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The editors of Scientific American recently encouraged U.S. hog farmers to “follow Denmark and stop giving farm animals low-dose antibiotics.” Sixteen years ago, in order to reduce the threat of increased development of antibiotic resistant bacteria in their food system and the environment, Denmark phased in an antibiotic growth promotant ban in food animal production. Guess what? According to Denmark’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries the ban is working and the industry has continued to thrive. The government agency found that Danish livestock and poultry farmers used 37% less antibiotics in 2009 than in 1994, leading to overall reductions of antimicrobial resistance countrywide.
- Courtesy: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, July, 2010
Except for a few early hiccups regarding the methods used in weaning piglets, production levels of livestock and poultry have either stayed the same or increased. So how did Danish producers make this transition, and why isn’t the U.S. jumping to follow suit? Like many things in industrial agriculture, the answer is not clear.
If any country knows how to intensively produce food animals, particularly pigs, it is Denmark. In 2008, farmers produced about 27 million hogs. In fact, the Scandinavian country claims to be the world’s largest exporter of pork. Thus Scientific American editors argue that the Danish pork production system should serve as a suitable model to compare to ours. U.S. agriculture economists from Iowa State University agree. In a 2003 report, Drs. Helen Jensen and Dermot Hayes stated that Denmark’s pork industry is “…at least as sophisticated as that of the United States… and is therefore a suitable market for evaluating a ban on antibiotic growth promotants (AGPs).” Read More >
One in six Americans contracts a foodborne illness each year (CDC). Such illness can mean an unpleasant day of vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and/or worse— hospitalization or death in rare cases. “There’s something that can be said about the problem of foodborne illness, that can’t be said of many other public health problems of the day” said Elisabeth Hagan, Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA, who opened a January 25th foodborne hazards conference convened at the Pew Charitable Trusts offices in Washington DC, “and that is: Foodborne illness is preventable.”
The day-long conference “Managing the Risk of Foodborne Hazards: STECs and Antibiotic-Resistant Pathogens” was organized jointly by Pew and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Hagan and other conference speakers focused their attention on antibiotic-resistant pathogens and shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli). A key message that I heard from several speakers was that we know enough today to develop policies that can enable action in addressing the most pressing foodborne hazards.
Central to the development of smarter food policies is incorporating our understanding the ecology of foodborne microbes. For example, understanding the ecology of toxin-producing E. coli strains can improve our ability to detect the right types of E. coli in tainted foods. In another example, nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in food animal production creates a persistent collection of antibiotic-resistant bacterial genes or a ‘resistome’ on farms that is difficult to dismantle. Antibiotic-resistance genes transferred to pathogenic bacteria creates a health hazards for animal workers, slaughterhouse workers, farm neighbors, and to consumers who handle or prepare raw meat in their kitchens.
The Pew/CSPI conference focused on antibiotics in food animals because in 2009 nearly 80% by weight of all antimicrobials were sold for use in food animal, and the remaining 20% by weight were used in human medicine, as reported last year by Ralph Loglici on the Livable Future Blog.
Resistance is an inevitable result of using antibiotics on food animals or humans. In the words of Quijing Zhang of Iowa State University, “[it is] always going to happen.” Once gut bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, they can trade the blueprints for resistance to other beneficial bacteria or with pathogenic bacteria in a giant microbial swap meet called ‘the resistome.’
The microbial world’s resistome and our own human-centered biome collide more often than we think—just talk to a health care provider about hospital-acquired antibiotic resistant infections or read the latest 2008 report on the quality of retail meats from the U.S. National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System.
When humans take antibiotics or animals are given antibiotics, these are individual decisions—and as Dr. Stuart Levy of Tufts University pointed out, “[these individual decisions have] societal effects when antibiotics are mismanaged, such that every dose of antibiotics has a consequence.” Levy underscores the severity of current practices, saying, “the fact that we are still practicing [the use of antibiotics in animal production] is an embarrassment and a mistake.”
Read More >
Antibiotics, one of the world’s greatest medical discoveries, are slowly losing their effectiveness in fighting bacterial infections and the massive use of the drugs in food animals may be the biggest culprit. The growing threat of antibiotic resistance is largely due to the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in both people and animals, which leads to an increase in “super-bacteria”. However, people use a much smaller portion of antibiotics sold in this country compared to the amount set aside for food animals. In fact, according to new data just released by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), of the antibiotics sold in 2009 for both people and food animals almost 80% were reserved for livestock and poultry. A huge portion of those antibiotics were never intended to fight bacterial infections, rather producers most likely administered them in continuous low-dosages through feed or water to increase the speed at which their animals grew. And that has many public health experts and scientists troubled.
For years scientists concerned about the threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria in food animal production have been trying to figure out just how much antibiotics producers are using each year. The best they could do was come up with rough estimates. That is because the data was never publicly available, until now. Read More >
Leadership at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made it abundantly clear last week that the low-dose usage of antibiotics in food animals, simply to promote growth or improve feed efficiency, needlessly contributes to the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and poses a serious threat to public health. Despite the fact that the FDA is taking a hard-line stance on the issue, I find it frustrating to see that the agency appears to be hamstrung from taking the necessary steps to mandate industry end the risky practice. Even more exasperating is that it appears that the FDA may actually relax a current directive that already regulates antibiotic use. However, unlike many critics, I don’t believe that this is an example of the Obama administration buckling under industry pressure. Rather, I view it as a loud and stern call for Congress to take action. Producers concerned more about profit than protecting public health are not going to cut their dependence on non-therapeutic antibiotic use in food animals unless lawmakers pass strict legislation.
Read More >
Watch CBS News Videos OnlineIn the first installment of a two-part series, CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric investigates the connection between the use of antibiotics in factory farms and the incidence of MRSA in humans. Couric talks to a worker at an Arkansas poultry processing facility who developed MRSA; discusses the use overuse of antibiotics on the farm with Shelley Hearne, managing director of the Pew Health Group at The Pew Charitable Trusts; and tells viewers about a University of Iowa study, which found a new strain of MRSA — in nearly three-quarters of hogs (70%), and nearly two-thirds of the workers (64%) — on several farms in Iowa and Western Illinois. All of them use antibiotics, routinely. On antibiotic-free farms no MRSA was found. Couric also talks with Iowa hog farmer Dave Kronlage who admits he uses antibiotics to accelerate growth and fend off disease. The CBS web site contains the expected statements from the National Pork Producers Council, the National Pork Board, and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Tomorrow night CBS Evening News will feature part two of the series, which focuses on Denmark’s ban on antibiotic use.
by Amy Peterson, DVM, and Meghan Davis, DVM, MPH
In a Sept. 29th prepared floor statement, Senator Chuck Grassley spoke in response to an August 21st Time magazine article by Bryan Walsh. An important point raised by Mr. Walsh concerned the non-therapeutic use of antimicrobials in food animals and the impact of use of antimicrobials on the emergence of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. The PEW commission report on industrial food animal production (IFAP) cites several studies supporting a connection between the use of antimicrobials and development of drug resistance in both pathogenic (disease-causing) and non-pathogenic bacteria on and around industrial animal farms. A major component of Senator Grassley argument is captured in his quote of a response to the PEW report released by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) on August 17th. The response states that “[a] scientific human/animal nexus, connecting antimicrobial treatments in animals with foodborne or environmentally-contracted human disease, has not been proven.” Read More >
The American Veterinary Medical Association’s recent “response” to the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production’s final report on the state of industrial animal agriculture is disconcerting. It appears that leadership of the veterinary professional organization is attempting to misuse science to obfuscate and delay critically needed changes in the food animal production system rather than tackling very real public health and environmental threats head on.
PCIFAP public meeting in North Carolina, 4/10/07
For years a groundswell had been building from a widespread group of experts and advocates in the areas of public health, environment, social justice, and animal welfare sounding the alarms about the serious problems industrial food animal production poses. But until the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP) decided to take on the politically controversial issue, there had never been a comprehensive examination of industry’s practices by such a respected and diverse panel of experts. Following a grueling 2½ -year discovery process, and despite several overt attempts by industry to discredit it, the Commission concluded that the scientific evidence was too strong and the public health risk too great to ignore and offered a series of consensus recommendations on how to repair our unsafe food animal production system.
The tone and timing of the AVMA’s 38-page response to the PCIFAP final report, 15 months after it was released, is quite telling. The document’s executive summary starts out by suggesting that the PCIFAP’s technical reports (published separately) were “biased,” and that, “the Pew report contains significant flaws and major deviations from both science and reality.” Another telling facet is that the “response” contains very little scientific citation to backup its rebuttal. It’s not a coincidence that this response coincides with the recent revelation that the Obama Administration supports the idea of banning the use of key antibiotics as growth promoters in food animals, which happens to be one of the PCIFAP’s key recommendations. Not to mention, this year’s version of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) appears to have a much better chance of passing than in any prior year.
Read More >
I’m heartened to learn that the “meatless Monday” concept has taken hold globally. It is welcome news that former Beatles mega-star Paul McCartney and his daughters launched a new Meat Free Monday campaign in the United Kingdom, just weeks after Belgium’s city of Ghent enacted its own “Veggie Day.” I praise Sir Paul and the city of Ghent for publicly recognizing the health and environmental benefits of reducing the demand for meat worldwide.
For the past seven years, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Center for a Livable Future have embraced the nationwide “Meatless Monday” program. The campaign’s goal is to reduce the negative health and environmental impacts of industrially produced meat. The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, a project of the Bloomberg School of Public Health and Pew Charitable Trusts, found that the current industrial system of producing food animals too often poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves and that significant changes must be implemented now. Reducing the amount of meat we eat is a good first step. Read More >
An interesting article by Associate Editor Dale Keiger in the latest issue of Johns Hopkins Magazine explores the links between industrial farming and antibiotic-resistant pathogens. It covers researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who are investigating the use of antibiotics in factory farming, which cultivates more than poultry and livestock. Support for the continuing research comes from the School’s Center for a Livable Future.
The lengthy and well-researched article provides a comprehensive look into the complex issue of antibiotic resistance and other dangers posed by Concentrated Animal Feeding Opeations (CAFOs). In the article, Kellogg Schwab, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Water and Health, says of a typical pig farm manure lagoon he sampled: “There were 10 million E. coli per liter [of sampled waste]. Ten million. And you have a hundred million liters in some of those pits. So you can have trillions of bacteria present, of which 89 percent are resistant to drugs. That’s a massive amount that in a rain event can contaminate the environment.” He adds, “This development of drug resistance scares the hell out of me. If we continue on and we lose the ability to fight these microorganisms, a robust, healthy individual has a chance of dying, where before we would be able to prevent that death.” Schwab says that if he tried, he could not build a better incubator of resistant pathogens than a factory farm. He, Ellen Silbergeld, professor of environment health, and others assert that the level of danger has yet to be widely acknowledged. Says Schwab, “It’s not appreciated until it’s your mother, or your son, or you trying to fight off an infection that will not go away because the last mechanism to fight it has been usurped by someone putting it into a pig or a chicken.” The complete cover story “Farmacology” is available here. Additional information on the use of antibiotics in animals can be found in the report, “Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America,” a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“We put faith in our government to protect us, and we’re not being protected at the most basic level,” strong words from a mother whose two-and-a-half-year-old son died just days after eating a hamburger tainted with E. coli O157:H7. Barbara Kowalcyk’s personal fight to ensure that the food we feed our children will not endanger their health or their lives, was just one of the many powerful stories told in the soon to be released documentary Food Inc. The hard-hitting film takes a critical look at the industrial food production system and the many risks it poses on society from public health threats and environmental degradation to social injustice.
Read More >

