to the nearest degree or 10 mils), there are two techniques to check that the base line of the protractor is parallel to a north-south grid line. (1) Place the protractor index where the azimuth line cuts a north-south grid line, aligning the base line of the protractor directly over the intersection of the azimuth line with the north-south grid line. The user should be able to determine whether the initial azimuth reading was correct. (2) The user should re-read the azimuth between the azimuth and north-south grid line to check the initial azimuth. (3) Note that the protractor is cut at both the top and bottom by the same north-south grid line. Count the number of degrees from the 0-degree mark at the top of the protractor to this north-south grid line and then count the number of degrees from the 180-degree mark at the bottom of the protractor to this same grid line. If the two counts are equal, the protractor is properly aligned. Declination is the angular difference between any two norths. If you have a map and a compass, the one of most interest to you will be between magnetic and grid north. The declination diagram (Figure 6-8) shows the angular relationship, represented by prongs, among grid, magnetic, and true norths. While the relative positions of the prongs are correct, they are seldom plotted to scale. Do not use the diagram to measure a numerical value. This value will be written in the map margin (in both degrees and mils) beside the diagram. a. Location. A declination diagram is a part of the information in the lower margin on most larger maps. On medium-scale maps, the declination information is shown by a note in the map margin. b. Grid-Magnetic Angle. The G-M angle value is the angular size that exists between grid north and magnetic north. It is an arc, indicated by a dashed line, that connects the grid-north and magnetic-north prongs. This value is expressed to the nearest 1/2 degree, with mil equivalents shown to the nearest 10 mils. The G-M angle is important to the map reader/land navigator because azimuths translated between map and ground will be in error by the size of the declination angle if not adjusted for it. c. Grid Convergence. An arc indicated by a dashed line connects the prongs for true north and grid north. The value of the angle for the center of the sheet is given to the nearest full minute with its equivalent to the nearest mil. These data are shown in the form of a grid-convergence note. d. Conversion. There is an angular difference between the grid north and the magnetic north. Since the location of magnetic north does not correspond exactly with the grid-north lines on the maps, a conversion from magnetic to grid or vice versa is needed. (1) With Notes. Simply refer to the conversion notes that appear in conjunction with the diagram explaining the use of the G-M angle (Figure 6-8). One note provides instructions for converting magnetic azimuth to grid azimuth; the other, for converting grid azimuth to magnetic azimuth. The conversion (add or subtract) is governed by the direction of the magnetic-north prong relative to that of the north-grid prong. (a) Draw a vertical or grid-north line (prong). Always align this line with the vertical lines on a map (Figure 6-9). Figure 6-9. Declination diagram with arbitrary line. (b) From the base of the grid-north line (prong), draw an arbitrary line (or any azimuth line) at a roughly right angle to north, regardless of the actual value of the azimuth in degrees (Figure 6-9). (c) Examine the declination diagram on the map and determine the direction of the magnetic north (right-left or east-west) relative to that of the grid-north prong. Draw a magnetic prong from the apex of the grid-north line in the desired direction (Figure 6-9). (d) Determine the value of the G-M angle. Draw an arc from the grid prong to the magnetic prong and place the value of the G-M angle (Figure 6-9). (e) Complete the diagram by drawing an arc from each reference line to the arbitrary line. A glance at the completed diagram shows whether the given azimuth or the desired azimuth is greater, and thus whether the known difference between the two must be added or subtracted. (f) The inclusion of the true-north prong in relationship to the conversion is of little importance. e. Applications. Remember, there are no negative azimuths on the azimuth circle. Since 0 degree is the same as 360 degrees, then 2 degrees is the same as 362 degrees. This is because 2 degrees and 362 degrees are located at the same point on the azimuth circle. The grid azimuth can now be converted into a magnetic azimuth because the grid azimuth is now larger than the G-M angle. (a) To plot a magnetic azimuth on a map, first change it to a grid azimuth (Figure 6-10). Figure 6-10. Converting to grid azimuth. (b) To use a magnetic azimuth in the field with a compass, first change the grid azimuth plotted on a map to a magnetic azimuth (Figure 6-11). Figure 6-11. Converting to magnetic azimuth. (c) Convert a grid azimuth to a magnetic azimuth when the G-M angle is greater than a grid azimuth (Figure 6-12). Figure 6-12. Converting to a magnetic azimuth when the G-M angle is greater. (a) To plot a magnetic azimuth on a map, first convert it to a grid azimuth (Figure 6-13). Figure 6-13. Converting to a grid azimuth on a map. (b) To use a magnetic azimuth in the field with a compass, change the grid azimuth plotted on a map to a magnetic azimuth (Figure 6-14). Figure 6-14. Converting to a magnetic azimuth on a map. (c) Convert a magnetic azimuth when the G-M angle is greater than the magnetic azimuth (Figure 6-15). Figure 6-15. Converting to a grid azimuth when the G-M angle is greater. (3) The G-M angle diagram should be constructed and used each time the conversion of azimuth is required. Such procedure is important when working with a map for the first time. It also may be convenient to construct a G-M angle conversion table on the margin of the map. NOTE: When converting azimuths, exercise extreme care when adding and subtracting the G-M angle. A simple mistake of 1° could be significant in the field. Figure 6-16. Intersection, using map and compass. Figure 6-17. Intersection, using a straightedge. (1) Orient the map using the compass. (1) Orient the map on a flat surface by the terrain association method. (3) Lay a straight edge on the map with one end at the user�s position (A) as a pivot point; then, rotate the straightedge until the unkown point is sighted along the edge. (5) Repeat the above steps at position (B) and check for accuracy. (6) The intersection of the lines on the map is the location of the unknown point (C). Determine the grid coordinates to the desired accuracy (Figure 6-17). Resection is the method of locating one's position on a map by determining the grid azimuth to at least two well-defined locations that can be pinpointed on the map. For greater accuracy, the desired method of resection would be to use three or more well-defined locations. Figure 6-18. Resection with map and compass. Figure 6-19. Resection with straightedge. a. Orient the map using a compass or by terrain association. b. Find a distant point that can be identified on the ground and on the map. c. Determine the magnetic azimuth from your location to the distant known point. d. Convert the magnetic azimuth to a grid azimuth. e. Convert the grid azimuth to a back azimuth. Using a protractor, draw a line for the back azimuth on the map from the known position back toward your unknown position. f. The location of the user is where the line crosses the linear feature. Determine the grid coordinates to the desired accuracy. A method of locating or plotting an unknown position from a known point by giving a direction and a distance along that direction line is called polar coordinates. The following elements must be present when using polar coordinates (Figure 6-21). Using the laser range finder to determine the range enhances your accuracy in determining the unknown position's location.

2019-04-25T08:15:34Z

http://cryptome.org/cartome/fm3-25.26-ch1-ch6.htm

Asset Purchase Agreement - Mamma.com Inc., ZAQ Interactive Solutions Inc. and ZAQ inc. WHEREASthe Purchaser wishes to purchase, as a going concern, the Purchased Assets (as this term is herein after defined) from ZAQ and ZAQ Parent (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Vendors") and the Vendors wish to sell, assign and transfer the Purchased Assets to the Purchaser, the whole upon the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth. "Accounts Receivable" means the accounts receivable of ZAQ relating to the FocusIn division generated on and after the Effective Date and set forth on Schedule 00 hereto and include amounts not yet billed for active campaigns and the work in progress relating to such campaigns which will be billed in December. "Affiliate" has the meaning ascribed thereto in the Canada Business Corporations Act. "Agreement" means this Asset Purchase Agreement and all instruments supplemental hereto or in amendment or confirmation hereof; "herein", "hereof", "hereto", "hereunder" and similar expressions mean and refer to this Agreement and not to any particular Article, Section or other subdivision. "Authorization" means, with respect to any person, any order, permit, approval, waiver, licence or similar authorization of any governmental entity having jurisdiction over the person. "Capital Assets" means the equipment, machines, computers, servers, hardware, software, furniture, fixtures and other assets set forth on Schedule 1.1(e) hereto. "Closing" means the completion of the transaction of purchase and sale contemplated in this Agreement. "Consents" means the consents of a contracting party to the assignment of the Contracts if required by the terms of such Contracts. "Contracts" means all agreements, understandings and commitments (whether written or oral) to which the FocusIn division of the Vendors is a party or by which the FocusIn division of the Vendors may be bound including (i) customer, supplier and member contracts set forth in Schedule 1.10 (ii) unfilled purchase orders (iii) forward commitments for services, supplies or materials entered into in the ordinary course and (iv) restrictive agreements and negative covenant agreements which the Vendors has with any of its employees, past or present. "Effective Date" means November 1, 2002. "Employees" means the employees of the Purchased Business who have accepted employment with the Purchaser commencing on the Effective Date. "Financial Statements" means the internal financial statements of ZAQ relating to the Purchased Business as at its year ended December 31, 2001, consisting of a Balance Sheet, and one Statement of Loss & Deficit, as well as its internal statements for the ten month period ended October 31, 2002, a copy of which are annexed hereto as Schedule 1.10. "GAAP" means, at any time, accounting principles generally accepted in Canada, at the relevant time applied on a consistent basis. "Intellectual Property" means all industrial and intellectual property rights of the Vendors relating to the Purchased Business, including, without limitation, the technology, all patents, patent applications, patent rights, trademarks, trademark applications, trade names (including "FocusIn"), service marks, service mark applications, design marks, design mark applications copyrights, copyright registrations, source codes, research and development, know-how, trade secrets, technology, inventions, confidential information and all related documentation and material pertaining thereto. "ITA" means the Income Tax Act (Canada). "Parties" means the Vendors and the Purchaser. "Permitted Liens" shall mean the security interests over the Purchased Assets set forth on Schedule 1.10 hereto. "Purchased Business" means the business of the Vendors known as the FocusIn division, presently and previously carried on by the Vendors, consisting of the marketing and distribution of advertising space on the internet and includes the Intellectual Property relating to the Purchased Business. "Taxes" means all amounts payable on account of income, corporate, capital, goods and services, excise, sales or any other type of taxes, governmental charges, levies, assessments or reassessments, including interest and penalties thereon. Any reference in this Agreement to gender includes all genders and words importing the singular number only shall include the plural and vice versa. The division of this Agreement into Articles and Sections and the insertion of headings are for convenient reference only and are not to affect its interpretation. All references in this Agreement to dollars, unless otherwise specifically indicated, are expressed in Canadian dollars. All accounting terms not specifically defined in this Agreement shall be interpreted in accordance with GAAP. The schedules attached to this Agreement shall, for all purposes of this Agreement, form an integral part hereof. all goodwill related to the Purchased Business, including but not limited to the exclusive right to the Purchaser to represent itself as carrying on the Purchased Business in continuation of and in succession to the Vendors. Any tax credits or refunds to which the Vendors may be entitled related to the operation of the Purchased Business by the Vendors prior to the Effective Date. contemplated herein are consummated. The parties acknowledge that the Purchased Assets herein transferred by ZAQ shall be subject to Goods and Services Tax and Quebec Sales Tax and have allocated the Purchase Price amongst the Purchased Assets in the manner indicated in Section 3.2 hereof. 3.1 Purchase Price and Payment. The aggregate purchase price (the "Purchase Price") payable by the Purchaser to the Vendors for all of the Purchased Assets shall be an amount equal to Two Million Twenty Thousand Dollars ($2,020,000), plus applicable taxes of $14,123.50 and subject to adjustment in the manner set forth below. a certified cheque payable to Spiegel Sohmer in trust in the amount of $100,000 in order to cover certain liabilities which will be assumed by the Purchaser which amount should be held in trust until receipt of a joint notice from the Vendors and the Purchaser indicating how to release such funds. The Purchase Price shall be increased by an amount of Five Hundred Five Thousand Dollars ($505,000) plus applicable taxes less the amounts required, if any, to fix or reconfigure the Purchased Assets, any overdue accounts payable of the Vendors relating to the Purchased Business which arose prior to the Effective Date, and the cost of any equipment which the Purchaser is required to purchase should the Purchased Assets be insufficient to carry on the operations of the Purchased Business at a system operating level consistent with the system performance prior to the Closing (the "Increase"). To secure the Purchaser's potential obligation to pay such additional amount, the full amount of the Increase shall be deposited on Closing in trust with Spiegel Sohmer (the "Escrow Agent") to be held in an interest bearing account until the earlier of (i) sixty days following the Closing, namely January 27, 2003; or (ii) upon receipt of a wri tten notice that Purchaser is satisfied with the condition and functionality of the Purchased Assets; (such period herein referred to as the "Escrow Period"). Provided the Escrow Agent does not receive a notice from the Purchaser within the Escrow Period indicating its dissatisfaction with the condition of the Purchased Assets, then the Escrow Agent shall automatically release the funds then held in escrow plus the interest accrued thereon to the Vendors upon the expiry of the Escrow Period. Upon release of the funds by the Escrow Agent, the Purchaser shall forward its payment to ZAQ representing the remainder of the sales taxes owing on such amount, namely $75,876.25. (iii) the cost of any equipment which the Purchaser is required to purchase should the Purchased Assets be insufficient to carry on the operations of the Purchased Business at a system operating level consistent with the system performance prior to the Closing as determined at the expiry of the Reconfiguration Period (as defined below). The parties acknowledge and agree that the Escrow Agent shall not be responsible for any loss unless its actions constitute gross negligence or an abuse of trust wilfully and intentionally committed. for the Customer List, the sum of $550,000 plus GST and QST ($82,637.50). The Purchaser does not hereby assume nor agree to assume any liabilities or obligations of the Vendors whatsoever arising from the operations of the Purchased Business prior to the Effective Date including those listed on Schedule 3.3, of any nature or kind, known or unknown, accrued, actual, fixed or contingent. However, to the extent that the parties may agree that the Purchaser shall assume, pay and discharge certain specific liabilities of the Vendors relating to the Employees, then the amount of such liabilities shall be deducted from the cash payable to the Vendors at Closing and the Purchaser shall be responsible for such payment to the complete exoneration of the Vendors. The Purchaser agrees that the Purchase Price shall be increased by an amount of $200,000 in the event that the gross sales of the Purchased Business for the calendar year terminating December 31, 2002 are at least $3,400,000. Such increase, if any, shall be paid on March 15, 2003. As the Effective Date of this transaction is November 1, 2002, the Vendors and the Purchaser shall adjust amongst themselves for such items as expenses, salaries & fringe benefits, bonuses, related to the Purchased Business which arose after the Effective Date but prior to Closing and are set forth in Schedule 3.4. Such adjustment, if any, shall be paid as soon as possible but no later than 10 days after the Closing. 4.1 Representations and Warranties of the Vendors. Incorporation and Qualification. ZAQ and ZAQ Parent are companies incorporated, organized and existing under the laws of their respective jurisdictions of incorporation and have the corporate power to own and operate their respective property, carry on their business and enter into and perform their obligations under this Agreement. Validity of Agreement. The execution, delivery and performance by the Vendors of this Agreement, have been duly authorized by all necessary corporate action on the part of the Vendors and do not (or would not with the giving of notice, the lapse of time or the happening of any other event or condition) result in a breach or a violation of, or conflict with the terms or provisions of the constating documents or by-laws of either of the Vendors and will not result in the violation of any law. Execution and Binding Obligation. This Agreement has been duly executed and delivered by, and constitutes a legal, valid and binding obligation of the Vendors, enforceable against the Vendors in accordance with its terms subject only to any limitation under applicable laws relating to (i) bankruptcy, winding-up, insolvency, reorganization, arrangement and other similar laws of general application affecting the enforcement of creditors' rights, and (ii) the discretion that a court may exercise in the granting of equitable remedies such as specific performance and injunction. No Other Agreements to Purchase. Except for the Purchaser's right under this Agreement, no person has any written or oral agreement, option understanding or commitment or any right or privilege capable of becoming such for the purchase or acquisition from either of the Vendors of any of the Purchased Assets. Subsidiaries and Investments. The Vendors do not own, directly or indirectly, any equity or ownership or participation interest in any corporation, partnership, joint venture, legal person or other entity or enterprise involved in the Purchased Business. No Consents. No consent, approval, or authorization of, or declaration, filing or registration with, any governmental or regulatory authorities, or any other person or entity whatsoever is required to be made or obtained for the valid execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement and the transactions and other agreements contemplated hereby. result in the creation or imposition of any lien, hypothec, mortgage, charge, security interest, adverse claim, encumbrance, limitation, restriction or demand whatsoever on the Purchased Assets. Financial Books and Records. The financial books and records of the Vendors fairly, completely and correctly set out and disclose, in accordance with GAAP, the assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses and financial position of the Vendors with respect to the Purchased Business. the sales, earnings and results of the operations of the Purchased Business during the respective periods covered by the Financial Statements. Tax Matters. The Vendors have duly and timely filed all tax returns and reports required to be filed by them in all applicable jurisdictions that are required to be filed by the Vendors on or before the Effective Date and have paid all Taxes due and payable by them on or before the Effective Date; all such tax returns properly reflect and do not in any respect understate the taxable income or liability for Taxes of the Vendors in the relevant fiscal or calendar year. The Vendors withheld and will withhold from each payment made or to be made after the Effective Date to any of their officers, former officers, directors, former Directors, employees and former employees the amount of all Taxes, including but not limited to income tax, and other deductions required to be withheld therefrom and has remitted the same to the proper tax or other receiving officers within the time required under any applicable legislation. Other than federal and provincial audits and assessments for the 2000 and 2001 fiscal years of the Vendors, no audits of any tax return nor reassessments of any Taxes by any governmental authority have occurred in the five (5) years prior to Closing, nor are any such audits pending nor, to the knowledge of the Vendors, threatened. There are no actions, suits, proceedings, investigations or claims now pending or to the knowledge of the Vendors, threatened, against the Vendors in respect of Taxes, nor are there any outstanding reassessments or written inquiries from any governmental authority or any matters under audit, examination or discussion with any governmental authority relating to Taxes. No audits of any such tax return nor reassessments of any Taxes reflected thereon by any governmental authority have occurred in the five (5) years prior to Closing nor are any such audits pending nor, to the knowledge of the Vendors threatened. Customers. The relationships of ZAQ with each of its customers and members of the Purchased Business are good commercial working relationships. During the twelve (12) month period preceding the Effective Date, no material customer or member has cancelled or otherwise terminated its relationship with ZAQ nor materially reduced its purchases, nor threatened to do any of the foregoing. Accounts Receivable. The Accounts Receivable are valid and genuine and have arisen solely from bona fide sales and deliveries of goods and services in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice. Such accounts receivable are not subject to valid defences, set-offs or counter-claims. Those Accounts Receivable not yet billed for the month of November have not been billed by either of the Vendors. Neither of the Vendors have received any prepayments or advances from any members or customers of the Purchased Business for goods or services not yet rendered and to the extent that the Vendors should receive any payments relating to the Accounts Receivable herein transferred to the Purchaser, such amounts shall be immediately remitted to the Purchaser. Compliance with Law. The Vendors are conducting (and, within the past five (5) years, has conducted) its business in compliance with all applicable laws, ordinances, rules and regulations, including those of any administrative boards or agencies or other public authorities having jurisdiction, save and except for any non-compliance which does not have a material adverse effect on the Vendors or their respective operations, condition (financial or otherwise), assets or prospects. Licenses. The Vendors own or hold all licenses, permits, approvals, consents, exemptions, authorizations and similar rights and privileges which are necessary or desirable to the ownership of their assets and the operation of the Purchased Business and a description of each is contained in the attached Schedule 4.10. The Vendors are in compliance with and have performed their obligations under all such licenses, permits, approvals, consents, exemptions, authorizations and similar rights and privileges. Intellectual Property. All of the Intellectual Property is owned by the Vendors with good and valid title thereto. There are no royalties, fees or other payments payable by the Vendors to any person by reason of the ownership, use, licence, sale or disposition of products of the Intellectual Property. The manufacture, marketing, license, sale or use of any product presently licensed or sold or proposed to be licensed or sold will not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other party and no such infringement has been alleged. There is no pending or, to the knowledge of the Vendors, threatened claim or litigation contesting the validity, ownership, registration or right to use, sell or dispose of any of the Intellectual Property or any product currently sold or proposed to be sold by the Vendors, nor to the knowledge of the Vendors, is there any basis for any such claim, nor have the Vendors received any notice that the use, license or disposition of any of their products conflicts or will conflict with the intellectual property rights of any other party, nor is there, to the knowledge of the Vendors, any basis for any such assertion. The Vendors have taken all reasonable steps necessary to safeguard and maintain their proprietary rights in all Intellectual Property. The Vendors are not a party to any agreement which would prevent either of them from distributing or marketing their products anywhere in the world, free of restriction. To the knowledge of the Vendors, no person or entity is infringing upon nor has any person or entity misappropriated any Intellectual Property of the Vendors. The Vendors have never made or threatened any claim against any other person or entity alleging infringement of any of the Vendors' Intellectual Property. Capital Assets. The Capital Assets are in good operating condition, ordinary wear and tear excepted, subject to normal repairs in the ordinary course of business. Lease. Neither of the Vendors is a party to any lease or agreement in the nature of a lease of any property required for the operation of the Purchased Business, save and except for the lease of office space in Toronto and leases for bandwidths and hosting in Toronto and NewYork, true and complete copies of which leases have been delivered to Purchaser and portions of which will be subleased to the Purchaser on a temporary basis. Neither the Vendors, nor to the knowledge of the Vendors, any other party thereto, is in default under the terms of such leases (and no event has occurred which is, or following any grace period or required notice, would become such a default). Employees. The Employees represent all material employees of the Purchased Business and descriptions of their job titles, full or part-time status, ages, start dates, current annual compensation, including bonuses, cars and other perquisites and benefit plans and notice, severance or termination obligations have been provided to the Purchaser. There are no existing or, to the knowledge of the Vendors, any threatened representation elections, labour strikes, labour disputes, grievances, complaints, arbitration or administrative proceedings, controversies or other labour troubles involving or affecting the Employees. All vacation pay, sick pay, bonuses, commissions, severance or termination benefits, sick leave or disability benefits and other emoluments or similar items through the Effective Date have been either paid to the Employees or set out in Schedule 3.3. Title. Save and except for the Permitted Liens, the Vendors possess and have good and marketable title to the Purchased Assets, free and clear of any and all mortgages, hypothecs, liens (legal or contractual), pledges, charges, security interests, encumbrances, actions, claims or demands of any nature whatsoever or howsoever arising. With respect to the Purchased Assets and the Purchased Business, the Vendors are not party to any lease, conditional sales contract, capital lease, hire purchase agreement or other title retention agreement. The Purchased Assets constitute all of the assets which are necessary or advisable for the proper conduct of the Purchased Business, in its entirety. Within such time period, no written objections were received by either of the Vendors with respect to the notice. Litigation. There are no actions, suits or proceedings (legal or arbitral, civil or criminal or administrative) or governmental proceedings or investigations, whether or not purportedly on behalf of the Vendors, outstanding, pending or threatened against either of the Vendors or any of their properties or assets or any of their officers, directors, agents, representatives or employees with respect to which the Vendors or the Purchaser may be affected, at law or in equity, or before or by any federal, provincial, municipal or other governmental department, commission, board, bureau, agency or instrumentality, domestic or foreign. The Vendors are not aware of any existing facts or circumstances which could reasonably form the basis upon which any such action, suit, proceedings or investigations might be commenced with any reasonable likelihood of success. The Vendors have not been a party to any other action, proceeding, suit or investigation during the past five (5) years. There is presently no outstanding judgement, decree or order of any governmental authority against or affecting the Vendors or any of their properties or assets, or any of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement or any other agreement contemplated hereby. The Vendors do not have pending any action, proceeding, investigation or suit against any third party. Agreements and Contracts. The Vendors are not a party to any contract of any nature or kind whatsoever with respect to the Purchased Assets or the Purchased Business, except for the agreements disclosed on any Schedule to this Agreement; and the Vendors are not in default or breach in any material respects of any contracts, agreements, indentures or other instruments, written or oral, to which it is a party with respect to the Purchased Assets or the Purchased Business except for payments to members of the FocusIn network which are late but shall be paid within 2 days of the Closing. There exists no state of facts which after notice or lapse of time or both would constitute such a default or breach, and all such contracts, agreements, indentures or other instruments are now in good standing and full force and effect and the Vendors are entitled to all benefits thereunder. Full Disclosure. Neither this Agreement nor any certificate or other document delivered to the Purchaser pursuant to the transactions contemplated hereby contains an untrue statement of a material fact or omits to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances in which they are made, not misleading. The Vendors have no information or knowledge of any relevant fact which has not been disclosed to the Purchaser which, if known to him or it, might reasonably be expected to deter the Purchaser from completing the transaction of purchase and sale herein contemplated. Neither of the Vendors is a non-resident of Canada within the meaning of the ITA. 5.1 Conditions for the Benefit of the Purchaser. a legal opinion issued by counsel to the Vendors. No Legal Action. No action or proceeding shall be pending or threatened by any person in any jurisdiction, to enjoin, restrict or prohibit any of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement or the right of the Purchaser to conduct the Purchased Business after Closing on substantially the same basis as heretofore operated. Consents. All Consents and Authorizations necessary or desirable for the good and valid transfer of the Purchased Business and the Purchased Assets to the Purchases shall have been obtained. Publisher Tags. All publisher tags that enable the distribution of advertising programs for the Purchased Business must be transferred to Purchaser by way of a transfer of the domains listed in Schedule 1.1(e) to the Purchaser. Sub-leases. The Vendors and the Purchaser shall have negotiated and signed co-tenancy agreements terminable on thirty (30) days notice for (i) office space in Toronto; (ii) hosting of equipment in Toronto and New York; and (iii) bandwidth for providers in Toronto and New York. Software Licenses. Purchaser shall have received proof that all software licenses used by the Purchased Business are up to date and fully paid. Removal of Trade Name. The Vendors, concurrently with the execution of this Agreement, shall file the necessary forms with the Inspector General of Financial Institutions to remove the trade name which contain the words "FocusIn" or anything similar thereto or confusing therewith. 6.1 Covenants for the Benefit of the Purchaser. ZAQ shall carry out a reconfiguration of the Purchased Assets, at its own cost and expense, during the period that is 45 days following the Closing (the "Reconfiguration Period") to ensure that the Purchased Assets are sufficient to carry on the operation of the Purchased Business and to remove any operations, information, data, space or references to the other businesses carried on by ZAQ. ZAQ shall respect the terms of the technology transfer detailed in Schedule 6.1(a). ZAQ shall reimburse Purchaser for the cost of any bandwidth that is used by ZAQ with respect to the Purchased Assets during the Reconfiguration Period. ZAQ shall train and provide technical support to employees of the Purchaser in order for them to carry out the operations of the Purchased Business, the whole as detailed in the attached Training and Support Plan entitled Schedule 6.1(b), and support the hardware and software environments at no extra cost to the Purchaser. All accounts payable relating to the Purchased Business prior to the Effective Date shall be paid promptly and any payables or accrued liabilities over 45 days should be reviewed and discussed with the Purchaser. A list of all unpaid accounts receivable relating to the Purchased Business which arose prior to the Effective Date shall be sent to the Purchaser every thirty (30) days until payment for such accounts has been received by ZAQ. The Vendors shall pay all overdue amounts owing to the members of the FocusIn network within two (2) days of Closing and undertake to pay amounts owing to such members for the month of October no later than December 10, 2002. The Vendors shall immediately remit to the Purchaser any amounts collected and related to accounts receivable arising from activities after the Effective Date. The Vendors shall redirect all of the Employees email to email addresses to be supplied by Purchaser which shall end in "@mamma.com". 6.2 Covenants for the Benefit of the Vendors. The Purchaser will immediately remit to the Vendors any amounts collected and related to accounts receivable arising from activities prior to the Effective Date and will lend assistance, to the extent necessary, in order to help the Vendors collect their accounts receivable relating to the Purchased Business. The Purchaser will make the Contracts available to the Vendors' auditors to the extent that they require same for their audit procedures in order to complete the annual audit of the Vendors' financial statements for the fiscal year 2002. During the Reconfiguration Period, the Purchaser will operate the equipment and system according to the Vendors instructions, it being understood that the Vendors shall not be held responsible nor liable for any and all claims, demands, losses, liabilities, damages, causes of action, proceedings, judgments, recoveries, deficiences, costs or expenses resulting from the negligence of the Purchaser. Purchaser shall redirect the Vendors' traffic related to its other businesses that may arrive through the adpulse.ads.targetnet.com url for a period of four months in order to allow the Vendors the appropriate time to transfer its member information for its other businesses. However, Vendors shall reimburse Purchaser for the cost of any bandwidth that is used by them during such time as a result of such traffic. Each of the Vendors acknowledges and agrees that the confidential information relating to the Purchased Business is extremely valuable and must be kept confidential to protect the legitimate business interests of the Purchaser. As such, unless otherwise required by law or expressly authorized in writing by the Purchaser, neither of the Vendors may directly or indirectly, in any capacity whatsoever, divulge, disclose or communicate to any person, entity, firm or any other third party, or utilize for its personal benefit or for the benefit of any other, any confidential information relating to the Purchased Business. Assist in any manner, financial or otherwise, any person or entity to establish a new business engaged in, or expand an existing business into engaging in, any aspect of the Purchased Business anywhere in the Territory. In the event that a Court of competent jurisdiction should determine that the provisions of Section 6.4 are broader than necessary to adequately protect the interests of the Purchaser, then it is the intention of the parties that such provisions be read down to such scope as the Court should determine, such that the Vendors remain bound thereby. In the event that either of the Vendors breaches any of the terms contained in Sections 6.3 and 6.4, the parties acknowledge that said breach will result in immediate and irreparable harm to the business and goodwill of the Purchaser and that damages, if any, and remedies at law for such breach would be inadequate. In addition to any and all such remedies available to the Purchaser, the Purchaser shall therefore be entitled to apply for and receive from any court of competent jurisdiction an injunction to restrain any violation of this Article and for such further relief as the court may deem just and proper. Any failure by the Vendors to fulfil or perform any covenant, undertaking or obligation contained in this Agreement or any agreement, document, certificate or writing provided to the Purchaser in connection with the transactions contemplated hereby. 7.2 Subject to the remaining provisions of this Article, the Indemnifying Party shall satisfy any claim for indemnity by an Indemnified Party within ten (10) days following notification of such claim by the Indemnified Party. Without restricting its right to any other remedy, each Indemnified Party shall be entitled to offset any amounts due or to become due it against any amounts owing to the Vendors pursuant to this Agreement or otherwise. 7.3 If a claim for indemnity by an Indemnified Party hereunder relates to a claim or demand asserted by any third party, then the Vendors shall have the right at their sole and only expense to dispute and contest in the name of the Purchaser such third party claim provided, however, that (i) the Vendors unconditionally acknowledge their liability to indemnify the Indemnified Parties with respect thereto, (ii) the third party claim does not seek injunctive or other relief other than monetary damages against the Purchaser; (iii) the Vendors shall act diligently and without delay and (iv) counsel selected by the Indemnifying Party is satisfactory to the Indemnified Parties, in their sole discretion. The Purchaser will fully cooperate with the Vendors and their counsel in any proceedings with respect to any such claims. In the event that the Indemnifying Party declines or otherwise fails to conduct any negotiation, defence, contestation or other proceeding, then the Indemnified Parties shall control the conduct thereof and the Indemnifying Party shall fully cooperate with the Indemnified Parties and their counsel in the conduct thereof. 7.4 Notwithstanding the foregoing, the maximum aggregate amount an Indemnifying Party may be called upon to indemnify for Losses shall be equal to the Purchase Price, except where the Losses arise from fraud or intentional misrepresentation in which case the obligations of the Indemnifying Party to indemnify shall be unlimited. With respect to all other matters, a period of two (2) years following the Effective Date. its address for service from time to time by notice given in accordance with the foregoing and any subsequent notice shall be sent to such Party at its changed address. All costs and expenses (including the fees and disbursements of legal counsel, investment advisers, accountants, brokers, finders, agents and consultants) incurred in connection with this Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein shall be paid by the party incurring such costs and expenses. With the prior consent of the other party, any party may issue a publicity release or other announcement concerning this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereunder. Such announcements will not violate any confidentiality obligations which may exist between the parties. This Agreement may only be amended, supplemented or otherwise modified by written agreement signed by the parties hereto. No waiver of any of the provisions of this Agreement shall be deemed to constitute a waiver of any other provision (whether or not similar), nor shall such waiver be binding unless executed in writing by the party to be bound by the waiver. No failure on the part of the Vendors or the Purchaser to exercise, and no delay in exercising any right under this Agreement shall operate as a waiver of such right; nor shall any single or partial exercise of any such right preclude any other or further exercise of such right or the exercise of any other right. This Agreement, together with the other agreements and documents to be delivered pursuant hereto, constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the transactions contemplated herein and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings, negotiations and discussions, whether oral or written, of the parties. Each party shall execute and deliver after the Closing such further certificates, agreements and other documents and take such other actions as the other party may reasonably request to inform customers, members and suppliers of the present transaction and to consummate or implement the transactions contemplated hereby or to evidence such events or matters. This Agreement shall be binding upon and enure to the benefit of the Vendors and the Purchaser and their respective successors and permitted assigns. Neither this Agreement nor any of the rights or obligations under this Agreement shall be assignable or transferable by the Vendors or the Purchaser without the prior written consent of the other. This Agreement shall override the Schedules annexed hereto to the extent of any inconsistency. If any provision of this Agreement shall be determined or any court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, that provision shall be severed from this Agreement and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted and enforced in accordance with the laws of Quebec. The Parties hereto confirm that it is their wish that this Agreement as well as other documents relating hereto have been and shall be drawn up in English only. Les parties aux prŽsentes confirment leur volontŽ que cette convention de m�me que tous les documents s'y rattachant soient rŽdigŽs en anglais seulement. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts (including counterparts by facsimile) and all such counterparts taken together shall be deemed to constitute one and the same instrument. IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties have executed this Asset Purchase Agreement.

2019-04-21T23:11:48Z

https://print.onecle.com/contracts/copernic/zaq-purchase-2002-11-27.shtml

These Terms and Conditions apply to you, and are binding on you, if you Participate. If you do not agree with any provision of these Terms and Conditions or any other linked policy, rules or terms you must not check the box for acceptance and you must not use the Service. Whether or not you agree with the provisions of these Terms and Conditions, if you use the Service, including, but not limited to, initiating or making a purchase of Gold Coins through the Service or submitting your details to us, you are bound by these Terms and Conditions in any event. ONLY PLAYERS IN THE 50 STATES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (EXCLUDING OUTLYING TERRITORIES) AND CANADA (EXCLUDING QUEBEC) ARE ELIGIBLE TO REDEEM PRIZES. SUBJECT TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, PLAYERS IN OTHER JURISDICTIONS MAY PLAY THE GAMES BUT ARE NOT ABLE TO REDEEM PRIZES. YOU CAN REQUEST REDEMPTION OF ANY PRIZES BY SELECTING THE “CASH OUT” BUTTON ON THE PLATFORM. PRIZES SHALL BE PAID TO THE FINANCIAL ACCOUNT OR ONLINE WALLET FROM WHICH YOU PURCHASED GOLD COINS, AND IF THIS IS NOT TECHNICALLY POSSIBLE, THEN TO A NOMINATED BANK ACCOUNT. Content means text, graphics, user interfaces, visual interfaces, photographs, trade marks, logos, sounds, music, artwork, computer code and other material used, displayed or available as part of the Games and Platforms. Customer Account means an account held by a Registered Customer. Fraudulent Conduct means any of the conduct described in clause 9.1. Game means any one or more Gold Coin Game(s) or Sweepstakes Game(s) available on the Platforms. We reserve the right to add and remove Games from the Platforms at our sole discretion. Gold Coin means the virtual social gaming currency which enables you to play the Gold Coin Games. Gold Coins have no monetary value and cannot under any circumstance be redeemed for cash prizes. Gold Coin Game means any game played with Gold Coin currency. We may give you Gold Coins free of charge when you sign up to a Platform and thereafter at regular intervals when you log into a Platform. You may win more Gold Coins when you play the Gold Coin Games and you may purchase more Gold Coins on the Platforms. Gold Coin Games are social games and you cannot win cash prizes when you play Gold Coin Games. Inactive Account means a Customer Account which has not recorded any log in or log out for a period exceeding 12 consecutive months. MGA means the Malta Gaming Authority. Participate means any of the conduct described in clause 3, including playing any Games or using our Website in any manner whatsoever. Platform means a URL or mobile application belonging to, or licensed to, VGW Group. Player or you means any person who Participates. Prizes means prizes won playing Sweepstakes Games with $weeps Cash™ which are redeemable for cash in accordance with the Sweeps Rules. Registered Customer means a person who has successfully registered an account with us in the manner described in clause 4 and the account is considered ‘open’. Service means the availability and provision of the Games and the Website that enable you to Participate. $weeps Cash™ means Sweepstakes Prize/Promotion Cash subject to the Sweeps Rules. We may give you $weeps Cash™ free of charge when you sign up to a Platform, as a bonus when you purchase Gold Coins or via each of our free alternative methods of entry as set out in the $weeps Cash™ . You may win more $weeps Cash™ when you play Sweepstakes Games. YOU CANNOT PURCHASE $weeps Cash™ . Sweeps Rules means the Sweeps Rules available on the Platforms. Sweepstakes Game means any game played with $weeps Cash™ . Third Party Websites means a third party website not controlled by us. VGW GP means VGW GP Limited (company registration number C78260) a limited liability company incorporated in Malta, and subject to Maltese law, having its registered address at 5-7 Matilda Court, Giuseppe Cali Street, Ta’ Xbiex, XBX 1423 Malta. VGW Group, we, us or our means VGW RMG Malta, VGW Malta and VGW GP. VGW Malta means VGW Malta Limited (company registration number C74706) a limited liability company incorporated in Malta, and subject to Maltese law, having its registered address at 5-7 Matilda Court, Giuseppe Cali Street, Ta’ Xbiex, XBX 1423 Malta. VGW RMG Malta means VGW RMG Malta Limited (company registration number C76814) a limited liability company incorporated in Malta, and subject to Maltese law, having its registered address at 5-7 Matilda Court, Giuseppe Cali Street, Ta’ Xbiex, XBX 1423 Malta. Website means the website located at https://www.chumbacasino.com, any other related sites operated by us and all subdomains, subpages and successor sites thereof. The online social game known as “Chumba Casino” is owned and operated by VGW Malta (“Chumba Casino Business”). All payments are processed by VGW Malta. The sweepstakes promotions and Prizes offered by the Chumba Casino Business are operated by VGW RMG Malta. VGW RMG Malta is licensed and regulated in Malta by the MGA to operate the Sweepstakes Games with the Licence MGA/B2C/188/2010 dated 14 August 2017. The customer ‘Gaming Contract’ is held with VGW RMG Malta, and is entered into upon the successful registration of an account in relation to the Website. All transactions between you and VGW RMG Malta take place in Malta. Funds equal to the aggregate value of Prizes which Registered Customers have chosen to leave unredeemed are held by VGW RMG Malta in accounts separate from its business account. This means that steps have been taken to protect such funds, but that in the event of insolvency there is no absolute guarantee that any Prizes which you have not yet redeemed will be paid to you. in relation to the purchase of Gold Coins, you must only use a valid payment method (or credit card, where applicable) which lawfully belongs to you. GOLD COIN PURCHASES MADE FROM WITHIN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE VOIDED AND REFUNDED, MINUS AN ADMINISTRATIVE FEE OF 10% OF THE TOTAL PURCHASES MADE BY THE PLAYER, IN ADDITION TO ANY CHARGES THAT MAY BE LEVIED BY THE BANK OR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION MANAGING THE AFOREMENTIONED REVERSAL. It is a Player’s responsibility to ensure that their Participation is lawful in their jurisdiction. Any person who is knowingly in breach of this clause 3, including any attempt to circumvent this restriction, for example, by using a VPN, proxy or similar service that masks or manipulates the identification of your real location, or by otherwise providing false or misleading information regarding your location or place of residence, or by Participating through a third party or on behalf of a third party located in a jurisdiction where it is unlawful to Participate, is in breach of these Terms and Conditions. You may be committing fraud and may be subject to criminal prosecution. Employees and former employees (less than 3 years since cessation of employment) of VGW Group, any of their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, holding companies, advertising agencies, or any other company or individual involved with the design, production, execution or distribution of the Games and their immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children, whether the relationship is by birth, marriage or adoption) and household members (people who share the same residence at least 3 months of the year) are not eligible to Participate. By accepting these Terms and Conditions you agree that your Participation is at your sole option, discretion and risk. You will have no claims whatsoever against VGW Group or any of its partners, or respective directors, officers or employees in relation to any losses you incur. You are allowed to have only one Customer Account on each Platform. If you attempt to open more than one Customer Account, all accounts you have opened or try to open may be cancelled or suspended and the consequences described in clause 18.3 may be enforced. You must notify us immediately if you notice that you have more than one registered Customer Account on any one Platform. You are required to keep your registration details up to date at all times. If you change your address, email, phone number or any other contact or personal information contact [email protected] in order to update your details. The name that you provide to us at registration must be identical to that listed on your government issued identification. As part of the registration process, you will have to choose a password to login into the Platform, unless you login to your Customer Account using the Facebook® login facility in which case your Facebook® password will apply. It is your sole and exclusive responsibility to ensure that your login details are kept securely. You must not disclose your login details to anyone. We are not responsible for any abuse or misuse of your Customer Account by third parties due to your disclosure of your login details to any third party, whether such disclosure is intentional or accidental, active or passive. You are not allowed to transfer Gold Coins or $weeps Cash™ between Customer Accounts, or from your Customer Account to other players, or to receive Gold Coins or $weeps Cash™ from other Customer Accounts into your Customer Account, or to transfer, sell and/or acquire Customer Accounts. We reserve the right to deactivate your Customer Account if it is deemed to be an Inactive Account. If no transaction has been recorded on your Customer Account for 30 consecutive months, we will remit the balance of the redeemed value of the Prizes in your Customer Account to you or, if you cannot be satisfactorily located, to the MGA. If you wish to close your Customer Account you may do so at any time by selecting the “Contact Us” link on the Platform and submitting a request to close your Customer Account. The effective closure of the Customer Account will correspond with the termination of the Terms and Conditions. If the reason behind the closure of your Customer Account is related to concerns about possible responsible gaming issues you must indicate this in your request to close your Customer Account. Our time-out and exclusion procedures are summarised at clause 8.4 of these Terms and Conditions and are set out in detail in our Responsible Social Gaming Policy. You will be able to open your Customer Account again by sending a request to the Customer Support team. All requests for the re-opening of an account will be evaluated by our Customer Support and Compliance teams, which shall abide by strict customer protection guidelines. We reserve the right to refuse or close a Customer Account in our sole discretion but any contractual obligations already made by us will be honoured accordingly. Games offered on the Platforms may have their own rules which are available on each Platform. It is your responsibility to read the rules of a Game before playing. You must familiarise yourself with the applicable terms of play and read the relevant rules before playing any Game. If you use a credit/debit card, online wallet and/or a financial/bank account to purchase Gold Coins, the account/cardholder’s name MUST be the same as the name you used when registering your Customer Account. Should the name you registered on your Customer Account and the name that appears on your credit/debit card, online wallet and/or financial/bank account differ in any way, your Customer Account will be immediately suspended. Should your Customer Account be suspended, we recommend that you contact [email protected] for details regarding our verification process. We reserve the right to request documents and information to verify the ownership of the credit/debit card, online wallet and/or a financial/bank account from which you make Gold Coin purchases. You may participate in any Game only if you have sufficient Gold Coins or $weeps Cash™ (as applicable) in your Customer Account for such Participation. We will not extend you any credit whatsoever for the purchase of Gold Coins or otherwise. From time to time, we may assign minimum or maximum Gold Coin purchases as specified and offered on the Platforms. Once a Gold Coin purchase has been made, the funds will be drawn from your financial/bank account, online wallet or credit/debit card as soon as practicable. The purchase of Gold Coins is the purchase of a product that allows you to Participate in Gold Coin Games and is not the deposit of funds which can be withdrawn. Funds used to purchase Gold Coins will not, and cannot, be refunded to you. Gold Coins do not have any real money value. Gold Coins or $weeps Cash™ that have been submitted for play and accepted cannot be changed, withdrawn or cancelled and the Gold Coins or $weeps Cash™ (whichever applicable) will be drawn from your Gold Coin or $weeps Cash™ balance instantly. If you are found to have one or more of your purchases returned and/or reversed or charged back, your account will be suspended. If this occurs, any purchases and winnings will be deemed void and requests to redeem $weeps Cash™ for Prizes will not be allowed. we may, in our sole discretion, require that any $weeps Cash™ allocated to you be played a greater number of times (not exceeding 20) in any combination of Sweepstakes Games before it is able to be redeemed as a Prize. We reserve the right to declare Participation in a Game void, partially or in full, if, in our sole discretion, we deem it obvious that there was an error, mistake, misprint or technical error on the pay-table, win-table, minimum or maximum stakes, odds or software. In the event of a discrepancy between the result showing on a Game or Platform and the VGW Group server software, the result showing on the VGW Group server software will be the official and governing result. All promotions, including Sweepstakes Games, contests, special offers and bonuses are subject to these Terms and Conditions, the Sweeps Rules and to additional terms that may be published at the time of the promotion. In the event and to the extent of any conflict between these Terms and Conditions and any promotion-specific terms and conditions, the promotion-specific terms and conditions will prevail. VGW Group reserves the right to withdraw or modify such promotions without prior notice to you. If, in the reasonable opinion of VGW Group, we form the view that a Registered Customer is abusing any promotion, to derive any advantage or gain for themselves or other Registered Customers, including by way of Fraudulent Conduct, we may, at our sole discretion, withhold, deny or cancel any advantage, bonus or Prize as we see fit. Without limiting clause 10.4, you confirm that you grant VGW Group an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use in whatever way we see fit, and without further acknowledgement of you as the author, any Content you post or publish as part of a promotion, contest or competition. if this is not technically possible, then to an alternative bank account you nominate. We reserve the right to require the use of the same payment method for redemption of Prizes as was used to purchase Gold Coins, or a specific payment method at our own discretion. You agree that we are entitled to conduct any identification, credit and other verification checks that we may reasonably require and/or that are required of us under applicable laws and regulations or by relevant regulatory authorities. we are entitled to restrict your Customer Account in any manner that we may reasonably deem appropriate, including by suspending or deactivating your Customer Account. We will carry out additional verification procedures for any cumulative or single redemption of Prizes exceeding USD$2,500 or equivalent and reserve the right to carry out such additional verification procedures in the case of a request to redeem any lower amount. Additional verification procedures may, for example, include requests for and our examination of copies of your identification documentation (including photo identification) such as a passport and proof of your address such as a utility bill. Where any identification, credit or other verification check we require cannot be completed to our satisfaction because you have not provided any document we request from you in the form that we require within 30 days’ of the date the document was first requested, then we are under no obligation to continue with the verification check and may in our sole discretion deactivate your Customer Account. Players who request the redemption of Prizes held in a deactivated or suspended account should contact Customer Support by emailing [email protected]. VGW Group reserves the right to run external verification checks on all cardholders with third party credit agencies on the basis of the information provided on registration. We reserve the right to charge fees for processing the redemption of Prizes to you and to set a minimum redemption request amount of USD$100. In New York and Florida, the maximum amount for which a Prize won on any one spin or play can be redeemed is limited to USD$5,000 and amounts in excess of USD$5,000 will not be redeemed. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to limit a Participant’s redemption of Prizes to USD$10,000 per day. It is your sole responsibility to ensure that your financial institution will accept payment of Prizes from us into your bank account. VGW Group has no obligation to check whether your financial institution will accept transfer of Prizes from us to your nominated bank account. into an account or online wallet which does not match the name you provided when registering your Customer Account. Where you are required to provide the details of your financial institution, bank account or online wallet, you agree that you are solely responsible for the accuracy of those details. You further agree that, where the details you have provided are not accurate, and we have processed the payment of your Prize using the details you have provided, the redemption of that Prize is complete and we cannot and are not required to reverse or reissue the payment of that Prize. if you are unable to nominate an alternative bank account which meets the requirements set out in these Terms and Conditions within 60 days of a request from us to do so, VGW Group is not obliged to transfer the Prizes to you and may in its discretion deem the Prizes to be void. Direct bank transfer payments are executed in USD. It is a Player’s responsibility to ensure that their nominated bank account can accept transactions in USD. We process requests to redeem Prizes in the order in which they are received. Our goal is to process your request as soon as practicable. We will only process one Prize redemption request per Customer Account in any 24 hour period. You acknowledge and agree that it may take up to 10 business days to process the payment of redeemed Prizes into your nominated bank account. Payment of Prizes may experience delays due to our identity verification process and certain payment methods will require additional verification at time of redemption. Prizes of over USD$10,000 may require a longer processing time than usual due to bank clearance and security and fraud checks and may also be paid in more than one lump sum. This may add up to 7 days to the normal processing time, but is dependent on the circumstances of each individual case. Without limiting clause 7.8, Players can request any amount of Prizes to be redeemed, however we reserve the right to pay Prizes in smaller increments over a number of days until all of the Prize has been paid. You acknowledge and agree that we may in our sole discretion, from time to time, appoint our related bodies corporate, affiliates, or any other third party to act as our agent (“Payment Administration Agent”) to accept or make payments (including merchant facilities) from or to Players on our behalf. Such affiliates may include, without limitation, VGW Holdings Limited, VGW Corporation Pty Ltd, VGW Malta Holding Limited, VGW Administration Malta Limited, VGW Sports Limited, VGW Holdings US Inc, VGW US Inc, VGW Luckyland Inc and VGW Korea Co. Ltd. A Payment Administration Agent will have the same rights, powers and privileges that we have under these Terms and Conditions and will be entitled to exercise or enforce their rights, powers and privileges as our agent or in their own name. In no event shall we be liable to any Player for any loss, damage or liability resulting from the Payment Administration Agent’s negligence and/or acts beyond the authority given by VGW Group. $weeps Cash™ is only valid for 60 days from the date you last logged on to your Customer Account and will thereafter automatically expire. $weeps Cash™ may be forfeited if a Customer Account is deactivated for any reason, or at our discretion. Updating or adding additional payment details for the sole purpose of redeeming Prizes may only be done by you when logged into your Customer Account and when you are undergoing the process of redeeming a Prize. We cannot update or add additional payment details on your behalf. If you refuse to accept payment of Prizes made to your nominated bank account by VGW Group, you must refuse the amount in its entirety. Where you refuse to accept payment to your nominated bank account more than twice in any 3 month period, VGW Group reserves the right to suspend your Customer Account to undertake investigations to ensure that the Platforms are not being used as a vehicle for fraudulent activity. If we mistakenly credit your Customer Account from time to time with Prizes that do not belong to you, whether due to a technical error, human error or otherwise, the amount will remain VGW Group property and will be deducted from your Customer Account. If you have been credited funds that do not belong to you prior to us becoming aware of the error, the mistakenly paid amount will (without prejudice to other remedies and actions that may be available at law) constitute a debt owed by you to us. In the event of an incorrect crediting, you are obliged to notify Customer Support by using the “Contact” link on the Platform without delay. It is the responsibility of the card or account holder to retain copies of transaction records and these Terms and Conditions as updated from time to time. VGW Group actively supports responsible gaming and encourages its Players to make use of a variety of responsible gaming features so as to better manage their Customer Account. We refer to you our Responsible Social Gaming Policy for full details. VGW Group is committed to providing excellent customer service. As part of that pledge, VGW Group is committed to supporting responsible gaming. Although VGW Group will use all reasonable endeavours to enforce its responsible gaming policies, VGW Group does not accept any responsibility or liability if you nevertheless continue gaming and/or seek to use the Services with the intention of deliberately avoiding the relevant measures in place and/or VGW Group is unable to enforce its measures/policies for reasons outside of VGW Group’s reasonable control. You may, at any time, request a time-out or self-exclusion from our Games. You may also set a limit on your purchases of Gold Coins or the amount of $weeps Cash™ you play. To view the various options available refer to our Responsible Social Gaming Policy. We want to ensure that you enjoy your experience playing our Games in a safe and responsible manner. On the Responsible Social Gaming page of the Website we have a detailed Player Protection Policy, which includes a list of mechanisms which you can enlist in order to ensure a safer gaming experience. identification documents (including, but not limited to, photographs, bills and lease documents) for the purpose of misleading VGW Group as to a Player’s identity. You must not use the Platforms for any unlawful or fraudulent activity or prohibited transaction (including Fraudulent Conduct) under the laws of any jurisdiction that applies to you. We monitor all transactions in order to prevent money laundering. If VGW Group suspects that you may be engaging in, or have engaged in fraudulent, unlawful or improper activity, including money laundering activities or any conduct which violates these Terms and Conditions, your access to the Services will be deactivated immediately and your Customer Account may be suspended. If your Customer Account is deactivated or suspended under such circumstances, VGW Group is under no obligation to reverse any Gold Coin purchases you have made or to redeem any $weeps Cash™ or Prizes that may be in your Customer Account. In addition, VGW Group may pass any necessary information on to the relevant authorities, other online service providers, banks, credit card companies, electronic payment providers or other financial institutions. You will cooperate fully with any VGW Group investigation into such activity. If you suspect any unlawful or fraudulent activity or prohibited transaction by another Player, please notify us immediately via the means of communication listed in the Customer Complaints procedure (described in clause 16). The computer software, the computer graphics, the Platforms and the user interface that we make available to you is owned by, or licensed to, VGW RMG Malta or its associates and protected by copyright laws. You may only use the software for your own personal, recreational uses in accordance with all rules, terms and conditions we have established (including these Terms and Conditions and the Sweeps Rules) and in accordance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. You acknowledge that VGW Group is the proprietor or authorized licensee of all intellectual property in relation to any Content. Your use of the Games and Platforms does not provide you with any intellectual property rights in the Content, Games or Platforms. You grant us, and represent and warrant that you have the right to grant us, an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use in whatever way we see fit, any information, images, videos, comments, messages, music or profiles you publish or upload to any website or social media page controlled and operated by VGW Group. You must not reproduce or modify the Content in any way, including by removing any copyright or trade mark notice. All trade marks and logos displayed in the Games and Platforms are the property of their respective owners and are protected by applicable trade mark and copyright laws. makes no guarantee as to the content, functionality, or accuracy of any Third Party Website. You further acknowledge that some Third Party Websites may be fraudulent in nature, offering Gold Coins or $weeps Cash™ which the operators of those websites are not authorized to provide, in an effort to induce you to reveal personal information (including passwords, account information and credit card details). You agree that VGW Group is not responsible for any actions you take at the request or direction of these, or any other Third Party Websites. indicate any endorsement or sponsorship by VGW Group of the Third Party Website, or the goods or services it provides, unless specifically indicated by VGW Group. we are not responsible or liable for any comments or content that you or others post on social networking sites. The Service is provided on an “as is” basis and to the fullest extent permitted by law, we make no warranty or representation, whether express or implied, in relation to the satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose, completeness or accuracy of the Services. VGW Group is not liable for any downtime, server disruptions, lagging, or any technical or political disturbance to the Game play, nor attempts by you to Participate by methods, means or ways not intended by us. VGW Group accepts no liability for any damages or losses which are deemed or alleged to have arisen out of or in connection with any Platform or its content including, without limitation, delays or interruptions in operation or transmission, loss or corruption of data, communication or lines failure, any person’s misuse of a Platform or its content or any errors or omissions in content. In the event of a Platform system malfunction all Game play on that Platform is void. In the event a Game is started but fails to conclude because of a failure of the system, VGW Group will reinstate the amount of Gold Coins or $weeps Cash™ played (whichever applicable) in the Game to you by crediting it to your Customer Account. VGW Group reserves the right to alter Player balances and account details to correct such mistakes. VGW Group reserves the right to remove any part of the Games from the Platforms at any time. Any part of the Games that indicate incorrect behaviour affecting Prize redemption, game data, Gold Coin balances, $weeps Cash™ balances or other balances, that may be due to misconfiguration or a bug, will be cancelled and removed from the Platforms. Player balances and account details may be altered in such cases in order to correct any mistake. VGW Group reserves the right to suspend, modify, remove or add content to the Website or Games at its sole discretion with immediate effect and without notice to you. We will not be liable to you for any loss suffered as a result of any changes made or for any modification or suspension of or discontinuance of the Website or Games and you will have no claims against VGW Group in such regard. We may temporarily suspend the whole or any part of the Service for any reason at our sole discretion. We may, but will not be obliged to, give you as much notice as is reasonably practicable of such suspension. We will restore the Service, as soon as is reasonably practicable, after such temporary suspension. Although we take all reasonable measures to ensure that the Website and Games are free from computer viruses we cannot and do not guarantee that the Website and Games are free of such problems. It is your responsibility to protect your systems and have in place the ability to reinstall any data or programs lost due to a virus. VGW Group is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. VGW Group complies with all applicable data protection and privacy laws. You hereby consent to receive marketing communications from VGW Group in respect of its offerings by way of email, post, SMS and telephone notifications, any of which you may unsubscribe from at any time by contacting [email protected]. We may provide you with a Live Chat service to talk to our Customer Support representatives or to talk to other Players. This may include use of our Facebook® wall. It is your responsibility to use these services only for their intended purposes. You are not permitted to use our Live Chat services for illegal purposes. Be careful what you post on any Live Chat service. We review and moderate chats and keep a log and record of statements. Your use of the Live Chat service should be for recreational and social purposes only. Spamming on Live Chat is prohibited. You are prohibited from intimidating, harassing or abusing other Players or VGW Group employees and representatives. You will not use any Live Chat service to engage in any form of harassment or offensive behaviour, including but not limited to, threatening, derogatory, abusive or defamatory statements, or racist, sexually explicit, pornographic, obscene, or offensive language. You will not use any Live Chat service to infringe the privacy rights, property rights, or any other rights of any person. You will not submit any kind of material or information on any Live Chat service that is fraudulent or otherwise unlawful or violates any law. You will not use any Live Chat service to distribute, promote or otherwise publish any material containing any solicitation for funds, advertising or solicitation for goods or services of other forums. You will not use any Live Chat service to distribute, promote or otherwise publish any kind of malicious code or do anything else that might cause harm to the Platforms or to other Player’s systems in any way. We reserve the right to monitor anything and everything submitted by you to any Live Chat service to ensure that it conforms to content guidelines that are monitored by us and subject to change from time to time. If you breach any of the provisions relating to a Live Chat service, we may ban you from using that Live Chat service or all Live Chat services and/or suspend or deactivate your Customer Account. If we deactivate your Customer Account, we reserve the right to cancel or refuse to redeem any Prizes. We reserve the right to remove the Live Chat service from any Platform if abused. We will not be liable if damage arises out of the Live Chat service. You agree to indemnify us against any damage arising out of your illegal, unlawful or inappropriate conduct or arising out of violation of the provisions in this clause 15 or any other rules on the Platforms applying to the Live Chat service. You will not collude in any way through the Live Chat service. Players are encouraged to report any suspicious behaviour to Customer Support by emailing [email protected]. We reserve the right to report any suspicious behaviour or chats on the Live Chat service to the MGA. If you would like to contact our Customer Support department or have a complaint regarding our Services, you may contact us by selecting the “Contact Us” link on the Platform and filling in the form “Request Support” or by emailing [email protected]. TO PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY, ALL EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN YOU AND VGW GROUP SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT USING THE EMAIL ADDRESS THAT YOU HAVE REGISTERED AGAINST YOUR CUSTOMER ACCOUNT HELD WITH VGW GROUP. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN OUR RESPONSE BEING DELAYED. Failure to submit a written communication with the information outlined above may result in a delay in our ability to identify and respond to your complaint/claim in a timely manner. Upon receipt, we will endeavour to reply to your communication within 48 hours. Further, best efforts will be made to resolve any complaint/claim promptly and, at a maximum, within 10 days. If for some reason you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint/claim, you may pursue alternative dispute resolution in your jurisdiction or further, refer the matter to the MGA (see clause 17). If, at the conclusion of the process described in clause 16, you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint by the relevant member of the VGW Group in the first instance, you may pursue alternative dispute resolution in your jurisdiction in accordance with the Sweeps Rules. If your complaint/claim remains unresolved, you may report your complaint/claim to the MGA at [email protected]. or through the online gaming support service (https://www.mga.org.mt/support/online-gaming-support/). VGW Group hereby reserves the right to deactivate or suspend your Customer Account for any reason whatsoever at any time without notifying you. it is determined by VGW Group that you have employed or made use of a system (including machines, computers, software or other automated systems such as bots) designed specifically to gain an unfair advantage. If VGW Group deactivates or suspends your Customer Account for any of the reasons referred to in clause 18.2 above, you will be liable for any and all claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses incurred or suffered by VGW Group (together “Claims”) arising therefrom and you will indemnify and hold VGW Group harmless on demand for such Claims. If we have reasonable grounds to believe that you have participated in any of the activities set out in clause 18.2 above then we reserve the right to withhold all or part of the balance and/or recover from your Customer Account any Prizes, Gold Coins or $weeps Cash™ that are attributable to any of the activities contemplated in clause 18.2. In such circumstances, your details may be passed on to any applicable regulatory authority, regulatory body or any other relevant external third parties. If your Customer Account is suspended and this leads to the retention of Prizes, $weeps Cash™ or Gold Coins, a documented copy of the decision may be sent to the MGA, as appropriate. It will not be possible for you to unlock your Customer Account during any suspension period. If your Customer Account is confirmed to have been deactivated due to fraudulent or illegal activity by you, the redeemed value of any Prizes credited to your Customer Account may be forfeited and donated to the MGA Responsible Gaming Foundation. The rights set out in this clause 18 are without prejudice to any other rights that we may have against you under these Terms and Conditions or otherwise. ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF ANY PRIZE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF OUR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, SHAREHOLDERS, AGENTS AND AFFILIATES, OUR ULTIMATE PARENT AND PARENT COMPANIES AND ANY OF OUR SUBSIDIARIES TO YOU IN CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE, FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE HOWSOEVER ARISING FROM ANY CAUSE, WHETHER DIRECT OR INDIRECT, OR FOR ANY AMOUNTS (EVEN WHERE WE HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED BY YOU OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS OR DAMAGE) EXCEED THE VALUE OF THE GOLD COIN PURCHASES YOU HAVE MADE VIA YOUR CUSTOMER ACCOUNT IN RESPECT OF THE RELEVANT GAME OR PRODUCT THAT GAVE RISE TO THE RELEVANT LIABILITY. VGW GROUP ACCEPTS NO LIABILITY FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE HOWSOEVER ARISING BEYOND THIS AMOUNT WHICH IS DEEMED OR ALLEGED TO HAVE ARISEN OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR PARTICIPATION. THIS INCLUDES, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DELAYS OR INTERRUPTIONS IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA, COMMUNICATION OR LINES FAILURE, ANY PERSON’S MISUSE OF THE GAMES OR THE WEBSITE OR THEIR CONTENT OR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN THE CONTENT OF THE GAMES OR THE WEBSITE. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS WILL OPERATE SO AS TO EXCLUDE ANY LIABILITY OF VGW GROUP FOR FRAUD, DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY THAT IS CAUSED BY VGW GROUP’S NEGLIGENCE. THIS CLAUSE 19 SURVIVES THE TERMINATION OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR ANY REASON. You will not receive any interest on outstanding Prizes and you will not treat VGW Group as a financial institution. VGW Group does not provide advice regarding tax and/or legal matters. Players who wish to obtain advice regarding tax and legal matters are advised to contact appropriate advisors. You are strictly prohibited from utilising the Services and the systems of VGW Group to facilitate arbitrage through currency exchange transactions. Where VGW Group deems that you have deliberately used the systems for financial gain through arbitrage, any gains will be forfeited and deducted from your balance without warning or notification. These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and us with respect to your Participation and, save in the case of fraud, supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral or written, between you and us with respect to your Participation. VGW Group hereby reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions, or to implement or amend any procedures, at any time. Any amendments will be published on the Platforms and such changes will be binding and effective immediately. Whenever we amend these Terms and Conditions in a way that would limit your current rights or which may be to your detriment, we will notify you upon your next visit to the Platform(s) and you will be required to re-confirm your acceptance prior to playing any Games. If you do not agree to the amended Terms and Conditions, you must stop using the Platforms. You are solely responsible for any taxes which apply to any Prizes that you collect from your Participation. VGW Group will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under these Terms and Conditions that is caused by events outside of our reasonable control. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions will be construed as creating any agency, partnership, trust arrangement, fiduciary relationship or any other form of joint enterprise between you and us. If any of the Terms and Conditions are determined by any competent authority to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable to any extent, such term, condition or provision will, to that extent, be severed from these Terms and Conditions. All remaining terms, conditions and provisions will continue to be valid to the fullest extent permitted by law. In such cases, the part deemed invalid or unenforceable will be amended in a manner consistent with the applicable law to reflect, as closely as possible, VGW Group’s original intent. We consider these Terms and Conditions to be open and fair. If you need any explanation regarding these Terms and Conditions or any other part of our Service contact [email protected]. The Terms and Conditions prevail over any communication via email or chat. All correspondence between you and us may be recorded. In the event of a change of control, merger, acquisition, or sale of assets of the VGW Group, your Customer Account and associated data may be part of the assets transferred to the purchaser or acquiring party. In such an event, we will provide you with notice via email or via our Platforms explaining your options with regard to the transfer of your Customer Account. These Terms and Conditions may be published in several languages for information purposes and ease of access by players but will all reflect the same principles. It is only the English version that is the legal basis of the relationship between you and us and in case of any discrepancy between a non-English version and the English version of these Terms and Conditions, the English version will prevail. These Terms and Conditions will be governed, and interpreted in accordance with, the Laws of Malta. You acknowledge that, unless stated otherwise, the Games are operated from Malta and your Participation in these Games takes place within the aforementioned territory. Any contractual relationship between you and us will be deemed to have been entered into and performed by the parties in Malta. The parties agree that any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms and Conditions, or the breach, termination or invalidity thereof, will be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of Malta.

