text:
Leaked documents on TTIP
EU and US NGOs and Trade Unions may be largely excluded from the TTIP negotiations but they are not silent… 24 US and 28 EU organisations pool their opposition in this detailed letter to the US and EU Trade negotiators:
TTIP: Misguided proposals on finance
To: Ambassador Michael Froman
United States Trade Representative
Commissioner Karel De Gucht
Commissioner for Trade, European Commission
October 1, 2014
We, the undersigned civil society organizations from the United States and the European Union (EU), write with regards to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations and their potential impact on financial regulations.
We understand that a goal of the TTIP is to further liberalise the transatlantic financial services market. We further understand that liberalization would be done using rules that simultaneously constrain countries’ ability to maintain or create regulatory policies with respect to liberalized sectors.
We believe it is highly inappropriate to include terms implicating financial regulation in an industry-dominated, non-transparent “trade” negotiation. Financial regulations do not belong in a framework that targets regulations as potential “barriers to trade.” Such a framework could chill or roll back post-crisis efforts to re-regulate finance on both sides of the Atlantic whereas further regulation of the sector is much needed. Further, proposals to negotiate TTIP rules affecting regulation of the financial sector could turn financial regulations into bargaining chips that could be traded away for other concessions. We urge you to consider and respond to our specific concerns regarding specific TTIP proposals that would threaten financial stability measures and would limit States’ ability to restore the financial system’s role of serving the real economy.
First, we believe that including regulatory cooperation on financial services in TTIP is misguided and we support the U.S. government’s rejection of that EU demand. While some degree of cross-border financial regulatory and supervisory cooperation is advisable to prevent regulatory arbitrage, such cooperation is already occurring in other international and bilateral fora. Should further cooperation be needed, it should take place in these fora, which should be reinforced for that purpose.
A TTIP-created process, particularly one conducted away from parliamentary and public scrutiny with heavy involvement from industry advisors, is not the appropriate forum to discuss regulatory cooperation. The EU proposals on regulatory cooperation would require U.S. and EU regulators to consult each other before new rules even are proposed to parliamentary bodies. Worse, the EU proposals would give industry “stakeholders” multiple opportunities to see regulations in preliminary draft form and to lobby policymakers against their enactment. These “stakeholders” are
the same European and U.S. banks that have proven their resolve – and success – in chilling and weakening the re-regulation of finance in the EU and United States. Unsurprisingly, they are lobbying hard for a TTIP “regulatory cooperation” mechanism for the financial sector. At best, this mechanism would delay implementation of needed financial reforms. At worst, it would result in a watering down or outright blockage of said reforms.
This proposal is all the more dangerous given the terms in the EU’s leaked proposal that U.S. or EU regulations would need to be analysed to determine whether they would have an unacceptable impact on trade. Such a requirement could impose a presumption that regulations must be judged on the basis of their trade impact rather than their effectiveness as public interest policies promoting financial stability. Such a requirement would also threaten regulatory safeguards that rightly restrict trade by their very design (e.g. restrictions on risky financial products).
While other trade limitations arise out of the differences between U.S. and EU approaches to regulation rather than the regulations themselves, the notion that a TTIP-created process should eliminate all such differences is also misguided. First, financial regulators and central bankers recognise that highly interconnected, financial markets exacerbated the financial crisis. Second, differences between nations in approaches to normative measures, monitoring and enforcement should be allowed and expected as the normal outgrowth of democratic policymaking. The proposed regulatory cooperation framework is premised on limiting the costs for the financial industry that can result from divergence in financial regulations. But if convergence, or substituted compliance/equivalence, results in a weakening of democratically-enacted safeguards and more financial instability, the costs to the majority of U.S. and EU residents, our economies and democracy would be enormous.
We support the U.S. position that the financial sector should be excluded from any TTIP terms on regulatory cooperation. However, we also believe that to adequately safeguard policy space for financial regulation requires that the financial sector not be subjected to market access terms proposed for TTIP that would invite challenges to regulations in liberalized sectors. We understand that TTIP negotiators are contemplating using market access rules borrowed from the Understanding on Commitments in Financial Services and Article XVI of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), both negotiated during the deregulatory period of the 1990s. Should a country commit to “liberalise” its financial services sector, these rules could expose certain types of financial regulation, to challenges before international tribunals, even when the regulations apply equally to domestic and foreign firms. Were the EU or United States to subject financial services to these rules under TTIP, it could result in legal challenges to bans and other regulatory restrictions on risky financial services or products. Other increasingly common regulations that could potentially be challenged under these market access rules include policies that limit the size of financial firms so that they do not become “too big to fail,” structural reforms that limit the ability of deposit-taking banks to engage in hedge-fund-style bets and rules requiring certain legal structures as a condition for offering certain financial services.
TTIP should also not include the provisions of past deals that restrict the use of capital controls. The International Monetary Fund has officially shifted from opposition to qualified endorsement of capital controls as legitimate policy tools to prevent and mitigate financial crises caused by destabilizing floods of speculative money into and out of countries. Many mainstream economists have also vouched for capital controls as common sense measures with a proven track record of supporting financial stability.
The standard U.S. free trade agreement text ignores this emerging post-crisis consensus on the legitimacy of capital controls by banning their use under “transfers” provisions drafted before the crisis. The leaked EU negotiating mandate for TTIP includes similarly worrisome language, borrowed from existing EU FTAs, envisioning the “full liberalization of current payments and capital movements” with narrow exceptions (“e.g. in case of serious difficulties for monetary and exchange rate policy, or for prudential supervision and taxation”). Such provisions could not only restrict the usage of capital controls, but also financial transaction taxes, which eleven EU member nations are currently planning to implement to curb the destabilizing impacts of speculative, high-speed financial trading.
If any provisions on transfers or capital movements would be included, much broader exceptions would be required to safeguard the full range of legitimate policy objectives that governments pursue in enacting capital controls. These include preventing – not just responding to – balance-of-payment crises, stemming asset bubbles, avoiding currency appreciation, eliminating rent-seeking activities, protecting effective monetary policies, and ensuring a stable climate for long-term domestic investment. TTIP should not include any provisions limiting the usage of capital controls enacted for these or other legitimate policy objectives, or the usage of financial transaction taxes, regardless of whether such measures are temporary or permanent.
One of TTIP’s greatest threats to the re-regulation of finance is the unpopular proposal to include investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the deal. Doing so would empower the very firms that financial regulations seek to govern to skirt host country domestic courts and directly challenge domestic policies as violations of expansive, TTIP-created foreign investor “rights.” Were ISDS to be included in TTIP, foreign banks and other financial firms could pursue these challenges against the U.S. government and the EU before extrajudicial tribunals comprised of three private attorneys. These lawyers would be authorised to order unlimited taxpayer compensation for the non-discriminatory enforcement of new financial regulations on such sweeping grounds as that the policies frustrated foreign investors’ “expectations.” Financial and non-financial firms have increasingly used ISDS provisions in other pacts to challenge financial regulations and emergency financial stability measures, including Belgian bank restructuring, the Czech Republic’s response to a systemic bank debt crisis, and actions taken by Greece to comply with the debt restructuring conditions imposed by the Troika bailout during the Eurozone crisis. Including ISDS in TTIP would newly empower the world’s largest banks to launch investor-state claims against U.S. and EU financial regulations, which could chill regulators’ resolve to enact the bold financial stability measures needed to prevent another crisis and/or result in major new liabilities for government treasuries. To foreclose this threat, TTIP must not include ISDS.
Financial regulations could be particularly threatened by TTIP if the deal included weak protections for prudential measures that could be interpreted by tribunals as insufficient to protect financial regulations challenged as TTIP violations. The prudential clauses found in the leaked European Commission draft TTIP text on services, investment and e-commerce require that prudential measures “shall not be more burdensome than necessary.” Such a stipulation could significantly constrain policy space by inviting tribunals to require governments to prove a negative – that financial regulations intended to prevent a financial crisis were “necessary” to achieve an observed lack of crisis and/or that no less “burdensome” option plausibly could have been pursued instead of the challenged measure. Such a difficult burden of proof must be avoided.
TTIP also should not replicate the prudential “exception” for financial regulations found in the GATS. While this exception may be invoked as a defence if a financial measure is challenged, the existing language contains a clause requiring that the challenged measure not be used to contradict the Party’s commitments. But a Party would not use the exception unless it felt that the challenged financial measure did just that. This circular wording could invite a tribunal to interpret the exception as ineffective for safeguarding a challenged financial regulation. Legal scholars, including those that have served on the WTO’s Appellate Body, have noted that the meaning of this aspect of the GATS exception’s language is not clear and that it should be clarified to ensure that it can be effectively applied.
In addition, the GATS text defines “prudential” as covering only a narrow range of financial measures. Financial regulations can be enacted for an array of legitimate policy objectives beyond those narrowly defined as “prudential,” such as measures to finance a transition to a climate-friendly economy. Such policies should also be protected from TTIP-based challenges.
Rather than replicate weak language from past deals, TTIP should include an actual carve-out for financial regulatory measures. A true carve-out, unlike the clauses that EU texts have misbranded as “carve-outs,” would state that the terms of the entire agreement simply are not applicable to financial regulatory measures. Such a clause would forbid foreign investors or States from bringing claims against financial regulatory measures in the first place.
As U.S. and EU regulators undertake the difficult work of re-regulating finance, TTIP cannot be allowed to undermine this historic task. We do not want the deregulatory rules that led us to financial crisis, such as those in GATS, inserted into any more binding trade agreements. This is particularly true for any agreements that could have investor-state enforcement. Nor do we want to empower financial service firms to undermine regulators’ nascent efforts to rein in these firms’ ability to take undue risks for the sake of profits.
While supervisory and regulatory cooperation across the Atlantic is needed and welcomed in other international fora, rules covering financial regulation do not belong in the confines of an industry-advised TTIP negotiation. We request a response to this letter from EU and U.S. negotiators and financial regulators to explain how they plan to take our concerns into account.
We are only now implementing the lessons of the last financial crisis. Let us not lay the groundwork for the next one.
Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network
AGE Platform Europe
Centre for Global Education
Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
Consumers’ Protection Center (KEPKA)
Corporate Europe Observatory
Ecologistas en Acción
European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)
Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv)
Friends of the Earth Europe