domain: biology


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The Government’s decision to make a tiny two per cent increase to minimum wage is simply not enough to help low wage families across the country. Families are set to struggle to cope with increasing costs of living, says Labour spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety Camilla Belich.
“This pathetic increase is beyond disappointing. As the price of goods and services continue to climb, the Coalition Government has chosen to turn a blind eye to our most vulnerable income-earners by not increasing minimum wage to a level in line with inflation,” Camilla Belich said.
“We understand official advice recommend an increase of four per cent, yet the Government has cruelly opted to go against this – resulting in a real wage cut for minimum income earners.
“In likely another effort to save face and give tax cuts to the wealthy, Brooke Van Velden is playing politics with the minimum wage and those paying for it will be our lowest paid families. Rises to the minimum wage so that it’s at least in line with inflation is essential. This drop in the bucket increase will only make it harder on New Zealanders who are struggling to put food on the table.
“A Labour Government has long stood by increasing the minimum wage annually at a rate that is sustainable and considers rising costs and inflation.
“This is another backwards step for New Zealand under this Coalition Government,” Camilla Belich said.
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domain: news


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How do you charge a Black and Decker 18V?
Just simply insert the charger plug on your Black and Decker 18v battery, then plug the charger into an electrical outlet. Once fully charged, unplug the charger and remove the battery from the charger. The majority of chargers have a display or indicator that will let you know when the battery is fully charged.
Are all Black and Decker 18V batteries interchangeable?
All batteries and chargers are interchangeable with all the tools in the range, many of which can be bought as body only (without battery) machines – meaning you can save needless expenditure on additional batteries and chargers if you purchase additional tools for your tool kit.
Can you replace Black and Decker 18 volt battery with lithium battery?
Compare your existing 18V battery to the lithium ion batteries available from Black & Decker. The company makes several lithium ion batteries that fit the different power tools that come with that type of battery. Purchase a lithium ion battery that works with your power tool.
Can I use a 20V battery in a 18V drill?
This adapter will allow people with 18V stem top tools to use the newer 20V MAX batteries. The 20V batteries will not charge on the 18V chargers however using this adapter, so the user will also need a 20V MAX charger.
Can I charge 18v battery with 12V charger?
Theoretically, you can charge your car battery with a 12V power supply. For a car battery to be good enough for use, it will need to read at least 13.8V. So if you are charging it with a 12V power supply, you can only get as much as 12V in the battery. It won’t charge it higher than 12V.
How do I know if my Black and Decker battery is charging?
Locate the charging battery light on the battery charger. When charging, the light will be red. Once the charging cycle is complete, the battery will not go out or change color. It will continue to stay red.
Can you use a 20V battery on an 18V tool?
Are 18V batteries interchangeable?
The answer to ‘are lithium-ion batteries interchangeable’ is no. Whether the batteries are alkaline or lithium-ion, you just can’t use one in place of the other. The size and shape (along with the voltage) just won’t match up with another manufacturer’s product.
Can you use a 20V battery on an 18V tool Black and Decker?
Answer: Yes, all of our 20V BLACK+DECKER batteries and chargers are interchangeable within our 20V BLACK+DECKER product line. Question: Can this battery replace my 18V B&D nicad batteries?
Can I use a Dewalt battery in a Black and Decker?
Black and Decker tools and Dewalt tools use lithium ion batteries of varying voltages. As long as your voltage matches, you should be able to use a Black and Decker tool with a Dewalt battery. Any battery that matches in voltage should work with tools because both Dewalt and Black and Decker use lithium-ion batteries.
How to fix black and Decker battery?
How to make a 18v battery charger?
Make sure this fits by entering your model number.
Are black and Decker batteries interchangeable?
Yes, all of our 20V BLACK+DECKER batteries and chargers are interchangeable within our 20V BLACK+DECKER product line. Can I use a DeWalt battery in a Black and Decker? Black and Decker tools and Dewalt tools use lithium ion batteries of varying voltages.

