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28 Apr Wells Fargo Expanding Acceptance of E-Signatures
Just months after the Federal Housing Administration announced that it would be accepting electronic signatures on mortgage-related documents, Wells Fargo Funding has jumped on the digital bandwagon as well. DocuSign, a digital transaction management company, recently announced that Wells Fargo will be broadening its acceptance of electronic signatures on mortgage-related documents.
This is delightful news to mortgage brokers as DocuSign services will expedite the processing of mortgage paperwork. What could sometimes take days to complete, will now be completed in a matter of a few clicks. In addition to making things faster, DocuSign also ensures that its Digital Transaction Management system will comply with all applicable legal regulations while maintaining a secure platform for processing.
“The move by one of the nation’s leading mortgage investors demonstrates continued momentum of electronic signature acceptance among financial service providers,” DocuSign said in a statement.
“We believe it’s inevitable that financial institutions will follow the lead of visionary organizations like Wells Fargo Funding and adopt electronic signature for every transaction that formerly required a pen and paper signature,” DocuSign’s chief legal officer Ken Moyle added.
Scope and Benefits of E-Signing
While Wells Fargo is already one of the nation’s leading mortgage investors, this shift to a digital workflow for paperwork will drastically elevate the company’s services to clients. Wells Fargo and DocuSign have worked together to create a system that exceeds the security and compliance requirements that it takes to deal with clients’ delicate personal information.
On April 15, Wells Fargo detailed the transition in its update to the Seller Guide, which outlines the requirements for the eDelivery/eSignature process and expounds on the simplification of the closing process. The requirements address eligibility, auditing and retention and compliance.
The eligibility disclosure states that all documents generated and signed prior to closing, including disclosures and loan documents, are now eligible for execution with electronic signature. There is an amendment making exceptions to cases where Agency and/or state or Federal law prohibits the use of e-signatures.
An audit trail will also be required for each closed loan package in which an e-signature is utilized. This will ensure that all transactions flow smoothly and according to state and Federal laws. New requirements have also been made for record retention for supporting evidence of compliance at all levels in cases of audit or investigation.
In order to offer the strongest levels of legal enforceability, DocuSign has worked closely with Buckley Sandler, a leading legal expert on electronic signatures. DocuSign also provides bank-level encryption, tamper-proof certificates, chain of custody and multi-factor authentication to ensure the most secure transaction process.
With the cost of printing, faxing and overnighting increasing by the day, the partnership of Wells Fargo and DocuSign is sure to be an important innovation in the world of mortgage and finance.


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The fecal swastika was almost certainly a hoax, but there is one other explanation for the chaos at the University of Missouri; black students feel oppressed because the KKK has laid siege to the campus:
Late Tuesday night, Twitter began to explode with students and others claiming that KKK members had been spotted walking around MU’s flagship Columbia campus. The rumors appear to have been given major life after MU’s student body president, Payton Head, made a Facebook post declaring that the KKK sighting had been confirmed and that he was actively working with police and even the National Guard on the matter.
Head’s comments added to the tumult, and soon dozens both on and off-campus were tweeting about the supposed KKK presence, with some claiming the Klansmen were throwing bricks through dorm windows and others wildly claiming the KKK were enjoying police protection.
The Klan attack must have been terrifying.
Imagine sitting in your dorm room and seeing the KKK outside throwing bricks being protected and escorted by the police ..
— ABG✨ (@sMoOvE___) November 11, 2015
However, this too turned out to be a hoax.
Barely an hour after the mania began, local police clarified that there was no evidence of any KKK activity on campus.
“We have found no evidence of anything related to the KKK on campus,” police spokesman Brian Weimar said in a statement. Not only that, but despite Head’s claim to be working with the National Guard, Weimar said the Guard was not present at MU at all. …
Shortly after, Head deleted his initial confirmation and apologized for spreading rumors.
Despite the panic caused by this silly lie, the racist left’s favorite boogeyman barely exists anymore:
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the KKK has only five to eight thousand members, and is no longer a unified group but rather a set of feuding organizations that all claim the Klan’s name.
The SPLC is in business to exaggerate threats to the privileged special interest groups liberals revere, so actual numbers are probably lower.
But the uproar at Mizzou isn’t all about nothing. A person of politically preferred pigmentation who also self-identifies with politically preferred perversion reports that he was subjected to a racial slur while walking near campus. Wait a minute… it’s Payton Head again. Odds that he didn’t invent the entire incident are remote.
A little background on Head the Hoaxer:
Head has a long past history as a ‘social justice warrior’. In his post about the racial slur, he makes it very clear he is a Black Lives Matter supporter, and the post is meant to be about making you feel uncomfortable. In October, he gave a talk on ‘intersectionality’ and the Black Lives Matter movement. He is from Chicago and was an intern for Rahm Emanuel.
We are left to conclude that the entire spectacle at the University of Missouri was staged out of thin air to bully weaklings and fools into complying with the radical black power agenda. Despite the transparent idiocy of the entire affair, it has been an unqualified success, bringing down the President and Chancellor and intimidating educrats and professors across the country. Head, the aptly named gay black student body president at the center of it all, even achieved the honor of inclusion on the Hate Hoax List.
On tips from rpp, Henry, and JeffersonSpinningInGrave.

domain: news


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Serving Size 2 Tablets
Servings Per Container 60
|Amount Per Serving||%Daily Value|
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domain: medical


So I have been looking at all of the candidates websites, and Nick’s is probably one of the BEST. While Nick may struggle with public speaking sometimes, if you read his campaign issues he really has a grasp on building a more progressive and transparent community.
He goes into great detail about building a greener community, transparent budgeting and communicating with the community.
No doubt Nick has a tough challenger in Erickson, but Christine’s record over the past two years has been anything but stellar. Besides the Mayor, Christine was the force behind the DT Parking Ramp and picking Legacy. She served on the RFQ committee.
It’s time for some new blood on the council and Nick would be a great addition.


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Summary: The New Jersey camping destinations offer many natural and picturesque landscapes. They offer lot of different activities for all kinds of campers. They are also at convenient distance from the major attractions of New Jersey.
New Jersey beach camping happens to be ideal if you enjoy camping by the beach. New Jersey literally happens to be a kaleidoscope of picturesque, natural landscapes. It offers a huge variety of various kinds of beaches. Several beaches have the trademark famous piers of New Jersey and are filled with attractions. There are several incredible and renowned places to go camping in New Jersey. Most of these camping regions are modern, clean and well adaptable to almost any kind of camping. They are filled with exciting and best camping experiences all across the region.
A Look at Different Camping Destinations in New Jersey
The Camp May is amongst the best beach camping destinations in New Jersey. Camp May happens to be the oldest seaside resort within US. It is located to the south of New Jersey. Here you can locate clean beach of 30 miles that is best suited for camping. You may enjoy Victorian era homes as well as several other vacation themes. Camp May is best suited as family getaway or even for couples. Another famous beach of New Jersey is the Wildwoods beach. You can find a two and half miles of boardwalk along with seven amusement piers.
Mariner’ Landing and Morey’s Pier is situated in the Wildwood Boardwalk. This is primarily suitable for families since it is filled with many amusement rides and piers. You can even enjoy two water parks at this place. Fortescue State Marina is located at the Delaware beach. There are many varieties of dining and fishing options available. You can watch fleets get their oysters. You can then go on a diner and consume the oysters when fresh. You can also find many historic buildings that are restored to appear just like they did during revolutionary times. You can locate the oldest functioning lighthouse at Cape May Point.
Right from Delaware Water Gap to the view of Statue of Liberty up to the wooded camping grounds at the Pine Barren to the sandy beaches at the Jersey Shore, an ideal camping experience appears to be very close at hand. Hiking, biking, canoeing, birding as well as unlimited activities for recreation may be seen at many campgrounds across the state. Many sites are within a small drive across the state. Whatever may be the type of camping you select like tenting or cabin rentals New Jersey has got something for everyone. You can find the beach camping at New Jersey enjoyable as you can visit several New Jersey’s attractions during the process.