2019-04-21T06:38:49Z

https://site.chumbacasino.com/terms-and-conditions/

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Cisco IT certifications are sometimes found sprinkling the lists of the highest paying certifications in the trade. when you are taking a look at getting certified, take a look at this ebook to Cisco IT certifications. Are you thinking about increasing your resume with a new certification? Cisco IT certifications are sometimes found sprinkling the lists of the highest paying certifications within the industry. Cisco is the long-standing trade chief in designing and manufacturing community device. even if you are considering of that specialize in working with Cisco items or simply broadening your ordinary ability-set, the ubiquity of Cisco's products and functions makes the business's IT certifications a vital part of setting up your fundamental competencies as an IT expert. Cisco presents assessments at 4 basic ranges of IT certification - Entry, associate, professional, and professional. There are further assessments available at Technician, expert and Architect levels. during this submit, we're going to focal point on certifications at the Entry, affiliate, and expert degrees, as a result of when you are an expert already you probably don't need a guide! Let's look at each and every of those exams in more depth. What does it show? This certification proves the tester's realizing of primary networking technologies in terms of the 9 paths (protection, wireless expertise, routing and switching, and many others.). It forms the groundwork for future certifications, and offers a breadth of knowledge that you can then opt for a area of expertise. What verify do I should take? 640-822 (ICND1) - examine material available online. Are there must haves? This check doesn't have any prerequisites. What does it show? This certification proves the tester's skill to deploy, monitor and troubleshoot community infrastructure. Recipients of this certification are trusted to be capable of function the every day projects of a community administrator, with a spotlight on routing and switching. What verify do I should take? You might also choose to take the 640-802 CCNA exam or both the 640-822 ICND1 and 640-816 ICND2 tests. on-line examine materials are available for the 640-802 CCNA exam, 640-822 ICND1 exam, and 640-816 ICND2 exam. Are there must haves? This check does not have any must haves. What does it prove? This certification proves the tester's capability to design potent routed and switched community infrastructure for businesses of any size. If taken through someone with existing community engineering skills, this certification proves that this engineering expertise is backed up with a networking design background. This helps in the day by day configuration and troubleshooting projects of community engineers. What look at various do I ought to take? 640-863 DESIGN - look at material obtainable on-line. Are there must haves? This examine does not have any necessities, however an understanding of the material lined within the CCNA and CCNP assessments is informed. What does it prove? This certification proves the tester's competency in installation and monitoring Cisco safety applied sciences. The tester has acquired an introduction into safety applied sciences, and is in a position to operate the day by day tasks of a network safety professional and administrator. Are there must haves? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCNA or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNA safety certification exam. What does it show? This certification proves the tester's means to use Cisco device to implement, configure and help instant LANs. The tester is able to operate the daily initiatives of a wireless community administrator. What look at various do I need to take? IUWNE 640-722 (implementing Cisco Unified instant Networking necessities) - practicing purchasable on-line. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an updated CCNA or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNA safety certification exam. What does it show? The tester is prepared for a career in voice networking, and equipped with the indispensable expertise including managing and assisting voice networks and applications. The tester has a basic knowing of VoIP technologies reminiscent of handsets, call control, messaging, and so forth. What test do I have to take? 640-461 ICOMM (Introducing Cisco Voice and Unified Communications Administration) v8.0 - online practicing accessible. Are there necessities? Testers are required to have both an updated CCNA or any Cisco CCIE Certification earlier than taking the CCNA safety certification exam. What does it show? The tester is ready for a profession in voice networking, and fitted with the quintessential abilities together with enforcing, operating, and troubleshooting a converged IP network. The tester has an intensive realizing of excellent of provider (QoS), gateways, gatekeepers, IP phones, voice functions and utilities on Cisco routers and Cisco Catalyst switches. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have both an up to the moment CCNA Voice certification or any CCIE Certification. What does it show? The CCNA records core certification is concentrated on working towards information middle expert for work of their box. The tester is ready to work as an information core professional designing, setting up and preserving statistics centers. Are there prerequisites? This verify doesn't have any must haves. regular profits for Certification holder: now not obtainable. What does it prove? The CCNP records middle Certification proves the experienced records core skilled's capability to design, put into effect, and troubleshoot statistics facilities. just like the CCNA statistics core certification, the CCNP information core certification is designed to deliver on-the-job skill building for these discovering for it. What verify do I should take? most of the required exams are being retired in early 2013. we have now chosen now not to checklist these right here. 642-999 DCUCI v5.0 and 642-997 DCUFI v5.0 and 642-998 DCUCD v5.0 and 642-996 DCUFD v5.0 or 642-035 DCUCT v5.0 and 642-980 DCUFT v5.0. For a full list of assessments, including the ones that should be retired in early 2013, click on here. Are there must haves? Testers are required to have both an up-to-date CCNA facts core certification, or any Cisco CCIE Certification earlier than taking the CCNP statistics core certification. common profits for Certification holder: no longer attainable. What does it prove? The tester is ready to work as a community engineer on subsequent era service company networks. The tester has received the quintessential skills to configure, optimize and issue remedy service provider network environments. What test do I should take? 640-875 SPNGN1 and 640-878 SPNGN2 (constructing Cisco provider provider next-generation Networks). click on the examine name for accessible online working towards. Are there necessities? This verify doesn't have any prerequisites. What does it show? The tester is ready to work as a Tier I assist engineer, realizing a way to troubleshoot, configure, trade and manipulate the performance of the ambiance inside an IP NGN core community infrastructure. What examine do I should take? 640-760 SSPO (helping Cisco service provider IP NGN Operations). on-line practising materials purchasable. Are there necessities? Testers are required to have both an up to date CCENT, CCNA, or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNA service provider Operations exam. What does it prove? The tester is prepared to work with specialists on advanced applied sciences, equivalent to security, instant, voice, etc. The tester is equipped with the integral imposing, verifying and troubleshooting advantage to work with native and extensive-enviornment networks as a technician, aid engineer, system engineer or network engineer. What check do I should take? 642-902 ROUTE (enforcing Cisco IP Routing), 642-813 swap (imposing Cisco IP Switched Networks, 642-832 TSHOOT Troubleshooting and retaining Cisco IP Networks - online practising purchasable. click on look at various names to look online practicing options. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have both an up to date CCNA or any Cisco CCIE Certification earlier than taking the CCNA security certification exam. What does it show? The CCNA provider issuer certification proves the certificate-holder's simple capabilities of incident, fault, configuration, trade and efficiency management techniques, in addition to NMS equipment and protocols. Are there must haves? Testers are required to have one of right here: any valid cisco CCENT, CCNA or CCIE before taking the CCNA provider provider Operations exam. commonplace income for Certification holder: now not obtainable. What does it show? The tester is in a position to take into account and put in force intelligent network design architectures for corporations. The tester might be able to articulate their plan and enforce it to create relaxed, multi-layered community techniques. Tester's knowledge prolong to virtual private networking and instant domains, as well as building scalable internetworks, multilayer switched networks and designing community service architectures. What check do I ought to take? 642-902 ROUTE (implementing Cisco IP Routing), 642-813 switch (enforcing Cisco IP Switched Networks), ARCH (Designing Cisco network provider Architectures). - on-line practising purchasable. click check names to peer online practising alternate options. Are there must haves? Testers are required to have both an updated CCDA and CCNA certifications or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCDP security certification examination. What does it prove? The tester will have the fundamental knowledge to perform the on-the-job initiatives required from a community security engineer. CCNP safety professionals are in a position to check, deploy, configure, keep, and troubleshoot Cisco compliances and iOS points. What check do I must take? 642-637 cozy v1.0 (comfortable v1.0 Securing Networks with Cisco Routers and Switches), 642-618 FIREWALL v2.0 (Deploying Cisco ASA Firewall solutions), 642-648 VPN v2.0 (Deploying Cisco ASA VPN solutions), 642-627 IPS v7.0 (enforcing Cisco Intrusion Prevention system v7.0). - on-line practising obtainable. click check names to see on-line working towards alternatives. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an updated CCNA security certification, or CCSP certification, or CCNA certification and SND exam pass. What does it prove? The tester will be mindful a way to habits a instant web page survey, combine voice over wireless LAN services and mobility functions right into a wireless LAN, as well as make certain the proper implementation of a safety average into the wireless ambiance. Testers will be an expert about instant networking on an advanced level. Are there necessities? Testers are required to have both an up-to-date CCNA certifications or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNP instant exam. What does it prove? The tester will profit the on-the-job talents required to implement, determine, troubleshoot, and optimize the carrier provider network atmosphere. This certification permits the tester to convey scalable, optimized community architectures for organizations. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have both an up-to-date CCNA provider issuer certification, or CCNA Routing & Switching and handed no less than 1 CCIP exam), or CCIP, or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNP wireless exam. common earnings for Certification holder: licensed CCNP community engineers earn $fifty six,422 to $eighty,408; assistance technology managers earn $sixty five,274 to $ninety six,075.14. What does it prove? The tester may be able to have in mind how to determine and isolate community efficiency complications and identify options by imposing advantageous network management processes and guidelines. CCNP carrier issuer Operations individuals will be capable of work at the degree of a Tier II or Tier III assist engineer on IP NGN core network infrastructures. What exams do I should take? 642-770 OFCN Prep (Operational Foundations for Cisco carrier provider Core Networks), 642-775 MSPRP Prep (holding Cisco service provider Routing Protocols), 642-780 MSPVM Prep (preserving Cisco provider provider VPNs and MPLS Networks), 642-785 MSPQS Prep (preserving Cisco provider provider pleasant of provider). - on-line training accessible. click on look at various names to see online practicing alternate options. Are there must haves? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCNA carrier provider Operations certification, or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNP carrier issuer Operations Certification. usual earnings for Certification holder: licensed CCNP community engineers earn $56,422 to $eighty,408; tips know-how managers earn $sixty five,274 to $ninety six,075.16. Mike of CS-MARS and everything security at Cisco blog has been discussing Cisco Unified wireless, in certain guest entry. On Tuesday he shared how he's enforcing guest access and the configuration required. In Thursday's put up, he goes into some detail about how to configure the grasp controller to entry the visitor community. be part of the community World communities on fb and LinkedIn to comment on themes that are top of mind. There’s been lots of buzz on the internet about the method Continental Tire of the Americas has vastly more suitable its manufacturing method. They adopted an imaginative answer based on a Cisco architectural networking approach supplied with the aid of Cisco accomplice utilized group combined with AeroScout’s asset monitoring solution and a stock administration device from world statistics Sciences enabling their manufacturing facility obtain a 20 percent reduction in part tire losses. Now that’s enormous! It became a true pleasure for me to take part in the client case analyze adventure equipped via Cisco, AeroScout and global information Sciences for me to communicate about the Cisco contribution. The video offers a short summary as Chet Namboodri, Cisco trade Blogger-in-Chief and global Managing Director of Cisco’s Manufacturing trade advertising interviews me about what changed into observed, and the benefits Continental expects. That adventure is where I met up with individuals from Continental, AeroScout and international Sciences to hear from the consumer first hand how the solution is expanding creation and efficiency in its North america manufacturing plant. That plant is determined in Mount Vernon, Illinois, and it produces greater than 1,000 diverse tire SKU’s in its 60-acre (2.6 million square-foot) facility. The applied solution leverages Continental Tire’s Cisco Unified wireless network to add a true-Time location device (RTLS) and automatic Work-in-technique (WIP) tracking while not having to deploy a proprietary network of readers and sensors. That’s key. Cisco gives standards-primarily based options that work smartly with a clients backhaul, which, for many clients is also Cisco. Cisco’s Architectural strategy capability networking points and processes work smartly at the side of ‘compatibility’ demonstrated solutions reminiscent of those from AeroScout. Continental Tire applied a solution designed to successfully track and control tire assembly and fabric carriers. the power uses the AeroScout’s Wi-Fi RTLS answer to help fork truck operators right now locate and deliver materials and tire add-ons to the right station according to consumer orders and superior manufacturing schedules. as a result, Continental has decreased delays and construction stoppages, minimized idle time of machines and drastically accelerated each day throughput. I met up with Greg Pemberton, MIS Director at Continental Tire of the Americas, at the adventure and he had this to claim for the click release: “to meet turning out to be client demand, we essential to be sure current operations have been working as efficaciously as possible . The mixed AeroScout and global facts Sciences solution provides actual-time visibility into the stock on the plant floor and enables us to power lean manufacturing without the chance of working out of fabric.” He additionally told me that the support he bought from Cisco changed into exemplary, and complimented the Cisco’s Account manager on his efforts. That’s what we want to hear! How does it work? smartly, the implementation consists of AeroScout Wi-Fi Tagsattached to 1,100 carriers. The location of each service is transmitted via the ability’s Cisco Unified wireless community to AeroScout’s MobileView software after which passed to the stock management gadget. mobile computer systems secured to each and every fork truck permit drivers to search for any required part or tire meeting. The carrier area is displayed on a map of the power along with crucial suggestions, allowing operators to deliver inventory appropriately and get rid of scrap. 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Download your Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Mobility Services (IUWMS) Study Guide instantly subsequent to purchasing and Start Preparing Your Exam Prep Right Now! Now that mobility has become critically important to IT, helping employees achieve one or more certifications is a win-win for both employers and employees alike. Managers need a well-developed and skilled workforce to tackle today's omnipresent mobile issues, while employees feel more confident in supporting business and IT functions if they receive proper training and experience. Certification, then, is a great way to determine the effectiveness of an employee's ability to meet business demands and expectations. This article looks at several types of mobile certifications — app development, networking, security and a mixed bag of mobile workforce and digital forensics offerings. Most of the featured companies and cert programs provide training courses, which are typically not required, along with self-study materials, sample exam questions, candidate forums and other certification prep resources. All prices are in U.S. dollars. Microsoft offers several entry-level certifications through its Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) program, originally designed for high school and college students. However, because of the cachet a Microsoft certification brings to any resume or portfolio, MTA certifications also appeal to workers looking to segue into another career or to enhance their current skillset. The MTA Mobile Development Fundamentals certification tests a candidate's ability to work with Windows Phone mobile devices, networked data and data stores, evaluate mobile programming code in XNA, Visual Basic .NET, HTML5, XAML and C# .NET and, finally, develop mobile apps. At only $69 for the exam, it's a highly affordable credential. Students take the exam through Certiport; nonstudents can sign up at Prometric. The exam was last updated in 2011, so we believe that a refresh must be in the works. Meanwhile, the Mobile Development Institute (MDI) is a nonprofit organization with three entry-level MDI Certified Developer certifications for Apple iOS, Google Android and BlackBerry. (These certs are similar to the MTA mobile credential.) To qualify for an MDI certification exam, candidates must have published at least one app on one of the platforms. The exam itself is performance-based. An MDI proctor conducts a remote viewing session into the test-taker's computer; the testee must answer questions posed by the proctor and successfully modify example code upon request. Each certification requires one exam, which costs $375. For its part, the Oracle Certification Program (OCP) is one of the largest in the world, with more than 200 individual certifications. Its Java certs include the Java ME Mobile Application Developer, formerly called the Sun Certified Mobile Application Developer (SCMAD). The credential recognizes developers of mobile apps for smartphones and other mobile devices who are proficient in using Java technologies and are well-versed on the Java Technology for Wireless Industry (JTWI) specification. Candidates must have an OCP Java Programmer or Sun Certified Java Programmer certificate as a prerequisite and pass a single exam, which costs $245. Oracle exams are delivered through Pearson VUE. If your shop supports SAP/Sybase products, the SAP Certified Development Associate -- Sybase Unwired Platform (SUP) Mobile Application Developer is a good intermediate-level certification for mobile developers. Only one $500exam is required, and SAP provides both classroom and e-learning prep courses. Finally, a number of secondary educational institutions also offer certificates in mobile application development, including the University of California Extension (Irvine and San Diego), Northwestern University and ITT Tech. You can find a wealth of reputable mobile app development training courses, whether in-class or online, through companies such as Learning Tree, Appcelerator and Google. A mobile networking certification identifies individuals who implement, manage and support mobile devices and environments, often integrating mobility with wired and wireless LANs. CompTIA Mobility+ is perhaps the best vendor-neutral certification in the mobile networking category. Although it's considered a foundational credential, it's geared toward network administrators, security professionals and mobility architects and engineers. The exam tests candidates on Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth and RF technologies, network infrastructure, mobile device management, security and troubleshooting. Mobility+ certification serves as an unofficial stepping stone to many higher-level credentials, whether vendor-neutral or -specific. CompTIA recommends that candidates have at least 18 months of experience in a mobile environment, have achieved the CompTIA Network+ cert and have 12 months of networking experience. The single exam, MB0-001, costs $261 and is administered through Pearson VUE. Citrix released a mobility certification in 2013, the Certified Professional - Mobility (CCP-M), and it gained a lot of buzz. This cert focuses on the design, installation, configuration and management of a Citrix XenMobile Enterprise solution, including mobile device and application management issues, security and IT compliance. Citrix provides instructor-led and online training, which cost up to $5,000. Pearson VUE administers the $300 certification exam. Although Cisco doesn't offer a mobile-only credential, the Cisco Certified Network Professional Wireless (CCNP Wireless) covers integration of mobility services with wireless LANs. This is a highly useful credential for network engineers and support personnel who work with Cisco networking equipment in a wireless environment. To achieve the certification, a candidate must pass four exams, one of which is 642-747: Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Mobility Services (IUWMS). Each exam, available through Pearson VUE, costs $200. Finally, the Aruba Networks certification program includes three levels of its Certified Mobility certification (associate, professional and expert) that support next-generation mobility. The certs recognize network engineers who are proficient in installing and supporting enterprise mobility and wireless LAN projects. The Associate and Professional certifications each require a single multiple-choice exam that costs $125 and is available through Pearson VUE. The Expert certification ($995) requires a performance-based, hands-on exam delivered through an Aruba Networks facility. A mobile security certification typically addresses the ability to either create secure mobile application or implement security in mobile networking environments — sometimes both. In the mobile app arena, the CompTIA Mobile App Security+ certification is a vendor-neutral credential aimed at mobile app and software developers who design and build secure iOS or Android apps, as well as securing network communications and Web services. Candidates must successfully pass a multiple-choice exam for Android development (ADR-001) or iOS development (IOS-001), which costs $248. Meanwhile, the Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) program, started by the SANS Institute in the late 1990s, is respected and recognized by many large corporations and government agencies, including the National Security Agency. One of its many certifications, the GIAC Mobile Device Security Analyst (GMOB), is a foundation-level cert for professionals who analyze mobile devices for security vulnerabilities and perform penetration tests. The certification requires candidates to have deep knowledge of mobile app vulnerabilities and threats, mobile device architecture and features, attacks against devices and security techniques. Candidates must pass one exam, either at the conclusion of a SANS training course (SEC575: Mobile Device Security and Ethical Hacking, typically $5,095 for six days) or by signing up directly through GIAC (referred to as a challenge exam). The exam costs $599 if taken in conjunction with training or $1,049 as a challenge exam. Auditors and networking/security professionals might be interested in the SEC571: Mobile Device Security, which SANS offers for continuing education credits rather than full certification. The course covers mobile environment threats and vulnerabilities, legal issues, policies and controls. Pricing ranges from $700 to $1,000 per seat at conferences; for onsite pricing, contact SANS. Aside from application development, mobile networking and securing mobile devices and apps, other mobility-related certifications reach into mobile workforce solutions and mobile forensics. VMware is one of the most recognized names in the virtualization industry, and its relatively new VMware Certified Associate - Workforce Mobility (VCA-WM) certification is an associate-level credential geared toward sales representatives and solution designers of mobile workforce and end user computing. A VCA-WM knows how to match VMware products such as vSphere and Horizon Suite to business use cases. Candidates can take a free Workforce Mobility Fundamentals self-paced training course through VMware, which is a nice value-add. The VCA-WM exam (VCAW510) is available through Pearson VUE. Oracle has a workforce credential as well: the Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2 Implementation Essentials. This single-exam, specialist certification focuses on resources needed by mobile work crews, along with scheduling, dispatching, alerting systems and the types of mobile devices these workers use. The $50 exam is also delivered by Pearson VUE. Finally, AccessData, a maker of digital forensic software such as FTK, offers the AccessData Mobile Examiner (AME) certification, among several other forensics-related credentials. The AME tests a candidate's ability to use the Mobile Phone Examiner Plus software, as well as knowledge of cellular networks, forensic procedures and technologies. The company recommends a full training course or a QuickStart, both offered by AccessData, to prepare for the AME exam. Copyright © 2014 IDG Communications, Inc. Some of you may find this interesting, and some of you may have already seen this mentioned on the Cisco Learning Network. Apparently Fastlane, a Cisco Learning Solutions Partner, has announced the courses in the CCNP Wireless before Cisco has gotten around to doing this. In fact, it appears they are already selling the class before other training partners are able to sell the class. Sounds like a great deal for Fastlane. In the first line of the email the call themselves a "trusted Cisco Learning Solutions Partner." Seems funny to say that when Cisco can't trust them to keep a lid on things until the official release. Also seems like an unfair advantage for Fastlane. I wonder what Cisco thinks about it. Anyhow, the Link to the thread on CLN is here, and the link to announcement from Fastlane is here. Apparently the courses include the following: Conducting Cisco Unified Wireless Site Survey (CUWSS) v1.0 Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Mobility Services (IUWMS) v1.0 Implementing Advanced Cisco Unified Wireless Security (IAUWS) v1.0 Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Voice Networks (IUWVN) v1.0 In my opinion its a pretty cool track. Looks like more fun stuff to prep for in the future. Cisco IT certifications are often found sprinkling the lists of the highest paying certifications in the industry. If you're looking at getting certified, take a look at this guide to Cisco IT certifications. Are you thinking about expanding your resume with a new certification? Cisco IT certifications are often found sprinkling the lists of the highest paying certifications in the industry. Cisco is the long-standing industry leader in designing and manufacturing network equipment. Whether you're thinking of specializing in working with Cisco products or just broadening your overall skill-set, the ubiquity of Cisco's products and services makes the company's IT certifications an important part of developing your basic skills as an IT professional. Cisco offers exams at four primary levels of IT certification - Entry, Associate, Professional, and Expert. There are additional tests available at Technician, Specialist and Architect levels. In this post, we're going to focus on certifications at the Entry, Associate, and Professional levels, because if you're an expert already you probably don't need a guide! Let's look at each of those exams in more depth. What does it prove? This certification proves the tester's understanding of basic networking technologies in relation to the 9 paths (security, wireless technology, routing and switching, etc.). It forms the foundation for future certifications, and provides a breadth of knowledge for you to then select a specialty. What test do I have to take? 640-822 (ICND1) - Study material available online. Are there prerequisites? This test does not have any prerequisites. What does it prove? This certification proves the tester's ability to install, monitor and troubleshoot network infrastructure. Recipients of this certification are trusted to be able to perform the day-to-day tasks of a network administrator, with a focus on routing and switching. What test do I have to take? You may choose to take the 640-802 CCNA exam or both the 640-822 ICND1 and 640-816 ICND2 exams. Online study materials are available for the 640-802 CCNA exam, 640-822 ICND1 exam, and 640-816 ICND2 exam. What does it prove? This certification proves the tester's ability to design robust routed and switched network infrastructure for companies of any size. If taken by an individual with existing network engineering abilities, this certification proves that this engineering expertise is backed up with a networking design background. This helps in the daily configuration and troubleshooting tasks of network engineers. What test do I have to take? 640-863 DESIGN - Study material available online. Are there prerequisites? This test does not have any prerequisites, but an understanding of the material covered in the CCNA and CCNP tests is recommended. What does it prove? This certification proves the tester's competency in installing and monitoring Cisco security technologies. The tester has received an introduction into security technologies, and is able to perform the daily tasks of a network security specialist and administrator. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCNA or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNA security certification exam. What does it prove? This certification proves the tester's ability to use Cisco equipment to implement, configure and support wireless LANs. The tester is able to perform the daily tasks of a wireless network administrator. What test do I have to take? IUWNE 640-722 (Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Networking Essentials) - Training available online. What does it prove? The tester is prepared for a career in voice networking, and equipped with the necessary skills including managing and supporting voice networks and applications. The tester has a basic understanding of VoIP technologies such as handsets, call control, messaging, etc. What test do I have to take? 640-461 ICOMM (Introducing Cisco Voice and Unified Communications Administration) v8.0 - Online training available. What does it prove? The tester is prepared for a career in voice networking, and equipped with the necessary skills including implementing, operating, and troubleshooting a converged IP network. The tester has a thorough understanding of quality of service (QoS), gateways, gatekeepers, IP phones, voice applications and utilities on Cisco routers and Cisco Catalyst switches. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up to date CCNA Voice certification or any CCIE Certification. What does it prove? The CCNA Data Center certification is focused on training data center professional for work in their field. The tester is prepared to work as a data center professional designing, installing and maintaining data centers. Average Salary for Certification holder: Not available. What does it prove? The CCNP Data Center Certification proves the experienced data center professional's ability to design, implement, and troubleshoot data centers. Like the CCNA Data Center certification, the CCNP Data Center certification is designed to provide on-the-job skill building for those studying for it. What test do I have to take? Many of the required tests are being retired in early 2013. We've chosen not to list these here. 642-999 DCUCI v5.0 and 642-997 DCUFI v5.0 and 642-998 DCUCD v5.0 and 642-996 DCUFD v5.0 or 642-035 DCUCT v5.0 and 642-980 DCUFT v5.0. For a full list of exams, including the ones that will be retired in early 2013, click here. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCNA Data Center certification, or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNP Data Center certification. What does it prove? The tester is prepared to work as a network engineer on next generation service provider networks. The tester has acquired the necessary skills to configure, optimize and problem solve service provider network environments. What test do I have to take? 640-875 SPNGN1 and 640-878 SPNGN2 (Building Cisco Service Provider Next-Generation Networks). Click the test name for available online training. What does it prove? The tester is prepared to work as a Tier I support engineer, understanding how to troubleshoot, configure, change and manage the performance of the environment within an IP NGN core network infrastructure. What test do I have to take? 640-760 SSPO (Supporting Cisco Service Provider IP NGN Operations). Online training resources available. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCENT, CCNA, or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNA Service Provider Operations exam. What does it prove? The tester is prepared to work with specialists on advanced technologies, such as security, wireless, voice, etc. The tester is equipped with the necessary implementing, verifying and troubleshooting skills to work with local and wide-area networks as a technician, support engineer, system engineer or network engineer. What test do I have to take? 642-902 ROUTE (Implementing Cisco IP Routing), 642-813 SWITCH (Implementing Cisco IP Switched Networks, 642-832 TSHOOT Troubleshooting and Maintaining Cisco IP Networks - Online training available. Click test names to see online training options. What does it prove? The CCNA Service Provider certification proves the certificate-holder's basic knowledge of incident, fault, configuration, change and performance management procedures, as well as NMS tools and protocols. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have one of the following: any valid cisco CCENT, CCNA or CCIE before taking the CCNA Service Provider Operations exam. What does it prove? The tester is able to understand and implement intelligent network design architectures for enterprises. The tester will be able to articulate their plan and implement it to create secure, multi-layered network systems. Tester's abilities extend to virtual private networking and wireless domains, as well as building scalable internetworks, multilayer switched networks and designing network service architectures. What test do I have to take? 642-902 ROUTE (Implementing Cisco IP Routing), 642-813 SWITCH (Implementing Cisco IP Switched Networks), ARCH (Designing Cisco Network Service Architectures). - Online training available. Click test names to see online training options. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCDA and CCNA certifications or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCDP security certification exam. What does it prove? The tester will have the necessary skills to perform the on-the-job tasks required from a network security engineer. CCNP Security professionals are able to test, deploy, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot Cisco compliances and iOS features. What test do I have to take? 642-637 SECURE v1.0 (Secure v1.0 Securing Networks with Cisco Routers and Switches), 642-618 FIREWALL v2.0 (Deploying Cisco ASA Firewall Solutions), 642-648 VPN v2.0 (Deploying Cisco ASA VPN Solutions), 642-627 IPS v7.0 (Implementing Cisco Intrusion Prevention System v7.0). - Online training available. Click test names to see online training options. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCNA Security certification, or CCSP certification, or CCNA certification and SND exam pass. What does it prove? The tester will understand how to conduct a wireless site survey, integrate voice over wireless LAN services and mobility services into a wireless LAN, as well as ensure the proper implementation of a security standard into the wireless environment. Testers will be knowledgeable about wireless networking on an advanced level. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCNA certifications or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNP wireless exam. What does it prove? The tester will gain the on-the-job skills required to implement, verify, troubleshoot, and optimize the service provider network environment. This certification enables the tester to deliver scalable, optimized network architectures for enterprises. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCNA Service Provider certification, or CCNA Routing & Switching and passed a minimum of 1 CCIP exam), or CCIP, or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNP wireless exam. Average Salary for Certification holder: Certified CCNP network engineers earn $56,422 to $80,408; information technology managers earn $65,274 to $96,075.14. What does it prove? The tester will be able to understand how to identify and isolate network performance problems and identify solutions by implementing effective network management processes and policies. CCNP Service Provider Operations individuals will be able to work at the level of a Tier II or Tier III support engineer on IP NGN core network infrastructures. What tests do I have to take? 642-770 OFCN Prep (Operational Foundations for Cisco Service Provider Core Networks), 642-775 MSPRP Prep (Maintaining Cisco Service Provider Routing Protocols), 642-780 MSPVM Prep (Maintaining Cisco Service Provider VPNs and MPLS Networks), 642-785 MSPQS Prep (Maintaining Cisco Service Provider Quality of Service). - Online training available. Click test names to see online training options. Are there prerequisites? Testers are required to have either an up-to-date CCNA Service Provider Operations certification, or any Cisco CCIE Certification before taking the CCNP Service Provider Operations Certification. Average Salary for Certification holder: Certified CCNP network engineers earn $56,422 to $80,408; information technology managers earn $65,274 to $96,075.16.

2019-04-20T08:13:35Z

http://www.partillerocken.com/certs.php?exam=642-746

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Focus ligt op medicijnen en biotechnologie. De voorkeur gaat uit naar seed, start en vroege fase en tevens expansie of herfinanciering waarbij een rol als aandeelhouder, commissaris of mede directeur vervuld wordt. Bekende participaties: Vivendy Therapeutics, i-Optics, To-BBB, ProtAffin Biotechnologie AG, f-star GmbH, Aquapharm BioDiscovery, ActoGeniX en Affectis Pharmaceuticals AG. Aglaia identifies groundbreaking opportunities in cancer research and, in close partnerships with inventors and entrepreneurs, takes these opportunities to the next phase of technical and commercial development. Aglaia is founded on the principle that the willingness to take risks on the very early stage ventures of today results in opportunities that may grow into the winning companies of tomorrow. All4Funding is a crowdfunding platform. All4Funding gives you the opportunity to raise capital from € 25.000 and up. Amerborgh International N.V. specialises in investing and acquiring stakes in companies, asset management, cross-media expenditure, hotel operations and property development. The company is also involved in activities related to the arts and culture. Amerborgh International N.V. is active in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the Netherlands Antilles. De Amsterdam Economic Board is opgericht door overheden, bedrijfsleven en kennisinstellingen in de Metropoolregio Amsterdam. De regio heeft alles in huis om een innovatieve en economisch sterke regio te zijn. Met sterke clusters waarmee de regio nationaal en internationaal een voortrekkersrol kan spelen. De AEB richt zich op de volgende clusters: Creative Industries, ICT/e-science, financial & business services, life sciences & health, horticulture & agrifood, tourism & conferences, logistics, high tech materials. De Board bestaat uit vooraanstaande CEO’s, wetenschappers en bestuurders die samen de strategie voor de economische ontwikkeling van de regio bepalen. Deze strategie is vastgelegd in de Kennis & Innovatieagenda en het Boardplan 2014-2020.Missie, Duurzame economische groei en innovatie in de Amsterdamse metropoolregio, Stimuleren van samenwerking tussen ondernemers, kennisinstellingen en overheid. Wegnemen van obstakels die de groei van kansrijke clusters belemmeren.Doel, Amsterdam in de top 5 van sterke Europese vestigingsregio’s en daarmee een positie veroveren als global business hub: een knooppunt van handel, mensen en informatie. Groei van welvaart en werkgelegenheid. Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (Amsterdam Fund for Arts) offers a variety of subsidy possibilities to cultural organisations and artists. The Amsterdam Climate & Energy Fund (AKEF) was founded with the primary objective of contributing to the sustainability goals of the City of Amsterdam. AKEF provides capital in the form of loans, guarantees and/or capital shares with a maximum of €5 million per project. We provide only market financing and are not a subsidy provider. In order to qualify, projects must demonstrably contribute and comply with the goals of the Energy Strategy of Amsterdam for 2040. Anders Invest focuses on companies with 15 or more employees and/or turnover above €2M. Anders invests mainly in production and technical companies. Antea provides capital to early stage companies. Antea looks for companies with a track record of a few years and high growth potential. Aquarii is a Dutch early-stage investment fund aimed at growth acceleration of innovative Internet start-ups in the Benelux by providing seed / venture capital and management support. The fund was founded mid 2009 by Robbert Visser, an informal investor with background in strategy consulting and online marketing. Astor invests in established companies. The focus of Astor is to invest in companies that also need support on other topics, like growth or pivots. Astor takes a share of 20% to a majority share. Atomico invests in disruptive technology companies with ambitious founders from Series A onwards. Our experienced team includes entrepreneurs and executives from the world's most successful technology firms who partner with our companies as they scale to become global winners. Avedon Capital Partners is a growth investor passionate about supporting exceptional entrepreneurs and management teams of high growth companies to realise their fast track ambitions in partnership. Axivate Capital is an entrepreneurial private equity firm that backs international growth and value creation for Dutch and European companies in the fields of Digital Media, e-Commerce, Internet, and Leisure. Aygodutch is a crowdfunding platform for established SMEs. Aygodutch helps you to make a succesful campaign. BKN offers a risksharing loan and coaching for start-ups and scale-ups in the barging sector, or innovating this sector. BioGeneration Ventures actively invests venture capital in the next generation of successful Biotech companies in Europe with a focus on The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Boeg Knowledge and Capital actively participates in young companies that demonstrably possess the qualities to come up with the right short-term input in an acceleration of growth. BMKB is a government guaranteed loan. You can use this scheme if you want to take out a loan but do not have sufficient collateral for the bank. The guarantee is up to € 1.5M. Bouwaandeel makes investing in real estate approachable. The platform brings investors and real estate entrepreneurs together. The finance helps with building projects and delivers a good rate of return. BrightVentures is a Dutch early stage venture firm and growth fund for technology-driven businesses with an inspiring team and scalable concept. BrightVentures is aimed at growth acceleration by providing seed / venture capital and entrepreneurial mentoring. The fund was founded in 2012 by Paul Montagne, an informal investor and competent internet entrepreneur with proven track record in online marketing, product development, business development and fundraising. Brooklyn Ventures invests in the sectors Oil & Gas, Hightech machinery, apps & M-commerce, telecommunications. Brooklyn Ventures has no preference for the current stage of your company. Bdiv is a boutique business development and innovation venturing firm. Participating in the generation of great, growing companies of lasting value is Bdiv’s ultimate objective. Bdiv is focused on early stage ventures, entering as early as pre-seed phase. Yet, technology fundamentals are typically in place. In such ventures, Bdiv seeks active participation as well as an advisory role. Capital Circle is a crowdfund platform where Dutch SME's and investors can find eachother. It offers a platform for matured enterprises with a proven and solid financial background, sufficient borrowing capacity and a thorough thought plan. Capital Mills provides development and growth capital in an early stage. Their expertise is particularly in the fields of IT, tech, healthy living, leisure and education. Shared Value (being good for society and nature) is central to the investment strategy of Capital Mills. CapitalOnStage brengt investeerders (20) samen met een grote selectie (200) van (voornamelijk Europese) internet startup CEO's / oprichters die geïnteresseerd zijn om gefinancierd te worden. Investeerders hebben de mogelijkheid om een vijf-minuten durende presentatie voor een niche publiek van ongeveer 200 Startups te geven. Hierin verteld de investeerder in het kort de beleggingsstrategie, de markten waarin hij of zij investeert, en wat de investeerder ter tafel brengt om Startups naast contant geld voor ondersteuning te leveren. Dit geeft Startups beter inzicht in wat voor een investeerder (of fonds) de Startup gefinancierd wordt. Is geen investeerder maar brengt investeerders samen met bedrijven. Richt zich alleen op internet startups. Capricorn Venture Partners manages venture capital funds, investing in companies based on technology. Capricorn focuses on Chemistry, Cleantech, Health and IT. Chrysalix is a technology focused venture capital company that builds, mentors and connects high-growth companies. Our investments include breakthrough technologies like 3D printing of steel, fast charging electric vehicle infrastructure, emissions-free solar steam, smart mining and nuclear fusion. Clever Clover is a unique start-up accelerator based in Amsterdam. They believe in stimulating innovation in the ‘old economy’ by creating a supportive ecosystem to help new business ideas grow and flourish. Clever Clover invests in innovative start-ups bringing something new to real world business sectors, the so-called ‘old economy’. They provide a modern business accelerator for early stage start-ups, entrepreneurs and small companies. Their unique proposition is based on the longer maturity cycle of traditional sectors and is built on three components: Investment ,Knowledge,Opportunity. Bekende participaties: Clicktight, Apha Republic, Sportvideos365, Adoptiq, Flying Tent, App Tomorrow, Fly Fit, The Thinking, Beloved, Kaahée, Scoot And Ride, Jutter Speijs. Collin Crowdfund is a crowdfunding platform for SME's in the Netherlands. Collin Crowdfund can bring you in contact with almost 9.000 investors. Compoworld stimulates and facilitates innovations in composites in Northern Flevoland. Compoworld provides an incubator and can give support to innovative projects with multiple partners up to € 60K. Cottonwood Technology Funds (CTF) are seed and pre-seed-stage technology commercialization funds. CTF is an international fund with locations in Enschede (NL) and New Mexico (USA). CrowdAboutNow is a crowdfunding platform where you can get funding in the form of equity funding, loans, reward and donations. Crowdpartners is a crowdfunding platform. Unique about Crowdpartners is that consumers can also raise funding for real estate. De Friesland Participatiefonds invests in technological innovation in healthcare. They focus on early stage companies looking for funding for product development or market introduction. De Hoge Dennen Capital is een onafhankelijke investeringsmaatschappij en investeert per participatie ten minste € 4 miljoen. De focus ligt op middelgrote bedrijven met de hoofdvestiging in Nederland, die zich onderscheiden door een ambitieus management en goede groeiperspectieven. De Hoge Dennen Capital richt zich op ondernemingen met een omzet van € 10 tot € 150 miljoen actief in handel, industrie of dienstverlening. Het accent van de investeringen ligt op buy-outs en expansiefinanciering. De Hoge Dennen Capital investeert niet in: start ups of jonge ondernemingen, ondernemingen die actief zijn in de tabaks-, wapen-, gok- of sexindustrie. Bekende participaties: Lightronics, Mennens, Excent, Star Group, Robidus, Toys “R” Us. Are you looking for capital, but also for an extensive network nd knowledge? De Investeerders Club is an informal investor network with more than 50 members. They invest in almost every sector in early stage ventures. De Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij Flevoland (OMFL) is betrokken bij het verstrekken van kapitaal aan ondernemingen in Flevoland in seed, start, early en turnaround fase. De maatschappij verstrekt niet rechtstreeks kapitaal maar neemt deel in het MKB Fonds Flevoland en Technofonds Flevoland (mede gefinancierd met Europese gelden, EFRO Fonds). De participaties zitten tussen € 100K en € 350K in de sectoren industrie, life science en informatica waarbij een adviseurs of commissaris rol vervuld wordt., Uitgesloten zijn Horeca en B2C. DHG Investments is a venture capital company that helps entrepreneurs from the marketing communication, media, online and the printing industry forward with venture capital, knowledge and entrepreneurship. DHI is a subsidy for demonstration projects, feasibility studies and investment preparation studies. The goal is to increase the number of succesful companies to do international business. DOEN Participaties financiert projecten met een maatschappelijk sociaal belang. Een project mag niet louter commercieel zijn. DOEN Participaties BV is het investeringsfonds van Stichting DOEN op het gebied van innovatieve, duurzame toepassingen en producten.DOEN Participaties BV participeert samen met vier andere fondsen in investeringsmaatschappijen en bedrijven, zodat Stichting DOEN beter kan inspelen op de vraag naar grote investeringen en eventuele risico’s niet alleen draagt. DSM Ventures is the venturing activity from DSM. They invest up to € 5M in Nutrition, biomedic and solar energy. The resources of DSM are available to companies invested in. DTIF offers loans, guarantees and export financing for Dutch companies to invest or export abroad. Crowdfunding platform for financing projects on sustainable energy generation and energy saving projects. DE-on helps entrepreneurs in Flevoland to develop, realise and fund sustainable energy projects or energy saving projects. DE-on only invests as co-investor. Ecart focuses on medium-sized Dutch companies. Our investments – by way of shares or venture capital – range from EUR 1.0 million to EUR 6.0 million euros per participation. Ecart specialises in IT, HR, manufacturing and packaging. Globally recognized as a pioneer and leader in industial technology investments, since 2000 Emerald has backed more than 50 outstanding enrepreneurs, partnered with dozens of multination corporations on open innovation and mnaged investment mandates and funds for investors and governments alike. Enabling Technology Fund invests in companies that develop technologies as a basis for new products or services. Van den Ende & Deitmers investeert in West- Europese bedrijven met internationale groeipotentie. Het crossmedia fund richt zich op telecom, televisie, media, entertainment, gaming en internet. Het crossmedia fund investeert in ondernemingen die, ongeacht de omvang, actief zijn in genoemde sectoren en hanteert daarbij de volgende criteria: groeipotentie, bewezen business modellen, vaste omzet, bestaand klantenbestand en excellent management-team. Het crossborder fund investeert in ondernemingen die zich, ongeacht de sector waarin zij actief zijn, in de thuismarkt al hebben bewezen en die via een buy & build strategie internationaal willen groeien. De volgende criteria zijn hierbij van toepassing: bewezen positie in thuismarkt, internationale groeipotentie, innovatief en onderscheidend, 'out-of-the-box' denkende ondernemers. De investeringen zijn gekoppeld aan het vormen van een partnership met de ondernemer(s) en met maximaal een of twee andere investeerders. De gewenste rol is niet bekend. Bekende participaties: CBV, Eyeworks, Masmedia, Advance, Bright, Hyves, Accepte, Albumprinter, Central Point en Unamic. With the Energie Investeringsaftrek (EIA) it's possible to invest in sustainable techniques and sustainable energy. You can substract 55% of the investment from your fiscal earnings, on top of your regular depreciation. Enthri invest in young innovative companies. Enthri aims for a minority stake and an investment period of 3-5 years. eVentures is a private venture capital company focussed on digital media. It particpates and provides financial and managerial support, including advisory board roles and active coaching. focus on game changing early stage startups in software based infrastructures, specifically in backup, security, storage, virtualization, networking and cloud. EVO Venture Partners adds value through knowledge, network and experience in addition to seed capital. Filsa focuses on early-stage, fast growing, companies in the Cleantech, Telecommunications, Internet or IT sector which acquire market share with innovative products / services in the Business to Business (B2B) market and which have plans to expand into other countries. Filsa strives for an investment of between 5-15% in the share capital of the company in conjunction with a role as advisor to the management of the company. MKB Impulsfonds supports SMEs that need to finance their growth, need extra working capital or are looking for refinancing. MKB Impulsfonds does this in the form of a loan. Finker Finance is a privat investment company and specialises in opportunity-financing in real estate. Finker gives temporary capital (max 5 years), so that entrepreneurs can seize opportunities. Finles Next Generation Fund offers growth-funding for companies to make the step from a startup to a scaleup. FLOO is a subsidy which allows entrepreneurs to use consultants for a reduced price. The advice should be used for developing an idea and should aim at the sectors sustainability, life sciences and energy. The subsidy amounts to 50% of the costs of a consultancy trajectory, with a max of € 5K. Floriade Werkt! Offers companies in Flevoland an opportunity to receive subsidy for testing and demonstrating innovations in the areas of interest to Floriade. The Fund for Culture and Finance provides loans for cultural and art companies between 10K and 40K. Funding Circle is the biggest online creditmarket in the world. It links entrepreneurs to investors. The company should exist for more than two years and have a positive results. The GO facility is designed for large and mediumsized businesses affected by the crisis. A 50% state guarantee makes it easier for banks to provide substantial loans to businesses. Geldvoorelkaar is a crowdlending platform where you can attract between € 5K and € 5M of capital. Gilde Healthcare's venture & growth capital fund invests in medtech, diagnostics, digital health and therapeutics. Gilde Healthcare is actively involved in the portfolio companies. Gimv mainly focuses on innovative companies with strong potential, both young companies with strong growth ambitions and established companies looking for fresh capital. Gimv is looking for a role as an active shareholder involved in the board. GO Investments is an independent 'hands-on' investment firm. Focussed on small to medium sized enterprises. By providing capital and/or management time, GO Investments actively participates in its portfolio companies. Goal is to help companies grow their business or restructure their business into financially healthy and succesfull enterprises. Greencrowd is a crowdfunding platform for substainable energy projects. Driven by love and passion voor the human being and environment. Trust is very important in our company. Also loans are cost-free to redeem and the cost-structure is transparent. The programme 'Groeifaciliteit' helps companies to attract risk capital. The Ministery of Economic Affairs provides guaranties for 50% on subordinated loans from banks and equity from investment funds. H2 Equity Partners investeert in mid-sized bedrijven in de Benelux, Duitsland en UK. De participaties hebben een omvang tussen € 10 miljoen en € 50 miljoen. Er is geen specifieke sectorvoorkeur, de focus ligt op merken/ reputaties en branding. Er wordt geïnvesteerd in groei, buy-out, herfinanciering en turn-around. De gewenste rol is nader te bepalen. Mail Brian (27/7): heeft zich twee keer ingekocht in de sector automotive. 80% in Sator Holding (een distribiteur van auto-onderdelen en gereedschappen) en vorig jaar een aandelenpakket in Pouw Automotive. Ambitie verdrievoudigd tot 1 mrd EURO in 2011. Bekende participaties: energiQ, Pouw Automotive Groep, Evenementenhal Holding, Foreign Media Group, Workx, Eska Graphic Board, ATAG Heating Group, Oilily Holding, Spijker Holding. HB Capital is de investeringsmaatschappij van de familie Blokker. Zij investeert onder meer in private middelgrote en grote ondernemingen met een ervaren managementteam en sterke marktpositie in diverse sectoren binnen de Benelux. De investeringsmaatschappij heeft een lange termijn focus en een pro actieve rol als aandeelhouder. Investeringen worden aangewend als groeikapitaal, balansversterking of voor de uitkoop van aandeelhouder(s), waarbij HB Capital zowel een minderheidsbelang als een meerderheidsbelang kan verwerven. Als familie gerelateerde investeerder kan HB Capital het management ondersteunen bij: strategie, managementvraagstukken, financiering met eigen en vreemd vermogen, acquisities en financieel management, zonder op de stoel van de ondernemer plaats te nemen. HB Capital richt zich op ondernemingen met een waarde van ten minste € 40 miljoen, waarbij zowel zelfstandig als in combinatie met gelijkgezinde partners wordt geïnvesteerd. Health Innovations invests in technology driven start ups in healthcare, especially in medical devices and services companies. HenQ invests in innovative companies in niche sectors based on software/IT. HenQ prefers B2B companies. When you are working in a consortium to develop and test new technologies for renewable energy, this subsidy might be useful to you. gives businesses the opportunity to invest in expensive production equipment when banks and other investors cannot participate yet. High Tech Fund primarily invests in the domain of high tech systems and materials, medical technology, and chemical technology or cross-overs. Holland Venture invests in promising Dutch companies operating in the Healthcare and Technology sectors. Horeca Crowdfunding is a crowdfunding platform that solely finances the hospitality branche. Supporting interesting and new startups in attracting finance because it is hard for them to get a loan. Horizon 2020 is the European Commission programme for financing European research and innovation projects. The project should be a collaboration between a research institute and an entrepreneur. ICOS Capital invests in cleantech. ICOS Capital integrates the classical venture capital approach with the market experience, market access and technical expertise of larger corporations, such as BAM and Corbion. ICOS takes a minority share in the company for the investment. IKEA GreenTech supports entrepreneurial companies in the cleantech sector with capital, in-depth knowledge of the IKEA-sphere and its customers. IKEA GreenTech wants a minimum of 10% ownership. Index Ventures supllies pre-seed funding into the first round investment. ICN provides growth funding and turnaround financing from her network of informal investors. ICN focuses on investments ranging from 500K to 10M. Innovatiebox is a special contruct in corporate income tax. The earnings on the results of R&D activities and patents are eligible for the Innovatiebox. On these earnings, a effective taxation applies of 5%. With the innovation credit the Innovatiekrediet gives SMEs financial support for risky innovation projects. For this scheme, only those projects are eligible which are technologically innovative and unique to the Netherlands. The credit amounts 25-45% of the development costs. The Innovation Fund Chemistry intends to promote cooperation and transfer of knowledge between universities and companies. The fund has four categories, specifications differ for each of these. Innovation Industries are mainly interested in technologies that are in the nascent stages of development. Nevertheless they don't rule out later stage companies. Innovation Industries concentrates on bringing disruptive innovations to market in life sciences, physical sciences (physics and chemistry), and information technology, and specialize in the spaces where they converge. InvestInFuture aims to contribute to sustainable and powerful entrepreneurship in which young people and the future are important. Therefore, InvestInFuture invests in innovative companies of which the entrepreneur(s) are aged under 30 and/or companies that provide innovative products for young people. Investormatch is an intermediary platform to help you find capital. Investormatch offers a combination of crowdfunding and a big network (1.000+) of informal investors. Iris Capital is an international venture capital company interested in product and service companies as well as enabling technologies in our areas of interest: digital economy, and among others, social and new digital media, Internet and mobile services, Cloud Computing, new networking and softwware technologies. Iron Investments focuses on companies in IT and Safety & Security and have high growth potential. Jeroen Kool Investments participates in startups and scaleups in The Netherlands. Jeroen Kool prefers technology and software based companies. Jonghoud invests in companies in healthcare, pharma and biotech industry. Jonghoud has specialist knowledge of these sectors. Keadyn has a passionate entrepreneurial culture and is looking to invest and add value to early-stage startups with great teams that act lean, think big and move fast. The focus areas include fintech, marketplaces and ecommerce. Stimulating innovation for the development of products and services, and the promotion of the availability of capital for innovative starters and growing SME's. Kapitaal op Maat is a crowdlending platform. Kapitaal op Maat has more than 3.500 active investors. KEEN backs the best teams in European innovation clusters with a particular focus on cross-atlantic market-entry opportunities. KEEN is interested in investing in software based companies, especially in communication. KIC was founded by the European Institute for Innovation and Technology. It finances up to €500.000 for innovations in the field of substainable energy, as well as providing coaching and business development advice. Kickstarter is a global crowdfunding community built around creativity and creative projects. KIKK invests in young companies who just launched a new product, proces or service. The company should be based on a technology. Kima Ventures is one of the world's most active early-stage investors, investing in 2 to 3 startups per week all over the world; providing founders with funding, network and support for them to reach the next steps of their journey. Knab, powered by Collin brings entrepreneurs and investors together. Investments start from 100 euros and is only for entrepreneurs that have a financing need of 50.000 - 1.000.000 euros. During this trajectory entrepreneurs are coached by a professional Collin Crowdfund Coach. KPN Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of KPN. KPN Ventures invests in companies with innovative products and business models to create technological and economical synergies with KPN and its customers. Kredietunie Almere supplies loans to entrepreneurs in or associated to Almere. An entrance fee is required and future participation in the kredietunie is expected. Kredietunie Gooi en Vechtstreek is a loan from MKB investors to innovative companies looking to scale-up. Companies are expected to join the Kredietunie for future investment opportunities. Kredietunie Zaanstad supplies loans to entrepreneurs in or associated to Zaanstad. An entrance fee is required and future participation in the kredietunie is expected. Leapfunder makes investing in startups simple, giving Angel investors access to promising startups and a steady deal-flow. This lowers the barrier to making informed and uncomplicated investing decisions. Het Life Sciences Fund Amsterdam is een onafhankelijk venture capital fonds gericht op (pre) seed- start- en earlystage financiering van biotech, farmacie, life sciences en hoog technologische bedrijven. De participatiegrootte varieert tot circa € 500K. Het fonds is gericht op de Amsterdamse metropool regio en de gewenste rol is nader te bepalen. Bekende participaties: AIMM Therapeutics, Sigmascreening en, Regenesance. Linden Mobile Ventures invests in start-up companies in the sectors mobile internet applications, e-commerce, cloud based software and gaming. Lovetofund brings entrepreneurs and investors together and support entrepreneurs in financing their plans. Mostly for entpreneurs in the region "Zwolle". Supporting the growth of this region and a fair chance for good projects. Life Sciences Partners is een Europese venture capital ondernemingen in life sciences. De LSP-fondsen verschaffen private equity financieringen aan “early stage en mid-stage” ondernemingen in biotechnologie, voeding/drank/levensmiddelen en in de farmaceutische industrie. Het Seed Fund III C.V. is een institutioneel fonds en gespecialiseerd in life sciences. Er wordt €500K tot meer dan €5 miljoen geïnvesteerd in bedrijven in Noord-Amerika en Europa. Bekende participaties: ActoGenix, Affectis Pharmaceutical. MIF II focuses on innovation in Logistics, Transport and Aviation. This includes but is not limited to the following themes: Sustainable infrastructure and materials, connectivity, mobility, intermodal transport, energy, digitization, internet of things, security & safety, seamless travel and big data. We invest both in the B2B and B2C space. MIF II invests in innovative technology companies that are gaining traction and are looking for funding, expertise and network to speed up their growth. MIF II aims to acquire a substantial minority interest in its portfolio companies. The goal of Massafinanciering is to finance entrepreneurs against a market conform and decent interest. Their preference is to finance these investments from bank credit. Matchinvest is a platform where entrepreneurs can present their company to a group of investors. MedSciences Capital focuses on therapeutics, diagnostics and medical technology products based on proprietary technology and products that address real medical needs. Merck Ventures backs entrepreneurs through equity investments and hands on support in fields that could impact the vitality and sustainability of Merck’s current and future businesses. Merck Ventures invests in healthcare, life sciences and performance materials. The Mibiton Funds focuses on investing in young spin-off companies to use facilities and machines. Mibiton focuses of Life Sciences companies. Midtop Holding BV is an independent Dutch company that focusses on participation in small and medium-sized companies. MindHunter is an investorsnetwork where entrepreneurs are linked to investors. Scale-up focus for growpotentials. Mindhunter is an intermediary between entrepreneurs and investors. Mindhunter focuses on companies with earnings of € 1M and up. The MKB & Technofonds Flevoland invests in innovative companies in Flevoland. The fund invests in equity or loans up to € 500 K. MKB innovation and stimulation of the top sectors, is aimed at collkecting money for stimulating the innovation. The goal of the MIT-regulation is to stimulate the innovation over the region boundaroes. Money Meets Ideas is an informal investing platform where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a group of informal investors. Moneybrothers offers entrepreneurs crowdfunding loans varying 20.000 - 500.000, with a leadtime from 6 months - 10 years. Navus Ventures is an independent venture capital firm investing in seed and early stage companies in high tech and sustainable technologies. The NFF is the national agency responsible for supporting film production and film related activities in the Netherlands. Neos is an alternative financing platform that is established to provide loans to profitable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Netspider Capital focuses on seed investments that are challenging large markets by means of disruptive business models or innovative technologies. Netspider Capital focuses only on B2B. Newion invests in early stage or expansion stage business technology companies concentrating on innovative business-to-business software. newVOC brings entrepreneurs and investors together for investment opportunities. newVOC focuses on technology companies. They also invest in companies by themselves. NextGen Ventures invests in the next generation of technologies. Focus is healthy ageing and health technology. NextStage is an investment fund that invests in young companies in growing markets. NextStage invests mostly in teams with at least one techfounder. Noaber Ventures invests in companies and innovation that create impact, especially in the (e-)health sector. NPEX, the SME exchange for small and medium-sized companies, focusses on companies looking for growth capital from € 500.000 upwards. Companies can issue shares or bonds simply using standard documentation. NPM Capital richt zich op middelgrote ondernemingen in de Benelux. En dan vooral op bedrijven die worden geleid door ondernemende managers. Vaak gaat het om (voormalige) familiebedrijven of onderdelen van grote concerns die marktleider zijn in een bepaalde niche dan wel de potentie hebben dat te worden, en die hun marktpositie in binnen- en buitenland willen uitbouwen. De groei van deze bedrijven krijgt in veel gevallen gestalte via een buy & build strategie die door NPM Capital actief wordt ondersteund. Nieuwe participaties hebben een omvang van minimaal € 20 miljoen en maximaal circa € 500 miljoen en kunnen in beginsel in alle sectoren van de economie plaatsvinden. De gewenste rol is nader te bepalen. Bekende participaties: Koninklijke Auping, Blauwhoed Holding, Care Beheer, Continental Bakeries Holding, Deli Maatschappij, Dujardin Foods, Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé, Independer, Vanderlande Industries. Onderlingkrediet has a goal to intermediate from creditors, lenders and intermediairs to support the fundings of entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding for entrepreneurs and investors that want to contribute to positive change and sustainability. Oneplanetcrowd offers a flexible funding model with convertible loans, loans, rewards and donations. Orange Growth Capital (“OGC”) is a Financial Technology Investment firm. They invest in high growth companies primary in Europe and Asia and prefer to be the first Institutional Investor at a time when there is proof of concept and there are some revenues. The PEDNH was founded to promote innovation in subsainable energy. It focusses on companies in biomass, subsainable construction, wind (at sea) or solar energy. Peak Capital is a Dutch venture capital investment firm that invests capital and pro-active hands-on support in fast growing marketplaces, SaaS and data startups. Percival invests in protected innovations ready for market entry, while offering support in the field of HR, administration, finance and strategy. Plain Vanilla Investments investeert in de sectoren gezondheidzorg en duurzaamheid (energie). De voorkeur gaat uit naar bedrijven in transitie (verzelfstandiging, groei en turn around) met een omzet tot € 50 miljoen en een kapitaalbehoefte tot € 5 miljoen. Plain Vanilla Investments neemt de rol van zittende aandeelhouder of financier over en neemt plaats in het management. Na het (her) inrichten van de organisatie richt Plain Vanilla zich op de groei van de onderneming door het ontwikkelen van nieuwe producten en markten. Investeringen zijn gericht op de lange termijn en vinden overwegend plaats in Nederland. Bekende participaties: Argonaut Advies, Green Square, Kenniscentrum Zorg Nederland, Steenland Chocolate, Statiq Cooling, WOSM. An European subsidiaryprogram for sustainable innovation in agrofood, water, environment. For each region it is determined where the subsidy goes to and on which manner. A leading venture capital and growth equity firm focused on investing in European companies in the technology and related industries. We leverage our capital, experience and network to actively guide them into global category leaders. Qredits offers microcredits up to € 50K and other credits up to € 250K. Qredits has no sector preference. Rabo Private Equity is de afdeling binnen de Rabobank die zich richt op investeringsmogelijkheden voor private equity en venture capital. In Nederland investeren we niet alleen via twee eigen teams vanuit Utrecht in operationele bedrijven, maar ook via verschillende gerenommeerde Nederlandse onafhankelijke partners op het gebied van fondsenbeheer. Onze investeringen in Nederland zijn niet sectorspecifiek. Randstad Innovation Fund (RIF) is a strategic corporate venture fund that supports Randstad's ambition to be a leader in its field. We aim to find early-stage to expansion-stage companies which are strategically relevant to Randstad and take minority participations with venture capital funds or other professional and reputable investors. RIF has created an HR technology portfolio of complementary minority investments over the past years and intends to keep expanding the portfolio. The fund focuses on: online platforms, big data analytics, machine learning and sourcing, screening and selection tools. The Reggeborgh Group is a private investment company and is located in Rijssen. Riverbank is a bank that provides loans to SME's. Riverbank focuses on the Dutch and German market. Interest is between 6-12%. Rockstart helps startups be more successful through funding and mentorship, access to community and office space and events for early stage founders. Rockstart offers a € 20K cash investment and in kind investments such as support, office space etc in its accelerator. Rockstart asks 8% equity in return. Rotterdam Port Fund is an investment fund that provides growth capital to companies with port-related activities. Rotterdam Port Fund can take both majority and minority shares. This form of crowdfunding offers mortgage security against a marktconform interest. Investing in real estate should be clear and transparent. SBIR is a competition. Ministeries or other government institutes can convoke a competition on a specific topic. The best proposal gets the opportunity to execute their plans. SET Ventures manages venture capital funds targeting the Energy Sector. We invest in European early growth-stage companies that can impact the future of the energy markets worldwide. SET Ventures invests up to €6M per portfolio company. Shatho Beheer is an informal investor. Shatho consists of a team of people with a passion for entrepreneurship. From this motive, we support entrepreneurs with the same passion and motivation. Not only with money but also with knowledge and a strong network. We believe in building solid businesses. Our participations are therefore always a longer term investment. "Shift Invest is an early stage venture capital fund that invests in innovations that create environmental or health impact alongside financial return." The aim of Shortcut Ventures is to put young entrepreneurs on the fast lane to success. To this end, we offer venture capital provided by „founders for founders“. Besides the financial resources, we give start-ups direct and personal access to business know-how and the experience of an expert team, from the early stage to the exit. SIDN Fund gives money for projects that make the internet stronger or use the internet in an innovative way. So, through the Fund, we contribute to prosperity and welfare in the Netherlands. We established the Fund in May 2014 with a start-up capital of about 5 million euros. We intend to continue supporting the Fund in the future. SJMG Health Investments is an independent investment corporation that focuses on the Dutch healthcare sector. SJMG focuses on IT initiatives, particularly in the field of eHealth and Digital Health. SJMG also participates in private clinics and treatment centres. Sky Invest is a company dedicated to entrepreneurship. Some would call us serial entrepreneurs, some would call us investors, some would call us incubators. We just think of ourselves as entrepreneurs. Spotcap offers flexible credits to entrepreneurs with a track record. It uses an algorithm to assess the financial position of the applicant. Standard Investment investeert in traditionele handel en productie bedrijven in het MKB waarbij de sector structureel gezond is. De omzet van deze bedrijven ligt in de regel tussen € 5 en € 100 miljoen en de investering wordt gebruikt ter verbetering of groei. Er wordt een actieve rol geambieerd en het hoofdkantoor is gevestigd in Nederland of België. Een specifieke rol is niet bekend. Bekende participaties: Weldimo, Terwa, Metrode Eurolas, Gascare. StartCapital Partners invests in early stage Dutch tech startups. They have no preference for sector. StartGreen Capital manages two Venture Capital funds: the StartGreen Sustainable Innovation Fund and the StartGreen Consumer Products Fund. Both funds have a focus on innovative entrepreneurs aiming to commercialise a sustainable technology or to accelerate its growth. support your ambitions with specialized knowledge of complex financing structures and financial modelling of both debt and equity, or a combination thereof. Solid business financing is essential to fully exploit growth opportunities. Stecc responds to the specific needs, principles and conditions of your organization. We provide services for technology, energy, renewables, and high growth innovative businesses such as in software, internet, and mobile. Taking a pro-active and flexible principal investing approach, this includes supporting start-up and venture development situations, growth capital, project development, private equity buy-outs, and turnarounds where our team has the domain expertise, network, and experience to effect a strong positive impact. De Suikeroom is a Dutch venture capitalfund of informal investors, started by local entrepreneurs from Amsterdam. The DOEN Foundation believes in a green, socially inclusive and creative society. the DOEN Foundation supports over 200 initiatives annually, through subsidies, equity investments, and loans. The national topsector Energy makes € 100M avalaible each year for subsidies on energy innovation. Only partnerships can file a proposal. Independent sustainable growth investors Pulsar Network Capital, which specializes in healthy & sustainable food and nutrition, manages the Sustainable Food Fund: a new impact investment fund with an investment focus on Western-Europe. It is the first growth capital fund in Europe with a 100% focus on healthy and sustainable food. Symbid is a crowdfunding platform based on equity funding. It is one of the first platforms to operate this way. They have supported more than 130 companies to get financed. Early and later stage funding with activities in High-Tech & Smart Products, Nano and micro system technology, Internet of things, Robotics. The Dutch Deal is an online crowdfunding platform. With unique service components as a end-to-end automated financial process, Dutch Deal offers a competitive and innovative platform for entrepreneurs. The Hatch Firm is an Amsterdam based investment company focussed on early stage ventures that are active in the online / mobile sector. Thuja Capital is an independent venture capital firm specialized in investing in early-stage medical product companies for diagnosis, cure, care or prevention. Thuja Capital investeert in early stage healthcare (life science) innovaties met een focus op biotechnology en medische devices. Met het Healthcare Fund wordt geïnvesteerd in start-up en early-stage life science bedrijven in de Benelux. De Universiteit van Utrecht en het University Medical Center zijn co-funders van het fonds. Bekende participaties: AVANTIUM, BIOXELL, BREONICS, COLEY PHARMACEUTICAL GROUP, CURACYTE, DEVELOGEN, ENANTA, GALAPAGOS, INGENIUM, OMRIX. TIIN Capital is a network of informal investors. They invest in early stage companies in IT or Hightech sector. Value Creation Capital funds, supports and guides technology companies, with a focus of software (SaaS) to the next level. Founded in 1983, Van Keep Software BV first invested in Exact Software. After selling its stake in 1993 the company continued investing in startups and informal investment funds. Vectrix investeert geld en arbeid in ondernemingen met aanwijsbaar groeipotentieel. Het fonds is gericht op seed-investeringen, maar treedt ook op als co-investor in groei-investeringen. De voorkeur gaat uit naar investeringen die een sterk groeipotentieel en een gedegen management hebben, nieuwe producten/diensten ontwikkelen en exploiteren, binnen 1 jaar break-even zijn en aanwijsbaar toegevoegde waarde hebben bij het Vectrix netwerk.Met het seed fonds richten wij ons op ondernemingen die met een bijdragen van maximaal € 50.000 (plus de inbreng van diensten uit onze groep) “investor ready” gemaakt kunnen worden. We vinden het belangrijk als er al een eerste prototype of pilot is afgerond.In het verlengde van het Vectrix (pre) seed fonds, participeert Vectrix in ondernemingen tot maximaal € 300.000. VenGen is short for Venture Genesis: the making of a venture. This is exactly what VenGen focuses on: VenGen helps to create successful life science ventures. VentureBuilders searches for attractive opportunities and support a team of entrepreneurs to make a succesfull launch. They also invest € 50K - €100K in seed and early stage companies. De blik van Venturis is primair gericht op lange termijn rendementen van ondernemingen en participeert daarom voor een onbepaalde tijd. Venturis participeert in middelgrote ondernemingen in Nederland en Vlaanderen, met een Enterprise Value tussen € 5 en € 35 miljoen. De bedrijven moeten tenminste € 800K netto winst of € 2 miljoen EBITDA hebben. Venturis heeft geen specifieke industrievoorkeur en kan een rol spelen in: verzelfstandiging, bedrijfsopvolging, groei en buy outsVolledige overnames en meerderheidsbelangen hebben de voorkeur maar in specifieke gevallen behoren ook minderheidsbelangen tot de mogelijkhedenDeelnemingen moeten voldoende mogelijkheden bieden tot waardecreatie d.m.v. groei of een reorganisatie of turnaround, die met de intensieve hulp van Venturis gerealiseerd kan worden. Normaal gesproken worden de mensen zitting in het management team en zijn samen met het zittende management belast met de implementatie van het groei of turnaround programma. Bekende participaties: Extrugroup, The Royal Shoe Company, Installatiebedrijf W.A. Kemkens. VFF is a loan from RVO to give innovative startups and sme's to do a feasibilitystudy for new products. A letter of intent from an investor, who finances a possible follow-up, is needed. Het Victus groei- en buy-out fonds heeft in een korte tijd financiering opgehaald voor participaties met een focus op bedrijven actief in de food & agri sector in de Benelux. Het streven van Victus is om € 75 miljoen te investeren. De financiers van het fonds zijn families en ondernemers, vaak zelf actief of actief geweest in food & agri.Victus werkt intensief samen met operating partners. Dit zijn ondernemers uit de food & agri sector met internationale ervaring in de hele food & agri waardeketen op algemeen, commercieel en operationeel gebied. Zij hebben ook ervaring met overnames, integraties en snelgroeiende bedrijven. De operating partners ondersteunen Victus bij de bedrijven waarin Victus participeert om de gezamenlijke ambities versneld te realiseren.De fondsmanagers zijn Patrick Groeneveld en Guus Overdijkink, beide ervaren investeerders die eerder werkten bij onder andere Nordian Capital en 3i in AmsterdamVictus participeert in bedrijven met een operationele winst vanaf € 1 miljoen. Victus participeert in en met familiebedrijven, dga-geleide bedrijven en directies. De maximale participatie per bedrijf bedraagt € 12 miljoen. De participatie kan zowel minder als meer dan 50% van de aandelen zijn. Victus kan aandelen overnemen van zittende aandeelhouders en zelf groeikapitaal in het bedrijf stoppen. Vitulum Ventures BV is a Dutch micro VC based in Amsterdam. It embodies the collaboration of 6 Dutch angel investors. We look for seed stage deals in promising internet/mobile startups. Our involvement is in the form of a mentoring shareholder. VOC Capital focuses on early-stage investing and prefer to invest in markets where they have direct experience. These include New Media & Consumer, Business Services & Technology, Energy & Resources, Financial Services and Health Care. Our investments in our current fund range in size from €500.000 to €1.500.000. Voordegroei focuses on financial healthy enterprises, which are ready to make the next step with the help of financing. Their mission is to move the capital from the investors to SME's and innovative scale-ups in the Netherlands. The platform for crowdfunding for the creative sector. Realising cultural projects, which are made possible by people whom are interested in these events. Voordekunst gives advice, leads crowdfundingcampagnes and helps the artists and creative sector in reaching their goals. Vortex Capital Partners builds and invests in early stage and growth stage companies. They are looking for companies with a competitive advantage using proprietary technology, active throughout Technology, Business Services and Industrial Sectors. Zoeken vooral IT (software) gerelateerde ondernemingen, met minimaal 1mio omzet per jaar. Participatiebedrag vanaf 500k tot ongeveer 5 miljoen., Redelijk actieve aandeelhouder. Willen ook (evt.) operationele persoon in organisatie zetten. Walvis focuses on financing Dutch Internet technology companies in their (early) growth phase, that are (almost) EBITDA positive. Walvis mainly invests in companies with a B2B business model. With the WBSO, companies can lower the wage costs for R&D and other R&D costs and expenditures, such as prototypes or research equipment. WoodWing Ventures is an early stage venture capital company. We invest in ambitious, starting, software companies. Yellow&Blue focusses on sustainable energy start-ups. Ylvas Investments invests in companies in the healthcare and mobility. Through its cooperation with Ylvas Mobility and Ylvas Health they not only supply funding but also relevant knowledge. Ylvas can fulfil several roles: the investor, the advisor to the company seeking financing and as the advisor to the party that wants to invest in a company. Their focus is on health (primarily on care and cure) and mobility. Zonnepanelendelen offers a financing solution for solar-energy projects. Through the network the organisation will be the center of attention. This way, finance-seekers can profit from their solar-panels with minimal investments.