domain: chemistry


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A group representing thousands of lawmakers from around the U.S. is calling on the federal government to end marijuana prohibition so that states can enact their own cannabis policies without intervention.
“The federal government should respect state decisions to regulate cannabis, including hemp in non-FDA approved cannabis products,” reads one of two new policy directives adopted on Wednesday by the National Conference of State Legislatures. “NCSL believes that federal laws, including the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), should be amended to explicitly allow states to set their own cannabis policies without federal interference and urges the administration not to undermine state cannabis policies.”
“NCSL maintains that the administration should prioritize its enforcement actions against criminal enterprises engaged in cannabis production and sale, and not against citizens who are compliant with state cannabis laws. Furthermore, NCSL urges Congress to prohibit the administration from using federal funds to enforce the CSA in a manner inconsistent with these enforcement priorities.”
The other directive, which focuses on banking access for marijuana businesses, says that federal prohibition forces growers, processors and retailers to operate on a cash-only basis, which “attracts criminal activity and creates substantial public safety risks.”
“NCSL acknowledges that a cash-only industry reduces transparency in accounting and makes it difficult for states to implement an effective regulatory regime that ensures compliance.”
Letting state-legal cannabis businesses use banks will provide access to “capital, security, efficiency, and record keeping,” the state lawmakers say.
Calling existing Treasury Department guidance enacted during the Obama administration “insufficient,” the group says that “current federal regulations force financial institutions to incur inordinate risk, should they decide to provide banking services to licensed cannabis businesses.”
Very pleased that Oregon-led directive to push Congress to remove #cannabis from DEA schedule just passed @NCSL unanimously. With cannabis legal in >30 states & territories, this action must happen soon so legitimate businesses have access to financial services.
— Sen. Steiner Hayward (@ESHforOregon) August 1, 2018
“Thirty states, the District of Columbia and Guam already allow some form of legal cannabis use,” Oregon Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, (D), said in a press release. “We are trying to create an above-board, legitimate industry, where for many years only an unregulated market prevailed. It’s past time for Congress to finally help us do that by removing cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act. Operating as a cash-only business invites crime and hinders our work to improve public safety. When businesses in this industry begin using banking services, it will lead to better regulation and improve access to capital. Congress needs to step up and help us make sure this legal industry is properly regulated and contributing to our states’ economies.”
A Republican colleague agreed with Burdick.
“The cannabis industry is making big contributions to Oregon’s economy, and giving these business owners access to secure banking is critical to their ongoing success,” Senate Republican Leader Jackie Winters said. “Voters across the nation have shown support for the legal cannabis industry, it is time for the federal government to take the necessary steps and deschedule cannabis in order to promote safety, security, and remove barriers to much needed research.”
The state legislators’ policy positions are similar to those recently adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties, both of which are pushing the federal government to respect state and local marijuana laws.
40 states, including VA, just voted in favor of state-level cannabis regulation. Not legally binding, obviously, but a strong message to Congress to get out of the way. #NCSLsummit
— Lee J. Carter (@carterforva) August 1, 2018
“NCSL’s directives reflect the growing support for reform at the federal level,” said Karen O’Keefe, the state policies director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “State lawmakers, like most of their constituents, are increasingly frustrated with Congress’s failure to resolve the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws. Whereas lawmakers previously expressed their collective opinion on the subject, they are now taking it a step further and demonstrating a commitment to advocating for reform.”
NCSL itself has adopted a number of marijuana reform positions at past conferences, most recently calling for cannabis descheduling last year.
Also at this year’s conference in Los Angeles, lawmakers heard two separate panels on cannabis issues, one focused on banking access and another looking more broadly at the federal-state divide on marijuana.
Sen. @hertzieLA (D-CA) & experts from @NCIAorg, @ABABankers, @Weedmaps & @EastCarolina discuss novel ways to provide financial services to the #marijuana business. #NCSLsummit pic.twitter.com/fKKwJdEVjT
— NCSL (@NCSLorg) July 30, 2018
— Mary Ann Dunwell (@MTMaryAnn) July 31, 2018
Among the exhibitors at the event were the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project, the anti-legalization Smart Approaches to Marijuana and the narcs at the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Marijuana Moment Patreon supporters can read the full text of NCSL’s new cannabis policy directives below:
Photo courtesy of Max Pixel.
Trump Says Marijuana Makes People “Lose IQ Points” In Secret Recording
President Trump could be heard saying that using marijuana makes people “lose IQ points” in a secretly recorded conversation released on Saturday.
“In Colorado they have more accidents,” the president said in the clip captured by Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani, who is at the center of the Ukraine scandal that led to the president’s impeachment. “It does cause an IQ problem.”
(Marijuana Moment’s editor provides some content to Forbes via a temporary exclusive publishing license arrangement.)
Photo courtesy of YouTube/White House.
Austin Police Chief Says Marijuana Arrests Will Continue Despite City Council Vote
Chief Brian Manley said he would continue to enforce marijuana laws the day after the city council unanimously approved stopping arrests and tickets for low-level cases.
The day after the Austin City Council approved a resolution to stop arresting or ticketing people for most low-level marijuana possession offenses, the police chief made clear he had no plans to do so.
“[Marijuana] is still illegal, and we will still enforce marijuana law if we come across people smoking in the community,” Chief Brian Manley said during a news conference Friday afternoon.
Though cracking down on those in possession of small amounts of marijuana has never been a priority for the department, he said, police will continue to either issue tickets under the city’s “cite-and-release” policy or arrest people if officers “come across it.”
The difference, according to City Council member and resolution sponsor Greg Casar, is that the council’s move now guarantees those actions will come with no penalty. Tickets will be meaningless pieces of paper and any arrests will result in a quick release with no charges accepted from prosecutors, he told The Texas Tribune after the news conference.
“What has changed since yesterday is that enforcement, almost in virtually all cases, is now handing someone a piece of paper with no penalty or no court date,” Casar said.
The move by the City Council came as a direct result from Texas’ new hemp law which complicated marijuana prosecution across the state. Last summer, when lawmakers legalized hemp, they also changed the definition of marijuana from cannabis to cannabis that contains more than 0.3% THC, the psychoactive ingredient in the plant.
Many prosecutors, including those in Austin’s Travis County, now won’t accept pot cases based on look and smell alone, requiring lab testing to determine THC levels before accepting a case. Such testing is not yet available in public crime labs, though some counties and cities have spent money to obtain test results from private labs.
The council’s resolution prohibited using city funds or personnel to conduct such testing in non-felony marijuana cases. It also directed the elimination, to the furthest extent possible, of arrests or citations for cannabis possession. As Manley also noted, the resolution clarifies it can’t technically decriminalize marijuana, since that is state law.
The resolution gave the city manager until May 1 to report back to the council on how police were trained in this new resolution, and Casar said he hopes Manley reviews his policies before then.
Manley said in the news conference that he would continue to review the resolution, as well as police policies.
But, he assured, “a City Council does not have the authority to tell a police department not to enforce a state law.”
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Andrew Yang Wants To Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms For Military Veterans
Andrew Yang says he wants to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for military veterans to help them combat mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
During a town hall event at an Iowa college on Thursday, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate was asked whether he would take initiative and allow veterans to access medical marijuana if elected. Yang replied he “will be so excited to be that commander-in-chief” that he would not only end federal cannabis prohibition but would go one step further by legalizing the psychedelic fungus for veterans as well.
“We need to get marijuana off of the Controlled Substances Act and legalize it at the federal level, make it freely available,” he said. “I say this because I’ve talked to hundreds of veterans and other Americans who benefit from marijuana as a pain relief treatment, and it’s much less deadly than the opiates that many, many people are using for the same conditions.”
“I’ve talked to veterans who’ve also benefited from psilocybin mushrooms,” he added. “They said it was the only thing that actually has helped combat their PTSD. I’m for legalizing psilocybin mushrooms for veterans as well. Pretty much if it’s going to help a veteran, we should make it easier, not harder, for them to get access to it.”
Yang’s drug policy reform platform is unique in that respect. While the majority of Democratic candidates support marijuana legalization, he’s pushed unique proposals such as decriminalizing possession of opioids and making psilocybin mushrooms “more freely available” for therapeutic purposes. The candidate also wants to invest federal funds in safe injection facilities where individuals can use prohibited drugs in a medically supervised environment and receive help getting into treatment.
He hasn’t gone so far as embracing the decriminalization of all drugs, as former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg has, however.
That said, Yang did signal that he’s open to legalizing and regulating “certain drugs” beyond cannabis, which he argued would disrupt international drug cartels. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) recently said she backs “legalizing and regulating” currently illegal controlled substances to protect public safety and combat the illicit market.
At the Iowa town hall, Yang went on to say that he’s particularly interested in legalizing marijuana, and he again pledged to “pardon everyone who’s in jail for a non-violent marijuana-related offense because they shouldn’t be in jail for something that’s frankly legal in other parts of the country.”
“And I would pardon them all on April 20, 2021, high-five them on the way out of jail and be like, ‘things got a lot better in the last year,'” he said, referencing the unofficial cannabis holiday 4/20.
Photo element courtesy of Gage Skidmore.

domain: law


LaPlace’s Brett Bergeron shot one-over-par 72 on Thursday and fell into a tie for eighth place after 54 holes in the PGA Tour’s second qualifying stage of Q school at Plantation Preserve Golf Club in Plantation, Fla.
Bergeron is still ahead of the pace to move on the final stage of qualifying school in LaQuinta, Calif., Nov. 28-Dec. 3. The top 19 players, plus ties, from this stage move on to the final round.
Bergeron, who shot 66 and 66 in his first two rounds, is at 9-under (204) for the 72-hole tournament, which concludes Friday. Rob Oppenheim continues to lead the Plantation stage at 17-under 196.
Former LSU golfer John Peterson is tied for 34th at his second stage tournament, at Hombre Golf Club in Panama City Beach, Fla., after 36 holes. Peterson shot 1-over 72 on Thursday and is 1-under (141) for the tournament. Like the Plantation qualifier, 19 golfers, plus ties, move on to the final stage. The Panama City Beach qualifier concludes Saturday.


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|1.||Armsby, C C: 1 article (06/2014)|
|2.||Even, K M: 1 article (06/2014)|
|3.||Bateman, S T: 1 article (06/2014)|
|4.||Le Foll, Bernard: 1 article (01/2014)|
|5.||Ali, Robert: 1 article (01/2014)|
|6.||Gowing, Linda: 1 article (01/2014)|
|7.||Marshall, Kushani: 1 article (01/2014)|
|8.||Liang, Wei: 1 article (11/2013)|
|9.||Yang, Shichang: 1 article (11/2013)|
|10.||Zhang, Yingli: 1 article (11/2013)|
02/01/2003 - "Newer medications such as atypical antidepressants and anticonvulsants may be overtaking older antidepressants, but they should not be overlooked as important options for the management of pain."
01/01/2013 - "These new drugs that are effective for chronic pain belong to the tetracyclic antidepressants (TeCAs) group (amoxapine, maprotiline), the serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) group (duloxetine, venlafaxine, milnacipran) and the atypical antidepressants group (bupropion, trazodone, mirtazapine, nefazodone). "
|2.||Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD)
01/01/2003 - "This review examines some of the basic neurobiological abnormalities observed in PTSD and summarizes open and controlled drug trials for major classes of medications, including SSRIs, other antidepressants, atypical neuroleptics, noradrenergic modulators and anticonvulsants, while critically evaluating the extent of effectiveness of these agents and reviewing unmet gaps in therapeutic need."
|3.||Marijuana Abuse (Cannabis Abuse)
01/01/2014 - "The quantitative analyses that were possible, combined with general findings of the studies reviewed, indicate that SSRI antidepressants, mixed action antidepressants, atypical antidepressants (bupropion), anxiolytics (buspirone) and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (atomoxetine) are probably of little value in the treatment of cannabis dependence. "
|4.||Bipolar Disorder (Mania)
11/01/2009 - "Other therapies used for bipolar disorder, including several mood stabilizers, antidepressants, atypical antipsychotics and benzodiazepines, have been shown to reduce anxiety symptoms, but specific data for their effects in patients with anxiety symptoms co-morbid with bipolar disorder are not available. "
11/05/2013 - "The keywords "bipolar disorder, bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder, bipolar mania, bipolar depression, cyclothymia, mixed mania and depression, rapid cycling and bipolar disorder", AND "antidepressant agent, antidepressive agents second- generation, antidepressive agents tricyclic, monoamine oxidase inhibitor, noradrenaline uptake inhibitor, serotonin uptake inhibitor, and tricyclic antidepressant agent" were used. "
|5.||Overactive Urinary Bladder (Overactive Bladder)
08/01/2010 - "Medications assessed as independent variables were conventional antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics, selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, atypical antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, lithium, anticonvulsants, benzodiazepines, nonbenzodiazepine sleep aids, Alzheimer's disease medications, antihistamines, antiarrhythmics, antihypertensives, benign prostatic hyperplasia medications, oral hypoglycemic agents, histamine H(2)-receptor blockers, laxatives and stool softeners, muscle relaxants, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, opioids, Parkinson's disease medications, and overactive bladder medications. "
|2.||Antidepressive Agents (Antidepressants)
|4.||Serotonin (5 Hydroxytryptamine)

