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By Liam Nolan
Regalado, Aldo J. Bending Steel: Modernity and the American Superhero. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2015.
Despite the popularity of casting superheroes as exemplars of Judeo-Christian values, consumerism, and American exceptionalism, critics often ignore the historical context with which superheroes interact. Aldo J. Regalado’s Bending Steel: Modernity and the American Superhero explores how superheroes interact with their creators’ cultural contexts and biographies. Regalado analyzes the biographies and fictional characters of authors ranging from James Fenimore Cooper to Frank Miller, exploring different periods of historical modernity on the subjects of identity and power. For Regalado, “…superhero fiction carries the potential to both challenge and reaffirm the notions of ethnicity, class, gender, and nationalism employed in imagining American fictional heroes” (80). Regalado discusses heroes and superheroes of the nineteenth and early-twentieth century in his first four chapters, while Chapter Five addresses the Comics Code Authority (CCA), its repressive effect on comics, and fan culture’s rebellion against that repression, and Chapter Six looks at Marvel’s Bronze and Modern Age comics and Frank Miller’s postmodern comics. Each of these chapters explores how heroes confront their modernity’s culturally prevalent ideas. Despite weaknesses in later chapters, Regalado masterfully crafts the majority of the book and provides balanced and necessary historical context for early heroes and modernity in a holistic way not often seen in comics’ scholarship.
In the introduction to Bending Steel, Regalado sets out four periods of modernity for examination by explication of their heroes: republican modernity, industrial modernity, atomic modernity, and postmodernity (4). Republican modernity and industrial modernity coincide to periods of industrial and social development in the nineteenth century, with republican modernity taking place before the Civil War and industrial modernity taking place after (4). Atomic modernity, which exemplifies consensus culture, was the predominant form of Cold War modernity until giving way to postmodernity’s undermining of traditional systems and consensus culture in 1980 (4). There are no tidy distinctions between these periods, and Regalado uses these terms sparingly. However, it is these various periods of modernity—with their different social issues—that the author demarcates in relation to how heroes and creators negotiate them.
Regalado’s central claim is that superheroes themselves are an extension of the heroic fiction of republican and industrial modernity. The author distinguishes regular heroes from superheroes using Peter Coogan’s definition of a superhero, which defines a superhero as selfless, physically or mentally powerful, iconic, and often possessing a backstory manifest in his or her iconicity (12). Regalado avoids using definitions to limit what may or may not constitute a superhero, though he does draws distinctions between superheroism and other types of heroism (11). Coogan’s definition of the superhero is entirely fitting for distinguishing superheroes from regular heroes in his analyses of how both categories engage with modernity.
Regalado dedicates his first two chapters, “Secret Origins” and “Jungle Lords, Haunting Horrors, and the Big City,” to contextualizing superheroes, focusing on James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H.P. Lovecraft. Regalado crafts detailed biographies of each writer to support his understanding of how biography intersects with a hero’s relationship to cultural context. In particular, Regalado discusses how these writers operate as outsiders within their own cultural contexts, often for reasons related to masculinity. Regalado examines Cooper’s Bumpoo, Burrough’s Tarzan, and a smattering of characters from Poe’s and Lovecraft’s works, claiming that these creators feminize non-white bodies and critique white heroes who lack conventional masculinity and display dandyish characteristics. Although for Cooper and Burroughs a return to nature helps heroes regain masculinity, the racial dynamics of the Gothic in Poe’s and Lovecraft’s works show a paralysis resulting from lost masculinity and fear of the “other.” Creators perceive a threat to masculinity during republican modernity, so these primarily white heroes represent an attempt to return to a masculine behavior deeply rooted in their own ethnicity and against the ethnicity of others. These masculine and ethnic dimensions are integral to Regalado’s understanding of how early heroes interact with modernity and the models from which comic book creators draw. Throughout the book, Regalado makes references to these early chapters to show how heroes and their contexts both change and remain the same.
Linking these inspirations for superheroes to the superheroes themselves, Regalado repeats his methodology from the first two chapters by providing biographies for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in Chapter Three, “From Strange Visitors to Men of Tomorrow.” Siegel and Shuster both experienced the frustrations of being working class Jewish men in New York when anti-Semitism limited their economic opportunities. Thus, the frustrations that manifest in Superman respond to an industrial modernity his creators understood as attempting to exclude them. No less compelling than in previous chapters, Regalado uses Siegel and Shuster’s biographies to support readings of “inclusion fantasies” amongst the marginalized Jewish population (9). In this way, the author explores how superheroes are not just rehashes of the heroes of antiquity, arguing, “…Siegel and Shuster did not imagine Superman by simply internalizing and then regurgitating the themes and values that underpinned the fiction that inspired them” (79). Still, Regalado makes certain to assert that Siegel and Shuster do not entirely discard previous notions of heroism. Regarding Superman’s prototype, Slam Bradley, Regalado notes, “…like Tarzan, Siegel and Shuster’s white hero proves his manliness by defeating ethnically defined ‘others.'” (98). Operating from their subject positions in industrial modernity, Siegel and Shuster remove some ethnic preconditions for heroism while reinforcing others. This chapter is particularly strong because, building on the first two chapters, it is able to articulate both the relationship of nineteenth century heroism to twentieth century heroism and explore how notions of and responses to modernity changed during this time.
Regalado’s fourth chapter, “From Steel and Shadows to the Flag,” links Siegel and Shuster’s response to industrial modernity to other prominent heroes of the age: Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman. Somewhat neglecting Bill Finger in the process, Regalado reads Batman’s creator Bob Kane’s biography heavily into the superhero. Like Siegel and Shuster, Kane experienced anti-Semitism because of his religious and ethnic identity, which deprived him of economic opportunities. Unlike Siegel and Shuster, though, Kane experienced racially-motivated gang violence as both a perpetrator and victim, which he escaped by becoming an artist. Regalado argues that Batman became an expression of Kane’s escape from anti-Semitism and systemic poverty. While still addressing problems of ethnicity and representation, Regalado primarily uses Batman to examine power structures relating to wealth because it is “…Batman who turns power structures topsy-turvy by dedicating his great personal wealth towards a selfless crusade for social justice” (125). In this way, Regalado does not abandon his previous explorations of ethnicity; rather, he laudably explores how ethnicity and economics intersect to influence Kane’s creation of Batman, which adds a complex and necessary dimension that refuses to separate the way that problems of ethnicity and class are inextricably linked.
Towards the end of “From Steel and Shadows to the Flag,” Regalado draws on many of the same understandings of Kane’s experiences with anti-Semitism to explore Jack Kirby and masculinity through an analysis of Captain America. Regalado casts Kirby as quite similar to Kane, as both men experienced economic disenfranchisement and street violence. Kirby, as a soldier, was especially concerned with the intersection of his experiences with anti-Semitism and Hitler’s rise in Europe. Captain America emerged as an exemplar of masculinity in his fight against “monstrous ethnic villains” of Asian, African, and Eastern European descent, as well as Nazis (135). While pushing against some ethnic and economic boundaries to heroism with his working class, Jewish identity, Captain America still came to reinforce pitting white masculinity against ethnic and foreign others.
At the end of the fourth chapter of Bending Steel, Regalado provides a perfunctory analysis of Wonder Woman, one of the few female characters to whom he pays more than passing attention. Regalado writes, “…comic books also created opportunities for expressing new types of national femininity” (136). The focus on “national femininity” seems particularly odd since Regalado never actually explores what this means, or even what the female experience of modernity entails. Though he talks about her disempowerment later in the book, Regalado’s reading of Wonder Woman only takes up a few pages, so the potential to explore modernity and the female hero in the 1940s quickly vanishes. The choice to explore Wonder Woman in such a limited capacity is disappointing because of her long and potentially fruitful history with male and female creators. The book’s very introduction touts Wonder Woman as one of the chapter’s focuses, but Regalado gives Wonder Woman astonishingly little consideration (8). Considering the focus on how masculinity relates to heroism, Regalado, quite unsatisfyingly, ignores the problems Wonder Woman might pose.