domain: travel


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Language: English . Brand New. Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but while Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Copola were making their first classic movies, a parallel universe of directors gave birth to the modern horror film-aggressive, raw, and utterly original. Based on unprecedented access to the genre s major players, New York Times critic Jason Zinoman s Shock Value delivers the first definitive account of horror s golden age.By the late 1960s, horror was stuck in the past, confined mostly to drive-in theaters and exploitation houses and shunned by critics. Shock Value tells the unlikely story of how the much-disparaged horror film became an ambitious art form while also conquering the multiplex. Directors such as Wes Craven, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter, and Brian De Palma-counterculture types operating largely outside Hollywood-revolutionized the genre, exploding taboos and bringing a gritty aesthetic, confrontational style, and political edge to horror. Zinoman recounts how these directors produced such classics as Rosemary s Baby, Carrie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween, creating a template for horror that has been imitated relentlessly but whose originality has rarely been matched.This new kind of film dispensed with the old vampires and werewolves and instead assaulted audiences with portraits of serial killers, the dark side of suburbia, and a brand of nihilistic violence that had never been seen before. Shock Value tells the improbable stories behind the making of these movies, which were often directed by obsessive and insecure young men working on shoestring budgets, were funded by sketchy investors, and featured porn stars. But once The Exorcist became the highest grossing film in America, Hollywood took notice.The classic horror films of the 1970s have now spawned a billion-dollar industry, but they have also penetrated deep into the American consciousness. Quite literally, Zinoman reveals, these movies have taught us what to be afraid of. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of the most important artists in horror, Shock Value is an enthralling and personality-driven account of an overlooked but hugely influential golden age in American film. N° de réf. du libraire
Synopsis : In the New Hollywood of the 1970s, just as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first classic films, a parallel group of directors was inventing the modern horror film. Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter, Brian De Palma and others made films that were aggressive, raw and utterly original. They would go on to achieve massive box office success. Based on unprecedented access to these leading figures, and hundreds of other interviews, Jason Zinoman's Shock Value delivers an enthralling behind-the-scenes account of horror's golden age. Films such as Rosemary's Baby, Carrie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween created the template used by horror films ever since. They exploded taboos and drew on their creators' deepest anxieties to bring horror a gritty, confrontational style and political edge. Shock Value tells the remarkable stories behind the making of these films, which remain misunderstood even by some avid fans. Shot largely outside the Hollywood system on shoestring budgets, they dispensed with traditional vampires and werewolves, assaulting audiences with the dark side of suburbia and a new brand of nihilistic violence. When The Exorcist became the highest-grossing blockbuster of all time, the big studios took notice and the cinema would never be the same again. As the classic horror films of the 1970s conquered both the multiplex and the art house, thy entered the collective imagination and as Jason Zinouman shows, even taught us what to be afraid of. Shock Value is an enormously entertaining account of a highly influential era in filmmaking and Hollywood history.
Where Shock Value excels is in its primary research, the stories of how the seminal shockers of this era came to be, told in large part by the men (and here and there women) who made them --The New York Times
Shock Value chronicles a period that feels both close and remote...a brave, uncompromising era in the genre filmmaking. Mavericks, madman, mutants and monsters populate this book. Vivid, fascinating and entirely relevant --Guillermo del Toro, director of 'Hell Boy' and 'Pan's Labyrinth'
Jason Zinoman's book Shock Value succeeds where countless trailers failed: it will convince people who dislike horror films that they are missing out on a vital school of art --The Economist
Titre : Shock Value (Library Edition): How a Few ...
Éditeur : Tantor Media, Inc
Date d'édition : 2011
Reliure : CD-Audio
Etat du livre : New
Edition : Library ed.
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domain: entertainment


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Betty Crocker™ Suddenly Pasta Salad™ Caesar
Suddenly tasty, suddenly smiling, Suddenly Salad! Festive and full of flavor, our Betty Crocker Suddenly Pasta Salad Caesar Mix combines bicolored pasta with traditional Caesar ingredients, including red peppers, croutons, and Italian seasonings. Just add oil and serve as a tasty side. Plus, try topping with cubed chicken for extra protein. The possibilities are endless!
- PASTA SALAD MIX: Delicious Caesar pasta salad perfect for a tasty side
- FULL OF FLAVOR: Combines shell pasta, red peppers, croutons and seasoning for a delicious dish
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Enriched Plain and Spinach Rotini Pasta (Wheat Flour, Spinach*, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Bread Crumbs (Enriched Flour Bleached [Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, Baking Soda, Caramel Color, Yeast, Spice Extract, Ascorbic Acid [Dough Conditioner]), Maltodextrin, Sugar.Contains Less Than 2% of: Salt, Red Bell Peppers*, Monosodium Glutamate, Citric Acid, Garlic*, Onion*, Lactic Acid, Vegetable Oil (Canola, Soybean and/or Sunflower Oil), Calcium Lactate, Spice, Basil, Natural Flavor, Parmesan Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Whey Protein Concentrate, Yeast Extract, Guar Gum, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Caramel Color, Silicon Dioxide (Anticaking Agent), Whey, Sodium Phosphate, Molasses*.*Dried
Contains Wheat and Their Derivatives,Other gluten Containing Grain and Gluten Containing Grain Products,Soybean and its Derivatives,Milk and its Derivatives. May contain Eggs and Their Derivatives.
Actual product packaging and materials may contain additional and/or different ingredient, nutritional, or proper usage information than the information displayed on our website. You are responsible ... Read More

domain: food


By Hughie Southon
Jarrod Bowen grabbed his eighth goal of the season and immediately revealed the confidence is rising.
It’s always easy to claim we only beat a lower league side and that we shouldn’t get carried away but last night’s victory at Derby County was a decent performance with no alarms.
Three wins from the last four games is also a big bonus and Bowen looked to be coming back to his best whilst Mikey Antonio had a fine game and Tomas Soucek looked on the case all night.
Bowen also took his tally to three in the past two games as the Hammers registered back-to-back wins following their Premier League success against Everton the previous weekend.
With Derby beaten we now head for a fasr more difficult clash at Manchester United in the fifth round of this competition, but first come a slew of vital league outings and Bowen is determined to ensure these victories act as a building block.
Commenting afterwards the No 20 said: “It was nice to get two against Everton and with the situation we’re in, any goal gives confidence to any player.
“So obviously, to be involved with the goals in the last two matches is really good for me and for us as well, it’s two wins on the bounce, two good results, it gives us momentum and that’s what it’s all about in this game. We can use this as a real springboard now.”
Bowen’s goal involvement stretched to an assist, too, as he got in down the right hand side to cross for Michail Antonio to head home a second five minutes into the second period, and he was delighted for his fellow forward – particularly after he received a gift from the No9 himself against Everton.
“It’s a massive goal for Micky as well. Something we’ve been working on, as the manager would say, is tap in goals,” he continued.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to get and you’ve seen in the last couple of games they’re the goals we’ve got.
“It was Mick’s ball to me for the second goal against Everton and tonight I returned the favour for him.
“It was a massive goal at a massive time because 1-0 wasn’t fully secure just after half-time, so to get that second goal helped us put another foot on hold of the game.”


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Zesty Bacon Broccoli Bake
Zesty Bacon Broccoli Bake: A Delicious Way to Spice Up your Meal
Are you in need of a meal that is full of flavor, but still healthy? Are you looking for a way to impress your guests with an amazing dish without breaking the bank? The Zesty Bacon Broccoli Bake is the perfect solution. This delicious dish is simple, affordable, and uses only a few ingredients. The combination of bacon and broccoli is sure to tantalize everyone’s taste buds.
This amazing dish may seem like it’s out of your cooking range, but it only requires minimal effort. All you need is some bacon, broccoli, some oil, and a few spices. For a real zesty flavor, add some jalapenos and cheese. This dish is also great to make in large quantities, making it perfect for a large gathering.
This dish could not be simpler to make. First, start by heating the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, spread the oil evenly in a large baking dish, and then add the bacon and broccoli. Sprinkle some jalapenos over the top if you would like. Bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together some delicious spices such as garlic, onion, and chili powder in a bowl and set aside. Once the 20 minutes are up, remove the bacon and broccoli from the oven, and pour the spice mixture over it. Then, add some cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
When the timer goes off, remove the dish from the oven and let it cool for about five minutes. Serve the Zesty Bacon Broccoli Bake with some crusty bread, and you’re done! This meal truly is that simple.
This delicious meal is sure to tantalize your taste buds and become a family favorite. The zesty flavor of the spices, combined with the crispy texture of the bacon and broccoli, is truly a mouthwatering experience. And you don’t have to tell your family about the minimal effort that went into making this meal – let them think you slaved away in the kitchen!
If you’ve been wanting to wow your family and friends with your cooking skills this is the perfect dish for you. It’s easy to make, reasonably priced and sure to be a hit. The Zesty Bacon Broccoli Bake is the perfect way to spice up your everyday meal.
Recipe: Zesty Bacon Broccoli Bake
• 3 cups of broccoli florets
• 4 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of jalapeno slices (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Spread the oil evenly in a large baking dish, then add the broccoli and bacon. If desired add the jalapeno slices on top.
3. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. While it is baking, mix together the garlic, onion, and chili powder in a bowl and set aside.
5. Remove the dish from the oven and pour the spice mixture over the top.
6. If desired, top with shredded cheese and bake