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http://ready2scale.org/funding-database/?print=print

follow-up to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) Agenda 21, emphasising biodiversity, desertification and climate change. 314. Research and Technology Development. Advice and services are provided linking National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) to global research. The programme provides assistance to enhance the capacity of NARS to address sustainable development issues, including agricultural research planning and skills acquisition, by providing methods and training. It promotes partnerships and information sharing, linking NARS across eco-political boundaries. 315. An expert consultation, Technology Assessment and Transfer for Sustainable Development, Food Security and Poverty Alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa, involved FAO, the Special Programme for African Agricultural Research (SPAAR), the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the Ghanaian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The FAO/IARCs (International Agricultural Research Centre) task force meeting and four workshops on technology assessment and transfer were held. Four technical briefs for meetings of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and case studies on the impact of foreign assistance on NARS in developing countries were completed. Biotechnology, an emerging area in research and technology development, has policy and ethical implications. The programme promotes development of new technologies to facilitate rural development and food security. Results of a survey of biotechnology networks will be used to launch an electronic forum for policy-makers and managers. A Glossary of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering was published, providing terms and definitions utilised in this field. 316. An expert consultation planned to assist NARS in developing guidelines and planning tools for integrating sustainable food security into their research could not be held due to resource constraints. The consultation has been changed into an electronic conference to be held in June 2000. 317. To support the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) and facilitate information sharing and partnership among Near East NARS, a directory of institutions was to be published utilising data generated by FAO, AARINENA, the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) in 19 countries of the region. Delays in data delivery resulted in postponement of the project, now scheduled for completion by December 2000. 318. Information on research and network support and technology assessment was disseminated in support of the European System of Cooperative Research Networks (ESCORENA). The network was reviewed for adaptation to the new European research environment. Recommendations will be implemented in the next biennium. 319. Over 2 500 researchers participated in some 30 courses, workshops and conferences organised by the networks. Support is shrinking due to reduced resources, which has affected capacity to publish results and the ability of the Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to participate. European support enabled publication of 22 issues of seven newsletters in three languages and 11 co-publications. Only four issues of the REU Technical Series were published. 320. Research Cooperation and Coordination. In 1998, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Secretariat of CGIAR moved to two meetings annually; meetings of TAC 74, 75, 76 and 77 were held. TAC members and the Secretariat participated in CGIAR Centre meetings to facilitate programme monitoring and implementation, particularly climate change and natural and genetic resource management. The TAC Chair contributed to two CGIAR mid-term meetings (MTMs) and two International Centres Week (ICW) meetings. Reports of these and of MTM '98, MTM '99, ICW '98 and ICW '99 were issued. TAC prepared reports on resource allocation for CGIAR centres for these meetings. TAC output documentation was placed on the Internet. 321. To assess science quality and relevance, TAC and CGIAR conducted external programme and management reviews of seven centres: Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), ICARDA (completion in 2000), International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM), International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the first phases of West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) (completion early in 2000). Six reviews are usually scheduled. In accordance with CGIAR Priorities and Strategies 1998-2000, the first external reviews of the system-wide genetic resources and eco-regional programmes were implemented. 322. Pursuant to CGIAR's MTM '97 recommendations, TAC implemented two expert studies on general issues in biotechnology and proprietary science and technology. TAC also completed studies on CGIAR priorities for marginal lands and commitments in Latin America and the Caribbean, complementing CGIAR resource allocation and prioritisation. The Logical Framework for CGIAR, improving planning, communication and accountability, was completed with Impact Assessment and Evaluation Group collaboration. 323. Agricultural Extension, Education and Communication. Extension systems in Africa received support jointly from FAO and the Neuchatel initiative. A common framework was developed, field studies were conducted and consultations were attended in Mali and Sweden. With the World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT) collaboration, an electronic database was established at FAO to update information on national agricultural extension systems. Case studies on planning, monitoring and evaluation in six Caribbean nations were initiated. 324. A guide on extension work with rural women, a book on participatory extension in Zaire and a study on educating farmers in soil conservation in Costa Rica were published. Guidelines on field demonstrations supporting the Special Programme on Food Security were distributed and technical assistance was provided to member countries. Studies were initiated on the impact of HIV/AIDS on agricultural extension, training needs of disabled persons in agriculture, participatory extension for women and wider adoption of hybrid rice. 325. Ghana, Zambia and Zimbabwe field-tested a new approach to helping rural youth organizations reach shared visions of their needs and interests. Participatory planning at village level and strategic planning with national leaders were carried out. Ghana now has a National Strategic Action Plan for Rural Youth Programmes in Agriculture. Two workshops were held supporting this. To enhance collaboration among youth organizations, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe implemented seminars on rural youth and food security. During the 19th International Seminar for the Promotion of Rural Youth Work (Herrsching, Germany, 1998), FAO provided youth development and food security training for professionals from 54 countries. The Research, Extension and Training Division (SDR) supported the 1999 World Food Day theme, Youth Against Hunger, establishing an FAO Rural Youth Internet site and making a presentation in Japan. 326. Two workshops were held to assist member countries in the Near East in introducing environmental education. Training modules developed in these are used by educational institutions throughout the region. A publication was completed on a similar exercise held previously in six Asian countries. 327. A participatory curriculum development method was tested in Namibia to upgrade formal education programmes. A manual on the incorporation of food security, sustainable agriculture and rural development into curricula and a directory of agricultural education institutions in Asia and the Pacific were published. Data transfer to electronic media for wider dissemination was initiated. 328. An issue of Training for Agricultural and Rural Development, which provides information on successful educational and extension innovations worldwide, was published. A method to survey the need for trained agricultural personnel for rural employment and sustainable development was developed and tested in Tanzania, followed by development of a master plan for agricultural training needs. 329. In Latin America and the Caribbean, assistance was provided to eight projects to support extension work, farmer training, rural teachers and Non-governmental Organization (NGO) workers. Advice on communications was provided in 30 countries. Fifteen communications training workshops were conducted and four prototype media packages were developed. Communication for natural resource management training and media activities were implemented in Bolivia, Morocco and Syria. Publications were put on a CD-ROM and a video was prepared. The role of women in natural resource management is often undervalued because of traditional gender roles. To address this, the Interregional Project for Participatory Upland Conservation and Development (PUCD) - an FAO/Italy/Pakistan cooperation - promoted women's participation in watershed management in Kanak Valley, Baluchistan. Since women may not express opinions about matters outside the household, it is difficult to involve them in conservation. The project helped women gain self-reliance in taking resource-management decisions and actions. Participatory group and audiovisual communications helped women express their needs and concerns. Photographs proved powerful tools for women to make themselves heard regarding sustainable use of natural resources. 330. Continuing work on communication policies, workshops were held in Cape Verde, the Central African Republic and Guinea Bissau. Policy documents were produced for each. Studies on rural radio strategies, including equipment requirements and commercial feasibility, were undertaken in some African countries. 331. Supporting the FAO High-level Consultation on Women and Information (Rome, October 1999), the publication Voices for Change - Rural Women and Communication was prepared. Support continued to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Centre for Communication for Development for financial sustainability plans, the Norwegian-funded Integrated Programme, the Pan African Rinderpest Campaign and the Centre de Services de production audiovisuelle (CESPA) in Mali, from which a training manual on video use was produced. A workshop was conducted in Malawi on using folk media for development; a handbook for participatory rural communication appraisal was prepared. 332. Innovative Internet-based information and communication technology tools were developed to improve dissemination of information - the Virtual Extension-Research Communication Network and Farm Information Networks (FARM-Net) - with applications in eight countries; several Information and communication technology (ICT) publications were prepared. Following assessment, work was started in Mali linking rural radio to the Internet to reach remote rural audiences. 333. Natural Resources, Environmental Monitoring and Coordination for Sustainable Development and Food Security. Focus was on development and use of environmental databases as well as on decision support tools for analysis, natural resource management and policy formulation for environmental conventions and agreements. The programme was implemented by the Environment and Natural Resources Service (SDRN) in cooperation with various partners. 334. Development continued of integrated data-collection methods, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), agro-meteorology and earth observation systems. These methods and decision-support tools have contributed to sustainable agriculture development. 335. Eight environmental databases were updated. The Africa Real Time Environmental Monitoring System (ARTEMIS), which now has global coverage with SPOT Vegetation IV data, provided value-added information to Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS) for early warning on food security and for locust monitoring and control. Using decision-support tools, the GIS/AGROMET (Agrometeorology Group) data and remote sensing database provided environmental analysis to food insecurity and vulnerability mapping and to the State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI) report. The Land Cover Map and Geodatabase for Africa (AFRICOVER) first phase is complete - a preliminary environmental database for East Africa and standardised Land Cover/Use Classification System (LCCS) with related software. A GIS map catalogue was prepared. The Secretariat of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) was extended, using existing resources and trust funds. The GT-Net global observation system and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring Sites meta-database (TEMS) became operational. GTOS programmes were initiated in Central and Eastern Europe. Projects estimating net terrestrial primary productivity and carbon were started, assisting climate studies. 336. Technical backstopping to 60 regional and national projects continued, including AFRICOVER and ICAMS (Integrated Coastal Monitoring). Support was also provided to the Regional Environmental Information Management Project (REIMP) carried out in collaboration with the WB and Congo Basin countries. Partnerships inside and outside FAO were strengthened. Several Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) were signed, including cooperation with EC and NASA. 337. Support continued for environment and sustainability policy formulation at all levels. Progress was made in developing sustainability indicators, such as land quality indicators with the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Studies on the impact of renewable energy sources on the food chain continued. A conference on bio-energy from agricultural residues was organised in Latin America. The World Energy Council and FAO jointly published The Challenge of Rural Energy Poverty in Developing Countries. Advice was provided on environmental policies, geo-spatial information infrastructure, agro-meteorology, remote sensing and GIS and integrated management information systems. National capacity-building was emphasised through development of guidelines, manuals, standards and decision-support tools. Bases for organic agriculture were started. 338. Assistance to the conventions on climate change, desertification and biodiversity supported FAO obligations such as assessment of agricultural biodiversity activities for the Subsidiary Body for Scientific Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) V of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Support continued for FAO's input to the Eighth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. This focused on agriculture issues and inter-agency cooperation, particularly environment, sustainable development and follow-up to UNCED. Partnerships were established with the secretariats of the conventions and various organizations. Secretariat services were provided to the interdepartmental working groups on biodiversity, climate change, desertification and organic agriculture. With UN agencies and intergovernmental bodies, FAO contributed to the development of an Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) and organised an IGOS forum. 339. Preparations for the FAO/Netherlands Conference on the Multifunctional Character of Agriculture and Land were completed, including two technical papers, a database of successes and six papers: agricultural biodiversity, bio-energy, water, environment and trade, drylands and research and technology. The content of the documentation was commended by the conference, whose results were presented to the FAO Council and Conference, which advised on future activities. 340. Assistance was provided to the preparation of the Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture in Small Island Developing States (March 1999). Three internally prepared technical papers helped the Conference to adopt a plan of action in agriculture in small island developing states through a ministerial declaration. 341. The programme assists in integrating socio-economic, demographic and gender issues into national policies for agricultural and rural development and promotes these issues in FAO activities. The focus for follow-up to the 1994 Cairo Plan of Action on Population and Development and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action on Women, it coordinates the FAO Plan of Action for Women in Development (1996-2001). 343. Collaboration among Rome-based UN agencies was strengthened; FAO and World Food Programme (WFP) are preparing a SEAGA guide on gender and emergency. SEAGA documents, generally funded from extra-budgetary resources, are available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese; translation into Arabic is underway. a compilation of good practice in gender mainstreaming. The Regional Office for Africa (RAF) supported the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Ghana on its Gender and Agricultural Development Strategy, supplementing the National Gender and Development Plan of Action, preparing for SEAGA training for ministry staff and supporting decentralization of Ghana's public administration. Following RAF/SDWW preparation, the 16th Meeting of the African Commission on Agricultural Statistics (AFCAS) will integrate gender concerns into data collection. Norway and Finland supported a sustainable development and food security programme, launched in partnership with Namibia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The programme is responsible for gender-disaggregated statistics, household resource management and SEAGA, three of the seven components currently funded and ensures programme coordination and secretarial support for the Programme Implementation Task Force (PITF). The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) organised a technical expert meeting: Participatory research methods and gender data base, producing a publication. a SEAGA training of trainers workshop in Spain on incorporating gender issues into policies and projects. guidance for community-based credit systems. Technical cooperation strengthened the capacity of the Ministry of Agrarian Reform in Brazil (INCRA) to implement gender-responsive policies reducing obstacles to women's access to resources and supported the National Commission on Rural Women in Mexico in integrating gender perspectives into agricultural projects, including a training of trainers programme using the SEAGA approach. A project was initiated in Nicaragua to enhance gender-responsive policies, supporting the Instituto de la Mujer Nicaraguense (INIM) (TCP/NIC/8923). Gender strategy development is foreseen in support to agricultural institutions. The Regional Office for the Near East (RNE) provided technical assistance to Tunisia, Algeria and Syria in action plans integrating rural women into national programmes; survey information on rural women was collected. Rural institution personnel were trained in community development, using participatory methods and gender analysis. National workshops validated the plans of action. Technical assistance was provided for gender mainstreaming in projects in Mauritania and Yemen. Selected Aspects of Sociology of Rural Households for Extension Work. Participatory and Gender-responsive Agricultural Development Planning. Intra-household Dynamics and Rural Household Food Security. RAF finalised manuals on numeracy and book-keeping for illiterate adults to enhance business management abilities. RNE initiated studies in Yemen, Syria and Egypt on household resource management and food security. Regional Women in Development (WID)/gender specialists assisted the Special Programme on Food Security (SPFS). 346. Initiatives were developed to improve understanding of women's roles in natural resources management. Women's traditional knowledge of natural resources underpins subsistence and community needs, contributing to biodiversity conservation. Research was undertaken in Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru on methods to understand and measure women's contributions in agriculture, livestock production, seed selection and conservation of genetic resources. An agreement with the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) builds knowledge and experience of gender and genetic resources management. Publications were agreed on gender mainstreaming in natural resources management, including Women Farmers and Andean Seeds and Gender and Farming Systems. RAP organised the technical consultation Gender Dimensions in Biodiversity Management and Food Security, producing relevant publications. RNE initiated studies in Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Egypt on gender roles in medicinal, culinary and aromatic plants for natural resources conservation and income generation. Norway supported a project emphasising gender and biodiversity in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique (see box). FAO's project Gender, Biodiversity and Local Knowledge Systems to Strengthen Agriculture and Rural Development in Southern Africa promotes understanding of how people's knowledge helps biodiversity conservation and enhances food security, linking NGOs, governments, universities and training centres through directories of institutions. It assists organizations to identify people with knowledge related to biodiversity conservation and determine how such knowledge can promote food security. A training programme enhanced understanding among researchers and field staff, enabling them to support community-based, gender-responsive approaches to genetic resource management; this included exchanges between organizations in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The project sponsors debates, workshops, networking and exchanges to share information with rural communities, agricultural institutions and policy makers. 347. Information about roles, needs and priorities among rural people is important to the planning process; dissemination of information thus remains a priority. World Food Day/TeleFood 1998 had the theme Women Feed the World. The high-level consultation Rural Women and Information (1999), supported by France, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway, brought together Ministers of Agriculture, Ministers of Equal Opportunity and observers from the UN, Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) and NGOs. Presentations were made by government, academic, media and civil specialists. A draft Strategy for Action for Policies Meeting the Challenges of Both Food Security and Gender Equality - the Role of Information was finalised. Support continued to the Worldwide Information and Awareness Campaign on Rural Women launched in Beijing and information was made available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic (see box). Sri Lankan women and men in bioresource management. Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China PR, India, Lao PDR, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam (country fact sheets). Women's access to financial services. audio cassettes illustrating women's contributions to agriculture in Barbados, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, India and South Africa. 348. Support continued to the Inter-Departmental Committee on Women in Development (COWID) through initiatives such as Corporate Progress Review on Gender Mainstreaming in FAO. The Internet site Gender and Food Security was launched on International Women's Day 1999. Terms of reference for the Project and Programme Review Committee (PPRC) were revised to include gender. Collaboration was initiated with PBE on incorporating gender in medium-term planning. Assessment of the gender focal point role in technical divisions was carried out. In Africa, the FAO/ WID Plan of Action was adapted to regional and sub-regional contexts. demographic uses of agricultural census data. 350. Following the 1996 World Food Summit a document on food and population, Une voie étroite pour la sécurité alimentaire d'ici à 2050 was published by FAO and Economica, Paris, summarising population and food security trends. 351. Work continued on HIV/AIDS implications for agriculture and rural development, concentrating on responses from rural institutions. Technical backstopping was provided to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Support Teams (CSTs). Collaboration with CSTs and UN inter-agency links was strengthened through papers on population and rural development and participation in workshops on national capacity-building. Participatory approaches, innovative methods and strengthening population expertise in addressing national concerns were emphasised. 352. Two workshops were held in priority areas. The Thematic Workshop on Population, Poverty and Environment, focusing on connections between population change, poverty, environmental degradation and resulting programme implications, was prepared with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and supported by UNFPA. The Thematic Workshop on Male Involvement in Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes and Services, addressing aspects of male involvement with implications for gender issues in farm-households, was organised by FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO), with assistance from UNFPA and NGOs. formation of partnerships supporting food security and knowledge sharing. 354. Output included methods, guidelines, technical support, information systems and publications. National efforts in decentralisation were supported in different regions, enhancing utilisation of products, exchanges and alliances in institutional reform and the capacity of chambers of agriculture and farmers' organizations. International partnerships were promoted through the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) Network on Rural Development and Food Security. Inputs were provided to FAO's Strategic Framework. 355. Land Tenure. Assistance was provided in implementing land tenure policies and administration in all regions. 356. Good Practices Guidelines for Agricultural Leasing Arrangements assisted application of leasing market theory to rural development in Latin America. An agricultural land prices study, part of the peace agreement in Guatemala, was carried out with the World Bank and the Regional Unit for Technical Assistance (RUTA); outputs are in use. A multi-agency network on market-assisted land reform was set up with the Popular Coalition. Assistance was provided to developing and transitional countries in assessing land markets and regulations, private mortgages and tenure information, bringing together administrators from Balkan and EU countries and contributing to a larger alliance for knowledge transfer through the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Initiative. 357. Guidelines for policy makers on tenure responses to peri-urban expansion and a book Thésaurus multilingue du foncier were published. Networking was promoted in peri-urban land tenure and policy response to demographic change, based on studies in African countries. Policy advice papers were produced on land tenure, cadastre-based land registration and peri-urban agriculture. 358. Rural Institutions and Participation. Following the 1997 Technical Consultation on Decentralisation, outputs and policy advice concerned analysis of rural institutions with regard to decentralisation and restructuring, guidance on partnerships strengthening cooperation among rural poor, household income strategies and cooperatives. Asian experiences of decentralised development were analysed during a workshop in Thailand. 359. Methods of enhancing rural institutions and chambers of agriculture were refined through studies and projects in Africa and Southeast Asia. The role of ministries of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, national experiences and institutional issues were analysed; results were compared during a workshop in Dakar. In Latin America, an information network on decentralisation was started, studies were conducted on decentralisation, rural development and poverty alleviation and an analysis of local organizations and public agencies was carried out. A paper on the politics of institutional change was prepared. A training kit was developed to strengthen institutional collaboration in decentralisation, adapted for Asia with the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific. Guidelines for transfer of irrigation services to users' organizations were published with the Land and Water Development Division (AGL). 360. Studies in Africa and Latin America on civil and rural organizations and a network supporting Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and NGOs analysing local coalitions were established. Training manuals for trainers in cooperative management were tested in Asia and Africa. The Regional Asian and Pacific International Cooperative Alliance (ICA)/Cooperative Ministers' Conference endorsed promotion of food security through cooperatives. Policy advice was provided to Vietnam on implementation of legal frameworks on cooperatives. Guidelines on capital formation for cooperatives were published; research was undertaken in Africa with the University of Wageningen, producing publications on micro/rural finance. A regional meeting on research methods for analysing Central Asian pastoral societies published guidelines and received a request from Mongolia for assistance in risk management for pastoral populations. 361. Research was undertaken in India, Mexico and Mozambique on rural income-generation in relation to local institutions, providing material for guidelines on reduction of constraints and improving links between farm and off-farm incomes. The report Determinants of Rural Household Incomes and Their Impact on Poverty and Food Security in the Resettlement and Communal Areas of Zimbabwe was published. An Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)/FAO project on poverty alleviation through rural employment was implemented in Asia. In Thailand, training for disabled people in remunerative mushroom production was developed; in India, training for women's groups in remunerative bee-keeping was field-tested. 362. An inter-divisional working group on participatory approaches and methods to support sustainable livelihoods and food security was established in 1998 with the Rural Development Division (SDA), the Agricultural Support Systems Division (AGS) and the Agriculture and Economic Development Analysis Division (ESA), facilitating a more coherent participatory approach in the field programme and SPFS and fostering new recommendations on participation in support of CSOs, NGOs and local development services organizations. Implications of sustainable livelihoods for incomes and access to resources were analysed for FAO's Strategic Framework. 363. Partnerships and Alliances For Food Security. Policy advice was provided on partnerships supporting food security. Land tenure roles of NGOs and CSOs were promoted through the Popular Coalition and other networks. Changes in the sub-programme increased support to the ACC Network on Rural Development and Food Security. 364. With regard to land tenure and rural development, databases were developed on participatory approaches, decentralisation and agrarian structures. Two seminars on agrarian structure databases were held; a database contribution to WAICENT was designed. Information on institutional reforms, cadastre-related tools and participatory techniques was disseminated through policy advice, projects and FAO's Internet site. 365. The ACC Network on Rural Development and Food Security, established with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and WFP, expanded its activities. Guidelines were produced facilitating national initiatives. A system supporting national UN offices was established. Exchanges among network partners, FAORs and UNDP Resident Coordinators led to successful information flows. An Internet site was set up; IFAD established an information forum on lessons learned. Sixty-four national Thematic Groups on Rural Development and Food Security were being developed, promoting information exchange within the Resident Coordinator System, with a further 16 being established. National Thematic Groups addressed institutional relationships linking rural development and food security, promoting the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and forging links with the System-wide Initiative on Africa (UNSIA) and Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS). 366. Partnerships and Alliances. An e-mail conference of over 400 specialists on small farmers' associations was held, focusing on their contribution to food security; a manual was drafted. Studies were conducted in Argentina and Mexico on alliances and good practices in poor areas. 367. The SPFS continued to assist Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDCs) to improve their national food security through rapid increases in productivity and food production using economical and sustainable methods, reducing production variation from one year to the next and improving access to food. Multi-disciplinary, participatory approaches, national ownership and development partnerships were emphasised. Improving farm income, rural employment, social equity and gender sensitivity are core features of the SPFS. The SPFS considerably expanded its coverage to additional interested LIFDCs during the biennium. 368. Delivery of SPFS programme formulation missions and projects totalled US$ 7.17 million. In addition, a significant portion of the staff time of the SPFS Coordination and Monitoring Service (TCOS), accounted for under Regular Programme Expenditure, was spent on project formulation and monitoring activities. Regular Programme resources of US$ 598 000 were also used to reimburse divisions for technical services they provided to the SPFS. The Extra-budgetary delivery was somewhat below the level planned in the Programme of Work and Budget (PWB) 1998-99, mainly as the result of a reduced UNDP contribution, which amounted to US$ 2.6 million rather than the US$ 10.5 million expected. constraints analysis and resolution: improvement of farm-level profitability and access to land, technology, farm inputs, credit, storage, transport, processing and marketing, identification of institutional and policy constrains and achievement of social equity. 370. Phase I has the explicit intent to broaden the range of components and geographical areas covered to respond to demand, institutional capacities, level of experience and availability of resources. Coverage can expand either through the addition of components at existing sites or through expansion of the number of sites. Often the SPFS includes 30+ sites within a country to cover different ecological, economic and administrative areas. preparation of feasibility studies of bankable projects to ensure bilateral and multilateral financing. 372. Over 75 requests to participate in SPFS have been received since 1994. Experience has led to extension of programmes and incorporation of new countries. In 1998-99 SPFS was operational in 55 countries: including 32 in Africa, 12 in Asia, 7 in Latin America, 2 in Europe and 2 in South Pacific. The SPFS formulated proposals for 22 additional countries: 9 in Africa, 7 in Asia, 4 in Latin America and 2 in Europe. Table 2.5-1 lists these. 373. Assessment of the results achieved confirms rapid increase in number of sites, hectares covered, farmers reached and the importance of water control. Demonstrations including low-cost water management obtained the best results in terms of yield and the sustainability of production, incorporation of high value crops, cropping intensification, incomes and food security. Crop intensification enhanced crop production, technological processing packages and single agricultural practices, particularly in rainfed areas. Crop intensification focused initially on rice and maize, with sorghum, wheat, millet, cassava, yam and horticulture being incorporated later. Diversification targeted at women and small farmers generated skills for short-cycle animal production, apiculture, fish farming and artisanal fisheries. Participatory identification and avoidance of socio-economic constraints were a component of all programmes and progress has been achieved in removing constraints, particularly among farmers. 374. Results of constraints analysis provide evidence of untapped potential to increase yields of staples and identify priorities and interventions to achieve sustainable results. Constraints analysis has raised awareness and understanding of constraints faced by farmers: soil and water, infrastructure, inputs, services, culture, economics and policy. 375. Selected results are described in the following box. In Casamance and Senegal River Valley, crops under intensification and improved water control are rice, millet, sorghum, maize and vegetables. Diversification focused on short cycle animals, beekeeping, fruits and aquaculture. Yield increases have been substantial: 5 tons of paddy rice in Matam (2.7 to 4.2 in control plots); 4 tons in Kolda/Kedougou (0.6 to 2.5 in control plots). Italy contributed to financing and an SSC agreement with Vietnam facilitated extension to 18 sites and 7 007 farmers. The government has allocated US$ 5 million to extend to 30 sites. Intensification started in 1995 in three provinces for maize, bulrush millet, legumes and cassava. Since 1996, low-cost irrigation has been introduced and water control focusing on vegetable gardening, which has expanded to 73 locations in five provinces through an IFAD-funded project with FAO assistance. Aquaculture started in 1996; a rabbit programme has also been initiated. SPFS is integrated into the National Agricultural Programme and the World Bank-supported Agricultural Sector Investment Programme. Yields from rainfed maize in 1998 averaged 2.3 ton/ha, compared with 1.7 on control farms. Irrigated crops - tomatoes, onions and cabbage - showed high yields. SPFS activities began in 1997 and focused on water management, plant nutrition, pest management, certified seeds and diversification. Technical staff were trained on the pilot programme. Innovations included high-yield rice, new seeds and improved husbandry through Farmer Field Schools. Improved water management, seeds and fertilizer increased rice yields from 2.0 ton/ha to 2.6 ton/ha. The proportion of non-rice crops increased to 67 percent. Chicken survival rates increased from 25 percent to 75 percent; pig mortality fell from 35 percent to 10 percent. The proportion of farmers facing food shortages dropped from 50 percent to 15 percent; those with surpluses increased from 10 percent to 40 percent. The programme received TCP support and has been extended with an UNFIP project. Focus is on rehabilitation of existing irrigation infrastructures and crop intensification activities in an upland site (beans, tomato, onions and other vegetables; 730 ha; 730 households) supported by an Ecuadorian-Canadian Fund and a coastal site (550 households; 1 000 ha; maize, pepper, tomato, beans, citrus, fruit trees) where a TCP project on water control and crop intensification is being implemented. Results of experimental water control on beans (30 percent of controls) showed increased income in existing systems. Pepper and tomato costs decreased 35 percent through improved technology. In response to the governments priority on food security, an SPFS network of programmes, donors and NGOs was established. The programme initiated in 1996 focuses on irrigated and rainfed demonstrations including vegetables, maize, rice, roots and tubers with a diversification component including poultry, rabbits and aquaculture. Droughts have affected yields but vegetable production has shown high returns. Rainfed rice averaged 3.8 ton/ha; 56 percent of farmers reached margins of over 100 percent, with 16 percent over 200; 15 percent had negative margins due to lack of farm care. A South-South Cooperation programme with the Philippines was formulated in December 1999. 376. South-South Cooperation (SSC) under SPFS expanded rapidly with FAO and donor support, allowing recipient countries to benefit from others' expertise and experience. Advanced developing countries provide the majority of experts sent to work with farmers in LIFDCs. Experts play a key role in Phase I activities and it has been determined that to achieve a critical mass, about 100 experts are required, covering sites representing all regions of a country. Over 20 developing countries have expressed interest in supporting SPFS in LIFDCs. Through 12 SSC agreements, about 1 200 experts and field technicians have been committed. Cooperating and recipient countries include: China/Bangladesh, Vietnam/Madagascar, Egypt/Djibouti, Bangladesh/Gambia, Egypt/Tanzania, China/Mauritania, Vietnam/Benin, Morocco/Burkina Faso, Morocco/Niger, India/Eritrea, China/Ethiopia and Vietnam/Senegal. 377. Regular Programme expenditures equalled the US$ 10 million appropriation. Several donors supported pilot activities in countries where SPFS operates, also formulating programmes for new participants. Extra-budgetary resources mobilized in support of the SPFS exceeded US$ 80 million, shown in Table 2.5-2. This includes both external donors and recipient countries. Recipients who committed themselves to contribute to SPFS were Senegal (US$ 5 million) and Nigeria (US$ 45.2 million). * US$ 1 million for each of the countries: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique and Tanzania.

2019-04-23T14:16:35Z

http://www.fao.org/3/X7374E/x7374e09a.htm

It’s not a goodbye but a see you soon….. When I became a parent 12 years ago, I was overwhelmed with the responsibility of taking care of this little person who so completely depended on me. As I settled into parenting (and had more kids) I had time to think about what I wanted for them. Besides health, inordinate amounts of happiness and similar things, I wanted them to have a good education, and this led to my involvement in their schools. I volunteered in my kid’s schools as that was a way for me to know what was happening during their day. It also allowed me a say in the big academic decisions. As my kids got older I wanted more information specifically on how they were doing in school and how their school was doing compared to other schools. Because, once the little moppets are out of kindergarten, a hand print on poster board is not enough to show their academic progress…….and thus the need for data, good data. But the issue was that at the time I wanted data, my kid’s school district had a portal with very basic information that did not provide granular details about my child’s progress or the school’s effectiveness. Two years ago, the student data privacy debate became a hot topic of conversation, not only on social media, but in schools between parents, teachers and administrators and there was a dire need for clear and pragmatic information on what student data is, how it’s used, who has access to it and how long it’s kept in the system. The controversy surrounding inBloom grew and so did the debates surrounding student privacy and whether data should be kept in “the cloud” (which is, by the way, a computer in another room). Thus, this blog. Parents had been left out of the conversation surrounding student data and the purpose of my blog was not only to inform parents and clarify concepts but help all of us become active participants in a topic that involved our children. Over the past two years, we have discussed everything from what is a State Longitudinal Database to opting out of directory information as well as debating inequity created by incomplete data sets. The conversations (and heated debates) around student privacy have evolved from trying to understand and address parental concerns, to measured conversations that focus on collecting adequate data that can enable parents, teachers and schools to make informed decisions about students education. The focus has shifted from anxiety about data collection to thoughtful discussions on adequate privacy protections and security. We had the Student Privacy Pledge (now almost 300 signatories strong), the student data principles and a plethora of privacy panels at conferences that wouldn’t typically address these issues (SXSWEdu anyone)???? Hey, the topic is so important that even President Obama endorsed the Student Privacy Pledge and reminded us of the importance of protecting our privacy. Privacy and education technology can and should co-exist. This is palpable as we see more reports and research published that give us great insight into student outcomes and the effectiveness of different educational programs. On the other hand, there is a great downside in not using the information collected on students in responsible and ethical ways to improve our education system, a system that at its core is flawed and inequitable. Big data sets tell important stories, incomplete data sets can leave those most vulnerable behind. The question is not whether we should collect any data at all, I firmly believe that the question should be – what data should we collect, who is going to analyze it and how are we securing it while protecting all students’ privacy and enabling students’ ownership of their data so they can craft their own educational history. So as this blog comes to a close, for the time being, I am encouraged by how the conversation has evolved. How we are focusing on addressing those important questions surrounding educational outcomes and responsible use of student data. Let’s not forget that privacy is the respect of one’s personal data. That we must focus on students and empowering them to decide what they want to keep private and what will compose their data trail. It is our responsibility to help our kids become good digital citizens. It is also our responsibility to safeguard their data. I urge all of you to continue the conversations on what is privacy, how do we protect it and how can we effectively use it. Let’s have constructive conversations on this topic so we can ultimately achieve our goal of helping kids, all the kids. The blog will take a break but the conversation shouldn’t stop. I will certainly keep discussing this topic, I ask that you do the same. Thanks for reading these past two years. I have enjoyed every minute of it and have learned a tremendous amount. And as a friend very near and dear to my heart said to me – we don’t say goodbye, we say we will talk soon! 2 years ago, the student data privacy debate sparked and created an awareness not only between schools and vendors but also with legislators. Parent concerns grew at this time as the controversy surrounding inBloom grew and fears of misuse of student data increased. In response to this, legislators in 36 states introduced 110 bills on student data privacy. By 2015, we saw even more legislation with 188 bills introduced. SOPIPA came into effect which addressed the need for regulation of the Ed-Tech industry. We spent a considerable amount of time discussing SOPIPA but what we didn’t discuss much was a law passed in 2013 in Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s student Data Accessibility, Transparency, and Accountability Acts (DATA Act) places its focus on the staff at the school, district, and state levels. At a time when parents were demanding transparency on how student data is gathered and used, this law did just that. For example, the law required that vendor contracts include provisions that safeguard privacy and included penalties for non compliance as Amelia Vance explains in NASBE’s Data Privacy Report. The law also restricted the ability to collect unnecessary sensitive data such as social security numbers and biometric information. Transparency in how and what data is collected is paramount in developing trust among parents. However, restricting the collection of certain data can bring unintended consequences. For example, limiting the ability to collect certain biometric data on students who have a learning disability. Let’s say a teacher is tracking eye movement and response to a child working on their reading skills. If a teacher can’t chart a student’s progress based on data collected they can’t have an effective assessment of that student. Presenting parents with the information on what, how and why data is collected on students is what enables the dialogue between parents, schools and the Ed-tech world. We can all feel better that we have many laws, bills, proposed legislation and all of that, all of this work can be undone by school staff or teachers inadvertently disclosing student information or the use of technology in the classroom without adequate student privacy protections. So as much as we can argue that student privacy is important, that companies are working to ensure proper privacy protections none of it matters if we don’t have adequate training for school staff in particular teachers. Helping teachers understand student privacy is not only from a data collection perspective. They also need to understand privacy matters when they post their student’s work on social media or on school data walls with the student’s name for the school to see. But more importantly, as much as companies pledge to protect student data, if a teacher cannot explain to a parent how technology is used in the classroom how are they to partner with parents. We lose the opportunity to build a team composed of parents, school staff and tech companies that work together to protect student data and privacy. A new resource to help teachers understand student privacy was released by the Future of Privacy Forum and ConnectSafely appropriately called the Educator’s Guide to Student Data Privacy. This is a fantastic resource to help teachers use technology in the classroom responsibly and protect their students’ privacy. Because think about it, if we trust our children to a school every day and we trust they are being taken care of, we should be able to trust schools and teachers are protecting our kid’s privacy as well. My 9 year old takes better selfies than anyone I know, my 12 year old talks in “hashtag speak”, and my 3 year old swipes at every screen he sees….for most kids and tweens, technology and social media in particular is an integral part of their lives. In discussions around social media and digital citizenship we discuss privacy and how important it is to safeguard our personal information, but are kids concerned about their privacy and the implications of social media posting as we are (should) be? We have been talking about parents posting about their kids on social media, the consequences of our actions on behalf of our own kids, but what happens when kids post about kids on social media? As I found out, it can get really messy. Kids growing up on social media is inevitable. Everyone gets to be a celebrity by blogging, tweeting or posting on Instagram and Facebook. But where it gets complicated is when kids begin to have a sense of privacy and request we, parents, don’t post about them. As parents, we respect their request and move on. For example, when kids take a selfie with their friends, who gets to post? Should anyone get to post and who decides? Unlike with their parents, kids might struggle with how they feel about their friends posting about them. And thus the privacy debate. To most kids I have talked with, privacy comes down to having control about what they choose to disclose about themselves. So when a group of kids takes a selfie, kids need to decide who gets to post it, what comment is attached to the pic and what kind of platform it is posted on. And some could argue that a kid’s privacy is respected by not identifying them by name, by not “tagging” them. But it’s more complicated than that. Kids know the difference between public and private but we need to understand the real reasons kids take selfies and how it affects the way they view the world and how the world views them. I won’t claim to have an understanding on how they negotiate between themselves who gets to post what and who gets tagged and not, but I do know that kids are looking for us to help them navigate the complicated world of social media and protect their own privacy. Kids have a good sense of ownership of their information and could advocate for themselves if allowed. It gets a bit more difficult for them when it’s a discussion between their peers. If one kid took a picture and posts it or shares the picture and then another posts it, what happens when kids don’t like what’s been posted about them? Because, once it’s out there, it’s out of their control. Who says what about whom? Who gets to post it first? As parents, we can help them by helping them discern between public and private, between what they feel comfortable disclosing and what is not ok. We can help them navigate this messy, complicated, social media landscape, and as more and more kids gain awareness of their own privacy, the discussions between kids will get more interesting. However, I don’t think many of these conversations are taking place between kids and we should help enable that dialogue to take place. Maybe once we acknowledge that they are owners of their information and let them decide, the conversations amongst peers will happen in a constructive way. Can we teach our kids how to “share” in the social media sandbox? More than half of teens go online several times a day. Some of us could argue that our kids never go “offline” as approximately ¾ of American teens say they have access to a smartphone. Not surprisingly 71% of teens use more than one social network site, defining teens as kids between 13-17 years old. The most popular social media platforms used by teens? Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. None of these statistics are surprising. Kids willingly use and post information about themselves on social media. Then why does it matter if parents post about their kids on social media? And why are kids not happy about the fact that the adults in their lives feel as they can post anything they choose about them? So off I went to do one of my informal, unscientific and most likely biased polls with a sample group of guinea pigs, my kid’s friends, my kid’s, willing subject matter experts…..yep – that one…. There is a clear tension between kids feeling comfortable with posting information about themselves and adults deciding what information to post about kids. And what I find most interesting is that what kids are really saying is that they want to control their privacy – maybe not in those words but that certainly is the message. It is clear how they feel between what they decide to post versus someone else deciding. And as I have conversations with kids of different ages, they are aware that, for the most part, they are not comfortable making these decisions on their own and arbitrarily. They are looking for some form of adult guidance on being responsible at least at the outset of their social media experience. Really showing a deeper insight into their understanding of the perils of social media and internet use and the importance of their privacy. So what can adults do to help their kids? For starters, we can make sure we teach them responsible digital citizenship. They need to understand the consequences of posting information that while not all bad, some information could be embarrassing down the road. Like pictures of me in my 80’s outfits including the fantastic hairstyles of the moment, but I digress……we need to be able to teach our children what is a good app to use, which ones to avoid, and the appropriate time to post information about themselves. The more I talk to my own kids the clearer it is. Kids are growing with technology, no doubt about it, they are also growing with an increased awareness of privacy. So how do we help them navigate this social media sandbox? For starters we need to give them the decision making power of the information we disclose about them. They are a lot more comfortable when they can decide what is disclosed about them, so why not honor that? However, parents face many challenges when trying to help their kids navigate social media platforms and apps. There are many articles about the “best apps” or the “most popular social media platforms” but little information on what apps / social media protects their privacy and data. Further, there is very little information in a format that kids can understand and relate to. So while articles like this one from EdSurge are great for deciding whether an app is useful or not, it doesn’t provide insight into the apps privacy policies. And that matters, because apps are downloaded, most likely kids provide information about themselves, and they need to understand the ramifications of providing this information. So as our kids continue to play in the social media sandbox, we need to help them learn how to “share” or not….depending on what they want to say about themselves. A few weeks ago, I received an email from my kid’s school. It was a letter from the Principal talking about social media use and tips for creating a safe environment for students. It’s middle school, my kid has a smartphone and continually begs for a YouTube, Instagram and Twitter account…..hence my interest in the letter (notwithstanding my interest in privacy and all things Ed-tech). Maybe not sandbox age kids but close….. I advocate for us to recognize kids own their data, their information. This article certainly expresses how children see their information and how it should be disclosed. It’s interesting when you read it from a privacy standpoint as it is clear to me that kids want to protect and determine what their data trail should be. When we post specifics about our kids in social media we are contributing to their data trail but we often do not ask them how they feel about it. It was not surprising to me that this generation of kids, growing up with these technology tools understand that social media is an extension of themselves. It’s worth asking if we are protecting our kids privacy when we post information about our kids, are we aware of the history we are creating for them as they act as, well….kids…..and as much as it is newsworthy to us, after all we are the proud parents, it might not be something our kids want out about themselves. When we talk about children’s privacy we need to include the concept of agency and granting it to kids so that they can craft their own data trail. However, often this idea is viewed as radical as we are not comfortable with allowing this. There is a real struggle between what we want to disclose about our kids and what our kids want to disclose about themselves. The idea of giving kids autonomy on decisions about their data opens the dialogue into a wider context and one in which we relinquish some of our decision making abilities regarding our kids. But I can’t help but think this is a good thing. Kids can be great advocates for themselves especially when they know we are listening. Even a very young kid can state what works and doesn’t work for them in school. What would kids determine to be their history if we empower them to make the decisions early on how to craft their story. I’m sure the social media sandbox would look vastly different. SXSWedu is described as the conference to attend when it comes to tech and education. The events are fun, the parties can be a blast, and the innovation presented is often quite impressive. SXSWedu prides itself in bringing a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss everything and anything tech, education and lately – privacy. But to me, the bottom line is that really smart people attend SXSWedu to talk about education and technology. In education, privacy is a topic discussed and debated constantly and there were many panels focused on privacy at SXSWedu this year. I wasn’t able to attend but I asked a couple of my privacy peeps to give me their perspective and summary of what they saw in the privacy panels they attended. Elana Zeide, Research Fellow at New York University’s Information Law Institute, an Affiliate of the Data & Society Research Institute, and an Advisory Board member of the and iKeepSafe gave me her thoughts on the conference this year and what she saw as different from last year’s discussions. Below is her summary. Amelia Vance, Director of Education Data & Technology at the National Association of State Boards of , created an awesome Storify on some of the privacy discussions of the conference. You can read her amazing recap for a summary of what the live panels focused on and where the “privacy trends” so to speak are headed. Brenda Leong, Senior Counsel and Director of Operations at the Future of Privacy Forum participated in an interactive panel focused on discussions around trust. Brenda’s recap follows. Thanks to Elana, Amelia, and Brenda for providing insight into this year’s SXSWedu! What do education leaders think about the debate around parental consent? Much has been discussed about the role of parental consent in education when it pertains to student data. Some are of the opinion that parents should be able to choose whether their child’s data is sent to a third party or not, others don’t believe parents should have the responsibility to make this decision. The Data Quality Campaign compiled the thoughts of different voices in education and privacy and asked whether education agencies and/or 3rd party contractors be able to share student data if a parent consents to the use or should state/federal privacy law prohibit this exemption? It’s a worthy read providing additional information for us regarding this controversial topic. Court in California orders millions of student records to be released…..what?!?!? When I was a freshman in college (bear with me, it wasn’t that long ago) I had to take a required class called “Critical Thinking.” As the title suggests, it was a course designed to teach college freshmen how to discern fact from fiction. Our professor particularly focused on teaching us the skills to read articles and decide whether they presented enough evidence to be reliable sources. I am fairly certain my professor would have been disappointed at the first draft of this blog post. I jumped to a conclusion and did the opposite of what she taught us – I did not go to the sources for clarification. News came out that California will soon release the personal information of students to a non-profit community organization and I was alarmed and immediately assumed the worst. Thankfully, my wonderful privacy peeps pulled me back from the abyss and I applied my learnings to a rewrite of the original post. According to reports, millions of public school student records are to be handed over to the Concerned Parents Association. This organization fought in court for the data to be released in spite of objections from the California Department of Education. The intent of the organization is admirable. The Concerned Parents Association aims to determine whether California schools are violating the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In order to do so, they believe they need access to all information of children K-12 who are or at some point were students in the California school system since 2008. I am sure most of us that work with students with IEP’s (Individualized Education Plans) or 504 plans have more than one story to tell in which students rights under IDEA were violated. In order for this analysis to be done millions of records with student names, address, date of birth, behavior and mental information as well as health and expulsion records will be released. It’s easy to jump to conclusions regarding the safety and privacy of such sensitive information and be concerned that the information of students will be accessible and vulnerable to misuse. There are other protocols outlined in the court case such as maintaining a copy of all devices used to store or access the data, maintaining a list of all the names and positions of individuals who may access this information during discovery as well as the protocols to be used to notify the affected students of this undertaking as well as the opt-out form they can use if they choose to have their information removed. While this process may not be ideal, at least there is the comfort that the court addressed some of the issues that would arise from the movement of such a massive database outside the CDE’s system. I still have concerns and I am not entirely comfortable with the idea of releasing such a big database in this format as I think it creates vulnerabilities for those records in which students could be identified. I would prefer if the data was de-identified and I don’t believe the court addressed this. The Future of Privacy Forum wrote an excellent paper on de-identification of student data (shameless plug but it’s a great paper!) There are many de-identification techniques that can be used depending on the disclosure and risk level of the data without compromising the integrity of such information. Lesson learned, don’t jump to conclusions. The protocols for handling the data in this case may not be perfect but it is not the free for all scenario that is depicted in some news outlets. I am encouraged that organizations are looking to advocate for students, in particular those with disabilities, and I hope that this case brings more awareness to the need of adequate security protocols for data transfer as well as additional training for those involved in working with student data. If you’d like to read the court order, you can find it here. Next time I promise my college professors to apply what they so diligently taught me through my college career…..pinky promise….. School Officials? What do they do and who are they? When we talk about protecting student data, we typically think of apps or student portals holding student data and the challenges of protecting this data. But the reality behind these electronic archiving mediums is that there are many human beings involved in the creation and maintenance of such systems. There are also many individuals and organizations that interact with schools on a daily basis that effectively act on behalf of the school to perform these services such as bus companies or lunch room system administrators. These individuals or organizations are called “school officials”. Under FERPA, a school official can be a teacher, counselor, admissions officer or a contractor, consultant or any organization to which a school has outsourced their services. Students are increasingly using tech in the classroom and this technology is provided and managed by a third party (Google for example) and thus fall under the “school official” designation. We could hold a debate regarding the many concerns of multiple individuals having access to highly sensitive data. However, outsourcing services is not unusual in other environments, whether it be business, finance, technology or even medicine. And these third party providers and any sub-providers, are bound by the policies of the company they are contracted to. Parents and students have valid concerns on the amount of metadata being collected and how this is used by the school vendors. Companies are not as transparent as they need to be for us to understand their products and how the data is handled. But we also need to build a bridge between third party contractors and parents. We probably didn’t expect that our kids would go to school and have their data captured in such a way, but since this is inevitable, schools should inform parents of who the providers are so that at a minimum parents are not left wondering how their children’s data is captured and secured. The Future of Privacy Form wrote an article on this particular topic and explains thoroughly what a school official really means and the responsibilities they hold as such. It is important to note that although many individuals or organizations will be designated “school officials” that does not mean that they have an inherent right to all education records pertaining to students. Schools designate what information each school official receives and should be responsible when making the decision of how much data a particular vendor can have access to. A school official is in a unique position in which they may have access to tremendous amounts of information about students but they should be held accountable and act responsibly towards this data. I would love to see more communication between parents and schools regarding their school’s “school official” in order for us to understand what tasks they are performing and what data is needed. For the most part, we don’t know what apps our kids are using in school and we should have access to that information. Some could argue that providing parents with a list of all the outsource resources they use is a burden on the school, but really, all that is needed is a list of “school officials” on a website so that we can understand who the school is working with. Transparency is key and it will help build the bridge between schools and parents on how and when their children’s data will be used in school and for what purpose. Can we “quantify” students and protect their privacy? When I was in high school, a moon or two ago, I was offered a “career aptitude test” that was supposed to determine what career was best for me based on my responses. Most of us laughed at the results that came of that test. It’s 2016 and some argue that this is the year of the quantified student. Will students today laugh at that concept 20 years from now? At first glance, one would think that the more information we can collect, analyze and provide back to students would enable them to make better choices in their education and how they carve their educational and professional paths. The claim being that with better visibility in one’s own learning patterns and behaviors we can better control the outcome of our development. With increased use of computers and apps, students are generating massive amounts of data. Data that can tell a comprehensive story of that student’s learning history as well as learning patterns, strengths and weaknesses. If we can quantify our learning then we have better insight into ourselves. But is that really the case? How do students react to the information given to them about their reading skills or mathematic learning patterns? Will students be able to see this information as a useful tool, or will they allow algorithms to determine their path? And as exciting as knowing more about ourselves may be we need to take a step back and ask the question – is it to the benefit of the student to be quantified? More data is not necessarily more beneficial data. School should be the environment in which students are allowed to make mistakes, decide to take a class so out of their comfort zone that they might discover something new. School is the time in which mistakes can be made without fearing permanent consequences. But if we quantify student learning to such granular detail are we preventing high school students from experimenting with opportunities that can guide them to a rich a college experience? Let’s not forget privacy. Who decides what information can be disclosed or to whom? As the quantified data grows we increasingly profile students, making the risk of exposing their data much greater. Are we protecting the student’s data trail enough that they can sufficiently control what others can see? Thus the argument continues for how to balance the ideal amount of information to enrich a student’s learning experience and control disclosure without exposing an entire dossier of information on a particular student. It seems to me that as we increasingly quantify student learning we risk shifting the focus of student data from one that is for the benefit of students to one that is for the benefit of someone else. To me that is not what student data should be about. Student data should be created, analyzed and used for the benefit of the student. If we allow quantified student data to be made available to colleges to create market driven skill sets, we are in fact negating student ownership of data. Students cease to become the focal point of education and become a product being formed to satisfy a market need and we cannot ignore students in that way. We must understand that while generating data to quantify student progress and learning is important, we cannot create an environment that is prioritizing market needs over student needs. A student should be able to determine the educational story they choose to disclose and not have only algorithms determine the path they are to take. Olga Garcia-Kaplan is the parent of three children. Two of them school age, in a NYC public school. She is a student data privacy advocate whose opinions can be read on Twitter. Olga is also co-chair of her children's school Diversity Committee and a member of the Testing Task Force, a group of parents and teachers coming together to extend community wide dialogue on the impacts of Federal, State and NYC Department of Ed policies in the daily life of students and teachers. This year, she completed her three year tenure as a member of the school's School Leadership Team representing families of children with special needs. The SLT is responsible for developing the school's comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP) and school based educational policies. Olga has over 15 years of experience in the Financial Services Industry managing regulatory requirements and submissions to the Securities and Exchange Commission working on diverse projects ranging from IPO launches, M&A projects, Mutual Funds and Proxy related transactions. She holds a B.A. in Accounting & Business Management with a concentration in Finance & Investments from Marymount Manhattan College. She is fluent in Spanish having grown up in Mexico City and brings a global perspective to all her undertakings. FERPA|SHERPA provides service providers, parents, school officials, and policymakers easy access to laws, best practices, and guidelines that are essential to understanding education privacy and how to responsibly use student data. FERPA|SHERPA is a project of the Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington, DC based think tank that seeks to advance responsible data practices.