Chapter Five, “Domestication, Dysfunction, and the Rise of Superhero Fandom,” introduces a shift in the book’s focus from comics and culture prior to the CCA and comics and culture after. Regalado presents a balanced reading of Fredric Wertham’s influence on comics and the CCA, which stripped many mainstream comics of their counter-cultural dimension and effectively neuters the once subversive heroes. Although he makes no excuses for the code’s censorship, Regalado notes Wertham’s support for racial equality and the influence of Wertham’s social justice pursuits on his view of comics (153). Treating him fairly, Regalado ignores neither Wertham’s problematic methodology and arguments nor his attempts to uphold the status quo on women’s issues and potential LGBTQ+ relationships. By keeping from either valorizing or demonizing Wertham, Regalado crafts a fruitful exploration of Wertham as a complex person operating both progressively and regressively. Regalado’s choice to treat Wertham fairly avoids oversimplifying the complex political and social dimensions that went into the CCA, which is important for understanding the complexity individuals face when responding to modernity.
This exploration of Wertham and the CCA leads into a discussion about the recovery of comics after the CCA and the birth of a fandom resistant to modernity. Here, Regalado’s approach, which previously emphasized biography, briefly changes. Regalado explores fan culture and its origins, with brisk examinations of key figures. Fan culture originated during the period of atomic modernity, and these fans attempted to reject “official culture” while asserting their individuality (188). Regalado does not provide a solid date for the beginning of this subversive fan culture, but he does note that those involved were “fans of the late 1950s and early 1960s” (179). In a brilliant twist, the mainstream comics industry became a defender of cultural ideals—like white, male heroism, de-individualization, and veneration of the economic elites—it once subverted. The CCA’s censorship of comics came to affirm the principle Regalado is arguing: comics act in a counter-cultural way.
“From Renaissance to the Dark Age,” Bending Steel‘s sixth chapter, continues to explore fan culture. It is the “rebellious ethos” of this fan culture that Marvel Comics taps into in the 1960s, Regalado claims (188). The major change in Marvel’s approach, under Stan Lee, was how “…superheroes had become vessels for suburban kids to voice individual frustrations with the world in which they lived” (193). The heroes of this era, in turn, were “strikingly different from the self-effacing and community-conscious heroics of…the 1930s” (193). Through succinct explorations of the Fantastic Four, Hulk, X-Men, and several other heroes, Regalado articulates how heroes moved away from what he calls “atomic modernity’s culture of consensus” (193-94). Marvel tapped into fandom’s counter cultural ideals in order to rebel against atomic modernity and its culture of consensus.
Regalado’s presentation of Marvel is complex, and, like in his other readings, he is willing to challenge the works he is examining, though less thoroughly than in the book’s early parts. For instance, Regalado discusses how Iron Man, while undermining some of atomic modernity’s hegemonic elements, still normalizes America’s involvement in the Vietnam War and America’s anti-Communist stance (199). In contextualizing this turn from modernity, Regalado also addresses Marvel’s superheroes of color. Regalado notes, “in most cases… African American characters were objectified and employed to express white concerns” (200). Regalado never really explores any of these heroes of color in-depth, nor does he confront how this racially other hero challenges notions of heroism. Although Chapter Six is excellent in many respects, its failure to fully explore heroism’s racial dimensions is incredibly problematic, as racism is still a major part of American society and Marvel’s cultural context during this time.
The final creator Regalado explores in Bending Steel is Frank Miller and his Dark Knight. After a brief analysis of Alan Moore’s Watchmen and its critique of superheroes, Regalado details how Miller’s rendition of Batman in Dark Knight functions counter-culturally. After uncharacteristically providing little biographical information for the problematic Miller, Regalado discusses Batman as “a cry to stand up against modernity” (216). The modernity of this section, more than in previous sections, is more closely aligned with consumerism and the government overstepping its authority. Although some read Batman as a problematically conservative force in Dark Knight, Regalado argues that Batman appears as a counter-cultural force because “it is Reagan, rather than Batman, who emerges as the fascist of the story” (215). Regalado argues that, by reclaiming his masculinity, Batman serves a rebellious function against his culture’s modernity. Regalado identifies one of the text’s key tensions, as heroes, like Superman, side with the government and lose their independence and freedom by doing so. Though the government forces him to retire, Bruce Wayne’s choice to become Batman again represents an act of rebellion against the government. The government’s attempt to control and retire superheroes increases crime, and Dark Knight begins in a world rife with criminals abusing the innocent. Fighting against those who victimize others is a generically masculine act, so it is no surprise that Batman’s masculinity and heroism are linked. As with previous iterations of this superhero, this Batman comes to serve a rebellious function. Masculinity here is less related to economic concerns than in Kane’s work, as the object of heroic masculinity’s rebellion is, seemingly, changing from economy and ethnicity to freedom. Despite this identification of change, Regalado neither provides much biography for Miller nor explores the ethno-racial dimensions that were once important to his exploration. Hence, this chapter draws on elements of previous parts of the text while, disappointingly, dropping fruitful subjects.
Much of Regalado’s genius lies in his subtle scaffolding of arguments. Regalado supports his arguments with strong research, and his writing is clear and approachable. His focus on how the CCA forced comics to conform is great, but his articulation of comics’ fandom as opposing that force is brilliant, not to mention well-argued. Regalado also excels as a biographer, finding a way to make the histories of the examined authors simultaneously compelling and relevant. Using biographical contexts to explain how creators might subjectively experience modernity helps demonstrate how creation and creator meld. This melding can be, potentially, problematic. At times, Regalado ignores the complex editorial processes that can influence a comic. Still, his use of biography is compelling, and he makes it easy to understand how a creator’s context clearly influences his or her work. Regalado explores many complex figures, and he avoids turning creators and critics into heroes and villains. Regalado’s choice to complicate creators is laudable, and it makes the intersections of masculinity, ethnicity, and class in the early chapters more potent. By weaving socio-economic concerns with those of other social concerns, Regalado avoids oversimplifying the complex dynamics that influence the context of creators.
Despite these positives, Regalado’s work struggles towards the end. After spending much time meaningfully focusing on gender and ethnicity, the pursuit of these subjects disappears almost entirely from later chapters. While he discusses Wonder Woman, Regalado’s explication ends suddenly, and his idea of a “national femininity” falls drastically short of satisfying considering the attention he pays to masculinity (136). To his credit, Regalado mentions the problematic nature of Marvel’s black superheroes, but he does not explore this change in heroism’s ethno-racial dimension thoroughly. Ethno-racial politics are a complex part of both atomic modernity and postmodernity; in not exploring any of these heroes of color, Regalado opts for the safe path of only examining heroes who are white and overwhelmingly male. The challenges that a female hero or hero of color would pose to heroism and modernity remain unexplored or, in the case of Wonder Woman, underexplored.
Issues of ethnicity and race all but disappear from Regalado’s section on Miller. Regalado writes, “while Miller steers his narrative away from overt ethnic references by depicting most of the gang members as white and some of them as neo-Nazis, the ethnic associations remain, especially in the way that the characters speak” (213). This is the majority of the exploration in this section on the once prominent theme of ethnicity, and Regalado abandons this line of inquiry almost as quickly as he brings it up. The entire Miller section seems underexplored since Regalado fails to provide a substantive biography for Miller or complicate Miller in the same way he does every other author.
Despite shortcomings towards the end, Bending Steel‘s early chapters excel in providing a history of comics and those who crafted them. One of Regalado’s greatest strengths is his ability to understand comics holistically and articulate the intersections of culture, individuality, and the superhero. Most of the problems with Regalado’s work seem to stem from time and space constraints, but the failure to explore Miller in the same way as other creators is certainly a significant lacuna in Regalado’s otherwise laudable methodologically. Academics of all levels will find Bending Steel a fantastic book for understanding superheroes and modernity. Regalado’s approach and contributions truly matter, and the explorations of the Golden Age, the CCA, and comics’ fandom are vulnerable to no discernable kryptonite.