Global Policy Forum Europe
Jubilee Debt Campaign UK
Kairos Europe WB
Presentation Justice Network
Slovene Consumer’s Association (ZPS)
Tax Justice Network
World Economy, Ecology & Development
American Federation of State; County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Americans for Financial Reform
Campaign for America’s Future
Center for Digital Democracy
Center for Effective Government
Center for Responsible Lending
Center of Concern
Citizens Trade Campaign
Communications Workers of America
Food & Water Watch
Friends of the Earth
Global Policy Forum
Government Accountability Project
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
National Association of Consumer Advocates
New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Service Employees International Union
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
United for a Fair Economy
Posted by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) – a research and campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making – under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License(link is external).
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I’ve got that Friday feeling!
After a very busy week I’m looking forward to a relaxed weekend which includes catching up on sleep and curling up with a good book. What have I been up to that has got me craving the most Hygge weekend ever?
The Health Edit:
I’m almost done the June 1Rebel #RehabSquad and I am tiiiiiired! With lots of after work plans this week I’ve been getting up at dawn (or earlier) to hit the gym. I know it’s good for me in the long run but I am really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and catching up on rest…before I go back for more.
The Book Edit:
I’ve started reading By Any Means by Charley Boorman and am already more than halfway through. It’s the perfect commute book because it’s light (a key factor!) and easily digestible. I am racing through a bit as I’m so eager to get started on Party Girls Die in Pearls by Plum Sykes.
The Screen Edit:
No time for TV this week! I have however, been culture-ifying myself in other ways. My friend Anne-Marie took me to see The Last of the Haussmans at Questers Theatre yesterday (it was really good and I was blown away by the acting, especially as the cast weren’t professional actors). Tonight Graham and I are going to see La Strada to support his cousin Cameron, as he was the Movement Director for the show
The Blog Edit:
As always, thanks for stopping by. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
This month’s book list is a combination of old and new – a couple of fun re-reads mixed with some exciting new acquisitions…
By Any Means by Charley Boorman
Grabbing whatever local transport he can get his hands on, Charley travels from his home town in County Wicklow all the way to Australia – a trip of over 20,000 miles through twenty-five countries. He drives a lorry through northern Iran, rides a tuk-tuk through the chaotic and colourful city of Varanasi, and becomes the first person ever to wakeboard across the Malay/Singapore border. He sets up his own bus service in Turkey, takes a slow boat down the Mekong, and a very fast one through Borneo to deliver vaccines for UNICEF. And of course he jumps on a bike whenever he can, even if there’s a monsoon on the way . . .
This is a re-read because i forgot I had it! I originally bought this book because I loved watching Charley and Ewan McGregor’s Long Way Down and Long Way Round so I was intrigued to see what happened when Charley took on an adventure on his own. Though the whole trip from Ireland to Australia was filmed for a TV series I much prefer the written version as it has all the insider bits that get skipped over when something is edited down for TV. It’s a witty, interesting travel memoir perfect for anyone with a sense of adventure and wanderlust.
Party Girls Die in Pearls by Plum Sykes
Pimm’s, punting and ball gowns are de rigeur. Ursula Flowerbutton, a studious country girl, arrives for her first term anticipating nothing more sinister than days spent poring over history books – and, perhaps, an invitation to a ball. But when she discovers a ghastly crime, she is catapulted into a murder investigation.
Determined to unravel the case – and bag her first scoop for the famous student newspaper Cherwell – Ursula enlists the help of her fellow Fresher, the glamorous American Nancy Feingold. While navigating a whirl of black-tie parties and secret dining societies, the girls discover a surfeit of suspects. From broken-hearted boyfriends to snobby Sloanes, lovelorn librarians to dishy dons, none can be presumed innocent.
I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS ONE!! Plum Sykes is one of my all-time favourite authors and the author of my favourite book (it’s tied for first with all of the Harry Potter books except Chamber of Secrets. I’m sure you can understand why…) Bergdorf Blondes. With a background in fashion and Anna Wintour on speed dial Plum Sykes is a master storyteller who creates characters you not only love but also want to be. It’s been more than 10 years since the release of Plum’s second book – The Debutante Divorcee (which is also amazing) – so I am SO excited to read something new from her. Then I can gush about it on Instagram. BECAUSE PLUM SYKES FOLLOWS ME! #winning
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
It’s 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She’s in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they’re trying for a baby – and she doesn’t want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance. So she travels to Rome, where she learns Italian from handsome, brown-eyed identical twins and gains twenty-five pounds, an ashram in India, where she finds that enlightenment entails getting up in the middle of the night to scrub the temple floor, and Bali where a toothless medicine man of indeterminate age offers her a new path to peace: simply sit still and smile. And slowly happiness begins to creep up on her.
This is another re-read and it seems very appropriate as I’m searching for some enlightenment in my life at the moment. Truth be told I remember the Julia Roberts version of this story better than the actual book so I’m looking forward to diving back in and reminding myself what I loved about it in the first place.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.
One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.
Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?
I’ve heard rave reviews about this one and so am eager to have a read and see what all the fuss is about. (Insider secret: I know an editor who passed on this manuscript…bet she’s regretting it now!)
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show. Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father.
When the sisters’ long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show’s mastermind organiser, Legend.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But nonetheless she quickly becomes enmeshed in a dangerous game of love, magic and heartbreak. And real or not, she must find Tella before the game is over, and her sister disappears forever.
This is one I stumbled across in the ‘People who bought this book also bought…’ section of Amazon. And I’m so glad I did! The cover is gorgeous and there’s an air of The Night Circus to the cover copy which suggests I am highly likely to love it. (Have you read The Night Circus? Do it now! It’s so good!!)
In addition to the books outlined here I’m going to make an effort to get through some of the books from previous book lists which got shunted aside. My goal is to be all up to date by 1 July.
Happy reading, all!
There’s no denying that Chelsea has hundreds of great places to grab a bite but if you’re looking for some prime people watching, you’ll want to book a table at The Ivy Chelsea Garden.
Celebrating its 100th birthday this year, The Ivy has expanded from its original West Street venue in central London to include an entire ‘Ivy Collection’ of upmarket grills and brasseries across the city.
Having thoroughly enjoyed our recent brunch at The Ivy Soho Brasserie we were looking forward to the Chelsea experience, especially as the restaurant is renowned for having a gorgeous, blooming courtyard.
You know what they say about the best laid plans though…
The on/off torrential downpours earlier in the afternoon meant the courtyard wasn’t an option but it was hard to complain when the interior is this lovely…
As Graham and I had both finished work early on Friday, we opted for an early dinner which meant we were surrounded by ladies who lunch, yummy mummies and millennials with generous parents (one table of 5 girls had over £10,000 worth of handbags between them which I can’t honestly believe they afforded on their own…)
Endlessly entertained by the conversations going on around us it took a while to be able to focus in on the menu which boasts ‘modern British dishes drawn from The Ivy’s own extensive menu’.
We started with the salted sourdough bread, which is always a favourite! (Salt, bread and butter – what more could you want?!)
For mains, Graham went for the Roast Salmon Fillet with a side of peas, sugar snaps and baby shoots and I opted for a combination of the Tempura Prawns and the Soft Goat’s Cheese Salad.
It’s always a sign of good ordering when you can barely fit all the food on the table!
We happily ate, chatted and surreptitiously kept up with what was happening at the neighbouring tables and by the time we were done the rain had finally decided to call it a day.
Happily stuffed, we strolled back down the King’s Road towards Peter Jones for a browse and then caught a bus home. The perfect end to a busy week!
Why do the short weeks always feel the longest? It’s only been four days but I am SO ready for the weekend. In the meantime, a bit of distraction for all of us counting down until the end of the day…
The Health Edit:
I’m doing it again! Yes, friends, I’ve signed up for the June 1Rebel #RehabSquad which means 10 action-packed classes in 10 days! I’m 2 days in and already sore but who cares? It’s fun, it’s good for me and it challenges me to push myself harder. It’s also a really great emotional release to spend 45 minutes a day pounding a punching bag and clearing your mind with endless rounds of squats, burpees, wall sits, sit-ups and (my least favourite) mountain climbers. Watch out, state of complete zen – I’m coming for you!
The Book Edit:
I spent last week racing through the Talon series (1/2/3) and was annoyed to find that book three wasn’t actually the final book – apparently there’s a fourth book? – especially as I’ve found the re-read a bit painful and the ‘racing’ I speak of was to just get it done. The heroine is so irritating! She has no regard for other people let alone their safety and so she is the cause of most of the problems she faces. Equally irritating is one of the males in the ‘love triangle’ (Again? Really? Come on YA authors, you’re better than this!). Why is he irritating? A) He’s hideously possessive considering he has no claim on her whatsoever, B) He calls her ‘Firebrand’ EVERY SINGLE TIME HE SPEAKS TO HER (she’s a dragon masquerading as a human so this isn’t completely nuts. Also, yes, I recognise I should never have had high hopes considering the premise of the story…). This kind of repetition is annoying but also just lazy on the part of the line editor. Take it out! I once edited a romantic thriller where the author used the hero and heroine’s full names (first and last) every time they spoke to one another. So, of course, I cut most of these – it wouldn’t have been readable otherwise! Okay, I’ve gone off piste. Basically I hope that the heroine and hero A(nnoying) end up together because they deserve each other’s awfulness. Will I be reading the final book* to see how it ends though? No.
*I’ve just checked Amazon and apparently there’s even a book 5! FFS.
I’m now reading a biography of Henry VIII (my tastes, they are diverse!) by David Starkey who is a real master at historical biography. Any of his books are good but I highly recommend Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII as it’s extremely interesting and well written.
The Screen Edit:
I’ve been catching up on the past few seasons of VEEP starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The language isn’t for the faint hearted but the comedy is top-notch. I laugh through every episode and at barely 30 mins long they’re the perfect, bite-size amount of TV after a long day. On the big screen I’m looking forward to seeing Wonder Woman this weekend! Gal Gadot is a literal goddess (on and off screen) and I’m looking forward to seeing her save the world.
The Shopping Edit:
I have tried on and rejected and bought and returned more dresses than I’d care to admit to this week. I’m in the mood to shop and this warm weather has me craving light, airy dresses in fun, floral prints but most of what I’ve tried on in stores or ordered online just hasn’t been quite right. Too heavy, ill-fitting, not like the picture…there’s always something. That’s the way it seems to go though – when you’re trying to save money you see a million things you ‘need’ and when you’re in the mood to splurge you can’t find anything.
The Beauty Edit:
I’ve got my fourth laser facial in four weeks tomorrow and I’m looking forward to seeing how my skin looks after a month of treatment. Hopefully glowy and wonderful! I’m also trying out this new serum, which my friend Ang has raved about. Can’t wait to see how it works.
The Political Edit:
I can’t even begin to express my disgust with THAT man. Here’s hoping that the golf course at Mar-A-Lago is the first thing to be swallowed by the Atlantic when the seas rise.
Despite the fact that the future of our planet hangs in the balance, I hope everyone is able to distract themselves long enough to enjoy the weekend!
Thanks, as always, for stopping by to visit 🙂