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Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) was upgraded by research analysts at BidaskClub from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday.
Several other brokerages have also issued reports on MBWM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 1st. Hovde Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Mercantile Bank in a research report on Wednesday, April 18th. Sandler O’Neill set a $37.00 target price on Mercantile Bank and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 27th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Mercantile Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, ValuEngine lowered Mercantile Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Mercantile Bank currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.80.
MBWM traded up $0.44 on Tuesday, hitting $36.20. The company had a trading volume of 33,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,609. The firm has a market cap of $588.73, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.71. Mercantile Bank has a 12-month low of $28.92 and a 12-month high of $38.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.
In other Mercantile Bank news, Director Thomas R. Sullivan sold 6,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.28, for a total transaction of $237,560.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,143 shares in the company, valued at $690,502.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank during the third quarter valued at approximately $144,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. MetLife Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 2,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 9.4% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 22,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,927 shares in the last quarter. 52.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: This article was originally published by Chaffey Breeze and is the property of of Chaffey Breeze. If you are reading this article on another site, it was illegally stolen and republished in violation of U.S. and international trademark & copyright law. The legal version of this article can be viewed at https://www.chaffeybreeze.com/2018/04/25/mercantile-bank-mbwm-lifted-to-hold-at-bidaskclub.html.
Mercantile Bank Company Profile
Mercantile Bank Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Mercantile Bank of Michigan that provides commercial and retail banking services for small- to medium-sized businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and term certificate accounts; time deposits; and certificates of deposit.
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How To: Using my PFAFF coverlock™ 4.0 to Sew Lingerie
Ask a car enthusiast what his or her dream make/model is, and they may say Porsche 911, Suburu’s WRX STI or some other fancy-schmancy, super fast car. Ask a sewist what his/her dream machine is, and they may say a coverstitch machine. For a long time, that was my answer. Coverstitch machines are used in the industry on everything from t-shirts to sportswear and lingerie, but the options for home sewists are scarce. Very scarce. So, you bet your butt that I was super excited that as part of my sponsorship with PFAFF, Madalynne Studios would have a coverlock™ 4.0 coverstitch and overlock machines for students and myself to use. I’ll admit, the machine was a little intimidating at first. Like an iPhone however, it was intuitive to figure out. So far, the machine has not only precise, but just so.damn.fun to sew. So today, I’m updated my original review of this sexy beast to include how I’ve been using it most often – to attach the elastic at the underbust of the Madalynne X Simplicity 8711.
The coverlock™ 4.0 is the top machine in PFAFF’s overlock line. It offers 5, 4, 3, 2 thread sewing and has an LCD touch screen that unlike some others, is really easy to use. All you have to do is select a stitch and all the important information like optimal thread tension, stitch length and differential feed are automatically set and displayed on the screen. I have found this very helpful – I don’t have to refer to the manual. Something really neat about the coverlock™ 4.0 is that is automatically sets tension based on the stitch. There’s also an Info System and Recommendations options which pop up to give more information about each stitch. It’s an all in one/combo machine (as opposed to a standalone), so it has an overlock and a cover stitch options.
Available Stitches + Definitions:
For the most part, I’ll be using the coverstitch, but the machine has several (25) more stitches. What are they and what do they do? Well, I’m so glad you asked ;)
Coverstitch – For hems on stretch fabrics and decorative stitching; perfect for finishing all kind of knitwear.
Chainstitch – Works well as a basting stitch as it easily unravels.
5-thread overlock (wide and narrow)– Combines two stitches – a straight stitch and an overlock – for a durable and reliable seams.
4-thread overlock– For all seams where stretch or give is needed, such as necklines, sleeve and side seams. Also serves to finish seam allowances.
3-thread overlock (wide and narrow) – For sewing two layers of stretch fabric or overcasting a single layer of light to medium fabric.
2-thread overlock– To sew a rolled edge, an overlock, a wrapped overlock and a narrow edge.
Flatlock – For sewing two pieces of fabric together (using an overlock) and then pulling apart slightly to achieve a flat stitch which connects the two pieces. On one side it looks like a flattened overlock stitch, on the other side it looks like a ladder.
Knife blade (for the movable upper cutter)
Thread unreeling discs (5)
Thread spool nets (5)
Tweezers (placed on the inside of the front cover)
Coverstitch table B (for Cover/chainstitch)
Cone holders (5)
Stylus (placed on the inside of the front cover)
Extension table including four legs and push pin
Pfaff Coverlock 4.0 – Downloads
Why buy an overlock machine?
Comparison chart of overlock line
Stitch comparison of overlock line
Sewing lingerie the coverlock™ 4.0:
I’ve mostly used the machine to sew a coverstitch. The machine comes set up for an overlock, and switching from this to the cover stitch isn’t hard. Once the machine set up, it’s a breeze from there.
To sew the elastic at the underbust of the Madalynne X Simplicity 8711, I use stitch #23, Coverstitch wide. This stitch has two rows of straight stitches on top that are about the width of the elastic and one looper on the bottom. The instructions for the 8711 say to apply this elastic using a 1 or 3 step zig zag stitch. What I like most about using a coverstitch versus a zig zag is that it finishes the seam allowances on the inside. Even though fabrics I use don’t fray and technically I don’t need to be finished on the inside, it does give a more professional finish. Also something to note – I use a woolly nylon thread for the looper. Woolly nylon, say what? As the name suggests, woolly nylon is made from nylon fibers, which results in a thread that stretches and recovers, provides more coverage and has a softer touch. It looks “fuzzy” compared to other thread. Woolly nylon is more expensive, a bitch to thread unless you “tie off” and pull it through the needles, but is worth it in my opinion. I do have to adjust the tension of the top two needles to 8.0 when sewing the wide coverstitch – just FYI. The black thread was visible on the inside, but it was very minor – I was okay with it. My favorite brands and places to buy are below:
YLI Wooly Nylon Thread via Amazon
Fleishmans in Philadelphia
Another neat thing about the coverlock™ 4.0 is the tension release, which makes pulling the threads when you’re finished sewing easy. I’ve sewn on some cover stitch machines where I’ve felt like I was yanking on the threads so hard that I was bending the needles. No bueno.
If you’re going to pay a pretty penny for this machine, I highly recommend investing in the Coverstitch Feet Kit. Por que? Because one of the first things I did was change the standard presser foot to the clear cover stitch foot so I could see what I was sewing underneath. It’s the little things in sewing that matter. The other feet included in the kit – the flat trim foot, the join and fold edging foot and the piping and cording foot – have so much potential when it comes to sewing lingerie.
Such a great machine! If you’re looking for a coverstitch + overlock machine that has everything, literally everything, this is it. I’m still learning new features and applications, but have been very impressed and happy with the way it elevates my lingerie sewing.
Thanks so much for all that info I’m searching all kinds of serger slicker the janome cover pro 2000,the husqvarna viking S25 or the 936 or the Bernstein cover stitch machine until I seen this one the piaffe 4.0 or the 3.0 I think these 2 are awesome I’ve been reading up on all of them then I found a Piaf 4.0 that someone turned in it was to hard for them to learn so they traded it back in for something else with the 6 feet included so now I need to decide I really really like the 4.0 but kind of undecided but they assured me it’s like new or do I go with the pfaff 3.0 that’s new but I really like the 4.0 I need help can you tell me why you picked the 4.0 and how long have you had it thanks for your time enjoy your day God bless much luv tracy
Do you have a price range that I could expect to put into this machine? It sounds like a dream come true. I have a Creative 4.5 and it has been worth every penny.
It will range depending on what dealer you buy from, but generally speaking, $1700
I just bought the coverlock was wondering if you have a video for a step by step threading of the machine? That would be so helpful.
I hope you’re enjoying your new machine Lisa! The machine comes fully threaded. To change thread, cut the thread near the spool and remove it from the machine. Then, put a new spool on and tie it onto the old thread. Then pull it through.
Also, the Coverlock 4.0 comes with a CD for setting it up.
My sister just purchased this machine. I am looking for a camisole bra pattern for large busted women. I cannot find any ready made that fits and has support and separation. They all seem to be S, M, L or XL and I need a specific bra size. The others give me a uniboob which I hate. Suggestions please.
Pingback: Madalynne Intimates + Lingerie - Bralettes to Buy and Sew!

domain: design


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Meet the Preseason Top 25 Early Contenders heading into the 2018 football season
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A final score has not been reported for this JV softball game. Please help us by reporting the final score.
The Pinnacle JV softball team lost Friday's away non-conference game against Hamilton (Chandler, AZ) by a score of 12-0.
The Pinnacle JV softball team won Friday's away non-conference game against Desert Vista (Phoenix, AZ) by a score of 14-2.

domain: game


Our name also reflects the multiple partners we work with to reach our goal of conserving Species at Risk through habitat stewardship, while maintaining viable ranching operations in Alberta’s native grasslands.
We recognize that many of the species and habitats found in Alberta’s grasslands exist because of the positive practices of the ranching community. The MULTISAR program gives ranchers and farmers suitable tools to continue this tradition in modern times. To date, this collaboration between agencies and landholders has resulted in the voluntary stewardship of grassland species on over 382,000 acres in southern Alberta.
Our primary partners are landholders (mostly ranchers), the Prairie Conservation Forum, Alberta Conservation Association, Alberta Environment and Parks, Cows and Fish, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Alberta Beef Producers and Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef.
Financial and in-kind support was generously provided by:


CDs + Vinyl:
Edip Akbayram & Dostlar – Nice Yıllara Gülüm [Reissue/1982] CD/LP (Pharaway Sounds)
Remastered reissue of the third album by Turkish psychedelic singer Edip Akbayram, originally released in 1982. At this point in his career Akbayram really ramped up the silly synthesizers. Hear whooshy ’80s Rolands, vocals run through a harmonizer, and tons of totally tubular bass popping—it’s easy to hear the boundaries of the western intros and breaks. Ever wish Knight Rider’s KITT could drive to İstanbul? Take a ride on cheesy synthesizers with Edip at the wheel.
Fatima Al Qadiri – Brute CD (Hyperdub)
“After releasing an album with her underground supergroup Future Brown last year, the New York-based, Kuwait-bred musician returns as a solo artist for Brute, a follow-up to her sinogrime-inspired 2014 debut album Asiatisch. Brute explores themes of authority and ‘the relationship between police, citizens and protest worldwide, particularly of her adopted home in the United States,’ according to the label; concerns made visible in the album’s cover art, which depicts the Josh Kline sculpture ‘Po-Po’ heavily altered by art director Babak Radboy. The album ‘teeters between rage and despair,’ heard through ‘restrained percussion, sampled and processed recordings of urban protest, and [Al Qadiri’s] signature minor progressions,’ the label adds” – Fact Mag. Vinyl edition due April 1.
The Algorithm – Brute Force CD (Fixt)
The brainchild of talented French DJ, producer, and guitarist Rémi Gallego, The Algorithm infuses modern metal riffs and rhythms with a menagerie of electronic sub-genres such as IDM, chiptune, drum & bass, and trap, concocting his own style of fiercely heavy and individual music.
American Babies – An Epic Battle Between Light And Dark CD/LP (The Royal Potato Family)
American Babies is the pseudonym under which Philadelphia-based songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Tom Hamilton can be found creating his most personal and idiosyncratic work. Known for his relentless creative drive, Hamilton also shares his time with bands including Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Billy & The Kids (featuring Grateful Dead drummer Billy Kreutzmann) and Electron. It’s American Babies, however, that’s the home to which he always returns. And thus Hamilton is back once again with American Babies’ fourth studio album, An Epic Battle Between Light And Dark. True to its title, the songs assembled for this latest effort seem to define epic in sound and spirit. The opening track “Synth Driver” is a sprawling, seven minute-plus, War On Drugs-meets-Springsteen surge that’s spills over with despair, but finds hope in its darkest hours.
Guy Andrews – Our Spaces CD (Houndstooth)
Renowned electronic music producer Guy Andrews presents his debut album. Ignoring previously used DJ-friendly structures, tempos, and mixdowns, Our Spaces breathes a new power and directness; this paradigm shift is evident throughout the album, with its emphatic percussion, reeling distortions, and rare sensitivity.
Karl Appel – Musique Barbare [Reissue/1963] CD/LP (Sub Rosa)
First reissue of Dutch abstract expressionist painter Karel Appel’s 1963 masterpiece of musique concrète. A fantastic mix of electric organ fumblings, full-on riots of distorted kettle drum, and assorted percussion-room filigrees assembled into an extremely edit-heavy suite with significant tape-speed manipulation.
B-Legit – What We Been Doin’ CD (Black Armor)
Fourth album by the West Coast rapper – featuring guest appearances by Ric Roc & Harm, Young Buck & Skip, E-40, Too $hort, Suga Free, J’Rilla, Yountie, Ray J and Levitti.
B-Movie – Climate Of Fear CD/2xLP (Cleopatra)
UK new wave icons, B-Movie, best known for their 1982 international smash hit single “Nowhere Girl,” return with a brand new album, Climate Of Fear, featuring all four original founding members.
Baauer – Aa CD/LP (LuckyMe)
Aa (pronounced ‘double a’) is a record that could only be made by a kid born of New York inspired by rap and dance music culture, traveling the globe sampling and processing found sounds. This is bright, stadium, urban dance music from the 26-year-old Portuguese New Yorker (via London and Philadelphia) known as Harry Rodrigues. With special guests Future, Pusha T, M.I.A, Novelist, Leikeli47, Rustie and Tirzah, also continuing his visual collaboration with multi-medium artist, Jonathan Zawada.
Bitchin Bajas and Bonny Prince Billy – Epic Jammers And Fortunate Little Ditties CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
Epic Jammers And Fortunate Little Ditties contains moments of tranquility and trance, with the players integrating their separate ways, vibing off each other, making songs together. Bonny is at his spirit-melting celestial best wandering through a lifetime of fortunes that amount, when incanted, to a prayer to the god of many names. The Bajas access to the universal aural paintbox is unparalleled; their reach is deep. And it all went down onto a two-track reel-to-reel in primitive left-right seps that helped to define their ability to finish it in mixing.
The Body – No One Deserves Happiness CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
On No One Deserves Happiness, The Body’s Chip King and Lee Buford set out to make “the grossest pop album of all time.” The album highlights The Body’s musical adaptability as they swiftly combine and bend genres, taking their signature doom heaviness and incorporating electronic and dance elements.
The Bonnevilles – Arrow Pierced My Heart CD (Alive)
Great garage punk blues in the style of Left Lane Cruiser, Black Keys, and James Leg. Vinyl edition due April 15.
Boris with Merzbow – Gensho 2xCD (Relapse)
Boris with Merzbow – Gensho – Part One 2xLP+MP3 (Relapse)
Boris with Merzbow – Gensho – Part Two 2xLP+MP3 (Relapse)
Named after the Japanese word for “phenomenon,” Gensho is a unique release featuring over 150 minutes of new music spread across two CDs and four LPs (available as two separate double LP sets). The Boris songs are completely new, percussion-less reinventions of classic tracks from the band’s storied catalog, while Merzbow’s songs are entirely new compositions.
Ulli Bowmans – Sort By Dragging CD (Shitkatapult)
German artist Ulli Bomans presents the immense, gloomy, captivating Sort By Dragging, his second album under his given name. The dense arrangements of noise, rhythm, and traces of acoustic melodies recall Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis, while also bearing parallels to Bomans’s sculptural and visual art in the album’s passage from Bremen to Detroit and back.
Peter Brötzmann/Fred Hopkins/Peter Rashied Ali – Songlines [Reissue/1994] CD/2xLP (Trost)
Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, tárogató; Fred Hopkins: double bass; Rashied Ali: drums. Recorded by Holger Scheuermann and Jost Gebers, October 30 and 31, 1991, in Berlin.
Dennis Brown – Dubbing At King Tubby’s CD (Jamaican Recordings)
Dennis Brown has always been cited as Jamaica’s favorite singer. While Bob Marley set out to conquer the world, Brown’s popularity on the island grew with every year. His most prolific period is said to be with producer Niney the Observer, who led the singer down a more roots-oriented avenue and put Brown on some of his heaviest rhythms, which were then mixed by the Dub Master himself, King Tubby. Dubbing At King Tubby’s collects tracks from this period, when the Crown Prince of Reggae met Niney the Observer at King Tubby’s.


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Will the plans in the Browne report mean better-funded universities, or will they just exclude poorer students? Yes, no and maybe—three different experts' viewsby Diane Coyle / October 15, 2010 / Leave a comment
“It will be a disaster”
Stephen Eales Professor of astrophysics, Cardiff University
For the last two decades I have been part of the consensus that students should pay a significant contribution towards their education. I did a degree in Cambridge in the late 1970s and didn’t have to pay a penny. It was manifestly unfair that the taxes of the vast majority who did not go to university should have paid for my education, whose main beneficiary has been me. Based on this “fairness criterion,” I supported the last government’s decision to raise tuition fees to £3,000 pounds per year. However, with Browne’s proposal to raise tuition fees to at least £7,000 per year, and possibly to set no limit at all, the “fairness criterion” is now pointing firmly in the other direction.
The standard argument for fees is that, over a lifetime, a university degree is worth the initial investment. With the new tuition fees, the cost of a three-year degree will be about £36,000, and the cost of a four-year science degree (now the de facto degree for anyone interested in a career in science) will be about £48,000 pounds—not much less than the cost of the first house I bought in the 1990s. But the figure given for the lifetime economic benefit of a degree is about £100,000, which makes a degree still look a reasonable investment.
However, it is impossible to accurately project what they will earn in the future—especially given the increasing number of people going to university. Many people, of course, will not benefit at all, since the flood of graduates has meant that many jobs that in the past which didn’t require a degree now require one. And this is the same generation that will be faced with further intergenerational unfairness, like the pensions black hole and the difficulty of buying a house.
The Browne proposals will also add to the unfairness that the top universities are already dominated by the children of parents rich enough to pay for private schools. This will now get much worse. There will be bursaries to help children from the poorest backgrounds, but the people that will really be hit will be the vast bulk of the middle class who are not part of the metropolitan elite, and do not earn enough to send their kids to private school or to help much with the new tuition…