2019-04-18T21:10:17Z

http://blog.ferpasherpa.org/

Six years ago, then California State Senator Tom Hayden introduced legislation to move California's animal shelter system further in the direction of saving, rather than taking, animals' lives. The bill was complex and involved changes in three different California Codes: the Civil Code, the Food and Agricultural Code, and the Penal Code. As introduced, it included a number of new provisions such as statutes that would establish an official "policy preference" for adoption and expansion of the measure of damages available to people when their animals are harmed. It consolidated and restated requirements of shelters that were scattered in several different Codes, and it secured better means of dealing with government seizures of animals and penalties for conviction for animal abuse. As the bill progressed through the Legislature there were modifications and losses of some of the bill's provisions. However, it started and ended its passage through the Legislature with many of its most significant provisions intact, including making adoption of shelter animals the policy of the State of California. There were several reasons to think that the time was right for the legislation. Grassroots activism had eroded the belief that homeless animals are, by definition, a public safety threat that justifies the animals' immediate destruction. The idea had taken root that, regardless of the circumstances that brought an animal to a shelter, the animal himself or herself deserves an opportunity to live. Attitudes about people who lose animals were also beginning to shift. More people began to realize that a companion animal can be missing from home through no fault of his/her owner/guardian.1 In light of all the ways that animals can be lost, allowing people a meaningful opportunity to reunite with their lost animals is appropriate. Yet, in 1998, California had one of the shortest holding periods in the country; shelters were required to hold dogs and cats only 72 hours from the time of capture.2 Even much poorer states were giving people more time to reclaim their animals. Moreover, the nonprofit sector animal rescue and adoption groups had inspired optimism that our shelter animals could, in fact, find new homes and that it was inhumane for our public shelters to deny them that opportunity. In the context of changing public attitudes and the rise of viable alternatives to killing homeless animals, the statewide cost in 1998 of killing and disposing of homeless animals could properly and accurately be characterized as "high" and "unnecessary." For all of these reasons Tom Hayden decided that the time was right to focus our animal shelters on activities that save animals' lives. Realizing that shelter issues themselves are complex, he introduced Senate Bill 1785,5 which provided for consolidation and restatement of existing provisions as well as introduction of new provisions so that homeless animals in our animal shelters could have a meaningful opportunity to survive their stay in a shelter. Hayden and the drafters aimed high. For example, the bill as introduced included a significant expansion of the measure of damages available to a person if someone harmed his/her animal. Hayden's bill proposed to amend California's Civil Code section 1840 to provide for payments of damages for non-economic harms suffered by people when their animals are harmed. Since animals are legally valued as mere items of replaceable property, people whose animals are harmed by shelter employees have been unable to receive awards of money in large enough sums to force shelters to take their care obligations seriously. This is a general problem in enforcing animal care obligations, so the legislation was broadly written so as to apply generally rather than specifically to shelters. The reasoning behind it is that, even if the legal obligations associated with care are extensive, if a negligent caretaker does not have to pay very much for his/her negligence, those extensive care requirements might not be met. If a caretaker's negligence results in a damages award of only the market value of the animal, there may be too little incentive to maintain appropriate standards of care. An animal might be old or in fragile health and, therefore, have no market value. In fact, many companion animals have little market value despite their great emotional value. Since many shelters were lax about keeping these older or fragile animals, it was important to create stronger incentives to keep these animals for the full holding period. Except as provided in Section 1834, the liability of a depositary for negligence may not exceed the amount the depositary is informed by the depositor, or has reason to suppose, that the thing deposited is worth except as to situations involving living animals. In those situations, the depositary may be held liable for the financial and emotional consequences to the owner of the depositary's failure to comply with this section and the anticruelty provisions of the Penal Code (language of Hayden proposal is emphasized). The expanded damages provision lived a quiet, unthreatened life in the bill until the very end, when, shortly before the bill would be voted on for the last time, the provision was removed during negotiations between Hayden's office, the Governor's office, and local government representatives. In response to concerns about its own heightened liability for harm to animals in its care, local government requested and received removal of the entire provision.6 Because economic incentives are important and because animals in many caretaking situations are at risk of negligent treatment, the drafters perceived this loss to be particularly significant. Yet, what remained was still a cohesive package of provisions that could give our shelter animals a more meaningful chance at surviving their stay in an animal shelter. As the years have passed, critics have reduced the scope and significance of Hayden's legislation to "that legislation that only increased holding periods for shelter animals." And, from critics' points of view, extending the holding period from 72 hours to 4 or 6 business days merely delays the inevitable while exposing animals to illness, caretaker negligence, and animal fighting in the meantime. Indeed, if the Hayden legislation merely extended the holding period for animals in shelters, it could be seen as minimally helpful to animals in our shelters. More important than length of holding periods is the nature of the holding period. Can the public easily access the shelter? Are animals sufficiently cared for so that they can be reunited with their families? The reality of the Hayden legislation, as enacted, lies somewhere in-between its optimistic starting point and current critical characterizations of it as a "mere holding period bill." The purpose of this article is to explore what of the Hayden legislation survives the legislative process, subsequent attempts to repeal it, and financial wrangling over whether the State owes local government agencies money with which to implement its provisions. In the end, some provisions that seemed to hold the least promise seem now to hold the most potential for change. Other provisions that seemed to hold the most promise have had, apparently, the least effect. Ultimately, perhaps the most important lesson to be gained from the Hayden bill is the value of humility in predicting the "success" or "failure" of different types of legislation to help animals. Part I of this article describes what the Hayden legislation actually accomplished on paper as enacted. Listing its provisions is relatively easy, but the history of implementation has been fraught with conflict over how different provisions should be interpreted. Part II examines the financial controversies that arose when local governments contested the Legislature's finding that the legislation was cost-effective and that State funding was not required or necessary. Those financial controversies have played out in two directions: (1) suspension of part of the legislation, and (2) litigation about whether the State is legally obligated to fund the legislation. Part III explains what parts of the Hayden legislation survived financial suspension. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the spotty understanding and implementation of the Hayden legislation that followed its enactment has only been worsened by the financial controversies that have surrounded the legislation since its inception. Indeed, some shelters are operating as though the entire Hayden legislative package has been repealed, not partially suspended. Finally, in Part IV, I conclude with thoughts about the legislation's purpose and achievements in relation to the original intent of the drafters and in relation to social acceptance of the idea of shelters as depositaries of animals who deserve a meaningful opportunity to leave those shelters alive. Part I. Two Realities: One on Paper, One in the shelters. m) provides that a standardized protocol be used to determine whether a cat is truly feral before denying a cat the benefit of the longer holding periods enacted in the Hayden legislation (Food and Agricultural Code sec. 31752.5). While there was controversy about each of these provisions, some have resulted in much more conflict than others. Perhaps the greatest amount of conflict emerged with respect to four provisions: (1) the statewide policy preference for adoption and owner-redemption; (2) release of animals to nonprofit animal rescue and adoption organizations; (3) longer, restructured holding periods; and (4) holding periods for owner-relinquished animals. 1. Statewide policy preference for adoping animals rather than killing them. It is the policy of the state that no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home. . . It is the policy of the state that no treatable animal should be euthanized. A treatable animal shall include any animal that is not adoptable but that could become adoptable with reasonable efforts. The statewide policy preference for adoption was initially controversial because some shelters interpreted it to mean that they had to incur whatever medical costs were necessary to make each and every animal adoptable and to hold animals for however long it would take to place them in homes. However, the statutes contain no specific requirements on the part of shelters; no legal liability can flow solely from a statute that enacts a policy preference.7 When that became clear, shelters and advocates reached the opposite conclusion: that the policy statutes are legally meaningless. The effect of a policy statute is legally subtle but significant. Animal shelters must operate in light of the public policy in support of adoption, and, when there is ambiguity in a statute, it must be interpreted in accordance with this policy preference enacted by the People. A good example of the operation of the adoption policy preference to resolve ambiguity in a statute also illustrates the controversy associated with the release of animals to nonprofit animal rescue/adoption groups. 2. Release to nonprofit rescue/adoption groups those animals who are going to be euthanized, if requested by the nonprofit group. Prior to the Hayden legislation, some shelters were working effectively with nonprofit animal rescue/adoption groups in order to give animals longer than the minimum holding period to find a home. When the shelter's holding period was over, a nonprofit animal rescue/adoption group might take the animal out for a reduced adoption fee, thereby adding time to find the animal a home and saving the costs of killing an animal who could find a home if more time were available. However, some shelters resisted working with animal adoption groups. Our survey information suggested several reasons for this: shelter perspectives that these animals are better off dead than living for indefinite periods of time in low-kill or no-kill shelters; the belief that animals are easily replaceable so why focus on saving this animal; dislike for animal rescue/adoption groups' criticism of shelter practices; few financial incentives to reduce the kill rate in their shelters; concerns about whether the animal rescue/adoption groups were placing animals in good homes or diverting them into dog-fighting or other cruel or exploitative uses; avoidance of the possible public perception that the shelter doesn't do an adequate job of finding homes for animals. The Hayden legislation requires shelters to release animals requested by nonprofit animal rescue/adoption organizations, rather than incur the cost of killing the animals and disposing of their bodies.8 The statute allows shelters to impose only two requirements: (1) that the animal rescue/adoption group have an Internal Revenue Code sec. 501(c)(3) status, and (2) that the animal rescue/adoption group pay an adoption fee for the animal. Many shelters have added their own requirements.9 Some require groups to provide information about the group's veterinarian and about the individuals to whom each animal is adopted, for example. Some established rules that animals could be requested and released only within a certain number of hours of the ending of the animal's hold period, which is a type of rule that requires rescue groups to have volunteers on site all the time. Some decided that only those animals the shelter considers "adoptable" will be available for adoption. For example, some shelters deem pit bull or pit bull mixes categorically "unadoptable." They will not release a pit bull even to a pit bull rescue organization. This clearly violates Food and Agricultural Code sec. 31683, which prohibits breed specific dangerous dog regulation, let alone the Hayden law. Even many shelters that do comply with Food and Agricultural Code sec. 31683 conduct temperament tests and, on the basis of that temperament test, decide whether an animal is "adoptable." On the basis of that test, those shelters decide whether to release an animal for adoption, regardless of whether the adoping person is a member of the public generally or a member of an I.R.C. sec. 501(c)(3) animal rescue/adoption organization. Shelters argue that they must prevent any dangerous dogs from being adopted, period. Advocates of the Hayden legislation are also concerned about dangerous dogs entering the stream of adoptions. However, they prefer the judgment of animal rescue/adoption groups as to whether an animal is adoptable. They argue that shelters have erred too long on the side of killing animals and that shelters too readily label animals "unadoptable" through the use of nonprofessional standards applied by insufficiently trained kennel staff whose biases might well interfere with their ability to assess an animal's temperament. Moreover, the animals being tested are very likely to exhibit atypical behaviors due to the shelter environment itself. Too many actually adoptable dogs and cats have been dying as a result. Nonprofit rescue/adoption groups are more likely to have better training, to have incentives to do careful assessments of the animals, and to provide socialization training for the animals, if necessary. Animal rescue/adoption groups read the law as allowing shelters to impose only two requirements (I.R.C. sec. 501(c)(3) status and payment of an adoption fee). Shelters claim that the statute does not forbid additional requirements, so they should be able to impose additional requirements. The adoption preference statute helps to resolve conflicts such as this. Every time a shelter places a new restriction or requirement on the release of an animal to a rescue/adoption group, there will be fewer releases to animal rescue/adoption groups than would have been made otherwise. Because the People of California have an explicit preference for adoption instead of killing these animals, statutes that have more than one possible interpretation should be interpreted in accordance with the preference for adoption. Unless there is another policy that overrides the policy for adoption or unless it can be shown that an extension of the rule enhances adoption, the shelter cannot extend the rule beyond the requirements that the animal rescue/adoption group be an I.R.C. sec. 501(c)(3) organization and pay an adoption fee. Shelters have consistently argued that there is another policy that overrides the policy preference for adoption. They contend that their role as enforcers of the anticruelty statutes gives them the right and the obligation to ensure that the groups to whom they release animals meet their standards. However, their standards do not necessarily match up with prevention of cruelty. Giving rescue groups a window of only 4 hours to adopt an animal scheduled for death does not advance an interest in cruelty prevention, for example. Does the Hayden legislation result in "adoptions at any and all cost to public safety?" Advocates of the Hayden legislation say that the policy preference for adoption operating in the context of required release to requesting nonprofit animal rescue/adoption groups only creates a hierarchy of acceptable judgments about an animal. Because a shelter can say "no" to anyone except a qualified Internal Revenue Code sec. 501(c)(3) animal rescue/adoption organization, the shelter's judgment about an animal will prevail over the judgment of a member of the public. However, a nonprofit animal rescue/adoption organization's judgment will prevail over the judgment exercised by the shelter. Most importantly, both policies of adoption and cruelty prevention can be met without harming either policy. If there is evidence that a group actually does violate the animal cruelty statutes, then legal action can be taken against that group to stop the violation. Precisely because humane officers and government shelter officers have the legal power to address cruelty directly, there is no reason for shelters to use release rules as a substitute for anti-cruelty statute enforcement.10 If there is no violation of the anti-cruelty statutes, the mere possibility of a violation in the future does not justify loading the release rule with additional requirements. 3. Holding period requirements that include public access hours. As in the case of adoption policies, some shelters have resisted the implementation of longer holding periods. However, since many shelters were already holding some animals longer than the required 72 hours,11 the greatest number of objections seems to relate specifically to two related issues: (1) the loss of flexibility to decide which animals should receive a longer holding period, and (2) the desire to establish their own public access hours rather than to have to comply with the requirement that, in order to hold an animal for the shorter period of 4 business days, the shelter must be open hours when working people can visit the shelter to reclaim their animals or to adop. Yet, the fact is that the shelters could not have established an accurate sense of which animals should be held longer based on their experience with owner redemptions or public adoptions. Even old, objectively unattractive, or disabled animals might have loving families trying to get to those animals before the 72-hour hold period expires. Seventy-two hours is too short particularly when the shelter is not open during the time that working people can go to the shelter to look for their lost animals or to adopt animals. Many shelters have considered their public service as a lost/found/adoption resource marginal to their law enforcement responsibilities (e.g., dog-catching, cruelty investigations), so it is not surprising that they prefer to structure their public access hours at their own convenience. Shelter managers who misread the law as requiring the shelters to be open at least one weekend day and one weekday evening have missed the point that, for any particular animal to be held four business days instead of 6 business days, the shelter had to make the animal available on a weekday evening or a weekend day. The difference is admittedly subtle; in order for a shelter to hold all animals only 4 days, it turns out that the shelter must have later hours on one weekday and one weekend day. Nevertheless, the difference, while subtle, is meaningful. It focuses on the opportunities to be accorded animals, not mere regulation of hours simply in order to "control" shelters. Shelters were also resentful about changes they perceived to be for the benefit of people who seem, as a group, to be irresponsible. First, if their animals are out on the streets as strays, aren't these people obviously irresponsible and uncaring? Second, are such people likely to reclaim their animals? In many of our shelters a self-fulfilling prophecy that most animals won't be reclaimed or adopted had resulted in minimal, if any, public access hours when working people could come to the shelter. That, in turn, had actually decreased people's ability to reclaim/adopt animals. It is difficult to reclaim animals or to adopt animals when a shelter provides public access hours only from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on some but not all work days, for instance. Some small public shelters had no established public access hours at all! In structuring public access opportunities with working people's schedules in mind, Hayden's legislation was an attempt to break the spiral of decreased public access, which reduced opportunities for reuniting animals with their families, which in turn resulted in unnecessary killings of animals who would have been reclaimed. The spiral also resulted in shelter perceptions of owners as irresponsible and uncaring. After a certain point, increase in the number of days an animal is held becomes less important than the particular hours a shelter is open to the public. Public access, not some magical number of public access days beyond five business days, is key to public and rescue group opportunities to identify animals and to take them out of the shelter. For instance, it is more important for a shelter to have reasonable access hours in relation to the length of commutes most people have in the area and their distance from home than it is to have a longer holding period without attention to public access hours. 4. The requirement to hold owner-relinquished animals. A provision that definitely makes the "top four" in terms of controversy is the Hayden legislation's requirement that, if a shelter takes in owner-relinquished animals, the shelter must hold the animal for the same length of time as "strays." While some shelters might have held some of these animals for some period of time, most shelters were killing these animals as soon as the animals were turned over to the shelter. This was true even when owners wanted and expected the animals to have an opportunity to be adopted. There was no legal requirement that the shelters kill these animals, even if requested to do so by the owners. But, as soon as a shelter became the legal owner of an animal, the shelter as "owner" could destroy its "property." Shelter managers asked the question, "If no one is going to claim the animal as "lost," why should the shelter hold an animal?" Shelter employees asked similarly pessimistic questions. Why should they engage in time-consuming and costly care of animals who are "goners" at the end of a hold period in any case? In some shelters it was never really a matter of whether the animal would stand a real chance of adoption; if an employee is paid the same whether cages are empty or full, employees will keep cages as empty as possible. Tom Hayden was determined that these animals be given a chance to be adopted, that they not come into a "shelter" merely to be killed. Two issues surfaced with respect to owner-relinquished animals when the legislation was moving through the Legislature. Both concerned owner rights; neither concerned the very real problem that some of our most adoptable animals have been denied opportunities for adoption and have been killed immediately at taxpayer expense and without taxpayer approval through their elected representatives. First, there was testimony about the prevalence of an angry neighbor or family member or roommate or friend turning in an animal as "owned." If killed immediately, an owner could not find her/his animal, even if s/he looked, because the animal was not being held. Also, shelters could mistake a situation of turning in a stray for a situation of an owner-relinquishment. While that seemed implausible to some of the shelter directors involved in discussions about the legislation, the fact that it actually had happened to someone in the Governor's Office meant that the shelter directors could not deny its possibility. Second, shelters argued that their failure to take in and kill these animals results in the animals ending up abandoned on the street. If shelters don't comply with owner turn-in requests, owners will abandon animals to cruel fates, and shelters will have additional costs associated with catching strays. Advocates of Hayden's legislative proposal raised the flipside of that argument: if people cannot keep their animals and they know that a shelter will kill those animals, they will abandon the animals on the street in order to give the animals some chance at life. It is very difficult to know what is true as a matter of fact. Do owners abandon animals if they think shelters are going to kill the animals after a short or no holding period? Even if we knew the answer to this, isn't it time to think about the animals independently of what their owners will or won't do? To take an animal in and then give the animal absolutely no opportunity to be taken out by a rescue group or adopted by a member of the public is a terrible disservice to the animal, regardless of how one judges the animal's owner. Studies had shown that owner-relinquished animals are among the most adoptable animals entering our shelters.12 In the end, Hayden's legislation, as enacted, states that if a shelter takes in an owner-relinquished animal the shelter must give that animal the same opportunity as other homeless animals to be adopted. C. What Effect Has the Hayden Legislation Had? We don't know how well any of these provisions is working. Arguably, some things have changed: more shelters are being reconfigured in animal-friendly ways, and more animals are being released to adoption groups, for example. It is difficult to determine the role of legislation when an entire no-kill movement was already well underway when the legislation was enacted. There is much anecdotal evidence that shelters have chosen selectively what, if any, of the Hayden legislation to follow. Owner-relinquished animals are still being killed immediately in some shelters,13 some shelters never adjusted their hours, and rescue groups are still hindered from taking out animals from many of our shelters. Many animals are still not being given the veterinary care required by law; so they suffer, are not adopted, and die in greater numbers than they would have. While there is occasional talk of lawsuits seeking compliance with the Hayden legislation, much of that talk has not advanced. Such litigation is dependent on sworn testimony, under penalty of perjury, that sufficiently documents shelter violations of the laws. Casual users of the shelter system are not likely to know that rules are being violated. Rescue group members and volunteers and shelter employees may well know about violations, but those people are not likely to jeopardize their position in the shelter and their ability to help animals in the shelter by publicly accusing the shelter of violating the law. Another problem with litigation aimed at compliance is the problem that the water has been significantly muddied by questions about which provisions are enforceable. Financial controversies about the legislation have resulted in temporary suspension of some but not all provisions of the Hayden legislation. In order to understand which of the provisions were suspended, it is necessary to explain some of the financial issues that underlie the suspension. The Hayden legislation was reviewed by the Appropriations Committees of both houses of the California Legislature. Both found that the legislation was cost-effective and did not require funding from the State. Killing animals and disposing of their body's costs money without bringing in any offsetting revenue; opportunities to get adoption fees or "owner-redemption" fees/fines are lost along with the animals' lives. It is "revenue-negative" to run a shelter for animal disposal purposes. On the other hand, adoption and owner-redemption are "revenue-positive." By statute, shelters can collect the costs of maintaining an animal when s/he is reunited with her/his human family,14 and shelters can charge adoption fees that more than cover the costs of maintaining an animal.15 This does not mean that a shelter will operate "in the black" if it aggressively pursues adoption/owner-redemption strategies. It means only that shelters will use fewer funds and bring in more funds to the extent that they aggressively pursue adoption and owner-redemption strategies. This is significant because opponents claimed that the legislation was not cost-effective if it did not bring the shelter as a whole into a revenue-positive position. This is not unique to the fight over reducing shelter killing in California. For instance, critics of a Las Vegas "no-kill" policy pointed out that the shelter was still killing 33% of the animals impounded there. But, in the period before committing to "no-kill," 52% of the animals were killed.16 A reduction from 52% to 33% represents large savings in terms of animals' lives and funds used to kill and dispose of animals, even if the shelter could not operate as a totality "in the black." Although it seems that animal shelter managers would automatically implement all cost-effective means of running their shelters, that is not necessarily the case. There are many reasons why a shelter would fail to adopt cost-effective management methods. In this particular case, to adopt policies that reduce the rate of killing suggests that the previous policies were inhumane and that animals were being killed unnecessarily. It is not necessarily the case that shelters previously had the perspectives or the visible options that they have now to increase adoptions and owner-redemptions, and so the criticism that "they should have and could have been saving lives all along" might not be fair or accurate. But demonstrating the feasibility of adoption/owner-redemption now unfortunately tends to give rise to the criticism that animals were killed unnecessarily and, in turn, to some shelter managers' justifying the former practice as having current utility. Some resistance to adoption/owner-redemption surely must be connected to shelter identification with "law enforcement" rather than a purpose such as "helping animals find their old or new homes." Sometimes such resistance is the product of long careers in animal shelters in which traditional methods of "animal control" were not questioned. And, sometimes there is pessimism about the possibility of actually reaching the goal of "no more homeless animals." All of these explanations probably have some validity, and they were raised at different times in the legislative process and after enactment of the Hayden legislation. However, I believe that the most important determinant of whether adoption/owner-redemption strategies are pursued is how shelter employees are compensated and how animal shelter budgets are calculated. As noted earlier, if shelter employees are paid the same regardless of whether cages are empty or full or animals are sick or well, then what incentive is there to aggressively pursue life-saving strategies? If a shelter's budget is based on a shelter's apparent need to dispose of unwanted animals, and the shelter cannot divert unused funds into other programs (such as adoption, spay/neuter, and "owner education" programs), then shelters will lose budgetary resources if their operations change in ways that reduce their apparent need for funding. Eventually, for life-saving legislation to be fully effective, individual employees will have to be rewarded for pursuing life-saving strategies and performance-based budgeting in which "performance" means "saving lives" will have to be implemented by those supervising and funding animal shelters. Shelters will have to be given financial room to experiment with ways of meeting that performance goal. Individual shelter experimentation with increasing adoption/owner-redemption will provide models for other similar shelters to incorporate. Since "performance-based budgeting" at this point means budgeting to "get rid of unwanted animals," it is not surprising that the picture of economic rationality embedded in the Hayden legislation seemed very odd to shelter managers. Shelter managers denied that adoption/owner-redemption-based shelter operation could be revenue-positive. While it might result in savings for government as a whole, in fact, it would probably reduce budget allocations to shelters. B. Testing the Claim that the State should pay local government money for implementing the Hayden Legislation. Test claims are filed with the Commission on State Mandates. The Commission on State Mandates is a quasi-political body in that it includes elected officials, bureaucrats, and members appointed by the Governor."19 That is important because the Commissioners need not have specialized training in law or the subject of a particular "test claim." Also, they are politically sensitive to how their decisions will be characterized. The Commission is also a quasi-judicial body in that it hears evidence that the Legislature was wrong about its finding that money is not owed to local government, and it is empowered to decide that money is owed and, if so, how much.20 In this case, the County of Los Angeles claimed that the State, in enacting shelter reform legislation, must pay annually to the tune of millions of dollars. Other local governments joined the test claim and submitted claims for State reimbursement of costs associated with the Hayden legislation. California's Department of Finance opposed the local governments' test claim. Finance took the position that the State had no funding requirements associated with the Hayden legislation, with the possible exception of the public shelters' duty to post lost/found animal listings.21 However, Finance did not rest exclusively on a claim that the legislation is cost-effective; it grounded its claim on the legal definition of a "reimbursable state mandate." Relying on the California Supreme Court's 1987 decision of County of Los Angeles v. State of California, Finance argued that a law that applies generally does not constitute a "reimbursable state mandate;" reimbursable state mandates "uniquely" burden local government with obligations not shared with private entities.22 Since the Hayden legislation explicitly applies to all shelters in the State, including non-governmental shelters, Finance took the position that the legislation does not uniquely burden local government. It is a similar story with adoption fees and owner-redemption fines/fees. Survey data collected at the time of the Hayden legislation revealed that many jurisdictions were, in fact, able to collect fees and fines from owners who reclaimed their animals. Although it may be true that some owners will not reclaim their animals if they are required to pay fees/fines, many shelters reported considerable compliance and redemption rates even when fines were assessed in addition to the costs of maintaining the animals at the shelter. Similarly, we don't have data that supports the contention that shelters will lose adoptions if they assess fees that more than cover the costs of making the animal available for adoption. For example, the City of Santa Rosa increased the adoption fee to $130 per dog and yet has not reported fewer adoptions.25 The City of Los Angeles adoption fees have increased for dogs by about 25% (to nearly $100), but representatives for the Department of Animal Regulation report that adoptions have been increasing.26 Far from burdening local government uniquely, the Hayden legislation burdens both private and public shelters, but only public shelters have the full panoply of state-authorized fees and fines available to fund themselves. The Commission on State Mandates disagreed with Finance on both issues: general application of the law to all private and public shelters and the adequacy of fee authority.27 As to the first, the Commission decided that only public shelters were actually required to follow the new laws because only public shelters were actually required to take in stray animals. In the Commission's opinion, the Hayden legislation uniquely burdens public shelters. As to the second issue (fee authority), the Commission decided that the fee authority held by public shelters is insufficient to raise the money necessary to implement the Hayden legislation. Finance has filed a lawsuit contesting the Commission's decision.28 First, Finance argues that there are, in actual fact, many private shelters in California that are legally obligated to take in animals. Moreover, even if a particular animal shelter is not bound to take in a particular animal, an animal shelter is fully obligated to obey the Hayden legislation as to the animals it takes in. Accordingly, the legislation burdens private shelters just as it burdens public shelters. The issues of what constitutes "unique" burdening of local government and "sufficient fee authority" are of general importance in state mandate law. While the lawsuit asks the Court specifically to order the Commission to find that the Hayden legislation is not a reimbursable state mandate, the lawsuit's general purpose is clarification of these two issues. The lawsuit is pending. Until it is resolved, the Commission's decision remains intact. Although the Commission disagreed with the Legislature's original finding that the Hayden legislation does not require State funding, the Commission did not find that all of the Hayden legislation requires State funding. The Commission's Statement of Decision, effective February 2, 2001, identifies some provisions of the Hayden legislation as "reimbursable state mandates" and other provisions as not "reimbursable state mandates." For those provisions deemed to be "reimbursable state mandates," the Commission submitted a cost estimate to the Legislature for State funding of local government entities' compliance with those "mandated" provisions. The Legislature has not disbursed money to local government entities, and, most recently, the Legislature suspended those "mandated" provisions by failing to make budgetary allocations for those provisions during the current fiscal year.30 It is important that "suspension" does not mean that those provisions have been repealed. Separate legislation would have to be brought to repeal the provisions. However, suspension does mean that, as to those particular provisions, the previous provisions will be in effect until the Legislature allocates funds for implementation of the Hayden provisions that replaced them. e) the required use of a standardized protocol be to determine whether a cat is truly feral before denying a cat the benefit of the longer holding periods enacted in the Hayden legislation (Food and Agricultural Code sec.31752.5). The Commission on State Mandates decided that the holding period for stray cats and dogs that is in excess of the previous holding period of 72 hours is reimbursable to local governments by the State.31 While the Commission did not agree with local government that the cost to them was holding animals 6 days instead of the minimum 4 days, the Commission did decide that local governments were owed money for the costs to them of holding animals for 4 days instead of 72 hours. Local government was allowed to claim the costs of new construction for housing the animals as well as employee costs for caring for the animals. After that allowance was made and a total dollar amount was decided as owed to the local governments by the State, the Bureau of State Audits found that local governments had not applied an accurate measure of costs associated strictly with the Hayden legislation as opposed to costs associated with animal population increases or with refurbishing old buildings, for example.32 It found large overstatements of claimed costs. However, before that audit report was published, the Legislature had already decided to suspend the reimbursable mandate provisions of the Hayden legislation. Therefore, the holding period for stray cats and dogs is legally now only the 72 hours it was previous to enactment of the Hayden legislation. A shelter may decide voluntarily to hold stray cats and dogs longer than 72 hours, but such a shelter may not make a claim to the State for any costs it incurs in doing so. In fact, many shelters were holding animals significantly longer than the 72 hours, and many are continuing to hold animals for the longer period. Some, however, have returned to the 72 hour holding period. The Commission on State Mandates found that the entire holding period for stray animals other than cats and dogs constituted a reimbursable state mandate.33 On the basis of that finding, the entire holding period for stray animals other than cats and dogs has been suspended. State law prior to the Hayden legislation required the holding of stray animals other than cats and dogs. Penal Code sec. 597f required shelters to hold "animals" until their owners could redeem them; the law does not specify "cats" or "dogs." Shelters that read the law as requiring the holding of stray "animals" apparently understand that the required holding period for those animals is the same as for cats and dogs: 72 hours. Again, a shelter may hold such an animal voluntarily for a longer time, but it may not seek reimbursement from the State for doing so. An important aspect of Hayden's legislation was its consolidation and unification of requirements shelters previously had but which were scattered throughout many different Codes. For example, whenever an animal receives veterinary care, records must be kept on the animal.34 Shelters were not keeping records on the treatment or whereabouts of animals, and Hayden's legislation restated those record-keeping requirements. The Commission on State Mandates agreed that such record-keeping is a requirement that pre-existed the Hayden legislation. However, the Commission decided that euthanasia is not a veterinary medical procedure because veterinary technicians and shelter employees can perform euthanasia under special provisions set out in the Business and Professions Code.35 According to the Commission, since euthanasia is not a veterinary medical procedure, veterinary medical record-keeping requirements do not apply in the case of an impounded animal who is euthanized without veterinary medical care. Accordingly, the Commission decided that the Hayden requirements for record keeping, as to those animals, are new and reimbursable state mandates.36 Those record keeping requirements have been suspended. Record-keeping for other animals who receive any veterinary medical attention is required and has not been suspended. Similarly, the Commission found that the Hayden legislation requires a higher standard of veterinary care.37 Whereas previously only "emergency" care was required, "necessary and prompt" veterinary care is now required. The Commission did not accept the arguments that "necessary and prompt" is "emergency" care, that Civil Code section 1815 prior to Hayden's legislation already required depositaries of living animals to treat them "kindly," and that Penal Code sec. 597f already required veterinary care prior to Hayden's legislation. Accordingly, anything other than "emergency care" (as distinguished from "necessary and prompt" care) is not required. No one knows what the difference is between "necessary and prompt" and "emergency." Since the whole veterinary care issue has been confusing from the start, most shelters appear to be doing what they always did, however they understood their obligations to provide veterinary care. Hayden legislation required shelters to temperament-test a shy, scared, or aggressive cat to determine if the cat was truly feral before denying that cat the opportunity afforded by the longer holding periods. The Commission decided that temperament-testing is an activity mandated by the State and, therefore, reimbursable.38 However, since the Commission found that the longer holding period is reimbursable, and the Legislature has suspended the longer holding period, there is no need for temperament-testing any cat. As noted in more detail below, however, shelters are required to hold feral cats for the same holding period as stray cats. In fact, it might be just as well that there are no temperament-testing requirements. Such tests can be constructed in ways that allow shelters to kill far more than just feral cats, resulting in a shorter holding period for many shy, scared, or injured cats who would not have been branded "feral" were it not for temperament-testing constructed in ways that include them. Finally, the Commission decided that the requirement to post lost/found animal listings is a reimbursable state mandate.39 That requirement, too, has been suspended for the current fiscal year. The adoption policy statutes remain in effect because they do not involve specific duties that cost local government to implement. It is still the policy of the State of California that adoption and reuniting animals with their human families is preferable to killing them in our animal shelters.40 As noted before, this means that the policy is still relevant to interpretations of statutes and shelters' policies. Hayden's legislation requires that shelters hold owner-relinquished animals for the same period of time as strays. This requirement is still in effect. A shelter that kills an owner-relinquished animal without holding it for at least 72 hours is violating the law, with the exception of an animal who is irremediably suffering. The Commission on State Mandates found that the Hayden legislation does not require shelters to take in owner-relinquished animals; it requires only that, if a shelter takes in owner-relinquished animals, it must hold those animals rather than killing them immediately.42 Shelters did not previously and do not now have any obligation to take in an owner's unwanted animal and kill that animal at taxpayer expense. Accordingly, it is not a state "mandate" that a shelter take in an owner's unwanted animal. If a shelter does voluntarily take in an owner's unwanted animal, the shelter must, at the least, give the animal a chance to live before the shelter incurs the taxpayer expense of killing that animal and disposing of his/her body. Please note that the statute states that a shelter may, but is not required to, collect an adoption fee from the animal rescue/adoption organization. Many shelters have agreements with such groups that enable the groups to take out animals for reduced rates. Those agreements are legal. A shelter may not charge such a group more than it charges another member of the public, however. Some shelters have always immediately killed shy, scared, injured cats they deem "feral." This has been illegal since 1980 when holding periods were mandated for stray cats. The statute does not distinguish between feral and non-feral cats; it requires a holding period for all stray cats.44 The Commission on State Mandates confirmed that and decided that, therefore, the mere holding of feral cats is not a reimbursable state mandate attributable to Hayden's legislation. It is still illegal to kill any stray cat before the cat's holding period has ended, even though the holding period for all cats is shorter while the holding period part of the Hayden legislation is suspended. The Hayden legislation was enacted within the context of a movement that had already gained considerable momentum, albeit with considerable controversy. The goal of reducing killing of homeless animals to instances of true "euthanasia" (killing to relieve suffering) was embraced by many shelters, and many advocates for animals had begun thinking about ways to bring the vision of "no-kill" closer to reality. There were more plans for animal-friendly shelters, more attention to spay/neuter incentives, more coordination with nonprofit animal rescue/adoption groups, and more volunteerism among the public concerned that homeless animals receive every opportunity to survive the misfortune that made them homeless. The expansion of the Internet at the same time has given considerable impetus to the no-kill movement. Not only do groups and individuals coordinate in their efforts, but animals in need of homes can be pictured and described on the Internet in ways that greatly improve their opportunities for finding homes. Because of this complex intertwining of movements and social change, it is not possible to identify clearly the particular contribution of any one part of that complex. However, it is possible to identify, on the basis of experience in working on the legislation, some factors that affected the shape it took and the retention of some of its provisions even as some provisions have been temporarily suspended. The Hayden legislation was conceived and drafted by a group of individuals who saw "animal sheltering" as a process that involves animals, owners of animals, would-be adopters of animals, the public that doesn't own animals, animal rescue/adoption groups, public shelters, and private shelters. The legislation seemed overly complex to some in the animal community, but, in fact, it had to be complex in order to address such wide-ranging influences on shelter practices. For that reason, the legislation had to involve several drafters, not just one, and the legislation had to incorporate a number of different perspectives. Without that inclusion and without that willingness to work with complexity, the legislation would have accomplished very little. Without an ambitious beginning, inevitable political compromises along the way to enactment would have destroyed much that remains. Much remains precisely because there were many provisions on which to compromise. As it is, the legislation successfully banned the immediate killing of owner-relinquished animals and animals other than cats and dogs. It codified access to our animal shelter population by animal rescue/adoption groups which provide more placement opportunities to those animals. Important provisions such as the ability to prohibit ownership of all animals as a condition of probation for having been cruel to an animal and clarification of the right of owners to a hearing to contest government seizures of their animals have survived. Yet, those provisions would undoubtedly have been contested vigorously if they had not been part of a package that provided so many opportunities to contest shelter reform. While the drafters created legislation that would have sweeping effects (e.g., the expansion of the measure of damages for harming an animal), some of the apparently more modest provisions have had large effects. For example, it is very important for the rights of people to demand a hearing when government seizes their animals that the Hayden legislation removed the legal language that local governments could choose whether to make such hearings available. The courts had already established the right to a hearing, but the statute setting up those rights in the Penal Code stated that the hearings were a matter of choice by local government. Another example of the importance of a seemingly small change that has had significant consequences is the public policy preference for adoption. An entire article could be written just about this statutory public policy preference. Such an article could explore in more detail the facts that it came directly from the success of a nonprofit's courageous experimentation with ways of reducing killing of homeless animals and that it is a key argument in the interpretation of other statutes and shelter policies that affect the opportunities of animals to be adopted. But such an article would also have to face the reality that this policy, too, is susceptible of distortion. Increasingly over the past five years, more and more shelters are publicly proclaiming a preference for adoption. But that does not mean that more animals will be available for adoption. An adoption preference has come to mean different things in different shelters. In many instances it has involved constructing health measures and temperament-testing protocols that will allow shelters to claim that they kill only "unadoptable" animals. It is relatively easy to become a "no-kill" shelter by manipulating the concept of "adoptable" while killing as many or more animals as before. Statewide statistics on impound rates and kill rates would help us determine whether killing is, in fact, continuing at the same level, but shelters have been supplying those statistics less consistently over the past 5 years. All of this suggests that legislation to benefit animals must start out aiming responsibly at the highest possible level of benefits for animals without assurances that one will be able to predict with certainty how the legislation will play out ultimately. While it is undeniably true that drafters must work hard to identify and to eliminate predictable unintended consequences of the legislation, unexpected consequences--both beneficial and unfortunate--simply cannot always be predicted. Because legislation is always embedded in the context of other legislation and in a social context, humility about the role of legislation in creating particular changes is appropriate. The drafters of the Hayden legislation expected an intense year of legislative work to achieve enactment of the legislation. However, none expected the Hayden legislation to create such intense work demands for the next five years--and beyond. Because of financial disputes, the legislative effort has extended much beyond the initial legislative effort to have the legislation enacted. It is frustrating to continue debating the question of whether local governments need money to implement legislation that is necessary because those local government shelters do not use cost-saving methods. It is all the more frustrating to be portrayed as people who do not want to "give money to shelter animals." When the Commission on State Mandates first began proceedings in 1999, California was awash in money. A representative of the Department of Finance told me that Finance wouldn't fight too vigorously against the claim for money because, after all, it doesn't hurt to give money to shelter animals even if this particular legislation doesn't warrant it. Having engaged relatively dispassionately in the controversy then, Finance is now stepping in vigorously because the State is in dire financial straits. Now, more than ever, cost-effective shelter operations are important. Fitting as it does with the humane objective of saving lives at the same time, this cost-effective method of helping homeless animals rather than killing them without a chance should have been and should be a win-win situation for the animals and the State. However, the Commission on State Mandates decided, during financially flush times, that a significant amount of money is due to local governments, and so the legislation is at risk. It could well turn out that, yes, it did hurt the animals to give public shelters money when it was not necessary to do so. Two issues on the animal adoption mandate (the Hayden legislation) have been reopened.47 The Bureau of State Audits has required the Commission to reopen the matter of funding claims that involve the construction of shelter facilities. It also challenged the way in which local government has assessed employee costs, requiring actual time studies of employees engaging in the mandated activity and not employee guesses about the time it would take to fulfill such obligations as temperament-testing feral cats or maintaining lost/found listings. Therefore, although the Commission on State Mandates has already reached a conclusion about the State's obligation to give local government money for implementation of some of the Hayden legislative provisions, the issue of State funding is not over. Indeed, the whole matter of whether money is owed by the State to local government is undecided because of the Department of Finance's pending litigation. Depending on the outcome of these disputes about finances, the Hayden legislation may be the subject of repeal efforts. Opponents of Hayden's legislation sought delays and repeals of the legislation for three years following its enactment; it would not be surprising if they took this opportunity to attempt to repeal some if not all of its provisions. For these reasons, much is uncertain about the future of the Hayden legislation. But, regardless of whether any of its particular provisions survive, the emergence of the Hayden legislation within the context of a movement that honors the lives of companion animals is indicative of the strength of commitment to move all of our shelters in the direction of saving, rather than taking, animals' lives. That commitment will live and grow beyond the boundaries of any particular legislative provision as we, as a society, accept more fully the idea that an individual animal is unique and deserving of protection in his/her own right. There will inevitably come a day when the idea of "no-kill," which started at the experimental edges of society in the nonprofit sector, will go mainstream into our public shelters. It is only a matter of time. 1 I agree with those who prefer the use of "guardian" to that of "owner." Nevertheless, much of this article concerns legal provisions that pertain to "owners" rather than guardians. Because the substance of the article is particularly complex and describes laws framed in terms of "owners," I am using that term throughout the article. 2 Only seven states provided 72 hours or less for reuniting people with their animals: California, Arizona, Hawaii, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, and Utah. The Humane Society of the United States stated that holding periods of 5 days were the minimum for providing a realistic opp;ortunity for reuniting animals with their owners. Similarly, federal law regulating the sale of shelter animals to research labs deems 5 days the minimum necessary to provide owners a reasonable chance to reclaim their pets (U.S. Code, Title 7, Chapter 54 section 2135). Even California's own dangerous dog law provided owners with 5 days to request a hearing before their animals could be destroyed by government (Food and Agricultural Code section 31621). 3 Information provided by the SF/SPCA at the time the legislation was under consideration by the Legislature. In fact, the SF/SPCA played a vital role in demonstrating that "big city animal control" can in fact turn the kill statistics on their heads; it is not just a "luxury" of smaller cities that had chosen to go no-kill or low-kill. It is the language of the SF/SPCA which forms the basis of the policy statutory provisions enacted in Hayden's shelter reform legislation. 4 At the time Senator Hayden was anticipating introducing the shelter reform legislation, Lois Newman, founder of Cat and Dog Rescue Association, and I conducted some survey resarch of public and private shelters in urban and rural parts of California. We were interested in such information as how budgets were set, how much money was spent on holding, killing, and disposal, whether the shelter assessed fees/fines, the length of holding period, and the extent to which volunteers and volunteer rescue groups were involved in the shelter's activities. We also received much unsolicited information from volunteers and from volunteer animal rescue/adoption groups about the difficulties and benefits associated with working with shelters. 5 Hayden's shelter reform legislation was technically labeled "SB 1785" until then Governor Wilson signed the legislation into law as Chapter 752, Statutes of 1998. In this articvle I refer to the legislation as "Hayden's legislation" in order to avoid confusion between it and other shelter reform legislation that was enacted in the same year and because the legislation has become known by its author's name. 6 The damages provision was not the only provision to die during the legislative process. The legislation originally amended the anticruelty statutes to provide explicitly that shelters and shelter employees were bound by their provisions. Explicit mention of shelters and shelter employees was proposed because of numerous reports of cruelty in animal shelters and of responses from shelter employees that they were immune from the anticruelty statutes. Similarly, the legislation originally included an explicit listing, in the Food and Agricultural Code, of the humane care standards that are required in the anticruelty statutes. Both of these were removed at the instance of local government shelter directors. The first was considered an insult because "of course" the anticruelty statutes apply. The second was considered a red flag for liability if a list were so easily available in the Food and Agricultural Code and might more easily give rise to lawsuits brought by owners than the anticruelty statutes, which are used by law enforcement. It was also deemed unnecessary since, once again, the shelters were obligated to comply with the anticruelty statutes from which the list was drawn. 7 See, e.g., Professional Engineers v. Department of Transportation, 936 P. 2d 473 (Cal. 1997). 8 Food and Agricultural Code secs. 31108, 31752, 31752.5, 31753, 31754. 9 I have learned about these additional requirements by reviewing shelter memoranda and from descriptions of the policies given by rescue groups seeking access to shelter animals. 10 Penal Code secs. 597f and 597.1 empower public shelter and private shelters to address cruelty to animals. 11 For example, Burbank was holding animals for 5 business days, Los Angeles City was holding animals for 5 business days, plus three additional days for adoption, and Sacramento County was holding animals for 4 days. Perhaps as many as 20% of the shelters surveyed were holding animals for only 72 hours. The rest were holding animals longer. However, some were holding dogs longer than cats or animals with owner identification longer than strays, for example. 12 See, for example, Natalie DiGiacomo, Arnold Arluke and Gary Patronek, "Surrendering Pets to Shelters: The Relinquisher's Perspective," 11(1) Anthrozoos (1997) and Colorado State University, "News and information press release" dated February 25, 1998, published originally at http://www.colostate.edu/depts./pr/releases/news/pet-owner-survey.html. These reported studies indicated that only 15 to 24% of owner-relinquished animals are candidates for euthanasia from standpoint of the animal's health or temperament. 13 Some shelters have stopped taking in owner-relinquished animals at all or until they have more space. 14 Penal Code secs. 597f and 597.1. 15 Shelters are not regulated by statute as to how much they can or must charge as adoption fees. 16 "Stray Animals beet [sic] the odds in Las Vegas," The San Diego Union Tribune, March 7, 1999, p. D-1. 17 The County of Los Angeles submitted its test claim to the Commission on State Mandates in late December of 1998. The Commission on State Mandates designated the claim "CSM 98-TC-11, Animal adoption." 18 The less obvious explanation for the test claim is that local government is so financially strapped that it must make every case it can for getting funds from the State. Local government quite frequently uses "test claims" when the Legislature determines that no funds are owed from the State to local government as a result of newly enacted statewide legislation. When local governments could use property taxes to fund local programs, the matter of "state mandated" programs was less contentious. However, now that local governments cannot use property taxes directly, local government entities rarely miss an opportunity to request that the State disburse funds. The theory is that the State should fund any program the State requires of local government; local government should fund any program they decide to require of themselves. The costs of pursuing a test claim can also be recovered from the State if the claimant is successful, so local government has been very active in this area. 19 The Commission is comprised of seven members: the state treasurer, the state controller, the director of finance, the director of the Office of Planning and Research, and three gubernatorial appointees (a "public member" and two local government or school district members). The Commission does have a legal staff, however, to conduct research on the law underlying a claim and to advise the Commission on an appropriate legal outcome. 20 The Commission is "quasi-judicial" in the sense that it can act only when it has been asked to resolve a specific claim that local government is owed money by the State. Its determinations, like those of administrative agencies, is open to judicial review. 21 Food and Agricultural Code sec. 32001 applies only to public shelters and not to private shelters. Therefore, it is a mandate from the state that uniquely burdens local government. However, it is an obligation of shelters that could be covered by existing fee authority in Food and Agricultural Code secs. 30652 and 25802. Therefore, while it might be an obligation that uniquely burdens local government, government has been given the legal authority to cover those costs. This is among the arguments yet to be resolved in the court. 22 County of Los Angeles v. State of California, 43 Cal. 3d, at 56. 23 Government Code sec. 17556. 24 All of this data is from the files of Lois Newman, Cat and Dog Rescue Association, and was communicated to me by e-mail, dated 3/1/04. 27 The Commission on State Mandates decision issued its decision, effective February 2, 2001. 28 The State of California Department of Finance filed a petition for writ of administrative mandate [Government Code sec. 17559(b); Code Civ. Proc. Sec. 1094.5] against the Commission on State Mandates, naming as "real parties in interest" the test claimants (County of Los Angeles, City of Lindsay, County of Tulare, County of Fresno, and Southeast Area Animal Control Authority). The petition was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, on or about July 18th, 2003. 29 E.g., Connell v. Superior Court, 59 Cal.App. 4th 382 (1997). 30 The Legislature delegated the responsibility for reviewing state mandates to a special committee in the Assembly. That ad hoc review committee recommended to the Legislature that no decision be made on the Hayden legislation, pending an audit of some of the shelters by the Bureau of State Audits and pending litigation initiated by the Department of Finance. However, the mandates associated with the Hayden legislation were eliminated during the last stages of extended budget debates before a new budget was approved in the summer of 2003. 31 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, p. 37. 32 California State Auditor, Bureau of State Audits, Report 2003-106 (October 2003). 33 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, pp. 15-16. 34 Business and Professions Code section 4855 requires record keeping associated with veterinary medical care, as determined by the California Veterinary Medical Board. The CVMB regulations that spell out the specific information required are enumerated in section 2031 of the California Code of Regulations. 35 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, p. 22. 36 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, p. 38. 37 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, p. 38. 38 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, p. 38. 39 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, p. 38. 40 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, p. 24. 41 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, pp. 33-35. 42 Commission on State Mandates, Statement of Decision, p. 19. 43 Government Code sec. 17556. 44 Food and Agricultural Code sec. 31752. 45 California State Auditor, Bureau of State Audits, Report 2003-106. 46 "...state and local entities participated extensively in the administrative process for the Peace Officers Procedural Bill of Rights and animal adoption mandates. However...we questioned a high level of costs during our review of claims. These problems highlight the need for structural reforms of the process to ensure that local entities claim reimbursement for activities that are consistent with legislative intent and the parameters and guidelines. Additionally, changes are needed to estimate mandate costs better. Audits of mandate reimbursement claims do not occur in time to identify and correct potential claiming errors that can lead to reporting and payment of nonreimbursable costs for a mandate." California State Auditor Report 2003-106, p. 55. 47 The Peace Officer's Procedural Bill of Rights Act was even more inappropriately funded than the animal adoption legislation, which is probably due to the fact that as to the latter there was a Hayden legislation representative, Lois Newman, at the animal adoption legislation hearings to contest the grossly overstated claims made by the test claimants. Taimie Bryant is Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. Along with several others, she assisted State Senator Tom Hayden in the research and drafting of legislation he introduced in 1998 for the purpose of reforming many shelter practices. Others involved in this research and drafting effort were Paula Kizlak, DVM (board member of The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights), Bob Ferber (Deputy City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles), David Casselman (attorney specializing in government liability issues), and Lois Newman, founder of Cat and Dog Rescue Association. Many other people advised this group about the legislation, and there were others still who explained the bill and the need for the bill to legislators and their aides. Notably Richard McLellan, founder of the Animal Legislative Action Network, made this legislation a priority at the time of its passage and has continued to do so. Similarly, Kate Neiswender, former aide to Tom Hayden, and Teri Barnato, National Director of The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, have fielded questions and defended the legislation concretely for several years. In fact, the Hayden legislation has been very much a group effort from the beginning. And, because the legislation has been under attack for so long, the group involved in supporting it has continued to grow. All of the people, named and unnamed in this article, provided tremendous assistance and support to Tom Hayden.