Results of our New Norfolk Safety Poll
In April 2021 we invited people in our town to indicate what concerns them the most with regard to safety in our community.
We asked people to choose from a list of 13 issue types to indicate which ONE (1) was their most pressing issue from their point of view at that time.
The results were not surprising as most people complain constantly about the hooning and motor vehicle thefts/damage occurring on a regular basis. Policing or the lack of, is also an ongoing issue for the community.
Here are the top 5 issues indicated via the poll:
- Hooning: 41%
- Policing: 18%
- Motor vehicle damage/theft: 12%
- Domestic violence: 6%
- Dumping of rubbish: 6%
We will continue to address these issues by concentrating our education and delivery of information regarding staying safe, being aware of suspicious behaviours, and keeping our homes and vehicles locked to make theft and burglary more difficult.


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MIA calls on Govt. for assistance with airbag recall
The faulty Takata airbags has led to at least 23 deaths worldwide and more than 230 serious injuries. Takata's airbag inflators can explode with excessive force, unleashing metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks.David Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association (MIA) says "this is large and complex logistical issue affecting new and used vehicles with two different types of Takata airbags and current owners of vehicles having a choice as to whether they want to close out the recall. At present there is no mandatory process requiring owners of vehicles to undertake a recall if they are notified by the manufacturer to do so." Consequently, the MIA has asked the Government to find a mechanism which requires owners of affected vehicles to bring their vehicles into a franchised dealer for the recalled component to be replaced if they do not respond to letters from manufacturers within a reasonable time period. The MIA are also want assistance with preventing used imported vehicles from completing import compliance unless those importing vehicles can demonstrate those vehicles have had their recalls completed. This follows from yesterday's announcement by the Australian government, who announced that they are ordering a compulsory recall of more than 2 million cars fitted with Takata airbags. The compulsory recall is one of the largest of its kind and follows voluntary recalls by carmakers last year affecting 1.7 million vehicles. For more on this story, read the March issue of Autofile magazine. Subscribe here.

domain: law


"Bush: ‘I Know I Would Respond’ If Iran Were To Attack Israel"
Before his press conference today, President Bush met exclusively with a group of GOP congressional leaders. According to Fox News, which spoke with some of the members at that discussion, Bush unequivocally promised that he would attack Iran if Iran “were ever to attack Israel.” Bush told the lawmakers, “I know I would respond. … In order for diplomacy to be effective, all options have to be on the table.” Watch it:
The Bush administration continues to publicly insist that it is pursuing a “path of cooperation” with Iran. But behind closed doors, in meetings such as the one today, the White House seems to be charting a different course. David Wurmser, who until recently served as Vice President Cheney’s Middle East adviser, told a “small group of people” that Cheney is pushing for an Israeli attack on Iran:
[T]he magazine quoted David Wurmser, until last month Cheney’s Middle East advisor, as having told a small group of people that “Cheney had been mulling the idea of pushing for limited Israeli missile strikes against the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz — and perhaps other sites — in order to provoke Tehran into lashing out.”
According to the report, “The Iranian reaction would then give Washington a pretext to launch strikes against military and nuclear targets in Iran.“
Bush and Karl Rove also recently met privately with Norman Podhoretz for 45 minutes, listening to his case for war with Iran. Earlier this month, Podhoretz told CSPAN, “I believe President Bush is going to order airstrikes [on Iran] before he leaves office.”
Americans increasingly view a strike on Iran during Bush’s term as inevitable. A new Zogby poll finds that 53 percent of the public believe it is “likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election.”
HOST: A still picture here from the White House about 90 minutes ago. Before this happened at the podium at the North Portico of the White House, the President was meeting with Republican leaders of the House, and he was asked about Iran and rumors of war. He says, if Iran were to ever attack Israel, “I know I would respond,” making the point that President Bush believes any president would do the same. “In order for diplomacy to be effective, all options have to be on the table.”
With regard to Russia, he said he firmly believes that Vladimir Putin does understand the repercussions of Iran having nuclear weapons, because those weapons, he says, “can fly west and they can fly north.”
At the outset, he told House leaders that my spirit is high, my head is up, and I’m absolutely going to sprint to the finish, and I absolutely want to work with you all the way through. So, that was what was said behind closed doors, leaked to our producers on Capitol Hill through some Republican members of Congress who were in the East Room of the White House.


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The Moon Festival returns this year on September 25th.
Celebrating the wide range of creative and scholarly pursuits among Luther's faculty and staff, Luther College is hosting the fourth annual Faculty Research Symposium, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, in Valders Hall of Science Room 206 on the Luther campus.
As Homecoming rapidly approaches, Professor Kopf explores what it means "to come home" and why it takes trust and faith to do so.
The Religion department will show the Academy Award winning film, "Spotlight," from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 in Olin room 102. A discussion led by religion department faculty will follow the showing of the film. "Spotlight" is the compelling true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that challenged and uprooted one of the world's oldest and most trusted religious institutions.
MLLL and ASAA are hosting the Moon Festival on September 25 to celebrate Chinese Moon Festival, a popular harvest festival celebrated in China and other Asian countries.
Tatyana Saranina and Samuel Kaplan took home medals at the 2016 US Midwest University “Chinese Bridge" Speech Contest held at DePaul University in Chicago
This year's Gerhard Marcks Lecture, "A Matter of Ink: Zheng Chongbin in Conversation with Julia Andrews", will be held on Friday, April 8th at 5:30pm.
Students are invited to experience authentic Chinese Buddhist monastic life in Taiwan this summer.
On February 17, 2016, Annie Katsura Rollins presents "A Life in Shadows: Art, Creation & Research in Chinese Shadow Puppetry"

domain: news


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A food buy xanax on line writer notes that many recipes for chocolate truffle add a small amount of chocolate liqueur to melted chocolate, and warns that adding the liqueur often causes the chocolate to seize. The ability for bots to mimic human interaction makes it difficult for marketers and data analysts to differentiate between human interactions and automated bot interactions; having implications for quality of xanax 1.5mg prescription price data. Apart from the criminal offense of rape, there are xanax 1.5mg prescription price also other sexual offenses in the Criminal Code. However, not all treatments based upon the cholinergic hypothesis xanax 1.5mg prescription price have been successful in treating the symptoms or slowing the progression of AD. UK health organizations persistently pushed back against online ordering in 1999 due order ativan san jose to concerns over change in the medical industry's infrastructure. Prescription medical claims records can be used to estimate medication adherence based on fill rate. Office xanax 1.5mg prescription price of Fair Trading over a cartel arrangement in which it carved up some of a multimillion-pound market in prescription drugs for care homes with Lloyds Pharmacy. White remained in parliament as a Liberal backbencher. xanax 1.5mg prescription price Many of these xanax 1.5mg prescription price patients underwent exorcistic healing rituals that, though largely regarded as positive experiences by the patients, had no effect on symptomology. In food preparation, a rough or absorbent material may cause the strong flavour of a past ingredient to be tasted in food prepared later. The department also runs a careers website. Pro-feminism is the support of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the xanax 1.5mg prescription price feminist movement. Close behind are Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland in a tight pack. The practice may be pleasurable because of the large number of nerve endings in the anal area, and because of the added stimulation gained from stretching the anal sphincter muscles while inserting the finger. Eccentric exercise using a rubber bar is highly effective at eliminating pain and increasing strength. Bathhouses are usually dimly lit Purchase generic ambien online in the uk and play music, although an outdoors, enclosed rooftop or pool area is not uncommon. Specifically, the new research shows:Currently, hospitals that qualify for the program claim 340B discounts for most outpatient prescription drugs, for both insured xanax 1.5mg prescription price and uninsured patients. In efforts xanax 1.5mg prescription price to curtail recreational drug use, governments worldwide introduced several laws prohibiting the possession of almost all varieties of recreational drugs during the 20th century. Common side effects include dizziness, feeling tired, vomiting, and hallucinations. 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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

domain: medical


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domain: health


Former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach was recently interviewed on the “Hangar 19” radio show.
Asked about the status of guitarist Nick Sterling, who played on Bach’s most recent solo album, “Kicking & Screaming”, Sebastian said, “We filmed a live television broadcast, and [Sterling] wouldn’t sign a release, so we couldn’t film it with him. And it was just a legal thing.”
He continued, “It’s very sad, ’cause I love playing with Nick, but he has people around him. He’s very young — he just turned 22. And he’s a prodigous guitar player; he’s incredible. But… he’s 22. [laughs] Did I mention that? He just hasn’t done this [for very long]…
“I love the guy. It’s very hard for me to talk about. All I can say is that he didn’t sign the release, so we couldn’t shoot the broadcast with him, and that made me really mad, because a lot of work went into the preparation and the planning and the execution of a live broadcast across America. And to let all those people down — the cameramen, the soundmen and the TV station and the fans and the band and the management — that just makes me crazy. I mean, nobody’s trying to steal anything from him. I’m not sitting behind the scenes going, ‘Oh, how do I steal from Nick?’ I don’t give a shit.
“The funniest thing [was] we spent about 10 minutes arguing, me and him, over ‘sync splits.’ He’s like, ‘Well, the sync splits isn’t in the contract.’ And I go, ‘Yes, the sync splits is in the contract.’ He’s like, ‘Well, that’s not what I heard.’ And I’m all, ‘Yes, that’s what I heard. The sync splits is in the contract.’ If you put a gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you what the fuck a ‘sync split’ is. I have no clue. And I’m sitting there telling him, ‘You can have the sync splits.’ I have no idea what the fuck a ‘sync split’ is. And he didn’t either. We’re sitting there arguing about sync splits, not either of us knowing what we’re talking about. How ridiculous is that?”
Regarding how he decides how many SKID ROW songs he plays at each concert, Bach said, “That all depends on the length of the show. There are certain songs I have to do, so the shorter the show, the more you’re gonna hear those ‘hits.’ I mean, we just sold this place out tonight. There’s over two thousand people here; it’s fucking awesome, it’s killer. So I’m not gonna beat you over the head with some fucking rhythm I came up with on the bus an hour ago. I’m gonna play songs that you know, but at the same time, I’m gonna do new songs, because that’s what musicians do. I don’t just do old songs, but the longer the set, the more new shit I can do.”


