text:
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania is a quiet, idyllic location with beautiful homes from Irwin to Greensburg to Murrysville real estate. There are numerous diverse and interesting restaurants throughout the county, offering all different types of cuisine, some of which might surprise you. Check out these great Westmoreland County restaurants next time you’re going out to eat, ordering takeout, or looking for catering. There’s a wide variety of great eateries listed here in no particular order, so try them all if you can.
1. The Headkeeper
is a tapas bar in Greensburg serving a variety of rich-tasting dishes representing several different cuisines. You can get everything from a house salad to filet mignon, as well as steak, pork chops, pork sliders, and chicken. If you like seafood, Headkeeper has grilled salmon, poke bowls, and seared scallops or shrimp. They also have a great beer selection. Included in Headkeeper’s brews are products from breweries throughout Pennsylvania, other U.S. states, and several other countries as well. The Headkeeper provides hearty food and drinks for a variety of tastes, so it’s a great place to eat with family or friends.
is an Italian restaurant in Irwin. They have just about any type of pasta you can think of: spaghetti, ravioli, rigatoni, etc. Cenacolo also offers decadent appetizers like crab cakes and fried Brussel sprouts with bacon and goat cheese. Check out Cenacolo next time you’re ready for an authentic Italian meal.
3. dŌ Woodfired
is a pizza place that offers one of America’s favorite foods cooked in the best way possible: in a wood-burning oven. “dŌ” is a phonetic spelling of “dough,” giving them a unique edge to their name. You can build your own pizza or choose one of dŌ’s signature pies. Sandwiches and salads are also available.
dŌ Woodfired is located in Irwin, a borough of Westmoreland County that is southeast of Pittsburgh. Irwin has preserved that small town feel that attracts affluent homebuyers to Irwin homes for sale. It’s a comfortable place to settle down and of course, a great place to go out to eat.
4. Burgher Burger 15642
You may have noticed that Irwin restaurants have some interesting and eclectic names, so Burgher Burger 15642
is worth mentioning as well. Burgher Burger was founded by the creators of dŌ Woodfired, and they managed to come up with another great American restaurant with an unusual name. Burgher Burger, besides having a diverse selection of great burgers, has numerous salads and sandwiches to choose from, as well as nachos, chili, and fries.
5. Sun Dawg Cafe
Sun Dawg Cafe
, located in Greensburg, offers high-quality cafe food and pastries. They serve both breakfast and lunch all day until 4:00 p.m. Sun Dawg offers everything from eggs, pancakes, and tacos for breakfast to Philly cheesesteaks, pasta, and more tacos for lunch. For something lighter, sides and salads are also available. If you like their food and you live in the area, try their catering.
6. North Park Lounge
North Park Lounge
, or NPL as it’s commonly referred to, is a classic American bar and restaurant with lots of options. NPL offers a wide selection of sandwiches, hoagies, burgers, pizzas, wings, soups, salads, and sides. They have lots of specials, as well as a 5:00-7:00 p.m. happy hour several days per week.
North Park Lounge is located in Murrysville. Newcomers are attracted to Murrysville real estate because of the area’s combination of quiet living with modern conveniences framed by rugged, beautiful scenery.
7. J Corks
There’s more to Westmoreland restaurants than just cafes and sports bars, and J Corks
proves that. J Corks is an upscale Greensburg restaurant with a truly decadent menu. You can order beautifully-presented dishes like salmon with truffle honey mustard glaze or filet mignon with rosemary fingerling potatoes. Of course, there are also great salads, as well as a soup du jour. If you want to try the high-end version of something simple like a burger or a pulled pork sandwich, J Corks has that too. Even their add-ons are great, including chicken breast, salmon, ahi tuna, black tiger shrimp, and sea scallops. If you manage to save room for dessert, the luxury eating experience continues with a chocolate layer cake and other rich sweets. If you love the food, J Corks also has catering.
, located in Murrysville, features Mediterranean, Greek, and Middle Eastern cuisine in a fast food format. It’s the type of small, humble eatery that you might underestimate from the looks of it, but Leen’s excellent food puts this restaurant on the map. Leena’s gyros, falafel, and baba ganoush get rave reviews from customers. Best of all, they have baklava!
9. Szechuan Garden
, located in Greensburg, is a great example of the type of classic sit-down Chinese restaurant that is widely popular in the northeastern U.S. Szechuan Garden has lunch and dinner menus with a wide selection of beef, seafood, chicken, tofu, noodles, and vegetable dishes seasoned in all sorts of ways. There are plenty of hot and spicy selections for those who are so inclined, as well as plenty of options without the heat. Szechuan Garden is a comfortable place to eat, or you can take out or get delivery to enjoy hot Pennsylvania-style Chinese food at home.
10. Pit Take BBQ
While Westmoreland County isn’t necessarily the barbeque capital of the world, Pit Take
proves that great barbeque can be found almost anywhere. This barbeque joint in Greensburg offers certified Angus brisket, hickory smoked shredded pork, maple honey chicken, and St. Louis style spare ribs, as well as sandwiches, sides, desserts, and kid-sized meals. Pit Take BBQ’s signature dish is the BBQ Sundae, a dish made from your choice of meat layered with smoked mac ‘n’ cheese, cole slaw, beans, and crunchy onion straws. The “sundae” is topped with a rib and drizzled with Pit Take’s signature sauce. Pit Take BBQ is a great place to try new things or just keep it simple with time-tested classics.
Thinking of moving to Westmoreland?
Westmoreland County is more than just a great place to go out to eat. Westmoreland has some of the nicest homes as well as the best environment that Pennsylvania has to offer. If you are interested in learning more about Greensburg and Irwin homes for sale or Murrysville real estate, contact Denise Stover
to see what’s out there. Check out Denise’s portfolio
of attractive Pittsburgh, Murrysville, and Irwin homes for sale, as well as other properties in and around Westmoreland County.


text:
- Mick Foley will be participating in the International Fruitcake Eating Competition on December 7th at Santa’s Candy Castle in Santa Claus, Indiana. The event begins at 11am and is free for the public to watch. After the competition, Foley will be signing copies of his kids book, “A Most Mizerable Christmas.” The next night, December 8th, Foley will be performing at The Comedy Attic in Bloomington, Indiana at 7pm.
– Smash Wrestling has announced a huge match for their Tapped Out event on December 15th in Mississauga, Ontario – Lance Storm vs. Chris Hero, the former Kassius Ohno. For more information on the event, visit smash-wrestling.com.
– New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu along with WWE Superstars Mark Henry, Sheamus, Booker T, Mick Foley, Rey Mysterio, Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox and Jimmy Hart hosted the WrestleMania XXX On-sale party last night at Champions Square in New York City. A few thousand fans were also in attendance. The party featured dance teams from the New Orleans Saints and the Pelicans, a rock band, acrobats on stilts and more.
|Kane Still Shocked About The Undertaker's Streak Ending, Talks About Jacob Goodnight Movie Character|
The Hottest WWE news, photos and videos delivered to your inbox in one convenient newsletter. Sign up now and give it a try!
|33||Fan Posts Account Of Experience With CM Punk and AJ Lee at Wednesday's Chicago Blackhawks Game|
|9||Chris Jericho Says He Won't Return To WWE For Fandango Type Feuds In Future|
|9||Individual Who Lost Domain To WWE Claims He'll Destroy The Company Within A Year|
|6||TNA Playing Down Kurt Angle Return Rumors|
|6||Brock Lesnar's Return and the 2014 WWE Slammy Awards Confirmed for RAW Later This Year|