domain: health


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Human Rights Defender Kristinne Grigoryan tenders resignation to take on new role
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender Kristinne Grigoryan tendered her resignation on January 23, her office said in a statement. Grigoryan’s office said she is resigning to take on a new position. “Ms. Grigoryan will inform the public about her new job at the appropriate moment, and until then she will refrain from any comments on this topic,” the Human Rights Defender’s Office said.
Below is the full statement issued by Grigoryan’s office:
“On January 23 the Human Rights Defender Ms. Kristinne Grigoryan in line with the legislation submitted her resignation to the National Assembly in connection with switching her job.
According to the legislation, in case of resignation, the powers of the Defender shall terminate if no later than a week after submitting the resignation letter the Defender submits a second resignation letter.
Ms. Grigoryan will inform the public about her new job at the appropriate moment, and until then she will refrain from any comments on this topic.
Kristinne Grigoryan strove to carry out the mission of the Human Rights Defender impartially, and with great responsibility and dedication, being faithful to the oath taken at the National Assembly.
Firstly, the Defender would like to express her gratitude to women and men working in the institution, for their genuine acknowledgement of the institution's mission, great personal dedication and high-quality professional support offered to her during her tenure. In her turn, the Defender invested her maximum effort to ensure further institutional development and increasing institution’s resilience in transitional and crisis situations.
The Defender also expresses her gratitude to the President of the National Assembly, the deputies, factions and committees for their high level of cooperation. As a Parliamentary Ombudsman, the support of the National Assembly and openness to discuss sensitive issues were extremely important for the proper implementation of the mission of the institution.
Next, the Defender expresses her gratitude to the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet, the bodies subordinate to the government and Prime Minister, the local self-governing bodies and community servants, as well as the autonomous constitutional bodies for their effective cooperation.
The Defender also expresses her gratitude to the representatives of civil society, human rights defenders and journalists with whom she had the honor and pleasure to work during this period. Their work in advancing human rights and the extent to which a favorable environment is created for it is a litmus test for the democratic development of our country.
The Defender also thanks the Heads and the staff of the international organizations and diplomatic missions accredited in Armenia for trust and partnership, appreciation and the encouragement demonstrated to the institution's mission during this period.
Importantly, the Defender expresses her gratitude to all those persons who have applied to the Defender's institution with various issues related to the protection of human rights for their trust and their highly valued opinions. Regardless of the nature of those opinions, they have contributed to further improvement of the institution during this period.
Availing herself of this opportunity, the Defender publicly thanks her family and friends for their patience, encouragement and unconditional support.
Note: In case of the premature termination of the powers of the Defender due to resignation, the Defender shall publish and submit to the National Assembly a summary report on the activities carried out during the period between the submission of the regular annual report and the submission of the resignation. The summary report will be presented along with the second resignation letter.”

domain: sociology


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For a map of the council districts, visit the city’s website here.
In another crowded campaign season for Centennial City Council, the November election is sure to add a few newcomers to the nine-member body.
District 1 in the west part of town is the only area with a current councilmember running, and the adjacent District 2 features one unopposed candidate.
Centennial has two councilmembers per district, and the mayor — who is elected citywide — is the ninth member. One seat in each district is up for election this year, and the other seats will be up for election in 2021. Centennial's elections are nonpartisan, meaning candidates don't run with a political party affiliation.
The Centennial Citizen will bring you in-depth Q&As with the candidates on their policy positions, as well as other information on the race, in the coming months. For now, here's some basic information about your candidates.
Ron Phelps is an Air Force veteran of 10 years, according to his campaign website. He has professional experience in the “learning and organizational development” industry, creating learning solutions for Fortune 200 organizations as well as the military and public entities, his site says. Phelps won a city council seat in 2009, but he lost his job and his family's home during the Great Recession and resigned to accept employment in another state. Phelps currently works for Denver Water.
Incumbent Candace Moon was elected in 2015 and has been employed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She is an Air Force veteran, a former law enforcement officer, a law enforcement instructor, former corporate manager and small-business owner, according to her bio on the city website. She has also served on the board of directors for the Arapahoe Highlands Civic Association. Moon is a representative on the Centennial Airport Noise Roundtable Committee.
District 1 is the far west part of Centennial, encompassing most of the portion between South Broadway and South Colorado Boulevard.
Christine Sweetland spent several years in volunteer opportunities in Littleton Public Schools, ranging from helping in the classrooms and library to chairing auctions and other fundraisers, according to her campaign site. She has also served as president of the Cherry Knolls neighborhood association. After her career in the telecommunications industry, Sweetland built a real estate appraisal business in Centennial, where she continues today, her site says.
Sweetland is currently running unopposed.
District 2 includes the part of the city north of East Dry Creek Road and mostly west of South Quebec Street.
Richard Holt has worked in information technology for more than 20 years, according to his campaign site. He has served on his neighborhood board and on the Centennial Council of Neighborhoods, or CenCON, and has organized community events. Holt also serves on Centennial's Open Space Advisory Board. He works as a digital media analyst for National CineMedia, according to his LinkedIn page.
Melanie Adams has committed herself to helping her sons' school and Cherry Creek School District, her Facebook campaign page says. She has involved herself in initiatives such as “spearheading an opposition to an extended stay budget motel” and coordinating neighborhood creek clean-ups for Earth Day, along with putting together an elementary school fundraiser, according to the page.
Rhonda Livingston has served on the rewrite committee for Centennial's land development code, which sets zoning districts and design standards for construction, according to her campaign site. She's a CenCON board member and has served as a Cherry Creek School District Parents' Council member. In addition to a long list of other involvements with the city, she led the 2018 petition effort to oppose more car dealerships on East Arapahoe Road.
District 3 is by far the largest in land area, spanning from parts of southwest Centennial to the city's southeast region, past South Parker Road.
Anna Burr is an attorney and has experience managing, settling and litigating cases for injured victims, according to her firm's website. She's a member of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association and the Colorado, Federal and Denver bar associations. Burr didn't appear to have a campaign webpage as of July 10.
Don Sheehan has experience in technology sales and, in his retirement, has volunteered as a victim advocate for the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, according to his campaign site. He helps with local troop campouts at Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch in Elbert County. Sheehan is also a member of the Transportation Solutions Arapahoe County board, an organization that promotes transportation options for seniors, people with disabilities and low-income individuals.
District 4 encompasses northeast Centennial, mostly in the vicinity of East Smoky Hill Road.
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. Sterling silver and Clogau welsh gold . 12 month warranty . Official Clogau packaging provided
Heartstrings® Bracelet -Sterling Silver and 9ct gold. Inspired by the musical instrument of Wales, adopted in the 17th century, the Heartstrings® bracelet elegantly acknowledges a tradition begun in 1660, where an official harpist was appointed to the Royal court. A tradition continued into the 21st century, the harp is today a symbol of love. One mythical connection dating to Celtic times says that the harp symbolised the bridge of love connecting heaven and earth. Expertly handcrafted, the Heartstrings® bracelet contains rare Welsh gold and provides the perfect piece of jewellery to wear on any occasion.
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To see our Delivery & Returns Policy please click here.