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EU, Ukraine launch five projects on local government decentalization
12.03.2018 10:14 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
As of last week, within the meeting of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Commission in Brussels, the European Union and Ukrainian some cities and regions agreed on the implementation of joint projects in support of the decentralization of the Ukrainian local authorities, an Ukrinform correspondent reported from Brussels.
«The European Union is strengthening its support for local and regional authorities in Ukraine. The EU has launched five partnership projects between Ukraine and the EU regions and cities,» the CoR report says.
It is to be admitted, local communities from Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania and Poland plan to join the projects.
As to the report, the Ukrainian local authorities and communities already joined the initiative. The Ukrainian cities and regions submitted corresponding proposals for these projects whose implementation they are interested in.
These projects will be aimed at developing economic plans, training local government officials, the issues of education, health and culture, as well as supporting rural areas, small and medium-sized enterprises, and tourism development. It is to be admitted, the projects are to be financed by the European Commission.

domain: news


by admin | August 21, 2010 1:46 am
This cute little thing is made for awesome. Introducing “Pico,” a three-in-one concept that functions as a pico projector, video camera, and cute accessory. Its two eyes feature a projector on the left and a camera on the right, while the smile serves as its microphone and its feet that folds out so it can stand on its own. Fold the feet in when not in use to cover its external connector jacks. Users can even plug a small tripod into it for more stability.
By design, Pico can record and present at the same time. It also has the ability to work without a laptop or other computers, as well as a full-size display to view your menu navigation.
Again, it is just a concept design, but we are very sure some company would pick up on this. Who could resist its cuteness, much more the cleverness of its design?
Source: Yanko Design, via Engadget
Source URL: http://www.gadget.com/if-only-all-pico-projectors-look-this-cute/
Copyright ©2019 Gadget.com unless otherwise noted.


text:
1. The Dark Figure
You gather your crowd in the hall of the house you are using. It is in complete darkness with only a few lit candles. As you need to tell the story the guests look up at the darkness of the roof as they look they suddenly see a dark figure gliding down from above them. It pauses and then glides back up into the darkness
2. The Ghost With No Eyes
A ghostly form begins to materialise on the balcony above, it becomes clearer and the guests can see a strange shrouded figure with no eyes, just dark holes. It rises over the balcony and down towards the guests. As the ghost stops it begins to speak in a slow demonic voice. It the rises above the balcony and slowly vanishes.
3. The Haunted Library
As you stand by a bookshelf and tell a spooky tale several books slide out of the bookshelf and drop to the floor.
4. The Reading Ghost
A large book can be seen lying open on the table, as you begin to tell a story of perform a ritual a page of the book slowly turns over without anyone being anywhere near it.
A nice selection of touches to add to your bizarre magick show. It includes a fire bowl, make them scream and 3 other little tips.
£12.00 including UK postage ONLY from http://www.blackhart.co.uk/page13.html
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Ok, lets start with the book itself. You get an A4 spiral bound 23 page book. The book is printed on good quality paper. the pictures and drawings are very clear and nicely printed. The instructions are very easy to follow. The Black Hart guides you through the process. Now I should state that there are no 'stories' here but you guys and gals can easy invent some (just use your local legends!)
From the start let me state that this not for those of you who want to do some tricks in the bedroom. You need very specific space and area to perform this in. However you will all be able to enjoy performing the two book effects, in fact one of those effects sells for £25 on it's own.
I am lucky to know places where I can perform these kind of ghost illusions, I have tried one so far but let me tell you.. Boy does it work well. I was shocked just how convincing it looked.
Now to assembly, as you may imagine there are several 'bits' to get but to be honest you can build the first ghost at very little cost. The book effects are very easy to get ready and you will have fun performing this.
Even if you do not have the space or equipment to do a full ghost show you will still benefit from this book. it is a good guide and very fun to read. So if you are interested in this kind of thing then give it a go. You will like it
Nice book, yes it works, ok you need experience and space but I can't really fault so I give it 1 good 9.5 out of 10

domain: hobby


text:
The death toll following yesterday's SUV crash in Tiananmen Square has climbed to five, with two tourists—a Chinese man and a Filipina woman—dead along with the vehicle's occupants. "It looks like a premeditated suicide attack," says a Reuters source. If so, it would be the first to have taken place so close to Chinese government headquarters. "It was no accident," notes a second source. "The three men had no plans to flee from the scene." One witness tells Reuters a banner bearing black lettering was attached to the rear of the car, and sources say the vehicle's occupants are believed to have lit the SUV on fire using a flammable material.
The car traveled 1,200 feet before coming to a stop, avoiding trees, street lights, and at least one security checkpoint along the way. Authorities last night sent a notice to hotels in the city aimed at tracing the recent movements of two suspects with Uighur names, reports the AP. Radicals among the Muslim Turkic Uighurs have been fighting a low-intensity insurgency against Chinese rule for years, and while there have been "a lot of bombings carried out by Uighur groups ... none of them as far as I know have involved suicide," says an expert in Hong Kong. (Read more Tiananmen Square stories.)


text:
With the loss of their leading scorer from their opening game, Georges Niang, someone on this talented Iowa State Cyclones team was going to have to step up in a big way against the North Carolina Tar Heels if they wanted to advance to the Sweet 16 in the East Region. Of course, that player was none other than DeAndre Kane as the Cyclones held off the Tar Heels, 85-83 to advance.
After two made free throws by North Carolina’s James Michael McAdoo tied the game up, Kane was handed the ball with time running out on the clock, drove through the lane and hit the game-winning layup to seal the victory and the trip to Madison Square Garden.
On the afternoon, Kane finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as he put the team on his back and led the comeback in the second half.
With the win, we’re now set up with a showdown later this week in the East Region semifinal between these Cyclones and the UConn Huskies, who were victorious in their contest on Saturday.