domain: news


text:
Former campaign manager for Donald Trump (and Chris Christie) Bill Stepien believes Jack Ciattarelli could have overcome Phil Murphy with sharper messaging in a few key areas. Ciattarelli general consultant Chris Russell – New Jersey’s most prolific Republican operative – reads the results very differently. Both men shared their competing takeaways from Election 2021 with Save Jersey heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.
Stepien’s analysis comes by way of a post-mortem memorandum released by his consulting firm National Public Affairs (NPA) and obtained exclusively by Save Jersey. The memo contains thought-provoking data obtained by the popular and well-regarded pollster Cygnal conducted post-Election Day; it’s the first look most election watchers have had at New Jersey’s Election 2021 since the race itself – deemed uncompetitive by the mainstream media – didn’t feature any exit polling like we saw in 2009 and even 2017.
The ultimate NPA conclusion: Ciattarelli should’ve and could’ve done better given very favorable environmental factors for Republicans including a deeply unpopular Democrat president.
“With a national political climate that elected Republicans all across the country earlier this month, even in deep blue environs like Seattle and New York City…plus a severely weakened incumbent Democrat governor, Phil Murphy was ripe to be picked off,” the NPA memo explains before delving into some interesting results from the Cygnal survey that includes the opinions of 522 voters polled between November 16th and 17th.
For example, Cygnal’s data indicates illegal immigration and Critial Race Theory would have been “messaging gas pedals” for Ciattarelli who fell short statewide by about 3-points. Murphy is a champion of CRT curriculum as well as goodies for illegal aliens including subsidized lawyers, taxpayer-enhanced tuition and driver’s licenses without proof of citizenship; Ciattarelli never made critical race theory a central focus of his campaign like Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin did down in Virginia, and the GOP nominee surprised many supporters by changing his position and endorsing driver’s licenses for illegals during one of two general election debates with Murphy. Ciattarelli’s primary campaign message remained “fixing” New Jersey and, specifically, Murphy’s elitist disregard for the Garden State’s horrendous tax climate. Was it the right focus?
“In a lower turnout off-year election, these issues could have expanded the GOP electorate with
1-of-4 voters (70% more enthusiastic due to CRT/Immigration), a voting group that voted
overwhelmingly for the Republican (62-38%),” the NPA memo explains, adding that Cygnal found 74% of polled female Independents wanted to hear more from the gubernatorial candidates about CRT and immigration-related topics.
Another interesting finding: a super-slim 4% of polled Ciattarelli voters reported voting “for” the Republican as opposed to 83% who were primarily motivated with general dissatisfaction concerning the trajectory of New Jersey and the country. By contrast, 48% of Murphy voters reported casting their ballots FOR Murphy and/or AGAINST Ciattarelli.
There’s more in there, too, including analysis concerning Murphy’s alleged 23-point win (!) with senior citizens, a finding which – if true – means a stronger and sharper pushback against the incumbent’s COVID-19 narrative may’ve made a difference. That particular finding might be among the poll’s most curious findings (remember: this is a poll, not actual data) since Ciattarelli did very well at the Jersey Shore which is precisely where you’d expect to see a Republican underperform had he done poorly with senior voters. Did Jack run up the score in places like Ocean County with non-senior voters resulting in a wash? Or is the poll simply wrong?
We won’t know more until we see detailed voter data later this winter, a point which detractors of the NPA analysis say undermines the credibility of the analysis.
The full NPA memo can be viewed here.
In response to the NPA memo, Chris Russell shared his own rebuttal memorandum with Save Jersey (click here) on Tuesday evening, and Russell (known for having sharp elbows) didn’t hold back.
“NPA’s dishonest and self-serving memo merits a direct response based on facts and reality,” wrote the veteran N.J. operative, a principal and co-founder of Checkmate Strategies who helmed Ciattarelli’s 2017 and 2021 gubernatorial campaigns. “Moreover, it should be noted that the memo’s author decided to launch this criticism despite having 1) steered a credible candidate for governor into such an untenable strategic position that the campaign was forced to fold within a month, after years of careful planning by others; 2) repeatedly failed to flip (or even try to flip) legislative seats from blue-to-red despite a leading role in the party for years and countless opportunities; and 3) is keenly aware that all of the actual data required to do a credible, well-intentioned deep-dive on 2021 – one that could help the NJGOP build on our historic success this year – doesn’t even publicly exist yet. That fact alone renders this critique as an opinion piece masquerading as analysis – and about as instructive as the public polling was in New Jersey this cycle.”
The “credible candidate” line refers to Doug Steinhardt, the former NJGOP chairman and current Warren County chair who unexpectedly ended his own gubernatorial primary candidacy early in the 2021 cycle.
In evaluating Stepien’s 2021 conclusions, Russell argues that “the [NPA] memo’s central implication – that the Ciattarelli campaign didn’t do enough to attract or motivate conservative voters – is demonstrably false and easily disproven. Our campaign rolled up some of its biggest margins in the reddest parts of the state,” including larger percentages of the vote than President Trump in 2020 and Chris Christie in 2009. Russell further cited down ballot gains in South Jersey county governments, legislative districts (notably LD2, LD3, LD8, and LD11), and over 100 local Republican victories as evidence of what he insists was a successful strategy.
Issues and environment aside, it is undeniable that aspects of New Jersey’s political environment have grown daunting since Stepien captained Chris Christie’s successful challenge to Jon Corzine in 2009. The gap between registered Republicans and Democrats has grown in the Democrats’ favor by about 300,000 voters over the past 12 years. Formerly powerful GOP organizations in Burlington and Somerset County are also now non-existent, and Ciattarelli’s losses in those two counties (carried twice by Christie) helped doom his campaign. Jack actually ran ahead of Republican legislative candidates in most battleground districts (like 2, 3 and 8), but my read of the unofficial results is that he lost Somerset-centric LD16 where he used to serve as an assemblyman. Weak Ciattarelli margins in inner-ring suburbs and especially North-Central affluent burbs in Burlington, Somerset, Morris and Middlesex counties doomed the campaign.
“The reality is that the Ciattarelli campaign fell short due to a severe disparity in outside spending and a softening of support among moderates (Republicans, Independents, and Democrats) in areas such as Morris and Somerset counties, as well as affluent, suburban areas in Union, Camden, and Burlington counties,” he added. “That said, it is clear that for Republicans to win again statewide, the Ciattarelli campaign’s strategic model is the right one to build on in the future.” One example: Haddonfield (in Camden County) was once a GOP stronghold but went 2-to-1 for Murphy.
To illustrate his “disparity in outside spending” point, Russell noted that a comparison of the 2020 presidential election results and 2021 gubernatorial election results show “Jack Ciattarelli swung New Jersey (+12.6%) to the Republican column more than Youngkin (+12.1%) swung Virginia” notwithstanding more robust national Republican investment in Virginia relative to the Garden State.
Needless to say, Stepien disagrees with Russell and asserts that the Ciattarelli narrative is tantamount to denial.
“If New Jersey Republicans didn’t win this year in this environment, they really need to re-examine who they’re running, what they’re saying and how their campaigns are being run,” countered Stepien. “The data shows that 96% (!) of Ciattarelli voters cast their ballots for reasons other than support for their guy – this is an astounding finding, but not a surprising one to New Jersey voters, who mostly voted for Ciattarelli because he happened to be the generic Republican candidate atop this year’s ticket. Even worse, it’s clear that a messaging pathway existed to transform a generic candidacy into a winning one. New Jersey Republicans need to get greedy again and end their contentment with losing.”
Concerning Ocean County specifically, Stepien notes that red behemoth actually underperformed its percentage gains versus 2017. Jack increased his statewide margin by 6.1-points over Kim Guadagno but only 5.4-points in Ocean.
You can read the Russell/Checkmate rebuttal memo here.
Whose analysis is closer to the mark?
As ever I leave it to you to make up your own mind, Save Jerseyans, but consider that this might not be a zero sum game. Yes, Ciattarelli 2021 clearly accomplished some things (like coattails in battleground legislative districts) that other recent Republican campaigns and even Christie himself failed to generate. Yes, more outside investment and earlier investment might’ve helped. At the same time, it’s definitely worth discussing whether bolder colors campaigns are the way to break back into lost suburban territories – both “blue collar” and more affluent burbs – which Jack Ciattarelli was clearly unable to bring back to the Republican fold this fall with his tax-centric messaging.

domain: politics


The Honor 7 series is developing another letter as China Telecom leaks Honor 7A. It is ought to be official this Friday at a cost of CNY 1,500 i.e. $240 or €190.
It has every one of the trappings of an advanced phone, and let’s have a look at the specifications now
- 18:9 screen and a double camera.
- The screen is 5.7″ with 720 x 1,440.
- Snapdragon 430 chipset.
- 3GB of RAM and 32GB built in.
- Dual camera behind has a 13MP main and a 2MP support and also supports bokeh.
- Android 8.0 Oreo.
- 3,000mAh battery
- 4 x 73 x 7.8mm and weighs 150g.
Let wait for the official announcement and detailed info.


text:
Article content continued
“It’s going to be mainly glass, so that’s mainly what you’ll see (from the outside),” Frédéric said in a phone interview.
“But it’s going to be a glass that will allow us to control the temperature and the humidity inside.”
It’s what will lie behind the glass that makes it an only-in-Montreal project.
Opened in the 1960s as the city prepared to stage the Expo 67 world fair, the métro has long been romanticized by city residents. Just this month, a sale of cast-off transit items, such as subway seats, doors and platform signs, drew hundreds of shoppers.
An architect’s drawing of the project shows the Smurf-blue cars stacked three storeys high. At ground level, they form a U, creating a courtyard where people can sit beneath a blue wall of métro cars.
Tuesday’s announcement is another step in a long process for the Morin-Bordeleau brothers, who began the project while in their mid-20s with no previous design experience.
In 2016, Montreal’s transit agency issued a call for proposals for members of the public who wanted to buy and transform the first-generation MR-63 cars, which were set to be gradually replaced.
To be approved to buy the cars at a price of either $750 or $1,000, plus shipping, applicants had to present a project that was environmentally friendly, included a plan for financing and honoured the cars’ legacy.
Frédéric Morin-Bordeleau acknowledges that transforming their eight subway cars into a building has been “much harder” than he originally expected.
An initial concept, in which the stacked cars would have formed the building’s exterior, was scrapped when it proved too difficult to winterize the cars without compromising their signature look.
The design finally chosen will cost a hefty $7 million to build.
“Working with a heritage component is something that we have to put a lot more effort and money into, to conserve the (subway) trains, so it costs a little more than another building of the size,” he said.
But Morin-Bordeleau believes that the non-profit society he co-founded will be able to raise the necessary funds.

domain: economics


text:
Plenty of star nuptials have taken place, from all-red vow renewals to destination weddings in Anguilla and dreamy ceremonies in Italy.
The latest familiar face to say “I do” is political strategist and MSNBC host Symone Sanders. She wed Shawn Townsend, the former director of the mayor’s office of nightlife and culture in Washington D.C. on July 15.
The former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris met her soulmate in 2019 and their relationship culminated in a surprise ceremony at the Larz Anderson House in Dupont Circle. The celebration was touted as “A Toast to Townsend.” Cute right?
The couple join a growing list of big names who have made time for love and marriage this year, enjoying celebrations that were impossible to make happen not too long ago. Check out who has already said “I do” as we continue to add to this listicle of celebrity weddings that have occurred in 2022.
Symone Sanders and Shawn Townsend
The former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris tied the knot with DC’s former director of the mayor’s office of nightlife and culture in a surprise ceremony in the city on July 15.
Brian Stukes/Getty Images
Jay Ellis and Nina Senicar
The star, who recently celebrated the success of his film ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ celebrated again at his wedding to longtime partner Nina Senicar. They married in Tuscany, Italy in July in front of family and friends. The pair, who met in 2015 and share a daughter, were decked out in Dolce & Gabbana.
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
Shaunie O’Neal and Keion Henderson
O’Neal tied the knot a second time, doing so in grand fashion in Anguilla in May as she wed her love, Pastor Keion Henderson.
Cassy Athena/Getty Images
Aisha Hinds and Silky Valente
The actress and her longtime love wed in May in a destination wedding, saying “I do” in St. George’s, Grenada.
Tika Sumpter and Nicholas James
The actress and actor Nicholas James, who met on the set OWN’s ‘The Haves and the Have Nots,’ wed in May in Cabo San Lucas.
Ne-Yo and Crystal Smith
The couple, who were almost on the verge of ending their marriage, celebrated their successful reconciliation with a beautiful red-themed vow renewal ceremony and celebration in Las Vegas in April.
Naturi Naughton and Two Lewis
The actress and singer married her beau Xavier “Two” Lewis in a star-studded ceremony in Atlanta.
Da Brat and Jesseca Dupart
The lovebirds wed on a pretty epic date in February in Fairburn, Georgia: 2/22/2022.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Jozy Altidore and Sloane Stephens
The star athletes were the first celebrity couple to marry in 2022. They tied the knot on January 1 in Miami Beach.