domain: design


FIRST IN PULSE: STARK PREPARES DEMS FOR THE GOP REPEAL EFFORT—Rep. Pete Stark, chairman of the House W&M Health Subcommittee, plans to release a report today detailing the impact of Republican attempts to repeal the health care reform law. The 14-page report is aimed at House Democrats to help prepare them for the Republican majority. “Their leaders, incoming chairmen, and rank and file members have made repeal of health care reform their number one priority,” Stark writes. “To help prepare us for this debate, I’ve prepared this report – ‘Dangerous to America’s Health’ – which outlines the consequences of the Republicans’ repeal strategy.” The document http://bit.ly/gejTLt
SCOOP: CANTWELL LOBBIES FOR HOSPICE GROUPS—The Washington senator is scrambling to get co-signers on a letter to CMS administrator Don Berwick, urging him to roll back a PPACA hospice regulation. The new requirements are slated to come online January 1, but with CMS only issuing regulation on November 17, hospice groups say they don’t have enough time to get into compliance. One key regulation at issue: a requirement that long-term hospice patients have a face-to-face encounter with a physician before Medicare payments are reimbursable. “While we believe that these rules serve an important purpose, we are concerned that neither the physician community nor Medicare beneficiaries will be prepared for this change in time to meet all the requirements by the effective date of January 1, 2011,” Cantwell writes in a letter obtained by PULSE. “This [face-to-face] requirement could be particularly difficult for those beneficiaries who are homebound or beneficiaries and practitioners located in rural areas.” The National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization is also pushing hard for a reprieve from new regulations that hit just two weeks from now. “We support this in the legislation … but we cannot support the implementation with all these unanswered questions,” says Vice President Jon Keyserling. Cantwell Letter http://politi.co/el2NCl
Story Continued Below
Good Thursday Morning. The latter half of PULSE is basking in the Pensacola sunshine while the former tries to stay warm by the light of some office holiday cheer ( http://yfrog.com/h0dg0kj). “Deck the halls with boughs of Pulse.”
DRIVING THE DAY: ORAL ARGUMENTS IN PENSACOLA—The multi-state lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the reform law gets its day in court in Pensacola. The 20 states and NFIB will argue that Congress overstepped its bounds when it wrote the individual mandate and Medicaid expansion – a piece that the other lawsuits haven’t included. They’re asking Judge Roger Vinson to strike down the entire law. The federal government says Congress was well within its bounds. Expect the judge to ask both sides what kind of relief he should provide if he indeed strikes it down. Judge Hudson in Virginia declined to stop the law when he ruled it unconstitutional but Vinson could take another path. Oral arguments are set to begin at 9 a.m. Central Time and last a little over two hours. The POLITICO story http://politi.co/eZf0fv
--SPOTTED: LAWSUIT TRACKER—The best blog PULSE has found to track all of the lawsuits and corresponding documents: The ACA litigation blog http://bit.ly/gCiZ6F
--ONE LAWSUIT MOVES TO APPELLATE STAGE—The Thomas More Law Center filed its appellate brief Wednesday in its challenge to the health care reform law. The brief relies heavily on Virginia Judge Henry Hudson’s ruling, which overturned the legislation. The brief http://politi.co/gIPiVS POLITICO blog post http://politi.co/h2JzpY
GOP IN DOUBLE BIND ON REFORM—Republican lawmakers on the state level are largely against the new health reform law—except when it comes to implementation. “For many conservative states, there’s an anxiety that if they don’t do something it will be implemented for them by the federal government, and they’re not comfortable with that,” says Melissa Boudreault, director of Dell’s State Health Services division. Boudreault has spent months now consulting with states on reform implementation. “When we have conversations with them, they want to make this politically palatable. At the end of the day, it comes down to them saying ‘I think we’d rather control our own destiny.’” So as Republicans here in D.C. railing against reform, state legislators roll up their sleeves and get down to work on implementation. The POLITICO story http://politi.co/f5ls6v
W.H. SUMMONS ALLIES—Groups will participate in a White House meeting tomorrow with CMS administrator Donald Berwick and OMB Special Advisor for Health Policy Zeke Emanuel, according to an invite that floated around town yesterday. The invitation indicates that the meeting is the first in a “series of White House meetings between senior Administration officials and health care providers to exchange ideas on areas in need of attention.”
OREGON TAKES MAJOR STEP TOWARD EXCHANGES—The Oregon Health Policy Board has unanimously approved recommendations on how to establish an exchange for the 2011 legislative session, the group tells PULSE. The group suggests a 9-person governing board that would have strong purchasing authority. The policy board voted unanimously to pass the recommendations on to the legislature. The Power Point presentation http://bit.ly/fYCvKE Other info from the Policy Board http://bit.ly/fZeedm
FREEDOMWORKS OUTLINES AGENDA – The tea party favorite is pushing legislators to continue pursuing a repeal agenda despite some pretty significant obstacles in their way (i.e. a presidential veto). “We…urge you to hold a clean ‘full repeal’ vote in January, followed by a series of ‘effective repeal’ votes (we’d start with the individual mandate) as well as a set of patient-centered ‘replace’ bills,” the group wrote in a memo circulated Wednesday, obtained by PULSE. The legislative agenda they advocate: 1. straight-up repeal vote, 2. 1099 repeal vote, 3. “Keep What You Have” Bill (would permanently grandfather existing plans), 4. “State Sovereignty” Bill (to opt out of the Medicaid expansion). Freedomworks Memo http://politi.co/gtLA71
NAIC EXEC/PLENARY SESSION MEETS—The exchanges model law is expected to come up for a vote today during the group’s call with commissioners. Also due up: model language on banning denials over pre-existing conditions and lifetime and annual limits, as well as allowing preventive services, among others. The meeting documents from NAIC http://bit.ly/dXAcof
HAPPENING TODAY—Secretary Sebelius speaks at the Boston HealthCare Fraud Prevention Summit at the University of Massachusetts … Health Affairs holds a daylong conference on innovations in health care delivery in D.C. Richard Gilfillan, acting director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is slated to give the keynote address.
AHIP STAFF SHUFFLE CONTINUES—AHIP has announced Mark Pratt has joined the group as the SVP of state affairs. He most recently was regional government relations director for Anthem BCBS in Virginia, according to a memo obtained by PULSE. He replaces Jeff Gabardi who said Wednesday that he’s leaving in January, according to the document.
EDELMAN’S KARR TO ADVAMED—We’re not sure whether he loves PULSE or Bruce Springsteen more, but we do have this confirmed: Advamed has snatched up Gary Karr to head public affairs. Currently an executive VP at Edelman, Karr previously served as chief CMS spox.
WHAT WE’RE READING:
NYT’s Kevin Sack reports on the partisan nature of the health reform court rulings. http://nyti.ms/eTDhUt
In a POLITICO op-ed, Louisiana Rep. Bill Cassidy writes of his experience as a Medicaid doctor. http://politi.co/fItCb8
Federal health officials get better at measuring food-borne illnesses, WSJ reports. http://on.wsj.com/eYjuJH
Inside Health Policy: Senate once again shuts down Baucus’s attempt to repeal 1099. http://bit.ly/g0i0qJ (subscription required)
Iowa begins work on a health exchange. http://bit.ly/faMY2T
POLITICO Pro: Real-time policy intelligence. Coming February 2011. http://www.politicopro.com
** A message from PhRMA: Created a quarter of a century ago, the 340B program is greatly in need of a number of fixes to ensure it is targeted toward true safety-net entities and vulnerable or uninsured patients as intended when the program was developed. In recent years, independent economists, GAO and OIG have all raised concerns with the program and Congress has now echoed those concerns. Too many hospitals are profiting off a program meant to support needy patients. Learn why now is the time to fix the 340B program and how members of Congress are leading the charge through new legislation at http://onphr.ma/2Fz90X1. **


text: Older religious figurine or small statue of Jesus holding a lily with a gilt gold halo. On a round wood base with molded plastic flowers. The bottom is stamped with MDD-DIPOST Patent Pind Made in Italy with an R in a circle (the best I can do!) Measures 6 1/4 inches tall. Surprisingly, the raised petals on the flowers are all intact. No dings or cracks. One small spot on the outside rim of the pedestal darker - may be a burl in the wood.


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They say number don’t lie. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reports that there are over 2.3 billion internet users today. Another study by Forrester reckons e-commerce sales are growing by 19% yearly .Still another report by BI Intelligence reports that e-commerce values worldwide will clock 1.5 Trillion US$ by end of 2014.
Exploiting the numbers with Drop shipping
If you have a sharp business mind these numbers should excite you. More importantly you can use a China dropship business to tap into this market effortlessly. Drop shipping is the in-thing in online business.
It entails promoting a product you do not have in stock. Once a customer orders your supplier from China does all the work including packing and delivery.
Why Drop shipping is creating a Buzz
There are multiple benefits that make this your ideal business startup. Here are a few:
- Low startup capital: All you need is a running website where you will list hot electronics and promote them.
- No spending on warehousing as the goods will be sent to the customer directly by the supplier.
- Easy payment for bulk wholesale electronics orders which means higher returns for you.
- Savings on packaging and shipping as your secret supplier handles this.
- Mobility and convenience: You can easily operate your business from anywhere. If you work from home or your constantly travel your business will not be affected.
- Customer loyalty: Once you supply your customer with quality products they will keep coming back for more from your page.
For this business model to work you need to research and get a supplier who is trustworthy and dependable. That means the goods will be high quality and your customers will always be happy.
Company Name :Chinavasion Wholesale Limited
Phone : +86-755-26647680
Fax : +86-755-26647679
Country : Hong Kong / China
State / Provision : Guangdong
City / Town : Shenzhen
Zip / Pincode : 518000

domain: economics


Information Technology Planning: Maximizing Potential in 2023
- Information Technology planning is important to ensure your organization has the best possible strategy for success in 2023.
- IT planning involves evaluating an organization’s existing IT infrastructure and capabilities, identifying areas for improvement, and making decisions that will enable the organization to meet its strategic goals.
- It’s important to map out a clear timeline, assign roles and responsibilities, and set realistic goals to define your organizational and technological vision.
We are two months into 2023, and the past few years have taught us the importance of being prepared for the unexpected. Technology and digital transformation can be both a source of stability and innovation in times of rapid change. Now is a crucial time to reflect on technology’s role in supporting and driving your business goals and objectives. In such a technology-driven world, it is more important than ever for organizations of all sizes to engage in strategic Information Technology (IT) planning to ensure that all technology assets are aligned with their goals and effectively leveraged to create value and support growth.
What Is Information Technology Planning?
Information Technology planning involves evaluating an organization’s existing IT infrastructure and capabilities, identifying areas for improvement, and making decisions that will enable the organization to meet its strategic goals. Through careful IT planning, organizations can ensure that they are leveraging the latest technology to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and drive innovation. By implementing an effective IT strategy for the year ahead, organizations can remain competitive and have the tools to achieve their objectives.
Working together as a team is essential when it comes to IT planning. It’s an opportunity for all stakeholders – from technology teams and business leaders to employees – to make their mark on the organization by creating clear objectives that allow everyone to contribute. As part of the planning process, it’s important to map out a clear timeline, assign roles and responsibilities, and set realistic goals. By defining your organization’s technological vision, you can build synergy between departments and optimize investments so they generate maximum value for the organization.
Key Trends and Areas of Focus for 2023
Organizations must embrace technology’s untiring momentum to remain competitive and agile. In 2023, many organizations will be looking to accelerate digital transformation initiatives, such as cloud migration and automation, and to integrate existing IT systems better. Keeping track of the latest trends ensures that your organization will make well-informed decisions about investing in technology, resulting in an innovative infrastructure perfectly aligned with your goals – otherwise, you’ll be left behind by those who are more prepared.
Some of the top trends in IT planning for 2023 include:
- AI and Machine Learning: Integrating AI and machine learning into business processes will continue to be a major area of focus for organizations. These technologies will improve efficiency, automate tasks, and drive innovation.
- Cloud Computing: The continued growth and adoption of cloud computing will continue to be a key trend in 2023. Organizations will ensure their cloud infrastructure is secure and their data is protected.
- Internet of Things (IoT): IoT devices and technologies will continue to become more integrated into organizations, and organizations will leverage IoT to improve operations and enhance customer experiences.
- Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity will remain a top priority for organizations, focusing on protecting against evolving cyber threats and ensuring the security of sensitive data.
- Data Management and Analytics: Effective data management and advanced analytics will also be critical in 2023. Organizations will focus more on using data to inform business decisions and drive growth.
- Remote Work and Collaboration: The remote work trend will continue, and many organizations will focus more on ensuring that their remote teams can collaborate effectively and securely.
By keeping an eye on the latest advancements in technology and staying ahead of trends, organizations can be in a better position to create a comprehensive IT plan for 2023 that allows them to capitalize on new opportunities and remain competitive.
Developing an Information Technology Plan That Works
Developing an effective strategic IT plan is one of the most important steps in ensuring the success of any organization. A properly constructed IT plan should align with the overall corporate strategy, be flexible enough to accommodate changes in the industry, and provide a roadmap for achieving long-term goals. As the world of technology is ever-evolving, organizations need to develop an up-to-date IT plan and ready for future challenges.
Here are some key components to consider when developing a strategic IT plan:
- Assessment of Current Technology Assets: This involves evaluating the current state of technology within the organization and identifying areas for improvement. This can include assessing existing systems, network infrastructure, and data management processes.
- Alignment With Business Goals: The IT plan should be aligned with the overall goals and objectives of the organization. This includes considering how technology can support business operations, drive efficiencies, and create value.
- Budgeting and Resource Allocation: The IT plan should include a technology investment budget and a clear resource allocation plan. This can include decisions about hardware and software upgrades, hiring new employees, and investing in new technologies.
- Risk Management: Technology investments come with some risks. The IT plan should include a risk management strategy to mitigate these risks and ensure that technology investments are secure and protected.
- Key Stakeholders: Planning IT resources alone is not enough; it is important to involve key stakeholders in the decision-making process. This includes engaging IT staff, senior leadership, and end users.
- Future Planning: The IT plan should also consider future technology trends and developments and how they can be leveraged. This includes considering the potential impact of emerging technologies and identifying opportunities for growth and innovation.
- Timelines: The IT plan should include a timeline for implementation and regular review. This ensures that the organization is on track to meet its overall objectives and allows for adjustments to be made promptly.
- Outside Expertise: Working with experienced IT consultants can help you create an IT plan tailored to your organization’s specific needs. A vCIO (virtual Chief Information Officer) can be a great resource if you’re looking for additional guidance by providing executive-level direction and advice.
Regular engagement in strategic IT planning is critical to ensure that technology remains a supportive driving force for your organization. Organizations that follow these key components will be better prepared to take on the unexpected.
The future of technology is unpredictable, but with the right plan in place, your organization can remain ahead of the competition and satisfy your customers or clients. By forming your IT planning strategy, your leaders will be ready to act swiftly when opportunities arise. It is important to regularly update your strategy to ensure that you remain competitive and ready to face the future. With a forward-thinking plan, your organization can remain ahead of the competition and keep your operations running smoothly.
Thanks to our colleagues at Tektonic in Vaughan, Canada, for their help.