Civic Center Park, like many of Denver, CO developments, went through a long and tumultuous public process before ground was broken. Many early Denverites like Mayor Robert Speer had grand visions for the events, artwork, and cultural exhibits the park would represent and host.
Its history can be traced back to 1878 when Mayor Richard Sopris created a plan for two city parks to be connected by a tree-lined boulevard. In 1890, when the State Capitol and its surrounding park were built, more concrete plans for a larger park complex were originated, heavily influenced by the City Beautiful movement and Mayor Speer’s vision. It continued to evolve through 1932 when the City and County building was finished. Between the completion of the two imposing buildings to the east and west, smaller structures like the Carnegie Library from 1909, now known as the McNichols Center, and the Voorhies Memorial and Greek Amphitheater both from 1919, were built.
But Civic Center Park did not go up in a vacuum. An early map shows that the plots of land where the Carnegie Library and the U.S. Mint stood were flanked by mostly brick buildings and livery stables in 1903. Electric railways ran along Broadway, winding between warehouses and businesses. Creating the Civic Center meant buying the land and razing these buildings to the ground. There were protests and debates about which blocks to buy, how much to spend, and the arduous task of connecting downtown’s 45-degree grid with the north-south direction of the rest of the city. Business owners and other influential Denverites quickly began squabbling over the cost of connecting the already-completed statehouse and its 20-acre park to an official Civic Center.
In 1908, it is feared that the largest civic center plans would effectually prevent the growth of the business district out Broadway, Acoma, and Bannock streets. Nothing should be done to prevent the spread of business. In 1909, the city of Denver voted on beginning land acquisition, and after two years of court battles with opponents, the Colorado Supreme Court allowed the process to begin. The city bought the land it needed for $1.8 million. A drawing by the sculptor Frederick MacMonnies in 1907, laid out the park much as it is today.
The European-style row homes surrounding the Civic Center and the massive fountain in the center may not behave materialized, but the Voorhies Memorial, Greek Theater, McNichols Center, and the City and County building came to be much like the proposal imagined, even though the final buildings wouldn’t begin construction until decades later.
Furthermore, in the mid-2000s, proposals to redevelop parts of Civic Center Park inspired heated debates and indicated that something needed to be done to preserve the century-old space, which the nonprofit Colorado Preservation Inc. listed as one of the state’s endangered places in 2007. In 2009 Denver’s Landmark Preservation Commission approved new design guidelines for Civic Center, and that year the city used $9 million from the Better Denver bond program to fund a rehabilitation project focused on restoring the park’s structures, walkways, and landscaping. By 2011 Colorado Preservation declared that the park had been saved.
The Civic Center Conservancy, a private nonprofit established in 2004 to help revitalize the area, now organizes a weekly outdoor café with food trucks during the summer as well as an outdoor film series, a fitness series, and other programs. Civic Center Park continues to serve as the symbolic heart of the city, home to festivals such as A Taste of Colorado, the 420 Rally, and Super Bowl victory celebrations as well as political demonstrations and protests.
Next – Coors Field


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Dawn Makin's life spiralled out of control after she was caught leaking details about patients to her partner.
For a year the shamed nurse lived a lie, pretended to go to work at her dream job at Moorgate Primary Care Centre in Bury.
In reality, she had been suspended and was under investigation for giving patients' information to her then boyfriend, Martin Campbell, a 'cash for claims' agent.
The information emerged at Bury magistrates as Miss Makin lay in hospital fighting for her life after trying to take her life shortly after killing Chloe.
Campbell, 31, pleaded guilty to seven charges under the Data Protection Act.
He had taken names and telephone numbers of patients from Ms Makin and called to offer his services. He also contacted patients from Prestwich walk-in centre, which Ms Makin had obtained from a database.
He raked in £8,000 over a four-month period from Bolton-based Direct Assist where he was paid commission for each person he signed up. The pair were rumbled when some of the patients complained that their details had been passed on.
The Information Commissioner’s Office launched an investigation while Ms Makin was suspended and later sacked. It was later decided not to bring charges against Ms Makin, as it was not in the public interest.
Bury magistrates heard at the time that Ms Makin was struggling financially after the breakdown of a previous relationship and had a mortgage to pay and a child to raise.
Campbell was under pressure to deliver in his job and they both needed money.
When they were rumbled Ms Makin, who had been studying at university to further her career, was deeply ashamed and unable to confess to her parents, who lived just doors away.
For 12 months the humiliated nurse pretended she had not lost her job and left Chloe with family and took her to nursery.
Campbell, a self-employed plasterer, was fined £1,050 after admitting seven charges of knowingly obtaining personal data without consent. He asked for 22 other offences to be taken into consideration. He was also ordered to pay £1,160 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Shortly before he was sentenced he joked to a pal in the gallery: "We’re going to Bella Italia after this and I’m having a fillet steak."


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Winnings at Baton Rouge’s three riverboat casinos plunged in November, dropping 10.1 percent from what they brought in during November 2013.
The riverboats brought in $21.7 million in November, compared with almost $24.2 million in November 2013, according to figures released Thursday by State Police. This breaks a four-month streak of the Baton Rouge market recording a gain in winnings over the year before.
L’Auberge, the newest casino in the market, had the biggest drop in revenue, falling from $13.4 million in November 2013 to $11.7 million, a 12.6 percent drop. The riverboat still brought in more than the combined revenue generated by the Belle of Baton Rouge and Hollywood Casino.
The Belle, the oldest casino in the market, fared the best in November when compared with the year before. The downtown casino brought in nearly $4.8 million in November, down 3.4 percent from the $4.9 million it generated in 2013.
Hollywood Casino, the other downtown property, had a 9.9 percent drop in winnings. The casino generated $5.2 million in November, compared with almost $5.8 million in the year before.
Statewide, the 14 riverboats, four racetrack slot casinos and Harrah’s land-based casino brought in nearly $195.1 million in November, 5.5 percent worse than the $206.5 million the gambling halls won the year before.
Winnings in the New Orleans casino market dropped by 7.3 percent in November when compared with the year before. The three riverboats, Harrah’s land-based casino and slots at the Fair Grounds brought in $51.4 million. That compares with the nearly $55.5 million in winnings during November 2013.
The lone bright spot was Treasure Chest, which brought in $7.9 million in November, a 4 percent gain over the year before. Harrah’s, which accounts for the biggest share of the local casino market, was the biggest loser. The land-based casino brought in $26.8 million in November, down 13.6 percent from the year earlier.
Lake Charles was the only casino market in the state to post a gain in November, with winnings at the two riverboats and Delta Downs slots going up by 3 percent from $56.9 million to $58.6 million.
The city should post a similarly strong performance in December because the Golden Nugget riverboat casino opened for business last week.
Shreveport-Bossier City was down 10 percent, with the six riverboat casinos and the slots at the Harrah’s racetrack bringing in $56.3 million.
The Opelousas market, represented by the slots at Evangeline Downs, was down by 4.5 percent to $7.1 million.
Follow Timothy Boone on Twitter, @TCB_TheAdvocate.

domain: geography


That’s the question before the Anaheim City Council at its August 25 meeting. The council will vote on whether to continue the city $200,000 contract with the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.
I’ve called it a taxpayer subsidy in the past, but it’s more accurately an example of the city contracting out certain services to the Chamber. That said, I still think it is a bad idea.
I’m all for contracting out municipal functions wherever possible, establishing that sort of symbiotic relationship between a city and a chamber of commerce is dangerous. In addition to generally promoting business within a city and serving as a networking forum for local businesses, chambers are – or at least, ought to be — advocates for pro-free enterprise policies, and opponents of city actions that distort and constrain the free market.
If the city is a client and major source of income for a chamber of commerce, that role is compromised. The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce is a significant actor in city politics. For example, it was public face of the SOAR campaign to freeze Resort Area zoning and place it under a ballot-box zoning regime. And the funding the chamber received from the campaign became entwined in that fight, given you had a city vendor leading a political fight to overturn policy enacted by a council majority.
While it makes sense for cities and chambers of commerce to work together for the prosperity of their communities, it works best if their sphere do not overlap and chambers are able to maintain a true independence from the city. When the city is a client of the chamber, it cannot be truly independent and will be perceived as beholden to some or other power center in city hall.
I don’t know the specifics duties spelled out in the contract the Anaheim Council will vote upon on Tuesday (the Aug. 25 agenda hasn’t been posted yet), but my assumption is they haven’t changed much since 2007. Any of them – promoting events like “Taste of Anaheim” or the “State of the City Address” — can be contracted out to non-political private entities like a marketing or PR firm, or else performed by city staff — and thereby allowing the Chamber to serve as a truly independent voice in Anaheim public affairs. Generally speaking, local chambers aren’t the profiles in free enterprise courage they used to be, and be on the receiving end of city dollars tends to dampen independent impulses, or at least think twice before questioning anti-business policies.
Read this story in its entirety at Red County by clicking here.