domain: entertainment


text:
We can find no reference to this group at all but they existed in 1995.
Go to map of other memorials in this area
This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Monck Brawne Associates
The few references we can find to "Lenthall Works" have a double "l" so there...
This section lists other interesting subjects.
Armed Forces, War Memorial other, War Memorial WW1, War Memorial WW2
The St John Ambulance Association was set up in 1877 by the Order of Saint Jo...
"The objects of The Kensington Society are to preserve and improve the amenit...
Merton was an ancient parish in the Brixton Hundred of Surrey. It was bounded...
Register to receive email updates whenever we publish new memorials.
Now available: TheLondon RemembersiPhone app.
12,210 brave WW1 seamen remembered on the monument at Tower Hill.
23,831 brave WW2 seamen remembered on the monument at Tower Hill.

domain: history


text:
Following the widespread adoption of the "Me Too" movement, professional tennis icon and social activist Billie Jean King has called for a "We Too" movement to address enduring workplace inequality issues.
King, whose prominence as a pioneer for equality inspired the 2017 movie "Battle of the Sexes," said the campaign should go beyond gender, to combat inequality in all corners of society.
Speaking to CNBC on International Women's Day, King said she was "so sorry" that such a day exists but rejected the notion of being solely a women's rights activist, saying instead that she "struggle(s)" for everyone.
"Every day should be people's day. It should be 'We Too' day," King said at YPO Edge in Singapore.
"People always talk about me as just being equality for women. That's not true. If you're close to me at all, you know how I struggle for all of us."
She added: "We need to fight for equality in business across the board."
King acknowledged, however, that gender continues to be a major hurdle in the fight for equality, not least in the sporting industry.
"We are so late in the marketplace with women's sports, for example," she said. "We are so far behind by the time we even start getting in the marketplace, it's really hard to break through.
King, who founded the Women's Tennis Association, is credited with helping promote parity between men and women's sporting prize money. In 1973, her refusal to compete prompted the US Open to introduce equal prize money for men and women.
But, 45 years on, she said men ultimately remain the agents of change. "We need the men," said King. "They are in charge most of the time and if they don't step up it's not going to happen."


text:
When it comes to duty free shopping, no Caribbean destination holds more appeal than St. Maarten, a Dutch-speaking outpost of the Netherlands that shares the 37-square-mile island with French-speaking St. Martin.
It also has one of the Caribbean’s most attractive airports.
St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) closed a $132 million bond last year to finance a long list of improvements including rehabilitating the airport’s relatively short 7,150-foot runway, construction of a new fuel farm that can store 15 days of jet fuel, the building of new taxiways to increase runway efficiency, expanding aprons to provide more aircraft parking, and acquisition of land so the airport can expand later on if necessary.
SXM also embarked on a redevelopment of its landside and airside retail areas to boost non-aviation revenues, deemed by a recent study to be considerably lower than regional and global norms for airports its size.
“The long-standing concessionaires were given the first option to be part of the new retail strategy,” Michael R. Granger wrote last month in St. Maarten’s online Daily Herald. “However, many complained that SXM Airport simply wanted to force them off the premises, preferring to work with new concessionaires with deeper pockets. The flip side of that argument was that several of the concessionaires owed the airport a total of over $20 million in back rent, a situation dubbed unsustainable for the airports future growth and expansion plans.”
Nevertheless, SXM — which on Dec. 3 celebrated its 70th anniversary in business— has upgraded the entire shopping area “with better layout, décor and lighting, which will make passengers more disposed to spend,” said Granger. “In the end, the majority of the retail outlets remain locally owned and operated.”
In addition, at least seven new concessionaires have opened at SXM, reports Suzy Kartokromo, the airport’s acting manager of marketing and customer service. She said about 92% of the available space at SXM has already been allocated, and 85% of the concessions are local and already existing stores.
Another capital improvement project for St. Maarten is the $39 million Simpson Bay Lagoon Causeway — a 760-meter causeway that now links Airport Boulevard to Cole Bay in the vicinity of Port de Plaisance. The bridge, which opened to traffic in late December 2013, accommodates two lanes of traffic with protected sidewalks on each side, a bicycle track and a swing bridge at its center.
The cruise business is also booming. In 2013, the Port of St. Maarten received 1,785,670 passengers — 32,455 more than in 2012, itself a banner year. Cruise passengers arrived on 631 vessel calls, up from 622 the previous year, said Mark Mingo, CEO of the St. Maarten Harbour Group. Incredibly, only 105,000 cruise ship passengers visited St. Maarten back in 1980, fewer than the amount which now visits in three weeks.
TheFlorida Caribbean Cruise Association said passenger and crew visits generated $356.1 million in revenues for St. Maarten during the 2011-12 cruise season, up a whopping 55 percent form the $230.3 million reported in the 2008-09 season. Per-capita expenditures by those passengers also rose dramatically, from $147.98 in 2008-09 to $185.40 in 2011-12 — by far the highest anywhere in the Caribbean.
The weighted average spend per party in 2011-12 came to $389.34 and was almost totally dominated by watches and jewelry ($267.03). Perfumes, cosmetics, liquor and electronics also contributed to overall sales, though at much lower levels. Crew members, however, spent slightly more on electronics than on watches and jewelry.
More than 8,100 people are employed in the cruise ship industry, a major driver of St. Maarten’s tourism-driven economy.
Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat and former editor of CubaNews. Born and raised in Miami and based in Bethesda, Md., since 1995, Larry has reported from every country in the Western Hemisphere. His specialty is Latin America and the Middle East, and he’s written more than 2,000 articles for publications ranging from National Journal to Saudi Aramco World. Larry also runs an Internet-based stock photo agency at www.luxner.com.

domain: travel


text:
Reading from a fellow NaNo camper and blogger about how she just finished her WIP and it’s now a MS (Congrats!!), made me think, I’m still calling my story a WIP, even though the first draft is done, why?
First, probably because I just never thought about it all that much. But really, because I don’t feel like it’s anywhere near being done enough to be promoted to MS. I still think it has good bones, but I feel like I’m rewriting it. I have been rewriting the entire introductory chapters, and I got into actual edits this weekend. I know I’m going to have a lot more to rewrite though. And until I get to a point where I am happy with the story, and the characters, and I am no longer making big changes, I’m going to continue to call Recovery a work in progress.
How do you get to the stage where you are confident enough to take your WIP to a MS? I know I have a ways to go until I am comfortable to make that change, but I also have very little experience with all this writing fiction stuff, so I’m on a learning curve. I’m loving all this learning though, I’ve learned about my process, what my imagination is capable of, and so much about my characters. But it’s going to be a long road for me.

domain: literature


text:
Rescuers flew four critically wounded people to two area hospitals, according to air rescue spokeswoman Karine Hoerhager.
The situation is under control, said Lucerne county police spokesman Urs Wigger, and officers have cordoned off a wide area around the factory.
The incident took place at 9:00 a.m. local (3:00 a.m. ET) at the offices of Kronospan, a manufacturer of wood products in the town of Menznau outside of Lucerne.
The factory employs 410 people, according to local media, and has had to cut production due to a reduction in the wood harvest.


text:
ICC Champions Trophy: Sri Lanka beats India
Riding on half-centuries from Danushka Gunathilaka (76 off 72) and Kusal Mendis (89 off 93), Sri Lanka stunned defending champions India in Match 8 of the ICC Champions Trophy on Thursday (June 8) at the Kennington Oval, London.
With this win, Sri Lanka kept themselves alive in the tournament overhauling India’s total of 321 for six with seven wickets in hand and eight balls remaining. This also became the highest successful chase in Champions Trophy history.
Angelo Mathews saluted Sri Lanka’s underdogs after they staged a brilliant run chase to stun Champions Trophy holders India by seven wickets on Thursday.
Mathews’ side were written off by many experts in the build-up to the crucial Group B clash at The Oval, but they ignored the doubters to keep alive their bid to qualify for the semi-finals.
Tasked with chasing 322 to win, Sri Lanka knocked off the runs with eight balls to spare thanks to memorable contributions from Kusal Mendis (89), Danushka Gunathilaka (76) and captain Mathews (52).
Shikhar Dhawan scored his 10th ODI hundred scoring 125 while Rohit Sharma (78 off 79) and MS Dhoni (63 off 52) registered half-centuries, but India were let down in the bowling department with Bhuvneshwar Kumar being the only wicket-taker in the match for his team.


text:
Preheat the oven to broil and place the rack closest to the heating element in the middle of the oven. Using 1 tablespoon of oil, rub the steak on a baking sheet, then season it well with salt and pepper. Depending on your preference, pepper can be added. Broil the steak for 10 to 12 minutes on each side, rotating it halfway through.
How long does Angus steak take to cook?
We recommend cooking to at least 145° for best taste and food safety, which normally takes 10-15 minutes. After searing the steak for 3 minutes per side, move it to the oven and cook for another 4-6 minutes or until it achieves the required temperature.
How long do you cook a steak in the oven at 350?
Allowing the meat to sit on a hot surface for more than a few seconds is not recommended. Place the steaks in a shallow baking dish with a cup of wine and bake for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375°F and bake for 7-10 minutes (7 for rare, 10 for medium rare) Remove the steaks from the pan and turn them over. Return them to the oven for a further 7-10 minutes at 350 degrees.
How long do you cook a steak in the oven at 400?
Baking steak at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 minutes until the meat is medium done should take no more than 8 to 10 minutes. Placing the thermometer in the center of the meat is a good idea. The temperature should be 160 degrees Fahrenheit. When the steak has reached the desired temperature, take it from the pan and set it aside.
What temperature do you cook Angus steaks at?
The USDA advises that steaks and roasts be cooked to a temperature of 145°F (medium) and then rested for at least 3 minutes before cutting into them. Ground beef should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 160°F to assure food safety (well done).
How long do you bake a steak at 375?
- To begin, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Toss the steaks in a paper towel to dry them.
- Cook the steak for about a minute on each side in a heated pan until it is browned.
- Transfer the steak to a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven.
- Continue roasting for 10 to 20 minutes, or until desired doneness is reached.
Can I cook a steak in the oven without searing it?
You want to cook the steak under the broiler because it becomes so hot that it is sufficient to roast the steak without the need to sear the outside of the steak.And the procedure is straightforward: place the steak on the counter to allow it to come to room temperature before preheating the broiler to high heat.Season the steak with olive oil, black pepper, and kosher salt after 45 minutes of cooking time.
What temperature should oven be for steak?
Preheat the oven to 450°F and set a big skillet in the oven to cook while the oven is preheating, if desired. Remove the pan from the oven and set it over a hot flame on the stove. Season. Dry the steaks with a paper towel before rubbing them with oil and seasoning them with salt and pepper (or use your favorite steak rub).
How do you cook a steak in the oven at 425?
In order to avoid overcooking the steak, do not cook it completely through. This will result in well or overcooked steak. To finish, throw your steaks in a preheated 425°F oven for 4-7 minutes longer, depending on their thickness and desired level of doneness, after they have been sear-grilled. A meat thermometer should register 135 degrees when it comes to beef.
How do you cook a 2 inch steak in the oven?
Broiled for 19-21 minutes for a 2-inch steak, rotating once at the halfway mark, will yield a perfectly medium-rare steak. A meat thermometer should read 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover your steaks with aluminum foil for 5 minutes before serving to allow them to rest.
How do you make Angus beef soft?
How to make beef softer in eight easy steps
- Use the meat tenderizer to make the meat more tender. Meat tenderizers are a simple and convenient technique of preparing meat.
- Cover the meat with coarse salt to prevent it from drying out.
- Marinade with acidity.
- Fruit purée is used to marinate the meat.
- Cooking on a low heat in a pan
- Halfway through the cooking process, add the coarse salt.
- Make use of baking soda.
How do you cook a medium-rare steak in the oven?
- Remove the steaks from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes before you want to cook them.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Using a large skillet, cook the ingredients over medium-high heat.
- Season steaks generously with salt and pepper after rubbing them with olive oil.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the steaks are cooked to your liking.