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Traffic Ticket FAQ in North Dakota
I was ticketed. What do I do next?
You have 14 days from the citation date to post bond (North Dakota's way of saying "pay the fine"). You must submit it, along with the citation, to the court listed on your citation. If you plan on challenging the ticket, you must request a hearing date when posting bond.
If I challenge the ticket and win, will the court return my bond money?
Yes, if you fight your ticket in court and receive a favorable verdict, your bond payment will be returned.
What if I want to plead guilty, but can't pay the bond?
If you want to plead guilty, but lack the funds to post bond, contact the court in person and ask for an extension.
Will I get points if ticketed?
Yes. The state will assign points to your driving record. Read more in our Traffic Ticket Fines & Penalties section.
Will the state suspend my license if I get too many points?
Your ND driver's license will be suspended if you accumulate 12 or more points on your driving record. Or, if you're younger than 18 years old, you will lose your driving privileges for 6 points or more.
Can I do anything to reduce points from my driving record?
Yes. Visit our Point Reduction page for a more detailed answer.
Will a traffic violation affect my auto insurance rates?
Traffic violations are usually followed by higher car insurance rates. If your premiums exceed your budget, consider shopping around for a new provider. Comparing car insurance rates online is a convenient and effective way for a finding coverage that fits your needs and budget.
Why should I check my driving record?
It's always a smart idea to know where you stand with points. If your point total is approaching the state's suspension mark, you may look into getting points reduced by enrolling in a state-approved driver training course.
What happens if I lose my traffic ticket?
You will need to contact the presiding court as explained in our Lost Traffic Ticket page.
Should I hire a traffic ticket attorney?
A traffic ticket attorney might improve your chances for reduced charges or a dismissed ticket. This in turn will spare you of points, the possible loss of driving privileges and increased car insurance rates.


text: Colorado Fishing Violation Attorney Defense for Fishing Violations Penalties for Fishing Without a License Fishing Violations in Colorado Prohibited Fishing Methods Your Colorado Wildlife Law Attorney Defense for Fishing Violations Fishing is an amazing hobby. It allows you to enjoy the great outdoors and challenge yourself against nature. It’s no wonder that so many people love to experience fishing in Colorado’s approximate 6,000 miles of rivers and streams, and more than 2,000 reservoirs and lakes. Colorado has strict rules to protect our natural resources, and you face fines and the loss of your hunting and fishing license privileges in Colorado and 47 other states that belong to the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact if you don’t follow the laws. The wildlife violation defense attorneys at WildlifeLawyer.com are experienced in matters related to hunting and fishing laws. If you are facing charges for a fishing violation, contact the Colorado Wildlife Law Lawyer today by calling (720) 836-1777 to schedule a FREE consultation. Back to Top Penalties for Fishing Without a License You can be charged with fishing without a license even if you have a license, but you forget to bring it with you. The CPW has a point system for hunting and fishing violations. If you receive more than 20 points in any five-year period against your license privileges, your license may potentially be suspended. Fishing without a license is a 10 point violation. But there is also a five point penalty for taking your first fish and an additional one point penalty for every additional fish in your possession illegally taken. That means if you are caught fishing without a license and you have six fish in your possession, you can lose your license. You may also be subject to fines. Back to Top Fishing Violations in Colorado Fishing regulations can be pretty complicated. Licensing rules are very specific as to what type of fish you can catch, where you can catch them, and when you can fish. Many types of fish are not allowed to be taken and must be released immediately. Consult CPW guidelines to find out which types of fish you are allowed to keep. There are often local limits on the type and number of fish you are allowed to take, so you must obey all posted rules. Violating any of the following rules may result in stiff penalties as well as possible suspension of your hunting and fishing license privileges: Fishing without the proper license Using prohibited fishing methods Importing aquatic wildlife without CPW permission Taking threatened, endangered, or nongame fish Taking more than the limit Fishing in protected waters Shipping untagged fish Back to Top Prohibited Fishing Methods A special license stamp is required to carry a second rod, but you don’t need a second rod stamp to use trot lines or jugs. The wasteful destruction of wildlife is a 20 point violation that my result in the suspension of your hunting and fishing licenses. The following fishing methods are prohibited in Colorado: Chumming Trapping Electrofishing Using toxicants, poisons, or stupefying substances Snagging (except for taking kokanee salmon in certain areas) Archery and sling bows may only be used to take kokanee salmon, but this practice is subject to a number of safety restrictions. Back to Top Your Colorado Wildlife Law Attorney Are you facing a hearing for violating fishing or hunting regulations? These laws may carry some stiff penalties. To learn more, contact the Colorado Wildlife Law Lawyer today by calling (720) 836-1777. Please contacts us for a FREE, confidential consultation to talk about your case and learn how we can help. Our team is on your side. Don’t go into the water without us! Back to Top Contact one of our attorneys from WildlifeLawyer.com if you find yourself in a situation regarding any fishing violations.


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If you’re anything like me, then you spend a fair amount of time perusing for a podcast to keep you entertained as you stare at spreadsheets and crunch numbers. I have a few tried and true podcasts that I listen to every week, but lately I have been working on expanding my podcast playlist. That includes listening to few of the podcasts that are connected through the Musings of a Geek network. One in particular is special because it is hosted by a few friends of mine, Jeff and Jason. Their podcast is called the History of Bad Ideas Podcast and is available on itunes, stitcher, and through the Musings of Geek website.
Jeff and Jason have a great rapport as longtime friends that just talk about their love of comic books, movies, television, and all other things traditionally known as geek (which is actually taking over the world at this point). This past week I visited the Bob studios aka the home of History of Bad Ideas and talked to them about my book, Escaping Tiger Island. Of course I stuck around to throw in my two cents about The Flash and GOTG trailers, to draft an Alpha Flight team, to guess the plot of Goodbye Pork Pie, and to talk about our top 5 fictional kickass women. My list in case you were wondering is:
5. Scarlet Ohara (Gone with the Wind)
4. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)
3. Hermoine Granger (Harry Potter)
2. Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)
1. River Song (Doctor Who, TV)
Wondering what everyone else thought, or possibly think the whole list could be Summer Glau characters? Then check out this podcast. Subscribe, find them on twitter, and add them to your podcast playlist!
Who’s on your top 5 fictional kickass women list? let us know below!
Also if you listen this week you can make a drinking game out of the times I say “and whatnot” which in retrospect may have been too many*
Follow me on twitter @AmySeaMammaln Follow the History of Bad Ideas @BadIdeasPodcast
*remember to drink responsibly and to never drink and drive

domain: entertainment


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Here is what is currently happening.
Small profits shorting $AKS, but I'll take small profits over losses any day. Shorted very near the top of the bounce to 6.75 at 2:59. Goal was to reach 6.53 support level, which would have been 20 cents per share. The stock simply never dropped below 6.64. I did not want to hold overnight, so I covered at the close. Good setup shorting at the top, just not the 20 cent drop I wanted.
Got back in at 1.61 for 1000 shares but didn't do anything, rebought 500 shares at 1.57 since it was holding a bit above 1.50ish.....sold before the close at 1.62 since it was not moving but closed at 1.66 the last 2 minutes of the day...did not want to hold over night as I did not feel good about it