domain: sports


text:
ELECTROSHOCKING ELDERLY PEOPLE: ANOTHER PSYCHIATRIC ABUSE
“Electroshock is violence.” – Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General, in an invited address at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New York City, May 1983.
“If the body is the temple of the spirit, the brain may be seen as the inner sanctum of the body, the holiest of places. To invade, violate and injure the brain, as electroshock unfailingly does, is a crime against the
spirit and a desecration of the soul.” – Leonard Roy Frank, shock survivor, editor and writer, 1991
Electroshock appears to be increasingly prescribed as a treatment for “clinical” depression and other so-called mental disorders. Women and elderly people, particularly old women, are its chief targets–more
damning evidence of psychiatry’s sexism and ageism. In the United States during the last ten years, an estimated 100,000 people have been shocked each year. In Canada, perhaps as many as 10,000 people, again mostly women, have been electroshocked each year, but nobody knows for sure because Health and Welfare Canada and the provincial health ministries do not publish ECT statistics, some of which are available on request.
Besides, ECT statistics are notoriously inaccurate and unreliable, because collection methods differ from province to province and state to state; hospitals aren’t required to keep accurate ECT records and not all
hospitals are required to report ECT to provincial health ministries or state mental health departments.
I have discovered some recent shock statistics in Ontario which point to alarming trends:the increasing use of ECT and the targeting of women and the elderly for electroshock. Consider these statistical highlights:
1) In 1993-94, 11,360 shock treatments were administered to approximately 1,600 people in Ontario’s general, community and psychiatric hospitals – an average of seven shocks per patients. In 1994-95, 12,865 shocks were administered to over 1,500 people, a 12 per cent increase.
2) Most electroshock (over 80 per cent) in Ontario is administered in the public general hospitals, not provincial or private psychiatric hospitals.
3) Over 40 per cent of electroshock has been administered to people 60 years and older during the last five years.
4) In 1994-95, 97 elderly people, including 72 women (60 years and older), were subjected to 1,023 shocks in Ontario’s provincial psychiatric hospitals – a high average of approximately 10 shocks per patient. In
Toronto’s Queen Street Mental Health Centre, over 70 per cent of the shock patients are from its psychogeriatric unit.
5) In 1993-94, approximately 600 elderly people (60+ years) were subjected to 4,033 electroshocks in Ontario’s general and community psychiatric hospitals.
6) In the provincial psychiatric hospitals, the number and proportion of elderly people (65+ years) shocked grew from 70 (33 per cent) in 1990-91, to 82 (40 per cent) in 1993-94, to 44 per cent in 1994-95.
7) Among elderly and other ECT patients, significantly more women than men are electroshocked: two to three timnes more women than men have been electroshocked in both Canada and the United Stastes for many years.
8- During 1994-95 in the provincial psychiatric hospitals, 72 per cent of elderly shock patients (75+ years) were women, and significantly more
ECT was administered to an elderly woman than an elderly man (average 10.9 ECTs vs. 8.7 ECTs).
9) Women in their eighties and nineties have been electroshocked in general, community and provincial psychiatric hospitals in Ontario. In 1993-94, a total of 102 shocks were administered to at least 10 women of 85 years and older in general and community psychiatric hospitals. In 1994-95, at least 14 women of 80 years and older were subjected to 158 shocks in eight provincial psychiatric hospitals,an average of 11 ECTs per patient.
10) During 1994-95 in Ontario, the estimated cost of one electroshck treatment, including physicians’ fees, drugs, use of a hospital bed and nursing care, was $400. The (under) estimated total cost for all ECT that year was well over $1,000,000.
Two very common psychiatric myths state: first, that electroshock can prevent or greatly reduce the risk of suicide in people diagnosed with “clinical depression” or “bipolar affective disorder”; and second, that
electroshock is safe and effective for old and physically ill people.
The first myth was exposed at least six years ago by Dr.Donald Black and four colleagues. This study involving more than 1,000 depressed patients in Iowa found that there were no significant differences in the
suicide rate among the various groups treated with electroshock, antidepressants and no treatment. However, the higher percentage of deaths among the shock patients (85 per cent higher at two-year follow-up than the non-shock patients) clearly implicates shock as a contributing factor in their deatths (Black et al.,1989).
Regarding the second myth, Drs.David Kroessler and Barry Fogel’s longitudinal study involving sixty-five depressed patients 80 years and older found that for the ECT group, 27 per cent died within one year
following the “treatment”, but only 4 per cent of the “medicated” group died. In addition, one patient died after undergoing two ECTs. In other words, this study together with several previous ones, clearly show that
electroshock threatens people’s survival, especially if they are old and sick (Kroessler and Fogel, 1993).
Deaths related to or caused by electroshock are usually attributed to medical conditions, not reported or simply covered up in the medical-psychiatric literature. For exmple, only six or seven ECT-related
deaths in Canada have been reported in the Canadian medical-psychiatric journals during the last fifty years. No doubt a serious underestimate or cover-up. Nevertheless, respecred shock investigator and psychiatric critic, Dr. Peter Breggin, has estimated the general ECT death rate as one death for every 1,000 patients shocked, and a much higher rate of one death per 200 for elderly patients. However, in its official
shock-promoting booklet the American Psychiatric Association claims the ECt death rate from shock is !1 in 10,000″ patirents and that only “1 in 200” patients suffer permanent memory loss (APA,1990). The Canadian
Psychiatric Association also claims there have been virtually no deaths or medical complications from electroshock in Canada, despite the fact that approximately 500 shock-related deaths and many more serious medical complications (e.g.,cardiac arrest, other serious heart problems, permanent epileptic seizures, brain damage) have been reported in the English langugage medical-literature for over 50 years since the early 1940s when electroshock was first introduced in Canada and the United States.
Together with many shock survivors and other shock critics, Peter Breggin wants electroshock banned, because psychiatrists routinely fail to warn patients about the serious risks of permanent memory loss and brain damage (a serious violation of informed consent), and because elderly, sick and frail patients are being increasingly targeted for electroshock. He explained his position in a recent phone interview with me last March:
“The escalating rate of shocking the elderly is one reason why I have come out in recent years for a complete ban on the treatment. The elderly are less able to defend themselves against shock
treatment, and their brains are more susceptible to devastating damage.” (Breggin, 1996)
Leonard Roy Frank, an electroshock-insulin shock survivor living in San Francisco, shock critic, author and editor,insists that “ECB – electroconvulsive brainwashing” is a more accurate term. He agrees with
Breggin and asserts, “the studies indicate that it’s the elderly who are getting the most shock, and they’re the most vulnerable, not only physically but politically” (Frank, 1996). A 1989 report from California’s
Department of Mental Health supports Frank’s assessment; it reveals that 48 per cent of the 2,503 people shocked that year in the state were 65 years and older. Frank claims the figure is currently over 50 per cent and climbing.
Electroshocking women and elderly patients is also on the rise in England. For example, in a 1993 critique, patients’ rights advocate Alison Cobb reports that “…women are the majority of ECT patients (about 70 per
cent), half are over 65 years of age. …59 per cent of the 100 (in the study) … were aged over 65, the oldest being 92 years. Given the vulnerability of older people’s memory and cognitive abilities, this has
to be a grave cause of concern…”,(Cobb,1993).
Douglas Cameron, another outspoken shock survivor, critic and co-founder (with Diann’a Loper) of the World Association of Electroshock survivors based in Texas, is extremely critical of the alleged safety of
psychiatry’s modern shock machines, which can deliver as much as 300 to 400 volts of electricity to the brain:
“All modern day Sine Wave and Brief Pulse ECT devices are more powerful than early instruments. Modern day Brief Pulse suprathreshold devices have not proved safer than Sine Wave suprathreshold devices. Side
effects have been >convincingly identified as products of electricity. These facts warrant the elimination of all ECT machines from the marketplace” (Cameron,1994).
Since 1995, there has been growing public protest against the only shock machine in Whitehorse in The Yukon, stored in Whitehorse General Hospital. Apparently, the shock machine hasn’t zapped anybody in
Whitehorse (yet). The Second Opinion Society (SOS), the Yukon’s self-help advocacy group in Whitehorse, isn’t waiting. SOS has been organising rallies and marches against the machine.
More than fifteen years ago in Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital (a teaching, research and veteran’s hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto), psychiatrists Harry Karlinsky and Kenneth Shulman were
electroshocking elderly people. Most were in their 70s, some in their 80s. Karlinsky and Shulman (1984) reported having electroshocked thrity-three elderly atients (62-85 years old). At a follow-up study six months later, after having been subjected teo an average of 9 ECTs, only one-third of ther patients “were doing well”. Karlinsky and Shulman concluded that “clinically one is compelled to use ECT on an urgent or demand basis”. Compelled? In my recent phone interview with Dr.Shulman, chief psychiatrist at Sunnybrook, he said that electroshock is still administered to old people but only “from time to time, a relatively small
number.” He couldn’t say how many, but recalled the average age of his elderly shock patients is “73 or 74”. Shulman added he has “never heard” of any deths or serius medical crises from ECT at Sunnybrook or any other hospital in Canada. The ECT “mortality rate”, he added, was “similar to that for (general) anaesthesia”. He insisted that electroshock “remains an effective treatment for some debilitating and life-threatening
depressions”, and claimed the only ECT risk was “short-term memory loss”. He also asserted that electroshock is not controversial, and claimed that most patients “completely recover”. Shulman explained the use of electroshock on the elderly in these terms: “If we didn’t use ECT, these people would suffer tremendously and be at risk of dying”.
It is difficult to find any study to support the common psychiatric claim that electroshock prevents suicide or minimises the suicide risk. Further, the relapse rate from shock is over 60 per cent, which, according
to the American Psychiatric Association, still greatly minimises permanent memory loss, brain damage and death from ECT (APA,1990).
Some elderly patients have also been electroshocked at Toronto’s Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. Apparently nobody knows how many, partly because no accurate,up-to-date ECT statistics are kept at the Clarke,
according to Dr. Barry Martin, head of its ECT Unit. In a recent phone interview I had with Dr. Martin, he speculated that a total of “about 100 courses” were administered at the Clarke in 1995. Each course consists of 8-10 ECTs, at least 80-90 people were electroshocked last year. According to Dr.Martin, the main reason for shocking old people is, “severe depression that has not responded to medication” (e.g.,antidepressants).
Martin estimated the ECT death rate as “3-4 per 100,000 ECTs”, similar to that for “general anaesthesia”, and said he was “not aware” of any ECT-related deaths in Canada or anywhere else.
During a 15-month period in 1993-94, eight people died in Texas,”within two weeks of receiving electroshock”; over half were elderly patients (Smith, 1995).The Texas elderly death rate from ECT at that time was probably higher than 1 in 200.
Some very courageous shock survivors and advocacy groups are fighting back and want electroshock abolished in the United States and Canada. For example, 81-year-old Lucille Austwick successfully refused to be shocked while languishing in a Chicago nursing home a couple of years ago (Fegelman, 1995). While confined in the home, Austwick was depresseed, had stopped eating and was becoming frail, so a psychiatrist wanted to shock her. She repeatedly refused the “lifesaving:” treatment which she called
“bullshit”, and received strong legal support from the Illinois Guardianship Commission and other advocates across the United States. Last September, the Appellate Court “reversed the trial court’s ruling” which
had ordered a series of ECTs for her two years earlier.
Psychiatrists and other medical staff at St.Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin were found to be violating the human rights of several elderly patients subjected to electroshock against their will (Oaks, 1995). Sparked by the courageous whistleblowing of psychiatric nurse Stacie Neldaughter, who was “fired after refusing to directly assist with a shock treatment”, several women shock survivors and anti-shock activists
organised a public protest outside the hospital in September 1994. In January 1995, the Wisconsin Coalition for Advocacy issued a detailed and scathing 75-page report based on its own investigations, which documented serious violations of informed consent and other rights involving at least eight elderly women patients.
In Toronto from 1983 to 1992, there have been several anti-shock protest demonstrations, particularly in front of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry and Queen Street Mental Health Centre. Non-violent civil
disobedience (“sit-ins”) were also held in the office of at least two Ontario health ministers, organised by the Ontario Coalition to Stop Electroshock (succeeded by Resistance Against Psychiatry). During a
non-violent public demonstration against electroshock in front of the Clarke in May 1988, shock survivor Jack Wild and I were charged with “trespass” and arrested while trying to hand out alternative and accurate
shock information to patients on one ward during visiting hours. We were arrested on the ward while engaged in a non-violent sit-in, fined over $50 each and lost our court appeals (Phoenix Rising, 1998).
Unfortunately, there have been no shock cases in Canada since “Mrs.T.” in 1983 (Weitz,1994). The “Mrs.T.” case involved a young, allegedly suicidal but cxompetent women who firmly and repeatedly refused
shock while being asked to consent by both her psychiatrist and a regional review board while incarcerated in Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital. Although the case lost, “Mrs.T.” was not electroshocked. The national publicity and public outcry arising over the fact that people in Canada could still be shocked against their will led to a few important amendments in Ontario’s Mental Health Act, which now prohibits electroshock or other treatment for any person who refuses. However, electroshock can still be adminsitered against the will of an “incapable” person if he or she did not instruct a substitute decision-maker otherwise while capable. (Note: The judge’s decision in a 1997 Ontario court case involving a mother’s refusal to consent to shock for her “incapable” daughter” is pending.)
In March 1994 at a public City Hall meeting before the Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Aging (TMCA), I presented some alarming ECT statistics from the Ontario government’s Ministry of Health which showed
that a disproportionately large number of people being electroshocked in Ontario’s psychiatric facilities were elderly people (over 40 per cent) and women (over 65 per cent). In one Final Report, the Committee recommend that, “the Chair of the TMCA should be asked to write to the Minister of Health to inform her of the data on ECT and the deep concern of the TMCA about the apparent misuse of this therapy.”
There is still no law banning electroshock in Ontario, Canada or the United States for elderly people or anybody else. However, some states have outlawed shock for young children. For example, Texas has banned shock for children under 16 years old, and California banned it for children under 14. There are no such age restrictions in Canada.
I believe that electroshocking old people is elder abuse. Electroshock is a crime against humanity. It should be abolished.
[acknowledgement – My sincere thanks to Lenard Roy Frank for his valuable editorial assistance.]
American Psychiatric Association (1990). The practice of >electroconvulsive therapy. Washington: APA.
Black,D.W., Winokur,G., Mohandoss,E., Woolson,R.F. and Nasrallah,A. (1989) “Does treatment influence mortality in depressives?” Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, 1(3), 165-173.
Breggin,P.R. personal communication in March 1996. Also see: Breggin, Toxic Psychiatry (St. Martin’s Press,1991), and Breggin, Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry (Springer Publishing Co,1997)
California Department of Mental Health (1989). Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) report. Sacramento,California.
Cameron,D.G. “ECT:sham statistics, the myth of convulsive therapy and the case for consumer misinformation”. Journal of Mind and Behaviour, 15(1-2),177-198.
Clark,R (1983) From an invited address during the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New York, May 1983.
Cobb,A. (1993) Safe and effective? MIND’s views on psychiatric drugs, ECT and psychosurgery. London: MIND Publications.
Fegelman,A. (1995) “Forced shock therapy faces key legal test”. Chicago Tribune, May 2, 2995.
Frank,L.R. (1991). “San Francisco puts electroshock on public trial:feature report”. The Rights Tenet, Winter 1991.
Frank,L.R. (1996) Personal communication on February 28, 1996. Karlinsky,H. and Shulman,K. (1984). “The clinical use of electroconvulsive therapy in old age”. The Journal of American Geriatric
Society, 32, 83.
Kroessler,D. and Fogel,B.S. (1993) “Electroconvulsive therapy for major depression in the oldest old”. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 1(1),30-37.
Oaks,D. (1995) :”Zap back against forced shock”. Dendron, 36,1-5. Phoenix Rising (October 1988). “Toronto Protesters Arrested for Trying to Distribute Shock Information”, 22-23.
Smith,M. (1995) “Eight in Texas die after shock therapy in fifteen mnonth period”. The Houston Chronicle, March 7, 1a.
Weitz,D. (1984) “Shock case: a defeat and victory”. Phoenix Rising, 4,3/4,28a-30a.
Biographical note: Don Weitz is a psychiatric survivor, antipsychiatry and antipoverty activist in Toronto. He is co-founder of the former antipsychiatry magazine Phoenix Rising, former board member of Support
Coalition International (a coalition of approximately 100 survivor and human rights advocacy organizations in 14 countries), and co-founder of the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault (CAPA). He is also host-producer of “Antipsychiatry Radio” on CKLN (88.1FM) in Toronto. This unique program airs around 6:30pm on the last Friday every month.
A previous article entitled Prescription Drug Abuse provides information... Abuse ve Prescription Drug