domain: food


text:
Agricultural commodities price action continues to be mixed. Grain and protein prices are up significantly higher than a year ago while coffee prices continue to sink lower. The fundamental outlook suggests that the strength in beef prices should continue for some time. Higher beef prices are negative for TXRH, BLMN, WEN, JACK, CMG, and others.
Corn prices have been moving higher over the past week as global supply concerns drive sentiment. Heavy rains in South America have delayed crop plantings. Theories that the world is going to need to turn to the US for supplies have not yet been confirmed by export sales prices. The amount of corn inspected for export at U.S. ports did increase by 49% in the week ended October 25th, however, according to the Department of Energy.
Beef prices moved modestly higher over the last week but trading has been mixed as bullish corn price action has been counteracted by uncertain near-term demand. The U.S. cattle industry is under pressure as record feed prices and elevated feeder cattle prices are not being offset by beef demand. The soft economic climate continues to limit retail and wholesale beef pricing power relative to the input price squeeze that feedlots continue to face. Elevated beef prices pose a headwind for TXRH, BLMN, WEN, JACK & CMG, among others in the restaurant industry.
Coffee prices declined -3.5% over the last week. Coffee has been trading in a range between 150 cents/lbs and 190 cents/lbs since May and is currently 33% below year-ago levels. On a global basis, indications are that supplies are ample. Concern about global economic growth slowing is adding further pressure to coffee prices. The continuing weakness in coffee prices is a positive for SBUX, PEET, DNKN, THI, CBOU, GMCR and other coffee retailers.
Gasoline prices declined -1.3% over the last week but, as usual, regional trends are worth bearing in mind. The gasoline shortage in the North East, caused by Hurricane Sandy, is likely to have an impact on restaurant traffic trends in the region for several weeks. A similar impact was felt post-Katrina, in the gulf region, when tight gasoline supplies led to a decrease in miles driven which, in turn, led to a deceleration in restaurant traffic.


text:
TBILISI | In 2004, some 5,200 Georgian children were living in Soviet-era institutions for underprivileged and disabled minors. Today, there are just 100, seemingly a sign that Georgia’s ambitious Child Action Plan – which aimed to reintegrate socially vulnerable kids into their biological families or, failing that, get them into foster care or alternative types of support – has worked. By contrast, neighboring Armenia, with a somewhat smaller population, still houses 4,900 kids, most of whom have families, at its aging children’s homes.
But there is a flip side to Georgia’s seeming success: unlike in Armenia, street children – minors who spend most of their time roaming the cities, in many cases sleeping rough – have become increasingly visible in the capital of Tbilisi and other urban centers like Kutaisi and Batumi.
“The process of de-institutionalization started in 2000 and out of 42 institutions, only five are left today,” said Andro Dadiani, Georgia director for international children’s rights group EveryChild. “De-institutionalization has obviously contributed to the problem [of street children], and especially ill-prepared reintegration.


text:
Marriage not dating review marriage without love / marriage , allkpop, han groo, han sun hwa, jung jin woon, korean drama review, marriage not dating. Review of marriage not dating korean drama asian movie & drama asian movies and dramas reviews without spoilers marriage not dating korean drama review.
Yaitu marriage, not dating drama yang 2am korean drama korean drama review marriage not dating marriage not dating review marriage without dating. Sebuah blog santai mengenai hiburan seperti review-review mengenai korean drama, bollywood movie, pelakon, lawak serta sinopsis drama dan filem melayu. Marriage without love marriage without dating let's get married: marriage, not dating (in korean) marriage, not dating at hancinema. Read our complete review of korean drama marriage contract and visualize the best and worst of it with the funcurve impression graph.
New kdrama alert: marriage without love kdrama reviews marriage not dating korean drama marriage not dating korean drama review marriage without love korean drama. Tw-drama series review films bollywood “marriage without love” episode 9 preview han groo han sun hwa jin woon marriage not dating marriage without. Marriage not dating tvn has released some more scenes from the next episode of marriage without love series review: a love so beautiful.
Not dating” is a 2014 south korean drama series directed by song hyun marriage over love, marriage without dating, marriage without love share your review. Adding to the drama are han yeo the extended cast for marriage not dating includes yeon woo jin as dramafever's current library includes korean dramas. Drama review: marriage, not dating (spoiler free) yeon woo jin- han groo marriage not (without) dating bts after school kiss scene in korean drama.
Marriage not dating actress han groo gave prime korean lists korean drama reviews yeon woo jin- han groo marriage not (without) dating bts. Watch marriage not dating korean drama casts ost synopsis summary or reviews details , check marriage not dating 연애 말고 결혼 / marriage without.
Stocking stuffers for the drama addict [year in review, part 2] by gummimochi marriage not dating wraps up in a satisfying and poetic way. » marriage without dating » korean drama synopsis, details, cast and other info of all korean drama tv series. Marriage not dating is one of the classic korean drama with romantic theme it is infused with the whole 10' trends, but, part from that (though nostalgic packed), the story is okay and entertaining.


Technische Universität Braunschweig
Software support for well structured business processes is today provided through workflow technology and process management tools. Tailored to support well structured processes, these tools do not provide adequate support for loosely structured work activities such as knowledge intensive processes. This paper is heavily reliant on professional knowledge, deals with large amounts of data and tasks that can be redone several times. The purpose of the paper is to bring together state-of-the-art research in business process management systems and social software to design services and methodology for supporting loosely structured processes.


text:
A company is super upset with the Kardashians for flaking on a deal they reportedly made when the family was still on the come-up. According to TMZ, the Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) claims they helped catapult the family to stardom, and while they made a verbal agreement to some of their profits, the famous family didn't hold up their end of the bargain.
APA, which caters to major brands like Marriott and Lamborghini, claims to have made the agreement with Kim, Khloé, Kourtney, Kylie and Kendall back in 2009. They say they all agreed, verbally, that the Agency would get a 15 percent cut of their profits.
The company says the ladies then went on to make millions after they secured endorsement deals for clothing, footwear, accessories and hair products.
According to the lawsuit, the Kardashians chose to end the deal back in March 2015, with all profits that were going to APA stopping immediately. Now the company wants their money, at any cost.
Get the details on Khloé's most recent divorce filing with BET Breaks, above.
(Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Cosmopolitan)

domain: celebrity


text:
For water fitness, swimming and water therapy, SPLASH! International represents the best products available to enhance your water workout at competitive prices and quick delivery times. Talk to an expert before ordering if you have questions!
T-STRAP TANKINI TOP MINT/NAVY
T-STRAP TANKINI TOP–MINT/NAVY
Lets get sporty in the AquaShape Mint/Navy T-Strap Tankini Top! Whether you are hitting the beach or going in the water, this t-strap design is the perfect mix of style and comfort. A navy color block under the bust provides an extra flattering feature along with the double straps that are helpful with support.
Signature Chlorine Resistant Fabric
UPF 50+ Protection
SIZES: S(6-8) M(10-12) L(14-16) XL(18-20) XXL(20-24)

domain: hobby


text:
Better not more
We work with existing public schools and their existing teachers, in partnership with local government. We believe you can only improve schools at scale by improving the existing workforce. The teacher’s salaries are already paid for by the government, so costs are low. We can leverage these existing funds to have far greater impact.