Another ugly Los Angeles Clippers season on the court is carrying over into the courtroom.
The team and former coach Mike Dunleavy are accusing each other of fraud in court filings before an arbitration hearing over whether Dunleavy is still owed money by the team.
Dunleavy resigned as coach in February after seven years and was fired as general manager a month later. In June, Dunleavy filed an arbitration claim under the provisions of his contract after the team stopped paying him. At the time he was fired as general manager, Dunleavy was in the fourth year of a five-year, $22 million contract.
Owner Donald Sterling and the Clippers claim that they were duped into signing the agreement. They say that Dunleavy never intended to fulfill his end of the deal and only wanted increased compensation.
"During negotiations of the Employment Agreement, Dunleavy made representations and promises to LAC (the Clippers) that he desired to, and would continue to perform, his duties and obligations as LAC's Head Coach through the 2010-11 NBA Season. LAC is informed and believes, and thereon allege, that at the time he made those representation and promises, Dunleavy had no intention to perform his duties and obligations as LAC's Head Coach through the 2010-11 NBA season, and knew these representations and promises to be false," the Clippers said in their filing.
The team contends that Dunleavy's request for an arbitration hearing "exceeds the scope of the narrow arbitration provision between LAC and Dunleavy" in his original contract.
Reached by ESPNLosAngeles.com, Dunleavy's lawyer, Miles Clements, said that the team is only trying to stall the arbitration process.
"It was always his intention to coach the Clippers to a successful season and to honor his contract as he has always honored every contract he's entered into," Clements wrote in an e-mail.
"A blind man can see what their strategy is, and that's to delay. That's a strategy they've employed in the past with coaches they've fired and didn't want to pay. I'm optimistic that strategy will not work for them here."
Robert Platt, the Clippers' general counsel, told the Los Angeles Times that the team welcomes "the opportunity to present our case at trial. This matter will be heard in the proper forum at the appropriate time. We are very confident that the evidence we present will inevitably result in a favorable determination."
The Clippers made the playoffs once in Dunleavy's tenure, losing in the Western Conference semifinals in 2006. He stepped down with a 21-28 mark last season. Kim Hughes took over and went 8-25 down the stretch.
Ramona Shelburne, a reporter and columnist for ESPNLosAngeles.com, contributed to this report.


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I enjoyed this book. This is the second book in the series. I also enjoyed the first book. While the first book focused mostly on Taryn, this is Lindsay's book.
Lindsey has an aunt Lana who lives in a small town, when Lindsay was 16 she visited her aunt for the summer and she met and fell in love with Grady Hawke. Just that name alone is enough to make me say yummmmm. Lindsay's mom finds out and makes her break it off with Grady, who is not happy and very heartbroken. He is upset that she left back to the big city and left him and their love.
Fast forward 5 years and this is where the story picks up Lindsay is back in town with her aunt Lana. She knows she broke Grady's heart and would love to explain why she did what she did 5 years earlier but isn't sure he wants to hear about it. Grady lives day by day and he often thinks of Lindsay but she broke his heart. He was in a bad place for a few years before finally pulling out of it. He is now finally able to live a somewhat normal life, but when he finds out Lindsay is back in town all the hurt and anger come flooding back.
They go through a huge journey but believe me it is so worth it. I loved the way there is dual points of view. looking at things through Grady's POV then Lindsay's its perfect. It is a light easy read that had me laughing out loud.
The secondary characters are the best! Besides Taryn there is also Grady's Bff Josh and his wife Leah. Man Leah had me laughing, she is so blunt and open about everything. She reminded me of me. Oh and there are times I was like OH HELL NO! especially when in comes to Lindsay's mom. That lady is a bitch.
I really liked this book and am so excited that Ford is getting his own book. I can not wait to read about that guy. He is another one of Grady's friends that you meet in this book. He is so mysterious, I want to No scratch that I NEED to know more about him

domain: literature


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Posted by Spence on 11/5/2015 to ATV ACCESSORY REVIEW
If getting a flat tire has ever been an issue for you than you can understand how great it would be to have tires that would run without any air. Lucky for us there are a couple of Tire manufacturers out there that understand this and DWT is one of them. DWT is now offering 2 tires with the 12 ply run flat technology. For the past couple of years we have offered the DWT Moapa run flats and they've been a huge success! DWT has just released the Mojave (Moja-V) and we are now stocking and shipping these bad boys. The Mojave is designed for hard-packed terrain. They offer a nice smooth and relatively quiet ride on hard-packed surfaces and they feature a nice contact to the ground for excellent traction. The Mojave has been tested by an extreme rider named Bryan Mccormick and this is what he had to say about them, "Awesome tire guys! .. these Moja-V's provided awesome contact patch perfect for the hard-packed track we had that weekend!"
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domain: hobby


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domain: agronomy


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Latest Festival Flyer update from Hampton Court Festival
Our rescheduled 2021 line up is here with some exciting new additions! 🌟We are thrilled to announce that Van Morrison and Keane will be joining Bastille ReOrchestrated, Tom Jones and Björn Again at the Palace this August. Meanwhile Lionel Richie, George Benson, Rick Astley have all been rescheduled to 2022. Please check out the website for full details on new show dates.
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domain: entertainment


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In the wake of the nation’s financial crisis and years of prolonged economic instability, college graduates have been slow to give back to their alma maters, forcing development offices to find new and creative ways to reach out to their alumni.
The national average for alumni giving remains remarkably low, at about 9 to 10 percent for private colleges and 5 to 6 percent for public universities. The problem is even more distressing at historically Black colleges and universities, which, at one time, produced the lion’s share of Black college graduates in this country.
But despite the sharp economic decline, Bennett College, the small, Black women’s college headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., has consistently managed to keep its numbers up, garnering annual financial contributions from about 20 percent of its alumni, much higher than the HBCU national average of about 6 percent.
We are one of the smallest HBCUs in the country and yet we’re doing our share,” says Dr. Rosalind Fuse-Hall, who assumed the presidency of Bennett in July and has been barnstorming the country on a mission to raise funds for the liberal arts school. “I applaud our women because they believe in Bennett College, they support Bennett College and they give to Bennett College. Where else would you find that kind of support from the alumnae?”
At a time when many HBCUs are struggling to stay financially afloat as philanthropic efforts have taken a steep downward turn, HBCU leaders might consider looking at the Bennett model to see why so many “Belles” — as they’re affectionately referred to on the day they enroll at the university — have steadily supported the college through the years, despite generational differences and some of the more obvious challenges that confront the school on a day-to-day basis.
For example, Bennett’s four-year graduation rate hovers at about 29 percent and its enrollment numbers are down, forcing administrators to develop a five-year strategy that includes attracting more transfer, non-traditional and international students from Asia and Africa.
“There is still a sizable pot of eligible young women that we have to do a better job attracting to the campus and that will help us get our enrollment numbers up,” says Fuse-Hall. “There are some communities that we have not tapped into that [are] looking for a small, liberal arts, individualized attention-giving campus like Bennett College for their young daughters, sisters [and] aunts who they want to have that kind of experience because they don’t want their person to get lost in a larger institution. And we offer that. That’s been the history of Bennett and we’ve been successful at that.”
Building confidence in Bennett
To Bennett’s benefit, the 140-year-old private college has had several well-known “sister-presidents” who have pursued sizable financial gifts.
After serving a 10-year stint as president of Spelman — the nation’s only other Black college exclusively for women — Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole was recruited in 2002 to lead Bennett. She was replaced in 2007 by Dr. Julianne Malveaux, the well-known author, commentator and economist who stepped down in 2012 after five years on the job. Dr. Esther Terry, a Bennett alum, who served in various administrative posts and helped establish the nation’s second Afro-American Studies doctoral program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was appointed interim president for a year after she returned to Bennett to serve as provost during Malveaux’s tenure. Terry was succeeded earlier this year by Fuse-Hall, a North Carolina native.
Despite an $11 million endowment, Fuse-Hall has actively been raising funds by weaving together an impressive narrative for funders that point to Bennett’s accomplishments over the last few years, which includes helping more than 100 young women in the foster care system enroll and graduate from the college.
“We’re building confidence, not just internally, but externally, so people know Bennett College has a story to tell and a purpose to live,” says Fuse-Hall. “Bennett is going to concentrate on what Bennett has done well for the last 10 to 15 years — strong academics, strong public service [and a] strong civic engagement component while emphasizing wellness.”
Fuse-Hall says in addition to helping students refine their communication and leadership skills, a concerted effort is underway to help the students develop an entrepreneurial prowess. “Black women have always augmented their family income with some family business that they’ve run out of their home,” says Fuse-Hall, whose mother-in-law once printed church bulletins in the county where she lived. “Other women have sold Avon or Mary Kay. Our students today call it their ‘side hustle.’ We don’t want it to be their side hustle. We want them to have a good understanding of what entrepreneurship is all about so they can develop the skills and working knowledge around marketing and business plans.”
College officials hope that the investment in teaching practical skills to current students will propel them to give back in the future.
“Many HBCU alumni love their institution, but that does not translate to giving,” says Dr. Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert of HBCUs. “HBCUs benefit from trumpeting their story, as they have to show success. Negative stories don’t attract donors. HBCUs need to take hold of their own stories, write opinion pieces, talk to the media, generate more press releases, use social media and talk to everyone about their institutions.”
Looking to Hollywood
Outside of alumni giving, media tycoon Oprah Winfrey and entertainer Bill Cosby have been some of the most visible benefactors to HBCUs. Winfrey donated more than $12 million to Morehouse College, and Cosby and his wife Camille donated $20 million to Spelman in the late 1980s, when Cole was president there.
When Cole arrived to Bennett, she convinced former U.S. Senator Bob Dole to serve as chairman of a $50 million capital campaign that would help raise funds for student scholarships, faculty recruitment and development and deferred physical plant needs. Outside of a one-time fundraiser in 2005 that featured Dole and his former opponent President Bill Clinton, the campaign never got off of the ground.
Other HBCUs have also had their share of challenges when it comes to philanthropy. In 2003, the late John H. Johnson pledged $4 million for the construction of a new building for the School of Communications at Howard University that had been named after him.
But by 2010, Howard dropped his name from the school, after Johnson’s daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, decided to give $2.5 million to her alma mater, University of Southern California’s Annenberg
Fuse-Hall says that if Black colleges are to survive, it’s important for African-Americans to invest in these institutions.
“I don’t know why every Black person in Hollywood doesn’t adopt at least one HBCU and say, ‘You know what? You can count on me for $150,000 annually or a million dollars [for] this period of time,’ because there is not one person of African-American descent who is just one generation away from knowing a HBCU graduate who [has] made a difference in their lives,” says Fuse-Hall. “And for that alone, we should be giving back.”
She adds, “We should challenge entertainers or people of prominence with wealth to think about whom in their lives has touched them, and to honor that HBCU graduate with a contribution.”
Jamal Watson can be reached at [email protected].