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Erin Kaether is the Owner and Director of Academy of Sound, LLC in downtown Oregon, WI. She manages the school and it's staff, and teaches piano to both English and Spanish-speaking students.
Erin began teaching in 1997, at the direction of her own piano teacher. She graduated high school in 1999, and went on to become a translator for the Wisconsin Relay System. There, she perfected her Spanish, learned ASL, worked with speech disabled callers, worked as a supervisor's aide, and finally as a training facilitator. All the while, she maintained a handful of piano students.
In 2003, Erin opened "Erin's Piano Studio." It was a small, simple piano teaching studio located in one room where Academy of Sound is currently. Erin's Piano Studio grew quickly, and within two years she employed four teachers, and offered voice lessons in addition to piano.
In 2007, Erin's Piano Studio had clearly outgrown it's name. This is when Academy of Sound, LLC came into being; An all-encompassing music & drama school, with a variety of teachers, classes, performance and competition opportunities.
In addition to her work as a musician and businesswoman, Erin also volunteers as a Crisis Pregnancy Counselor for Care Net of Dane County. At Care Net, Erin helps women and couples as they explore all their options and make a decision about their pregnancy. Beyond her work in the pregnancy center, Erin is a public speaker and has shared the story of her own crisis pregnancy with audiences numbering in the thousands. Erin also models for materials and website promotions for Care Net.
Erin serves on the Board of Directors for the Oregon Area Chamber of Commerce, and was elected Secretary for 2010. Erin is a member of Wisconsin Music Educators Association, and earned her Piano Teaching Certification from the Mayron Cole Conservatory in 2006.
For more information, please see any of the links below.