domain: finance


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If you’re a fan of big fights at 145 lbs, then the upcoming CW 157 – A.K.A. Featherweight Fun Fight Friday – might just be the card for you.
With no less than eight bouts scheduled in one of Cage Warriors’ most stacked divisions, #CW157 is a showcase for the division that once called the likes of Conor McGregor, Paddy Pimblett, Jim Alers, Alex Enlund, Nad Narimani and more champions.
Why not start with some of those illustrious former champs then?
Jordan Vucenic is, pound for pound, one of the most complete fighters to strap on the famous yellow gloves in recent years. Along with Morgan Charriere and current champion Paul Hughes, Vucenic was part of an elite trio who split a number of classic bouts between them, often by the thinnest of margins.
Now firmly on the comeback trail after dispatching Italian wunderkind Tiziano Ferranti back in March, ‘The Epidemic’ may well be one crack of the whip away from another chance to call the division his own.
The Corby man has his hands full on Friday night though; Brice Picaud is no pushover, quite the opposite in fact.
Holding black belts in both Karate and Judo and with an armed forces background that guarantees his conditioning and mental fortitude will be sharp as a tack, the Frenchman is a fearsome proposition.
More to the point, the man has been on fire in competition of late; ‘Lion Kid’ has won six of his last seven including four straight, finishing opponents with low kicks, knees, punches and all manner of submission holds.
From a Frenchman vs a former champion to a French former champion; there’s rarely a Morgan Charriere appearance that doesn’t leave an impression on a Cage Warriors card.
This outing might be ‘The Last Pirate’s most intriguing yet. Last time out versus Pedro Souza we saw a more vicious side of the usually ice-cold Charriere, as he cleaved his opponent’s forehead open with a series of razor-sharp elbows after spending a frustrating couple of minutes lodged in a modified triangle choke.
If he needed any extra impetus to rediscover that wild side, Diego Silva (who had been flown out as a backup opponent for his last bout in Dublin) instigated a backstage war of words following Charriere’s stoppage of Souza, and the back-and-forth has spilt out into the social media arena since.
To cut a long story short, both men have a point to prove come Friday night.
With two former champions covered, let’s get into a man many are tipping to be a future title holder.
There’s a CW pedigree within the Hardwick family; George is an outgoing champ, currently set to appear on Dana White’s Contender Series this summer after running amok in Cage Warriors’ lightweight division over the last two years.
Harry is clearly cut from similar cloth; a fearless, relentless puncher with as much style as he has substance.
Standing in front of him for fifteen minutes is going to be a bad time, point being.
Still, Team Nogueira’s Vitor Estevam must have seen a potential exploit; undefeated at 6-0, he welcomes a serious step up in competition against the Middlesbrough man, and he’s travelling halfway across the world to test his mettle.
Not to be overshadowed by former champions or those with the potential to be next in line, one of Europe’s pre-eminent prospects will attempt victory against the best-credentialled opponent of his career when Next Generation’s Luke Riley meets Matheus Malta.
In stark contrast to many hot prospects, Riley has tangled with some serious opposition in all six of his professional outings to date, and has come out of every contest looking that little bit more unbeatable.
Kallum Parker attempted to re-write the narrative when he dropped Riley early in their April 2023 classic, but it was the Next Generation man’s resilience that ended up being the story of the day.
After outshooting a bunch of fellow gunfighters in his ascendancy, he’ll now have to deal with a bona fide grappler for the first time in the shape of the as-yet-unfinished Nova Uniao prospect Malta.
A long-time bantamweight campaigner, CW fan favourite Liam Gittins has recently been making waves at 145lbs. ‘The Nightmare’ has got his two previous opponents out of there in the first and second rounds respectively, and will look to continue that streak when he faces Finland’s Janne Elonen-Kulmala.
The bout marks a long-overdue return for the near thirty fight veteran, who last saw action in the famous yellow gloves at Fight Night 5 back in 2012.
Also holding it down for the featherweights, crowd-pleasing scrapper Tom Mearns welcomes Bailey Gilbert to the promotion.
Both have a reputation for eye-catching performances that precede them; odds are they’ll add another to their tally on Friday night.
Speaking of crowd pleasers, GB Top Team’s Weslley Maia will compete in his third weight class under the CW banner when he welcomes Shirzad Qadrian. The Lion has been well-tested in his young career, but Maia nonetheless represents a significant step up in competition.
With former CW Academy champion George Tanasa taking on Wesley Machado and a late addition to the card in the form of Taka Mhandu vs Grant Ogborne also both taking place at the 145lb limit, the featherweights will be out on force on Fun Fight Friday!

domain: sports


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The Baggy Green’s A side, featuring five-day vice-captain Brad Haddin, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon and Pattinson, as well as Test hopefuls Usman Khawaja, Fawad Ahmed and Smith, closed a rain-affected day one of 248 for six. That was thanks largely to a 109-run alliance between all-rounder Smith (104 not out) and Pattinson (42*), who rescued the situation after the top order had struggled. Nic Maddinson went for six – one of Max Sorenson’s four scalps – while Khawaja was cleaned up for a five-ball duck. Alex Doolan did make 40 but Haddin’s two and Siddle’s duck meant trouble was brewing. Moses Henriques made 47 to steady things, though, with Smith and Pattinson then easing the pressure before the rain came. Press Association An Australian side featuring a number of their likely Ashes starters were thankful to a seventh-wicket stand between Steve Smith and James Pattinson as they fought back against Ireland.
Wellington Police notes for Wednesday, February 4, 2015:â€¢12:21 a.m. Officers took a report of Children In Need of Care in the 1300 block Michigan, Wellington which occurred Feb. 1, 2015.â€¢12:21 a.m. Officers investigated possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia in the 1300 block Michigan, Wellington. Arrests made on Feb. 1, 2015.â€¢9:48 a.m. Officers took a report of a juvenile problem by a known suspect in the 200 block N. B, Wellington.â€¢11:30 a.m. Officer investigated forgery and theft in the 1000 block W. 8th, Wellington by a known suspect.â€¢1:27 p.m. Officers investigated making false information in the 2000 block E. 16th, Wellington.â€¢3:31 p.m. Officers took a report of suspicious activity in the 600 block N. Delrose, Wellington.â€¢4:27 p.m. Officers took a report of found cell phone and case in the 1200 block S. C, Wellington.


Home > News > Elections 2004 >
BJP should look for a younger leader: Congress
April 30, 2004 19:13 IST
Last Updated: April 30, 2004 22:06 IST
Claiming that the prime minister's 'forgetfulness' has become a national issue in the elections, Congress on Friday suggested that Bharatiya Janata Party look for a 'youthful' leader to replace Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"We have a prime minister who is even forgetting the dates of polls in his constituency (Lucknow) and asking the people to cast their votes on September 5," party spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters in Delhi.
Recently, the prime minister even forgot whether the polls were for the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha and the names of his party's candidates while campaigning in Chhattisgarh.
He was concerned about the kind of promises Vajpayee may make to Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf and later forget them.
"In such a situation, people have realised that the BJP needs a younger leader," he said.Claiming that Congress, its allies and Left Front were heading for a 'clear victory' in the polls, Sibal said, "Nothing is left with the ruling National Democratic Alliance, not even Hindutva. Only a prime minister who does not even remember the dates of the polls."


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Updated: Friday 3:45 p.m.
Seven City Council members are condemning Chestnut Hill College for discriminating against a black student and fighting against recommendations from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission about the incident.
Led by Helen Gym and Cindy Bass, the resolution against the Northwest Philly college was introduced in Council’s session Thursday morning. It stems from the 2012 case of then-student Allan-Michael Meads.
“Chestnut Hill College’s response to the findings of the PHRC,” the resolution reads, “has the potential to set a dangerous precedent for over fifty religious colleges and universities across the state who serve thousands of students who deserve to be protected from racial, gender, religious, and other forms of recognized discrimination.”
Danielle Banks, the Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young partner representing Chestnut Hill College, described the findings of the PHRC as similar to a probable cause and said neither Bass nor Gym contacted the college before introducing the resolution Thursday.
“More than half of what’s in the resolution,” Banks said, “is just plain wrong.”
Meads, according to the report from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, was producing the play “A Raisin In the Sun” at Chestnut Hill College in collaboration with the African American Awareness Society. To prepare for it, he bought supplies and other pieces necessary for production. When local businesses provided him with a discount, Meads offered them complimentary tickets. He also gave complimentary tickets to middle school students.
After the play, and several weeks before his 2012 graduation, Meads was expelled from Chestnut Hill for alleged theft. The school claimed Meads was untruthful in reporting proceeds from the play and spent money for his own benefit, particularly for a cast party at Applebee’s. It claimed there should have been a $2,248 profit from the play. Meads said there were no profits after the cast party and other reimbursements.
Banks said Meads was asked several times for the proceeds from the play and was the first student in charge of a production to ever not return any. A disciplinary hearing was held after he kept avoiding college leadership. Banks said that during the hearings Meads said he thought he deserved the money.
“This is a young man who unfortunately made a bad judgement call,” Banks said. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, she said, Meads claimed he was being punished by the college because he’s black.
The PHRC’s report outlined several examples of theft perpetrated by white students at Chestnut Hill College and found most of the punishments less severe. One white woman had to write a reflection paper. Many others faced no discipline. A white man charged with drug possession was suspended for two semesters but allowed to re-enroll.
It found that black students, who comprise about 35 percent of the college’s student body, were much more likely to face stiff penalties. From 2006 to 2012, the report stated, expulsions were rare. Only three students faced that possible punishment. One was white. The two black students who were charged with a violation at the school were either suspended or expelled.
For allegedly discriminating against Meads, the PHRC directed Chestnut Hill remove the expulsion from Meads’ transcript, pay three years of salary equal to the average Chestnut Hill grad and reimburse some of his tuition expenses from Cheyney University, where Meads attended after he was expelled.
But Chestnut Hill College has fought in court against the findings of discrimination. It filed a lawsuit in the Commonwealth Court essentially arguing that the PHRC and the Human Relations Act have no bearing on it because it is a religious-based institution. In a court case decided in 1988, the Court found the PHRC has no jurisdiction over Catholic high schools.
Chestnut Hill College is private but received $950,000 in state grants and student loans in fiscal year 2013-14, according to the City Council resolution. The school is facing difficult financial circumstances. With a $2 million shortfall on the horizon, the college cut salaries for faculty this summer. Forbes gave Chestnut Hill College a D for financial health last year.
Banks said if the Commonwealth Court rules the PHRC does have jurisdiction over Chestnut Hill College, the school would maintain it did not discriminate against Meads in what would be a public hearing.
“We have and will defend this vigorously,” she said.
Gym sponsored the resolution, and Bass was the first co-sponsor. Bass said Gym began working on the resolution after a black staffer who attended Chestnut Hill College shared more details of the case and “the feeling of being treated differently on campus.”
“She had a very strong perspective,” Bass said, “and I think the ruling backed up what she felt and what others had felt.”
Banks said she agreed to meet with Bass next Wednesday.