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Mixed response to EU Common agricultural policy reform deal
Two weeks ago, the EU reached agreement on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform for 2023-2027. It came after intense negotiations and is an attempt to balance economic and green ambitions among the member states. While there was general satisfaction among farmers and national governments, green interests are not entirely satisfied. They expected Brussels to be more radical in its approach, given the failings of reforms to integrate greener reforms over the previous decade.
Food production is responsible for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and farming – in particular the livestock sector – is responsible for most of these emissions. The EU is keen to show leadership in the battle against climate change but its detractors say the latest agriculture reform indicates their actions are weaker than their rhetoric.
Context of previous reforms
A European Court of Auditors report, delivered before negotiations were finalised, indicated the ground European agriculture needs to make up in addressing climate change.
The auditors examined whether the 2014-2020 CAP supported climate mitigation practices with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from three key sources: livestock, chemical fertilisers and manure, and land use (cropland and grassland).
Livestock emissions represent around half of emissions from agriculture, but the report asserted they have not decreased since 2010. These emissions are directly linked to the size of the livestock herd, and cattle cause two thirds of them. Meanwhile, emissions from chemical fertilisers and manure, a third of agricultural emissions, increased between 2010 and 2018.
CAP has supported practices that may reduce the use of fertilisers, such as organic farming and cultivating grain legumes, but environmental sustainability experts believe methods such as precision farming that better match fertiliser applications to crop needs, received little funding. In addition, EU law does not currently apply a polluter-pays principle to greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
Funding indicating intent
Yet, on paper, the intent of the deal is clear. The total allocation for the CAP amounts to €386.6 billion and its strategic plans from 2023 will include the ambitions of the European Green Deal, in particular the farm to fork strategy. Overall, 40% of total CAP expenditure will be dedicated to climate action.
The negotiators agreed 25% of the budget allocated to countries should be set aside for eco-schemes in the first pillar, which represents direct payments to farmers and constitutes the lion’s share of the CAP. There would also be 35% ring-fence for environmental spending in the smaller second pillar, dedicated more to rural development.
The stated aim of the policy’s new eco-schemes is to give more support to those in the agriculture sector who apply more climate and environmentally-friendly practices, but according to campaigners, the agreement lacks binding goals that can create the adjustments the sector needs to solve challenges related to climate, the environment and nature.
Greener interests are especially aggrieved at a “rebate” loophole that allows countries flexibility on the all-important eco-schemes if they spend more than required in pillar two.
Critics of the deal also assert that soil erosion costs for European farmers account to $1.49 billion a year, but efforts within the CAP deal are not enough to protect farmland soils. Not prioritising crop rotation will not help achieve the target of halving pesticide use by 2030, one of the concrete objectives of the European Commission’s Farm-to-fork strategy.
Similarly, the use of pesticide and fertilisers might affect the 25% of organic farming target, limiting a real transition towards a sustainable food system.
Future reforms to build on 2023 effort?
Given that member states have autonomy to decide whether or not its farming sector will contribute to reducing agricultural emissions, it remains to be seen if the EU agricultural sector will engage enough through the CAP to bring about greener outcomes.
But Brussels has declared the objective of being climate-neutral by 2050 and in line with those ambitions the bloc is likely to continue to step up momentum to reduce emissions as that mid-century date looms, with pressure continually applied on stakeholders to be more accountable and transparent on contribution to climate mitigation.
As Farrelly and Mitchell's co-founder and Managing Director, Malachy provides unmatched expertise. Working alongside CEO's, executives, and leaders from public and private sectors, Malachy empowers agribusinesses to fully achieve their potential.
Malachy Mitchell's featured publications
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Sustainability & ESG
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In 2017 four research institutes in Europe received funding from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme to set up an annual symposium for four years – ENABLE (European Academy for Biomedical Science). It would combine research talks, a career day, and outreach activities, and be organized ‘by young scientists for young scientists’, with leadership from a committee of PhD students and postdocs, including basic, applied and clinical scientists in training.
The initiative’s aims were to support young researchers, strengthen scientific careers, and bring biomedicine closer to society. Importantly, the event also provided a unique opportunity to immerse young researchers in organizational and project management skills, allowing them to gain valuable experience.
The organizing centers were the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) in Barcelona, Spain; the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) in Nijmegen, The Netherlands; the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (CPR) in Copenhagen, Denmark; and the Scuola Europea di Medicina Molecolare (SEMM), in Milan, Italy. They were supported by a science communication agency (Scienseed).
The conferences have a scientific symposium covering a wide range of topics. They mix talks from key scientists and young researchers, providing opportunities to interact. Career and outreach activities are also built in, with representatives from career paths other than research giving workshops to widen the employment horizon of young scientists. And opportunities to reach out to the public abound, from interactive activities in schools to public discussions and pub talks.
With the postponed Milan conference accomplished by spring 2021, thoughts turned to how to support future events. FEBS and the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) had previously sponsored travel grants for ENABLE. Appreciating the value of the initiative, they have now joined forces to fund the organization of the annual events from 2022 to 2025. The initiative was driven by the FEBS Working Group on the Careers of Young Scientists, a group that is also responsible for overseeing the organization of the annual FEBS Young Scientists' Forum.
To enrich the event, FEBS, IUBMB and the core research institutes of ENABLE are inviting new academic institutions to host the event each year. Events will be held in Europe, except for the 2024 conference, will be hosted by an institution outside Europe. The first edition of the FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE Symposium will be held in November 2022.
Universities or research institutions with a strong research background in molecular life sciences in Europe and an active PhD community are invited to apply to host the 2022 event. FEBS and IUBMB will fund the event up to a sum of €65,000. The successful new host will become an associated institute in the project for the 2022 event and organize the event in collaboration with the four core institutions.
If your institution has the characteristics to be an ideal host of the 2022 FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE Symposium, we encourage them to apply. You can read more about the FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE conference series and download the application documents from the FEBS website. You can access information on the 2022 conference here.
The deadline for applications is 15 September 2021.