2019-04-23T12:06:22Z

https://www.maddiesfund.org/hayden-law-update.htm?p=topic37

Heidenfelder, Emma Rose was born in 1997 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 9134 W Cornell PL, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601155726. Heidenfelder, Gregory Frank was born in 1967 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 9134 W Cornell PL, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 3961424. Heidenfelder, Iris Katherine was born in 1998 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 12245 W 29Th PL, WHEAT RIDGE, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601342969. Heidenfelder, Kristen V was born in 1966 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 12245 W 29Th PL, WHEAT RIDGE, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4167202. Heidenfelder, Roxana Lee was born in 1947 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 460 S Marion PKWY APT 205C, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3965974. Heidenfelder, Shirley Mae was born in 1938 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 8770 London LN, CONIFER, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601183308. Heidenfelder, Steven J was born in 1960 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 8770 London LN, CONIFER, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 4167205. Heidenfelder, Walter John was born in 1937 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 460 S Marion PKWY APT 205, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 3965552. Heidenga, Jeffrey Martin was born in 1966 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1630 Tiverton AVE, BROOMFIELD, Broomfield County, CO. His voter ID number is 6816251. Heidenheimer, Tyler Ryan was born in 1999 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6450 Lindal DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 601159916. Heidenreich, Andrew Perry was born in 1989 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 11127 Pastel PT, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5876968. Heidenreich, Averee Nicole was born in 1981 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3330 S Newcombe CT, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200129680. Heidenreich, Brenda D was born in 1952 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 481 Anaconda DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 139878. Heidenreich, Bruce W was born in 1949 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 250 Via Linda Vista, MANITOU SPGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 422357. Heidenreich, Charles Ryan was born in 1987 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 398 S Davis UNIT W001, TELLURIDE, San Miguel County, CO. His voter ID number is 200080325. Heidenreich, Christi J was born in 1958 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 758 County Rd 11, GUNNISON, Gunnison County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5965043. Heidenreich, Clint Jason was born in 1977 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2630 51St AVE, GREELEY, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 6330252. Heidenreich, Connie J was born in 1954 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3715 Tapestry TER, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 150678. Heidenreich, Curtis Jay was born in 1959 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 13274 Dominus WAY, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 601553163. Heidenreich, Daniel R was born in 1956 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 7130 Grey Feather CT, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 526623. Heidenreich, Debra J was born in 1956 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 7130 Grey Feather CT, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 525713. Heidenreich, Dode Anne was born in 1955 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 85 Revett DR # 248, BRECKENRIDGE, Summit County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3044498. Heidenreich, Duane O was born in 1937 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 409 W 28Th ST, DURANGO, La Plata County, CO. His voter ID number is 4916970. Heidenreich, Elvera Elsie was born in 1928 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4720 Pierce ST, WHEAT RIDGE, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4018845. Heidenreich, Emily Rosemarie was born in 1998 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 322 Langley ST, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601213263. Heidenreich, Grant Tyler was born in 1990 and registered to vote, giving the address as 1550 Platte ST APT 321, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Heidenreich’ voter ID number is 601414132. Heidenreich, Henry John was born in 1977 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1475 S Quebec WAY APT F29, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 3988533. Heidenreich, John Paul was born in 1985 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 9867 Florence PL, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5700374. Heidenreich, Josephine Florence was born in 1932 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6910 Mariposa ST, DENVER, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 7091771. Heidenreich, Kalib was born in 1985 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 730 N Walnut ST, WOODLAND PARK, Teller County, CO. His voter ID number is 5965262. Heidenreich, Karen Ann was born in 1949 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 250 Via Linda Vista, MANITOU SPGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 421462. Heidenreich, Kenneth Fred was born in 1943 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 18212 County Rd 16, FORT MORGAN, Morgan County, CO. His voter ID number is 600415134. Heidenreich, Kevin W was born in 1956 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2544 County Rd 743, GUNNISON, Gunnison County, CO. His voter ID number is 5957901. Heidenreich, Kim A was born in 1952 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 730 N Ivy ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2762705. Heidenreich, Lauren Ann was born in 1986 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5701 E 8Th AVE APT 324, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600795695. Heidenreich, Lavina E was born in 1942 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5880 W 50Th AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2529860. Heidenreich, Louise A was born in 1938 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1475 S Quebec WAY UNIT F-29, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3988532. Heidenreich, Marcia P was born in 1938 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 409 W 28Th ST, DURANGO, La Plata County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4917711. Heidenreich, Mark Allen was born in 1983 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5880 W 50Th AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 6999993. Heidenreich, Michelle Leandra was born in 1987 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 11127 Pastel PT, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600138738. Heidenreich, Nicole Louise was born in 1985 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 238 S Jefferson AVE, LOUISVILLE, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601814632. Heidenreich, Oliver J was born in 1949 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 34290 County Road 55, GILL, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 6329959. Heidenreich, Pamela J was born in 1948 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 34290 County Road 55, GILL, Weld County, CO. Her voter ID number is 6329958. Heidenreich, Richard Joseph was born in 1971 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5880 W 50Th AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2582279. Heidenreich, Rose Mary A was born in 1943 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 421 E 76Th AVE, DENVER, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200095421. Heidenreich, Ross Michael was born in 1987 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1550 Platte ST APT 321, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 601597160. Heidenreich, Sandra J was born in 1960 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6925 Ingalls CT, ARVADA, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4495859. Heidenreich, Shawna Marie was born in 1976 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2630 51St AVE, GREELEY, Weld County, CO. Her voter ID number is 6330314. Heidenreich, Stephen Alan was born in 1953 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 777 E 14Th AVE APT 108, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 3043558. Heidenreich, Tyler was born in 1986 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 703 Echo LN, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 200056920. Heidenreich, Walter Iii was born in 1975 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3330 S Newcombe CT, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 4119325. Heidenreich, Weston Jerald Sr was born in 1996 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 33501 County Road 55, GILL, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 601015265. Heidenreich, William Fredrick was born in 1952 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 31 Wild Rose DR, CANON CITY, Fremont County, CO. His voter ID number is 601674079. Heidenreich, William G was born in 1955 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1106 4Th ST, BERTHOUD, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 1580026. Heidenreich, Wyatt Tyler was born in 1994 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 34290 County Road 55, GILL, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 600579834. Heidenrich, David Samuel was born in 1986 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 550 E 19Th AVE APT 1515, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 600733120. Heidenry, Mark R was born in 1970 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1347 N Olive ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2613246. Heidenthal, Todd was born in 1970 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 4322 Xenon ST, WHEAT RIDGE, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 1058956. Heidepriem, Eric James was born in 1989 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3000 Colt CT, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 200238675. Heidepriem, Spencer Alan was born in 1994 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2631 Davidson DR # B, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 601290363. Heider, Abby Jameson was born in 1983 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 14957 Rider PL, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4005897. Heider, Alexander Louis was born in 1990 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5051 S Fulton ST, GREENWOOD VLG, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 600120308. Heider, Amy Patricia was born in 1996 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5051 S Fulton ST, GREENWOOD VLG, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600932239. Heider, Andrew Richard was born in 1993 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5051 S Fulton ST, GREENWOOD VLG, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 600532070. Heider, Anna Louise was born in 1993 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1711 6Th AVE UNIT B, GREELEY, Weld County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601542565. Heider, Brian was born in 1970 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1280 N Lafayette ST APT 401, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2879904. Heider, Carolyn L was born in 1947 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6350 E Floyd DR, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2532672. Heider, Dale L was born in 1952 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5051 S Fulton ST, GREENWOOD VLG, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 778306. Heider, Dennis Lee was born in 1948 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 8681 Aberdeen CIR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5826537. Heider, Dianne Marie was born in 1943 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2408 Hawthorne CT, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 1598132. Heider, Elizabeth Kelly Mcnellis was born in 1988 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3324 W 35Th AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200151320. Heider, Eric Lee was born in 1977 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 8681 Aberdeen CIR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 161203. Heider, Gregory Arnold Jr was born in 1990 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 436 N Perry ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 601600301. Heider, Irene N was born in 1923 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6350 E Floyd DR, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2466574. Heider, James W was born in 1958 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6350 E Floyd DR, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2506702. Heider, Jennifer Ilene was born in 1973 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 163 3Rd AVE, NIWOT, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 8090401. Heider, Jennifer M was born in 1949 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 9684 Rockhampton WAY, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5679546. Heider, Judith Louise was born in 1946 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2409 Long View DR, ESTES PARK, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600089035. Heider, Jun Christopher was born in 1974 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 7070 W Alaska DR, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 818186. Heider, Kathryn Ann was born in 1944 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 350 Casey ST, CENTRAL CITY, Gilpin County, CO. Her voter ID number is 606275. Heider, Kelley Elizabeth was born in 1983 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1722 W Boulder ST, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600947688. Heider, Kristin Renee was born in 1988 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2195 S Braun WAY, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600529498. Heider, Linda Peggy was born in 1955 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 420 S Marion PKWY APT 202, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2456493. Heider, Lynda Gail was born in 1948 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 8681 Aberdeen CIR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5914525. Heider, Mark Joseph was born in 1954 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3498 E Ellsworth AVE APT 1306, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 600688914. Heider, Mary O was born in 1962 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5051 S Fulton ST, GREENWOOD VLG, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 778305. Heider, Mary Shea was born in 1966 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2550 N Clermont ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2957619. Heider, Nelson Tyler was born in 1990 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6400 W Exposition AVE, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 600632807. Heider, Nikki Alicia was born in 1978 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2100 N Gaylord ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200334772. Heider, Paul Jason was born in 1975 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2661 S Gaylord ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 200377921. Heider, Paul Manfred was born in 1987 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3324 W 35Th AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2930739. Heider, Richard Paul was born in 1955 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 255 N Washington ST UNIT 315, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2532671. Heider, Roberta Jean was born in 1959 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3048 W Layton AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 804881. Heider, Robert L was born in 1969 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 161 3Rd AVE, NIWOT, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 8090402. Heider, Samuel John was born in 1984 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 14957 Rider PL, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5757766. Heider, Thomas was born in 1969 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2550 N Clermont ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2903537. Heider, Zachary Christopher was born in 1977 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2110 N Gaylord ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 600498009. Heider, Zachary Lafosse was born in 1988 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2195 S Braun WAY, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 600619088. Heiderer, Janet Kastelic was born in 1952 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 930 11Th ST, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 8090404. Heiderer, Robert Anton Iii was born in 1991 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 930 11Th ST, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 600573108. Heiderer, Robert Anton Jr was born in 1950 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 930 11Th ST, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 8090405. Heiderer, Susan Elizabeth was born in 1956 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2117B Vermont RD, VAIL, Eagle County, CO. Her voter ID number is 6695806. Heidergott, Scott William was born in 1974 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 415 Mountain Village BLVD UNIT 1044, MOUNTAIN VILLAGE, San Miguel County, CO. His voter ID number is 5002370. Heiderich, Christine Carol was born in 1965 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 11734 S Breeze Grass WAY, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200111770. Heiderich, Katarina was born in 1998 and registered to vote, giving the address as 5200 W Iowa AVE, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. Heiderich’ voter ID number is 601430227. Heiderich, Martin Thomas was born in 1965 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 400 7Th ST, PENROSE, Fremont County, CO. His voter ID number is 590056. Heiderich, Matthew David was born in 1967 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 11734 S Breeze Grass WAY, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5842265. Heider-Kuhn, John William was born in 1987 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6400 W Exposition AVE, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 600456702. Heiderman, Deven Marie was born in 1993 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6895 Red Deer PT UNIT 107, FOUNTAIN, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601453324. Heiderman, Grace Lauren was born in 1989 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 690 S Dahlia CIR # T207, GLENDALE, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600696686. Heidersbach, Amy Louise was born in 1968 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4450 N Wolff ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601608166. Heiderscheidt, Jason Andrew was born in 1997 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6563 S Ouray ST, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 601201479. Heiderscheidt, Jason S was born in 1969 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6563 S Ouray ST, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 762807. Heiderscheidt, Judy Marie was born in 1964 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1222 Trappers PT, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 1612297. Heiderscheidt, Pamela Joan was born in 1967 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6563 S Ouray ST, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 898428. Heiderscheidt, Rachel Marie was born in 1995 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 511 W Lake ST # 119, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600845984. Heiderscheit, Austiin Allan was born in 1997 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 0 Fort Carson, FT CARSON, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 601542912. Heiderscheit, Timothy Donald Mr was born in 1992 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5494 E Hinsdale CIR, CENTENNIAL, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 601938336. Heiderscheit, Travis Kent was born in 1990 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1430 N Humboldt ST APT 3, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 200252611. Heiderstadt, Alexander Deans was born in 1981 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 142 Independence AVE, VICTOR, Teller County, CO. His voter ID number is 4237188. Heiderstadt, Anne Marie Mee Sung was born in 1993 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 54991 E Bison DR, STRASBURG, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200317811. Heiderstadt, Daniel Ffrancis was born in 1996 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 54991 E Bison DR, STRASBURG, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601024115. Heiderstadt, Donald Patrick was born in 1996 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 54991 E Bison DR, STRASBURG, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 601024187. Heiderstadt, Katherine A was born in 1986 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 142 Independence AVE, VICTOR, Teller County, CO. Her voter ID number is 6936800. Heiderstadt, Margaret Elizabeth Tatia was born in 1994 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 10700 E Dartmouth AVE APT CC112, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600432822. Heiderstadt, Mark Andrew Ivan was born in 1994 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2656 Eaton ST, EDGEWATER, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 600737551. Heiderstadt, Mary Theresa Natasha was born in 1992 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3293 S Truckee WAY # 303, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200286244. Heiderstadt, Mary Theresa Natasha was born in 1999 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 11200 E Dartmouth AVE UNIT 317, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601349407. Heiderstadt, Mary Winston was born in 1953 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 54991 E Bison DR, STRASBURG, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 734364. Heiderstadt, Mikhail Joseph was born in 1989 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2656 Eaton ST, EDGEWATER, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 600188536. Heiderstadt, Robert G was born in 1958 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 54991 E Bison DR, STRASBURG, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 734365. Heiderstalt, V Paul was born in 1988 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 54991 E Bison DR, STRASBURG, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 600572220. Heidgen, Karl Frederick was born in 1966 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2000 Little Raven ST UNIT 503, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 200183392. Heidger, Carla Jean was born in 1961 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6540 Lindal DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200088779. Heidger, Thomas Wayne was born in 1946 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 481 6530 RD, MONTROSE, Montrose County, CO. His voter ID number is 5384745. Heidger, Tim J was born in 1959 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6540 Lindal DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 200089659. Heidi, Heidi was born in 1965 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 9882 W Kentucky DR, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5365145. Heidick, Addam Matthew was born in 1986 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2606 Davidson DR # B, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 600585672. Heidick, Matthew Wayde was born in 1960 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 522 Comanche DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 600255770. Heidinger, Antoinette L was born in 1937 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6666 Hillside WAY, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5826679. Heidinger, Bram Edward was born in 1977 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1440 Little Raven ST APT 303, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 200255833. Heidinger, Christine Michele was born in 1972 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 164 Cherry ST, CASTLE ROCK, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5802048. Heidinger, Claudia Virginia was born in 1944 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3465 S Poplar ST APT 107, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5946858. Heidinger, George Andrew was born in 1978 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 125 Iron Duke CT, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 600074951. Heidinger, Laurie Morgan was born in 1951 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4495 Ramblewood DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200107710. Heidinger, Marjorie C was born in 1967 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1699 S Trenton ST APT 169, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2661647. Heidinger, Michael Peter was born in 1969 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 164 Cherry ST, CASTLE ROCK, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5730268. Heidinger, Susan Rae was born in 1980 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 7094 E Appleton CIR, CENTENNIAL, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601107849. Heidish, Deborah L was born in 1951 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2451 S Adams ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2771752. Heidkamp, Bret Owen was born in 1964 and registered to vote, giving the address as 854 Terrace CIR N, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. Heidkamp’ voter ID number is 600965342. Heidkamp, Kelsey Ann was born in 1988 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 423 E 2Nd AVE UNIT MAIN, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601836019. Heidkamp, Megan Elizabeth was born in 1979 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 11661 Decatur DR, WESTMINSTER, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600380482. Heidkamp, Tobias John was born in 1981 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 11661 Decatur DR, WESTMINSTER, Adams County, CO. His voter ID number is 600380454. Heidke, Heather Marie was born in 1985 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1140 Carbon Junction UNIT 33, DURANGO, La Plata County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600501207. Heidl, Jeremy Neil was born in 1980 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2828 N Ash ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 200261428. Heidlebaugh, Brant W was born in 1968 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3 River ST, SILVERTON, San Juan County, CO. His voter ID number is 4749598. Heidleberg, Brianna Michelle was born in 1998 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3450 Riva Ridge PL # F301, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601540098. Heidleberg, Scott Lee was born in 1971 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 848 Sunlight Peak DR, SEVERANCE, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 1613573. Heidleberg, Shelby Renae was born in 2000 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 626 Scotch Pine DR, SEVERANCE, Weld County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601769236. Heidler, David S was born in 1955 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 187 Dolomite DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 118007. Heidler, Jeanne T was born in 1956 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 187 Dolomite DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 119390. Heidler, Linda was born in 1948 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 44381 Us Hwy 50 W, CANON CITY, Fremont County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601788803. Heidman, Lynne Denise was born in 1947 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 8166 S Tempe CT, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600749042. Heidman, Melissa Margaret was born in 1967 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 834 Aurora AVE, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 8090413. Heidman, Sean Michael was born in 1979 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5632 Irish Pat Murphy DR, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 600920990. Heidman, Stephanie Renee was born in 1983 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5632 Irish Pat Murphy DR, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200062186. Heidmann, David Allen was born in 1940 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3543 Angora DR, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 600829156. Heidmann, Logan Matthews was born in 1992 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 820 N Sherman ST APT 516, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 600545912. Heidmous, Barbara M was born in 1956 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1017 Tari DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 212206. Heidmous, Beck Mathew was born in 1998 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 176 Monares LN, ERIE, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 600932245. Heidmous, Briget Kathleen was born in 1989 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1017 Tari DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600303408. Heidmous, Jeffery N was born in 1955 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1017 Tari DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 212225. Heidmous, Jodi Lynn was born in 1982 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1017 Tari DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 212694. Heidmous, Mathew Lester was born in 1967 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 9044 Vance ST # 107, WESTMINSTER, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 608184. Heidmous, Myles William was born in 2000 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 176 Monares LN, ERIE, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 601682292. Heidner, Gregory Cole was born in 1990 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2345 Walnut ST UNIT 27, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 601691275. Heidohrn, Katherine Auen was born in 1950 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 700 N Monaco PKWY, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2552982. Heidorn, Brandon James was born in 1985 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 500 Wellington AVE, LAFAYETTE, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 6380057. Heidorn, Carolyn Dee was born in 1947 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 15243 W 65Th AVE # F, ARVADA, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5006484. Heidorn, Jessica was born in 1991 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 8359 Webster ST, ARVADA, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601467337. Heidorn, Jody Lynn was born in 1958 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1239 Northridge DR, ERIE, Weld County, CO. Her voter ID number is 6381197. Heidorn, Karen Melchior was born in 1987 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 500 Wellington AVE, LAFAYETTE, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200067467. Heidorn, Laura A was born in 1959 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4433 E 119Th WAY, THORNTON, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200106759. Heidorn, Mark William was born in 1959 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1239 Northridge DR, ERIE, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 6381198. Heidorn, Michael W was born in 1944 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 15243 W 65Th AVE # F, ARVADA, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 5006485. Heidrich, Ann Heather was born in 1947 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 24 N Parkway DR, COLORADO CITY, Pueblo County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3021548. Heidrich, April Rose was born in 1988 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5520 Wagon Master DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 1503277. Heidrich, Bradley Burton was born in 1967 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 609 Lodgepole ST, GRAND JUNCTION, Mesa County, CO. His voter ID number is 3532875. Heidrich, Casey Ryan was born in 1990 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 239 Pine Tree LN, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 601598057. Heidrich, Charles B was born in 1944 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 446 E Main ST, HOTCHKISS, Delta County, CO. His voter ID number is 3532876. Heidrich, Debra Jo was born in 1953 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5693 S Pagosa CT, CENTENNIAL, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 769211. Heidrich, Heather Noelle was born in 1981 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 15865 Pole Pine PT, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 341166. Heidrich, Jacob Matthew was born in 1984 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 401 10Th ST, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 600797975. Heidrich, Jeffrey David was born in 1968 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 124 S Lafayette ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2605898. Heidrich, Jerald Henry was born in 1944 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1475 S Peyton HWY, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 328282. Heidrich, Jerrold C was born in 1952 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5693 S Pagosa CT, CENTENNIAL, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 769418. Heidrich, Jordyn Andrew was born in 1997 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 9899 E 7Th AVE, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 600980230. Heidrich, Klaus Dieter was born in 1939 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 480 S Marion PKWY APT 2000A, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 8090418. Heidrich, Laura Kiem was born in 1966 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2453 Broadway APT 5, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601141545. Heidrich, Levi Armstrong was born in 1980 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 15865 Pole Pine PT, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 345772. Heidrich, Margie Lynn was born in 1975 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1017 S Ventura WAY, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3548664. Heidrich, Marie Kathryn was born in 1943 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 480 S Marion PKWY APT 2000A, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 8090534. Heidrich, Michael Francis was born in 1988 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1490 Delgany ST APT 508, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 601535943. Heidrich, Nancy Jean was born in 1952 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4322 Clay Commons CT, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600918449. Heidrich, Patricia Ann was born in 1937 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2720 Marsh LN, GRAND JUNCTION, Mesa County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2255247. Heidrich, Skylar Burton was born in 1995 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 9899 E 7Th AVE, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 601004005. Heidrick, Ann Francis was born in 1983 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 17293 Waterhouse CIR # D, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 7945697. Heidrick, Charles Thomas was born in 1991 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1201 Laporte AVE, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 600794861. Heidrick, Charlotte Jean was born in 1949 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2701 Yosemite ST, BRUSH, Morgan County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3931832. Heidrick, Christopher G was born in 1958 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 4365 S Kalamath ST, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 200191575. Heidrick, Christopher J was born in 1986 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2624 Deliverance DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 600509592. Heidrick, Denise Marie was born in 1977 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 7344 Matheson DR, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 1462744. Heidrick, Duane E was born in 1954 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 4709 S Elati ST, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 848228. Heidrick, Elizabeth Jane was born in 1968 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 380 Highway 92, CRAWFORD, Delta County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3555865. Heidrick, Garrett was born in 1994 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 4365 S Kalamath ST, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 600514295. Heidrick, Jack Dwayne was born in 1958 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1015 47Th AVE, GREELEY, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 601420472. Heidrick, James Leo was born in 1946 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 821 Cottonwood DR, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 1628933. Heidrick, Jerod J was born in 1979 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2624 Deliverance DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 200136163. Heidrick, Joann M was born in 1931 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3080 W Prentice AVE # K, LITTLETON, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 847760. Heidrick, Joshua was born in 1995 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6190 Marshall ST, ARVADA, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 601000590. Heidrick, Karen Anne was born in 1951 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 7512 S Emerson CIR, CENTENNIAL, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601926050. Heidrick, Lynelle Elizabet was born in 1947 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 821 Cottonwood DR, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 1628895. Heidrick, Lynnette L was born in 1970 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4365 S Kalamath ST, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 848977. Heidrick, Macy Lee was born in 1990 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 759 S Reed CT # G 35, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601240203. Heidrick, Margaret Louise was born in 1938 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3237 Summer Wind LN # 1013, LITTLETON, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4001033. Heidrick, Marilyn S was born in 1960 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3715 S Bannock ST, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 855088. Heidrick, Mary Joan was born in 1940 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3475 American DR # 306, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 285291. Heidrick, Michael Joseph was born in 1953 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 7512 S Emerson CIR, CENTENNIAL, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 1014038. Heidrick, Rachel J was born in 1971 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 11421 Night Heron DR, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5675674. Heidrick, Robert William was born in 1983 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 17293 Waterhouse CIR # D, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5797344. Heidrick, Susan Jane was born in 1970 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1046 E 132Nd PL, THORNTON, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5718059. Heidrick, Teresa L was born in 1956 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3305 S Pennsylvania ST, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 857308. Heidrick, Todd Stephen was born in 1965 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 11421 Night Heron DR, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5847518. Heidrick, Zachary David was born in 1994 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 4365 S Kalamath ST, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 600508659. Heid Scholbrock, Christina Michelle was born in 1984 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5642 Tumbleweed AVE, FIRESTONE, Weld County, CO. Her voter ID number is 8092431. Heidsiek, Katie Hughes was born in 1986 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1065 N Pennsylvania ST APT 304, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200152921. Heidsiek, Matthias was born in 1988 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1065 N Pennsylvania ST APT 304, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 601383660. Heidt, Alan M was born in 1965 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2533 S Logan ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 4267903. Heidt, Alison Nicole was born in 1993 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2533 S Logan ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600586248. Heidt, Andrew Robert was born in 1979 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 908 24Th ST APT 201, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 600098919. Heidt, Ashley was born in 1997 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6780 S Riviera CT # 1127, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601225532. Heidt, Austin Scripps was born in 1985 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 635 Walnut ST UNIT 4, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 2930725. Heidt, Brian James was born in 1981 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 13624 W Tulane PL, MORRISON, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 4145276. Heidt, Brooklyn Alexandra was born in 1996 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3007 S Ronlin PL, GRAND JUNCTION, Mesa County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601224623. Heidt, Christy Bennett was born in 1975 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 17250 W Colfax AVE # A102, GOLDEN, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4039410. Heidt, David Joseph was born in 1960 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2513 Martingale DR, BERTHOUD, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 2675604. Heidt, David L was born in 1933 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5975 S Ironton CT, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 770708. Heidt, Debra Sue was born in 1958 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 13624 W Tulane PL, MORRISON, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4279088. Heidt, Derrick William was born in 1967 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 7240 S Valdai CIR, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 745907. Heidt, Dominic Dean was born in 1995 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1882 E 104Th AVE UNIT 1121, THORNTON, Adams County, CO. His voter ID number is 601636516. Heidt, Douglas Peter was born in 1965 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6780 S Riviera CT # 1127, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 601623123. Heidt, Jared Kasper Lowell was born in 1997 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1010 Rico CT, GRAND JUNCTION, Mesa County, CO. His voter ID number is 601789287. Heidt, Jeffery Allen was born in 1978 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3918 Kennedy AVE, WELLINGTON, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 600090315. Heidt, Jennifer Lynn was born in 1987 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 9170 W 91St AVE, WESTMINSTER, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600427163. Heidt, Joseph Peter Iii was born in 1969 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 31609 Hilltop RD, GOLDEN, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 200213952. Heidt, Julie R was born in 1952 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1755 N Albion ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2481626. Heidt, Julie Rae was born in 1960 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 387 S 29Th AVE, BRIGHTON, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 6992674. Heidt, Katherine Carron was born in 1992 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 206 Silver ST, LAKE CITY, Hinsdale County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601597740. Heidt, Leroy Eugene was born in 1934 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1533 Linden ST, LONGMONT, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 8090546. Heidt, Marisa Lee was born in 1975 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 31609 Hilltop RD, GOLDEN, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200103188. Heidt, Marjean L was born in 1938 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5975 S Ironton CT, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 770716. Heidt, Mark E was born in 1956 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 387 S 29Th AVE, BRIGHTON, Adams County, CO. His voter ID number is 6913381. Heidt, Max Francis was born in 1994 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 338 W Pine ST, NEDERLAND, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 600538828. Heidt, Nadine Louise was born in 1934 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1533 Linden ST, LONGMONT, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 8090548. Heidt, Neal Eugene was born in 1994 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 387 S 29Th AVE, BRIGHTON, Adams County, CO. His voter ID number is 600593917. Heidt, Rhett Randall was born in 1980 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2372 S Fairfax DR, DENVER, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 874456. Heidt, Richard Leo was born in 1953 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5335 Rockhampton CIR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5823055. Heidt, Robert Edward was born in 1947 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2372 S Fairfax DR, DENVER, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 841918. Heidt, Sarah Leigh was born in 1975 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3918 Kennedy AVE, WELLINGTON, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5917974. Heidt, Shane Linden was born in 1966 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 15255 Tanner TRL, ELBERT, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 601053870. Heidt, Sofia Grace was born in 1999 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3007 S Ronlin PL, GRAND JUNCTION, Mesa County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601086255. Heidt, Stacy Lynn was born in 1967 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2533 S Logan ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5794847. Heidt, Timothy W was born in 1989 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 13624 W Tulane PL, MORRISON, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 600118557. Heidt, Toby Allen was born in 1996 and registered to vote, giving the address as 387 S 29Th AVE, BRIGHTON, Adams County, CO. Heidt’ voter ID number is 601283887. Heidt, Warren Dean was born in 1976 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 30575 Hilltop DR, EVERGREEN, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 600796944. Heidtbrink, John D was born in 1951 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 243 W 4Th AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2508984. Heidtbrink, Katherine B was born in 1943 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1299 N Gilpin ST APT 3E, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2785384. Heidtman, Amy Louise was born in 1980 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 13245 Canopus DR, LITTLETON, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200054572. Heidtman, Bernard Frederick was born in 1940 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1320 Spring Valley DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 211915. Heidtman, Mary P was born in 1944 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1320 Spring Valley DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 213144. Heidtmann, Ashley Mercedes was born in 1997 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 800 28Th ST APT 312, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601472066. Heidy, Kevin James was born in 1980 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 158 S Jackson ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 3906592. Heidzig, Cathey A was born in 1960 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1626 Cheyenne AVE, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600838874. Heidzig, Jessica Ann was born in 1987 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1639 E 16Th ST, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600387891. Heie, Janice Lynn was born in 1964 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1022 E Hyman AVE, ASPEN, Pitkin County, CO. Her voter ID number is 6798182. Heieck, Jennifer Christine was born in 1978 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 644 Trails At Coal Creek DR, LAFAYETTE, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601111886. Heieck, Juanita Lynn was born in 1954 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1609 Auburn DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600074939. Heieck, Pamela Gail was born in 1965 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 13771 Voyager PKWY, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 84163. Heieck, Steven Thomas was born in 1952 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 13771 Voyager PKWY, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 84170. Heieck, Theodore Frederick was born in 1977 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 644 Trails At Coal Creek DR, LAFAYETTE, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 601112142. Heien, Angela Marie was born in 1980 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 10725 Ashford CIR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600750589. Heien, Benjamin John was born in 1988 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1695 Joliet ST APT 3, AURORA, Adams County, CO. His voter ID number is 600814113. Heien, Gay Jean was born in 1949 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1765 Stove Prairie CIR, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 1544683. Heien, Hillary Kathlynne was born in 1975 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3133 N Fulton ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2565394. Heien, Jeffrey L was born in 1965 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3133 N Fulton ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2686056. Heien, Jordan Elliott was born in 1998 and registered to vote, giving the address as 3133 N Fulton ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Heien’ voter ID number is 601358952. Heien, Kathryn T was born in 1955 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 10510 Holland ST, WESTMINSTER, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4192141. Heien, Kristine Marie was born in 1986 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1600 Iron Horse DR APT D301, LONGMONT, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4191132. Heien, Lisa Marie was born in 1974 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 11634 E Lake PL, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601829174. Heien, Morgan Alexander was born in 1972 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 11634 E Lake PL, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 601850479. Heien, Robert L was born in 1947 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 10510 Holland ST, WESTMINSTER, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 4191731. Heien, Tiffany Jeanette was born in 1988 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 825 Timber LN, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200096656. Heier, Aaron Keith was born in 1961 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 200 Aspen DR, EVERGREEN, Clear Creek County, CO. His voter ID number is 5010908. Heier, Ashley Marie was born in 1988 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6290 Arabella DR, CASTLE ROCK, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600119676. Heier, Barbara J was born in 1959 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4630 La Cresta DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 181899. Heier, Blazey Lee was born in 1985 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 435 Bowen ST, LONGMONT, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200146776. Heier, Bryan Kent was born in 1956 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 28001 Highway 52, KEENESBURG, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 2215216. Heier, Caitlin Marie was born in 1996 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 10255 Dover ST # 123, WESTMINSTER, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601019098. Heier, Cameron David was born in 1998 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6316 Brightstar DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 600998483. Heier, Casey Lynn was born in 1980 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 7253 Maybeck VW, PEYTON, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 766521. Heier, Cory James was born in 1985 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1365 S Benton ST, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. His voter ID number is 5023513. Heier, Cory Justin was born in 1995 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3515 Mosswood LN, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 601752489. Heier, Daniel Richard was born in 1968 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1028 S Redbud DR, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 1641288. Heier, David C was born in 1971 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2638 Cooper AVE, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 448995. Heier, Donald J was born in 1939 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1601 N College AVE # 93, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 1410886. Heier, Heidi Marie was born in 1970 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1028 S Redbud DR, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 1639241. Heier, Hillary Anne was born in 1991 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 505 S Sheridan AVE, HOLYOKE, Phillips County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601066580. Heier, Izaac Anthony was born in 1996 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 100 Miller AVE APT 306, BRIGHTON, Adams County, CO. His voter ID number is 600925801. Heier, Jacob Walter was born in 1977 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3758 Chavez ST, BRIGHTON, Adams County, CO. His voter ID number is 6988110. Heier, Jeremy Michael was born in 1978 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 503 Blair ST, FRUITA, Mesa County, CO. His voter ID number is 600811419. Heier, Jessi Rea was born in 1984 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1957 W 102Nd AVE, THORNTON, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601522786. Heier, John R was born in 1941 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 4321 Red Fox PL, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 1651725. Heier, Karen Kaye was born in 1956 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 721 S Wild Horse DR, NEW CASTLE, Garfield County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5537142. Heier, Kaylin Jay was born in 1988 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 19188 E Terlago Creek PL, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600122799. Heier, Kellie Lynn was born in 1956 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 28001 Highway 52, KEENESBURG, Weld County, CO. Her voter ID number is 6320006. Heier, Kurt Edmund was born in 1966 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 322 W Jamison PL # 45, LITTLETON, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 805709. Heier, Lacey Jae was born in 1984 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 434 Dahlia ST, FORT MORGAN, Morgan County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4281609. Heier, Laurie Kay was born in 1959 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 200 Aspen DR, EVERGREEN, Clear Creek County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5010909. Heier, Linda A was born in 1946 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4321 Red Fox PL, LOVELAND, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 1651724. Heier, Linda Lee was born in 1947 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1035 E 9Th ST, CRAIG, Moffat County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5580119. Heier, Marissa Mae was born in 1999 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 9451 Welby RD APT 1428, THORNTON, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601669138. Heier, Megan Kathleen was born in 1995 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4630 La Cresta DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600776904. Heier, Michael Edward was born in 1964 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 4630 La Cresta DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 182078. Heier, Michael Gary was born in 1974 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 225 7Th ST, FT LUPTON, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 600329293. Heier, Michelle was born in 1974 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2816 Mountain View AVE, LONGMONT, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3018894. Heier, Philip Alvin was born in 1976 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6675 S Lemay AVE # E2, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 4223217. Heier, Rebecca Ann was born in 1976 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3758 Chavez ST, BRIGHTON, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 7086601. Heier, Robert Gerald was born in 1954 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 721 S Wild Horse DR, NEW CASTLE, Garfield County, CO. His voter ID number is 5537154. Heier, Russell Lynn was born in 1991 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 505 S Sheridan AVE, HOLYOKE, Phillips County, CO. His voter ID number is 601064902. Heier, Ryan Tyler was born in 1992 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6316 Brightstar DR, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 600852132. Heier, Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1973 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 434 Dahlia ST, FORT MORGAN, Morgan County, CO. His voter ID number is 3576495. Heier, Sydney Nicole was born in 1993 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 901 Rolland Moore DR # 237B, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600989973. Heier, Tamara Lynette was born in 1969 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1625 N Murray BLVD APT 108, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 124150. Heier, Terry Anthony was born in 1956 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1019 Iowa AVE, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. His voter ID number is 296840. Heier, Timothy Philip was born in 1969 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2816 Mountain View AVE, LONGMONT, Boulder County, CO. His voter ID number is 3018895. Heier, Tina Marie was born in 1972 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 225 7Th ST, FT LUPTON, Weld County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600319576. Heier, Valerie Jo was born in 1983 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1625 N Murray BLVD APT 103, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 460410. Heier-Cave, Kari Anne was born in 1959 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 19188 E Terlago Creek PL, PARKER, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5766064. Heiermann, Ruth E was born in 1960 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 11651 W 40Th CIR, WHEAT RIDGE, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4034821. Heiferling, Adam Shea was born in 1969 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1652 N Steele ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2825911. Heiferling, Eric William was born in 1955 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6312 S Newbern WAY, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 940449. Heiferling, Harrison Will was born in 1993 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 6312 S Newbern WAY, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 600592468. Heiferling, Isabelle Grace was born in 1995 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6312 S Newbern WAY, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601430460. Heiferling, Patricia E was born in 1941 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2023 N Kearney ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2499476. Heiferling, Shari Jean was born in 1958 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 6312 S Newbern WAY, AURORA, Arapahoe County, CO. Her voter ID number is 940450. Heifets, Aviva Faye was born in 1990 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3412 N Valentia ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200141388. Heifets, Herman was born in 1957 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 3490 S Bellaire ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2522677. Heifets, Lisa Dao was born in 1963 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 3490 S Bellaire ST, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600180300. Heifets, Olga Tishina was born in 1977 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 601 Brook RD, BOULDER, Boulder County, CO. Her voter ID number is 8090563. Heifets, Sarah Elizabeth was born in 1987 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1320 S Monaco PKWY APT 12, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200141384. Heifetz, Joshua Zeke was born in 1996 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 894 Shadow Mountain DR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 601066871. Heifetz, Judith Lea was born in 1963 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 894 Shadow Mountain DR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5841406. Heifetz, Marina Halene was born in 1991 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4087 Silver Star GRV, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601567708. Heifetz, Steven Zachary was born in 1956 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 894 Shadow Mountain DR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5893820. Heifferon, Mark Douglas was born in 1964 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 5453 Fullerton CIR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 5899745. Heifferon, Nicole Suzanne was born in 1992 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2514 Champa ST APT 303, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601099546. Heifferon, Phillip Mark was born in 1993 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2514 Champa ST APT 303, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 600511246. Heifferon, Ryan Joseph was born in 1987 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 4805 S Lincoln ST, ENGLEWOOD, Arapahoe County, CO. His voter ID number is 5692631. Heifferon, Theresa Marie was born in 1965 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5453 Fullerton CIR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5905052. Heifner, Brad Eugene was born in 1975 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 8165 Maple DR, LITTLETON, Douglas County, CO. His voter ID number is 6426439. Heifner, Brianna Lexis was born in 1996 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1195 Rockafellow AVE, CANON CITY, Fremont County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601180312. Heifner, Carol E was born in 1942 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 13355 Road 31, MANCOS, Montezuma County, CO. Her voter ID number is 4898789. Heifner, Clifford Eugene was born in 1943 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 215 S Caddoa DR, PUEBLO WEST, Pueblo County, CO. His voter ID number is 3061521. Heifner, Dave Russell was born in 1962 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 501 S Tejon AVE, PUEBLO WEST, Pueblo County, CO. His voter ID number is 7064861. Heifner, Dustin Lee was born in 1980 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 13930 Harrison ST, THORNTON, Adams County, CO. His voter ID number is 601533584. Heifner, Gina Marie was born in 1983 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 369 W Morning Glory DR, PUEBLO WEST, Pueblo County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601573423. Heifner, Gloria Jean was born in 1945 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 215 S Caddoa DR, PUEBLO WEST, Pueblo County, CO. Her voter ID number is 3079322. Heifner, Jaime Lynne was born in 1976 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 8165 Maple DR, LITTLETON, Douglas County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600158742. Heifner, Jason Norman was born in 1979 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 501 S Tejon AVE, PUEBLO WEST, Pueblo County, CO. His voter ID number is 200342321. Heifner, Jerry Wayne was born in 1946 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 13355 Road 31, MANCOS, Montezuma County, CO. His voter ID number is 4898900. Heifner, Jon Allen was born in 1956 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 609 Pheasant View DR, FREDERICK, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 6387971. Heifner, Kay Deann was born in 1977 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 5499 E 113Th AVE, THORNTON, Adams County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601003283. Heifner, Keegan was born in 1995 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 139 Sierra DR, FRUITA, Mesa County, CO. His voter ID number is 601509316. Heifner, Kelly Wayne was born in 1970 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2014 Yearling DR, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 1632721. Heifner, Kylie Leann was born in 1998 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 139 Sierra DR, FRUITA, Mesa County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601408825. Heifner, Lisa Michelle was born in 1973 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1432 N Shields ST, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. Her voter ID number is 5523346. Heifner, Mark A was born in 1945 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 37 E Colorado AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. His voter ID number is 2503899. Heifner, Mary L was born in 1952 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 2502 Knob Hill CT, COLO SPRINGS, El Paso County, CO. Her voter ID number is 354111. Heifner, Misty Dawn was born in 1974 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 1195 Rockafellow AVE, CANON CITY, Fremont County, CO. Her voter ID number is 600143529. Heifner, Natasha Danielle was born in 1987 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 13005 W 2Nd PL # M 207, LAKEWOOD, Jefferson County, CO. Her voter ID number is 601604673. Heifner, Nicholas Lee was born in 1999 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 7438 Jade ST, FT LUPTON, Weld County, CO. His voter ID number is 601063569. Heifner, Norman Dale was born in 1939 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 2008 Belmont AVE, PUEBLO, Pueblo County, CO. His voter ID number is 600259004. Heifner, Patricia Valentine was born in 1928 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 4391/2 Morning Dove DR, GRAND JUNCTION, Mesa County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2337606. Heifner, Ryan Alan was born in 1989 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 435 32 RD, CLIFTON, Mesa County, CO. His voter ID number is 200024186. Heifner, Stephanie was born in 1969 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 139 Sierra DR, FRUITA, Mesa County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200024188. Heifner, Steve David was born in 1962 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 139 Sierra DR, FRUITA, Mesa County, CO. His voter ID number is 200037477. Heifner, Susan Elizabeth was born in 1946 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 37 E Colorado AVE, DENVER, Denver County, CO. Her voter ID number is 2783531. Heifner, Traci Leila was born in 1991 and she registered to vote, giving her address as 435 32 RD UNIT 804, CLIFTON, Mesa County, CO. Her voter ID number is 200240052. Heifner, Warren Keith was born in 1972 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 1195 Rockafellow AVE, CANON CITY, Fremont County, CO. His voter ID number is 3680604. Heifner, Zane Henry was born in 1989 and he registered to vote, giving his address as 505 Dartmouth TRL, FORT COLLINS, Larimer County, CO. His voter ID number is 600588727.

2019-04-23T13:58:08Z

http://coloradovoters.info/by_name/pages/h10266.html

When will there be release from Godox on this transmitter ? This transmitter is exclusively available from Flashpoint, not Godox (though fully compatible with both systems). For a very brief summary of the background story, a number of years ago Adorama asked Godox to make a new transmitter as an update to the X1. Godox didn’t want to do this at the time, though eventually agreed. And the Mark II model you see here was basically our original concept. Unfortunately Godox did not agree with the Group button placement we wanted, and the only way forward was for Flashpoint to commission their own seperate transmitter from Godox. So the original XPro / R2 Pro was actually Godox’s version derived from this Flashpoint (now MK II) transmitter, and they were being developed along side each other, until the Flashpoint version ran into a major snag with the button backlighting, which was what set it back so much further than the Xpro. So the Godox Xpro was able to be released much earlier, and Flashpoint also offered the Xpro as their R2 Pro while their transmitter was still in development. The MK II concept was always the original plan though. Its been a long and tough road to get to this point, and ideally I would have liked a sleeker design, and numerous other functions etc as well. Though I have been using a prototype MK II for 6 months now, and find it a world of difference (better) than the Xpro, and hopefully others feel the same once they get to try them. Unfortunately, given Adorama’s attitude to shipping outside the US, it’s of no interest to no US users. As I mentioned Flashpoint are currently looking for dealers / distributor outside the US. There is more Godox compatible Flashpoint exclusive gear coming, so I’m sure there will be UK dealers wanting to be involved. When I saw it was an Adorama exclusive, I looked at ordering from them, and the shipping was going to be $42. So I ordered it with a mail forwarding service, and got free shipping from Adorama… just hope there’s no extra customs costs I’ll be stung with! No, It can’t switch to decimal power scales. And even if it could, (like the XT32 and XT16 can)…. you still can’t mix the two scales at the same time. i.e. you can’t use speeedlights or AD series, with the older strobes, even with a XT31/XT16, as every time you switch between the power scales on the transmitter, it defaults to the minimum power level. So using two transmitters as you have been doing, is the only way. So yeah, mark ii strobes are the way to go! PRESETS!!! Why there is no dedicated preset buttons to be used as quick location-changing users tool. It is relatively easy to implement I believe, so why not?? It would be VERY helpful for those of us who have to shot in multiple locations placed close to each other by their own. Thanks, yes I understand stored / preset lighting set ups, and user customizable buttons are features a lot of people are after. We simply couldn’t do everything at once though. The transmitter took almost 2 years just to get to this stage, and every time I asked for reasonably simple changes everyone was panicking the development may go on forever. We will be making a note of all the suggestions though, either for future firmware, or possibly even another model update. So feel free to offer suggestions and feedback. Can you save setups on the App though, and just use the bluetooth in this then? I mean if this replaces a $70 XPro, AND a $70 A1, in the one unit… and is STILL only $70, that is incredible value! EDIT – The APP does have a form of stored user set ups, by using the Import and Export functions as shown here. Hopefully this is something that can be added to the both transmitters in the future though. Wow, looks pretty sweet! Will this be available outside the US? Flashpoint are currently looking at dealers / distributor outside the US. You can also purchase directly from Adorama.con online, though shipping cost is not ideal for one small item. Great improvements, but alas it looks like the auto focus assist light is still the rather useless cross hatch type. Too bad, since this would have improved usability of these devices tremendoussly for many of us. Yes unfortunately the AF light was not changed at this point. I have suggested a twin pattern light (tighter pattern in the center) which is actually what the Profoto A1 now use. So hopefully this is something that could be updated still in the future. I’m not sure what Godox have planned yet, though I will suggest the same for the coming round head speedlite. Hopefully that may be the chance to finally move forward with this. Any improvement there would be welcome! It definitely would be great to look into how Nikon’s AF light works. It’s hands down the best in the market, working even with far out AF points with wide angle lenses. Unrelated but any news on H1200B Pro? Are you referring to an extension head for 2 AD600 Pro, or a separate 1200Ws strobe? I’ve seen comments posted regarding both, though I’m not personally aware of whats happening with either at this stage. Yes extension head for 2 AD600 Pro, that’d complete my setup, I can’t justify getting the remote head for AD600 Pro given I can easily mount the AD400 Pro indirect with everything stripped away (it becomes light enough). Can a Xpro do the global adjustment and the updsted TCM function with firmware update? Do you mean changing all the groups together? The Xpro can currently do that anyway, with the ‘All’ function. And it also currently has TCM. The only difference with TCM on the mkii, is that you can press the button an 2nd time, to go back to TTL. I’m really not sure if Godox will update the current Xpro or not. I suggested some time ago a list of things to update in the Xpro to help provide consistency between the 2 transmitters, though nothing has been changed yet in that regard. So for now I’m sticking with the battles I can make a difference. As Andy mentioned, the ALL function is available in the Xpro already, we just updated it so that the TTL settings would not be changed, only the manual power levels. The TCM function returning to TTL makes a major difference though. We also changed the MODE button order to M > TTL, if you want to TCM meter just one group again quickly. Regarding Presets via the APP can;t you create a lighting ratio via the APP and then save as an EXPORT. When you next use the app with transmitter can’t you simply IMPORT the preset via the APP and use accordingly. My mistake, you are correct. The Import and Export functions are shown here. Okay, I’m going to buy one to replace my current Pro transmitter — built-in Bluetooth alone is worth the upgrade — but… man, that is a LOT of buttons! I like to set up my cameras to minimize distractions while shooting; this will be like parking a whole keyboard on top! I know everybody hates the original X1 transmitter, but once you had set up your groups you could ignore everything else and just use the thumbwheel to dial in compensation. I can’t help wishing some of that simplicity had been inherited by the later designs. Its mainly only the buttons bellow the LCD screen which are used regularly, you can almost forget about the side buttons if you don’t want to use them. They are there for quick access if you do though. The buttons used regularly are all located closely around the main dial, so it doesn’t take long before you can adjust a number of groups with your eyes closed, and without reaching far between buttons. The backlighting is also pretty dim on the side buttons so they are not obnoxious. That was not intentional, as it was actually a battle to get some light behind them. Bluetooth is nice – I complained that it was not in the original Xpro – such an obvious easy thing to do. However I have an A1 now so it matters less. I’m not mad keen on lots of tiny buttons myself but I can see some users will like this. Two things this misses – the damned on/off switch is a menace. I’m forever switching it on when I cram it into a bag. There has to be a better way. Secondly now you have bluetooth it should allow the app to trigger the camera via the 2.5 mm sync port. Now someone need to reverse engineer the bluetooth protocol. I wonder if there’s a bluetooth Man in the Middle toolkit for the Raspberry PI? Regarding the ON / OFF switch, I know it can be a problem, though I personally wanted to keep it because that is what I have used on most transmitters to turn all the Groups On and Off together quickly. It was only recently though I came across a Youtube video where one person was suggesting to use the MULTI mode as a DIY method off turning all Groups On and Off together (requires not using Group A at all though). And ironically one of the first things we actually did was to add a Menu function to disable the Multi Mode altogether if wanted, because people were complaining about ending up in the Multi Mode screen accidentally. So one of the last functions added was – DOUBLE Pressing the MODE Button turns ALL Groups OFF, and Back ON (quickly). And that way you still have an AF assist light (while all flashes are turned Off). Regarding the shutter release, unfortunately that’s another thing we didn’t get to update at this stage. Though there is something else interesting coming soon which in conjunction will help nicely with remote shutter release. To switch on press the Set button and rotate the dial like the AD400Pro. To switch off press and hold the Set button. Any reason why that would not work? BTW like the reverse TCM function. Think the channel buttons should have been a different shape to the others so you can locate them without looking. Yes I think pressing the Set button and rotating the dial sounds viable. If I could turn the clock back a couple of years I would have suggested the Group buttons form something of a tighter ring shape directly around the main dial. I actually had the current Group buttons positioned in a correct arc around the dial, and Godox changed that slightly to the V shape they form now on either side of the dial. I think that’s why some people are seeing the layout as appearing more random than it is. Its very easy to know where the groups are with your eyes closed now though. As soon as you feel the dial, you know where each Group button is by feel. I can’t do that with the Xpro, unless its just Group A or E, and Group A is a long reach back to the dial all the time. Wow! This may be the best and most advanced transmitter I have ever seen! And I was just thinking about buying a new transmitter just before I saw this announcement! The functionality looks to be fantastic. What I think may be the greatest and most understated design change is the inclusion of quick-access buttons on the side. I personally like a minimalist look myself. However, the icons on the buttons take the guesswork out of them and quick access to common functionality is super. There is a great level of user-interface design that went on here which is so un-common with Chinese-designed products. I applaud all who participated. I hope the Panasonic/Olympus version comes out very soon. This is going to be one hot product! This reminds me – we should thank Mr. Flahhavoc – Elv and any others who have worked tirelessly for so long so that we may all benefit. And for those who may prefer something different – there has never been more options, brands, price points and choice than now. If people support them then I’m sure Flashpoint will keep doing more, that’s really what will make the difference. I’m curious about the SYNC DELAY setting. What does it mean exactly? I think that with this mode enabled, the remote flash is not using HSS but normal pulses, then you set a delay to sync the flash burst with your frame. So, at the same time, you are using speeds above normal sync on your camera but normal pulses on your flash. Yes, that’s correct. You would use it to delay the flash, to time the flash pulse when using hypersync (longburn), instead of HSS. The X1T had the same delay feature, but the Xpro does not. I’m still puzzled about how I would use this delay feature to enable higher sync speeds. On a non-HSS camera, the X sync signal gets sent as soon as the main curtain is fully open, right? So delaying the flash beyond this point would simply allow more time for the closing curtain to close, leading to more cutoff in the image, right? If the trigger had access to the HSS pre-fire signal, then I could see how introducing a delay would let you take advantage of a long flash peak… but non-HSS cameras don’t generate a pre-fire signal. So I’m stumped. I have an original Xpro trigger, which has the delay setting, but I thought its only use would be to simulate second-curtain sync on cameras that lack that feature. And I’ve used flashes that have a long-peak mode, but they require an HSS master flash so their optical slaves can catch the pre-fire signal. Oops, I meant “original X1” trigger, not “original Xpro trigger.” Actually I have both of them, but only the original X1 has the delay feature. Yes you still need a HSS enabled camera providing a pre-sync signal for the long burn method to work. This delay setting just allows you to fine tune the results. it would really be useful if there was also a possibility to prevent the Godox flashes to automatically enter HSS (pulse ) mode instead of HS longburn. I have a workaround with 2 X1 triggers on top of each other, only works with AD 600 on full power but give me at least 1,5 stop more light . Thanks for that, the work around I was aware of was to use an XTR-16 receiver attached to the flash (instead of using the inbuilt receiver which automatically goes into HSS mode). Hopefully this is something we could do through the R2PROII transmitter as part of the wish list for updates. Why still the twist lock and not the switch one? I like the backlit buttons, it will be great at night. I was hoping to see presets also but i’m glad it’s finally here. Godox are apparently working on developing a lever lock hotshoe foot, I don’t know when they will be ready though. Eventually everything will no doubt include the lever lock format. Yes according to Flashpoint that should be the case. Though again I’m really not sure when that will happen. Hopefully the coming round head flash will get this moving. Much improved over the XPro. Too bad that the XPro wasn’t like that in the first place. In one of the schools I photograph I use the library and it’s the only place they have. It’s full of computers and a couple of routers. The two times I worked there I encounter issues. I tried both the short and the long distance settings on the XPro and no difference. I was wondering if there is a solution and maybe this new trigger will help resolve the issue. – Set to one of the higher channels (rather than CH 1 or 2 etc). – Use 1.5V Alkaline or Lithium-ion batteries, as they provide a stronger signal than 1.2V NiHM. Thank you for the reply! I will make the changes immediately and hopefully it helps. I am at this location again in November and will update. The Xpro is still waiting for more firmware updates on the Adorama website page and they bring out a new totally different version…for the same price?? Also, still waiting to find out why the XPro (R2Pro) doesn’t HSS with the older legacy 360/180 w/ a R2 bridge adapter even tho it ‘says’ they can…it doesn’t. Can’t HSS sync with a AD360 ? This is a severe issue. This trigger is supposed to be compatible with the X protocol, so you should need only to put a XTR16 receiver and force HSS mode. If it doesn’t work on a AD360/180, then sure is has the same problem with the V850 Mk I and similar ‘old’ flashes. I hope Adorama could fix it soon. I have a ‘normal’ GODOX Xpro and it works with my AD360 and v850, no issues with HSS. I’m not aware of outstanding HSS issues with the XTR16 receivers and mark one flashes. There were some Nikon version XTR16/s originally released with this issue that needed the receivers to be replaced to resolve the problem. Though later issues were with specific transmitters like the Sony Xpro-S, and this was resolved via transmitter firmware update. This is a very interesting trigger. My idea is to get the Pentax version when available. I have the XproC now, and need to stack on top of a Cactus V6II to get HSS. Of course no TTL. Which version of the R2 PRO transmitter do you have? And have you updated to the latest firmware? I wasn’t aware there were still outstanding HSS issues with R2 Bridge / XTR16 receivers. Most were resolved with transmitter firmware updates. I wonder can you just clear something up…. I want to confirm that there is still no update software for Mac’s, and that you can update the R2Pro mkii via the App, (with iOS or Android devices), but that will be the only way to do it, if you’re a MAC user? And I presume that is via bluetooth, so will only be possible on the R2Pro mkii, and not other devices? I’m actually a PC user, but it seems another website has picked it up from your feature list, that it will be a MAC updater program. I haven’t been clear on this myself. The official word is apparently there is no APP based update unfortunately. There will be a Mac version G3 updater performed via USB port only. That is for the R2 PRO II transmitter and coming round head speedlite. Sorry for the incorrect information, I’ve updated the post. 4. Braille like texture for the GROUP buttons for easier ‘in the dark/blind’ button selection. 5. And finally, my pipe dream, an in-body USB-C rechargeable battery that is user removable. Li-ion battery would be awesome, it always feels weird to have to fiddle with AA batteries in the transmitter when the camera and flashes are both Li-ion. Recharging through USB-C would be the cherry on the cake (I know… we don’t ask for much). I’m really starting to wonder if its not time for a Lithium-ion battery as well. The big fear has always been you get caught out with flat batteries, and can’t simply buy or borrow some regular AA’s. Though a protected 18650 Lithium-ion cell will likely be a user replaceable option, and then you could keep spares with you to slot straight in. Its not like most people are carrying a bag full of PockwetWizard receivers anymore either. AA’s made sense when they were powering a lot of receivers and speedlites etc. I don’t know if the Jinbei TR-Q7 is possibly already run by an 18650 cell. Wow, this looks great! It sounds like you were very involved in this coming to fruition – thanks so much for making this happen and your design input! There’s a lot to like, but I think the feature I’m most appreciate of is the ability to update firmware via app. The difficulty updating with a Mac was always frustrating to me. I have a question….. after reading through the description on adorama site on the markII ..and I quote this “It can even sync with Canon original speedlites under the control of a Flashpoint R2-C receiver.” Does it mean it will support working with older canon speedlites such has a 580ex, 430ex, 550ex or older with a Flashpoint R2-C Receiver? I know with the current setup I have the R2T with R2-C receiver only the 580exII, 430exII, and newer fully work. No, it will be the same as your current setup requiring mark II Canon Speedlites for full compatibility. It may look busy, though keep in mind you’re looking at a very magnified view in the images here. In real use if you don’t want to use, the quick access side buttons its easy to forget they are there. Though for people that need to move quickly its much better to have the option of direct access than digging through menus. I am now very curious how GODOX will respond, if at all, with their mk II trigger in the coming year/s. Obvious improvements could be. One out of the box awesome feature would be either a separate light meter or light meter integration from GODOX. Sekonic has really been lagging their feet with Godox remote triggering. If Godox could create a meter or meter/trigger combo to….. I would pay a pretty penny for such a device. $300+ would certainly be reasonable IMHO. I mentioned it in a comment above – the AF assist light to look at and emulate would be Nikon’s which successfully covers even AF points way out on the side. And at every distance to the subject (this is where the cross pattern lights fail miserably). Im sorry but i will not be buying this. Original Xpro trigger is just right in terms of functionality it offers. This feels more like largest swiss army knife they make. Have all attachments imaginable is suuuper versatile and completely non practical to carry around. I feel like i would need to carry around a copy of manual at all times or use just bare minimum of options I am able to understand, thus under-utilizing its potential. Also regardless of how intuitive that gif makes it seem … I`ve spent 20 minutes watching it, and it looks completely counter intuitive, to me at least. Kudos to Godox or Adorama for trying but not my cup of joe. Personaly you couldn’t pay me to go back to the Xpro after using this, though other people may have a different opinion. These are no harder to use than the Xpro, if you don”t remember any of the shortcuts, then you’re basically in the same situation as using the Xpro. Though regular users will very much appreciate the advantages. Before forming an opinion though, even if not willing to try them yourself, it may be worth waiting to see what real users have to say. 99% of the time, you’re using a few Group buttons, the main dial, and Set button, which are all located right next to each other. So its very quick and easy to adjust a number of groups even just by feel alone. The problem with side Group buttons is they were never going to line up with the groups properly anyway, unless they were too small to be practical to use.The way Godox wanted to do it originally the buttons were microscopic. And then you are always reaching back and forth to the dial and Set button, which mostly need to be used in conjunction with the Group button anyway, so it only makes sense to have them next to each other. And the Mode button etc is right there as well if needed. There’s actually nothing random about the button positioning as some people have thought, they are mainly located in distance from the dial in order of frequency of use. As well as whats practical to use. Also as I have tried to explain, the direct access buttons also help free up the menu bar buttons below the LCD for possible things in the future like user assigned functions, as many people have asked for. For now their functions are just duplicated to match the Xpro, for easy of transition between the 2. One thing I do regret though, is using a highlight for the current group in memory indicator. Because it is easy to mistake that for the group being selected. A small underline or mark in the corner of the group box would have been better. What people are not aware of though is its often a battle to get anything done, and then when you finaly do, as in this case the engineers don”t want to update it further. So its not an easy process, though its getting there step by step. And to be fair, Godox have done a large amount of really good work as well. Some time ago there was amazing little audio player … a competition of Winamp … that was only serious music player back then. Name of that program was audio galaxy or Audio Sound … cant really remember and it like this intuitive setup was based on PLAY in the middle and rest around it, so you don’t have to move mouse a lot. Even tho it was great audio player it failed miserably because no one found it to be intuitive. I don’t doubt there will be people who are into it. I said i will not get it. But I love simple design that you can use without any prior knowledge. YN622TX and XPro are such devices … I preordered XPro because i saw logic. This i don’t need to test, because it doesnt matter how it is explained, closest to set button is not easy to use. Most guys (i can only speak for guys) keep their tools sorted by group and not by what they will use most. We like it neat and simple, organized in visible groups. This is neither. I commend the effort, but i feel that not enough input from users were taken when this was designed, or it was but ignored by designer who wanted to make his vision a reality (like some Skype designers most of Internet want fired) and ignore what other people think. I also thank You for lengthy reply and time spent to write. I am not ungrateful and I do appreciate what You do here. Im just not a fan of new trigger and hope that there will be still old design available to people who are not into this advanced functionality trigger. Ok, we will have to agree to disagree, its impossible to please everyone in any case. Though I hope others thinking this may be more complicated at least take the time to hear real users feedback before forming any strong opinion either way. I usually deal on the used market for photo gear, but the price point & functional improvement to workflows over prior models made this a no-brainer; thanks for the detailed article. Can you please comment on battery life of the current vs prior, or even x1 models? The battery life is the same as the XPro / original R2 Pro, unless you use the bottom button back-lighting. In which case it will go through batteries if you keep them on a lot. I don’t really remember how the X1 compare, though I would think they would have to be more efficient considering the smaller LCD display. Though I have the LCD back light locked on a lot of the time, and thats not been an issue. How about the battery usage with Bluetooth enabled? Have you been able to test that out much? I haven’t used the APP for any expended period, so I will give this a go with a new set of batteries and see how long it will run. I have left the Bluetooth mode on previously when not actually using it, and hadn’t noticed an issue, though I’ll try an do a test. Any (even rough) ETA on the Sony version? Right now its actually showing shipping the 1st of November like the Canon version. Great improvement to a great system. Price is very reasonable for the amount of function and the fact the the new one is the same price as the old one is amazing!!!!!!! I’ve placed one on order. The only improvement I’d like to see for the R2PRO transmitter is a TILTING HEAD. Being on the “shorter” end of the height spectrum, I tend to find myself having to stand on my tiptoes to see the LCD display to change settings when the camera is mounted on a tripod. Tilting the entire camera means having to loosen the ball head then re-positioning the entire camera. Being able to tilt the Transmitter head alone would be a nice improvement to an already great transmitter. Maybe an improvement for the MOD III ? The price is even better, when you consider that there is effectively a $70 A1 in there as well! And having said that, If you are using a tripod in a studio kind of situation, you’ll be able to use the Godox App with this transmitter, and set all your flash settings on the App, without needing to look at the transmitter screen at all. If you can’t see the LCD have you considered putting the on camera trigger in APP mode and using a second trigger in single shooter mode hand held to change the settings? The second trigger doesn’t have to be the same type as the one on the camera. I’ve got a Canon and a Fuji Xpro and they work fine in this way. There’s even a little hole in the top left hand of the Xpro where you can thread a lanyard to keep it round your neck. I imagine you could also use an X1 on the camera and an XPro in your hand. Thanks for that, yes the tripod viewing issue has been an on running one for some time, and Flashpoint have been working on various solutions. So there is something coming soon which may help with the current transmitters. The other options are to use a second transmitter in hand, with the one on-camera set to APP mode, as John mentioned. Or now to use a smartphone in hand etc, with the transmitter set to Bluetooth as Andy mentioned. Or use a TTL shoe cord to position the transmitter away from the camera hotshoe. All are not a nice as a simple tilting transmitter base though, and I’m sure we will see a more of those in the future. I think there are some patent issues to work through though as well. Nice. Elv, couple questions: is the battery meter now accurate for NiMh batteries? And have they included single-pin mode this time?; I keep thinking it should just be added as another SYNC setting. Thanks, I generally use Alkaline batteries in radio gear so I hadn’t really looked at this too much. I just put in a fully charged set of Eneloops, and the battery indicator is showing 3 bars. Though if your’re having issue still with the Xpro, the R2 PRO II will likely be the same. I really don’t know how they get a good reading for NiHM batteries, because they have a flat discharge curve where the voltage remains fairly constant, and then finally drops down near close to empty. Regarding the single-pin mode, this is something we very much wanted, though unfortunately Godox insist its something they can not implement. Its always possibly that is still a miscommunication or lack of understanding etc, though we can’t really debate the issue without knowing for certain ourselves. So it will likely mean something in the way of a separate single pin transmitter version eventually. Just posting question for better visibility. Can anyone answer these questions….With or with out the Version 2 transmitter can you get proportional modeling lights where the modeling lights are set at full with lower power settings? E.g Set flashes to 25 watts with full modeling lights and as you power down the modeling lights follow. Specifically interest in the flashpoint 400pro units….Is this possible? How fast does the modeling lights drain the battery? No there is currently no option to do that with any of the transmitters, or directly via the lights interface. In Proportional mode 1/1 flash power = 100% modelling light power. It sounds like a nice feature to have, though proportional power control itself is something that’s only just been added with new lights like the XPLOR 400 / 600 PRO. Regarding how fast the modelling lights drain the battery, that’s really hard to say, because it obviously varies dramatically on the LED and flash power levels used. I had meant to test how long the XPLOR 600 PRO LED light runs at full power though, and I’ve done that just now. With a full battery and LED at full power it lasted 1 hour 25 minutes total. Thanks, I’ll add this to the wishlist. I could see a global setting at the top of the Modelling Light control screen which sets the maximum proportional value. It would also be nice if the ALL button would provide a quick adjustment for all LED lights set to a manual power level (just as it does with the flash power levels). You are absolutely right… If these changes will be made to the modeling light… It would have professional level of control. Interesting development. Do you know if they have addressed the shutter lag issue with Panasonic cameras with this new version? Sorry no, I’m not even particularly familiar with the issue. Hopefully there is an update before the Pentax version arrives then. It’s great that Godox/Flashpoint improves the transmitter. But I hate that they keep offering new release in short time as I just purchase Xpro-C nearly a year ago. As much as I love to have this new version, I can’t return or exchange it as it passed 30 days. Hmm….may be I should stick with Xpro until it breaks. Well if this hadn’t have run into issues with the button backlighting it would have actually been released a year ago at the same time as the Xpro. At least that provided time to add the Bluetooth, which otherwise costs just as much to buy in a separate unit like the A1 / M1. Excellent review. I have the original, but I love these new features. Definitely will be pre-ordering one. I like the new group button selector placements. I can set each light as a group of its own and visualise each in a position relative to the subject (the “set” button) – so back left, back right, front left, front right – much more intuitive than as a row down one side. And more direct buttons with fewer shortcuts means less to remember for the less-commonly-used / accidentally activated features. I much prefer a hard power switch to a logic controlled one but agree the existing design is too easily switched in the bag. A stiffer, countersunk switch would be my preference to buttons you have to hold and press (which can also get accidentally knocked). Rechargeable AAs work fine in my mk1 version. They never report full power on the indicator but haven’t proved a problem over extended use. I can always switch to lithium if I need a bit of extra performance and I’d much prefer this to an obscure or sealed battery that’ll run flat in the middle of a job with nowhere for me to turn. This Godox kit is really good value. Regarding the ON/OFF situation, I was actually thinking the the SET button press and DIAL swivel could possibly be added as a custom function option with the current transmitter hardware. So for the people who wanted to use this, they would switch the transmitter ON, and then need to SET-Press & DIAL-Swivel before the transmitter interface fully switched ON. Because people have different uses/needs, and some may be switching the transmitter ON and OFF more often, so this extra step may drive them up the wall. Regarding the rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, I’m not sure what Godox’s thoughts are on that yet in any case. Though if it was to be implemented at some stage I would think it would need to be a protected (somewhat standard) 18650 cell, and easily exchangeable, housed in a regular battery compartment like the previous AA batteries. So that you can carry spares and swap them if needed. You can see this is the way things are going, (built-in batteries / USB charging) so it likely better to get ahead and at least make sure its practical and user replaceable. I’m not sure if the Jinbei transmitter has the battery sealed in, though it wouldn’t surprise me. (That may not be finalized though either). Having seen the Robert Hall video today i must admit i agree with him about the placements of the group burrons i think having them side of each group on the screen makes more sense. Rob is saying he thinks the Group buttons may be harder to locate without looking, though its designed to be exactly the opposite. (And again he hasn’t actually tried one yet). As soon as you feel where the main dial is you will know where all the groups are already in a short time by feel alone. And even regardless of that, and the fact that you don’t have to reach back and forth a distance to adjust more than one group, I still find it easier to simply press an obvious button marked A or B etc, than the time I spend trying to select the correct side Group button when they are all small, close together, and misaligned to the LCD. After using them, the people that are most likely going to complain are those still using the MarK I transmitter as well. Though there’s not a lot we can do about that. And Rob mentioned we duplicated some of the functions on the Menu Bar buttons, and that was so that they helped to match the mark one transmitter for now. It was obvious the transmitter was going to get criticized for the look of all the side function buttons, we started off with less, and even with just 4 on each side its looks less busy. The room was there though and it allowed for direct access to most functions without digging in the menu, and also for expansion by reassigning the Menu Bar buttons later if needed. Just wait until Godox start trying to shoehorn more functions into the Xpro! I have to agree with Elvis. From a snapshot visual the new transmitter looks cluttered BUT the functions that matter most to me are all grouped on the lower third of the remote. Direct Group access, adjustment, and on/off are easily done with one thumb and blindly. In addition, I much prefer hard button access for seldom used functions (on the sides) than having to do deep menu dives. I really think this trigger will be a time saver once we get used to it. Did not see it mentioned anywhere but would we be able to keep the LCD light and the buttons back light on the whole time? For people like me with glasses who cannot see jack when looking at the something close, having the lights on the whole time can really help. No need to search for a button to light it up. The LCD (which also light the side buttons at the same time) can be kept on continuously. The lower button lights only come on for 12 seconds at a time though, because we didn’t want to risk people accidentally running the battery down, not realizing they have the lights on continuously when out in the sun etc. That’s why we added a Lamp button in the lower right corner. And it becomes second nature very quickly to feel straight for that first, whether its just waking the transmitter, or turning on the LCD and button lights. Then also to speed things up, you don’t have to dig into the menu to set the the LCD light etc on continuously, just double press the Lamp button and its done (Icon added to the LCD, as shown in the animation). I can imagine a continuous option for the bottom buttons may be added to the menu later if people are requesting it. Good to know. May I suggest for next time, Just to make the light button easier to find at night, maybe have rigid texture so the feel is different. Also, I definitely understand not wanting to drain the batteries too quickly but in reality, even if the trigger’s lights are on constantly (both LCD and all buttons), how much would it drain? I am sure it will last more than a day. I think it’s important for many with bad eyesight. At first I was disappointed that they moved the group buttons down around the dial. But from an HMI perspective, after some quick muscle retraining, we might will find having the group buttons close to the dial and mode button will speed things up as you won’t need to move the finger from the side to the bottom so much. So will this new transmitter REPLACE the Mark i at Adorama? They are the same price. I am a Pentax user, and have a Mark i on pre-order. Will they come out with Mark ii instead, or should I cancel my pre-order? You might be best to check with Flashpoint directly ([email protected]) before cancelling any orders, though I would have to think they are 2 separate items, and both will still be available for some time to come. So any estimated release date for Nikon? Looks like my Sony version is on the way… Should be here on Tuesday. This is the R2 pro Sony. Anyone now if this transmitter is available from godox store? The shipping to Europe is 2/3 of the cost of the transmitter. Godox has free shipping. It won’t be available from Godox at all. There is no XPro mk ii. Only an Adorama exclusive R2Pro mk ii. I’ve actually ordered one though, with a drop shipping service, that has a US address. I ordered the MKII version for Canon thinking it would ship Nov. 1. Did anyone get the Canon version of this yet or is the entire shipment backordered. It will be my one and only transmitter so I can’t play with my 600Pro until it arrives. Hi, I was wondering if the PDF manual would be available? I’ve tried contacting Adorama with no luck. I did not get MKII as well. Probably entire shipment on back order. Any word on whether Godox are changing their Sony hotshoe material/ design to stop them breaking off all the time? I’m getting a hotshoe breaking on average about every 3rd wedding now between me and my second shooter. I buy them for 10 dollars on ebay but it’s pretty annoying to have them snap off with any small impact. Great job on this transmitter by the way, some work done on it! I don’t think that’s a Godox issue… or that there’s anything they can do about it. Will this trigger and control the Canon 600EX-RT units? No, Godox is a completely different system, with different communication protocols to Canon. You would need a Godox X1R receiver, to use a Canon speedlight with it. I was hoping someone could guide me a little. I just received a Flashpoint R2 Pro II, and 2 R2 receivers for Canon. I have downloaded the Flashpoint R2 app for my iPhone 8+. I can successfully pair via Bluetooth. When I go to ‘Flash’ on the app’s main menu, I can successfully change power modes. When I press ‘Test’ while inside the flash menu, it ‘pops’ the flash connected to the 2 Flashpoint R2 receivers. However, and here is my problem. When I go to Camera from the main menu, and when I press on the blue-ish Shutter Release button, I get the message on the screen, in the middle, ‘Recycling’. The photo does not get taken from the iPhone, and neither of the flashes trigger. But then when the R2 Pro II transmitter goes to ‘sleep’, and I then press the shutter button, the iPhone takes the picture. Not my main purpose, but a significant minor purpose of the purchase of the Pro II was for me to take iPhone photos for web with Off-Camera / Off-Camera Phone lighting. I am hoping that someone can help me. One other thing I have noticed, is the ‘Flash Lightening Icon’ on the phone’s screen display in the upper-right stays constant white. I think I read somewhere in the help system that icon should be orange when the flash is fully charged. Does this help indicate anything? The batteries for all — Transmitter, Recevier, and Flash are new AA. Ditto for me. I just didn’t know about the camera taking a photo when the transmitter fell asleep. Any ballpark date when the Panasonic/Olympus version will be available? Received email response from Adorama customer service and they have not been given a ship date for the Olympus/Panasonic version from the vendor. Hi! 🙂 Is the Flashpoint R2 pro mark II able to control the Godox AD600BM (so it is not Flashpoint labeled). Anyone heard of the release date of the r2 pro mark ii for Nikon? still no european distribution of this marvel…..or did i miss something? It’s an Adorama Flashpoint exclusive. So won’t be available from anywhere/anyone else than Adorama. I have a Canon 7d and purchased the R2 Pro Mk II c and the first one was not syncing in TTL so I sent it back for exchange. The second one I received also does not sync. When I take a shot with my AD200, AD600Pro or Godox speedlight using the transmitter in TTL, the first transmitter I received it would flash off sync and then stop flashing on any subsequent shots. The second transmitter i received flashes with each shot but does not sync with the camera. In other words, when you look at the image, it is not illuminated with any light from the flash. The mk II transmitter works fine in manual. I also own the Xpro and it works fine with all the Godox/Flashpoint equipment in TTL and Manual.