domain: sociology


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The concepts of diversity and inclusion have great cultural power in American society right now. Among their proponents, however, there is a failure to recognize these concepts as part of a paradigm indelibly intertwined with American culture and history. While many academics have been longstanding critics of American imperialism, both past and present, many contemporary anthropologists fail to recognize the imperial footprint of the ideas and values that course through that paradigm’s uniquely Americanist premises. This essay examines the historical source of this diversity paradigm and seeks to describe its imperialist practices, specifically through an analysis of the export of the social prism that distills these premises to the wealthy Arab state of Qatar and the narratives woven into its new slavery museum.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is a collection of small islands just off the east coast of Saudi Arabia. Although geographically of little note, the islands are remarkable for numerous reasons. They make a cameo appearance in the Epic of Gilgamesh—perhaps the oldest of human poems. Subsequent Grecian seafarers mention the islands in various texts: throughout prehistory, Bahrain was a vital port and regional trading post. Merchants flocked there for the rich pearl fishery on which the islands’ economy depended. Captains came to resupply their vessels: fresh water bubbled from the ground in various places, and the agricultural villages scattered about allowed ships to replenish their food supplies before continuing onward.
Oil was first discovered and exploited in Bahrain. For much of the twentieth century, Bahrain was the seat of the British colonial apparatus in the Persian Gulf. These two facts are, of course, related. However, the British were not the first outsiders to seek to control the islands. The history of Bahrain consists of successive waves of outsiders, all seeking to govern the islands, their peoples and resources. Although the Ottomans, Portuguese, Persians from across the Gulf, and various tribes from the Arabian mainland all preceded the British, it’s the British who are thought to have left the most lasting mark.
The British were present in the Persian Gulf in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but it wasn’t until the earliest decades of the twentieth century that their power over the islands was consolidated. The story is complex, but, essentially, the British established co-sovereignty with the local Bahraini ruler. This co-sovereignty produced dual systems of taxation, bifurcated courts, dual coercive bodies, overlapping religious institutions and a variety of other parallel institutions of governance. Implementing this dual system required categorizing the resident population into local and foreign subjects, an odd permutation of the usual desire for legibility and simplification that preface emergent nationalisms, as described by James Scott in Seeing Like a State. With a mobile, transitory, ethnically heterogeneous and religiously diverse population accumulated over millennia of interactions with the peoples of the Indian Ocean and beyond, the task of distinguishing foreigners from locals was far from straightforward. To address this jurisdictional complexity and establish which set of laws applied to whom, the British relied on the insights of a handful of travelers and colonial agents and a miscellaneous assortment of emissaries, all of whom had only the most superficial grasp of the local cultural terrain.
The Britishers’ superficial grasp of Bahrain’s social terrain is the starting point of Omar AlShehabi’s illuminating paper on the legacy of their imperial presence. In that paper (and in his book Contested Modernity), AlShehabi demonstrates that the British foregrounded a particular set of social cleavages in the diverse population that resided on the islands more than a century ago. Foremost amongst these was the sectarian divide between the Sunni and Shi’a portions of the Bahraini population. In addition to that fundamental sectarian bifurcation, the British demarcated various ethnic groupings—the Huwala (Sunni Persians who claim Arab ancestry), the tribes (Arabs of tribal origin from the Saudi mainland), the Baharna (Shia Muslims of Arab ethnic origin from Bahrain and the eastern province of Saudi Arabia), and so forth. AlShehabi contends that the British ethnosectarian gaze was largely oblivious to the social fabric that preceded their arrival, that the resulting imposition of that ethnosectarian gaze extinguished various solidarities that traversed these cleavages, and more profoundly, that the “epistemic units for analysing local actors” purveyed by the British and calcified in policy a century ago remain the fundamental units by which the Bahraini population is comprehended by outsiders, and by which Bahrainis themselves understand each other and how they fit together in society.
For AlShehabi, the British colonial apparatus in Bahrain constructed a social prism that remains foundational to Bahraini society in the contemporary era. Over the course of the intervening century, this social prism reinforced—or manufactured—the very social categories and divisions that it initially purported to delineate and describe. The social prism through which Bahrainis see each other, and through which outsiders see Bahrain, is a durable and influential social construct.
My shift from AlShehabi’s ethnosectarian gaze to the concept of a social prism is a deliberate one. In doing so, I seek to deemphasize the colonial source of this particular ordering of human diversity, for it is an anthropological truism that culture is inherited, and that we are born into a world littered with cultural detritus mostly forged in circumstances different from those we encounter today. In Marx’s resonant phrasing, humans make their own history, but “not in conditions of their own making.” Instead, I seek to emphasize the durability of this particular social prism, the changing circumstances in which it thrived, and the various social actors who deployed (and continue to deploy) the epistemic units originally utilized by the British a century ago. Generally speaking, what I mean by a social prism is a paradigm, a discourse, an ideology, a collective perspective, a shared understanding—a framework by which we order and categorize the other humans in society.
This is somewhat familiar ground in anthropology. In 1934, anthropologist Ruth Benedict noted that, “No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking.” That is how anthropologists generally think about culture. But by a social prism, I mean not simply the framework by which one “sees the world,” but how we humans arrange, organize and categorize the myriad other humans in our social world. Anthropologists have long been fascinated by groupings such as genders, moieties, age grades, age sets, clans and tribes, castes, ethnicities, sects and many more. With the concept of a social prism, I’m focused on these particular, inherited, and culturally-moored ways of organizing and grouping human difference. In cultural settings foreign to the observer, these social prisms are often strikingly obvious. Conversely, we’re often oblivious to the social prism we ourselves deploy. As Benedict notes, “it’s hard to be conscious of the eyes through which one looks.”
Just as a prism divides light into components, a social prism subdivides humanity. In Bahrain, this social prism underwrote the consolidation of social power in the hands of some Bahrainis at the expense of others. And this particular social prism is still influential a century after its implementation, as AlShehabi notes. In 2011, the kingdom was rocked like none of the other wealthy Gulf States by the social frictions conjured by the Arab Spring. The disenfranchised Shi’a majority took to the streets to protest the Sunni leadership and sectarian inequality. Those social frictions, suddenly visible to the world, were preceded by numerous episodes that escaped global attention, almost all of which followed a similar pattern: the disenfranchised Shi’a Baharna (whose ancestors were the island’s main agriculturalists) chafed under the rule of the minority tribal Sunni Bahrainis, who oppressed them throughout the twentieth century.
This social prism, then, has shaped how Bahrainis interact with one another, how social movements were organized in the past, how they are organized today, how Bahrainis understand one another, and with whom they affiliate. This social prism survived the collapse of the pearling economy and the subsequent penury of the early twentieth century. It persevered through the decades of British administration and the boom of the oil industry. It remained in place through independence and the florescence of pan-Arab nationalism in the 1970s. It endured in Bahrain’s increasing connection with the global system, and it remained a fixture amidst the islands’ tight political, economic and social ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This social prism, with its ethnosectarian bifurcation, is an enduring feature of Bahraini society today, and the categories it constructed are now a social reality. This process resembles what Kwame Anthony Appiah, in his book The Lies That Bind, refers to as the medusa syndrome: “what the state gazes upon, it tends to turn into stone. It sculpts what it purports to merely acknowledge.”
The American identitarian Left—the variety of progressivism now dominant on college campuses, in portions of leftist America, and in growing swathes of the American mediascape—promotes a distinct social prism. Many (if not all) of its proponents fail to grasp the fact that the identitarian paradigm is an American product. Blind to their ethnocentricity, and unaware of their own complicity in promoting this paradigm, these proponents are oblivious to the ways in which this prism has been imposed on culturally diverse peoples around the world. In the righteous guise of promoting diversity and inclusion, American social categories and divisions masquerade as universal social truths. The imposition of this social prism on other societies uses the conduits of imperial dominance that many of its most vociferous proponents have long critiqued. Indeed, the imperial dissemination of this American social prism and the ideological colonization of fertile intellectual traditions elsewhere in the world coincides with a clamor to decolonize various institutions in many wealthy societies.
The Diversity Paradigm
What if the way we perceive a problem is already part of the problem?—Slavoj Žižek
What I will here call the American diversity paradigm has also been referred to as the disorganized postmodernist religion of Social Justice, the bourgeois-identitarian left, and that loose-knit conglomeration of actors and ideas described elsewhere in this magazine as “most readily identifiable with identity politics and political correctness (along with the more recent buzzword concepts of equity, diversity and inclusion).” It is a multifaceted framework of ideas and activisms that coalesce around the vision of a more egalitarian social world. This paradigm suggests the value of certain aspects of our human differences, and compels us to see value in those different from ourselves. Its American version centers on ethnic difference, broadly and popularly conceptualized as race.
Over two decades, however, other sorts of difference have emerged as amenable to this paradigm’s social logic—differences of gender, religion, mental health or capacity, physical health or capacity, and body size and weight. Intersectionality analyzes how these various identities interact in a social logic with oppression at its core. This has facilitated the rise of what Campbell and Manning refer to as victimhood culture and, in academia, grievance studies departments that examine the victimhood of various groups. The ongoing delineation and extrapolation of these identity categories has become the principal activity of much American activism and is the defining purpose of contemporary Social Justice in America. These identitarian assertions of difference continue to fragment American society—a society previously constructed upon a sense of national belonging, which, for much of its lifespan, was more patriarchal, racist, heteronormative and hierarchical than most Americans find acceptable today. One of the proximate outcomes of the ascension of the diversity paradigm has been a sustained focus on the inclusion of previously marginalized groups, and simultaneously, a substantial extension of our understanding of the process and forces that marginalized these groups to begin with.
In his magisterial introduction to French philosopher Louis Althusser’s work, Frederic Jameson notes that, for Althusser, “ideology is institutional first and foremost and only later on to be considered a matter of consciousness.” The diversity paradigm’s institutional and legal manifestations exemplify Jameson’s claim. Some analyses estimate that the contemporary diversity industry has an $8 billion economic footprint. Maya Beasley has estimated that it is “worth $200 billion, at least $8 billion of which goes to diversity trainings.”
The institutional bastions of this expansive diversity industry are college campuses, like the one where I work. Entirely new administrative departments have been formed to serve this industry, providing a salaried foundation for the administrators and faculty who service this social prism. Disciples of the diversity paradigm shuttle between campuses, prospering in this new academic economy. Unlike scholars of yesteryear, the entrepreneurial stars of the diversity ecosystem are often represented by agencies, who help negotiate their speaking fees and positions. Like the sectarian identity entrepreneurs described by Toby Matthiesen in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, a busy legion of identity entrepreneurs has emerged in the institutional ecosystem fostered by the American diversity paradigm.
On these same campuses, hundreds of thousands of young adults, away from home for the first time in their lives, are immersed in classrooms where this paradigm is broadcasted, considered, constructed, discussed and extended. These same institutions have established grievance processes to adjudicate diversity-based complaints. Administrations and faculties seek to hire new colleagues who bring different life experiences to the campus. Via the exorbitant tuition rates at most private colleges in America, these institutions reroute broader capitalist inequalities in an attempt to diversify student populations along the identity categories established by this social prism. Although the resulting campuses better reflect some aspects of America’s evolving demography, they continue to strive to reflect the country’s demography ever more closely. These efforts purportedly enrich American campus culture, and universities compete to fulfill various related metrics. Figure three illustrates how these epistemic categories are constructed and reinforced by the institutional and administrative ecosystem of college campuses. Students are rapidly immersed in an institutionally codified epistemic system, which highlights their membership in (or absence from) the identity categories outlined in the diversity paradigm. These epistemic assertions are coupled with access to resources in the academic ecosystem (e.g. Figure 3), thereby assuring broad fealty to the epistemic categories and the social prism they comprise.
I am ambivalent about these developments. I’ve devoted my professional career to international social justice. I am particularly energized by the American populace’s expanding attention to the structural forces that generate inequality along socially constructed lines of what’s nowadays referred to as “intersectionality,” a concept deconstructed in Lindsay and Nayna’s recent piece “Postmodern Religion and the Faith of Social Justice.” I’m concerned, however, that the militant particularisms that result from contemporary American identity politics and our society’s ongoing social fragmentation may blind us to the capitalist forces that generate that inequality to begin with. Plus, we’re embroiled in arguments about identity as our planet’s atmosphere clouds with the toxic detritus of human activity, our oceans fill with trash, our environmental systems collapse and our global population continues to grow. As I tell my students, it seems we’ve stumbled into an angry debate about who’s entitled to the poshest cabins on a ship that’s damaged, taking on water, listing to starboard, and likely headed to a watery grave. Welcome aboard, young adults!
The Diversity Paradigm’s American Pedigree
The diversity paradigm was formed by American history and social relations. The influence of this American context is visible in multiple places.