domain: biology


text:
LENA VAZHENINA x NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
It’s always a good day when Lena sends me new work.
More of Lena’s work is to be featured in a future NBTT post regarding the Russian governments stupid fucking laws on religion and homosexuality.
Look out for it. Peace.
See more of Lena’s work here:
http://gaaww.tumblr.com & http://sexfemale.tumblr.com

domain: artistic


United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
CTG supports USCIS' Fraud Detection and National Security Director. We support the development of a case management system designed to detect fraud and threats to national and public security across all of USCIS' systems. This system allows USCIS to detect, vet, and manage fraud based around a single entity, compiling and disseminating important and pertinent information surrounding that entity. The case management system works to efficiently and effectively centralize information in order to protect US residents, citizens and the government from threats and compromises to security.
Java, Spring Boot, SQL, React, Terraform
Human Centered Design, DevSecOps
US Government - USCIS
Improve USCIS' ability to detect, monitor, and mitigate fraud risk.
We solve business problems using technology. Our extensive experience creating functional, large-scale software systems using proven methodologies ensures our success on the RFDS program.
In order to provide an effective and extensive tool that properly complies the appropriate data as well as providing an application that is usable across all aspects of the platform, we have worked closely with users, developers, analysts and security experts in creating this product. We have worked to extensively and continuously test the application with users and stakeholders and make improvements based on quantitative and qualitative feedback.
Our agile framework allows us to maintain continual communication and focused attention on every aspect of the application.
Our team spearheaded the shift towards more frequent, automated production releases.
We implemented robust CI/CD pipelines that streamline delivery and help our team quickly go from idea to realization.
Our team provided human-centered design leadership to reimagine and streamline existing interfaces and processes to improve overall user experience.


Seattle, WA 98108
2.0 miles away
04/12/2016 - "Find another place to have your car fixed!"
"We dropped our 2001 Honda S2000 off and told them to fix the drivers door, and then fix 2 door dings...."
Review for Kirmac Seattle
Michael G. on 12/12/2013
Michael said he was asked to pick up his vehicle in the middle of the night and he was unfamiliar with the layout of the lot so that was difficult. There were two parts left off of the vehicle and placed in the trunk, he had to go back and have them put these parts back on, which wasted an hour of his time. His vehicle was worked on in the vicinity of another process and there are bits of wax all over one side of his vehicle. He has had to spend considerable time removing the wax. His vehicle was about 5 days late due to the facility waiting for parts.
Service Date: 11/29/2013
Review Created: 12/12/2013
This review was collected via phone interview by Customer Research Inc.


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Brenda Wairimu Biography
Kenya’s talent base is greatly diversified with a huge shift from past mindsets belittling the arts. Brenda Wairimu is one of the top talented actresses in the country performing in several television series, films and adverts. In this article we will be looking at the life of Brenda Wairimu bringing answers to most of her fans’ questions regarding her life and work.
Brenda Wairimu Age and Place of Birth
Brenda was born in Mombasa in the year 1989 on 3rd May. She has four siblings of whom she is the last born. Her father sadly passed on in the year 2012 and so did her mother three years later following a fatal kidney failure case. Not much is known about her siblings unlike herself who is known by many following her acts on screen.
Brenda Wairimu Education Background
Brenda attended primary and high school in Mombasa County before she got admitted at the United States International University Africa taking a major in International Business Management and a minor in Broadcast Media.
Brenda Wairimu Career Journey
Brenda always knew she was talented in the arts and this is the mindset she went in to the world from college. She began working as a model before she began landing character roles on some television series.
From the year 2010 when she debuted in the world of acting and performance, she has played roles in series such as Changing Times, Shuga, Mali, Kona and Skandals Kibao. She has also landed top roles in films such as Disconnect and Subira which won her an award as best actress in film. She is currently the major actress on Monica playing ‘Monica’ role, a Showmax original that also airs on Maisha Magic East. Monica was released on 3rd of July 2018. According to IMDb review, the Monica drama series has an estimated budget of Kshs. 20 million.
Brenda Wairimu Personal Life, Husband, Boyfriend, Daughter
Brenda is a bold lady who says she always makes the first move on the guys she goes out with. She is a proud mother of one daughter called Amor whom she had with her ex-Julian. The two parted ways permanently after a series of on and off phases after which they finally called it quits and she says she is not ready to get back to the dating game yet. Some online sources revealed that Brenda and Ephy Saint could be thing.
Brenda says that relationships are demanding. On the Nairobi News interview, she further noted that since the break-up from Juliani, she has gained some weight.
“When you are in a relationship this person affects you more than any other person can. Since I have been by myself I have not felt lonely. I have not felt the need to go out there and find someone. I was in a long relationship and I gave it a lot so I guess I’m gaining that pole pole,” Brenda stated.
“All the people I have dated I made the first move… But I’m not dating anytime soon. I can’t do it,” added the thespian.
Brenda Wairimu Net worth and Assets
She makes her money primarily from her acting career doing widely watched shows and her endorsements following her broad fan base. Her exact net worth is approximately over Kshs 30 Million. Details about her assets is not yet in the public domain.
Brenda Wairimu Contacts and Profile Summary
|Real Name||Brenda Wairimu|
|Age||31 years as of 2021|
|Education Level||Bachelor’s Degree|
|Place of Birth||Mombasa, Kenya|
|Year of Birth||3rd May, 1989|
|Years Active||2009 to date|
|Net Worth||Kshs 30 Million (approx)|


Arent Fox LLP has announced its adoption of Kira, AI-powered contract review and analysis software, as part of an on-going commitment to innovate and transform their client-focused legal service delivery model.
Kira’s award-winning technology uncovers information in contracts – even when the wording varies from document to document. Lawyers use Kira to help automate the extraction and analysis of key provisions from both structured and unstructured contracts, accelerating and improving the accuracy of due diligence, deal points studies, general contract reviews, regulatory compliance and more.
“Kira is an amazing tool. It has streamlined the due diligence process so that we can better coordinate large contract review projects. With Kira, associate time is spent on substantive legal analysis rather than tedious and expensive word processing exercises to summarize key contract provisions,” said Rich Gale, Partner at Arent Fox.
Arent Fox plans to leverage Kira to help streamline the review process and increase accuracy in conducting due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, real estate deals and other transactions. Kira will assist in tasks such as reviewing existing contracts, extracting provisions, tracking renewals, and building a contract database to allow the firm’s attorneys to identify for the client those contracts that need attention.
“We are thrilled to be working with such an innovative and talented law firm,”said Noah Waisberg, Co-Founder and CEO at Kira Systems. “Arent Fox is clearly dedicated to delivering its clients world-class service through innovative methods, and we are pleased that they have adopted Kira to support this commitment.”
About the Arent Fox
Arent Fox LLP is internationally recognized in core industries where business and the law intersect. With more than 450 lawyers and professionals, the firm provides strategic legal counsel and multidisciplinary solutions to a global roster of corporations, governments, and trade associations.
About Kira Systems
Kira Systems’ technology is the most used and trusted software for contract review and analysis, helping the world’s largest corporations and professional service firms uncover relevant information from unstructured contracts and related documents. Kira is a powerful, patented, award-winning software solution that excels at searching and analyzing contract and document text and can be deployed for due diligence, knowledge management, lease abstraction, regulatory compliance and other projects where visibility into contract and document data is critical.


(PP16): The Movement Toward HPC Inclusivity: Achieving On-Demand Accessibility of High Performance Computing (HPC) in Ephemeral Projects
Clouds and Distributed Computing
TimeTuesday, June 18th3:15pm - 3:45pm CEST
DescriptionIn June of 2016 the Alces Flight team, through our open-source work on the Gridware application delivery project, made the decision to explore on-demand public cloud consumption for High Performance Computing (HPC). We created Alces Flight Compute, a fully-featured, scalable HPC environment for research and scientific computing and provided it as a free subscription service to researchers in order to study how they would approach and consume this then new technology. Over the past three years we have worked with a range of HPC projects that employed differing levels of public-cloud adoption. The outcomes of each have demonstrated that regardless of the relative percentage of work completed on a public cloud, its usage has broadened the capabilities of researchers and enabled researchers to plan future activities with a broader scope with more inclusive design methodologies. Along the way we have gathered information on the strengths of public cloud for HPC, developed tools to help determine how public cloud could be suitable for current and future projects and workloads, and gathered insight into how investment into HPC solutions can operate when public cloud is an option for use. This project is now transitioning away from single-user, on-demand public cloud into open-source building blocks for HPC under the name OpenFlightHPC, launching in November, 2019.