domain: sociology


text:
See the latest prices and deals by choosing your dates.
Located in Sydney CBD (Central Business District), next to bustling Martin Place, The Fullerton Hotel Sydney features an à la carte restaurant, a bar and access to a fitness center. Amazing hotel, in the heart of Sydney. The rooms are very spacious, comfortable and quiet.
Just 2 minutes’ walk from Hyde Park and Pitt Street Mall, QT Sydney offers a restaurant, bar, cafe and day spa. everything was amazing from the customer service to the decor ! would definitely stay again.
Featuring a casino, a day spa and 20 bars and restaurants, The Darling at The Star is just 2133 feet from Cockle Bay. The room's were amazingly comfortable and clean .
Overlooking Sydney's historic Rocks area, Four Seasons Hotel Sydney offers free WiFi, a bar, restaurant, fitness center and swimming pool. From start to finish: wonderful staff ! Loved the luxury and personal touch the hotel offered.
This luxury hotel features sundeck that overlooks Sydney Harbor and Circular Quay. The award-winning restaurant and bar offers views of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Location All though a bit of a small hill to access
Nestled within Taronga Zoo and overlooking Sydney Harbor, Wildlife Retreat at Taronga is an eco-retreat offering stylish accommodations in a relaxed bush setting. Breakfast was absolutely amazing and the view and location was a bonus!
Spicers Potts Point is located in Sydney, 1.1 mi from Circular Quay. Guests can enjoy a drink in the guest bar, breakfast in the garden courtyard or host a small meeting in a private room. Everything was so perfect! Had an amazing time and for sure, the best place I stayed in Sydney until...
At Park Hyatt Sydney guests can spend the day tanning by the heated pool and then treat themselves to a pampering session at the spa and wellness center. To the best hotel staff who helped organise the most romantic setting for my niece who was proposed...
Boasting a combination of modern, urban and a 1960s style, Citadines Connect Sydney Airport is located within a 2-minute drive from Sydney Domestic Airport and 10 minutes’ drive from the international... Location great as it was close to the airport! Staff were super friendly and helpful too!
Featuring free WiFi and Netflix, Veriu Broadway offers modern, self-contained accommodations in Sydney, just a 10-minute walk to Central Station. nice botique hotel near important tourist areas.
Boasting access to an indoor heated lap pool, a large 24-hour fitness centre, spa and sauna, Meriton Suites North Sydney is located just 5 minutes' walk from North Sydney Train Station. I liked the stuff most. They were there if you needed them, otherwise they were invisible.
Formerly the site of a luxury European auto-trader in the 1970's, Veriu Green Square offers accommodations in Sydney. I have travelled all over the world, all seven continents, and this was one of the best hotel stays...
The Baxley Bondi features air-conditioned rooms with satellite flat-screen TV in the Bondi district of Sydney. Déecoration, situation, comfort, style, clean, staff, really lovely place I love it
Located in Sydney, 1.1 mi from Art Gallery of New South Wales, Medusa Hotel Sydney provides concierge services and free WiFi throughout the property. Exceptional location and gorgeous staff. A hotel with a lovely personal touch.
Located 10 minutes’ drive from Sydney city center and a 5-minute walk from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Quality Suites Camperdown include a microwave, refrigerator and LCD TV. I stayed here for a few nights on a work trip. The hotel manager was so so lovely and welcoming.
Located in the Sydney CBD district of Sydney, YEHS Hotel Sydney QVB is 1 mi from Capitol Theater. The location was fantastic!! The metro, tram and bus were literally a minute away.
Located in the heart of Surry Hills in Sydney, Crystalbrook Albion offers accommodations with an eclectic mix of heritage and contemporary details. All aspects, quality, staff, cleanness and location.
Located in Sydney, Mrs Banks Hotel features free WiFi. Conveniently located in the Paddington district, this hotel is set 1640 feet from Allianz Stadium. Great style, beautiful deco. Also the area is wonderful
Meriton Suites Coward Street, Mascot is a luxury hotel positioned only 10 minutes' drive from the domestic airport and 15 minutes' drive from the international airport. The person at the Lobby desk was really friendly and helpful
Located in Sydney CBD and surrounded by some of Sydney's most popular tourist attractions and iconic landmarks, Meriton Suites Sussex Street provides 5-star luxury accommodations. Very large room in the center of town.
Located within 10 minutes' drive from the domestic airport and 15 minutes' drive from the international airport, Meriton Suites Mascot Central features a state-of-the-art fitness center, an indoor... 5mins to the train station. Grocery store and a lot of Food right in the area.
Boasting a swimming pool and free WiFi, the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Sydney CBD (Central Business District), is just 15 minutes' walk from Circular Quay, where you can visit the Sydney Opera House... Everything was amazing, next time i will go back.
Boasting an indoor heated lap pool, a hot tub, sauna and fitness center, Meriton Suites Campbell Street is located opposite the famous Capitol Theater in Sydney CBD (Central Business District). The suite is very comfortable, we do feel like just at home
Located in Sydney CBD, overlooking Hyde Park, Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park (formerly Sheraton On The Park) offers a restaurant, a bar and a 24-hour rooftop fitness center. Booked to stay for 2 nights at short notice because our other place was so poor.

domain: geography


text:
Shanghai Pharma to sell non-core business assets
Shanghai. March 2. INTERFAX-CHINA - Shanghai Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd., one of China's largest pharmaceutical distributors, announced on Mar. 2 it will dispose of its non-core business assets.
The company said it will sell its 40 percent stake in Shanghai General Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and approximately 16 million shares of Shenyin Wanguo Securities Co. Ltd. Shanghai Pharma will also sell a 40 percent stake held by its subsidiary Shanghai Huashi Asset Management Co. Ltd. in Shanghai International Pharmaceutical Trading Co. Ltd.
Shanghai South Investment Group Co. Ltd. will buy all of the shareholdings for a total of RMB 134.07 million ($19.63 million).
"General Pharma's business scale is small and International Pharma's business performance has not been good," an employee from Shanghai Pharma, who declined to be named, told Interfax.
In addition, Shanghai Pharma and Huashi Assets will sell Shanghai International Pharmaceutical Trading Exhibition Building, located in Pudong New Area, to Shanghai Futianjian Grain & Oil Trading Co. Ltd. for RMB 319.36 million ($49.76 million).
"The building used to function as Shanghai Pharma's headquarters," the employee said. Shanghai Pharma's headquarters is currently located in Luwan district in downtown Shanghai.
According to the announcement, Shanghai Pharma will use the cash raised from the sale of the non-main business assets to repay bank loans and to acquire domestic pharmaceutical distributors and their assets.
In the announcement, Shanghai Pharma also noted it plans to set up a pharmaceutical distribution joint venture in Shandong Province to sharpen its competitive edge in eastern China.

domain: finance


Khabib Nurmagomedov on Saturday stretched his unbeaten record in the UFC to 28-0, after he stopped Dustin Poirier by submission in the third round at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, to retain his lightweight title.
Khabib Nurmagomedov after dominating Poirier in wrestling and grappling throughout the fight landed a rear-naked choke and forced Poirier to tap midway through the third.
The Dagestan-born Russian fighter returned almost flawlessly for his first fight since beating Conor McGregor back in October 2018.
Nurmagomedov has stopped three of his last five opponents by submission, and he is challenging Jon Jones and Amanda Nunes for unofficial pound-for-pound supremacy in mixed martial arts (MMA).
“MMA is about respect, this is what we showed tonight,” Nurmagomedov said.
Nurmagomedov felt disrespected by McGregor and the Irish star’s friends before their bout, leading to him jumping into the crowd to brawl with the entourage after his victory last year.
Nurmagomedov was suspended and fined by the Nevada Athletic Commission and Poirier won an interim lightweight title during Nurmagomedov’s forced absence.
“There has been a lot of pressure on me recently,” Nurmagomedov said. “I now need a couple of days’ rest.”
On his part, Poirier said this about his defeat:
“I feel like I let myself down,” Poirier said. “My career was set up for this moment. I was so prepared. I didn’t cut any corners. When I wake up, I need to take a look in the mirror” he said.
Nurmagomedov who is now the number and bankable fighter in UFC will now be looking for a rematch come next year, and opponent looking to take him down would have to do a lot more, as this fight and the last one against Mcgregor have shown us what a fighter he is.


text:
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a pest control program that combines control methods to prevent, reduce, or maintain populations of pests at a level that is not damaging to cannabis plants. A combination of physical, mechanical, and biological control methods are used with a knowledgeable cultivation staff trained in identifying cannabis pests such as whiteflies, thrips, and aphids, as well as diseases like powdery mildew.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are an important part of any IPM and should include daily and/or weekly inspections, identification and logging of any pests, and immediate control. Prevention methods can include spacing, pruning, and careful procedures to prevent staff from bringing in harmful hitchhikers from the outside into the growing area. An effective IPM includes maintaining a controlled environment, and quickly identifying and removing pests with eradication methods that meet biological control requirements.

domain: biology


If you’re tired of seeing political candidates on your screens every election season, yelling and talking over each other in an attempt to convince you that their vision for the future of health care in America is the correct one, you’re not alone. Perhaps no other issue in America has become as notoriously politicized as health care. Nearly every aspect of health care, from our insurance system, to drug manufacturing, to the act of wearing face masks, has become political in one way or another. And people are sick of it.
“Take the politics out of health care!”– after decades of debate, it’s an exhaustingly familiar refrain, especially to Americans who just feel worn out by political infighting. Striving toward improved health should be the one thing we can all agree on. Liberals and conservatives may disagree on how we pay for it, or how the system is structured, but at the end of the day, we all want access to high quality health care, right?
Yet despite this common ground, health care continues to be the buzzword of political debate everywhere. As political affiliation becomes more and more tribal, identification with one party or another has become shorthand for what kind of public health and health care policies you support.
Mask Wearing and Vaccination Fuels Polarization
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has only served to draw the lines even deeper in the sand. Mask wearing has become a symbol of party alignment—a majority of Democrats say they frequently or always wear masks in public, while a majority of Republicans report rarely or never wearing masks.
This divide was fueled by President Trump, who loudly and regularly mocked other public figures, such as President-Elect Joe Biden, for mask-wearing. His sentiments were echoed by other senior members of his administration and many Republican members of Congress who also refused to wear masks, publicly questioning their efficacy. Interestingly, of all the members of Congress who tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020, 34 were Republicans and 13 were Democrats.
The anti-vax movement is similar. Republican lawmakers in a number of states are shutting down vaccine mandates, citing parental freedom of choice in deciding whether their children should be vaccinated or not. It is no coincidence that Kentucky Governor, Matt Bevin, described the mandates as un-American. The appeal to patriotic values is a frequently used Republican dog whistle that instantly politicizes the issue at hand. Similar arguments have been made against mask wearing, arguing that being forced to wear a mask infringes on personal freedoms.
Implications for the Future of American Health Care Policy
It is easy to decry this politicization as a modern phenomenon that does nothing but actively tear down the real goal: making sure every American has easy access to safe and high quality health care.
But politicization of health care in and of itself is not the problem. Health care has been a political topic in America ever since the country’s founding. Thomas Jefferson famously used his political influence to promote widespread adoption of the first smallpox vaccine during a period of history when vaccination was still a nascent and unknown science.
From a public health perspective, health care and politics are inescapably intertwined. Government power is the most effective tool public health professionals have to enact broad structural change for the betterment of public health in America. When we seek to implement public health and health care reforms through government action, we make health a political issue. Health care is an inherently political topic and trying to pretend otherwise only stifles attempts to enact reform.
What should be apolitical is the facts. Science should be apolitical. When one party supports following CDC guidelines and one party dismisses them, that is not politicizing healthcare, that is just ignoring the facts. When both sides acknowledge the same facts, the same science, then public health and health care can exist in the political sphere in the way that they should.
Allowing health care to be viewed as a political topic encourages debate and iterative improvement of potential health reform plans. The passage of the Affordable Care Act continues to be one of President Obama’s lasting legacies, and the recent popularity of strong progressive candidates such as Bernie Sanders and his universal health care plan pushed now President-Elect Joe Biden to adopt a more comprehensive health care policy.
Understanding how health care and politics work together is an essential tool for change, but it won’t be a tool that we can utilize to the fullest until we all embrace the idea that health care is political, and developing strategies to improve health is a political debate worth having.