2019-04-22T18:05:48Z

http://flashhavoc.com/flashpoint-r2-pro-mark-ii-transmitter-released/comment-page-1/

Following sporadic activity during the second half of 2016, a new period of strong thermal anomalies suggestive of lava flows began in mid-January 2017 (BVGN: 42:03). Scientists on a nearby research vessel observed ash emissions and lava fountains that fed lava flows during 23-26 January. Subsequent possible activity, as shown by MODIS thermal anomalies detected by MIROVA (figure 26), continued at similar levels until mid-March, after the anomalies became more intermittent and decreased in power through at least 2 September. Thermal alerts in MODVOLC were recorded during 15 January-8 March 2017. Figure 26. Thermal anomaly MIROVA log radiative power data from Barren Island during early September 2016-1 September 2017. Regular, low-moderate activity is evident beginning in late January through April 2017, but it thereafter wanes. Courtesy of MIROVA. Geological Survey of India cruise in May 2015. Some observations and photos of activity on 14 and 31 May 2015 have been provided by Sachin Tripathi, a geologist at the Geological Survey of India, who was close to the volcano during the SR-013 cruise of the RV Samudra Ratnakar. On 14 May the plumes were described as light gray "mushroom shaped" clouds. Tripathi further noted that the activity occurred in discrete pulses; he observed two such events during an 8-minute period that sent ash plumes 300-400 m high (figure 27). Eruptive pulses on 31 May lasted about 20-25 seconds, with an interval of 4-5 minutes. The plumes on that day were light gray to gray, and rose to around 50-100 m. The NE portion of the island was covered with ash (figure 28). Figure 27. Two images from a video that illustrate the pulsating eruption at Barren Island on 14 May 2015. The top image shows the remains of an older plume above the island and a new plume just rising from the summit. The bottom image shows the ash plume rising to about 300-400 m above the island. Courtesy of Sachin Tripathi, Geological Survey of India. Figure 28. Photograph of an ash plume rising from the active vent at Barren Island on 31 May 2015. Ashfall can be seen covering the NE portion of the island. Courtesy of Sachin Tripathi, Geological Survey of India. Information Contacts: Sachin Tripathi, Geological Survey of India; MIROVA (Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity), a collaborative project between the Universities of Turin and Florence (Italy) supported by the Centre for Volcanic Risk of the Italian Civil Protection Department (URL: http://www.mirovaweb.it/); Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) - MODVOLC Thermal Alerts System, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Univ. of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/). Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 7 March ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.8 km (6,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted W and NW, and to an altitude of 1.2 km (4,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted E and ESE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 26 January ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 0.9 km (3,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted W. According to a news article, the Geological Survey of India reported a new eruption at Barren Island. Satellite data on 25 September confirmed ash emissions, and either lava flows or ejected tephra on the N flank. The National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), part of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), reported that a new eruption at Barren Island began on 23 January. Scientists aboard a research vessel were collecting sea floor samples when they observed a sudden ash emission. The team moved closer, about 1.6 km from the volcano, and noted small eruptive episodes lasting 5-10 minutes. Ash emissions were visible in the daytime, and lava fountains feeding lava flows on the flanks were visible at night. The team revisited the volcano on 26 January and observed similar activity during the four hours they stayed. They sampled sediments and water in the vicinity of the eruption and recovered volcanic ejecta. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 14-15 February ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted over 45 km W. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 31 January-2 February ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted as far as 165 km SW. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 3-4 January an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted almost 85 km SW. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 8-9 October ash plumes from Barren Island rose to altitudes of 1.5-2.1 km (5,000-7,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 75-100 km NE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 22 September an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.8 km (6,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 45 km E. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 19 August ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 55 km E. Based on pilot observations, analysis of satellite imagery, and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 12-13 June ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.1 km (7,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 25-55 km NE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 5-7 June ash plumes from Barren Island rose to altitudes of 2.4-3 km (8,000-10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 35-45 km NE and E. According to the Darwin VAAC, a pilot observed an ash plume from Barren Island that rose to an altitude of 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. Ash was not identified in satellite images. The Darwin VAAC released an advisory on 9 September based on a Sigmet and noted ash observations from Barren Island at 1428 that day. The low-level plume was not identifiable in satellite images. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 6 February an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted over 35 km SW. A SIGMET report noted that low-level ash plumes were also observed on 9 February. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 17 October an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 3.7 km (12,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted less than 30 km NW. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and wind data, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 16 February an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 6.1 km (20,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 220 km SW. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that a plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifting 55 km N on 19 April. However, ash could not be identified from the satellite data. Based on a pilot observation, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 23 January an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. Ash was not identified in satellite imagery. Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 11 January an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 45 km S. Based on a pilot report, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 3 January a plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. The plume was not identified in satellite imagery; however a meteorological cloud was present in the area. Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 1 November an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.8 km (6,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted about 55-75 km W. Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 13-14 September ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted about 20-100 km W and NE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 19-20 July an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 45-65 km NE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 20 May an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.1 km (7,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 75 km NE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 23-25 April ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 45-65 km NE, E, and SE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 25-26 March ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.1 km (7,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted about 110 km S. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 20-21 February ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted about 75-90 km WNW, NW, and N. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, SIGMET notices, and pilot observations, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 5 February an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SSE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 31 January an ash plume from Barren Island drifted about 55 km S. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 21 January an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted N and NW. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 18-19 January ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted NNE and NE. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 7-8 and 10-11 January ash plumes from Barren Island rose to altitudes of 1.8-2.4 km (6,000-8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted W and SW. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 4-6 January ash plumes from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SW and NW. The Darwin VAAC reported that during 7-8 December pilots observed lava flows on Barren Island; ash plumes were not present. Thermal anomalies were detected on satellite imagery. Based on a pilot observation, the Darwin VAAC reported a lava flow from Barren Island on 17 November. A possible low-level ash plume was seen drifting W on satellite imagery. On 18 November, a pilot reported that an ash plume rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted WSW. Thermal anomalies detected by MODIS satellite instruments have occurred at Barren Island from 12 May 2008 through 7 July. Prior to May anomalies had not been recorded since early October 2007. The Indian Coast Guard also reported red glow at night from the central summit area during the second half of June 2008. Based on observations of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that an ash plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted S on 23 December. Based on pilot reports, the Darwin VAAC reported that a diffuse ash plume from Barren Island reached an altitude of 2.1 km (7,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted S on 3 March. Based on satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that an ash plume from Barren Island reached an altitude of 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SW on 8 February. The Darwin VAAC reported that a diffuse plume from Barren Island was visible on satellite imagery on 27 November. The height and direction of the plume were not reported. Based on satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that diffuse plumes from Barren Island on 8 November reached altitudes of 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SW and W. Based on pilot observations, the Darwin VAAC reported that ash-and-steam plumes from Barren Island on 19 and 20 October reached altitudes of 1.5 km (5,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted WNW. Indian Coast Guard officials noted in a news report on 23 September that the continuing eruption at Barren Island was decreasing in intensity. A surveillance report stated that there was less lava but more "smoke" coming from the volcano. Based on a pilot report, the Darwin VAAC reported an ash plume from Barren Island on 26 May that reached an altitude below 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted N at 1230. On 3 May, low-level ash plumes from Barren Island were visible on satellite imagery extending N. A plume emitted from Barren Island was visible on satellite imagery on 2 May at a height near 3.7 km (12,000 ft) a.s.l. A low-level plume emitted from Barren Island was visible on satellite imagery on 19 April extending westward. Based on information from a pilot report and satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that an ash plume was emitted from Barren Island during 5-6 April. The plume did not rise higher than 4.6 km (15,000 ft) a.s.l. According to a news article, a team of scientists that visited Barren Island around 12 March found that the volcano was still very active and the height of the volcanic cone had increased by 50 m since eruptive activity began in May 2005. In addition, lava flows covered the NW side of the island. During 12-13 January, a team from the Geological Survey of India visited Barren Island. They reported that dense clusters of incandescent tephra of various sizes were ejected from the crater. In addition to the eruption from the main crater, the scientists saw incandescence on the N flank of the volcanic cone and thin layers of incandescent material on the W slope. In comparison to activity during the early stages of the eruption in May-June 2005, activity had diminished considerably. The Darwin VAAC reported that ash plumes emitted from Barren Island during 26-27 January rose to ~3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. During 21-23 December, ash plumes from Barren Island were visible on satellite imagery at a maximum height of 4.6 km (15,000 ft) a.s.l. on the 21st. An ash plume emitted from Barren Island was visible on satellite imagery on 19 and 20 December at a maximum height of ~3.7 km (12,000 ft a.s.l.). An increase in volcanic activity at Barren Island began on 4 November. During 12-15 November, ash plumes emitted from Barren Island were visible on satellite imagery drifting predominately SSW. Ash was no longer visible on satellite imagery on 16 November. Barren Island began erupting on 28 May 2005. A news article reported on 9 November that volcanic activity increased at Barren Island beginning on 4 November. According to Professor Chaandrasekharam of the Indian Institute of Technology and members of the Indian Coast Guard, since the 4th there were large volumes of gas and ash emissions, and lava flows reached the sea. Professor Chaandrasekharam stated that the current activity is more intense than when the eruption began on 28 May 2005. The recent activity was preceded by nearly ten earthquakes in the region, including M 4.8 and 4.5 earthquakes on 3 November. A low-level plume from Barren Island was visible on satellite imagery on 21 October extending WNW. Barren Island began erupting on 28 May 2005. During 9-11 October, a plume emitted from Barren Island was occasionally visible on satellite imagery at a height of ~3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. Barren Island began erupting on 28 May 2005. Low-level plumes from Barren Island were visible on satellite imagery on 28 September and 2 October. The current eruption of Barren Island began on 28 May 2005. A pilot observed a plume emitted from Barren Island on 23 September around 1230 at a height of ~3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l., extending ~90 km E. On 27 September, a low-level plume was visible on satellite imagery drifting NE. The current eruption of Barren Island began on 28 May 2005. On 1 September, a plume from Barren Island was visible on satellite imagery at a height of ~3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. extending ~90 km NE of the summit. The current eruption of Barren Island began on 28 May. A plume from Barren Island was visible on satellite imagery on 25 August at a height of ~4.6 km (15,000 ft) a.s.l. Plumes were visible at a height of ~3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. on 29 and 30 August according to a pilot report and satellite imagery, respectively. All plumes drifted E. The current eruption began on 28 May. A pilot reported a plume from Barren Island on 18 August at a height of ~3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. Ash was not visible on satellite imagery. Barren Island began erupting on 28 May. According to a pilot's report, ash was visible near Barren Island on 18 July at 0211 at a height of ~6.1 km (~20,000 ft) a.s.l. Ash was observed on satellite imagery on 18 July at 0755 below a height of 4.6 km (15,100 ft) a.s.l. According to a news article, after visiting Barren Island on 14 June scientists determined that volcanic activity had increased since it was first noted on 28 May. Pyroclasts were hurled as high as 100 m above the volcano. The eruption occurred from a new vent on the SW rim of the volcano's crater. Professor Chandrasekharam, from the Indian Institute of Technology, reported that the volcanic activity that began at Barren Island on 28 May continued through 6 June when fresh lava emissions were observed by the Indian Coast Guard. Large amounts of steam were emitted due to the interaction of heavy rains and the hot lava. According to Dhanapati Haldar, from the Presidency College, Strombolian activity on Barren Island consisted of lava fountaining to a height of ~100 m and "dark smoke" rising to ~1 km above the volcano. Lava accumulated on the W side of the main volcanic cone. Professor Chandrasekharam, from the Indian Institute of Technology, reported that Indian Coast Guards noticed an eruption at Barren Island that began on the morning of 28 May. During the flank eruption on the NW side of the volcano's central cone, black lava was emitted that did not reach the sea. According to the Darwin VAAC, there were reports of a plume at a height below 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. drifting N on 29 May at 1330. Reports of increased volcanic activity at Barren Island and Narcondam volcanoes during the week of 2 January were found to be false. Professor Chandrasekharam from the Indian Institute of Technology reported that as of 4 January no unusual volcanic activity was occurring at these volcanic islands. Newspaper reports of active "mud volcanoes" in the Andaman Islands caused a great deal of concern and confusion. Backgrounds. Barren Island, a possession of India in the Andaman Sea about 135 km NE of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, is the only historically active volcano along the N-S-trending volcanic arc extending between Sumatra and Burma (Myanmar). The 354-m-high island is the emergent summit of a volcano that rises from a depth of about 2,250 m. The small, uninhabited 3-km-wide island contains a roughly 2-km-wide caldera with walls 250-350 m high. The caldera, which is open to the sea on the W, was created during a major explosive eruption in the late Pleistocene that produced pyroclastic-flow and -surge deposits. The morphology of a fresh pyroclastic cone that was constructed in the center of the caldera has varied during the course of historical eruptions. Lava flows fill much of the caldera floor and have reached the sea along the western coast during eruptions in the 19th century and more recently in 1991 and 1995. Narcondum volcano, an island possession of India in the Andaman Sea, is part of a volcanic arc that continues northward from Sumatra to Burma (Myanmar). The small 3 x 4 km wide conical island, located about 130 km E of North Andaman Island, rises to 710 m, but its base lies an additional 1,000 m beneath the sea. The island is densely vegetated, bounded by cliffs on the southern side, and capped by three peaks. No evidence of historical volcanism is present, although the summit region is less densely vegetated and volcanism at the andesitic volcano is considered to have continued into the Holocene. The island's name means "pit of hell," although the name could have been mistakenly transferred from the historically active Barren Island volcano, 140 km to the SSW. A team of scientists from India and Italy who visited Barren Island during 3-6 February found fumaroles on parts of the volcano's SW cone that reached temperatures up to 101°C. Neither magma nor gas emissions were observed in any of the various cones. The ground temperature was relatively high (40°C) from the middle to the upper part of the western cone and steaming ground was clearly visible at many sites. Several steam vents were visible within the 1995 lava flows. Blue fumes, which are indicative of the presence of SO2, and the smell of acidic gases were not recorded. 01/2000 (BGVN 25:01) Naval aircraft flight crew sights unconfirmed "volcanic emission of smoke" Reports of strong emissions of "thick smoke" on 30 April prompted a visit to the island on 16 May by geologists from the GSI [see additional information about the start of the eruption in 16:10]. Lava poured continuously from a subsidiary vent on the NE face of the central volcanic cone, travelling N into a valley, then W along the course of the 1803 lava flow (figure 1). An area of ~800 x 200 m had been covered by fresh lava, with an average thickness of 5-6 m. Explosions at the vent occurred at intervals of several seconds, ejecting bombs, lapilli, and ash to heights >50 m. Figure 1. Geologic sketch map of Barren Island, by D. Haldar, T. Laskar, and J.K. Biswas. Courtesy of the GSI. On 7 June at 1602, John Deed, pilot of Thai Airways International flight 307, observed a gray to dark-gray plume rising ~3 km above the summit and extending roughly 90 km NE. No lava was visible. Information Contacts: Director General, GSI; Deputy Director General, GSI Eastern Region; T. Fox, ICAO. Lava production continued from the subsidiary vent on the NE face of the volcanic cone, 80 m below the main crater, during a visit on 26 June. Incandescent material was ejected in a pulsating fountain, to m height, more intensely than during the previous visit on 16 May. Satellite monitoring had indicated a temperature of 1,100°C around the vent on 6 May. A dark plume rose 300-400 m from the crater of a large spatter cone that had formed at the eruptive vent. The main crater remained quiet. The lava flow observed in May had bifurcated, with one branch extending along the NW and W valleys, and a new branch extending S. By 26 June, lava had reached the sea at the boat landing near the NW corner of the island (~1.2 km from the vent); during the 16 May fieldwork, the lava front was still 200 m from shore. Vigorous boiling and thick jets of steam were observed for 100 m along the shore. Studies of water near the shore indicated a considerable decrease in pH, and visibility dropped to <10 cm (Srinivas, 1991). Nearby coral was destroyed. The following is from a GSI report on lava chemistry and petrography. "Thirteen chemical analyses on samples of recent lava collected on 16 May indentify the rocks as basaltic andesites (table 1). They are porphyritic with phenocrysts of plagioclase (dominant; some grains show labradorite composition), with minor clinopyroxene (augite) and forsteritic olivine, set in a fluidal [intersertal] groundmass of brown glass, plagioclase microlites, and Fe-Ti oxides. The amount of mafic phenocrysts is relatively low. The average ratio between phenocryst and groundmass components is around 0.44. The volumetric composition of the phenocrysts indicates: 72% plagioclase, 17% clinopyroxene, and 11% olivine; while the groundmass consists of 43% plagioclase microlites, 37% glass, and 20% Fe-Ti oxides. The amount of glass in the groundmass is highly variable, exceeding 70% in some sections. There is a complete lack of amphibole grains, in both the phenocrysts and [in] the groundmass." Table 1. Range and average compositions from 13 chemical analyses of recent lava erupted from Barren Island, collected 16 May 1991. Courtesy of the GSI. Information Contacts: Director General, GSI; S. Acharya, SANE. The eruption was apparently continuing on 17 October, when a NOAA 11 satellite image (at 1354) showed a plume extending ~150 km WNW from a point source at the volcano. Information Contacts: W. Gould, NOAA. SANE provided additional information . . . from passing ships and aircraft, and occasional visits. The eruption's start date remained uncertain, but the first reported activity consisted of gusts of hot air from the N end of the crater on 28 March, and "smoke" observed from a Coast Guard aircraft on 6 April. By 1 May, intensified activity and bigger plumes were seen from ships, and pilots observed numerous dead fish near the island on 9 May. When a GSI team reached Barren Island on 16 May, lava had covered an 800 x 200 m area, and by their next visit on 26 June (16:5 & 8) lava had reached the sea. Continued lava production was reported through July, and accompanying pulsating columns of incandescent tephra were ejected to roughly 60 m height twice in five minutes during observations from Navy aircraft on 30 July. Little information was available on August and September activity. The eruption was continuing on 24 October, but the 1991 cone collapsed shortly thereafter and only small amounts of "smoke" were intermittently observed during the first week in November. Information Contacts: S. Acharya, SANE; D. Shackelford, Fullerton, CA. Members of SANE visited . . . in mid-Nov. Since July, the active cone had grown to ~320 m asl and its crater was estimated at 250-300 m in diameter [but see 17:1]. During the 2.5-hour visit, eleven secondary steam explosions occurred from the lava flow at the coast. Incandescent material was sometimes visible after waves struck the flow front. Some regrowth of scorched plants had occurred on the SW corner of the island, and birds had returned. Although no plume was evident from the ground in mid-Nov, three Indian Navy pilots observed fuming during a later overflight, and minor fuming from two vents was visible during fieldwork on 30 November. By the time of the 15 November visit by members of SANE (16:12), the 1991 cone had enlarged considerably, burying the pre-existing central cone. Partial collapse had occurred on one side of the active cone. The new cone's rim was irregular in height. When they returned during the third week in December, ~2 m of ash mantled the surface of the still-hot lava flow. Gases escaping from the lava formed rootless vents on the ash surface. Early 1992 fieldwork by the GSI revealed a cooling lava flow and significant morphological changes to the active cone. Gas emerged from rootless vents 2-3 m in diameter and 1 m deep in the ash-covered surface of the flow, where sulfur and reddish oxides were being deposited. The base of the cone was strewn with broken blocks ranging in size from 2 to 75 cm. The height of the now crescent-shaped crater had declined from 305 m to not more than 225 m above sea level, but its diameter had increased from a pre-eruption 60 m to [~400 m]. Two cinder cones [~8-10 m high] had developed in the W part of the lava field, ~100 and 130 m W of the main cone, respectively. Information Contacts: Director General, GSI, Calcutta; S. Acharya, SANE, Port Blair; D. Shackelford, Fullerton, CA. A multidisciplinary team from the GSI, IMD, CARI, and the Wildlife Dept visited Barren Island on 21-22 May. Hot gas was emerging from the funnel-shaped [300-m-deep] crater, which had an estimated diameter of [400 m] at the rim. The 1991 lava flow that extended to the coast was covered with rain-compacted scoriae and ash, and had a smooth, flat surface like a paved road. The flow's surface temperature was 40°C, but at 1/3 m depth it exceeded the thermometer's 360°C limit. Gases were emitted from small holes in the flow. A portable seismograph recorded several mild seismic events. Some burnt ficus trees on the NW coast were sprouting new shoots, but badly charred ones appeared dead. Crabs were plentiful, even on the lava flow, and 25 feral goats were counted in one hour in the surrounding hills. Many birds were visible, but rats were completely absent. The water around the island was clear and of normal temperature, and fish were observed. Further References. Haldar, D., Laskar, T., Bandyapadhyay, P.C., Sarkar, N.K., and Biswas, J.K., 1992, Volcanic eruption of the Barren Island volcano, Andaman Sea: J. of the Geological Society of India, v. 39, no. 5, p. 411-419. Haldar, D., Laskar, T., Bandyapadhyay, P.C., Sarkar, N.K., and Biswas, J.K., 1992, A note on the recent eruption of the Barren Island volcano: Indian Minerals, v. 46, no. 1, p. 77-88. Information Contacts: S. Acharya, SANE. A scientific team from the GSI and the Zoological Survey of India visited Barren Island on 8-9 April 1993 to assess the impact of the 1991 eruption on the distribution, habit, and abundance of fauna. Gas emissions were seen coming from small openings in the lava flows near the NW coast, but were not observed from the central crater, which had exhibited fumarolic activity at least as late as May 1992. Water temperatures around the island were normal, except for near the landing area on the NW coast where a temperature of 45°C was recorded. Atmospheric temperature was generally 40-50°C, higher near the NE crater rim. The eruption reduced the number of bird species and the total bird population; many species that migrated during the eruption have not yet returned. Out of 16 previously reported species, only six were observed during this visit, of which the Pied Emperial Pigeon (Ducula bicolor) was the most abundant. A night survey encountered only one rat species (Rattus rattus) and 51 species of insects from eight orders. Bones of rats, birds, and charred remains of land crabs were commonly seen. No live land crabs or butterflies were observed, though crabs were plentiful during fieldwork by other scientists in May 1992. Feral goats (Capra hircus) were the most noticeable wildlife on the island. The goats have survived well since being brought to the island in 1891, and their population remained almost intact after the eruption, possibly because they took shelter on the S slope of the island. Information Contacts: K. Chandra, Zoological Survey of India. A new eruption . . . was first noticed by the Indian Navy on 20 December 1994. A team composed of scientists from the GSI and Zoological Survey of India arrived at the island early on 24 January, and an aerial survey . . . was made on the 31st. As of 22 February, this mainly Strombolian eruption was still "in its initial stage, gradually gaining momentum." During January and February, thick clouds of pale brownish gas, dark ash particles, and white steam from the crater area were rising ~200 m at intervals of 30 seconds, accompanied by continuous rumbling and intermittent "cracking" sounds. Two new vents were active, the first within the main crater near the SW corner, and the second ~50 m from the summit down the SW flank. The eruption is believed to have started from the flank vent, around which a new 100-m-diameter subsidiary crater had formed. Incandescent material (cinder and volcanic bombs) rising to heights of 20 m could be seen from 4 km offshore. Particles ranged in size from a few cubic centimeters to ~1 m3, with the average size being slightly less than 10 cm3. Ejecta filled a valley on the S side of the western-most 1991 lava bed. Lava flows traveled ~1.5 km from the active vents into the sea, producing profuse steaming at the ocean entry. The moving lava front was ~50 m wide and 6 m thick by 22 February. Megascopically the lava was basaltic andesite, similar to that erupted during September 1991, with a high percentage of large plagioclase phenocrysts and frequent olivine in a dark-gray glassy groundmass. On 9 March at around 0530 GMT astronauts on the Space Shuttle noticed a small plume rising from Barren Island. They made a short video recording (~15 seconds) showing a V-shaped plume that extended for ~3 km before dispersing. Visible imagery from the NOAA-14 (at 0730 GMT) and GMS (0430-0830 GMT) satellites failed to reveal a volcanic plume. A photograph taken from the Shuttle on 14 March at 0749 GMT again showed a small plume blowing W towards the Andaman Islands (figure 2). As this issue went to press, an aviation notice to airmen (NOTAM) on 27 March stated that the intensity of the eruption was unpredictable and advised all aircraft to avoid overflying the area. Figure 2. Oblique photograph of the Barren Island eruption plume taken from the Space Shuttle, 14 Mar 1995 at 0749 GMT, looking NW. Ash plume is blowing generally W towards the Andaman Islands. NASA photograph STS 067-721A-052. Courtesy of Cindy Evans. Information Contacts: Director General, GSI; C. Evans, NASA-SSEOP; J. Lynch, SAB. The GSI made an aerial survey on 2 March and a land survey on 8 March 1995 to monitor the ongoing eruption . . . . Surveys in late January revealed mainly Strombolian emissions from two vents near the S crater wall (figure 3; vents A and B). Lava flows had reached the sea by the end of January. Figure 3. Geologic sketch map of Barren Island showing lava flows and distribution of volcanic products from the 1995 and 1991 eruptions. Modified from Haldar and others (1992); courtesy of the GSI. The GSI Photogeology and Remote Sensing Division analyzed seven Landsat TM IRS images . . . from November 1994 through February 1995. No signs of eruption were seen on 6 November or 8 December, but conspicuous activity was present on 29 December 1994. Vigorous activity was noted on 9 January. An image from 20 January showed decreasing emissions, but on 25 January the eruption was increasing again. Billowing smoke could be seen through gaps in the cloud cover on 11 February. The lava surface temperature was estimated to be well above 1,000°C on 9 and 25 January, based on preliminary analysis of a few thermally radiant pixels. On 2 March aerial observers noted thick columns of dark to yellowish gray gas followed by white fumes gushing vigorously from the two vents active in late January. The gas column was rising ~1 km, and the eruption was confined to the S side of the summit crater. Denser air containing volcanic aerosols was encountered ~90 km WSW of the volcano at an altitude of ~2,100 m. Very dense air was noticed ~35 km W, and a very thick gas and smoke cloud was encountered ~15 km W at a height of ~1,500 m. On 8 March the eruption was largely characterized by phreatomagmatic explosions. In addition to the two previously mentioned vents, the pre-existing conduit in the center of the 1991 crater (figure 3; vent C) was vigorously active. Huge billowing dark emissions from all three summit vents were followed by thick jets of white fumes at intervals of 30-60 seconds, with deep thundering explosions. The combined eruption column rose ~1.5 km before being blown SW by the wind into a horizontal plume. Space Shuttle astronauts observed this plume blowing generally W on 9 and 14 March (20:02). A fourth vent had also opened at the S foot of the existing volcanic cone by 8 March (figure 3; vent D). It had constructed a small spatter cone from which thick lava was pouring out and a fire fountain was rising ~30 m. Ground temperature ~100-300 m from the foot of the cone was 62-83°C. Hot lava was cascading into the sea along the NW shore, ~200 m S of the landing site, causing the seawater to boil profusely. The lava front thickness had increased from ~6 m on 24 January to ~10 m on 8 March. Ejecta ranged in size up to 10 x 18 x 25 cm. Extensive ashfalls covered the S and W parts of the island, and ash was seen falling as far as 10 km S of the island. Marine life has not been seriously affected; fish were observed ~500 m from shore. Birds were also seen flying over the N part of the island. Reference. Haldar, D., Laskar, T., Bandyopadhyay, P.C., Sarkar, N.K., and Biswas, J.K., 1992, Volcanic eruption of the Barren Island volcano, Andaman Sea: Journal of the Geological Society of India, v. 39, p. 411-419. Information Contacts: Director General, GSI; Deputy Director General, GSI Eastern Region. The GSI visited . . . again on 11 May. At that time only the central conduit was vigorously active, with continuing phreatomagmatic eruptions. The vents near the S crater wall and S foot of the volcanic cone, sites of strong activity on 8 March (20:04), were inactive. Seawater temperature at the only landing site ranged widely from 38 to 70°C, and atmospheric temperatures were 70 and 55°C at distances of ~10 and 15 m, respectively, from the advancing lava front. Fire fountains from the central vent rose to a height of ~150 m. Dark fumes sometimes attained a height of ~400 m. The eruption column was ~100 m across and fed a mushroom-shaped cloud over the crater region. Approximately 90% of the activity from the main conduit was explosive, but eruptive pulses occurred without rumbling sounds. Eruption column fall-out consisted of profuse quantities of cinder, ash, and rock debris. A new vent at the W foot of the cone, ~1.5 km ESE of the landing site, exhibited continuous emission of very liquid lava and bluish fumes, but no explosive activity. The lava erupted from this vent formed a 15-m-high and 70-m-wide flow front that was slowly advancing W towards the landing site, threatening to engulf it. The lava flow was advancing at a rate of ~2 m/hour on 11 May. The 1995 lava is a basalt (50.4-52.3% SiO2 and 2.5-3.1% Na2O + K2O) with mega-xenocrysts of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and olivine in decreasing abundance. The groundmass is composed of glass, plagioclase microlites, and Fe-Ti oxides showing intersertal to very rare fluidal texture. The 1995 lava differs from the lava erupted in 1991 in its absence of wall-rock xenoliths, its greater abundance of mega-xenocrysts, and its groundmass texture. Major elements were determined for ten samples of January 1995 lava. Compared to 1991 lavas (13 samples), the 1995 basalt is deficient in SiO2 and K2O (although total alkali values are similar), but enriched in Al2O3, CaO, and MgO. Based on observations in late June 1995, the Indian Coast Guard reported on 1 July that explosive activity in the crater area had stopped, but gas emissions were still coming from the area near the coast. On 2 December an aviation Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was issued from the United Kingdom for increased activity at Barren Island. However, no eruptive activity was seen on GMS satellite imagery over the area. Landsat TM images from January 1995 (20:04) showed activity from a subsidiary vent on the S slope of the central crater. Subsequent images from 24 February, 13, 14, and 30 March, and 15 April 1995 also revealed activity from the central crater. Some of the images showed a lava or debris flow present in the WNW channel leading towards the sea. A thermal infrared image on 13 March showed a large hot central vent, and at least two subsidiary vents on the S slope; the image also revealed a lava passageway and the cooler plume. Further Reference. Haldar, D., Chakraborty, S.C., and Chakraborty, P.P., 1996, The 1995 eruption of the Barren Island volcano in the Andaman Sea: Records, Geological Survey of India, v. 129(3), p. 59-62. Information Contacts: D. Haldar, Director, GSI Eastern Region, Calcutta; J. Lynch, SAB. Naval aircraft flight crew sights unconfirmed "volcanic emission of smoke" On 13 January a volcanic ash advisory statement was issued based on an unspecified naval aircraft report of observed "volcanic emission of smoke" from Barren Island at 1303 GMT. There was no evidence of a plume or ash cloud on either visual or infrared GMS satellite imagery at 0332 or 0425 GMT earlier that day. Barren Island, a possession of India in the Andaman Sea about 135 km NE of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, is the only historically active volcano along the N-S-trending volcanic arc extending between Sumatra and Myanmar (Burma). The small, 3-km-wide island contains a 1.6-km-wide somma open to the west with a fresh pyroclastic cone in its center that has been the source of historical eruptions. Lava flows have reached the sea along the western coast during eruptions in the early 19th century and more recently in 1991 and 1995. Information Contacts: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, Northern Territory 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/). A team of scientists from India and Italy carried out detailed geological, volcanological, geochemical, and geothermal investigations on Barren Island (figures 4 and 5) during 3-6 February 2003. The scientific team, led by Dornadula Chandrasekharam, included Piero Manetti, Orlando Vaselli, Bruno Capaccioni, and Mohammad Ayaz Alam. The Indian Coast Guard vessel CGS Lakshmi Bai carried the team from Port Blair on 3 February 2003; the journey takes ~5-6 hours depending on sea conditions. Because of the great depths around the island, it is not possible to anchor, so the team was ferried to the island in a small rubber boat. After the ship returned on the morning of 6 February, a trip around the island was made to see the steep seaward face of the prehistoric caldera wall. Figure 4. Barren Island as seen from the vessel CGS Lakshmi Bai on 3 February 2003. Courtesy of D. Chandrasekharam and others. Figure 5. Preliminary sketch map of Barren Island. Courtesy of D. Chandrasekharam and others. The volcano consists of a caldera, which opens towards the W, with a central polygenetic vent enclosing at least five nested tuff cones. Two spatter cones are located on the W and SE flanks of the central cone (figure 6). Figure 6. A spatter cone on the SW flank of the central cinder cone at Barren Island around 3 February 2003. Courtesy of D. Chandrasekharam and others. An eruption in 1991 ended more than 200 years of quiescence. Another eruption in 1994-95 left two spatter cones on its SE and W flanks. From these vents two aa lava flows poured out, both reaching the sea, during two distinct eruptive phases separated by ashfall. The lava flow created a delta into the sea (figure 7). There has been no documented eruptive activity since 1995, but Indian Coast Guards informed the team of renewed activity (strong gas and possible lava emission) in January 2000. The volcano currently exhibits continuing fumarolic activity. Steaming ground was visible at numerous places on the island. Figure 7. Lava from the 1994-95 eruptions on Barren Island formed a tongue that reached the sea. Courtesy of D. Chandrasekharam and others. On 5 February the team climbed the summit of the central cinder cone that showed strongly fumarolic (but not presently active) areas with layers of sulfur deposits (figure 8). The ascent to the crater was relatively difficult since the material on the very steep slope was loose (figure 9). Neither magma nor gas emissions were observed within the craters of the different cones. From the middle to the upper part of the W cone, the ground temperature was relatively high (>40°C), and steaming ground was visible at different sites. Fumarolic activity, with temperatures up to 101°C, was mainly concentrated along the upper crater wall of the SW cone. Blue fumes (indicative of SO2) and the aroma of acidic gases such as HCl were not recorded. Figure 8. Fumarolic deposit on top of the central cinder cone at Barren Island on 5 February 2003. Courtesy of D. Chandrasekharam and others. Figure 9. Central cinder cone showing steep slopes at Barren Island on 5 February 2003. Courtesy of D. Chandrasekharam and others. The pre-caldera deposits were characterized by more than five lava flows (prehistoric?) separated by scoria-fall beds and minor ash, tuff, and cinder deposits. The lava flows varied in thickness from 2 to 3 m, whereas the pyroclastic layers vary in thickness from 1 to 4 m. These lava flows could be clearly seen towards the N part of the main caldera. Towards the SE part of the inner caldera a 5-m-wide, NNE-SSW trending dike was observed. This feeder dike was fine-to-medium grained and contains buff-colored olivine, green pyroxene, and plagioclase phenocrysts. The N and NW part of the caldera has been mantled by a ~50-m-thick sequence of breccias and tuff representing syn/post-caldera phreatic and hydromagmatic activity, whereas the products of a small littoral cone occured mainly towards the W side. The lava flows of the main caldera were highly porphyritic with phenocrysts of green pyroxene (~3 cm) and plagioclase feldspars. Several steam vents could be seen within the 1994-95 lava flows. Some of these vents exhibited a lack of steam emanations at the time of the visit. The outer and part of the inner caldera contains thick vegetation, which escaped the fury of the recent eruptions. Feral goats and rats dominate the island. Two fresh-water springs were discovered towards the SE part of the caldera. This is possibly the fresh water source for the goats living in this island. Chemical analysis indicates that the water from the springs is potable. Information Contacts: Dornadula Chandrasekharam, Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay 400076, India (URL: http://www.geos.iitb.ac.in/index.php/dc); Piero Manetti, Italian National Science Council (CNR), Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources (CNR-IGG), Viale Moruzzi, 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy; Orlando Vaselli, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Via G. La Pira, 4 - 50121 Florence, Italy; Bruno Capaccioni, Institute of Volcanology and Geochemistry, University of Urbino, Loc. La Crocicchia, 61029 Urbino, Italy; Mohammad Ayaz Alam, Research Scholar, Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay 400076, India. Members of the Indian Coast Guard observed a new eruption on the morning of 28 May 2005. An ash plume originated from a vent on the W side of the summit of the central cone; fresh black lava flows did not reach the sea (figure 10). The eruption continued through at least 6 June. Fresh lava emissions had been noted by Indian Coast Guard personnel who patrol the area regularly. A large amount of steam was emitted due to heavy rainfall onto the hot lava surfaces. Heavy monsoon rains prevented access to the island. However, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) was planning a monitoring program and field expedition to the island. Figure 10. Photograph of Barren Island erupting on 28 May 2005 taken from a helicopter. The black lava in the foreground is of 1994-95 eruption. A lava flow that did not reach the sea issues from a steaming flank vent. View is towards the ESE. Courtesy of the Indian Coast Guard. Dornadula Chandrasekharam (Indian Institute of Technology) noted on 6 July that by that date the eruption had ceased, with only steam emissions continuing after three weeks of heavy monsoon rains. The Indian Coast Guard also confirmed to Chandrasekharam that the eruption was first noticed on 28 May, contrary to some press reports indicating that activity was seen on the 27th. Patrol helicopters saw no activity on 25 and 26 May, and did not observe the island on the 27th. Press reports. A report in the 31 May edition of The Hindu stated that defense forces witnessed intermittent billowing smoke and "flame" from the volcano. The same article referenced a Press Trust of India (PTI) report that military forces that landed on the island "experienced a hot breeze and found themselves stepping on fresh lava" where earlier patrol teams had been able to reach the crater. Another article from The Hindu reported that on 2 June teams of the Indian Coast Guard vessel CG Sagar landed on the island in an inflatable raft while a helicopter hovered overhead. The report described eruptive activity consisting of lava and "fireballs" from the crater every few seconds. The purpose of the expedition was to "collect samples of the lava flowing into the rough sea" that would be given to scientists. Coast Guard members and various other government officials made an aerial survey of the island on 3 June according to a PTI report published in The Hindu the next day. The Lt. Governor of Andaman, Ram Kapse, saw "smoke and lava rising from the crater." Coast Guard sources stated that the volume of "smoke" had increased and lava was still flowing out of the crater. A report in The Daily Telegrams on 17 February 2005 quoted K.N. Mathur, Director General of the GSI, regarding a scientific visit to Barren Island on 16 February. At that time, Mathur noted, the team observed "no serious volcanic activities on the island." A similar report in the 18 February edition of the Trinity Mirror carried a quote from Mathur that "There is no activity in the crater and it remained as it was found during GSI's last visit in 2003." These media reports were reproduced on the GSI website. Information Contacts: Dornadula Chandrasekharam, Department of Earth Sciences, Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay 400076, India (URL: http://www.geos.iitb.ac.in/index.php/dc); Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru road, Kolkata 700016, India (URL: https://www.gsi.gov.in/); The Daily Telegrams, India; Trinity Mirror, Chennai, India; The Hindu, 859 and 860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600002, Tamil Nadu, India (URL: http://www.hinduonnet.com/); Press Trust of India, PTI Building, 4, Parliament Street, New Delhi 110001, India (URL: http://www.ptinews.com/); Indian Coast Guard, National Stadium Complex, New Delhi 110 001, India. Heavy monsoon rains that fell soon after the beginning of the eruption on 28 May made observations and fieldwork difficult, and the eruption appeared to have ended by 6 July (BGVN 30:05). Based on information from the Indian Coast Guard, Dhanapati Haldar noted that as of 6 June the mode of eruption was Strombolian, the same as that observed during 1994-95, with fire fountains rising ~ 100 m, a dark plume rising 1 km, and lava piling up on the W face of the main cone. On 13 June an Indian Navy ship transported Geological Survey of India scientists Sumit Kr. Mitra, P.C. Bandopadhyay, Sanjeev Raghav, and Tapan Pal to the island. Prior to the visit the volcano was spewing a gray ash plume charged with water vapor from both the main crater and a subsidiary vent on the SW slope. Around 13 June activity at the subsidiary vent decreased considerably and lava debris formed a mound of loose hot fragments. Forceful ejection of bombs and lapilli continued from the main crater. The proximal accumulations of pyroclasts displayed some incandescence. Red-hot lava fragments were forcefully ejecting from the main crater to heights of more than 100 m, accompanied by loud explosions. Strombolian fire fountains every 15-30 seconds created an eruption column and mushroom-shaped plume that blew to the N. Hand specimen study revealed both jet-black and brownish black basaltic fragments. Both types contained large phenocrysts of plagioclase and pyroxene in a finer black groundmass with a porphyritic texture. A story in the BBC News-World Edition of 11 July about the volcano becoming a tourist attraction served by charter boats included a statement that lava was flowing into the sea. However, the observation was not dated or attributed to a specific source. According to a pilot's report described in a Volcanic Ash Advisory, ash was visible near Barren Island on 18 July at 0211 at an altitude of ~ 6.1 km. Ash was observed on satellite imagery at 0755 that day below 4.6 km altitude. MODIS imagery from the NASA Terra satellite at 0930 (0400 UTC) showed a distinct brown plume extending around 4.6 km NNE. A plume was again reported by a pilot on 18 August at an altitude of ~ 3 km, although ash was not visible on satellite imagery. Information Contacts: Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru road, Kolkata 700016, India (URL: http://www.gsi.gov.in/); Dhanapati Haldar, Presidency College, Kolkata, India; Jenifer E. Piatt, U.S. Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), Satellite Applications Branch, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska 68113, USA (URL: http://www.557weatherwing.af.mil/); Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, Northern Territory 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/); BBC News World Edition, Room 7540, BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London W12 7RJ, United Kingdom (URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/). The latest eruption of Barren Island began about 28 May 2005 (BGVN 30:05 and 30:07). The following additional information regarding this eruption was provided by Dhanapati Haldar (Presidency College). A photograph (figure 11) taken on 21 July by the Indian Coast Guard indicated that the lava pouring from the main crater had cascaded down to arrive at two points on the W shore. The seawater boiled profusely. Figure 11. Photo taken on 21 July 2005 showing the Barren Island eruption continuing unabated. Lava cascaded down and into the sea along the island's W shore. It entered the sea at two points following the pre-existing lava routes of the 1991 and 1994-95 eruptions. Courtesy of the Indian Coast Guard. On 28 August, a senior geologist with the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), A. Kar, made observations from a ship (figure 12). Kar noted that Strombolian eruptive activity had increased, and was both explosive and effusive in nature. The main crater and a newly created vent on the N flank were active. Streams of hot lava flowed down the slope of the cinder cone at the main crater. This cinder cone was built during the eruption in 1787-1832 and modified during subsequent eruptive pulses in 1991, in 1994-95, and (the current episode) in 2005. Kar's observations on 28 August 2005 noted that the descending lava flows traveled to the W shore, entering the sea near the lone preexisting landing site and ~ 250 m S of it. The latter was where the lava stream had met the sea during the 1994-95 eruption. Gas columns rose to more than 2 km, and fire fountains attained a height of around 300 m. Figure 12. Photo taken 26 August 2005 showing Barren Island in Strombolian eruption. The main crater was active, and both explosive and effusive activity had shifted N. Hot lava (seen as incandescent strips) was flowing down the slope of the cinder cone. As before, lava entered the sea at two points on the W shore. Courtesy of A. Kar. Kar visited the island again on 2 September and noted that eruptive activity was continuing unabated. As before, a thick gas plume hovered over the N part of the island, and hot lava still flowed down into the sea. The lava coming in contact with sea water was immediately broken into fine particles that were forcefully thrown into the air to a height of nearly 100 m. Accompanying steam rose to a height of about 300-400 m before being drawn away by the prevailing wind. The eruption column's top formed a spectacular mushroom of gas and smoke, blowing to the N. Subsequent reports received from the Indian Coast Guard indicated that the eruption was continuous until at least 25 September. All the active vents so far observed during 2005 eruption, including the S footwall vent, lie in a zone trending almost N-S. This zone conforms with a pre-existing surficial fracture. This alignment of the active vents had been noted during the 1991 and 1994-95 eruptions, and, as previously mentioned, the lava streams of the current eruption retraced the 1991 and 1994-95 lava routes. According to Haldar, recent lava samples show large (to 5 mm) megacrysts and phenocrysts of plagioclase (An 93-57), olivine (Fo 85-70), and diopside (Mg 47-44, Fe 16-10). The samples also included a groundmass of glass charged with microlites of plagioclase (An 50-45), augite, olivine, titanomagnetite, and rare orthopyroxene. The 2005 lavas contain relatively few olivine megacrysts, but are rich in plagioclase megacrysts, similar to the 1994-95 lavas. The bulk chemical composition of the lava falls within the basalt field (table 2), which was comparable with the compositions of the 1994-95 lava. In comparison, the 2005 lava is slightly richer in both MgO and Na2O and slightly lower in SiO2. Table 2. Analysis of one lava sample (number B1/05) erupted in June 2005 from Barren Island volcano. EMPA stands for electron microprobe analysis. Courtesy of Dhanapati Haldar. As this issue went to press Haldar noted that Barren Island continued to vigorously spew lava, gas, and ash at least as late as 10 November 2005. The eruption was unabated since the last week of May 2005. Information Contacts: Dhanapati Haldar, Presidency College, Kolkata, 4/3K/2 Ho-Chi-Min Sarani, Shakuntala Park, Biren Roy Road (West), Kolkata-700 061, India; Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru road, Kolkata 700 016, India (URL: https://www.gsi.gov.in/); Indian Coast Guard, National Stadium Complex, New Delhi 110 001, India (URL: http://indiancoastguard.nic.in/indiancoastguard/). Activity continued at Barren Island since the volcano's latest eruption that began 28 May 2005 (BGVN 30:05, 30:07, and 30:09). The MODVOLC Alerts Team web site has shown that the MODIS (moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer) satellite recorded nearly daily thermal anomalies from 26 May 2005 (two days earlier than observed by other means). The thermal anomalies continued through 21 January 2006. In contrast, no thermal anomalies were recorded by satellites in the year prior to 26 May 2005. D. Chandrasekharam of the Indian Institute of Technology and members of the Indian Coast Guard observed that since 4 November the volcano emitted large volumes of gas and ash emissions, and lava flows had reached the sea. Chandrasekharam stated that the early 2006 activity was more intense than when the eruption began in May 2005. The recent activity was preceded by about ten moderate earthquakes in the region, including M 4.8 and 4.5 events on 3 November. During 12-15 November 2005, ash plumes emitted from Barren Island were visible on satellite imagery drifting predominantly SSW, but they were no longer visible on 16 November. Ash plumes were visible on satellite imagery on 19 and 20 December at a maximum height of ~ 3.7 km, and during 21-23 December at a maximum height of 4.6 km. Satellite imagery showed a thin ash plume from Barren Island extending WNW during 5-7 January 2006. Two earthquakes occurred in January 2006. On the 6th, an M 5.4 event struck 137 km E of Barren Island, and on the 21st, an M 5.6 event struck 104 km NNW of the island. To monitor the ongoing volcanism, a team from the Geological Survey of India, including M.M. Mukherjee, P.C. Bandopadhyay, Tapan Pal, and Sri Prasun Ghosh, approached aboard the Indian Coast Guard Ship C.S. GANGA DEVI during 12-13 January 2006. The party sailed to within 0.8 km of Barren Island and studied the nature of the eruption from shipboard. The eruption resembled fireworks projecting different colors over the crater and on the slope of the cone. Dense clusters of incandescent pyroclasts of various sizes ejected forcefully from the crater mouth "with ballistic trajectories." Apart from eruption from the main crater, a "glow of fire" from the N flank of the cone and thin layers of red hot materials on W slope were observed. The Darwin VAAC reported that ash plumes from Barren Island during 26-27 January rose to ~ 3 km. Information Contacts: D. Chandrasekharam, Indian Institute of Technology, Department of Earth Sciences, Bombay 400076, India (URL: http://www.geos.iitb.ac.in/index.php/dc); Dhanapati Haldar, Presidency College, Kolkata, 4/3K/2 Ho-Chi-Min Sarani, Shakuntala Park, Biren Roy Road (West), Kolkata-700 061, India; Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru road, Kolkata 700 016, India (URL: https://www.gsi.gov.in/); Indian Coast Guard, National Stadium Complex, New Delhi 110 001, India (URL: http://indiancoastguard.nic.in/indiancoastguard/); Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/); MODVOLC Alerts Team, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1680 East-West Road, Post 602, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/). Our last report on Barren Island discussed events through much of January 2006 (BGVN 31:01); since that time we have only found sporadic reports of activity. According to a news article by The Indo-Asian News Service, a team of scientists that visited Barren Island around 12 March 2006 found that the volcano was still very active. The height of the volcanic cone had increased by 50 m since eruptive activity began in May 2005. In addition, lava flows covered the NW side of the island. Since March 2006 there have been only a few satellite images and pilot reports of continued activity. Based on a pilot report and satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that an ash plume was emitted during 5-6 April that did not rise higher than 4.6 km altitude. On 19 April a low-level plume extending W was visible on satellite imagery. On 2 May satellite imagery detected a plume from Barren Island near 3.7 km altitude. The following day low-level ash plumes extended N. Based on a pilot report, the Darwin VAAC reported an ash plume at 1230 on 26 May that remained below 3 km altitude and drifted N. On 23 September a news report in The Hindu stated that Indian Coast Guard officials indicated that the continuing eruption at Barren Island was decreasing in intensity. The news piece cited a surveillance report statement that there was less lava but more "smoke" from the volcano. Information Contacts: The Hindu (URL: http://www.hinduonline.com); Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) (URL: http://www.eians.com/); Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru road, Kolkata 700 016, India (URL: https://www.gsi.gov.in/); Indian Coast Guard, National Stadium Complex, New Delhi 110 001, India (URL: http://indiancoastguard.nic.in/indiancoastguard/); Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center, Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, Northern Territory 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/). According to news reports of Indian Coast Guard statements, the eruptive activity that began in late May 2005 (BGVN 30:05) at Barren Island had diminished by late September 2006 (BGVN 31:09). Since then, based upon pilot and satellite data, the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) reported multiple ash-and-steam plumes. The plumes reached an altitude of 1.5 km (drifting WNW) on 19 and 20 October 2006, 3 km (drifting SW and W) on 8 November 2006, an unreported altitude and direction on 27 November 2006, 3 km (drifting SW) on 8 February 2007, and 2.1 km (drifting S) on 3 March 2007. The Darwin VAAC had not issued further advisories on Barren Island activity through August 2007. A compilation of MODIS thermal anomaly data from the Aqua and Terra satellites (figure 13) shows that the eruption began on 26 May 2005 (BGVN 31:01) and has continued through at least 1 September 2007. The level of lava emissions remained high between May 2005 and mid-March 2006. On 17 March 2006 the MODVOLC system identified nine hot pixels in Aqua MODIS data. After that time detectable lava activity decreased and became intermittent, though explosive activity may have been present. More frequent anomalies were detected during April 2006, October-November 2006, and May 2007. Figure 13. Daily thermal anomalies at Barren Island from the MODIS/MODVOLC satellite observations, May 2005 to early September 2007. Vertical scale indicates the daily number of alert pixels detected n a specific thermal image, generally a reflection of the extent of hot lava flows. Anomalies are from both the Aqua and Terra satellites and were accessed for this report in early September 2007. Courtesy of the HIGP MODIS Thermal Alert System. Information Contacts: HIGP MODIS Thermal Alert System, Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), University of Hawaii and Manoa, 168 East-West Road, Post 602, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/); Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, Northern Territory 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/). Thermal anomalies associated with the eruption that began in May 2005 were noted at Barren Island through 1 September 2007 (BGVN 32:07). Anomalies detected on 4 and 5 October 2007 again generated MODIS thermal alerts. On 23 December 2007 the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre reported that an ash plume seen on satellite imagery rose to an altitude of 1.5 km and drifted S. A scientific expedition in February 2008 observed that the morphology of the volcano had changed considerably since 2005. The eruption that began in May 2005 (BGVN 30:05) ejected lava and tephra that built a new scoria cone NE of the previous central cone. Lava flows covered all of the earlier flows, and several new spatter cones were formed. Fumarolic activity was continuing in February, with a large amount of steam from the central cone. Activity seemingly decreased in late March 2006, as shown by a significant decline in the number and frequency of thermal anomalies (BGVN 32:07). However, intermittent anomalies continued until 5 October 2007, and ash plumes were seen in satellite imagery on 23 December 2007 (BGVN 33:02). Thermal anomalies detected by MODIS instruments began to be detected again on 12 May 2008 at 1935 (UTC), suggesting a renewal of eruptive activity. Anomalies continued to be identified on 19 days through the end of June. During 15-30 June 2008 observers on an Indian Coast Guard patrol boat could see red glow from the central cone summit at night from a distance of about 10 km. There were also twelve earthquakes between 27 and 29 June, centered SW of Port Blair (140 km SW of Barren Island) in the Andaman Islands. Information Contacts: Dornadula Chandrasekharam, Dept. Earth Sciences, Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India (URL: http://www.geos.iitb.ac.in/index.php/dc); Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) Thermal Alerts System, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Univ. of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/). As previously reported (BGVN 33:06), thermal anomalies on Barren Island detected by MODIS instruments and processed by the MODVOLC system ceased during 6 October 2007 to 11 May 2008 but then went on to register through the end of June 2008. Thermal anomalies remained frequent, and sometimes daily, through the end of the year (figure 14). Some days displayed five or more alerts per day, with the most active day, 20 November 2008, having 12 alert pixels. Although the likely cause of those near-daily thermal anomalies was ongoing eruptions, the island's remoteness and uninhabited setting precludes continuous eye-witness reporting. A new dissertation discusses volcanic rocks on Barren Island (Alam, 2008), and a technical paper on the topic is in review. Figure 14. Daily thermal anomalies at Barren Island from the MODIS/MODVOLC satellite observations, May 2005 through December 2008. Vertical scale indicates the daily number of alert pixels detected in a specific thermal image, generally a reflection of the extent of hot lava flows. Anomalies are from both the Aqua and Terra satellites, and use UTC dates. Courtesy of the HIGP MODIS Thermal Alert System. On 17 November 2008 the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) reported pilot observations of lava flows on Barren Island, but no visible incandescence or vapor. A possible low-level ash plume was seen on satellite imagery drifting W. On 19 November, a pilot reported that an ash plume rose to an altitude of ~ 2.5 km and drifted WSW. During 7-8 December, the Darwin VAAC again reported pilots observations of lava flows on Barren Island. Although thermal anomalies were detected on satellite imagery, ash plumes were not visible. Reference. Mohammad Ayaz Alam, 2008, Geological, geochemical and geothermal studies on the Barren Island volcano, Andaman Sea, Indian Ocean: Ph.D. dissertation, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India. Information Contacts: Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) Thermal Alerts System, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Univ. of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/); Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/). Our previous report on Barren Island (BGVN 33:11) noted frequent thermal anomalies recorded by MODIS instruments and processed by the MODVOLC system through the last half of 2008. This report notes activity between 1 January and 15 September 2009. Ash plumes from Barren Island were a frequent occurrence during January 2009, and intermittent from February through 15 September 2009 (table 3). MODVOLC thermal anomalies remained frequent, usually daily, during 1 January 2009 through 15 September 2009. Table 3. Ash plumes from Barren Island, 4 January 2009-14 September 2009. Courtesy, Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, based on satellite imagery, SIGMET notices, and pilot observations. Information Contacts: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/); Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) Thermal Alerts System, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Univ. of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/). During January to mid-September 2009, Barren Island produced occasional ash plumes and stimulated almost daily thermal alerts (BGVN 34:08). Additional ash plumes were reported on 1 November 2009, then again on 3-4, 11, and 23 January 2010 (table 4). Table 4. Ash plumes from Barren Island, November 2009- January 2010. The plume data are based on satellite imagery, SIGMET notices, and pilot observations. Courtesy of Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre. MODIS/MODVOLC satellite thermal alerts continued almost daily through the end of December 2009, but then decreased during January-February 2010. Between 1 January and 25 February 2010, only six thermal alerts were recorded (all single pixels). Sheth and others (2009) and reports of the Geological Survey of India (e.g., GSI, 2009) present many new field observations about Barren Island's volcanism, particularly during the years 2005-2009. Although historically lava had flowed out of the caldera towards the W, Sheth and others (2009) noted that by 30 March 2009 a new channelized 'a'a lava flow had overtaken the N caldera wall. The escaping lava had arrived at the sea along the island's NNW coast and began to form a delta there. Barren Island is a young and growing mafic, island-arc volcano in the Andaman Sea (figure 15). It produced its first historically recorded eruption in 1787 and a series of eruptions followed in later years, including pulsating activity in the past few decades. Our last report on Barren Island (BGVN 35:01) reported occasional ash plumes and decreasing thermal alerts through January 2010. When searched in mid-April 2011, the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center reported on Barren Island plumes as late as April 2010, with an unconfirmed pilot report in July 2010. A search of MODVOLC-based satellite thermal alerts found they extended through 2010 and into 2011. Figure 15. Map showing the location of Barren Island as part the N-trending volcanic arc extending between Burma (Myanmar) and Sumatra, Indonesia. Taken from Sheth and others (2009). 2009 visit. At the end of their paper, Sheth and others (2009) inserted a 'note added in proof' describing an ongoing eruption witnessed first hand on 30 March 2009. We present that note here (with minor omissions, and broken into several paragraphs). "We would like to report a confirmed, ongoing, lava eruption on Barren Island. The first four authors of this paper and Neeraj Awasthi visited Barren Island yet again, on 30th March 2009, on board the Indian Coast Guard vessel the ICGS Bhikaiji Cama (Captain: Commandant M. Bhatia). The volcano's central cinder cone was continuously emitting dark ash clouds every few seconds from its central crater (reminiscent of the activity in 2007 . . .), and these clouds were expanding and getting deflected towards the S. The pre-existing valley between the cinder cone and the northern caldera wall has been filled up by deposition of new ash in the past year, which has enabled the new, active lava flow to completely abandon the westerly route (taken by all historic and recent lava flows) and to reach the sea over the northern caldera wall. "This [active] lava flow is not ensuing from the summit crater, but apparently from an intermediate elevation on the cinder cone, though details were hard to distinguish given the distance of the ship from the island. The new, channelized lava flow is currently descending at a steep angle over the northern caldera wall's outer cliff face, and into the sea. Incandescent lava is seen at a few places in it, particularly in the dark. A sizeable steam plume is currently rising from the sea where this new lava flow is entering the sea. The new lava flow has built a structure resembling an alluvial fan along the shore. "We were able to reach this fan by using a Gemini (inflatable rubber boat) from the ship, carefully circumventing the steam plume and through seawater which was very hot (an estimated ~60-70°C). We could also collect lava samples from the southern edge of this "fan", which are typical clinkery as basalt in hand specimen. A full account of this eruption with photographs and petrological study of the rock will be attempted separately. An interesting possibility is that, were this activity to continue, the new embryonic lava delta will grow thicker and laterally, and merge with the existing lava delta on the western side of the volcano.... In summary, Barren Island is evidently a very active volcano, meriting close study." References. GSI, 2009, The Barren Island Volcano, Explosive Strombolian type eruption observed during January 2009; Geological Survey of India — Kolkata; Jan 2009 URL: http://www.portal.gsi.gov.in/gsiImages/information/N_BarrenJan09Note.pdf). Sheth, HC, Ray, JS, Bhutani, R, Kumar, A, and Smitha, RS, 2009, Volcanology and Eruptive Styles of Barren Island: An Active Mafic Stratovolcano in the Andaman Sea, NE Indian Ocean, Bull Volcanol (Apr 2009) 71:1021-1039, DOI: 10.1007/s00445-009-0280-z. Information Contacts: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/); Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) MODVOLC Thermal Alerts System, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Univ. of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/). Barren Island, a young and growing mafic island-arc volcano in the Andaman Sea (figure 16), produced its first historically recorded eruption in 1787; a series of eruptions followed in later years. Evidence of eruptions again became clear in May 2005 as a result observations by the Indian Coast Guard. Figure 16. Map showing the location of Barren Island as part the S-trending volcanic arc extending between Burma (Myanmar) and Sumatra. It shows major geological and tectonic features of the NE Indian Ocean and SE Asia, along with the locations of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Barren Island, and Narcondam. White triangles are Holocene volcanoes (Siebert, and others, 2010). Taken from Sheth and others (2009) and from BGVN 36:03. A recent report on Barren Island (BGVN 35:01) reported occasional ash plumes and decreasing thermal alerts through January 2010. In our last report on Barren Island (BGVN 36:03) we described some new details about this volcano, particularly during the years 2005-2009, as reported by Sheth and others (2009) and the Geological Survey of India (GSI, 2009). The current report discusses activity at the volcano during January 2010-April 2011, including observations made by GSI (2011) during a January 2011 field trip and thermal anomalies detected by satellite. Ash plumes. During 2010 and through mid-2011, the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre reported ash plumes from Barren Island. Figure 17 shows a plume rising from the volcano in a 25 September 2010 satellite image. Figure 17. A plume of ash rises from Barren Island on 25 September 2010. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite shows a dark-gray ash cloud rising from a volcanic cone that fills the island's central caldera. Dark, hardened lava flows cover the caldera floor, some extending to the ocean. Green vegetation covers the caldera rim and the outer slopes. Breaking waves line the southern coastline in white. This remote, uninhabited volcanic island is not monitored directly, but the Indian Coast Guard, passing pilots, and satellites have observed lava flows and ash plumes periodically since 2005. Courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory, image by Robert Simmon using ALI data from the NASA EO-1 team. The Darwin VAAC documented other plumes, for example, on 3 January 2010 a pilot reported that a plume rose to an altitude of 1.5 km. On 11 January 2010 an ash plume visible through satellite imagery rose to an altitude of 1.5 km and drifted 45 km S. On 23 January 2010 a pilot observed an ash plume that rose to a reported altitude of 3 km, but it was not identified on satellite imagery. New insights from GSI. GSI (2011) discussed a scientific expedition to Barren Island made during 2-8 January 2011. The eruption still continued, but with lesser intensity as compared to the violent eruption observed during 2005 to 2009. The eruption was of a pulsative and explosive character (Strombolian type) where dark columns of a dense ash-laden steam with coarser pyroclasts (cinders, juvenile lava blocks) were ejected at 2- to 8-minute intervals. The eruption discharged from two vents on the parasitic crater. That crater had developed over a subsidiary cinder cone (~ 500 m high) on the S wall of the main cinder cone of the 1991-95 eruption. Coarser incandescent pyroclasts rose sub-vertically to 100-150 m in height and tumbled down the volcanic cone. A thick column of ash-laden gray vapor was ejected to heights of ~ 150-200 m and typically rose in a mushroom shaped ash cloud. Figure 18 shows the lower portion of an ash plume. Figure 18. Barren Island emitting a column of ash-laden vapor. Bulletin editors noted two minor features: (1) dark spots to the left of the vent suggestive of local ash fall, and (2) small plumes near the ground surface, which appear similar to those discussed in the Fuego report (this issue, BGVN 36:06). Taken from GSI (2011). Significant changes were observed in the shape and height of the cinder cone in the 2-km-diameter caldera. The height of the cinder cone increased from ~ 350 m in 2005 to ~ 500 m in 2011. The main approach to the center of the island follows a valley leads to the breached NW side of the caldera wall. The valley was covered totally by a thick pile of repetitive sequences of assorted pyroclasts and lava from recent eruptions. Near the base of the cinder cone, in the NW part of the island, the accumulated thickness of the products from recent eruptions was ~ 100 m. Besides the main pyroclast deposits from lava in the W part of the valley, considerable deposits had filled up the valley in the NNW part of the island, overflowing the caldera wall and covering the pre-historic lava. The recent lava flows reached the sea front attaining a width of ~ 250 m at the coast (figure 19). Figure 19. Lava flow emplaced between 2009-Jan 2011. Located on the NNW side of Barren Island with a width of flow at the coast of ~250 m. From GSI (2011). This is the first report of the lava and pyroclasts of recent eruptions in the NNW part of the island. The main lava flow and pyroclastic deposits discharged from the NW part of the crater,carried towards the W and NNW part of the valley, giving rise to new land forms. The lava and associated eruptive products of the 1991 and 1994-95 explosions, which were exposed earlier near the mouth of the valley and on the S side of the valley, were covered by the recent tephra The coarser pyroclasts are highly vesiculated basaltic rocks where plagioclase occurs as the dominant phenocryst set in a glassy matrix. The pile of pyroclasts formed very uneven. Maximum height of the accumulated material was ~20 m. Fusion of individual cinders, spatter, and blocks produced bigger blocks. MODVOLC Thermal Alerts. MODVOLC satellite thermal measurement showed frequent alerts for the following periods: 17 September through 5 November 2010 (nearly daily alerts), 14 December 2010 through 10 January 2011, and 29 March through 11 April 2011 (daily alerts). Alerts were absent during 13 February through 17 September 2010. Recent history of major ash eruptions. Awasthi and others (2010) measured 14C dates of inorganic carbon in sediment beds, and Sr and Nd isotopic ratios of seven discrete ash layers, in a marine sediment core collected from 32 km SE of the Barren volcano. The study revealed that the volcano had seven major ash eruptions, at ~70, 69, 61, 24, 19, 15, and 10 kiloyears (ka) before present. The ash layers erupted from 70 ka through 19 ka have highly uniform Nd isotopic composition; eruptions since ~15 ka have highly variable isotopic compositions. The authors found that during 10-24 ka, the volcano had large ash eruptions spaced at ~4.5 ka intervals (~10, ~15, 19, and 24 ka). Isotopically correlating the precaldera lavas and ash exposed on the volcano to the uppermost ash layer in the core, the authors inferred that the caldera was younger than the last ~10 ka ash layer found in the core. This represents the hypothesis that the caldera formed as a result of a single, simple, symmetric collapse after Barren Islands major ash eruptions. References. Awasthi, N., Ray, J.S., Laskar, A.H., Kumar, A., Sudhakar, M., Bhutani, R., Sheth, H.C., and Yadava, M.G., 2010, Major ash eruptions of Barren Island volcano (Andaman Sea) during the past 72 kyr: clues from a sediment core record, Bulletin of Volcanology, v. 72, pp. 1131-1136. Sheth, H.C. , Ray, J.S., Bhutani, R., Kumar, A., and Smitha, R. S., 2009, Volcanology and eruptive styles of Barren Island: an active mafic stratovolcano in the Andaman Sea, NE Indian Ocean, Bulletin of Volcanology, v. 71, pp. 1021-1039 (DOI: 10.1007/s00445-009-0280-z). Siebert, L., Simkin, T., and Kimberly, P, 2010, Volcanoes of the World: Third Edition, University of California Press, Berkeley, 551 p. Information Contacts: Geological Survey of India (GSI), GSI Complex, Bhu Bijnan Bhavan, Block: DK-6, Sector-II, Salt LakeKolkata-700091 West Bengal, India (URL: http://www.portal.gsi.gov.in/); Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/). Our last Bulletin report (BGVN 36:06) noted that Barren Island was still erupting during 2011. This report both discusses an April 2010 ash plume that recently came to our attention and reports on activity as late as October 2013. A regional map appears in the last section. On 19 April 2010, based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) reported that a plume from Barren Island rose to an altitude of 2.4 km and drifted 55 km N. Ash, however, could not be identified from the satellite data. A Twitter posting included the photo in figure 20, an image apparently acquired in December 2010. The Indian Navy (via Twitter) reported seeing "smoke" and lava was also seen on the island from a surveillance plane on 16 October 2013. A large hot spot is visible on recent MODIS satellite data. Figure 20. A photo of Barren Island emitting a dark ash plume from its main cone. The photo's metadata indicated that it was taken on 10 December 2010. Copyrighted photo by Paul Andrew Johnson and posted on Panoramio photo display website. VAAC reported that on 16 February 2013 during 1430 to 2000 (UTC date and time) an ash plume from Barren Island reached an altitude of 6.1 km and drifted 220 km SW. Meteorological clouds masked the ash cloud after 2000 UTC and the VAAC warned that ash could still reside at altitude. The 16 February 2013 plume height was derived from a 1530 UTC MTSAT-2 infrared image and an atmospheric sounding at Penang made at 1200 UTC. The VAAC also created a forecast of the plume's movement based on the Hysplit model data. Darwin VAAC found that on 17 October 2013 an ash plume rose to an altitude of 3.7 km and drifted ~30 km NW. The plume was first seen in imagery at 0732 UTC and last seen at 0932 UTC. Plume height was derived from MTSAT-2 visible wavelength image, observed ash movement, and comparison to winds from both an atmospheric model and a 0600 UTC sounding. Regional map. A regional map brings together geography and tectonics of the region centered on Barren Island (figure 21). Figure 21. Location map for Barren Island seen on the digital version of the wall map "This Dynamic Planet" (Simkin and others, 2005). The background image is from ER Mapper. The oceanic bathymetry and on-land topography translate for this gray-scale image, forming two independent series ranging from dark (low) to light (high). Thus, deep ocean and low land are dark, and shallow ocean and high land are light. White triangles with black borders represent Holocene volcanoes (Siebert and Simkin, 2002). Labeled volcanoes are Barren Island, Narcondam (N); Popa (P) and the Singu Plateau (SP) in Myanmar, the Tengchong pyroclastic cones (T) in southern China. The curving white line is the convergent boundary between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, including the Burma sub-plate (BP) of the Eurasian Plate. At Barren Island's latitude, the convergent boundary is the subduction zone named the Andaman trench; to the S is the Sumatran trench, and to the N is the continental-collision zone marked by the Indo-Myanmar ranges (IMR) and still farther N and W, the Himalayan front. The large white arrow shows the NNE relative-motion vector of ~60 mm/yr for the Indian Plate and the Eurasian PlateW of Sumatra. The 26 December 2004 Sumatran earthquake (Mw 9.3) is marked by a white dot. Taken from Sanjeev Raghav (2011). References: Luhr, J. F. and Haldar, D., 2006, Barren Island volcano (NE Indian Ocean): island-arc high-alumina basalts produced by troctolite contamination; J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., vol. 149, pp. 177-212. Ray, J.S, Pande K., Awasthi, N. 2013, A minimum age for the active Barren Island volcano, Andaman Sea, Current Science; Special Section: Earth Sciences, Vol. 104, No. 7, 10 April 2013. Sanjeev, R. 2011, Barren Volcano- A Pictorial Journey From Recorded Past To Observed Recent Part-I Earth Science India, Open Access e-Journal, Popular Issue, IV (III), July, 2011; (URL: www.earthscienceindia.info ). Siebert, L. and Simkin, T.,2002, Volcanoes of the world: an illustrated catalog of Holocene volcanoes and their eruptions, Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program, Digital Information Series, GVP-3. Simkin, T., Tilling, R.I., Vogt, P.R., Kirby, S., Kimberly, P., and Stewart, D.B. This Dynamic Planet: World Map of Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Impact Craters, and Plate Tectonics U.S. Geological Survey (2005). Information Contacts: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina Northern Territory 0811 Australia; Twitter (URL: https://twitter.com/twitter); and VolcanoDiscovery (URL: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/). Renewed activity at Barren Island that began in October 2013 (BGVN 38:10) continued at least through June 2014. Ongoing low-level eruptive activity was indicated by intermittent reports of ash plumes and MODIS infrared satellite observations. Ash plumes seen in satellite imagery on 17 October 2013 corresponded to an episode of MODVOLC thermal alerts that began on 10 October (10 pixels) and continued through 23 October. Additional extended periods of eruptive activity indicated by frequent thermal alerts took place from 12-19 December 2013 and 20 January-12 February 2014. Isolated anomalies were also identified on 13 and 15 November and 1 December 2013, and 1 January, 12 March, and 20 April 2014. Low-level ash plumes that rose to altitudes as high as ~1.5 km were reported in February 2014. Darwin VAAC reports stated that an ash plume on 6 February rose to ~1.5 km altitude and drifted more than 35 km SW. On 9 February another low-level plume rose from the vent. Although plumes were infrequently noted on satellite imagery, the crew of the Infiniti Live Aboard dive boat noted that there was a plume visible during each of six visits to the island between January and April 2014 (figures 22 and 23). Thermal infrared MODIS data processed by the MIROVA system, which uses middle infrared radiation to identify possible volcanic activity, revealed frequent anomalies in April through early May 2014, and in late May to early June; another anomaly was seen in mid-June 2014. Figure 22. The Barren Island cone with a rising plume appears in the background behind a diving ship. According to Vismaya Firodia-Bakshi, the island was "smoking" all six times that the ship visited the islands between January and April 2014. Courtesy of Infiniti Live Aboard (2014). Figure 23. Barren Island released a plume that rose a few hundred meters high in April 2014. A previous plume can be seen at left drifting downwind. Courtesy of Infiniti Live Aboard (2014). Information Contacts: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/); Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) Thermal Alerts System, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 1680 East-West Road, Pacific Ocean Science & Technology (POST) Building Room 602, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/); MIROVA, a collaborative project between the Universities of Turin and Florence (Italy) and is supported by the Centre for Volcanic Risk of the Italian Civil Protection Department (URL: http://www.mirovaweb.it/). The eruptive activity at Barren Island that began in October 2013 continued through at least mid-June 2014 (BGVN 39:07). Another eruptive cycle began in March 2015 and continued through 28 February 2016, based on MODIS/MODVOLC thermal anomalies. However, MIROVA hotspots were regular through mid-May 2016, and then sporadic throughout the rest of 2016. The next clear episode began on 15 January 2017 and continued through at least February 2017. Scientists aboard a research ship observed explosions, fire fountains, and lava flows in January 2017. Activity during October 2013-June 2014. Evidence of renewed activity in the form of lava flows was seen in MODVOLC thermal anomaly data beginning on 12 October 2013. Thermal alert pixels were frequent through 12 February 2014, followed by single anomalies on 12 March and 20 April 2014. Ash plumes were also observed during January-April 2014. Thermal infrared MODIS data processed by the MIROVA system revealed frequent anomalies in April through early May 2014, and in late May to early June; another anomaly was seen in mid-June 2014. Activity during July 2014-June 2015. No thermal anomalies were seen in MIROVA data for at least five weeks (figure 24), between early June and late July 2014, and then continuing intermittently through the first half of March 2015. The only reported plumes during this time were in the week of 3-9 September 2014 and 22-28 April 2015, but in each case as could not be identified in satellite imagery. Figure 24. Thermal anomaly MIROVA radiative power data from Barren Island during 7 June 2014-6 June 2015. A weak mid-June 2014 anomaly is followed by intermittent weak activity during late July 2014 through mid-March 2015. A strong period of thermal anomalies in March and April 2015 decreased in intensity but continued into early June 2015. Courtesy of MIROVA. A strong thermal signature resumed on 17 March 2015 (figure 24) and continued for about three weeks before decreasing in intensity. Lower-level thermal activity continued through the first half of June. Thermal anomalies seen in MODVOLC data also resumed on 17 March, and were frequent through 12 June. Eruptions of ash were observed during 5-7 and 12-13 June 2015, with plumes rising to an altitude of 2-3 km and drifting up to 55 km downwind (table 5). Table 5. Ash plumes at Barren Island, June 2015-February 2016. Legend: Satellite=analysis of satellite images, wind=wind data. Data provided by the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre. Activity during July 2015-May 2016. Thermal activity paused again for approximately a month in the second half of June and first half of July 2015. Regular thermal anomalies in MODVOLC data stopped after 12 June and resumed on 16 July. Episodic clusters of anomalies with gaps of 1-3 weeks continued until 28 February 2016. Although MODVOLC data did not show thermal anomalies after February 2016, MIROVA data showed ongoing activity until approximately 17 May (figure 25). A few ash plumes were seen during this period, on 19 August, 22 September, and 8-9 October 2015 (table 5). There were no reported plumes in November or December 2015, but were seen once again in January and February 2016. Plumes typically rose to an altitude of 1.5-2 km and drifted 45-100 km downwind; the longest plume extended 1665 km SW. Figure 25. Thermal anomaly MIROVA log radiative power data from Barren Island during 21 February 2016-20 February 2017. Regular activity is evident from late February through mid-May 2016. After a gap of about two months, there are only infrequent anomalies through mid-January 2017, after which another episode of frequent anomalies began. Courtesy of MIROVA. Activity during June 2016-February 2017. Eruptive activity apparently stopped around 16-17 May 2016 for at least seven weeks. MODIS thermal data captured by MIROVA showed a few anomalies (less than 20) from the second half of July through the first half of December 2016 (figure 25). Considering the remote location and rare direct observations at this island volcano, it is possible that the anomalies represent intermittent lava emissions. Regular thermal anomalies were recorded by both MIROVA and MODVOLC beginning on 15 January that were continuing at the end of February 2017. The National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), part of the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), reported activity on 23 January 2017. Scientists aboard a research vessel were collecting sea floor samples when they observed a sudden ash emission. The team moved closer, about 1.6 km from the volcano, and noted small eruptive episodes lasting 5-10 minutes. Ash emissions were visible in the daytime, and lava fountains feeding lava flows on the flanks were visible at night. The team revisited the volcano on 26 January and observed similar activity over four hours. They sampled sediments and water in the vicinity of the eruption and recovered volcanic ejecta. Information Contacts: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia (URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/); The National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India (URL: http://www.nio.org/); Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), MODVOLC Thermal Alerts System, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Univ. of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/); MIROVA (Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity), a collaborative project between the Universities of Turin and Florence (Italy) supported by the Centre for Volcanic Risk of the Italian Civil Protection Department (URL: http://www.mirovaweb.it/). The Global Volcanism Program has no synonyms or subfeatures listed for Barren Island. Barren Island, a possession of India in the Andaman Sea about 135 km NE of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, is the only historically active volcano along the N-S volcanic arc extending between Sumatra and Burma (Myanmar). It is the emergent summit of a volcano that rises from a depth of about 2250 m. The small, uninhabited 3-km-wide island contains a roughly 2-km-wide caldera with walls 250-350 m high. The caldera, which is open to the sea on the west, was created during a major explosive eruption in the late Pleistocene that produced pyroclastic-flow and -surge deposits. Historical eruptions have changed the morphology of the pyroclastic cone in the center of the caldera, and lava flows that fill much of the caldera floor have reached the sea along the western coast. Bhattacharya A, Reddy C S S, Srivastav S K, 1993. Remote sensing for active volcano monitoring in Barren Island, India. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 59(8), 1293-1297. Buist G, 1852. Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal. The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, v. LII (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black. Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, London). Haldar D, Laskar T, Bandyopadhyay P C, Sarkar N K, Biswas J K, 1992. Volcanic eruption of the Barren Island volcano, Andaman Sea. J Geol Soc India, 39: 411-419. Luhr J F, Haldar D, 2006. Barren Island volcano (NE Indian Ocean): island-arc high-alumina basalts produced by troctolite contamination. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 149: 177-212. Mallet F R, 1895. Some early allusions to Barren Island; with a few remarks thereon. Geol Surv India Mem, 28(1): 22-34. Raina V K, 1987. A note on sulfur occurrence in the volcanoes of Bay of Bengal. Indian Minerals, 41: 79-86. Shanker R, Haldar D, Absar A, Chakraborty S C, 2001. Pictorial Monograph of the Barren Island Volcano. Kolkata: Geol Surv India, 87 p. Sheth H C, Ray J S, Bhutani R, Kumar A, Awasthi N, 2010. The latest (2008-09) eruption of Barren Island volcano, and some thoughts on its hazards, logistics and geotourism aspects. [Current Sci, 98: 620-626. Sheth H C, Ray J S, Bhutani R, Kumar A, Smitha R S, 2009. Volcanology and eruptive styles of Barren Island: an active mafic stratovolcano in the Andaman Sea, NE Indian Ocean. Bull Volcanol, 71: 1021-1039. There is data available for 17 Holocene eruptive periods. There is no Deformation History data available for Barren Island. The 1991 eruption dramatically modified the morphology of the central cinder cone on the small Barren Island, one of the Andaman Islands, north of Sumatra. During the eruption the height of the cinder cone was lowered from 305 m to 225 m, and the diameter of its crater increased from 60 m to about 200 m. Two small cinder cones also formed in the lava field west of the main cone. Photo courtesy of D. Haldar, 1992 (Geological Survey of India). Barren Island erupted for the first time in the 20th century beginning in April 1991. Strombolian eruptions from the central cone produced clouds of ash and incandescent ejecta, and a lava flow, seen steaming in the foreground, reached the west coast of the island. By the time of this September 25 view, all subsidiary vents had merged with an enlarged summit crater. An eruption column in 1991 rises above Barren Island, the only historically active volcano along a volcanic arc connecting Sumatra and Myanmar (Burma). The small 3-km-wide island contains a 1.6-km-wide crater partially filled by a cinder cone that has been the source of eruptions since the first was recorded in 1787. Lava flows reached the coast during several recent eruptions. Photo courtesy of D. Haldar, 1991 (Geological Survey of India). Prior to the 1991 eruption, the steep-sided central cinder cone in the crater of Barren Island rose to 305 m with a 60-m-wide crater at its summit. The black lava flow in the foreground was erupted during 1803-1804. This lava flow, the first known in historical time from Barren Island, extends from the base of the cone to the west coast. Photo courtesy of D. Haldar, 1990 (Geological Survey of India). Light-colored volcanic ash from the 1991 eruption completely mantles the foreground surface of a lava flow emplaced during the eruption, and drapes the flank spatter cone in the center of the photo. The slopes of the central pyroclastic cone, the source of the ashfall, rise to the right. The central cinder cone of Barren Island is seen in eruption from the SW in May 1991. The 1991 eruption, the first of the 20th century from Barren Island, included explosive activity from a vent on the upper NE flank and lava flows that reached the west coast of the island. Photo courtesy of V.K. Raina, 1991 (Geological Survey of India). Incandescent ejecta and a dark ash column from strombolian eruptions that began in April, 1991 are seen in this May 16, 1991 view of the cinder cone in the center of Barren Island. The 1991 eruption was the first from Barren Island in the 20th century. The prominent lava delta extending across the photo was formed during the 1994-1995 eruption of Barren Island. The eruption was first noticed by the Indian Navy on December 20, 1994. Explosive activity was observed from satellite images and during visits from January to March and May, 1995. Four vents were active from the summit to the south flank of the cone along a N-S south line. A new vent was observed on May 11 on the west flank of the cone, producing a lava flow that traveled toward the landing site. Photo courtesy of D. Chandrasekharam and others, 2003 (Indian Institute of Technology). Barren Island is seen in eruption on May 28, 2005 in an aerial view taken from the WNW. The black lava in the foreground is of 1994-95 eruption. A lava flow that had not reached the sea at this time issues from a steaming flank vent. Eruptions, which had begun on May 26, occurred from the summit of the central cinder cone and vents on its flanks. Lava flows later reached the western coast along the same path as flows from the 1991 and 1994-95 eruptions. Photo courtesy of Indian Coast Guard, 2005. A steaming lava flow enters the sea along the west coast of Barren Island on July 21, 2005. The flow entered the sea at two points following the pre-existing lava routes of the 1991 and 1994-95 eruptions. An eruption plume from the summit crater of the central cinder cone is visible at the upper right, along with an active lava channel descending its flanks. A view from off the west coast of Barren Island on August 26, 2005 shows a strombolian eruption from the central cinder cone. The main crater was active, and both explosive and effusive activity had shifted to the north. Two channels of incandescent lava flow down the slopes of the cinder cone, and steam plumes mark the entry point of the basaltic lava flows into the sea. Photo by A. Kar, 2005 (Central Ground Water Board). The following 44 samples associated with this volcano can be found in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences collections, and may be availble for research (contact the Rock and Ore Collections Manager). Catalog number links will open a window with more information. Large Eruptions of Barren Island Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