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Daily Top 10 Tweets
Bitcoin hits $58,000
price cycles shown logarithmically make today’s level look cheap to me. October investor letter: panteracapital.com/blockchain-let…
web3 is giving people control of their digital lives and delivering economic benefits to the creators, not the gatekeepers. But smart policy is needed to realize its full potential, so today we shared ’s prescriptive policy agenda to get there
love this new trend - is funding bitcoin core development, but in perpetuity, through a grant where the interest from stacking >1M STX provides with ~$165k / yr in bitcoin to fund protocol development!
The Governor of Texas has announced his intention for the state to become the home of bitcoin. The City of Miami has previously announced their intention to make their city the capital of bitcoin. It is beautiful to watch cities & states compete for bitcoiners and their assets.


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Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAP) were surface-grafted with poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) using two types of
hydroxyl groups: inherent hydroxyl groups within HAP and hydroxyl groups of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)
(PHEMA) grafted on the HAP surface by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The grafting efficiency and the
amount of grafted polymer were evaluated by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The colloidal stability testing
suggested that the surface-grafted HAP retained higher dispersibility in methylene chloride than pure HAP nanoparticles
did. Moreover, the dispersity of the modified particles was significantly improved with the increasing amount of PCL
grafted. The composite scaffolds of PCL and surface-grafted HAP exhibited enhanced compressive strength and modulus,
which was attributed to the increased interfacial interaction between PCL and surface-modified HAP. In particular, it was
found that the compressive modulus of the surface-grafted HAP with 47.2 wt% PCL was 91.6% higher than that of pure
HAP mixed with PCL scaffold.
Keywords: Dispersity, hydroxyapatite, mechanical property, Poly(ε-caprolactone), surface grafted.
Rights & PermissionsPrintExport


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Curt Schilling's studio is operating with a shrinking safety net and some of his fellow executives have bailed while they can still afford to take the fall.
The most damaging news came from Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee who over the last few days has become the unofficial bearer of bad news for the beleaguered company behind Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and the upcoming Project Copernicus. He said 38 Studios has not been able to secure any new funding or outside investments, even after trimming their staff with a recent round of layoffs and paying their debt obligation.
Speculation that these might be the end of days for 38 Studios strengthened after The Boston Globe found two executives, Senior Vice President for Product Development John Blakely and Chief Executive Officer Jen McLean, had both changed their LinkedIn profiles to indicate they no longer were with Schilling's studio.
Investors' and executives' fears may stem from more than just the studio's troubles. Financial analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities told Joystiq that MMOs as a whole have taken a big hit since Star Wars: The Old Republic saw massive declines in subscriptions, eventually leading to a recent round of layoffs at BioWare's Austin offices as well.
"There is just no demand for game assets right now, as THQ proved when it tried to sell the Warhammer MMO."
Chafee, however, said despite all this bad news, he vowed to fight the good fight for the studio's survival and assured the public that he was doing everything he could to prevent the studio from closing without extending additional state funds or tax credits.
Image: John Tlumacki, The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Providence Journal: Chafee: No outside investment or tax credits yet for 38 Studios

domain: finance


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Police in London arrested two more men today as part of ongoing investigations into "Islamist related terrorism."
The two men are in addition to nine others arrested Thursday, the city's Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement.
All but one of the men are accused of being members of a banned group and encouraging terrorism. That eleventh man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, police said.
Anjem Choudary, a former leader of a banned radical group called al-Muhajiroun, was among the nine arrested Thursday, reported British media, but that wasn't confirmed by police.
Several homes and businesses in London were also being searched as part of the investigations, police said.
The statement issued today reiterated that the arrests and searches "are not in response to any immediate public safety risk."

domain: sociology


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- This event has passed.
Virtual Halloween Party with R.L. Stine
October 31, 2020 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pmFREE
You are invited to a hair-raising Halloween Party! R.L. Stine, Scholastic and the Novel Neighbor are teaming up to bring you a socially distant way to celebrate.
Get ready for a party that’s jam-packed with fun activities:
- A reading of a never-before-heard scary story by R.L. Stine
- Q&A – Ask R.L. Stine a question!
- Goosebumps trivia game
- Spine-tingling facts about the series
Registration is optional, but recommended.
UPDATE: we are out of signed bookplates, but there is still time to order books before the event!
To help us get into the Halloween spirit, R.L. Stine will be hosting a costume contest! The winner will receive a free personalized signed copy of My Friend Slappy, the latest in the Slappyworld series.
To enter, post a picture of your child in their costume to Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #RLStineHalloween, and tag R.L. Stine (Twitter: @RL_Stine Instagram: @rl_stine1). The winner will be announced during the Halloween Party!
Get a signed copy of Goosebumps
A limited number of signed bookplates are available with purchases of an R.L. Stine book through the Novel Neighbor. A select few are available as add-ons to the event registration. If you’d prefer a title that is not listed, you can order from our full catalog through our online store.

domain: library


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I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter about “the new normal” – the prospect of the current economic malaise resulting in a longer-term pattern of stagnating economic growth. We’ve even thrown the term around a few times here at NLC.
But, predictions about slow growth in the coming years are not new. The new piece was the unprecedented economic growth that characterized much of early to middle portion of the past decade. What’s happening now is a large, violent correction that, particularly for cities and other local governments, represents a return to an “old normal” of a highly constrained fiscal outlook with broad and deep systemic challenges.
Where did this new normal idea emerge? The phrase new normal is widely attributed to global investment firm PIMCO’s executive Mohamed El-Erian, who is quoted as saying “the notion of a new normal is increasingly resonating in policy circles and among market practitioners. This reflects a growing realization that some of the recent abrupt changes to markets, households, institutions, and government policies are unlikely to be reversed in the next few years.”
Well, that’s not exactly news. NLC has been reporting much the same thing on city fiscal conditions for awhile now.
The “old normal” we are experiencing (what statisticians call a regression to the mean) might best be described as a return to where the nation’s economic recovery will be characterized by a return to moderate levels of year-to-year growth.
For local and state governments, a return to an old normal presents a more stark reality. The economic boom period masked significant challenges to underlying economic and fiscal systems; challenges that NLC has been calling attention to since at least the late 1990s (see Taxing Problems, most recently), including:
– Longer-term economic shifts away from goods, to services and knowledge-based economies have created a mismatch between economic activity and sources of revenue;
– Demographic shifts including overall population increase, immigration, and the aging of society alter, and often increase, demands for public services;
– An unraveling of the intergovernmental (federal-state-local) system for funding and delivering public services; and
– Polarized politics that make it increasingly difficult to address these challenges.
Addressing these systemic challenges means we will have to broaden tax bases, integrate new groups of people into the economy, reform health care and pension systems, and make sustained investments in public services and infrastructure. No problem, right? Systemic change is difficult, but we have to start somewhere to provide a more vibrant economic future — a “new normal” — for communities.

domain: politics


The GNSS/INS simulation developer offers high-performing test equipment for flight line applications designed for efficient use on the field.
[TEWKSBURY, 7/11/2018] – CAST has developed test equipment for flight line military, government, and industrial applications. The CAST GPS/ GNSS EMT3500-1 EGI flight line tester is high-performing and designed to secure usability in the field.
The company explains that software upgrades are challenging with Embedded GPS/INS (EGI) dual sensors because it complicates fixing on the flight line. As such, CAST developed the specialized test equipment to cut down EGI RTOK rates on the flight line.
The CAST EMT3500-1 Advantages
According to CAST, the GPS/GNSS EMT3500-1 system contains a sophisticated yet user-friendly display. The system enables operators to easily understand the information on the screen, helping them meet the requirements of their current task.
The EMT3500-1 is also suitable for individual aircraft types and it is highly programmable, making it a suitable choice for a series of test requirements.
Moreover, this device only weighs 8.4 pounds or 3.8 kilograms. CAST says that this is smaller than existing systems. This lightweight device is convenient yet it offers a high performing solution for a fast response to pressure-related air data test requirements on the flight line and to pitot-static.
CAST adds that the system gives technicians a more organized way to perform end-to-end systems checks since the company developed EMT3500-1 specifically for government and military applications. Its long run battery time allows operators to use for many hours.
How does it Work?
CAST explains that users of the EMT3500-1 do not need to remove the EGI from the aircraft to determine errors on the flight line. This capability enhances efficiency without sacrificing valuable data and safety standards.
Engineers designed the system for ease of use, reducing the time necessary to learn how the technology works. The company adds that its flight line tester minimizes keystrokes.
CAST says that operators of all experience levels can do flight line testing efficiently and accurately with the GPS/GNSS EMT3500-1.
CAST is a GNSS/INS simulation systems developer and has been in the industry for 35 years. The company also offers full-service training, and maintenance and repair services to help clients make the most out of their technology.
For more information, visit https://castnav.com today.