As a general rule, casinos don’t like it when they lose money. They especially don’t like it when they are robbed of it.
In a story reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal a suspect in a string of armed casino robberies was tazed, shot and killed at the home of the World Series of Poker, the Rio Hotel and Casino on Sunday.
The suspect, who officials have yet to only describe as a “white male adult, heavily armed”, would allegedly approach a clerk, produce weapon and at times comment that he was also carrying explosives before making off with the money.
Today when that suspect, who was being tailed by detectives, was finally approached he “did not comply with their commands” which led to him being tazed (bro).
After tazed officials say he “reached for his waistband” (aka went for his gun) and was subsequently shot dead.
More Casino Crime: Caesars Atlantic City Robbed At Gunpoint For $180K


text:
Bollywood and drugs have been moving in a parallel line since the 90s. Time and again, many insiders have been in controversies surrounding drugs. Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Armaan Malik, Sushant Singh Rajput, Mamta Kulkarni and Bharti Singh, and her husband Harsh Limbachiyaa were a few of the popular incidents in the spotlight. As NCB has detained Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in a drug case on Cordelia Cruise's ship off Mumbai shores, we take a look at some Bollywood celebrities who have had been in the spotlight on their controversial connection with drugs.
Whenever we talk about drugs in Bollywood, the first name that comes to our mind is Sanjay Dutt. In Simi Garewal's show, he spoke about his addiction and nine years of his life that went into vain because of it. "It was just the 'in' thing at that time. Somebody just said try it and that was it, for nine years of my life," he said. Irrespective of all the consequences, Sanjay made comeback in Bollywood and has been clean from over four decades now.
Fardeen Khan, son of veteran actor Feroz Khan has also been in similar controversy. He had a short Bollywood career, and completely disappeared after getting arrested by Mumbai Police on May 5, 2001. The case against Fardeen was of attempt to use of drugs, this case was solely responsible for destroying his career in Bollywood.
Bharati and Harsh were arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after a huge amount of drugs were found from their residence. The NCB said in a statement, “In follow-up and in corroboration with previous inputs, NCB raided two places on November 20, 2020 including production office and house of actor-comedian Ms. Bharti Singh and from both the places, 86.5 gms of ganja was recovered. Both Ms Bharti Singh and her husband Harsh Limbachiya accepted consumption of ganja. Ms. Bharti Singh was placed under arrest as per the provisions of NDPS Act 1986 and examination of Shri Harsh Limbachiya is underway (sic).”
Apart from this, in the infamous Sushant Singh Rajpoot case, Rhea Chakrobarty confirmed that the actor was consuming marijuana on regular basis and was addicted to it. A party of Karan Johar also came into the spotlight when a video got viral in which it was alleged that drugs were being consumed. Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Singh, Vickey Kausal were spotted in the video with other celebrities.
All these incidences are testament to Bollywood's connection with drugs and this doesn't seem coming to a stop anytime soon.


text:
Phil Wilson Uploads Two Years of Craig Wright Email Correspondence About Bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto
For those out of the loop, Phil Wilson claims to be the third person who created bitcoin, in addition to Dave Kleiman and Craig Wright. The three all allegedly made posts using the Satoshi Nakamoto identity online, although Wright was the primary figure behind the Satoshi identity.
While some have dismissed Wilson’s claims, Wilson insists he played a role in creating bitcoin back in 2008. He claims he worked with Kleiman and Wright prior to the publication of the bitcoin whitepaper online and continued contributing to the project until 2011.
Why haven’t you heard about Wilson until now? Well, in 2011, scrutiny against bitcoin was heating up related to its connection with dark web marketplaces like Silk Road. Wilson scrubbed his bitcoin fortune – worth $40,000 at the time – from his computer along with all files linking him to bitcoin.
The claim, understandably, sounds fishy, and that’s why Wilson has been largely ignored since first announcing the claim late last year.
But new evidence released today adds fuel to the fire and suggests there’s a deeper connection between Craig Wright and Phil Wilson.
Earlier today, Phil Wilson tweeted a link to a Dropbox folder containing a series of emails allegedly sent between himself and Wright since 2016. Wilson insisted they seem more like emails between old friends – not an extortion attempt.
Emails between myself and Craig since 2016:https://t.co/mMou8u6xsR
The "ordered" file has them in chronological order.
Do they appear to be from someone attempting to connect with an old friend, or do they look like an extortion attempt ?
You can decide for yourself.
— Phil Wilson (@_Phil_Wilson_) September 4, 2018
“Do they appear to be from someone attempting to connect with an old friend, or do they look like an extortion attempt?”
Wright has claimed Phil Wilson has been trying to extort him by coming public with his story. In the emails, Wilson mentions that half of Satoshi’s bitcoins belong to him due to an agreement between Wright, Kleiman, and Wilson. However, he never demands the bitcoins from Wright – despite the fact that they’re worth billions of dollars.
So what do the emails claim? Let’s take a closer look at some of the highlights.
What’s in the Emails?
Below, we’ll talk about some of the highlights of the emails.
Phil Wilson Emailed Craig in Mid-2016 After 7 Years Away from the Project
- Phil Wilson frequently references Craig as “Satoshi.” The first email, sent on July 31, 2016, for example, begins with, “Afternoon, Satoshi”
- Craig claims the Australian Taxation Office was concerned with his lack of GST reporting and tax accounting. Craig’s office and home were famously raided by Australian Taxation Office (ATO) authorities soon after he was “outed” as Satoshi Nakamoto. Based on Craig’s (alleged) email to Phil on August 4, the ATO was concerned with Craig’s GST and tax reporting.
- “Enough time has passed so that it is no-longer necessary from = me to remain hidden,” writes Phil Wilson on August 4, 2016. Wilson claims
- Phil Wilson isn’t certain that the Craig Wright he saw in interviews is the same Craig Wright and Satoshi with whom he communicated during the early days of bitcoin. Phil Wilson appeared to email Craig out of the blue in mid-2016. “If you are Satoshi, you should recognise my old…handle (Scronty) and email address ([email protected]),” writes Phil Wilson.
Wilson Noticed Craig Wright Saying Things that Only Satoshi Could Have Known
- Wilson claims that “Many of the things that you [Craig] said could only have been said by someone within the team. Or someone who has access to the emails sent by members of the team,” writes Wilson.
Wilson Explains Why He Came Back After 7 Years of Keeping Quiet
- Wilson explains why he pulled back from the bitcoin scene. “I’ve spent the past seven years ignoring and suppressing all memories of what went on and focusing on ‘white’ subject matter.”
- “I’ve begun to write down what I recollect so that there is a record from my perspective “BitCoin Origins”,” writes Wilson in one email to Craig. Wilson, of course, published this account online in late 2017. In his account, Wilson claims he wanted to name the currency “BitCoin” with a capital “C”, so that’s what this email is referencing.
- “Before I left the project I purged all possible evidence of my involvement. There are no email messages and no private keys in my possession from those days anymore. And definitely no bitcoin.”
- “I do not yet recall who I initially interacted with – it may well have been you. That may come back to me in time. It’s always difficult to recall…”
Phil Wilson Wants to Create a “Rebooted” Version of Bitcoin With Government-friendly Tax Features
- “I think it’s time for the experiment to be rebooted,” writes Wilson in one interview. “And this time, I will also do the coding.” Wilson wrote the email from a fintech hub in Sydney surrounded by “crypto-nutters, business CEOs and government officials”
- Wilson claims bitcoin was released “six months too early”. Wilson claims they originally wanted to add “the identity problem and the taxation problem” that were to be included in the final system
- One feature mentioned by Wilson is a sliding transaction scale, where lower priced transactions would remain anonymous while higher-priced transactions would require identification
- The proposed bitcoin taxation system wold allow every source or destination of a transaction to pay a local VAT to a city, county, province, state, nation, region, or hemisphere automatically; the purpose of this system was to get governments on board with bitcoin while dissuading criminals from using it
- Wilson’s proposed reboot of bitcoin would include such a system
Wilson Claims Craig Promised to Publicly Verify His Claims Using the Satoshi Handle Online
- Craig might have a copy of Wilson’s emails from the early days of bitcoin development. Wilson famously deleted his connections to the project, including all emails sent with the bitcoin team. In one of the new emails released online today, however, Wilson asks Wright if he still has a copy of those emails, and to send those emails to Wilson if possible “so that I may have an accurate record of how the development evolved.”
- “You Said if I ever asked you to publicly verify that it was my work that was in the bitcoin white-paper you would log in using a Satoshi handle and confirm it to everyone,” writes Wilson. However, Wilson admits that Wright may have lost control of the Satoshi handles over time, which “will make it much more difficult for this public confirmation to happen.”
Craig Might Owe Phil Wilson Billions of Dollars’ of Bitcoins
- “You said that half of the generated bitcoins that you’d mined over the couple of active years on the project are mine when I ask for them
- “I’m Sure There’s a Possibility of a Netflix Movie in the Near Future”
- In one email, Wilson writes that Craig should be more honest about the development of bitcoin because “there’s a possibility of a Netflix movie in the near future.”
- “I’m pretty sure many folks would be interested in what happened.”
- Even if Wright doesn’t have accurate records form this time period, Wilson insists they could probably come up with the details if they ever sat down together.
Wilson Confirms Wright and Kleiman Are (2) and (3) in His Blog
- Phil Wilson’s “Bitcoin Origins” story posted on Reddit and his blog featured numerous references to two people called (2) and (3). These were widely believed to be Craig Wright and Dave Kleiman, the other two people involved with bitcoin in the early days.
- Wilson confirms this in his latest emails.
- “I’ll be keeping you and Dave as (2) and (3) for now until I get guidance from you as to how you’d like to be presented.”
- “You Kept your Promise to Never Expose Me. Thank You”
- In one email, Wilson thanks Wright for never exposing him – even as he faced scrutiny from the ATO.
- “I told you that you had the more difficult path as you had to be in the limelight showing that you first didn’t know anything about bitcoin and second to be actively opposed to the idea so that if the searchlight beam came across you you’d be dismissed as impossible for the role you played. And you kept your promise to never expose me. Thank you”
Wilson Admits He’s “Concerned for 2020” When the Bitcoin Trust Will Expire
- If you believe that Craig Wright and Dave Kleiman created bitcoin and were responsible for the Satoshi identity, then you’ve probably heard of the “trust” designed to hold Satoshi’s bitcoins
- That trust is reportedly scheduled to expire in 2020, which would release all bitcoins to Craig. This is the reason why Satoshi’s bitcoins have never been moved: they’ve been locked in a trust controlled by the “Tulip keys” held by Kleiman, Wright, and Wilson.
- “I find it disappointing that you have chosen to ignore my emails to you after all these years. If there was one single person you’d talk to about the tech, it would be me. After all this time I have finally been able to get back in contact with you, only to have you chose to ignore the correspondence. This makes me concerned for 2020.”
- “I take it you’ve had a change of heart and have decided to keep the entirety of the mined bitcoin keys for yourself. But what has happened to the keys Dave had. Both you and Dave decided that half of each of your bitcoin belonged to me. I’m the one who told you both to put my coins into a trust for five years. You said “Why not round it up to 2020.”
- “It appears you both may have placed a large number of coins into a trust. Are you willing to tell the trustees who the recipients of the coins are? OR are you the only recipient now?”
Phil Wilson Will Create a New Bitcoin Whitepaper
- Phil Wilson’s last emails in the document reference the release of a new bitcoin whitepaper. Wilson asks if Craig Wright wants his name on this new whitepaper.
- This new whitepaper would detail a vision of bitcoin closer to the original idea planned by Satoshi Nakamoto (Kleiman, Wright, and Wilson). The vision would include tax systems like the one mentioned above.
- “Updating the bitcoin white paper does not necessarily meant the destruction of the current bitcoin cryptocurrency. Think of it more along the lines of a massive upgrade that would replace the current nodes.”
- “We are the only ones in the world who can release an updated version of the bitcoin white paper”
What Does All of This Mean?
These emails show the story from Phil Wilson’s perspective. We cannot verify the authenticity of these emails. If you believe Phil Wilson, then these are genuine emails from Wilson to Wright throughout 2016 and 2017. If you don’t believe him, then these are just text documents posted online to bolster his claim.
Let’s assume we do believe Phil Wilson. What does that mean? What do the recent emails mean?
- If you believe him, then Phil Wilson partnered with Craig Wright and Dave Kleiman in May 2008 to create bitcoin. Wilson didn’t contribute code to the project, but he did contribute heavily to the whitepaper.
- Wilson continued contributing to bitcoin during the first 1-2 years of the network, either by mining or actively developing the project.
- Wilson also claims that Wright and Kleiman both had an agreement: half of the bitcoins Wright and Kleiman had mined belonged to Wilson.
- It seems like Wright responded to Wilson’s initial email in summer 2016, but stopped responding shortly thereafter. The email dump from Wilson only shows one side – Wilson’s emails. We don’t know what Craig said back.
- Wright and Wilson never met in person, and Wilson never claims to have met Craig – despite the fact that they both lived in Sydney, Australia while developing bitcoin.
- Wilson started to believe Craig Wright was the person he said he was when he started referencing things that only Satoshi Nakamoto would know.
Of course, Phil Wilson could also be making everything up.
There’s one thing we know for sure: Craig Wright was heavily involved in the early days of bitcoin. If he didn’t invent bitcoin, then he at least was one of the first miners in the space.
This fascinating story continues to unfold. We’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, you can read through Phil Wilson’s emails to Craig Wright here. There is also a 7 hour, yes seven hour, interview with Phil Wilson talking about the entire story unfolding here regarding Bitcoin's magical creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.