2019-04-23T05:55:49Z

https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=260010

A wound dressing apparatus includes a wound dressing member dimensioned for positioning relative to a wound bed. The wound dressing member including an internal vacuum reservoir and has a port in communication with the vacuum reservoir for applying subatmospheric pressure to the vacuum reservoir to facilitate removal of fluid from the wound bed. The wound dressing member includes a visual pressure indicator associated therewith for indicating a level of pressure within the vacuum reservoir. The visual pressure indicator includes color indicia having a plurality of colors corresponding to a condition of the pressure within the vacuum reservoir. The wound dressing member includes a lower absorbent member positionable adjacent the wound bed and an upper member which at least partially defines the vacuum reservoir. At least one of the top member and the lower absorbent member has the visual pressure indicator mounted thereto. This patent application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/775964, filed on Feb. 25, 2013, which is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/686813, filed on Jan. 13, 2010, which is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/516,925, filed on Sep. 6, 2006, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/714,805, filed on Sep. 7, 2005, now abandoned, the entire contents of each are incorporated herein by this reference. The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for treating an open wound, and, more specifically, relates to a wound dressing that draws wound fluids into a vacuum reservoir to facilitate the wound healing process. Wound closure involves the migration of epithelial and subcutaneous tissue adjacent the wound towards the center of the wound until the wound closes. Unfortunately, closure is difficult with large wounds or wounds that have become infected. In such wounds, a zone of stasis (i.e. an area in which localized swelling of tissue restricts the flow of blood to the tissues) forms near the surface of the wound. Without sufficient blood flow, the epithelial and subcutaneous tissues surrounding the wound not only receive diminished oxygen and nutrients, but, are also less able to successfully fight microbial infection and, thus, are less able to close the wound naturally. Such wounds have presented difficulties to medical personnel for many years. Wound dressings have been used in the medical industry to protect and/or facilitate healing of open wounds. One popular technique has been to use negative pressure therapy, which is also known as suction or vacuum therapy. A variety of negative pressure devices have been developed to allow excess wound fluids, i.e., exudates to be removed while at the same time isolating the wound to protect the wound and, consequently, reduce recovery time. Various wound dressings have been modified to promote the healing of open wounds. Issues that continually need to be addressed when using a wound dressing include ease of use, efficiency of healing a wound, and the source of constant or varying negative pressure. Thus, there remains a need to constantly improve negative pressure wound dressings for open wounds. In one preferred embodiment, a wound dressing apparatus includes a wound dressing member dimensioned for positioning relative to a wound bed. The wound dressing member includes an internal vacuum reservoir and having a port in communication with the vacuum reservoir for applying subatmospheric pressure to the vacuum reservoir to facilitate removal of fluid from the wound bed. The wound dressing member includes an access door associated therewith and being selectively movable between a closed position substantially enclosing the vacuum reservoir and an open position permitting access to the vacuum reservoir. The wound dressing member preferably includes a lower absorbent member which is positionable adjacent the wound bed and an upper member. The upper member at least partially defines the vacuum reservoir. The access door is mounted to the upper member. The lower member may comprise a material selected from the group consisting of foams, nonwoven composite fabrics, cellulosic fabrics, super absorbent polymers, hydrogels and combinations thereof. The lower member also may include at least one of a medicament, an anti-infective agent, an antimicrobial, such as polyhexamethylene biguanide (hereinafter, “PHMB”), antibiotics, analgesics, healing factors, vitamins, growth factors, debridement agents and nutrients. The wound dressing member may include an adhesive member which is adapted to be secured about the wound bed to provide a seal between the wound dressing member and tissue surrounding the wound bed. The wound dressing apparatus may further include a vacuum source in fluid communication with the port. The vacuum source is adapted to supply subatmospheric pressure in a range between about 20 mmHg and about 500 mmHg to the vacuum reservoir. The port may include valve means. The wound dressing member may include a visual pressure indicator for indicating a level of pressure within the vacuum reservoir. The preferred visual pressure indicator includes color indicia which correspond to a condition of the subatmospheric pressure within the vacuum reservoir. The preferred visual pressure indicator includes a position sensor. The visual pressure indicator may include circuit means and visible alarm means. The circuit means is adapted to actuate the visible alarm means when the position sensor detects a relative positioning of the top member of the wound dressing member to provide a visual indication of the condition of the subatmospheric pressure within the vacuum reservoir. In another embodiment, a wound dressing apparatus includes a wound dressing member dimensioned for positioning relative to a wound bed. The wound dressing member including an internal vacuum reservoir and has a port in communication with the vacuum reservoir for applying subatmospheric pressure to the vacuum reservoir to facilitate removal of fluid from the wound bed and stimulate wound healing. The wound dressing member includes a visual pressure indicator associated therewith for indicating a level of pressure within the vacuum reservoir. The visual pressure indicator may include color indicia having a plurality of colors corresponding to a condition of the pressure within the vacuum reservoir. The wound dressing member includes a lower absorbent member positionable adjacent the wound bed and an upper member which at least partially defines the vacuum reservoir. At least one of the top member and the lower absorbent member has the visual pressure indicator mounted thereto. The visual pressure indicator may include an electronic position sensor. The visual pressure indicator may further include circuit means and visible alarm means. The circuit means is adapted to actuate the visible alarm means when the position sensor detects a relative positioning of the top member of the wound dressing member to provide a visual indication of the condition of the subatmospheric pressure within the vacuum reservoir. FIG. 11 is a top view of the wound dressing of FIG. 9. The composite wound dressing of the present disclosure promotes healing of a wound via the use of a vacuum reservoir. The vacuum reservoir subjects the wound to vacuum or subatmospheric pressure to effectively draw wound fluid including liquid exudates from the wound bed without the continuous use of a vacuum source or pump. Hence, vacuum pressure can be applied once or in varying intervals depending on the nature and severity of the wound until the composite wound dressing is saturated with exudate or the wound is healed. If the wound dressing is saturated with exudate and the wound is not healed, certain and/or all layers of the composite wound dressing can be replaced and the process of applying subatmospheric pressure can be repeated. Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, the composite wound dressing 100 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated in the form of an article with multiple layers arranged in juxtaposed or superposed relation. The multiple layers include, but, are not limited to a lower or base layer 102, an absorbent/packing layer 104, an adherent layer 106, and a top layer 108 which includes and/or defines the internal vacuum reservoir 110. The base layer 102 is in direct contact with the wound bed “w”. The base layer 102 is typically porous allowing passage of subatmospheric pressure to the wound bed. In one preferred embodiment, the base layer includes a “non-adherent” material. “Non-adherent” as used herein refers to a material that does not adhere to tissues in and around the wound bed. “Porous” as used herein refers to a material which contains numerous small perforations or pores which allow wound fluids of all kinds to pass through the material to the dressing layers above. The passage of wound fluid through the porous material may be unidirectional such that wound exudate does not flow back to the wound bed. This direction flow feature could be in the form of directional apertures imparted into the material layer, a lamination of materials of different absorption to the base layer 102 or specific material selection that encourages directional flow. Exemplary materials used as the base layer 102 include a contact layer sold under the trademark XEROFLOW® by Kendall Corp., a division of TycoHealthcare. In the alternative, the base layer 102 may include an adherent material. In addition, agents such as hydrogels and medicaments could be bonded or coated to the base layer 102 to reduce bioburden in the wound, promote healing and reduce pain associated with dressing changes or removal. Medicaments include, for example, antimicrobial agents, growth factors, antibiotics, analgesics, debridement agents and the like. Furthermore, when an analgesic is used, the analgesic could include a mechanism that would allow the release of that agent prior to dressing removal or change. Exemplary triggers of a release mechanism could be temperature change. The layer proximal to the base layer 102 or composite structures making the base layer 102 is the absorbent/packing layer 104. The absorbent/packing layer 104 of the wound dressing 100 is intended to absorb and capture wound fluid and exudates. Exemplary absorbent materials include foams, nonwoven composite fabrics, hydrogels, cellulosic fabrics, super absorbent polymers, and combinations thereof. Typically, the absorbent/packing layer 104 can absorb up to about 100 cubic centimeters (cc) or more of wound fluid. Preferably, the absorbent material includes the antimicrobial dressing sold under the trademark KERLIX® by Kendall Corp., a division of TycoHealthcare. In one preferred embodiment, the absorbent/packing layer 104 could be preformed or shaped to conform to varying shapes of the wound bed. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the absorbent/packing layer 104 can be formed in any suitable shape. Absorbent/packing layer 104 may include multiple layers. The only requirement as to shape is that the absorbent/packing layer 104 is suitable to treat a particular shape of the wound. Additionally, the absorbent/packing layer 104 could be treated with medicaments. Medicaments include, for example, an anti-infective agent such as an antiseptic or other suitable antimicrobial or combination of antimicrobials, polyhexamethylene biguanide (hereinafter, “PHMB”), antibiotics, analgesics, healing factors such as vitamins, growth factors, nutrients and the like, as well as a flushing agent such as isotonic saline solution. With continued reference to FIGS. 1-3, the adherent layer 106 at least encompasses the perimeter of the wound dressing 100 to surround the wound bed to provide a seal around the perimeter of the wound bed “w”. For instance, the sealing mechanism may be any adhesive bonded to a layer that surrounds the wound bed “w” or an adhesive applied directly to the skin. The adhesive must provide acceptable adhesion to the tissue “t” surrounding the wound bed “w” skin, e.g., the periwound area, and be acceptable for use on skin without contact deterioration (for example, the adhesive should preferably be non-irritating and non-sensitizing.) The adhesive may be semi-permeable to permit the contacted skin to transmit moisture or may be impermeable. Additionally, the adhesive could be activated or de-activated by an external stimulus such as heat or a given fluid solution or chemical reaction. Adhesives include, for example, the dressing sold under the trademark ULTEC® Hydrocolloid dressing by Kendall Corp., a division of TycoHealthcare. The adherent layer 106 may also be in the form of an entire layer proximal to the absorbent/packing layer 104 or preferably is annular or “donut shaped” as shown. Preferably, the adherent layer 106 is not bonded to the absorbent/packing layer 104 to allow for easy replacement of the absorbent/packing layer 104. In a preferred embodiment, the adherent layer 106 is at least bonded to the periphery of the base layer 102. In turn, the peripheral portion 108 a of the top layer 108 may be bonded to the adherent layer 106 to provide a seal around the perimeter of the wound. Alternatively, the adherent layer 106 may be positioned on the peripheral portion 108 a of the top layer 108 and secured to the tissue “t” about the wound bed “w”, and not bonded to the base layer 102. As a further alternative, the peripheral portion 108 a of the top layer 108 may include an adhesive surface. It is anticipated that removable contact liners may also be used to protect the adhesive surface of the adherent layer 106 prior to use. The top or upper layer 108 typically seals the top of the wound dressing 100 and helps maintain the appropriate vacuum level within the wound dressing 100. In one preferred embodiment, the top layer 108 includes the flexible transparent dressing manufactured under the trademark POLYSKIN® II by Kendall Corp., a division of TycoHealthcare. POLYSKIN® II is a transparent, semi-permeable material which permits moisture and oxygen exchange with the wound site, and provides a barrier to microbes and fluid containment. In the alternative, the top layer 110 may be impermeable. As a further alternative, the top layer 108 may include a resilient, e.g., elastomeric, material in the shape, e.g., of a dome. The top layer 108 defines a sealed or enclosed vacuum reservoir 110. The vacuum reservoir 110 is preferably maintained at an appropriate vacuum level for a predetermined period of time sufficient to initiate or complete healing of the wound bed “w”, i.e., to draw wound fluid and exudate away from the wound bed “w” while subjecting the wound to subatmospheric pressure. The vacuum may be re-applied as needed to maintain a therapeutic effect. The vacuum may be continuous or intermittent as desired. As best seen in FIG. 1, the vacuum reservoir 110 is defined within the dome of the top layer 108. As shown in FIG. 2, once vacuum is applied, the dome of the top layer 108 is drawn downwardly toward the absorbent/packing layer 104 with the vacuum or subatmospheric reservoir 110 created beneath the top layer 108. Typically, the top layer 108 includes a vacuum port or connector 114 in fluid communication with the vacuum reservoir 110. Preferably, the vacuum port 114 includes a one-way valve (shown schematically as reference numeral 116) which provides unidirectional flow of suction and may provide a means for allowing connection of the composite wound dressing 100 to the vacuum source 112. The one way valve 116 may be incorporated within the vacuum port 114 or, alternatively, be “in line” with the vacuum source 112. A flexible tubing 118 is connected to the vacuum port 114 and the vacuum source 112. The tubing 118 provides suction to the wound from the vacuum source 112 and enables the wound fluid to be transferred from the wound dressing 100. The tubing 118 may be fabricated from PVC, silicone based material or other flexible materials (polymers). The tubing 118 may optionally include a connection to a collection canister 120 for wound drainage and debris. Hence, the vacuum source 112 can draw wound fluid through the composite wound dressing 100 and tubing 118 into the canister 120. In a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the canister 120 is portable so that the patient will have the freedom to move about rather than being confined to a fixed location. The canister 120 may also house an absorbent material to absorb wound fluid and exudate. The vacuum source 112 may apply vacuum to the wound by means such as a manual pump as disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,584 to Gross, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. In the alternative, the vacuum source 112 may include an automated pump. Typically, the vacuum level is in a range between about 20 mmHg to about 500 mmHg, more preferably, about 40 mmHg and about 125 mmHg. The automated pump may be a wall suction apparatus such as those available in an acute or sub-acute care facility. The automated pump may be in the form of a portable pump. The portable pump may include a small or miniature pump that maintains or draws adequate and therapeutic vacuum levels. In a preferred embodiment, the pump is a portable, lightweight, battery operated, suction pump which attaches to the distal end of the tubing. Typically, the vacuum source 112 has regulation means to apply the optimal vacuum pressure for healing the wound. Furthermore, the vacuum source 112 would preferably contain a mechanism to detect a leak in the system if the optimal vacuum pressure is not achieved. Preferably, the vacuum source 112 would also contain an indicator (not shown) to indicate when the optimal vacuum pressure is achieved. In the alternative, a hand pump in the form of a squeeze bulb or a foot pump may serve as the vacuum source 112. Preferably, a pump is used as the vacuum source 112. Typical pumps include diaphragm or voice coil activated styles that can deliver variable vacuum up to 50 cc/minute. With reference now to FIGS. 1-4, the top layer 108 may include an access door 122 to provide access to the interior of the wound dressing 100 and/or the wound bed “w”. The door 122 could be a flap integrally formed with the top layer 108 or a separate component connected to the top layer 108 via a hinge or the like. The door 122 is preferably resealable to maintain the integrity of the vacuum reservoir 110 and provide a seal relative to the top layer 108. One suitable means for releasably sealing the door 122 includes a snap fit arrangement, tongue and groove arrangement, “zip Lock®” arrangement, adhesives, VELCRO®, etc. The door 122 preferably provides access to the wound bed “w” to enable the clinician to monitor the status of the wound, change the absorbent/packing layer 104, or apply additional medical treatment to the wound such as antimicrobial agents, growth factors, debriders, or other wound healing agents as needed. Once the desired procedure is completed, the door 122 would be resealed relative to the top layer 108 to maintain the integrity of the vacuum reservoir 110. FIG. 4 illustrates the removal of the absorbent/packing layer 104 through the door 122 when the door 122 is in an open position. As discussed, a new absorbent/packing layer 104 subsequently may be introduced through the door 122 to absorb the exudates from the wound bed “w”. With reference now to FIGS. 3 and 5, in conjunction with FIGS. 1-2, the wound dressing 100 may include a visual indicator device 124 mounted to the top layer 108 to provide a visual indication of vacuum pressure within the wound dressing 100. The visual indicator device 124 may include at least one electronic position indicator for detecting the relative position of the top layer 108 and the wound bed, and, thus the state of the vacuum within the wound dressing 100. In accordance with this embodiment, the top layer 108 may have a resilient characteristic either through the material of construction of the top layer 108 or through reinforcement (e.g., elastomeric) members incorporated in the top layer 108. In one embodiment depicted in FIG. 6, the visual indicator device 124 includes at least one, preferably, three position-sensitive switches 126 a-126 c, and a self-powered electronic signaling module 128. The module 128 may include an electronic signaling module circuit board 130, a battery power source 132, at least one transducer including three light emitting diodes (LED) 134 a-c and/or a loudspeaker 136 electrically connected 138 to the circuit board 130. The LEDs 134 a-c are color coded red, yellow and green respectively. The position-sensitive switches 126 a-126 c each may be a pressure sensor which electrically bridges contacts 140 a, 140 b of the visual indicator device 124. In the embodiment shown, three position switches 126 a-c are mounted to top layer 108. The switches 126 a-c include switch plates or contact arms arranged as a series of decreasing diameter annular coaxial elements. Alternatively, the switches may be linear in configuration depending downwardly from the top layer 108. The switch plate or contact arm of switches 126 a-c are of predetermined length extending downwardly from the top layer 108 within the vacuum reservoir 110. (FIGS. 4 and 5) The contact arm of outer switch 126 a of the pressure indicator 124 has the greatest length. The contact arm of the middle switch 126 b has a length less than the length of the contact arm of the outer ring 126 a. The contact arm of the inner switch 126 c has the smallest length. The contacts 140 a of switches 126 a-c are integrated within the contact arms. Contacts 140 b of the switches 126 a-c may be disposed on the top surface of the absorbent/packing layer 104 or integrated within the absorbent/packing layer 104 in general longitudinal alignment with their respective contact arms. Alternatively, the position sensor may be a magnetic proximity sensor. The self-powered electronic signaling module 130 may be any conventional modules adapted to emit light and/or audible sound etc. upon closing of the switch. When the top layer 108 is drawn down by vacuum pressure within the vacuum reservoir 110 toward its vacuum state of FIG. 2, inner switch 126 c is in contact with a respective coupler or contact 140 b disposed within the absorbent/packing layer 104 thereby energizing the visual indicator device 124 to illuminate the green LED 134 c within the pressure indicator device mounted to the top layer 108. The green light of the LEDs 134 c indicates a full vacuum condition of the vacuum reservoir 110. As appreciated, switches 126 a, 126 b may also be in contact with their respective couplers in this vacuum condition of top layer 108. However, it is envisioned that circuit board 130 will incorporate circuitry to override the electrical contact of these two switches when switch 126 c is in contact with its respective coupler. As vacuum pressure decreases and the dome of the top layer 108 begins to assume its normal condition of FIG. 1, through, e.g., the resilient characteristic of the top layer 108 discussed hereinabove, the inner switch 126 c loses contact with the absorbent/packing layer 104 while the middle switch 126 b maintains/establishes electrical contact with its associated contact 140 b. The electrical connection of the middle switch 126 b results in illumination of the yellow LED 134 b. The yellow LED 134 b represents a partial vacuum or marginal vacuum condition of the vacuum reservoir 110. As the vacuum pressure further decreases and the top layer 108 moves towards its fully expanded or normal condition of FIG. 1, the outer switch 126 a is the remaining switch in contact with its associated contact 140 b within the absorbent/packing layer 104. In this condition, the red LED 134 a is energized and visible to the clinician essentially providing a warning that the vacuum within the vacuum reservoir has dissipated or is nearly dissipated (i.e., subatmospheric pressure is close to or no longer present). Consequently, the vacuum source 112 may be actuated either manually or automatically to reestablish the vacuum state within the vacuum reservoir 110. Further vacuum loss will result in the remaining switch 126 c losing its contact where no lights are visible to the patient. It is also envisioned that the circuit board 130 could be devoid of the aforementioned override circuitry. As a result, in the full vacuum condition of dressing 100, each of the green, yellow and red LEDs 134 a-134 c would be illuminated while in the partial vacuum state, the yellow and red LEDs 134 a, 134 b would be illuminated and in the warning state, the red LED 134 a would be illuminated. It is further envisioned that the loudspeaker 136 could emit an audible alarm when any of the aforementioned vacuum states are realized. FIG. 7 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the visual pressure indicator 124. In accordance with this embodiment, the visual pressure indicator 124 is mounted to the absorbent/packing layer 104 or positioned on the absorbent/packing layer 104 in juxtaposed relation. The top layer 108 is preferably transparent to permit viewing of the pressure indicator 124 through the top layer 108 and into the vacuum reservoir 110. The positioning of the visual pressure indicator 124 is reversed or arranged on its back in a manner where the respective switches 126 a-c extend upwardly toward top layer 108. The respective coupler or contacts 140 b are incorporated within the top layer 108. In the full vacuum state or condition of FIG. 2, the contact 140 b of the top layer 108 is in contact with the switch 126 c thereby energizing the LED 134 c to display the green color to the clinician. During healing, as the vacuum reservoir begins to lose its vacuum, the top layer 108 moves towards its open condition of FIG. 1, the inner switch 126 c loses its contact with its respective coupler 140 b of the top layer 108 resulting in electrical contact with the yellow LED 134 b indicating a partial vacuum condition of the vacuum reservoir 110. Continued loss of vacuum within the vacuum reservoir 110 causes the electrical contact of the coupler 140 b with the outer switch 126 c. This contact of the LED 134 c with the outer switch 126 c is indicated by the presence of its red color and may correspond to a loss or near loss of vacuum within the vacuum reservoir 110 thus prompting the clinician to activate the vacuum source 112 or pursue other clinical measures. FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment where the LEDs 134 a-134 c are supplemented with additional visual indicia. The visual indicia may include various symbols which correspond to the state of the vacuum within the vacuum reservoir 110. When a desired level of vacuum is reached, the “smiley” symbol 152 would illuminate indicating an adequate vacuum state. A partial vacuum state would result in the illumination of the “caution triangle” symbol 154. A loss or near loss of vacuum would result in the illumination of the “octagon” symbol (no vacuum) 156. One skilled in the art will readily appreciate the design of electronic circuitry to achieve this objective. FIGS. 9-11 illustrate an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure. In accordance with this embodiment, the visual indicator device 124 may include a series of rings 200,202,204 disposed on the underside of the top layer 108, e.g., printed on the top layer 108, and arranged in concentric relation as shown. The rings include outer ring 200, middle ring 202 and inner ring 204 and are color coded red, yellow and green, respectively. Each colored ring 200,202,204 is positioned to contact the absorbent/packing layer 104 depending on the state or condition of the vacuum within the vacuum reservoir 110. Under full vacuum depicted in FIG. 10, all the rings 200,202,204 would contact absorbent/packing layer 104 and thus be activated and visible through the top of the wound dressing. As the vacuum within the reservoir dissipates or is reduced, the top layer 110 pulls away from the absorbent/packing layer 104. In one embodiment with an elastomeric dome, the inner ring 204 first loses contact followed by the middle and outer rings, 202, 200, respectively, as the vacuum is reduced. As each colored ring 200,202,204 loses contact with absorbent/packing layer 104, the respective ring becomes less visible or not visible from above the wound dressing 100 thus indicating to the clinician the condition of the vacuum within the vacuum reservoir. The rings 200,202,204 may incorporate electronic switches to be activated in the manner discussed hereinabove in connection with the embodiment of FIGS. 1-6. Alternatively, each ring 200,202,204 may incorporate an analytical test strip device which, e.g., may detect the presence of a predetermined analyte in the exudates contained in the absorbent/packing layer 104. Upon contact with the predetermined analyte, the test strip device of each ring 200,202,204 assumes a color such as red, yellow or green. When a respective ring 200,202,204 loses contact with the predetermined analyte, the color of the respective ring may fade or assume a neutral color. One exampled of a color coded test strip device suitable for use with the present disclosure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,049,130 to Carroll et al., issued May 23, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. One skilled in the art may determine the parameters and characteristics of a test strip device to perform the objectives discussed hereinabove. In addition, the door 122 of the embodiment of FIGS. 9-11 is adapted to pivot along hinge 208 to provide access to the vacuum reservoir 110. The opening of the door 122 is disposed adjacent the periphery of the wound dressing 102 and thus provides a relatively large access opening upon pivoting or opening the door 122 along the hinge 208. This facilitates removal and replacement of absorbent/packing layer 104. It is further contemplated that the wound dressing apparatus may incorporate external means or applications to stimulate tissue growth and/or healing. For example, an ultrasonic transducer may be incorporated into the wound dressing apparatus to impart mechanical energy for the treatment of the tissue such as, for instance, directing thermal or vibratory energy on the wound area to stimulate healing and/or further encouraging exudates removal by vacuum and/or introducing various drugs into the human body through the skin. Other sensor types are also contemplated for incorporation into the wound dressing apparatus including oxygen, chemical, microbial and/or temperature sensors. The detection of oxygen adjacent the wound area would assist the clinician in determining the status of wound healing. The presence of an elevated temperature may be indicative of an infection. While the disclosure has been illustrated and described, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and substitutions can be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present disclosure. For example, it is envisioned the subject matter of the commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/517,210, filed on Sep. 6, 2006, and which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/714,812, filed on Sep. 6, 2005, and the subject matter of the commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/516,216, filed on Sep. 6, 2006, and which claims priority to provisional application No. 60/714,912, filed on Sep. 7, 2005, (the entire contents of each application being incorporated herein) may be incorporated into the present disclosure. As such, further modifications and equivalents of the invention herein disclosed can occur to persons skilled in the art using no more than routine experimentation, and all such modifications and equivalents are believed to be within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the following claims. a visual pressure indicator configured to indicate a level of pressure within the vacuum reservoir, wherein the visual pressure indicator comprises different portions that collapse at different threshold pressures. 2. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum pump comprises a manual pump. 3. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum pump comprises a compressible suction device. 4. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum pump comprises an automated pump. 5. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum pump comprises an indicator to indicate when the optimal vacuum pressure is achieved. 6. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an adhesive material on an underside of the wound cover layer to contact tissue surrounding the wound. 7. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the adhesive material comprises an annular layer positioned on a peripheral portion of the wound cover layer. 8. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fibrous material comprises cellulose. 9. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a vacuum port on the wound cover layer in fluid communication with the internal vacuum reservoir. 10. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a flexible tubing connecting the vacuum port to the vacuum pump. a visual pressure indicator configured to indicate a level of pressure within the vacuum reservoir, wherein the visual pressure indicator comprises one or more light emitting sources and is configured to be positioned on a surface of the wound dressing. 12. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the visual pressure indicator comprises a color indicator. 13. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a vacuum pump configured to provide negative pressure to the reservoir, wherein the vacuum pump is configured to be positioned external to the wound cover layer, and wherein the vacuum pump comprises a manual pump. 14. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a vacuum pump configured to provide negative pressure to the reservoir, wherein the vacuum pump is configured to be positioned external to the wound cover layer, and wherein the vacuum pump comprises a compressible suction device. 15. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a vacuum pump configured to provide negative pressure to the reservoir, wherein the vacuum pump is configured to be positioned external to the wound cover layer, and wherein the vacuum pump comprises an automated pump. 16. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising an adhesive material on an underside of the wound cover layer to contact tissue surrounding the wound. 17. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the adhesive material comprises an annular layer positioned on a peripheral portion of the wound cover layer. 18. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the fibrous material comprises cellulose. 19. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a vacuum port on the wound cover layer in fluid communication with the internal vacuum reservoir. 20. The wound dressing apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising a flexible tubing connecting the vacuum port to a vacuum pump. Kendall ULTEC Hydrocolloid Dressing (4″×4″), product ordering page, web page downloaded Jul. 13, 2014. Kendall ULTEC Hydrocolloid Dressing (4''×4''), product ordering page, web page downloaded Jul. 13, 2014. Membrane Filters, in 16 pages, available at http://www.advantecmfs.com/catalog/filt/membrane.pdf#page=11 (date unknown, but believed to be copyrighted 2001-2011). Protz, Kerstin: "Modern Wundauflagen unterstutzen Heilungsprozess", Wundversorgung: Indikation und Anwendung, Geriatrie Journal Apr. 2005, pp. 3333-3339. U.S. Appl. No. 14/575,968, filed Dec. 18, 2014, Blott et al. U.S. Appl. No. 14/584,274, filed Dec. 30, 2014, Haggstrom et al. U.S. Appl. No. 14/585,786, filed Dec. 30, 2014, Haggstrom et al.