The centrality of ethnicity—the socially constructed idea of race—is a product of American history and social relations. Euro-American settlers displaced most native peoples from their territories or, in some cases, sought to eradicate them altogether. Many of these settlers were connected to transnational, proto-capitalist networks of commerce and exchange, and some thereby tapped into the preexistent exchange of enslaved humans which, after the fall of Constantinople, consolidated extraction around the African continent. In order to build a plantation economy in parts of southern North America, some American settlers imported a veritable army of slaves to reinforce a fledgling agricultural economy. This settler and slave-owning society—which was to become the world’s richest democracy—periodically welcomed or prevented the flow of immigrants to America. Over two centuries, these events (and others) yielded the mosaic of ethnic difference that characterizes contemporary North American demography. Ethnic identity—and the grouping of various ethnicities into broader social constructions of race—is central to the diversity paradigm, and deeply intertwined with the American experience. Indeed, the paradigm not only reifies the socially constructed divisions of race, but actively combats perspectives that seek to deemphasize race.
This all took place within a constitutional democracy. The American constitution provides a recurring point of reference to which assertions concerning rights and entitlements are tied. And the fact that America is a democracy enabled those assertions to be made in the public sphere and to seek traction via populist sentiment. While some rights were limited or unavailable to many residents for various periods of American history, it was the possibilities presented by democracy in America — the possibility of national belonging, the idealization of equality, and governance for the people by the people — that fueled American social relations. This democratic context is integral to the history of the present American moment. It represents a necessary condition for the coalescence of the diversity paradigm in the contemporary era, and it connects that paradigm to the atomistic individualism that undergirds so much of the American experience. Reflecting that legacy, the diversity paradigm is suffused with a democratic and populist ethos. It would be hard to envision such a paradigm emerging under a communist system, a dictatorship, or a somewhat benevolent Arabian tribal-authoritarian system discussed in this essay. The social relations, circumstances and possibilities would have been very different in those cases.
The assimilationist philosophy that underpins American nationalism is another facet of the American particularism of the diversity paradigm. That assimiliationism is not unique to the United States. But the fundamental idea that people can become citizens by naturalization, rather than birth, differentiates America from many other contemporary nation-states. In neither Bahrain nor Qatar, for example, is this a possibility for almost any foreigner. In many nations, citizenship and belonging are dependent on ethnicity, ancestry or birth. The goal of integration and the value bestowed upon inclusion differentiate the diversity paradigm from the social contexts of many other contemporary nations, making it quintessentially American.
The centrality of blackness is another feature of the diversity paradigm’s American pedigree. The traumatic experiences of the non-migrant core of this American ethnic minority—formerly slaves, later emancipated, but structurally disadvantaged well into the contemporary era—are central to the paradigm. Other American ethnic groups (including both minority groups under-represented in academia, such as Latino-Americans, and those over-represented, such as Asian-Americans) are conceptualized as allies—a conceptualization which assets the centrality of African-Americans to the diversity paradigm against a backdrop of white ethnic dominance. These social relations have deep parallels in the handful of other settler societies, and some less precise parallels in the more numerous postcolonial societies, but are much less common in other parts of the globe. They mark the diversity paradigm as American. It’s difficult to imagine the diversity paradigm and its identitarian social politics having emerged in a more homogenous ethnic context, such as that of Japan, for example.
Individualism is central to the American ethos. It dovetails with the concept of identity at the core of the diversity paradigm. In American identitarian logic, rights and entitlements cohere to individuals. Identitarianism conjures a complicated and performative culture that reinforces this conceptualization of the individual, whereby her or his “project of the self” is the expression of essentialized, primordial qualities that all individuals purportedly possess. In the identitarian social field, social and historical wounds are conjured or bared in that performative culture’s therapeutic discourse. Simultaneously, the economic forces that generate structural inequality are largely dismissed as natural laws and therefore ignored. In short, identity politics is the contemporary manifestation of the longstanding American deification of the individual, and neglect of the collective and social aspects of human existence. To extend the observations made by Gibson-Graham more than a decade ago, the identitarian paradigm inhibits our capacity to imagine real, substantial change by viewing the most significant forces at work—the capitalist engines of inequality—as beyond the realm of human intervention.
In summary, the diversity paradigm is a social prism inextricably tied to the American experience. We can see this in the centrality of ethnicity; in the presupposition of a democratic context; in the valorization of assimilationist goals; in the centrality of blackness; and in its underlying individualism. A sustained evaluation of this paradigm, its achievements, and its impact on American society is beyond the scope of this essay, and also beyond my capacities. But if I were to begin to venture down that path, I would suggest that beyond the valuable awarenesses this paradigm has brought into focus — highlighting some vectors of inequality, albeit while obscuring others — in my estimation this social prism seems fundamentally counterproductive to its own purported interests and goals. Under the cloak of combatting racism and discrimination, the American diversity paradigm promotes the identitarian divisions integral to the frictions it seeks to combat, and simultaneously mutes our shared human condition. To rephrase Zizek, in manufacturing the very conditions it seeks to resolve, the way the diversity paradigm frames the problem is itself the problem.
The Slavery Museum in Qatar
Sheikha Moza is an impressive and powerful woman. She is the second wife of Qatar’s former emir and mother of the current emir. She is also substantially responsible for Qatar’s greater openness to the wider world in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Midway through that period, she evidently decided that Qatar needed a slavery museum. It is the nature of Qatar’s benevolent authoritarianism that these decisions occur out of view, beyond public scrutiny, and for reasons and motivations that only perhaps Sheikha Moza herself knows. But, in Qatar, decisions of this sort are funded by vast reservoirs of capital: they call forth a small army of consultants, advisors, urban planners, architects, engineers and finally the transnational migrant workers who construct and service the project. Indeed, as I’ve argued elsewhere, the Qatari economy revolves around state expenditures on these sorts of projects and megaprojects.
In the aftermath of her decision, there was a juncture at which I was asked to professionally evaluate plans for the museum’s exhibitions and the narratives therein. During my conversations with these other consultants and the planning team, I worked with several different directors. One of them clearly articulated to me that the mission of the museum was to “confront the Qataris with the reality of their own social history” — to deconstruct modern Qatari identity, to begin its reconstruction anew, and to do so with the Qatari population of former slaves at center stage. Naturally, as an ethnographer with some tenure in Qatar, I began discussing the plans for the slavery museum with my Qatari friends, acquaintances, former students, and colleagues. Through the craft of ethnography, my assessments and my perspectives depend almost entirely on others’ perspectives and opinions—in this case, on cultural insiders’ vantage point(s) on this new museum and the ideas to be presented therein. I heard a variety of things in those conversations years ago, but perhaps the most memorable fragment came from a Qatari woman who I’ve long considered a close friend. As a mother of two and a veritable titan in Qatari academia, she noted that the slavery museum was, in her estimation, a terrible idea. What would Qatar gain, she asked me rhetorically, from sending its schoolchildren to this museum, and thereby teaching them that the darker-skinned Qatari citizens in their tribes and families are to be differentiated from other citizens by their distant ancestry?
As she and others described it, after the abolition of slavery in Qatar, former slaves usually took the name of the tribe and family to whom they had belonged, if they had not done so already. In Qatar, and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, the post-abolishment integration of the slave population happened through the social logic of the family, clan, and tribe—the logic of indigenous social organization in Arabia. In Qatar, therefore, the ongoing social digestion of ethnic and ancestral difference occurs through the matrix of indigenous social forms. The introduction of the idea that Qataris of African ancestry comprised a new identity grouping in the peninsula’s society cut across the predominant tribal matrix by which families and clans were arranged. Much like the British in Bahrain a century ago, the museum reified one aspect of the Qatari citizenry—emphasizing blackness over the other vectors of difference in the Qatari citizenry—while muting others. Moreover, the museum’s conceptualization slavery around blackness excluded other former slave populations present on the peninsula, including, for example, Balochis from the territories mostly now in Pakistan and Iran.
To confront Qataris with this reality is actually to impose a new, different, foreign calculus of belonging. The social prism at work here betrays its western pedigree, the result perhaps of the many consultants and other foreigners involved in the museum, but also reflecting a global concept of modernity in which slavery museums are symbolically important possessions of modern, developed nations, and integral to their presentation of a national narrative. The American social prism underpinning the museum is largely oblivious to other features of Qatar’s social history. It’s blind to other historical sources of Arabian slavery, to the indigenous tribal form of social organization, to the bedu/hadhar division that’s a significant social feature of Arabian society, and to the sectarian differences that remain significant in most of Arabia. Indeed, as Omar AlShehabi contends, several of these social categories were themselves largely the result of British imperialism. But all these other social fissures are eclipsed by the arrival of the imperialist American diversity paradigm.
The identification of some of Qatar’s former slaves and their descendants as a discrete social category — as a particular type and a discernible sort of Qatari citizen that can and should coalesce in an ethnic sociopolitical movement — can be understood as the imposition of a Western social prism. That social prism pulls blackness from its indigenous articulation in the families, clans and tribes by which much of Qatari society is organized, and connects that newly conceptualized portion of the Qatari citizenry with an Atlantic blackness that’s inextricably entwined with settler societies and slavery in the New World. Although the reverberations of these historical and western relations has fueled the rise of the American diversity paradigm, the imposition of this calculus of belonging on Qatar, and on other peoples of the Arabian Peninsula, traces its roots to the hegemony of the American diversity paradigm and its implementation via processes and conduits that are recognizably imperial in nature.
Some Concluding Thoughts
As a cultural anthropologist whose research and fieldwork is primarily focused on the Middle East, South Asia, and the interconnections between those regions, in this essay I’ve sought to convey my experiences with the exportation and imposition of this American paradigm to other parts of the world. In the twentieth century, American academics mounted numerous substantial critiques concerned with various facets of American imperialism. Indeed, that thread has been a recurring theme in anthropology for much of the discipline’s history. Consider some of the numerous paradigms identified, extrapolated, and critiqued by anthropologists and other academics in this vein: post-war modernization theory, for example, infused international relations and development efforts for much of the latter half of the twentieth century, cultivating both infrastructural changes, ideological shifts and new dependencies in countries around the globe. Similarly, via the Green Revolution the United States foisted industrial agricultural practices on small scale farmers in a constellation of underdeveloped states worldwide, thereby forever changing local communities and building all sorts of new dependencies as a result. Additionally, the United States has been a wellspring source in the export of consumer culture to nearly every cranny of the contemporary world. And for decades, the United States has encouraged and facilitated the denuding of less developed nations’ public sectors through structural adjustment policies and neoliberal “reforms.” Together, these are only a handful of examples of the imperialist facets of the America that anthropologists and others have discerned in past decades. All of these sets of ideas were previously seen by most in anthropology (and by many in other disciplinary traditions) as active venues of American imperialism. In anthropology, these facets of American imperialism were primarily assessed for their deleterious impact on global cultural diversity, which the discipline holds as a key value in the human experience.
In this essay, I contend that America’s diversity paradigm—a social prism that comprises both a conceptualization of how we fit together and also the institutional forms to support that framing of society—is being purveyed along those very same imperial conduits. Indeed, I suggest the American diversity paradigm, as another of these sorts of conceptual assemblages, comprises a set of ideas that order and inform our collective aspirations and stock our imaginations. With an ethnocentricity that is all too human, we Americans are actively exporting our diversity paradigm in imperial fashion. Via the trappings of modernity and progressivism, it arrives not by gunboat, nor via the conditions of IMF loans, but rather in the syllabuses configured by western faculty at satellite universities, via the themes established for the academic workshops that convene international scholars, by the reporting requirements we demand of the programs to which we send American students to study abroad, and by the quotidian emanations of the American-dominated global mediasphere. In my estimation, the closest recent parallel in American history is the exportation and sustained hegemony of neoliberalism — a fairly recent ideological crusade that was, as Naomi Klein so compellingly illuminated, also cultivated in the intellectual hothouse of American academia.
To be clear, anthropology has a long history of grappling with cultural diffusion, deterritorialization, and the mobilities of our interconnected world. Ideas, beliefs, values and practices spread through these networks and connections, and cultural differences are not maintained in stasis. To assert some inviolable connection between culture and place merely leads to the preposterous illogic of ongoing claims concerning cultural “appropriations,” claims that irrationally attempt to address the contemporary landscape of inequality in our world. I want to give no credence to those logics with this argument. But I can certainly recognize that some in this landscape of inequality are better positioned to influence, shape, and promulgate their values and ideas than others. And that describes our current juncture—we are more interconnected than ever before, but we must endeavor to maintain the human treasure of cultural difference. Empathy, understanding, reflexivity, tolerance, and interest in difference can counterbalance these inequities, as anthropology has shown in the last century. None of that is apparent at the frontiers where the diversity paradigm meets difference. Instead, that ideology seems incapable of tolerating difference. In rejecting cultural differences unaligned with its key values, the diversity paradigm and those who promulgate it help extinguish the remnants of cultural diversity that somehow persevered in the roiling interrelations of the contemporary era.