text:
Men charged after amphematimes, cannabis found at Coast home
THREE men have been charged with drug offences after police raided a Sunshine Coast home.
Officers from the Sunshine Coast District Gang Squad and Tactical Crime Squad attended the Galloways Lane property at Como near Boreen Point and allegedly located glassware, chemicals and other equipment believed to have been used in the production of methyl amphetamine.
A substantial sum of cash and a quanitity of cannabis were also allegedly discovered during the search.
A 53-year-old Cedar Vale man was charged with eight offences including two counts of possessing dangerous drugs and possessing items used in the commission of a crime; and one count each of possessing drug utensils, possessing tainted property and unlawfully possessing explosives (ammunition). He is due to appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on April 23.
A 47-year-old Coolum Beach man was charged with possession of a dangerous drug and is expected to appear in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on April 8.
A 38-year-old-man from the Northern Territory was charged with possessing dangerous drugs and utensils and is due to appear in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on March 21.
Investigations are continuing.
Anyone with information which could assist with this matter should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au 24hrs a day.
Crime Stoppers is a registered charity and community volunteer organisation working in partnership with the Queensland Police Service.
For all non-urgent police reporting or general police inquiries contact Policelink on 131 444 or Policelink.qld.gov.au 24hrs a day.

domain: law


text:
5 Written questions
5 Matching questions
- relocation diffusion
- expansion diffusion
- contagious diffusion
- a The distance-controlled spreading of an idea, innovation, or some other item through a local population by contact from person to person - analogous to the communication of a contagious illness.
- b the spread of an innovation or an idea through a population and the numbers of those influenced rapidly increase
- c Sequential diffusion process in which the items being diffused are transmitted by their carrier agents as they evacuate the old areas and relocate to new ones.
- d The degree of ease with which it is possible to reach a certian location from other locations. ________ varies from place to place and can be measured.
- e Regional outbreak of a disease.
5 Multiple choice questions
- The sum total of the knowledge, attitudes, and habitual behavior patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a society.
- 3rd theme of geography as defined by the geography educational national implementation project; an area on the Earth's surface marked by a degree of formal, functional, or perceptual homogeneity of some phenomenon
- One of the two major divisions of systematic geography; the spatial analysis of the structure, processes, and location of Earth's natural phenomena such as climate, soil, plants, animals, and topography.
- A logical attempt to explain the ______ional pattern of the economic activity and the manner in which its producing areas are interrelated. The agricultural _____ _______ contained in the von Thünen model is a leading example.
- the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape
5 True/False questions
spatial distribution → Both Complementarity ( A condition that exists when two regions, through an exchange of raw materials and/ or finished products, can specifically satisfy each other's demands) and Intervening Opportunity (The presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away).
place → the design of spatial distribution
relative location → 1st theme, the geographical position of people & things on the Earths surface affects what happens & why
cultural complex → Heartland, source area, innovation center; place of origin of a major culture.
pattern → the design of spatial distribution