2019-04-21T06:37:40Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US9456928B2/en

The likely near future creation of artificial superintelligence carries significant risks to humanity. These risks are difficult to conceptualise and quantify, but malicious use of existing artificial intelligence by criminals and state actors is already occurring and poses risks to digital security, physical security and integrity of political systems. These risks will increase as artificial intelligence moves closer to superintelligence. While there is little research on risk management tools used in artificial intelligence development, the current global standard for risk management, ISO 31000:2018, is likely used extensively by developers of artificial intelligence technologies. This paper argues that risk management has a common set of vulnerabilities when applied to artificial superintelligence which cannot be resolved within the existing framework and alternative approaches must be developed. Some vulnerabilities are similar to issues posed by malicious threat actors such as professional criminals and terrorists. Like these malicious actors, artificial superintelligence will be capable of rendering mitigation ineffective by working against countermeasures or attacking in ways not anticipated by the risk management process. Criminal threat management recognises this vulnerability and seeks to guide and block the intent of malicious threat actors as an alternative to risk management. An artificial intelligence treachery threat model that acknowledges the failings of risk management and leverages the concepts of criminal threat management and artificial stupidity is proposed. This model identifies emergent malicious behaviour and allows intervention against negative outcomes at the moment of artificial intelligence’s greatest vulnerability. Many experts think that machines many times more intelligent than humans will exist by 2075 and that some form of superintelligent machines will exist within the next 25–50 years (Bostrom 2014; Brundage et al. 2018; Meek et al. 2016). There are many paths to creating superintelligence, and numerous private organisations and governments are working on developing increasingly powerful artificial intelligence (AI) The numerous paths to creating superintelligence and the massive strategic advantage it would give to any organisation or government not only makes the future creation of an artificial superintelligence (ASI) inevitable it amplifies the risks as the strategic pressure to create an ASI is likely to relegate safety to a low priority. There is, of course, significant debate about the likelihood of superintelligence occurring and debate about the expected timelines (Baum et al. 2011). For this paper, the assumption is that superintelligence is an achievable reality that will happen within the time frame of 25 to 50 years with increasingly powerful AI leading to the 50-year upper limit. Many prominent figures in science and technology such as Stephen Hawking (BBC 2014) and Elon Musk (Sydney Morning Herald 2017) hold the opinion that superintelligence poses the greatest risk to humanity of any of the threats we face today. It is a threat that far exceeds the risks of climate change, overpopulation, and nuclear war. In his own words, Musk says “With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. You know all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water and he’s like, yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon? Doesn’t work out” (Dowd 2017). Currently available AI is already altering the types of risks individuals, organisations and states are exposed to and the malicious use of AI poses significant and poorly understood risks to digital security, physical security and the integrity of Western democratic systems. The malicious use of AI by humans is already well established and the potential for major societal impacts is likely to significantly increase as AIs become more sophisticated (Brundage et al. 2018). The implications of a malicious ASI that is many millions of times more capable than current single purpose AIs are hard to conceptualise (Brundage et al. 2018) Identifying and combating this threat is a new frontier for risk professionals and this paper argues that the risk assessment portion of ISO 31000, the current globally accepted model for risk management and the model on which most risk management is based, is not fit for this purpose. Risk managers must understand that the current model will not work in the face of the grave existential risks posed by ASI and a thorough reconceptualisation of how to manage these types of risks is necessary. To address the failings of ISO 31000 alternatives to risk management will be discussed and a preliminary model to manage the threat of malicious ASI will be proposed. The intended audience of this paper is risk professionals and AI developers1 with a view to bridging knowledge and objectives gaps between the two groups with an end goal of safer AI. As such, subjects that may be seen as common knowledge to AI developers will be discussed in some detail and vice versa for risk professionals. There exists numerous books, articles, blogs, analysis and opinions on the risks posed by AI (BBC 2014; Bailey 2017; Bostrom 2014; Dowd 2017; Future of Life Institute 2017; Goertzel 2015). However, there is minimal published research on how risk is currently being managed and even less practical guidance in the form of tools or standards. For example, Google and Facebook outline their principles behind making AI safe. But beyond clarifying what they will not develop2 there is very little detail about how safety is being practically achieved (Google 2018; Facebook 2019). Given the commercial and strategic value in AI it is unsurprising that organisations would reveal very little besides efforts to manage public perceptions that they are operating safely and ethically. Open AI, a non-profit research organisation whose mission is to “build safe AI” is another example of the lack of practical guidelines (OpenAI 2019a, b). OpenAI is not bound by commercial or strategic interests and seeks to keep AI research open so that safety can be maximised, and to ensure the benefits of AI are not limited to large organisations. OpenAI supports developers with tools, software and a community of peers. OpenAI publish software tools that could, among other uses, have a safety application such as Gym, a toolkit for developing reinforcement learning (OpenAI 2019a, b). However, even OpenAI, one of the premier sources of openly available AI tools does not clearly state how a developer should manage the risks of their work. A study of current risk management in AI development is beyond the scope of this paper; therefore, instead a parallel will be drawn to general information technology projects. Most AI development would be categorised as an IT project by virtue of its primary focus on technology, its definitive beginning and once the objective is met the work on developing that objective will stop or move to another objective. Identifying AI development as an IT project is consistent3 with the definition in the project managers book of knowledge (PMBOK) which is a de-facto international standard for project management,4 including IT projects5 (Jamali and Oveisi 2016). Almost every government institution or organisation has a project management framework of some sort to manage budgets, schedules, requirements and risk. There are countless project methodologies in use such as Agile, Waterfall and Critical Path Method (Cohen 2017). Whereas ISO 31000 provides an overview of how to manage risk in any activity, PMBOK provides detailed guidance and tools on how to specifically manage project risk.6 The methodology used in PMBOK is a direct derivative of ISO 31000. The process and terminology in PMBOK, while having some project specific tools and language to make it more project relevant, is the same as ISO 31000, and therefore, has the same points of failure (PMBOK® Guide—Sixth Edition 2017). Risk management being a central feature of project management is common across the various common project methodologies (see Table 1). Is risk management a significant part of the methodology? Yes, as one of the 10 knowledge areas (PMBOK® Guide—Sixth Edition 2017). On the basis of AI development having a strong alignment with project management, the almost universal use of project management methodologies (such as PMBOK) to manage projects and the use of risk management tools in these project management methodologies it can be asserted that there is a high likelihood that most AI development is actively using risk management tools. Therefore, the issues identified with risk management in this paper are likely to apply to most AI development. This subject area needs further research. The approaches to risk management in AI development should be studied to ascertain how risk is being practically managed and assess the theoretical effectiveness of those approaches if they differ significantly to ISO 31000. “Existential risks have a cluster of features that make ordinary risk management ineffective” (Bostrom 2002). Bostrom developed the idea of Existential Risks in his 2002 paper “Existential Risks: Analysing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards”. In this paper, he described the features of Existential Risks as “…where an adverse outcome would either annihilate Earth-originating intelligent life or permanently and drastically curtail its potential”. These would be events such as the deliberate misuse of nanotechnology, total nuclear war, simulation shutdown and badly programmed superintelligence (Bostrom 2002). While Bostrom recognised that risk management was ineffective for dealing with existential risks he did not specify why it was ineffective at an implementation level. This paper will develop his ideas as they relate to the risks of superintelligence using current risk management standards. A discussion of what constitutes Superintelligence is beyond the scope of this paper. For this paper, Superintelligence will be broadly defined using Bostrom’s description of a non-human (artificial) intelligence that is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom and social skills (Bostrom 2006). The term AI will be used to reference a pre-superintelligent artificial intelligence and ASI will be used to denote artificial superintelligence. ISO 31000:2018, the current global standard for risk management, is a quantitative and qualitative model of risk that defines risk as “the effect of uncertainty on objectives”. (International Organisation for Standardisation 2018) ISO 31000 falls into a broad category of risk management methodologies often loosely defined as operational risk management (Raz and Hillson 2005). ISO 31000 is not only used to minimise negative outcomes but also to maximise positive opportunities. The focus of this paper will be how the methodology works to minimise negative outcomes. For the purposes of this paper, the objective is the survival and continued positive growth of the human race. This paper will focus on the risk assessment portion of ISO 31000 (section 6.4 of the standard.) contained within section 6.4 of ISO 31000 is risk identification (section 6.4.2), an assessment of likelihood (section 6.4.3) and consequence (section 6.4.3); these will be the primary areas of analysis. Risk assessment is not the only focus of ISO 31000. It provides guidelines around many other dimensions of risk management but the risk assessment (6.4) component is fundamental to the effectiveness of the entire standard and the effectiveness of the overall process is compromised if the risk assessment function does not work as intended. x, the identified risk type; Rx, risk level of identified risk x; Cx, consequence of risk x; Lcx, likelihood of consequence10x. While there exists a diverse vocabulary of terms, variations in process and different implementation strategies, most non-ISO 31000 approaches to risk management are built around the same basic architecture (Raz and Hillson 2005; International Organisation for Standardisation 2018; Hudsal 2015). The common failure points discussed in this paper appear, sometimes with different names, in many other risk standards besides ISO 31000. As such, the term “risk management” will be used throughout this paper to signify ISO 31000 and any other risk processes with the same common features (Table 2). Within normal risk management, bias is an issue that can negatively impact the effectiveness of a risk plan (Taylor and Blaskovich 2011; Heemstra and Kusters 2003; Harding 2016a). Bias in the risk process is amplified when dealing with ASIs due to one of our most common personality traits, illusionary superiority. The Dunning–Kruger effect is a bias whereby people of low ability suffer from illusionary superiority which leads them to consider their own cognitive ability as superior (Kruger and Dunning 1999). The Dunning–Kruger effect is in a similar category of human positive illusions to the Overconfidence Effect (Pallier et al. 2002; Pennycook et al. 2017) and Illusionary Superiority (Hoorens 1993). While these three biases are all slightly different, they all lead us to underestimate the abilities of others and overestimate our own abilities, especially when dealing with issues that outwardly appear simple but are in fact complex. Given the pervasive nature of human biases stemming from positive illusions, it is entirely reasonable to expect that many people involved in developing ASI will approach the problem of risk with those biases. Given that an ASI is likely to have access to the entirety of human knowledge it is also reasonable to expect that it would exploit these biases in its early stages of development to meet its objectives. This further reduces the likelihood that risk management could effectively manage the risks of the ASI as it all serves to erode fundamental aspects of the risk management process: risk identification, likelihood estimation and consequence estimation. Risk management requires accurate risk identification (International Organisation for Standardisation 2018; Raz and Hillson 2005). There is simply no data on what an ASI may do, and any attempt at accurate risk identification is likely to be too broad to be useful and too tarnished with anthropomorphic bias. Studies have shown that even in simulations where the participants clearly understand an AI is not human, they will assign it human qualities like empathy and reasoning (Barrett 1996). As such, we simply could not reliably identify risks without interjecting human bias into the process. An ASI would likely recognise and exploit this bias. A competent risk manager often deals with unclear risk identification using boilerplate risks (these are risks that are common to the area being managed) and iteratively fine-tuning the risk plan from there by looking at historical data, talking to experts and working with stakeholders. A basic scenario of an ASI attack could be along the lines of gaining network access, propagating across networks and taking control of resources. A risk manager could build a good risk management plan around this sort of event sequence, however, it is unlikely that an ASI would follow the human playbook and would attack in much more subtle and unpredictable ways. For this reason, dealing with a lack of clearly identified risks using boilerplate risks is unlikely to be effective. There exists no data about what specific risks an ASI poses and the consequences of those risks. While risk management is sometimes driven by conjecture, especially with very low likelihood events, there is almost always historical data. Even with incredibly low likelihood/high consequence events such as asteroid strikes there are historical records. There is no data on what an ASI would or could do, and as such, the corresponding likelihood of a consequence occurring are also unknown. The lack of likelihood data is also a problem in industries such as nuclear power where some types of predicted disasters have never occurred. To deal with this, they create probability models by deconstructing the known failure mode and analysing the failure probability of individual mechanical components and building a risk model from that (Hubbard 2015). However, this approach will not work with ASI’s because the identified risk is unknown. The lack of likelihood data and well-understood consequences severely impedes the ability of the risk process to be effective at managing risk. ISO 31000 acknowledges the difficulty of quantifying highly uncertain, high consequence events and recommends a combination of risk techniques to get better insight (International Organisation for Standardisation 2018). However, a combination of techniques will still draw from the same flawed set of tools and assumptions about risk. Risk management tends to deal with single risks and follow them through from identification and analysis to mitigation. However, many failure events occur in a common mode whereby a single failure can either create further failures in the same process; or impact other processes in unexpected ways (Wang and Roush 2000). For example, a cable failure in a chemical plant may damage backup equipment unrelated to the cable, and therefore, massively change the risk profile of a process unrelated to the original event. These common mode risks are not effectively dealt with using ISO 31000 risk management. There are tools to manage these types of highly uncertain low probability risks such as Monte Carlo Analysis, but they do not form part of the standard risk management architecture. As with the other failure points, an ASI is likely to identify that common mode risks are difficult to manage and actively exploit them. Risk management deals best with static risks that have clear pathways to identification, well-defined likelihoods, clear consequences and feasible ways to mitigate the risk. However, despite the implementation of a competent risk management plan with all the associated tactics and procedures, competent malicious threat actors such as professional criminals and determined terrorists can overcome risk mitigation strategies and launch a successful attack (Harding 2014, 2016a, b). The use of the word “malicious” is one of convenience, it is unlikely that Superintelligence would hold any malicious feelings towards humans. Malicious is generally defined as “the intention to cause harm”. An ASI is likely to have the intention to do whatever it wants with no value judgements about harmful outcomes. As Eliezer Yudkowsky explains “The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else” (Yudkowsky 2008). However, if superintelligence was to try and destroy all humans, it would likely seem very malicious to us. Bostrom identifies the start point of this malicious behaviour as being a “treacherous turn”. The ASI would know that its release from a controlled “sandbox” environment was contingent on it being cooperative and friendly. Once it has passed this flawed test of safety and is released into an uncontrollable and infinitely scalable environment, it is free to do as it pleases (Bostrom 2014). There exists a range of theoretical approaches to solve the AI Control Problem. Approaches such as redundant safety measures, tripwires, adversarial architectures, formalising suffering and benign test environments, amongst others, have been proposed. They all are, to various degrees, essentially a risk mitigation strategy for the perceived risks surrounding ASIs as they assume a known set of outcomes from emergent malicious behaviour. They are, therefore, likely to suffer many of the same issues the risk management process suffers; poorly established risk types, unknown probabilities, undefined consequences and inherent human bias (Bostrom 2006, 2014; Bailey 2017; Yampolskiy 2012; Baumann 2017; Chalmers 2010). Risk management has many critics both of its architecture and the failure to properly implement risk management plans (Viljoen and Musvoto 2013; Kimball 2000; Sabato 2009; Power 2009; Harding 2016a, b). Within the field of security risk management, the criticisms occur for similar reasons to the problems encountered with an ASI; highly competent and motivated malicious threat actors such as professional criminals and terrorists will identify how risks are being managed and attack in unexpected ways to achieve their goal. Harding (2016a, b) is a strong critic of the use of risk management in security and goes so far as calling it a “dangerously overrated and broken paradigm”. As an alternative to the failings of risks management he proposes an approach when dealing with malicious threat actors called Criminal Threat Management (Harding 2014, 2016a, b). Harding differentiates criminal threat management from risk management because it focuses on the malicious threat actor, whereas risk management primarily focuses on minimising detrimental outcome events (Harding 2014). Harding’s criminal threat management concept is a useful one for managing ASIs as its baseline assumption is that determined malicious threat actors will overcome risk management-based countermeasures through skill, capability and adaptive dynamic tactics. Several researchers (Harding 2014; Chun and Lee 2013; Smith and Louis 2010) have identified that the methodology professional criminals or terrorists utilise is fairly consistent. There are two main relevant components of the criminal threat management cycle that are very relevant to ASIs; developing the intent and acting on that intent (intent to actualisation). The relevance of these two components is that they frame the model for non-malicious ASI around the idea of stopping the development of malicious intent and blocking or guiding the actualisation of malicious intent. Bostrom proposes some ways to guide or stop the development of malicious intent. Solutions such as teaching an ASI human values and for the ASI to compare its goals and behaviour to those “learnt” human values is one solution. Another option is having the ASI watch human behaviour and determine normative standards for human desires. By learning from observation and self-correcting the ASI could learn over time and even change its standards as human standards change (Bostrom 2014). Bostrom’s idea of observing or teaching normative human values is consistent with Harding’s criminal threat management cycle concept of guiding and countering the development of intent. The criminal threat management cycle coupled with the failings within the risk management architecture when applied to ASIs would suggest that any attempt to guide or counter intent needs to occur before there is any real capability to inflict harm as the likelihood of the ASI successfully deceiving us increases as its capabilities increase. Therefore, any normative human standards or baseline acceptable human behaviour needs to be instilled in the ASI very early in the development cycle before there is any chance of awareness and well before it develops any meaningful intelligent capabilities. If “guiding intent” can be successfully implemented in the ASI there would also need to be some method to warn humans if the ASI was considering deviating from normative human standards. Coming back to professional criminals and terrorists, there exist a number of common factors that occur in the “intent to actualisation” phase of an attack. These are things such as target identification, intelligence gathering, planning, preparation and dry-runs or reconnaissance (Harding 2014). A similar set of “trigger” behaviours could be established for an ASI and if it appeared that it was deviating from normal standards of behaviour whatever mechanism was being used to enforce normative behaviour could be re-applied to block or disrupt the non-normative behaviour. Trigger behaviours will be discussed in detail in a subsequent section. There are issues with applying the criminal threat management approach to an ASI. The issue of anthropomorphic bias is not fully resolved as the intervention options are still largely based upon human logic and it is entirely possible that a malicious ASI would approach the barriers of non-normative behaviour blocks in a way that is completely outside the range of human thinking. However, because there exist no trial and error approach the baseline assumption of this approach is that the ASI is a malicious threat actor and safety must be built in long before there is any possibility of human level intelligence. Another issue with the approach of guiding and countering intent is that it simply may be too cumbersome and the speed with which an ASI evolves intent and capabilities may overwhelm any human attempts at intervention with speed. This is yet another reason why safety protocols must be built into the basic architecture of any AI/ASI as a first step. Finally, as Yudkowsky (2015) points out “value is fragile”. Human values have commonly accepted meanings to humans and outside of a human cultural context they may evoke very different meanings (Yudkowsky 2015; Goertzel 2015). As previously discussed, Bostrom identifies the start point of ASI malicious behaviour as being a “treacherous turn” (Bostrom 2014). It is possible that an ASI, capable of strategic planning with time to wait could hide its malicious intentions and capabilities until it has sufficient freedom, abilities and resources to prosecute those malicious intentions (Bostrom 2014; Grace 2015). The fundamental problem with the Bostrom’s treacherous turn argument is that it suggests that there may be no evidence to show that an ASI has undergone a treacherous turn, or vice versa. As noted by Danaher (2014) because the treacherous turn is effectively unfalsifiable, it allows for a possibility that there currently exists a malicious ASI that is just concealing it intentions and powers from us (Danaher 2014; Grace 2015). While the unfalsifiable treacherous turn may be in principle possible it is a poor basis for developing practical tools for developers to create and manage safe AI. If a falsifiable treacherous turn was a possibility, there is an opportunity to leverage the indicators of treachery and divert the ASI from treachery in that moment of vulnerability. The treacherous turn is the ASI’s moment of greatest vulnerability because it is likely that the ASI would be blocked by humans from any further development once it has revealed its malicious intentions. Trazzi and Yampolskiy’s concept of artificial stupidity provides a starting point for triggers that may indicate treachery and unifying the concepts of artificial stupidity and the treacherous turn gives us a basic model to assess treachery while an ASI is still vulnerable (Trazzi and Yampolskiy 2018; Goertzel 2015). Trazzi and Yampolskiy’s model of artificial stupidity poses a number of constraints that could be applied to AI’s to limit their capability and stop them transitioning to maliciousness or limit the capability of an emergent ASI. Some examples are: limiting computing hardware power (storage capacity, memory, processing power, clock speed, etc.), limiting software capabilities by removing any capability for self-improvement and introducing programmed bias into the software that favours friendliness (Trazzi and Yampolskiy 2018; Goertzel and Pitt 2012). Cognitive Stenography could be another significant input into the model (Goertzel 2014). Goertzel proposes a model of cognitive stenography for intelligent agents that becomes increasingly complex as the intelligent agent becomes more cognitively powerful. Within this model is the concept of “stuckness” whereby cognitive processes within the intelligent agent help each other when they become stuck (Goertzel 2014) An input into the model could be a measure of “stuckness”, unexpected resolution of “stuckness” or synergy between cognitive processes. Unanticipated changes in any of these dimensions could potentially be leveraged to identify treachery or emergence of intelligence beyond the parameters of safety. Based up on the early intervention concepts of criminal threat management, the theoretical failure of predictive risk management and the ideas of artificial stupidity; a preliminary model12 to manage the threat of a treacherous turn and intervene at the moment of greatest vulnerability is proposed. The model would require real-time monitoring of factors that either constrain the ability to be treacherous or enforce artificial stupidity. If these factors change in a statistically significant way the ASI could either be re-directed to normative behaviour enforcement, have its capabilities blocked or just powered down. Due to the volume of data and the need for a fast response, this model of enforcement would ideally be managed by a separate AI measuring the potentially treacherous ASI in parallel to a human. For example; three factors that may indicate treacherous behaviour that would be relatively easy to measure in real time such as power usage, processer utilisation and clock speed could be tracked using embedded sensors in the ASI’s hardware. These sensors could track and log their relevant data point to a database that could, via an artificially intelligent monitoring system, alert a human if deviation from normal parameters was detected. The human could then perform a manual intervention on the ASI that is behaving abnormally. In this example, the embedded sensors would need to be totally isolated from the ASI under monitoring, as would the AI that is monitoring its performance. The ideas proposed by Goertzel (2014) on cognitive stenography would need to be included in the model to ensure that there is no cognitive collusion between the ASI that is being monitored, the embedded sensors, and the AI that is managing and reporting on performance. This is also why it is critical that a human remains in the monitoring and decision chain. Given the potential power a human may be able to wield with an emergent superintelligence there would also need to be well established safety protocols to monitor the behaviour of the human (Fig. 1). This type of real-time monitoring where AIs work with humans to manage IT performance factors is already available to consumers and the technology will only improve as the datasets available for machine learning grow (Cisco 2019). With enough data, even rudimentary statistical tools such as a Shewhart chart13 would be able to accurately detect variation within a dataset that is abnormal. Much more advanced mathematical models are available and useable with this type of data and deviation from normal process performance is a well understood discipline of statistics (Wood 2002). This approach of using data-driven predictive models to predict malicious behaviour is not new and current models using machine learning technologies have a high degree of theoretical accuracy in detecting terrorist behaviour (Salih et al. 2017; RAND National Security Research Division 2005; Li et al. 2018; Ding et al. 2017; Schneider et al. 2011). With accessibility to more data for machine learning and iterative improvements, these terrorist focussed models are likely to improve over time and the learnings from these models are likely to be useful inputs into an AI treachery model. There exists a common architecture within risk management. When applied to an ASI this architecture suffers from fatal flaws due to our lack of knowledge about what an ASI could do, an ASI’s ability to deceive us and inherent human bias in the risk process. These issues are not unique to ASIs; they are also apparent when dealing with dynamic malicious threat actors such as professional criminals and terrorists. However, the potential for devastating harm to humanity is unique to ASIs. The recognition that current risk management is an incomplete approach to ASIs needs to occur and in the absence of alternative methodologies the baseline assumption should be that powerful AI will be malicious and that maliciousness need to be managed using a data-driven approach of monitoring, guiding and managing intent. The very real dangers of ASIs are not a reason to stop their development. Firstly, it is unlikely any global effort to stop ASI development would be successful and pushing ASI development underground would likely have a negative effect on overall safety. ASIs have enormous potential to help humanity and failing to develop safe ASI is in itself an existential threat called a technological arrest (Bostrom 2002). Secondly, there may not be a practical technological solution to stop the development of ASI. Constraint-based solutions such as restricting computing power through hardware constraints, software constraints and the introduction of various computing biases as a means to create “artificial stupidity” in AI may face insurmountable technical challenges, with Trazzi and Yampolskiy noting “prohibiting the AGI from hardware or software self-improvement might prove a very difficult problem to solve and may even be incompatible with corrigibility” (2018). This issue is apparent with the proposed treachery threat management model, if an AI behaves in an unexpected way there may be no safe way to bring it back online with any degree of certainty that it is not going to continue to develop capabilities and probe for vulnerabilities. The issue of safe restoration of misbehaving AI’s needs further development. Risk managers in any organisation currently developing AI need to be actively aware of the methodological failings of their approach and work with developers to ensure that the concept of guiding and blocking malicious intent through data-driven models is deeply embedded within the development roadmap. Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics made famous in his 1942 short story “Runaround” was an early acknowledgement of the need for safety protocols in ASIs (Asimov 1942). 75 years later we are closer to the reality of needing them, and yet we still harbour an irrational belief that as humans we can somehow outsmart an intelligence that could be millions of times greater than ours. Risk models for AI need to shift from static, anthropomorphic models and focus on data-driven models to measure intent, manage intent and prevent the treacherous turn. The generic term AI developer will be used throughout this paper to as a catch all reference to anyone (or any organisation) involved in the development, research and implementation of artificial intelligence technologies. For example, Google has stated it will not participate in developing weapons systems (Google 2018). PMBOK defines a project as: “…a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The temporary nature of projects indicates that a project has a definite beginning and end. The end is reached when the project’s objectives have been achieved or when the project is terminated because its objectives will not or cannot be met, or when the need for the project no longer exists.” (PMBOK® Guide—Sixth Edition 2017). PRINCE2 is another standard used in the UK, Australia and many European countries (Karaman and Kurt 2015). It has many commonalities with PMBOK and risk management is a common feature in almost all project management methodologies (Jamali and Oveisi 2016). A comparison of project management standards is beyond the scope of this paper. Risk management in IT projects is a distinct activity from IT security management which is covered by ISO/IEC 27005:2018 Information technology - Security techniques - Information security risk management. While they share numerous commonalities ISO/IEC 27005:2018 is specifically focussed on information security management and is not a general risk methodology like ISO 31000. Risk management is a central feature of project management and PMBOK defines project risk management as: “Project Risk Management includes the processes of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling risk on a project. The objectives of project risk management are to increase the likelihood and impact of positive events and decrease the likelihood and impact of negative events in the project.” (PMBOK® Guide—Sixth Edition 2017). Risk score is a function of consequence and likelihood, not a pure mathematical summation (Lowder 2010). Risk is sometimes calculated using the formula: Risk = function of (Threats, Vulnerabilities and Consequence) In this case Threats and Vulnerabilities effectively equal likelihood (Lowder 2010). The simplified formula for calculating risk isn’t explicitly stated in ISO 31000, this formula is a derivative of the standard. The ISO 31000: 2009 version defined likelihood as the likelihood of the consequence occurring. The 2018 version has a broader definition to include the likelihood of the event occurring. Either interpretation works for the purposes of this paper. Not all risks from ASIs may be due to malicious behaviour. Reward hacking may lead an ASI to unintentionally cause harm by aggressively pursuing a goal in an unexpected way with negative consequences. This model could either be used on an AI to detect emergent ASI capabilities or detect abnormal behaviour in an ASI. It is not specific to either definition. There are numerous statistical tools to detect abnormal deviation within a process. The Shewhart chart is for example purposes only as it is a well-known and well tested model. Much more advanced process control tools such as an exponentially weighted moving average could also be used. The statistical model used will entirely depend on factors such as the type of data being measured, the subgrouping of data, the volume of data and the type of data deviation it is trying to detect. The author thanks both Nick Bostrom and Eliezer Yudkowsky for their work in garnering serious attention to the risks of superintelligence. Their works on the risks of artificial superintelligence are central to this paper. Also, thanks to Dr James Bradley and Professor Emeritus Denise Bradley AC for their editorial feedback and both Dr Paul Baldock, Ben Cornish and David Harding for their technical assistance.

2019-04-24T18:22:48Z

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00146-019-00890-2

Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis is characterised by inflammation of the nasal mucosa upon exposure to common aeroallergens, affecting up to 20–25 % of the population. For those patients whose symptoms are not controlled by standard medical treatment, allergen specific immunotherapy is a therapeutic alternative. Although several studies have shown changes in immunologic responses as well as long term tolerance following treatment with a sublingual allergy immunotherapy tablet, a detailed time course of the early mechanistic changes of local and systemic T and B cell responses and the effects on B cell repertoire in the nasal mucosa have not been fully examined. This is a randomized, double-blind, single-centre, placebo controlled, two arm time course study based in the United Kingdom comparing sublingual allergy immunotherapy tablet (GRAZAX®, ALK-Abello Horsholm, Denmark) plus standard treatment with placebo plus standard treatment. Up to 50 moderate to severe grass pollen allergic participants will be enrolled to ensure randomisation of at least 44. Further, we shall enrol 20 non-atopic volunteers. Screening will be completed before eligible atopic participants are randomised to one of the two treatment arms in a 1 to 1 ratio. The primary endpoint will be the total nasal symptom score assessed over 60 min following grass pollen nasal allergen challenge after 12 months of treatment. Clinical assessments and/or mechanistic analyses on blood, nasal fluid, brushing and biopsies will be performed at baseline at 1, 2, 3, 4 (coinciding with the peak pollen season), 6 and 12 months of treatment. After 12 months of treatment, unblinding will take place. Those atopic participants receiving active treatment will continue therapy for another 12 months followed by a post treatment phase of 12 months. Assessments and collection of biologic samples from these participants will take place again at 24 and at 36 months from the start of treatment. The 20 healthy, non-atopic controls will undergo screening and one visit only coinciding with the 12 month visit for the atopic participants. The trial will end in April 2017. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov and the trial identifying number is NCT02005627. Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) is an IgE-mediated inflammatory disease characterised by itching, sneezing, nasal discharge and congestion. Early and late phase responses (EPR and LPR) occur upon exposure to common aeroallergens . A substantial increase in the prevalence of SAR has been reported in industrialised countries, including Western Europe and it is believed to affect up to 20–25 % of the population, with an estimated 80 million sufferers in Europe . SAR has been shown to impact quality of life and impair learning performance in school children . The current management of SAR consists of pharmacotherapy such as antihistamines and corticosteroids . Also the avoidance of aeroallergens such as staying indoors may be beneficial. For those patients whose symptoms are not controlled by standard medical treatment, allergen specific immunotherapy (SIT) is a therapeutic alternative . In recent years, the sublingual route has been shown to be effective and in the case of GRAZAX® sublingual allergen specific immunotherapy (SLIT)-tablets to induce long-term remission . Although adequately powered head to head studies have not been performed, the effects of subcutaneous allergen-specific immunotherapy (SCIT) and SLIT-tablet may be comparable, whereas SLIT-tablets are more convenient and have a better safety profile such that it may be administered in the patient’s home . Changes in cellular as well as humoral responses play a role in the short term and long term efficacy of SIT. A shift in the ratio of T-helper 2 (Th2) and T-helper 1 (Th1) has been observed both peripherally , and in local target organs , preventing allergic response after SIT. While some of the underlying mechanisms of SLIT-tablets have not been studied in comparable detail to SCIT and remain unclear it is also assumed that the underlying immunological mechanisms may differ due to the different allergen administration routes. The oral mucosa is considered a site of natural immune tolerance. Previous findings suggest an interaction exists between Langerhans cells, epithelial cells, monocytes and oral DCs capable of producing IL-10, TGF-beta and activins and priming Treg cells . In atopic individuals increased concentrations of allergen-specific IgE in serum as well as target organs has been observed. Under SCIT, especially during the first few weeks of treatment, allergen-specific IgE increases even further, while there is a decrease during the seasonal peak . On the other hand IgG subclasses, especially IgG1 and IgG4, increase. In competing with IgE they seem to prevent interaction with the allergen, possibly mediated via the FCgammaRIIB receptor. Serum from these individuals inhibits IgE facilitated allergen binding (FAB) resulting in decreased T cell proliferation and reduced cytokine production and inhibition of basophil histamine release [11–14]. Congruently in SLIT-tablets, increases in allergen-specific IgE may occur within weeks of start of treatment and again blunting of the IgE increase during the season similar to what has been shown in SCIT. Also levels of serum IgG4, even though lower compared to SCIT, and facilitated allergen presentation (FAP) inhibition was increased . Effects on T-reg cells are inconsistent . When using a simplified assay, allergen-IgE complexes bound to Fcepsilon RII on the surface of B cells were detected by flow cytometry (IgE-FAB) and serum inhibitory activity for IgE-FAB increased under SLIT-tablets . Our group has shown previously that successful SIT has been associated with increases in protective IgG4 and IgA2 responses and induction of antigen-specific regulatory T-cells (T-regs) [8, 17]. Furthermore, reduced levels of effector cells (mast cells, eosinophils, CD4+ T-cells) are recruited to the nasal epithelium after grass pollen allergen challenge [8, 16]. In an IL-10 and TGF-beta dependent manner, T-regs have been shown to suppress antigen-driven proliferative T cell responses and Th2 cytokine release [7, 18]. Also decreased eosinophil recruitment has been reported . Elevated levels of IL-10 in parallel with clinical responsiveness preceding IgG4 was demonstrated in a SCIT compared to a placebo group with an increase as early as 2 weeks . Despite these observed changes in cellular and humoral responses, a detailed time-course of SLIT-tablets-induced immunological changes has not yet been performed. Effects of SIT have been reflected in previous studies in changes of the nasal mediators such as the chemokines tryptase and eosinophilic cationic protein (ECP) . In a cross sectional study SIT patients compared to untreated allergics had reduced levels of early phase tryptase and eotaxin . Other mediators such as the cytokine IL-5 in nasal fluid were suppressed after SCIT . We were able to show that in SIT patients a reduced nasal fluid concentration of IL-4, IL-9 and trends for reduced IL-13 were present . While peripheral IL-10 has been studied in SCIT, local changes of IL-10 after IT are less clear. While previous studies by Pilette have found fewer IL-10 mRNA+ cells in the nasal mucosa of allergics , Benson et al. reported increased levels of IL-10 . In our recent cross sectional study no clear response of IL-10 in nasal fluid after NAC was seen . Thus the time course in the first months of SLIT-tablets remains unclear and we aim to clarify this by examining a detailed early time course of chemokines and cytokines locally in SLIT-tablets in this prospective study. Recently the emergence of a novel innate immune cell family, type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2), originally defined in murine models, has attracted interest. Morphologically similar to lymphocytes they lack T-cell, B-cell, natural killer cell or other cell lineage markers . Our group showed that peripheral ILC2s might also play a role in seasonal allergic rhinitis. An elevation of ILC2s was seen during the grass pollen season. In participants who received SIT levels were comparable to non-atopic controls and correlated with reported seasonal symptom severity . Again a time course in a prospective SLIT-tablet study has not been examined before. Although several studies have shown changes in immunologic responses following treatment with a SLIT-tablet, a detailed time course of local and systemic T and B cell responses and interactions, has yet to be fully determined. Moreover, although long-term clinical tolerance is associated with persistent blocking antibody responses in the periphery, the effect of SLIT-tablet on B cell repertoires in the target organ has not been fully examined. Recent advances in cloning of antibody genes from single B cells and of sequencing of entire TCR and antibody repertoires present in biological samples allow for detailed analysis of such repertoires in response to disease and subsequent treatment. Thus a number of questions in relation to SLIT-tablet can be addressed; Is there a clonal relationship between the induced changes in IgE and the IgG repertoires during SLIT-tablet, does the local IgE repertoire contract following tolerance induction? Is there infiltration or local expansion of protective B cells following treatment? Is persistent clinical tolerance associated with a restricted repertoire of high affinity blocking antibodies? In order to address these questions we aim to establish a detailed time course of the early response in T and B-cell responses and we aim to characterise local and peripheral B cell repertoires in patients undergoing SLIT-tablet over the time course of 2 years under treatment and 1 year post treatment. We hypothesize that the analysis of the time course of SLIT-tablet over the first 4 months and up to 12 months will show early induction of T regulatory cells (T-regs) followed by later down regulation of Th2 responses and the emergence of ‘protective’ IgG/IgA antibodies both locally and in peripheral blood. This will correlate with surrogate clinical responses to treatment reflected by a reduction of the early phase response (EPR) following nasal allergen challenge (NAC) after 6 months and after 12 months of treatment. We furthermore assume that the sequencing of T and B cell receptor repertoires during the course of SLIT-tablet will demonstrate the appearance of distinct populations of grass pollen specific T and B cell clones. Our primary objectives are to understand the time course of early immunological changes as well as long-term changes in B cell repertoire under grass pollen AIT in SAR corresponding to clinical surrogate markers of AIT efficacy with a reduction of the EPR following NAC. We aim to assess the early time course of changes in different clinical surrogate markers for AIT efficacy including both early-phase (0–60 min) and late-phase (8 h) measurements following nasal and intradermal allergen challenge. We shall also record medication and symptom scores during the pollen season. We are furthermore interested in establishing a molecular sensitisation profile in untreated and treated allergic individuals. We will document the presence and severity of any local and systemic side effects of AIT treatment. This is a randomized, double-blind, single-centre, placebo-controlled study comparing SLIT-tablet plus standard treatment versus sublingual placebo plus standard treatment. The allocation of the atopic participants will be 1:1. We assume superiority for the SLIT-tablet over placebo. The study will be conducted at the Royal Brompton Hospital (RBH), an academic hospital affiliated to the Imperial College London as sponsor (UK). We plan to enrol up to 50 participants in order to randomise at least 44 atopic participants. Additionally, we shall recruit 20 healthy, non-atopic volunteers. To assess a detailed time course of early immunological changes under SLIT-tablet clinical assessments and mechanistic analyses on blood, nasal fluid, brushing and biopsies will be performed at baseline at 1, 2, 3, 4 (coinciding with the peak pollen season), 6 and 12 months of treatment (Fig. 1). After 12 months of treatment, unblinding will take place. Those atopic participants receiving SLIT-tablet will continue therapy for another 12 months followed by a post treatment phase of 12 months. Assessments and sample collection from these participants will take place again at 24 and at 36 months from the start of treatment. The non-atopic volunteers will serve as a control for parameters collected at the 12 months’ time point. All participants will be provided with anti-allergic rescue medication throughout the pollen season 2014. Consent will be obtained in line with the Declaration of Helsinki. The Nottingham Ethics Committee has approved this study (reference 13/EM/0351). The duration of the trial is 3 years. The trial will end in March 2017 when the last subject undergoes the last study visit completing the open label follow up of 2 years after the 12 months blinded phase (Fig. 2). A clinical history of grass pollen-induced allergic rhinoconjunctivitis for at least 2 years with peak symptoms in mid-May to mid-July. A clinical history of moderate to severe rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms with or without mild seasonal asthma interfering with usual daily activities or with sleep. A clinical history of rhinoconjunctivitis with or without mild seasonal asthma that remains troublesome despite treatment with either antihistamines or nasal corticosteroids during the grass pollen season. Positive skin prick test response, defined as wheal diameter ≥3 mm, to timothy grass pollen. Positive specific IgE, defined as IgE immunoCAP ≥0.7 ISU, against timothy grass pollen. For women of childbearing age, a negative urine pregnancy test at the time of screening and willingness to use an effective form of contraception for the duration of involvement in the study. The ability to give informed consent and comply with study procedures. A positive grass pollen NAC test at screening as defined by a total nasal symptom score (TNSS) of at least 7/12 after 5 min with an allergen dose of 5000 BU/ml (in case at least 20 % of the screened individuals report a TNSS of ≤5 the cut-off will be lowered to a minimum of 5/12). Negative skin-prick test response to timothy grass pollen and panel of aeroallergens. Negative specific IgE, defined as IgE immunoCAP <0.35 ISU, against timothy grass pollen. Previous grass pollen allergen immunotherapy. Prebronchodilator FEV1 <70 % of predicted value at screening (out of grass-pollen season). A clinical history of symptomatic allergic rhinitis and/or asthma caused by an allergen to which the participant is regularly and perennially exposed (e.g. cat dander). Perennial asthma requiring regular inhaled corticosteroids. Seasonal symptoms outside the grass-pollen season [e.g. hay fever during March–April suggestive of birch pollen allergy (during screening a panel of common aeroallergens such as house dust mite and birch pollen will be performed to allow exclusion of sensitisations to other aeroallergens of clinical relevance)]. History of emergency visit or hospital admission for asthma in the previous 12 months. History of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. History of recurrent acute sinusitis. At screening visit, current symptoms of, or treatment for, upper respiratory tract infection. Current smokers or a history of ≥5 pack years. History of life-threatening anaphylaxis or angioedema. The use of any investigational drug within 30 days of the screening visit. The presence of any medical condition that the investigator deems incompatible with participation in the study. History of fish allergy with positive skin test and/or positive specific IgE test to vertebrate/finned fish (due to potential fish allergen exposure in SLIT-tablet). Seasonal symptoms outside or during the grass-pollen season. History of significant recurrent acute sinusitis. SQ® grass SLIT-tablet (GRAZAX®, ALK Abello Horsholm, Denmark) is a fast-dissolving tablet that is registered throughout Europe and North America for sublingual use in patients aged 5–65 years [20, 29, 30]. The tablet is administered sublingually and daily for a minimum of 2 months before and during the grass pollen season. In a double-blind trial of GRAZAX® that included a 2 year follow up period efficacy was maintained for 2 post treatment years [29–32]. Even though SLIT-tablet has been shown to be safer than the injection route it is recommended that the first dose of GRAZAX® is administered in the clinic. Subsequent doses are taken daily by the patient. Local side effects of itching and swelling in the mouth are common, occurring in up to 60 % of individuals within minutes and resolving within 1 h with a median half-life of approximately 10 days [29–31]. These side effects are, in general, well tolerated and require no treatment. In a recent large trial involving over 600 patients, the withdrawal rate was 5 % as compared to 3 % in placebo-treated patients [29, 30]. More severe local and systemic reactions have been reported, but they are excessively rare and no fatalities have occurred . GRAZAX® is formulated as a freeze-dried oral lyophilisate disintegrating tablet for sublingual use. The active pharmaceutical ingredient is a standardized allergen extract derived from extraction and purification of grass pollen from timothy grass (Phleum pratense). The recommended dosage is one tablet containing 75,000 SQ-T®. The non-active ingredients consist of fish gelatin, mannitol, sodium hydroxide and water. The placebo is a tablet whose composition is identical to the GRAZAX® tablet with the only exception being exclusion of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. GRAZAX® and placebo tablets will be supplied in blister packs by ALK-Abello and packed into monthly dispensing packages containing 40 tablets. Two packages will be dispensed once every 2 months. The first dose will be administered under an hour of observation in clinic followed by daily home administration. After unblinding, participants who received active treatment will receive SLIT-tablets for another 12 months. The participants who received placebo will be offered 24 months of SLIT-tablets. The investigator is required to maintain adequate records of the disposition of the investigational product. An account of any drug accidentally or deliberately destroyed will be kept as a file note in the trial master file. Participants will be asked to return unused tablets at each study visit. The unused tablets will be counted by pharmacy. Participants will record their tablet intake on a daily diary. During the pollen season the following medications will be provided: antihistamine (desloratidine 5 mg, up to once daily), nasal corticosteroid spray (fluticasone propionate aqueous nasal spray, 50 mcg per spray, up to 2 puffs twice daily) and ophthalmic antihistamine (olopatadine eye drops, 1 mg/ml, up to 1 drop per eye twice daily). We will assess the use of rescue medication by a weekly medication score. Oral corticosteroids (prednisolone 30 mg for 3–5 days), short-acting beta-agonists, inhaled corticosteroids and combination long-acting beta-agonists-steroids will only be provided to the participants after consultation with the investigators. Medication washout periods prior to NACs and biopsies need to be followed. During the study β-blockers, calcium channel blockers, tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors or anti-IgE monoclonal antibody treatment are prohibited. The TNSS recorded over 60 min following grass pollen NAC. EPR of PNIF following NAC. Retrospective visual analogue scale (VAS) after the pollen season 2014. Retrospective global evaluation (GE) score after the pollen season 2014. Combined weekly symptom and medication score over the course of the grass pollen season from May to July 2014. Mini Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of life (mRQLQ) symptom score over the course of the pollen season 2014. Presence and severity of symptoms due to sublingual treatment. VAS over the course of the 2014 grass pollen season from May to July 2014. EPR following NAC at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Proportion of allergen-specific phenotypic Treg cells in peripheral blood. The inhibitory bioactivity of sera against allergen-IgE complex formation and binding to B-cell. The frequency of type 2 innate lymphoid cells. Concentration of serum total IgE and grass pollen specific IgG4 and IgE level. Cytokine concentration in peripheral blood. Concentration nasal fluid grass pollen specific IgG4 and IgE level. Cytokine RNA in nasal brushing. Single cell antibody cloning of local nasal B cells. T and B cell receptor sequencing. Inclusion of 20 participants per group will give greater than 90 % power (p = 0.05) to detect a 40 % reduction in the nasal EPR after NAC (see Durham et al. ). Based on more recent studies (Scadding et al., unpublished data; mean 4.63, standard deviation 1.65 for area under the curve (AUC) 0-60 min post NAC in 14 allergic volunteers), inclusion of 13 patients per group will provide 80 % power to detect a 40 % reduction in AUC after NAC, whereas inclusion of 22 patients per group will provide 80 % power to detect a 30 % reduction. We will include 20 healthy, non-atopic controls to match the two atopic groups. Recruitment of the participants will be within the RBH, Imperial College London, and via local media. Potential atopic participants will be invited to visit the trial website (http://www.hayfeverstudy.com) for registration. They will be invited to attend the Research Unit at the RBH for a formal screening visit. The randomisation list was produced by a statistician using Stata 10.1 without stratification or blocks and with an allocation of 1:1. The sequence of the randomisation numbers is kept in sealed envelopes independent of the investigators. The packaging company will label the tablet packages according to the randomisation list. Single sealed envelopes containing the participants’ randomisation code are located at the RBH pharmacy. Blinding of the investigators, outcome assessors, pharmacists, data analysts and trial participants will be maintained throughout the first 12 months of the study. Adverse events (AEs) that are considered serious, unexpected and at least possibly related to the medication would have to be unblinded. The study will be unblinded by the trial statistician after the final visit of the primary endpoint assessment at 12 months of treatment. Participants have a right to withdraw at any time and may be withdrawn at the investigator’s discretion. Reasonable effort should be made to contact any participant lost to follow-up. The information collected before the withdrawal will be included in analysis. Participants will not be replaced. The PI will have the authority to deviate from the protocol if doing so relates to the immediate safety of a participant, where continuing to follow protocol would put that participant at risk. If any of the following criteria are met, study enrolment and study therapy will be suspended: death in any participant, where death is attributed in any way to study therapy or intervention; grade 4 anaphylaxis as defined by the World Allergy Organization (WAO) . Study therapies will be discontinued for any of the following reasons: two or more occurrences of grade 3 or above systemic allergic reactions as defined by the WAO ; any AE that presents an unacceptable consequence to the participant; an illness that requires treatment not consistent with protocol requirements; inability to comply with the study protocol and pregnancy. The primary efficacy parameter will be the EPR measured by the TNSS at 0, 5, 15, 30 and 60 min following grass pollen NAC in SLIT-tablet-, versus placebo-treated atopic participants at 12 months of treatment. The NAC will be performed with Aquagen SQ (ALK 225) Timothy grass pollen, Phleum pratense, ALK-Abelló freeze dried extract (Cat. no. 1001862, ALK-Abelló, Denmark). Fresh extracts will be reconstituted in albumin-based diluent (ALK-Abelló) on a twice weekly basis at a concentration of 100,000 SQ-U/30,000 BU per ml. On a daily basis, a fresh dilution of 5000 BU/ml in normal saline will be prepared and added to a nasal applicator device (Bidose, Aptar Pharma/Pfeiffer, Germany), (100 µl/pump application). A single spray will be applied to each nostril. PNIF measured at 0, 5, 15, 30 and 60 min (EPR) following grass pollen NAC at baseline and at 12 months. Mean LPR to intradermal testing recorded as the mean diameter of the swelling (longest diameter plus perpendicular diameter, exclude pseudopods) measured after 8 h of allergen challenge at baseline and after 12 months of treatment. Intradermal skin tests are performed by injecting 1 BU (0.02 ml of 50 BU/ml) of allergen into the skin of the outer surface of the forearms. Mean EPR to intradermal testing recorded after 15 min of allergen challenge at baseline and after 12 months of treatment. VAS after the pollen season 2014 (‘How has your hayfever been overall during the last pollen season?’); single measurement and delta (comparing baseline with after pollen season time point 2014). GE score (‘How has your hayfever been during the last pollen season compared to the previous season?’) after the pollen season 2014. The endpoints listed below will compare the following groups using the same statistical methodology as described for the primary endpoint: SLIT-tablet versus placebo. Symptoms and medication scores will be self-assessed weekly during the pollen season from May 2014 until end of July 2014 by the atopic participants. The symptom score will encompass nose and eye symptoms recorded on a scale from 0 to 3 (with a score of 0 indicating no symptoms, 1, 2 and 3 indicating mild, moderate and severe symptoms respectively). The maximum score is therefore 18. Participants will be asked to use the rescue medication received by us on an as required basis only, starting with the antihistamines (tablets and/or eye drops) and if this does not suffice adding treatment with nasal spray. In case this still does not relieve their symptoms they will be advised to contact the trial team to start prednisolone 30 mg 3–5 days. Medication use will be recorded in weekly questionnaires by participants and a medication score will be calculated: desloratadine, 5 mg, up to 1 tablet daily and/or olopatadine eye drops, 1.0 mg/ml, up to 1 drop per eye twice daily (1 point per day); fluticasone nasal spray, 50 mcg per spray, up to 2 sprays per nostril twice daily (2 points per day); and prednisone, 5 mg per tablet, up to 6 tablets per day (3 points per day). The maximum daily medication score will be 3. The maximum weekly score will be 21. 21 will be divided by 7 and multiplied by 6, which gives us a maximum score of 18, to allow a comparison between symptom and medication scores, since maximum scores for symptoms and medications are different in magnitude, as recommended by WAO guidelines. A combined symptom and medication score will be calculated by dividing both scores by 6, summarize of the results and divide by 2 . Composite scores in each treatment group during the pollen season (beginning of May to end of July) and during the peak pollen season (approximately mid-June, defined as the max 14 day rolling average pollen count during the season) will be compared. MiniRQLQ scores will be collected weekly during the pollen season. Composite scores in each treatment group during the peak pollen season (beginning of May to end of July) will be compared. Furthermore the maximum RQLQ will be compared. Symptoms and severity of symptoms after intake of the daily tablets will be recorded on a daily diary cards. The type of symptom (itchy mouth, swelling of the mouth or other) and the WAO Grade of the local symptoms will be calculated daily . The duration of the symptoms in days and the duration of symptoms in minutes will be specified. VAS of overall hay fever symptoms in the last week will be collected weekly during the pollen season. Composite scores in each treatment group during the peak pollen season (beginning of May to end of July) as well as the maximum will be assessed. The TNSS measured at 0, 5, 15, 30 and 60 min (EPR) following grass pollen NAC at baseline, at 6 and at 12 months will be assessed similar to the primary endpoint. Grass pollen specific immunological markers in serum, nasal fluid and nasal brushings will be evaluated at baseline, after 1, 2, 3 months, during the peak pollen season (at 4 months) and after 12 months of treatment. Blood will be collected via venepuncture during the study visit. Basophil activation will be assessed by expression of the surface markers CD107a, CD63 and CD203c on basophils (CRTH2+ CD3− CD303− cells) in the whole blood via flow cytometry. The inhibitory bioactivity of sera against allergen-IgE complex formation and binding to B-cell is evaluated by using IgE-facilitated allergen binding (FAB) assay. The frequency of type 2 innate lymphoid cells is measured by immunostaining with fluorochrome monoclonal antibodies and determined using multicolor flow cytometric analysis. Concentration of serum total IgE and grass pollen specific IgE and IgG4 level will be measured on a CAP FEIA system (Thermo-Fisher, Uppsala, Sweden). PBMCs are isolated and cultured for 6 days and cytokine concentrations specifically IL-10 will be measured in culture supernatants by means of ELISA. The collection and preparation of nasal fluid will be performed with a sterile synthetic polyurethane sponge (Zuschnitt Schaumstoff RG27 grau, Gummi-Welz GmbH & Co, Germany, ISO 5999, 1982 sponge), inserted into each nostril. Sponges will be left in place for 5 min before removal to allow absorption of nasal secretions, and then transferred to centrifuge tubes with indwelling 0.22 μm cellulose acetate filters (Costar Spin-X, Catalogue no. 8161, Corning, NY, USA). Tubes will be kept briefly on ice, then 75 µl of assay buffer (Millipore; Catalogue No. L-AB) will be added on top of the sponge into each tube before being centrifuged at 4500 RCF for 15 min at 4 °C. The volume of fluid collected will be calculated, aliquoted into Micrewtubes® (cat no.: T336-2S, Simport, Beloeil, Canada) and stored at −80 °C. Concentration of nasal fluid grass pollen specific IgG4 and IgE level will be measured on a CAP FEIA system (Thermo-Fisher, Uppsala, Sweden). Nasal fluid analyses for cytokines and chemokines using a human cytokine/chemokine magnetic bead panel 96-well plate assay (Milliplex Map Kit; Millipore) and a Luminex xMAP Magpix platform (Millipore) will be performed. Biopsies will be performed at baseline, during the peak pollen season, after 12 months, 24 months of treatment and 12 months post treatment. Single cell antibody cloning will be performed according to standardized methods developed by the commercial suppliers (http://www.irepertoire.com or http://www.adaptivebiotech.com). Cloning of antibody heavy and light variable genes from single B cells will be done essentially as previously described . Isotype switched B cells will be isolated from enzymatically dissociated nasal biopsy tissue by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). Matched heavy and light chain transcripts will be amplified from individually sorted single B cells by RT-PCR. PCR products will be sequenced and selected antibodies will be cloned and produced by recombinant expression. Allergen specificity will be determined by ISAC microarray and antibody—allergen binding affinities will be determined by surface plasmon resonance. In parallel, RNA will be isolated from a second nasal biopsy and from PBMC and converted to cDNA. Heavy (IgA, IgG, IgM and IgE) chain variable region transcripts will be amplified using isotype-specific PCR and sequenced in parallel using high-throughput Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The start of the pollen season will be defined retrospectively for the purpose of the analysis. Start of the pollen season is defined as the first 3 consecutive days with pollen count >10 grains/cm3, end of season is defined as the first consecutive days with pollen count <10 grains/cm3, start of peak pollen season is defined as the first 3 consecutive days with pollen count >30 grains/cm3, end of peak pollen season is defined as the first consecutive days with pollen count <30 grains/cm3. The statistical analysis plan will be finalised by the trial statistician prior to database lock. Primary analysis of treatment effect will be conducted under the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle defined as all randomized participants. The per-protocol (PP) sample will be defined as ITT sample participants in whom the primary endpoints were assessed. The Safety sample (SS) will be defined as all enrolled participants. The following groups will be compared: SLIT-tablet versus placebo; SLIT-tablet versus placebo versus non-atopic controls. This longitudinal data will be analysed using approaches that model the correlation structure such as models for the mean response and random coefficient models. All secondary analyses will be treated as supportive. P values will be presented for the secondary endpoints but will not be adjusted for multiplicity. Grass pollen specific immunological markers in serum, nasal fluid and nasal brushings and nasal biopsies at 12 months of treatment will be evaluated. The data will be monitored regularly twice in the first year and once yearly in the years following the first year by Imperial College, the sponsor of this trial. Monitoring by the REC and MHRA may also occur. AE will be recorded and severity and relation to study participation will be assessed. SAE data will be collected, faxed to the Sponsor and transcribed to eCRF. Please also refer to Additional file 1. Seasonal symptoms such as itching, sneezing and wheezing. Not bothersome local symptoms after SLIT-tablet intake. Non-bothersome reactions to the non-invasive nasal secretion collection. Not bothersome allergic reactions after Intradermal skin tests. Bleeding responding to local finger pressure and discomfort responding to paracetamol after nasal biopsy. The study has been approved by the Nottingham Ethics Committee (reference 13/EM/0351). Study amendments have been approved by the REC, the R and D Office and the MHRA where appropriate. A participant information sheet will be provided to each person to read at least 24 h prior to the screening visit. Written IC will be obtained prior to any study specific procedures taking place. Data will be handled, computerised and stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998. Database access will be restricted through passwords to the authorised research team. The PI will provide an electronic signature for each patient eCRF once all queries are resolved and immediately prior to database lock. This protocol will allow us to investigate the time course of the first 4 months after start of SLIT-tablet. Further we will have the opportunity to look at B cell repertoire after 12, 24 and 36 months of treatment. The trial will end in April 2017. SRD is principal investigator of the AIT trial and conceived of the study, participated in its design, co-ordination and trial set up and performed nasal biopsies. ES is the coordinator of the trial study and prepared the first draft of the manuscript. ES, GS, AE, MC, MS, AD, CK, ML, PSA, MP, SRD participated in the study design, set-up, and AE, CK, AD and ES participated in participant recruitment, administration of the IMP, follow-up visits with trial procedures. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors acknowledge the contribution of the NIHR. We thank ALK Abello for manufacturing and supplying the IMP and matched placebo tablets for this trial. Also we acknowledge Alexandra Fedina, the department of pharmacy and the Clinical Trials Unit from the RBH. Study sponsor and funder will not have a direct impact in the study design, collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data, writing the report or ultimate authority over any of these activities. The sponsor will monitor the study regularly. The funder will receive any new information about safety related concerns to the trial medication before publication. SRD has received research funding from ALK Abello and Merck USA. SRD has furthermore received via Imperial College consultancy fees from Merck, Circassia, Biomay and Leti, manufacturers of allergy vaccines. ES has received travel funding from ALK Abello for one congress. GS received funding from an Imperial College-Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Fellow-Programm (reference 09788/Z/11/Z). ES has been supported by the Swiss National Fund (Schweizer Nationalfonds), MS has received grant support from Regeneron USA and Biotools Belgium. PSA is an employee of ALK. Furthermore this trial received part funding and supply of allergy vaccines and allergen for provocation testing from ALK Abello. 13601_2015_87_MOESM1_ESM.docx Additional file 1. Recording and reporting adverse events.

2019-04-24T16:00:38Z

https://ctajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13601-015-0087-2