Plan map of the Ben Gurion Canal that Israel will build. Photo/wikipedia
GAZA – The Ben Gurion Canal Project or Israel Canal is a canal project proposed through the state of Israel. This canal will connect the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea.
David Ben Gurion is considered the Founding Father of Israel and Israel’s first Prime Minister. Therefore, this canal will be named the Ben Gurion Canal.
This canal is said to rival the Suez Canal which runs through Egypt. Israel and Western countries have experienced many disruptions in their history across the Suez Canal.
Some of the problems that have arisen include the ban on Israel passing through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Tiran, the closure of the Suez Canal (1956–1957), the closure of the Suez Canal (1967–1975), and the blockage of the Suez Canal in 2021.
The length of the Ben Gurion Canal is almost a third longer than the Suez Canal, which is 120.1 miles (193.3 km), which is about 182 mi (292.9 km).
The cost of building Israel’s canal is estimated at between USD 16-USD 55 billion.
The Ben Gurion Canal is planned to be built starting from the southern tip at the Gulf of Aqaba, through the Israeli port city of Eilat on the border of Israel and Jordan, through the Arabah Valley for about 100 km between the Negev Mountains and the Jordanian Highlands and turning to the West before the Dead and Sea basins. Mati is 430.5 meters (1,412 feet) below sea level, and passes through a valley in the Negev Mountains, then heads north again to surround the Gaza Strip and connect with the Mediterranean Sea.
So, this is where the news of Israel’s attempt to seize the Gaza Strip is linked to the Zionist regime’s plans to build the Ben Gurion Canal.
Rather than having the canal built around the Gaza Strip, which would be longer, the canal could be shorter if it crosses territory controlled by Hamas.


In Australia, six months later, it was possible to catch a combed crocodile. This was reported by the Daily Mail.
The reptile was 2.1 meters long and lived close to the aeration station near Port Douglas in the north of Queensland. For six months, the crocodile skillfully hid in a sewage treatment plant.
Reptile trapping experts eventually managed to catch him. Now the predator is delivered to the crocodile farm.
Douglas County head Julie Lee (Julie Leu) expressed relief that the reptile was caught, and now the life of the workers at the aeration station is not in danger: “The Council was worried about the presence of a crocodile in the sewage treatment plant. We are grateful to the Rangers for all the efforts to catch the reptile. ”
The ridge crocodile is considered one of the largest predators on the planet. Males of this species reach seven meters in length and can weigh up to two tons.