Music can be an incredibly powerful force in a contact improvisation jam. When played poorly it can be distracting, or even dangerous. It can affect your relationship to your partner and detract from physical awarenesses that keep you alert and safe. But when played well, music can have incredible power to affect and shape a jam, sometimes leading to unusually unified or transcendent experiences.
I’ve been playing music for contact jams for a long time, since about 2003. Some months ago, Paul Spielman from Boston asked me to write up my thoughts on the subject. It has been much harder than I thought. More of my ideas than I realized exist at a semi-intuitive level, not previously put into words and not easily accessible outside the moment.
But finally I wrote this post! Playing at the Earthdance New Year’s Jam last December brought some of my ideas to the surface, and helped me remember how and why I do certain things. And I’ve also given up on making a complete, comprehensive, fully-thought-out statement of my ideas on this. Although I think my aesthetic on music at jams is fairly figured out, I haven’t totally figured out how to express it. But for now, I thought it best to share some of these ideas as I conceive of them today, and revise later as I figure out how better to say things.
So, these are my thoughts on this subject, for now, a bit rambling, but hopefully containing some wisdom. I’ve structured this post in three parts: 1) General guidelines to playing music at jams; 2) Some concrete suggestions for actually carrying out the guidelines; and 3) Some advanced concepts. And I couldn’t resist adding 4) some more commentary at the end.
Richard’s Guidelines for Playing for Contact Jams
These are my most basic principles for playing music for contact jams. They are not particularly revolutionary.
- Be a partner to the dancers and the dancing (collectively, the dance). This means reacting, responding, and suggesting to the dance, sometimes leading, sometimes following, but not leading or following to the exclusion of the other.
- Avoid dictating to the dancers or creating a musical texture that locks the dance in. Above all else, do no harm — make sure that your contributions are not negatively interfering with a dance that could otherwise happen. Contact improvisation can exist perfectly well without music; music should only be used when at minimum it will not detract, and ideally only when it will be substantially additive.
- Use silence liberally.
Richard’s Very Strong Suggestions for Carrying Out the Guidelines
The devil is in the details. What follows is how I suggest that you follow the Guidelines above, and how I generally do. These are fairly prescriptive, and likely to spark some disagreement. Feel free to comment below.
- If at all humanly possible, improvise. Do not play songs or pieces from your repertoire. If you’re a jazz musician, try to avoid standards. Free yourself as much as possible from your fingers or muscle memory or musical memory telling you what to play, and open yourself to responding to what is happening in the dance in front of you.
- Look at the dancers. No, really. You need to be able to see them to relate to them. Open your eyes if you close them, look up from your hands or the floor if you look down. You should be looking at the dancers way more than most of the time. Like really, pretty close to all of the time.
- Avoid strongly-defined rhythmic pulses, particularly in a conventional meter. Contact improvisation, unlike 99% of social dancing, does not easily fit with a clearly-defined beat. Often the best music for jams does not have a rhythmic pulse, or obscures the pulse. If you throw in a strong rhythmic pulse, do so with much care, and be willing to let it go quickly if the room doesn’t respond enthusiastically.
- When in doubt, lay out. The jam can get along fine without you. Try to have more silence than sound. And go for long silences — two minutes, ten minutes, not just a few seconds between phrases. Another way to think about this is that your job is not to play sound, but to frame silence. (This is somewhat inspired by a comment by Lynn S. of my playing, that I sounded like I was “carving the silence.”)
- Never underestimate the power of a single note, followed by a substantial silence. It takes some courage and self-possession to make just one note, and then let that one note sink into the room. But it’s a totally baller move.
- Wait until you’re compelled to play. Wait for when the room seems to want or need music; try not to force your way in just because YOU want to play. This takes a lot of listening, and experience, and patience, but most of the time, sooner or later, the opportunity presents itself. If it doesn’t, then let it go. You can do much in your playing for contact jams if you can cultivate not ever needing to make sound.
- Be extraordinarily attentive if improvising with other musicians. When playing with other musicians at a jam, the tendency is to focus on the other musicians to the exclusion of the dancing — it’s SO much more comfortable. But you need to pay even more attention to the dancing when playing with other musicians. When in doubt, lay out.
- Be very, very careful of long, sustained tones on wind and string instruments. We have a tendency to space out on a held note — to sit on it while we’re figuring out what to do next. A held note should be dynamic and flexible, with the choice always to continue or to stop — and it’s better to err on the side of stopping.
- Be very careful of being too complex on the piano. Just because you can play eight notes at once doesn’t mean you should, and in fact, lots of notes are harder to relate to for a dancer. Try playing without the pedal. Try playing with just one hand. Try playing just single notes with one hand. Try playing just single notes with your left hand. Try playing just single notes with your left hand, but only above high C. The idea here is to get you to (1) simplify, (2) take you out of familiar patterns, and therefore (3) think about each note and make each note count.
- Avoid using loops. It can be tempting to use loops in order to create more sound and complicated textures, to fill the room. But loops are automatic and often inflexible, and commit you ahead of time to a certain musical texture. One note is all you need to influence dancers and fill the room.
- Bonus points for avoiding endings. After I’ve played for a while on a particular idea, I might bring that to a close, and want to sit out for a while. However, I find it’s a little nicer to come to an ambiguous or open-ended ending, instead of a strong conclusion. This not only avoids the scenario where dancers stop dancing and applaud, which can be a bit destructive to the flow of the jam, but by more gracefully transitioning between sounding and silence, you signal that the jam continues independent of the music, minimizing the music’s disruptiveness. Think of telling a child a bedtime story to get them to fall asleep. You want to keep telling the story, lulling the child through repetition, getting softer and softer, then when you notice the child is asleep, let your voice trail off, turn off the light, and tiptoe out of the room…
- Resist the temptation of toys and tchotkes. Are you one of those that brings a suitcase of different noisemakers, turning to one after another as you run out of ideas, looking for inspiration? Trust me when I say, inspiration doesn’t come from more sound-producing objects. It comes from the dancers, or the room, or the wind, or you, but toys are more often restlessness, discomfort with silence or waiting. You can do all you need to do, say all you need to say, with one instrument. It’s similar with extended techniques. I love extended techniques, but as a color or a tool, not any more or any less important or novel than a straight tone. Dare to be simple and naked.
Some Advanced Concepts
These may not make sense until you’ve played for a lot of jams. But here are some advanced concepts to think about once you’ve been playing for a while.
- At times, it will occur to you to stop playing — when what you’re doing feels old, or repetitive, or not working, or your hands/fingers/arms/lips are getting tired — but you will find it very hard to do so. You will feel like you’re running downhill and can’t stop, like there’s too much momentum to stop, even though you want to. Or you will feel like you’re holding up the jam, like if you stop playing everything will fall apart, like you’ve actually got the jam on your shoulders. This is a sure sign to stop playing. Just stop — don’t worry about stopping too abruptly. You’re forcing something, and it’s unsustainable. The quicker you stop playing, the quicker the jam can find its own rhythm/flow again. Take a nice long break — at least two minutes, if not ten — and see how the jam changes right after you stop playing.
- Try to play for the whole room. This can feel downright impossible at times — at which point, you might want to lay out for a bit. No need to let this paralyze you, but imagine that you can and are relating to everyone simultaneously, and playing music that relates to everyone. You can’t — but try anyway.
- At times, you will feel an incredible sense of power. You will realize that your music is having an effect on people, that you can literally move people (or make them jump around like puppets). Be very, very careful of these situations. Keep relating to the entire room, keep a larger perspective, and don’t get too carried away by what is happening. You don’t want puppets, you want partners. Resist the temptation to play around and experiment with what people will do; keep focused on relating, listening, and responding.
- Climaxes are interesting. At times you’ll start to feel the room building, or you’ll start to feel people respond to your energy, and it may occur to you to start to build up to a climax. There’s a real subtlety to feeling how much energy the room has, and coaxing the dance floor to a peak versus driving them to a peak. You can drive a room to a peak, but it somehow feels more shallow and less full than if you go there together, bit by bit. (It also takes a lot more energy.) Suggest, draw back, wait; suggest, draw back, wait. See if the room wants to keep going, or whether it would rather just settle down. Yes, it’s quite a bit like love-making.
- It’s nice when you can draw the whole room together, where everyone is on the same page and feeling the same thing. It’s also really, really hard. One activity can be to try to find the musical linkages between everyone in the room — what can you play that everyone can relate to? Can you play something that both the frenetic, high-flying duo as well as the slow-moving, rolling-on-the-floor duo can relate to, that doesn’t conflict with either? Then you can bring everyone together in that texture. (One way you might do this when there is both very fast and very slow energy in the room is to play dense music that moves slowly melodically or harmonically — for example, a slow, sustained melody that’s played on a soft tremelo, or an ostinato figure that gradually changes.) But it’s not going to work sometimes, or it will change people’s dances too much to do this. So then let it go, and maybe just lay out for a while, until the room naturally finds a group sense.
- Music and dance, as complementary as they are, exist on separate planes from each other. Dancers will never influence you as directly as sound, and you will never influence dancers as much as you would another musician. It takes some time to see and understand how you’re influencing a room full of dancers when they aren’t jumping around like puppets. It can be very disorienting, actually; you may sometimes not know if you’re having an effect at all. Keep your eyes open for the whole room, and see if you can notice how your sound is affecting people in aggregate. You play one note, and maybe you don’t see anything in most of the couples, but one solo dancer over here adjusts her motion slightly, and one couple over there slows down, and a few people breathe out, sighing. That’s all you can see, sometimes, but it’s actually a very strong reaction. Cultivate your sensitivity to how the room responds to you.
- Everyone likes a little bit of repetition. Too much repetition can lock a room down, and confine the dancing, but if you can repeat ideas from time to time, or establish a texture that is consistent but ambiguous, it can be a nice pool for the dance to swim in. I do this sort of half-Brahms, half-Stravinsky thing where I repeat ideas, but in an ambiguous pulse and slightly varied and developed each time, so that the music is consistent, but not too predictable, and has some sense of forward motion. This is very, very tricky, but a little repetition here and there is very nice.
- I was reminded by a comment by Daniel C. that a sense of theme or a long line in the music can be nice. One basic way to do this is through repetition. But beyond repetition, if you can improvise coherent large-scale musical statements or pieces, all the while adapting to what is happening in the room at the moment and keeping your ideas flexible to what the room needs… well, that can be even nicer.
- A commenter on Martin Keogh’s blog eloquently reminds me that music can have an effect on the safety of the jam. I can’t precisely articulate how this works, but I’ve felt this when I’ve played. I can see whether my playing is causing people to slip into other worlds, or causes them to be more in tune with themselves and each other. I can tell when energetic music causes people to be frenzied and out of control, and when the dancing is still relatively safe. I might ease off on the gas (musically speaking) when it gets too crazy, then goose it when the road seems safe and smooth again and when people seem focused and ready again to go.
- You can make better dancers, too. You can quiet the nerves of beginners. You can help get more experienced dancers out of patterns. You can encourage unlikely pairings. You can inspire new movement. You can demand greater responsiveness and attentiveness to music (mostly by stopping and forcing people to listen instead of anticipating). You can also can carried away with delusions of grandeur.
Some Last Commentary
Just some more thoughts on music for jams, generally.
- The first guidelines above are, I’m afraid, pretty much what everyone says about how musicians should play music for contact jams. (For instance, see a Martin Keogh blog post on this and the accompanying comments, as well as a Facebook discussion on his Wall.) I say “I’m afraid” because despite the universality of these statements, the actual music produced varies widely. I encountered this vividly when preparing to be a musician at the Freiburg festival, one of four. Before meeting in Freiburg, the four of us corresponded about our philosophies on music, and we mostly seemed to agree. But when we actually played with each other, the output was totally different. For instance, my sense of “silence” and “space,” was drastically different from two of the other musicians. Meanwhile, the musician whose philosophy as expressed in words seemed most diametrically opposed to mine ended up being the one I felt most in tune with. My point is, words are very bad at capturing this, particularly at a high level of abstraction. The devil is in the details.
- Who should play for jams? Many people think it makes a difference to be a dancer, and while I think that’s probably correct, I think it’s much more important to be a composer (or at least, someone who thinks compositionally), improviser, and skilled instrumentalist, in that order. It’s really important to be able to improvise, but many improvisers in music are locked into patterns and methods, instead of being skilled at actually expressing something new and novel. Composers tend to be a little more flexible, if they have the ability and interest in relating to things happening in the moment. And it makes a big difference to be able to play your instrument. A musician who is not at the point where he or she can comfortably make sound without having to think about it does not have the mental resources available to also interact with the dance and improvise. Unskilled musicians who seem to be able to do this usually are not actually anticipating what notes are coming out of their instruments; while they may be paying attention to the dance, they have little or no control over the sounds they make. Which means that those sounds usually aren’t particularly communicative with the dance.
- Playing music for jams is really, really difficult. It’s reasonably easy to do in a way that’s not upsetting to people, since contact dancers are forgiving folk, but hard to do really well. Playing an instrument is hard enough. Combine that with improvising, watching a room full of people, and taking those movements in, then relating to those movements through sound — on the scale of multi-tasking, I think it’s way up there.
- Again, writing about this is really limiting and ridiculous. But I’d be happy to talk to you, show you, or teach you some of these ideas and techniques. I haven’t worked out how yet, but I’d love to teach more people how to do this kind of thing and to share my ideas. This is best done using actual sound rather than just words. Just drop a Comment below and I’ll get in touch. Let me know in the box if you’d like me keep your Comment private and not to post it.