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WAS Mario Testino's Girls Allowed shoot for the March issue VogueTV's finest moment this year? Or was the film of Lara Stone on the set of the Brighton Rock shoot for the November issue better?
A year of fashion films began with Nick Knight and Natalia Vodianova working on the February cover together and saw Kate Moss make an exclusive appearance to present her handbags and Alexa Chung talk through her cover debut before we went abroad again to join Angela Lindvall looking seriously gorgeous shooting with Tom Craig in Cuba.
We joined the fun in Browns on Fashion's Night In as Mrs B and Roland Mouret Skyped their customers all night, hit the high street when the crowds took hold to get a piece of the Lanvin for H&M action and joined gorgeous new models Karlie Kloss and Guinevere as they took to the pages of Vogue.
Plus, we had Karl Lagerfeld on to talk about the Twitter revolution, a secret preview of the Giles Deason's first Ungaro collection with Anna Della Russo and met up with Marc Jacobs and Katie Grand to talk about their work together.
Finishing with high fashion home visits to all the studios of the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund nominees - which will continue every week until the winner is announced in February, it's been a stellar year of fashion glory - see you for more of the same from January 4 2011.
YOU SHOULD SEE: From Kate to Keira, the most stylish people of 2010...
YOU SHOULD SEE: The moments that defined a decade in fashion...

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A wonderful 1940's inspired tea dress with beautifully soft tailored cut, and a cheeky vintage charm, has been given an oriental mood with the chic vintage dragonfly print.
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This style can be styled up easily for events and suits a neat pill box hat. A lightweight soft blazer works well worn over this dress fro events.

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• Around 1810 settlers began cutting a road that would be known as the Bumpass Trail through the wilderness. • One of the first to become interested in Waterloo was Dr. Edward Gabriel Bumpass. • Dr. Edward was one of Waterloo’s first land owners. • On February 6, 1818, Lauderdale County was one of the 8 county Governments that was created. • On December 14, 1818, John Craig became the first post master in Waterloo. • The Town of Waterloo was founded in 1819. • Dr. Bumpass employed Bib Cooperman as the town surveyor. Land sales in 1819 amounted to $9,525.50. • The Articles and Agreements to establish the Town of Waterloo was signed in Pulaski, Tennessee on March 1819.
• Waterloo was established in 1824. • In 1824, Mr. Chandler was the first settler of Waterloo. • In the mid 1820’s, McCorkle opened a drug store in Waterloo. • The first post office in Waterloo was built in 1828.
• 1830, Hiram Richardson, the founder of the Methodist Church was born. • The Town of Waterloo was incorporated in 1832. • On May 1838, began the Indian Removal Act, which is when the U.S. Government forced the Cherokee Indians to leave their ancient homelands and move west for reservations on the Trail of Tears. • On June of 1838, the Indians arrived in Waterloo. They traveled from Ross Landing in Chattanooga, Tennessee to Waterloo (about 230 miles).
• O.B. Sullivan became a doctor in 1844. • In 1847, a disastrous flood destroyed the early riverside Town of Waterloo and forced its move to the present day location on higher ground.
• 1850 was a time of political turmoil leading to the civil war. • Waterloo Methodist Church was established in 1853.
• Waterloo became a key port for both Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Union gunboats shelled the town in the summer of 1862 following an incident when the older men of the community fired on one of the Union transport vessels. • On November 1, 1863, General William T. Sherman made his temporary headquarters in the home of Dr. O.B. Sullivan and crossed the river at Waterloo on his way to Chattanooga. • In the winter of 1865, General James H. Wilson camped between Gravely Springs and Waterloo and trained some 22,000 cavalrymen in the area prior to his invasion of South Alabama. This was the largest assembly of cavalry in the history of our country.
• The Newman house was built in 1872 by Hirian L. and Julia Ann Young Richardson. • In 1872, Waterloo School seemed like an all girls school. • In 1873, Lottie Moon came to Waterloo.
• The second Waterloo Methodist Church was built in 1888. • The Richardson Hotel was built in 1888.
• The Waterloo United Methodist Church had a board of trustees 23 years before the present church building was built in 1892. • May 11, 1895, according to the Florence Times, Waterloo supported a seven month school and three teachers. • In 1897, the Mayflower ran from Waterloo, AL. to St. Louis, MO. The ride cost $8.00. • In 1897, the principal was Homer Reed. • The Young Southern was another newspaper that was produced. • The Waterloo Record was newspaper that was published in 1898 to 1899.
• The Baptist Church was built in 1902.
• In 1914, Williams Chapel was started. • In 1914, the Farmers and Merchants Bank was organized in Waterloo, Al. • Buck Sharp was the first President of the Farmers and Merchants Bank. • The Sego School was a one room school located approximately five miles north of Waterloo, AL. on Second Creek Road. • In 1916, the enrollment of Sego School was 55 students. • In 1918, Joseph Marion Newman,a union soldier from Ohio stationed here during the Civil War, later returned and purchased the Newman house ( known as the Culver Museum).
• In the 1920’s, Waterloo was the center of the lumber industry. • In the early 1920’s, Waterloo was a boom town due to large sawmills. • The first high School was built in the early 1920’s. • The first school bus ran its route from Waterloo and down Second Creek in the late 1920’s. • In the early 1920’s, the Lard Bus Line started. • The bus was owned and operated by John Murphy. • The first graduating class contained four people in 1925. • By 1929, the High School served students in about a 15 mile radius. Roads were being improved and more buses were added.
• May 18, 1938, TVA was formed. • March 8, 1935, construction began on Pickwick Dam. • In 1938, a new school was built. • June 29, 1938, Pickwick Dam was complete.
• In March 1942, a tornado severely damaged Waterloo. • In 1948, Hart’s Park was established.
• In the early 1950’s, Soldiers left Waterloo to fight in the Korean War. • In 1952, the old Waterloo High School gym was built.
• In the 1960’s, the Vietnam War affected Waterloo. • A brick plant comes to Waterloo in the 1960’s. • In 1968, Waterloo School was integrated.
• In 1971, the Church of Christ was closed and moved two blocks north of the old building on Bumpass Creek Road. • In the 1970’s, the brick plant was closed. • The Waterloo Fire Department was established in 1975.
• In 1984, the Community Center was built by O.C. Eppes. • In 1986, the smokehouse restaurant burned down. • In 1986, the new Waterloo High School was built.
• In 1990, the Waterloo Cougars baseball and girls basketball teams won the state championship. • In 1993, the first Trail of Tears was celebrated. • In 1993, the Lady Cougars softball team won the state championship in Montgomery, Al. • In 1994, a Trail of Tears monument was erected in Waterloo at the turn around. • In 1994, a Edith Newman Culver Memorial Museum Monument was a erected in Waterloo in front of the museum. • In 1994, a Town of Waterloo monument was erected at the boat ramp in Waterloo. • In 1994, the Lady Cougars softball team won the state championship in Montgomery, Al. • The Newman house was restored in 1995 and presented to the citizens of Waterloo by Ezra Lee Culver, who’s wife, Edith Newman Culver, had inherited the house from her grandfather Joseph Marion Newman and grandmother Sarah Long Newman. • In 1995, the Lady Cougars softball team won the state championship in Montgomery, Al. • In 1997, the Lady Cougars softball team won the state championship in Montgomery, Al. • In 1999, the new gym was completed.
• In 2001, the Lady Cougars softball team won the state championship in Montgomery, Al. • In 2002, the new Post Office was completed. • In 2003, the Sullivan house was burned. • In 2003, the Lady Cougars won the state championship in Montgomery, Al. • In 2004, the River Walk was erected at the turnaround commemorating the suffering of the Native Americans during the Trail of Tears.
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During an interview with Kotaku covering many Xbox related topics, the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, discussed the possibility of releasing Halo Infinite's campaign and multiplayer modes separately. This comes after Halo Infinite was delayed this past August to a 2021 (yet to be specified) release date, only a month after Microsoft showed a length gameplay demo.
Spencer deferred to Bonnie Ross, founder and head of the Halo franchise, stating that "Bonnie's team will drive those decisions. But I think we want to make sure people feel like they have a Halo experience. I think we can look at options like that.
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Spencer further expressed to Kotaku that this type of approach would have to factor into Halo Infinite's structure and storytelling strategy. "So, yeah, I think that's something to think about, but we want to make sure we do it right."
Going by what Spencer shared with Kotaku, we can surmise that a staggered release for the different modes is being considered a viable option. It seems this is being done mostly because those involved wish to get the new Halo Infinite into the hands of gamers without sacrificing the experience we've all come to love from the franchise.