domain: finance


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November 22 - Fine Art Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1951 opened in the State Russian museum. The participants were David Alkhovsky, Nikolai Babasuk, Vsevolod Bazhenov, Olga Bogaevskaya, Lev Bogomolets, Vitaly Valtsev, Vasily Vikulov, Igor Veselkin, Nina Veselova, Rostislav Vovkushevsky, Vecheslav Zagonek, Lev Volshtein, Yakov Golubev, Vladimir Gorb, Sergei Zakharov, Ruben Zakharian, Nina Ivanova, Piotr Ivanovsky, Anatoli Kazantsev, Georgy Kalinkin, Nikolai Kostrov, Anna Kostrova, Felix Lembersky, Israil Lizak, Vladimir Malagis, Yevsey Moiseenko, Andrei Mylnikov, Mikhail Nata ...
February 23 - Exhibition of works by artists of Battle Art Studio after Mitrofan Grekov was opened in Moscow in the Central House of Red Army. The exposition includes over 500 works of painting, sculpture, drawing by 44 authors.
February 13 - "Exhibition of works of Soviet artists of 1917-1956" was opened in Tretyakov gallery in Moscow. The participants were Mikhail Avilov, Aleksandr Gerasimov, Aleksandr Deyneka, Vecheslav Zagonek, Boris Ioganson, Engels Kozlov, Alexander Laktionov, Arkady Plastov, Mikhail Trufanov, and other important Soviet artists. The Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after Ilya Repin graduated Engels Kozlov, Nikolai Pozdneev, Piotr Nazarov, Anatoli Nenartovich, and other famous artists in the future. The "Spring Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1956" ...
Annual Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1960 was opened in Exhibition Halls of the Leningrad Union of Artists. The participants were Taisia Afonina, Piotr Alberti, Evgenia Antipova, Genrikh Bagrov, Leonid Baykov, Vsevolod Bazhenov, Nikolai Baskakov, Zlata Bizova, Olga Bogaevskaya, Lev Bogomolets, Nikolai Galakhov, Vladimir Gorb, Abram Grushko, German Egoshin, Alexei Eriomin, Mikhail Kaneev, Maria Kleschar-Samokhvalova, Boris Korneev, Alexander Koroviakov, Victor Korovin, Elena Kostenko, Nikolai Kostrov, Anna Kostrova, Gevork Kotiantz, Mikhail Kozell, Marina Kozlovskaya, Yaroslav ...
Exhibition of works by Alexander Samokhvalov was opened in the Leningrad House of writers. The Third convention of artists of the USSR passed in Moscow. By the President of the Academy of Arts of the USSR was elected sculptor Nikolai Tomsky. Headed Academy of arts of the USSR up to 1983 year. All-Union Fine Art Exhibition named "On the guard of Motherland" was opened in the Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow. The participants were Mikhail Avilov, Isaak Brodsky, Vasily Golubev, Mitrofan Grekov, Aleksandr Deyneka, Alexei Eremin, Vecheslav Zagonek, Boris Korneev, Yaroslav Krestovsky, Oleg Loma ...
Exhibition "Ilya Repin and his pupils" was opened in the Museum of the Academy of Arts in Leningrad. The Spring Exhibition of work by Leningrad artists of 1969 was opened in the Leningrad Union of Artists. The participants were Vladimir Andreev, Evgenia Antipova, Vsevolod Bazhenov, Veniamin Borisov, Nikolai Galakhov, Irina Dobrekova, Vecheslav Zagonek, Victor Korovin, Boris Kotik, Mikhail Kozell, Sergei Lastochkin, Dmitry Maevsky, Boris Maluev, Alexander Naumov, Yaroskav Nikolaev, Victor Otiev, Lev Ovchinnikov, Yuri Pavlov, Ivan Savenko, Vladimir Sakson, Alexander Semionov, Yuri Shablikin, ...
ⓘ Soviet art
Soviet art is the visual art that was produced after October Socialist Revolution of 1917 in the Soviet Russia and Soviet Union.
1. Soviet Art of the Post-Revolutionary Period
The birth of the Soviet Art was preceded throughout the 1920s by an era of intense ideological competition between different artistic groupings each striving to ensure their own views would have priority in determining the forms and directions in which Soviet Art was to develop, seeking to occupy key posts in cultural institutions and to win the favour and support of the authorities.
This struggle was made even more bitter by the growing crisis of radical leftist art. At the turn of the 1930s, many avant-garde tendencies that had appeared back in the 1910s had exhausted themselves and began depicting real-life objects, as it attempting to return to the traditional system of painted images. That is what occurred with the leading Jack of Diamonds artists. In the early 1930s Kazimir Malevich returned to figurative art.
Prominent supporters of leftist views included David Shterenberg, Alexander Drevin, Vladimir Tatlin, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Osip Brik, Sofya Dymshits-Tolstaya, Olga Rozanova, Mikhail Matyushin and Nathan Altman. They formed a fairly powerful group that initially determined the policy of the Fine Arts department within the Soviet government and also of the local Moscow and Petrograd Soviets.
The position of the Fine Arts department was most fully expressed by Nikolai Punin in 1919, who wrote: "If the depiction of the world does aid cognition, then only at the very earliest stages of human development, after which it already becomes either a direct hindrance to the growth of art or a class-based interpretation of it", and that "The element of depiction is already an element characteristic of a bourgeois understanding of art".
The danger of a break with the traditions of progressive pre-revolutionary art and the artistic school was being pointed out chiefly by representatives of Russian art who had begun their careers back before the revolution and, in contrast to the leffists, initially boycotted the new regime. Among them were Dmitry Kardovsky, Isaak Brodsky, Alexander Savinov, Abram Arkhipov, Boris Kustodiev, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Arkady Rylov, Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Mikhail Avilov, Alexander Samokhvalov, Boris Ioganson, Rudolf Frentz and others. The formation of these two camps whose members held positions that were to a large extent diametrically opposed put its distinctive stamp on the development of art and artistic education in the 1920s. It was in this atmosphere of incessant polemics and a contest between various artistic tendencies that the Soviet art and artistic school come into being.
Other post-revolution movement was initiated to put all arts to service of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The instrument for this was created just days before the October Revolution, known as Proletkult, an abbreviation for "Proletarskie kulturno-prosvetitelnye organizatsii" Proletarian Cultural and Enlightenment Organizations. A prominent theorist of this movement was Aleksandr Bogdanov. Initially Narkompros ministry of education, which was also in charge of the arts, supported Proletkult. However the latter sought too much independence from the ruling Communist Party of Bolsheviks, gained negative attitude of Vladimir Lenin, by 1922 declined considerably, and was eventually disbanded in 1932.
The ideas of Proletkult attracted the interests of Russian avantgarde, who strived to get rid of the conventions of "bourgeois art". Among notable persons of this movement was Vladimir Tatlin, Mikhail Matyushin, and Kazimir Malevich who was director of Petrograd State Institute of Artistic Culture GinKHuk since 1923 up to close in 1926. However the ideas of the avantgarde eventually clashed with the newly emerged state-sponsored direction of Socialist Realism.
In search of new forms of expression, the Proletkult organisation was highly eclectic in its art forms, and thus was prone to harsh criticism for inclusion of such modern directions as impressionism and cubism, since these movements existed before the revolution and hence were associated with "decadent bourgeois art".
Among early experiments of Proletkult was pragmatic aesthetic of industrial art, the prominent theoretist being Boris Arvatov.
Another group was UNOVIS, a very short-lived but influential collection of young artists led by Kasimir Malevich in the 1920s.
2. Art of Socialist Realism
Officially approved art was required to follow the doctrine of Socialist Realism. In the spring of 1932, the Central Committee of the Communist Party decreed that all existing literary and artistic groups and organizations should be disbanded and replaced with unified associations of creative professions. Accordingly, the Moscow and Leningrad Union of Artists was established on August 1932, which brought the history of post-revolutionary art to a close. The epoch of Soviet art began.
In October the same 1932, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of Peoples Commissars adopted a resolution On the creation of an Academy of Arts. The Leningrad Institute of Proletarian Fine Art was transformed into the Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. This drew a line under a 15-year period of constant change at the countrys largest institution for art education. In total, over the period 1917-1991, the Institute graduated more than 10.000 artists and art historians. Among them were such major artists and sculptors of the USSR as Alexander Samokhvalov, Yevsey Moiseyenko, Andrei Mylnikov, Yuri Neprintsev, Aleksandr Laktionov, Mikhail Anikushin, Piotr Belousov, Boris Ugarov, Ilya Glazunov, Nikolai Timkov and others.
The most known Soviet artists were Isaak Brodsky, Alexander Samokhvalov, Boris Ioganson, Aleksandr Deyneka, Aleksandr Laktionov, Yuri Neprintsev and other painters from Moscow and Leningrad School. Moscow artist Aleksandr Gerasimov during his career produced a large number of heroic paintings of Joseph Stalin and other members of the Politburo. Nikita Khrushchev later alleged that Kliment Voroshilov spent more time posing in Gerasimovs studio than he did attending to his duties in the Peoples Commissariat of Defense. Gerasimovs painting shows a mastery of classical representational techniques.
However, art exhibitions of 1935–1960 disprove the claims that artistic life of the period was suppressed by the ideology and artists submitted entirely to what was then called "social order". A great number of landscapes, portraits, genre paintings and studies exhibited at the time pursued purely technical purposes and were thus free from any ideology. That approach was also pursued ever more consistently in the genre paintings as well, although young artists at time still lacked the experience and professional mastery to produce works of high art level devoted to Soviet actuality.
Known Russian art historian Vitaly Manin considered that "What in our time is termed a myth in the works of artists of the 1930s was a reality, one,moreover, that was perceived that way by real people. Another side of life did exist, of course, but that does not annul that the artists depicted. One gets the impression that disputes about art were conducted before and after 1937 in the interests of the party bureaucracy and of artists with a proletarian obsession, but not at all of true artists, who found themes in the contemporary world and did not get embroiled in questions of the form of their expression".
In the period between the mid-1950s and 1960s, the Art of Socialist realism was approaching its apex. Artists who had graduated from the Academy Repin Institute of Arts in the 1930s–50s were in their prime. They were quick to present their art, they strived for experiments and were eager to appropriate a lot and to learn even more. Their time and contemporaries, with all its images, ideas and dispositions found it full expression in portraits by Lev Russov, Victor Oreshnikov, Boris Korneev, Semion Rotnitsky, Vladimir Gorb, Engels Kozlov, landscapes by Nikolai Timkov, Aleksei Gritsai, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Vecheslav Zagonek, Sergei Osipov, Alexander Semionov, Arseny Semionov, Nikolai Galakhov, genre paintings by Geliy Korzhev, Arkady Plastov, Nikolai Pozdneev, Yuri Neprintsev, Fyodor Reshetnikov, Yevsey Moiseyenko, Andrei Mylnikov. Art of this period showed extraordinary taste for life and creative work.
In 1957, the first All-Union Congress of Soviet Artists takes place in Moscow. It establishes the USSR Union of Artists that unites over 13000 professional artists from all republics and of all specializations. In 1960, the Union of Artists of Russian Federation was organized. Accordingly, these events influenced the art life in Moscow, Leningrad and province. The scope of experimentation was broadened; in particular, this concerned the form and painterly and plastic language. Images of youths and students, rapidly changing villages and cities, virgin lands brought under cultivation, grandiose construction plans being realized in Siberia and the Volga region, great achievements of Soviet science and technology became the chief topics of the new painting. Heroes of the time – young scientists, workers, civil engineers, physicians – become the most popular heroes of paintings.
At this period, life provided artists with plenty of thrilling topics, positive figures and images. The legacies of many great artists and art movements again became available for study and public discussions. This greatly broadened artists’ understanding of the realist method and widened its possibilities. It was the repeated renewal of the very conception of realism that made this style dominates in the Russian art throughout its history. Realist tradition gave rise to many trends of contemporary painting, including painting from nature, "severe style" painting and decorative art. However, during this period impressionism, postimpressionism, cubism and expressionism also had their fervent adherents and interpreters.
3. Soviet Nonconformist Art
The death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, and Nikita Khrushchevs Thaw, paved the way for a wave of liberalization in the arts throughout the Soviet Union. Although no official change in policy took place, artists began to feel free to experiment in their work, with considerably less fear of repercussions than during the Stalinist period.
In the 1950s Moscow artist Ely Bielutin encouraged his students to experiment with abstractionism, a practice thoroughly discouraged by the Artists Union, which strictly enforced the official policy of Socialist Realism. Artists who chose to paint in alternative styles had to do so completely in private and were never able to exhibit or sell their work. As a result, Nonconformist Art developed along a separate path than the Official Art that was recorded in the history books.
Life magazine published two portraits by two painters, who to their mind, were most representative of Russian Arts of the period: it was Serov, an official Soviet icon and Anatoly Zverev, an underground Russian avant-garde expressionist. Serovs portrait of Vladimir Lenin and Zverevs selfportrait were associated by many with an eternal Biblical struggle of Satan and Saviour. When Khrushchev learned about the publication he was outraged and forbade all contacts with Western visitors, closed down all semi legal exhibitions. And of course Zverev was the main target of his outrage.
The Lianozovo Group was formed around the artist Oscar Rabin in the 1960s and included artists such as Valentina Kropivnitskaya, Vladimir Nemukhin, and Lydia Masterkova. While not adhering to any common style, these artists sought to faithfully express themselves in the mode they deemed appropriate, rather than adhere to the propagandistic style of Socialist Realism.
Tolerance of Nonconformist Art by the authorities underwent an ebb and flow until the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Artists took advantage of the first few years after the death of Stalin to experiment in their work without the fear of persecution. In 1962, artists experienced a slight setback when Nikita Khrushchev appeared at the exhibition of the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Artists Union at the Moscow Manege exhibition hall, an episode known as the Manege Affair. Among the customary works of Socialist Realism were a few abstract works by artists such as Ernst Neizvestny and Eli Beliutin, which Khrushchev criticized as being "shit," and the artists for being "homosexuals." The message was clear: artistic policy was not as liberal as everyone had hoped.
The history of late Soviet art has been dominated by politics and simplistic formulae. Both within the artworld and the general public, very little consideration has been given to the aesthetic character of the work produced in the USSR in the 1970s and 1980s. Instead, the official and unofficial art of the period usually stood in for either "bad" or "good" political developments. A more nuanced picture would emphasize that there were numerous competing groups making art in Moscow and Leningrad throughout this period. The most important figures for the international art scene have been the Moscow artists Ilya Kabakov, Erik Bulatov, Andrei Monastyrsky, Vitaly Komar and Aleksandr Melamid.
The most infamous incident regarding nonconformist artists in the former Soviet Union was the 1974 Bulldozer Exhibition, which took place in a park just outside Moscow, and included work by such artists as Oscar Rabin, Komar and Melamid, Alexandr Zhdanov, Nikolai Smoliakov and Leonid Sokov. The artists involved had written to the authorities for permission to hold the exhibition but received no answer to their request. They decided to go ahead with the exhibition anyway, which consisted solely of unofficial works of art that did not fit into the rubric of Socialist Realism. The KGB put an end to the exhibition just hours after it opened by bringing in bulldozers to completely destroy all of the artworks present. However, the foreign press had been there to witness the event, and the worldwide coverage of it forced the authorities to permit an exhibition of Nonconformist Art two weeks later in Izmailovsky Park in Moscow.
A few West European collectors, supported during the 60th and the 70th and until 1988 the year of the Perestroika many of the artists in the old Soviet Union. One of the leading collectors and philanthropists were the couple Kenda and Jacob Bar-Gera. The Bar-Gera Collection consists of some 200 works of 59 Soviet Russian artists of who did not want to embrace the official art directive of the post-Stalinist Soviet Union. Kenda and Jacob Bar-Gera, both are survivors of the holocaust, supported these partially persecuted artists by sending them money or painting material from Germany to the Soviet Union. Even though the Kenda and Jacob did not meet the artists in person, they bought many of their paintings and other art objects. The works were smuggled to Germany by hiding them in the suitcases of diplomats, traveling businessmen, and students, thus making the Bar-Gera Collection of Russian Non-Conformists among the largest of its kind in the world. Among others, the collection content works of Bachtschanjan Vagritsch, Jankilevskij Wladimir,Rabin Oskar, Batschurin Ewganij, Kabakov Ilja, Schablavin Sergei, Belenok Piotr, Krasnopevcev Dimitrij, Schdanov Alexander, Igor Novikov, Bitt Galina, Kropivnitzkaja Walentina, Schemjakin Michail, Bobrowskaja Olga, Kropivnitzkij Lew,Schwarzman Michail, Borisov Leonid, Kropiwnizkij Jewgenij, Sidur Vadim, Bruskin Grischa, Kulakov Michail, Sitnikov Wasili, and many others.
By the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachevs policies of Perestroika and Glasnost made it virtually impossible for the authorities to place restrictions on artists or their freedom of expression. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the new market economy enabled the development of a gallery system, which meant that artists no longer had to be employed by the state, and could create work according to their own tastes, as well as the tastes of their private patrons. Consequently, after around 1986 the phenomenon of Nonconformist Art in the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