domain: entertainment


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N is for Nesser
Nesser is, if I'm remembering correctly, the only She-Goyl we've met in the Reckless Series (though, obviously there are many others LOL.) She is a Jasper Goyl like Hentzau and is the only female in his search squad (who are out looking for the Jade Goyl). In the Petrified Flesh, she is only thirteen, but Goyl are considered to be adults at the age of nine. She basically despises all humans because it was humans who murdered her sister, and I'm sure that played a large role in her joining the army. I can't say I blame her. I'd take up arms to avenge my sister's death. Speaking of my sister, Nesser happens to be Nikki's favorite Reckless character! I must say, Nesser's grown on me a lot since re-reading TPF and the Golden Yarn.

domain: literature


SSW, Volunteers Collaborate to Beautify a West Baltimore School
As residents of West Baltimore made their way along historic Pennsylvania Avenue on Aug. 17, many paused to peer at the volunteers who swarmed Furman L. Templeton Elementary School. Known as a local landmark for the bridge that connects it to a recreation center across the street, the public school was being freshened to welcome children ages 4 to 11 for a new term.
The building at 1200 N. Pennsylvania Ave. is also being readied as the hub of Promise Heights, a community outreach effort of the University of Maryland School of Social Work (SSW). Inside the lobby, SSW Dean Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, led a group of painters who spent much of the morning on ladders, turning the walls an inviting shade of light blue.
Barth says Furman L Templeton will be the host for one aspect of Promise Heights, a community school program "to strengthen and increase opportunities for children and families." Promise Heights is a collaborative venture involving the SSW and other partners.
Wells Fargo, the parent company of Wachovia Bank, N.A., planned the improvement project and fielded the bulk of the volunteers, a determined crew of about 75 workers who helped paint a front office, assemble furniture, and plant several potted palms. Some even attacked the school's overgrown exterior wielding the personal lawn-care equipment of the bank's regional president, Andrew Bertamini, who spearheaded the effort.
Partners included the United Way of Central Maryland and the Upton Planning Council, among others. The Baltimore City Public Schools system also collaborated on the improvements, according to Kenneth Cherry, principal of Furman Templeton.
Cherry says the school for pre-K through fifth grade plans to enroll 450 students. They are expected to perform better academically because their surroundings will have a greater aesthetic appeal. Of the Promise Heights initiative under the direction of the SSW, he says, "A lot of good things are happening for our parents and for our kids."


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Date of Award
Doctor of Philosophy
Arijit H Sen
Jennifer A Jordan, Christine E Evans, Marie-Alice L’Heureux
architectural history, change, cultural practices, domestic architecture, everyday life, post-Soviet
This dissertation examines the ways urban domestic spaces transformed under the pressure of social upheaval related to the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The collapse of the Soviet Union has been examined from a standpoint of spatial changes, but existing studies are limited to public spaces and city-scale transformations. In other words, the collapse of the USSR remains a virtually uninvestigated event from the perspective of ordinary places integral for the study of social change in everyday life, such as apartment homes, courtyards, and residential streets. Between the late 1980s and 2000s, an unprecedented remodeling and home improvement boom took place inside Soviet standardized apartments. As a result of these changes in apartment layouts and functional zones, there were also dramatic shifts in identities, cultural practices, and attitudes towards domestic spaces.
My work relies on archives, interviews, building codes, and field studies done in Kyiv, Ukraine in order to demonstrate that the demand for change seen in everyday life and domestic architecture predated the 1991 collapse of the USSR. Chapters are organized under domestic practices, such as eating and sleeping, rather than room-labels or apartment building types. This approach embraces a great variety of apartment buildings that existed in the late- and post-Soviet period without extensive focus on differences, but rather explores the overwhelming similarities in the spatial thinking of apartment dwellers and professional architects alike.
My research demonstrates that despite their fascination with the West, post-Soviet urbanites did not produce domestic spaces that resembled their Western counterparts, nor did they reproduce the Soviet understanding of home despite the persistence of Soviet infrastructure. Instead, they created their own model of apartment living. The newly acquired freedom to transform one’s home became a characteristic trait of the post-Soviet urban life, while the practice of domestic remodeling determined the everyday life experiences of post-Soviet urbanites.
Malaia, Kateryna L., "Domestic Space in the Times of Change: the Collapse of the USSR, 1985-2000s" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 2097.
Available for download on Sunday, May 21, 2023

domain: library


text:
20 Millionaires Under 30
Author: Sophia Graham
Publisher: Rupa Publication
Who doesn’t want to become rich! Since the world runs on money, it is imperative for each one of us to identify a way to make money and spend our winter comfortably! While no one breathes a word about the process that is actually involved in becoming rich, several non-fiction books that comprise the life stories of famous and successful people tend to provide a blueprint of the mindset that is required to ace the test.
Based on a similar concept, 20 Millionaires Under 30 is a collection of 20 inspiring stories of struggle, hard work, persistence, mental strength and indomitable spirit. Right from influential people like Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk to Lilly Singh and Richard Branson, this collection retells their tale by highlighting the driving force that changed the course of life for these people forever. What is nice about their stories is the fact that they started their journey from the scratch. Hence, it is quite palatable to establish a connection with these people who were once a part of the crowd too.
Sadly enough, this book is quite similar to the ones that are already available in the market. And at one point, reading stories about others does become tiresome. Hence, I won’t say that this book is extraordinary. But I wouldn’t deny that it is suitable for all the ones who are looking for some serious dose of inspiration.
Best wishes to the author!
Buying link: Amazon


Stocks in the U.S. and Europe are sinking Tuesday following political turmoil in Italy, which stoked fears of instability in the euro bloc.
Investors dumped Italian government bonds, driving borrowing costs sharply higher for that country and rekindling fears of more financial strain for weaker European nations.
Meanwhile, prices for U.S. government bonds surged as investors shifted money into lower-risk investments.
The steep drop in U.S. bond yields is causing big losses for banks. Lower yields force interest rates down on mortgages and other kinds of loans, meaning thinner profits for financial institutions. Major exporters like technology and industrial companies are also falling.
The political upheaval in Italy is likely to lead to new elections in the coming months, and while it’s not clear if Italy would leave the euro, investors are interpreting the new vote as a referendum on Italy continuing to use the currency. That has major implications for the European financial system and its economy.
“Eurozone membership will be at the forefront of the next election,” said Alicia Levine, the head of global investment strategy at BNY Mellon Investment Management. “Should Italy leave the eurozone, it’s clearly bad for European assets and it’s bad for the European banking system.”
Investors sold stocks, especially companies that depend on strong sales outside the U.S. like technology and industrial companies and big drug and health care products makers. They bought government bonds in the U.S. as well as Germany and the U.K. That sent prices for those bonds higher and yields lower.
The S&P 500 index sank 41 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,679 as of 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 470 points, or 1.9 percent, to 24,282. It was down as much as 505 earlier. In Europe, Italy’s benchmark stock index plunged 2.7 percent.
Smaller U.S. companies, which tend to be more domestically focused than the large multinationals in the Dow, fared much better than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index fell just one-fourth as much as the Dow average, giving up 7 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,619.
The Nasdaq composite fell 63 points, or 0.9 percent, to 7,370.
U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella picked Carlo Cottarelli for prime minister after the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and right-wing League refused to withdraw an anti-euro candidate as economy minister. That ended their attempt to establish a government after inconclusive elections in March. Cottarelli is likely to lose a vote of no confidence in parliament, which would mean another round of elections.
Investors dumped Italian stocks and bonds as a result. Yields on Italian government bonds soared as their prices declined. The yield on the 10-year Italian government bond jumped to 3.10 percent from 2.69 percent, a huge move. At the beginning of May the yield was just 1.78 percent. The sharp move higher reflects weakening confidence among investors in Italy’s government.
The German DAX lost 1.5 percent and Britain’s FTSE 100 and the French CAC 40 both sank 1.3 percent. Some of the worst losses went to European banks: Germany’s Deutsche Bank dropped 6.5 percent to $11.27 and Banco Santander of Spain lost 9.7 percent to $5.28.
“Uncertainty and the unknowns themselves affect the real economy,” said Levine, of Bank of New York Mellon. “You’ve going to have less investment, you’re going to have a decline in consumer spending, you’ve going to have, on the margin, less consumer activity affecting growth.”
New jitters about the stability of the euro sent the currency’s value against the dollar to its lowest level in almost a year. The dollar rose to 108.24 yen from 109.37 yen. The euro sank to $1.1531, its lowest since July, from $1.1669.
Spain was facing political turbulence of its own. That country’s parliament will hold a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy after graft convictions of businesspeople and officials tied to his conservative Popular Party. The Spanish IBEX 35 sank 2.5 percent.
U.S. government bond prices jumped as investors moved money into lower-risk assets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.77 percent, its lowest since early April, from 2.93 percent. That sent interest rates sharply lower, which reduces profits for banks. JPMorgan Chase dropped 5 percent to $105.17 and Bank of America fell 4.7 percent to $28.75.
U.S. crude oil fell 1.7 percent to $66.73 a barrel in New York. Oil prices have slumped in the last week following reports that OPEC countries and Russia could start pumping more oil soon. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 0.1 percent to $75.39 a barrel in London.
Wholesale gasoline gave up 1.7 percent to $2.14 a gallon. Heating oil shed 1.1 percent to $2.19 a gallon. Natural gas dropped 2.2 percent to $2.88 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold fell 0.4 percent to $1,299 an ounce. Silver lost 1 percent to $16.37 an ounce. Copper gave up 0.5 percent to $3.06 a pound.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent while the South Korean Kospi lost 0.9 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index plunged 1 percent.
© The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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NYC Marijuana Laws
New York remains one of the last states in the North Eastern area of the United States to have a medical marijuana program in place.Let's take a quick look at NYC marijuana laws. Attempts to create a favorable marijuana law have been unable to get through the New York state Senate for many years now. Recently Governor Cuomo has decided to try to run a program for research only that would abide by Federal Law and really, not help anyone in any way. "We'll establish a program allowing up to 20 hospitals to prescribe medical marijuana," he said in his State of the State speech last week. "We will monitor the program to evaluate the effectiveness and the feasibility of a medical marijuana system." Polls ...


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Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Tim Tebow stepped into INVESCO Field at Mile High in front of a crowd for the first time Saturday night. Needless to say, the 20,782 fans in attendance (largest number ever to watch a Broncos practice) were not disappointed.
Though the second-string defense was lax and the primary goal of the event was to showcase the offense (head coach Josh McDaniels said he was running “move-the-ball” drills), Tebow scored two touchdowns Saturday night – one through the air and, just as he did with the Florida Gators, another on the ground.
Read the rest and take a peek at video of Tebow on the field after the break!
Bringing fans to their feet with a 20-yard pass to wide receiver Matt Willis, Tebow led his offense downfield with two consecutive completions fellow first-rounder WR Demaryius Thomas on the right sideline. His drive ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Thomas and a celebratory sprint and chest bump in the endzone.
“To go out there and play in the stadium for the first time was really exciting, and to be able to have a drive and try to run the offense was fun,” Tebow told The Denver Post.
The event ended with the players walking around and signing autographs for fans dangling from the front row. Tebow, as expected, was the most in-demand and stayed as late as the team’s media relations department and security staff allowed.
RELATED: Tebow recognizing he’s not Mr. Perfect (The Denver Post)


During my interview with Lev Grossman last year he hinted at a sequel to The Magicians, which now has a title: The Magician King. This is very exciting news for those of us who enjoyed The Magicians and for the other possibilities Grossman left open to explore. Here is the announcement from Publisher's Weekly:
Tina Bennett at Janklow and Nesbit has closed on a sequel to Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. Molly Stern at Viking (who edited The Magicians) bought North American rights to The Magician King. The new book picks up with protagonist Quentin Coldwater five years after the original—at the end of The Magicians Coldwater is 23—when he and his friends have become royalty in the fantasy world of Fillory. Coldwater, who is dealing with the challenges of being a member of the ruling class, embarks on a dark quest in the novel, which Bennett called “Voyage of the Dawn Treader [book 5 in the Chronicles of Narnia] as rewritten by Raymond Chandler.”The Magician King is slated for a Fall 2011 release on Viking's schedule. Mark this as my first Looking Forward Fantasy of 2011.
You Might Also Like:
AUTHOR INTERVIEW | Lev Grossman author of The Magicians
LOOKING FORWARD Fantasy Books to Watch for in 2010
Best Books of 2009 (That I've read)


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Turks and Caicos Survey
Caribbean Expedition: Survey 9
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a group of more than 40 islands and cays, part of the larger Antilles island grouping. The territory is geographically contiguous to the Bahamas, but is a separate entity politically. Most of the islands consist of low, flat limestone with extensive marshes and mangrove swamps; over half the islands’ land area consists of beachfront.
The islands are a biodiversity hotspot, with a high number of endemic species and others of international importance, partially dependent on the conditions created by the oldest established salt-pan development in the Caribbean. The coral reef surrounding the islands is extensive, making it a good location for the team to survey.

domain: geography


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Pierre Agnes, CEO of Boardriders Inc., the parent of Quiksilver, Roxy and DC shoes brands, set sail early Tuesday off the coast of southwest France but did not return, authorities said.
Maritime authorities said two boats and three helicopters were involved in the search.
Agnes, who joined the company almost 30 years ago, was long based at Quiksilver's European headquarters in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, just south of Biarritz.
Agnes, a great surfer and fisherman, knows the area and waves really well and would have done the trip thousands of times so everyone is somewhat stunned.
Boardriders, which is 85-percent controlled by US private equity firm Oaktree Capital, owns the Quicksilver, Roxy and DC Shoes brands.
With demand for surfwear shrinking, Quiksilver filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection months after Agnes took the helm, then emerged in 2016.
The statement continued by saying the Boardriders family as well as the entire surfing world has been devastated by this and the company is putting its full attention on working with local authorities in their efforts of search and rescue while at the same time supporting the family of Agnes.
Quicksilver is based in Huntington Beach, Calif. In 2003, he served as Managing Director of Quiksilver Europe and eventually worked his way up to the position of CEO, which he's held since 2015.
Dave Tanner, now managing director at Oaktree and chief turnaround officer at Boardriders, is set to become the company's chief executive once the deal closes.
This article was originally published at 12:10 p.m.
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The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority NCAA says, it is ready to support stakeholders in the use and growth of drones in the country and ensure safety and security is accorded priority.
The Director General, NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu who stated this in his paper entitled “Drone Essence, Growth and Regulations in Nigeria”, at the ongoing Airport Business Summit in Lagos said, regulations were underway to create a level playing field for operators that would address security approvals and registration of drones, owners and operators.
Others are operational certification and approval, air worthiness approval, economic authorization, licensing of pilots and other personnel and privacy issues.
In many climes, the use of drone is very common.
With its vast use of goods delivery, filming, search and rescue operations amongst others, it could also be deployed to harm national security.
To this end, it has become expedient to regulate its use.
The Director General Nigeria, Civil Aviation Authority NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu says, the regulatory agency had gone far in the drafting of the drone regulations in the country and currently in final draft stage.
Captain Nuhu represented by the Director, Airworthiness, Mr. Kayode Ajiboye said, the regulations have 20 parts, adding that their greatest challenge was on how to address matters of security and piracy.
He stressed that, drone use was a new area for them and the NCAA do not have the final say on this matter.
“Security issues, piracy issues these are areas we do not have the final say, we try to ensure that the appropriate organs of government assign the role that they need to play if we want to have a secured and safe operations”
Captain Nuhu also stressed that there was need to mitigate risks to national security and public safety posed by people who were not playing by the rules.
He assured that the current legal framework and collaboration with operators, stakeholders and Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA would provide a robust structure and system for drone operations and its structured growth in Nigeria.
The Commissioner Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, Mr. Akin Olateru said, the use of drones can help in detecting an aircraft black boxes in the event of an accident.
He disclosed that the Federal Government had acquired two Hi-Tech drones to facilitate accident investigation.
“We have gotten it, we need all the approvals and the licenses and once that is done, our plan is to have one drone par location”
Rector, Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, NCAT Zaria, Captain Modibbo Mahmud said, inclusion of drone studies would bring about future inventions and open up more opportunities in the sector.
“That will enable students to be equipped with practical knowledge to partake in future inventions and control”
Delegates also stated that the growth opportunities in the drone services and software segment were huge for Nigeria but great planning and development of the market were required.


WASHINGTON — Police locked down a House office building Thursday in search of an armed intruder and a possible accomplice after a guard reported seeing a gun in an X-ray image at a security checkpoint.
But the gun turned out to be a plastic toy revolver and the suspects turned out to be apologetic aides of an Illinois congressman, authorities said.
Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said "two staff members bringing in Halloween costumes" were responsible. "I don't think they had any ill intent," he said.
The staff members were aides to Republican Rep. John Shimkus.
The incident, though harmless in the end, rattled Capitol Hill for about two hours and reinforced concerns about security, which had been bolstered in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the discovery of deadly anthrax spores in letters to legislators the following month.
The House abruptly recessed for an hour and 20 minutes, and a number of meetings were disrupted. Many lawmakers and hundreds of aides and visitors were locked in the Cannon House Office Building while police on high alert conducted a floor-by-floor search and heavily armed SWAT teams stood by.
Although the focus was on the Cannon building, where the breach was reported shortly after 1 p.m., security was also tightened at the neighboring Longworth and Rayburn House office buildings and in the Capitol.
The disturbance began when an officer posted at the Cannon building's southeastern entrance noticed an image of a gun in a knapsack that had passed through an X-ray machine.
But the officer, according to Gainer, was momentarily distracted in conversation and did not see who had picked up the bag and left the checkpoint.
Shimkus contacted Capitol police to report that his aides were the people sought by authorities. Security personnel raced to the office and learned about the costume and toy gun. Shimkus' office would not identify the two aides and no charges were filed.
Shimkus said the staff members didn't realize they were the suspects until Capitol police said they were looking for a woman.
"This was an unfortunate misunderstanding, a result of my staff's efforts to put together a Halloween costume during their lunch hour," he said in a written apology.


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