domain: artistic


William Brueckner Def Isaiah Salinda 3 &1 and Gary Vanier Def Jim Williams 7&5
Courtesy of http://www.amateurgolf.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 10, 2013) — Sunday’s championship match at the 2013 San Francisco City Championship was ‘supposed’ to be the culmination of red-hot runs by top-seed Andrew Biggadike and No. 3 Alex Franklin, the reigning amateurgolf.com Tournament Series co-Player of the Year.
Apparently nobody told that to Will Brueckner and Isaiah Salinda.
In Saturday’s semifinals, Brueckner upset Franklin, 5-and-4, to advance to Sunday’s 36-hole championship match against Salinda. Salinda reached the final by sending Biggadike home with a 3-and-2 defeat.
Rather than a Biggadike-Franklin finale, ‘The City’ came down to a pair of upstart high schoolers ready for action — and boy did they live up to the moment.
Brueckner, a 16-year-old Olympic Club member from Walnut Creek, Calif., won the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes in the afternoon 18 to distance himself from Salinda and never looked back, ultimately taking a 3- and-1 championship victory at TPC Harding Park.
“I’m very tired but even more excited,” said Brueckner, who considers this the top win of his amateur career. “It definitely wasn’t because of consistent play, but my putter was solid.”
Salinda was 2-up through the first seven holes but — perhaps a sign of the day’s theme — Brueckner rallied. He won Nos. 8 and 9 to get even.
Salinda wouldn’t quit, though. He took a 2-up lead after the opening 18 and appeared to have things in order to score yet another upset according to the seeds.
“I knew I had to get something going on the second 18,” Brueckner said. “I started getting the driver more accurate and irons closer.”
Brueckner lost the opening hole of the afternoon 18 but reeled off three straight wins to take the momentum.
Brueckner, who hopes to one day play at Stanford, credits a flop-shot he used to dig himself out of trouble on hole No. 2 in the second 18 as the difference maker.
“My drive was out of the fairway and I had to layup,” he said. “I had about 40 yards in to a raised green with a tough pin over a bunker. I was able to get it to about five feet and made the putt. That was a big hole.”
My closing comments on the SF City- The SF City is one of the most historic amateur events in the country, yet the coverage and galleries have dwindled. In the old days it was unheard of for a High School kid to even make match play, let alone play another High School kid in the finals. Oh how the game has changed!!
The only knock on these immensely talented young players is their pace of play, which I can attest to first hand is ridiculously slow, and its hurting the game in my opinion. I didn’t personally witness this match so I cannot say if these two young players were playing slow, but the many High School and College players I’ve played with recently have been dreadfully slow.
I must say that many of the best young players are not slow, two in particular are back to back semi finalist Alex Franklin, who putts the eyes out of it, and 2012 NCGA Player of the Year Ben Geyer. Both have short routines that are efficient and work. While others are taking up to two minutes to hit shots or putts. I guess it’s true when your older your patience for slow play dwindles as well.
On the senior side, terminator Gary Vanier, who happens to have the best match play record in history of this event, played consistent great golf and finished off most matches early. Gary has only lost to one player ever in a SF City final and is 7-1 in the finals (I outlasted him in 1999 to win my lone title, but did so by beating the best player ever to compete in this event)
How do we get this great event back to the prestige of old, with galleries, media and coverage? I really don’t know, but I’d love to hear your ideas?